1The Farmer Refuted, &c., [23 February] 1775 (Hamilton Papers)
and splenetic, that I will venture to pronounce it one of the most ludicrous performances, which has been exhibited to public view, during all the present controversy....passion for conceit, and a noble disdain of being fettered by the laws of truth. These, Sir, are important qualifications, and these all unite in you, in a very eminent degree. So that, though you may never expect the...
2Alexander Hamilton’s Final Version of the Report on the Subject of Manufactures, [5 December 1791] (Hamilton Papers)
object of human industry. This position, generally, if not universally true, applies with peculiar emphasis to the United States, on account of their immense tracts of fertile territory, uninhabited and unimproved. Nothing can afford so advantageous an employment for......United States, by considerations which affect all nations, it is, in a manner, dictated to them by the imperious force of a...
3Alexander Hamilton’s Fourth Draft of the Report on the Subject of Manufactures, 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
object of human industry. This position “This policy is not only recommended to the United States, by considerations which affect all nations—it is, in a manner, dictated to them
4An Examination of the British Doctrine, Which Subjects to Capture a Neutral Trade, Not Open in Time of Peace, [ante–8 … (Madison Papers)
...pamphlet received mixed reactions. Although John Quincy Adams said that he was “upon the whole, much pleased” with it, and Benjamin Rush informed JM that the work was “spoken of in all the Circles in our city with the highest praise and admiration,” Senator William Plumer stated that he had “never read a book that fatigued me more than this pamphlet has done,” and John Randolph declared on...
5Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on Early Career (the so-called “Autobiography”), [6 January–29 July 1821], with editorial note … (Jefferson Papers)
; little being then known beyond that and indeed, during the regal government, nothing liberal could expect success. our minds were circumscribed within narrow limits by an habitual belief that it was our duty to be subordinate to the mother country in all matters of government, to direct all our labors in subservience to her interests, ...a bigotted intolerance for all religions but hers. the...
6A Full Vindication of the Measures of the Congress, &c., [15 December] 1774 (Hamilton Papers)
...common sense is apparent in many respects: They endeavour to persuade us, that the absolute sovereignty of parliament does not imply our absolute slavery; that it is a Christian duty to submit to be plundered of all we have, merely because some of our fellow-subjects are wicked enough to require it of us, that slavery, so far from being a great evil, is a great blessing; and even, that our...
7The Defence of the Funding System, [July 1795] (Hamilton Papers)
It was proper for him to endeavour to unite two ingredients in his plan, intrinsic goodness [and] a reasonable probability of success....to have been this. That as the benefits to be derived from it would be individually equal to the citizens of every state so the burthens ought also to be individually equal among the citizens of all the states according to individual property and ability....
8New York Assembly. Remarks on an Act Acknowledging the Independence of Vermont, [28 March 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
The first objection is drawn from that great principle of the social compact—that the chief object of government is to protect the rights of individuals by the united strength of the community. with a probability
9Detatched Memoranda, ca. 31 January 1820 (Madison Papers)
...the States were seeking by their respective regulations, to enlarge as much as possible their share of the general commerce, the Dr. alluding to their jealousies and competitions remarked that it would be best for all of them to let the trade be free, in which case it would level itself, and leave to each its proper share. These contests he said, put him in mind of what had once......human...
10To George Washington from Unknown Author, 15 July 1784 (Washington Papers)
[The author, who was a planter, probably in Virginia but possibly in Maryland, and a man with some knowledge of the classics, rings all the changes on the declension of the American Revolution from its early days of glory to its present sorry state in 1784. His jeremiad on the corruption of American society and its institutions repeats things often said before and......People of all Ranks...