Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Alexander Hamilton is suddenly popular among those trying to establish the constitutionality of Obamacare. Recently, David Brooks – an avowed “Hamiltonian” – wrote that the individual mandate would have been “perfectly acceptable” to the man on the ten dollar bill (Brooks goes on to quibble with the law’s cost control mechanisms). The WaPo’s Greg Sargent finds it highly significant that Alexander Hamilton supported the establishment of Marine Hospitals. And at SCOTUS, Justice Breyer pointed to the first Bank of the United States–Hamilton’s baby – as an early example of Congress “creating commerce.”
I’ll be the first to admit that it is foolish to try to channel the Founding Fathers. We can’t know what they would think today. As far as the law is concerned, all that matters is the text of the Constitution, and the fairest interpretation we can give it. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care. I take comfort in the idea that Obamacare would have been wholly unthinkable to the men who framed and ratified the Constitution. And Hamilton is, in some ways, an admirable figure: a brave soldier, advocate of a strong, unitary executive, and critic of the French Revolution. Various conservatives consider him a role model, including of course Brooks (who, with William Kristol, advanced a fuzzy notion of "national greatness conservatism" based partly on Hamilton's example).
Unfortunately, Hamilton also believed in federal intervention in the economy, big time. He preached the idea that government must promote “the public good,” i.e., government knows what’s best for you. In the name of the public good, he advocated high taxes, protectionist tariffs, a state-sponsored bank, and subsidies for select businesses. And he argued that all of this was perfectly constitutional. In his view, the General Welfare Clause empowers Congress to tax and spend for purposes beyond its enumerated powers -- with Congress being the sole arbiter of what counts as “the general welfare. “
As far as the Commerce Clause goes, he brushed aside distinctions between interstate and intrastate commerce. In arguing for the Bank of the United States, he breezily asked: “what regulation of commerce does not extend to the internal commerce of every State?” You could string together such quotations from Hamilton and submit them as an amicus brief in support of the government. And so, dear members, let me ask:
- Do you agree that Hamilton would have blessed the constitutionality (if not the wisdom) of Obamacare?
- If yes, does that affect the original public meaning of the document, i.e., do you think that many (or most) of the people who ratified the Constitution shared Hamilton’s expansive reading?
- Does anybody think that Hamilton ought still to be considered as “the architect of a native American conservatism,” as the late John C. Livingston dubbed him?
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Dec '10
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
And that's why Madison, not Hamilton, is the father of the constitution.
Mar '11
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
I guess Hamilton would be the original Rino squish? That explains Mr Brooks.
Btw, what happened to the Bank of the United States? Did it become the Bank of America?
I hate to disagree with a SCOTUS Judge, but I doubt that even Hamilton wanted to force Americans to deposit money in the bank, or else be fined by the IRS?
Edited on April 25, 2012 at 8:26pmJan '11
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
I'm not a historian, and I would like to see the historians weigh in on the topic.
But I will say that Hamilton wasn't the sole definer of the Constitution, and if he was a "big government" guy, he was just one voice among many.
What so inspires conservatives today is that (whatever Hamilton may have preferred) the lived reality of the United States for approximately its first 150 years was limited government ... and it worked, at times spectacularly. Contrast that with our experience of interventionist governments, like the debacle we face at the moment, and history's lesson is clear.
It may very well be that Hamilton wanted a big government. History proves he would have been wrong.
Dec '10
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
To answer the questions:
- Yes. Hamilton really liked centralized, powerful government and seemed to trust only the right people to be self governing.
- No. The heat of the debates demonstrates that not everyone was for this newfangled form of government. The ratification votes also support this idea. (Patrick Henry is my hero.)
- Certainly not. His love of centralized power more closely aligned him with modern liberalism than with classical.
Edited on April 25, 2012 at 9:00pmJan '11
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Adam Freedman
Unfortunately, Hamilton also believed in federal intervention in the economy, big time. He preached the idea that government must promote “the public good,” i.e., government knows what’s best for you. In the name of the public good, he advocated high taxes, protectionist tariffs, a state-sponsored bank, and subsidies for select businesses. And he argued that all of this was perfectly constitutional. In his view, the General Welfare Clause empowers Congress to tax and spend for purposes beyond its enumerated powers -- with Congress being the sole arbiter of what counts as "the general welfare."
Hamilton was probably the most statist of the Founders, but even that warrants some context:
At the time of it's adoption, the Constitution was viewed -- correctly -- as a power grab. Hamilton, Washington, Madison and the other early Federalists felt -- correctly, again -- that the Articles of Confederation failed its system was too decentralized and too weak at the top. There were concerns that the confederation would collapse and that war would follow. So, when we're talking about any of these big three, it's worth remembering that their political opponents would have placed them on the side of the statists.
Edited on April 25, 2012 at 9:09pmJan '11
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Given that, it's important to recall that all of Hamilton's activities during Washington's first term were done in the absence of the Federal government doing anything else. In 1789, the government could only grow because there was was no federal bureaucracy when Hamilton came to office. Even at the height of his power a few years later, he had only a few dozen employees at Treasury, making it by far the largest Federal Department.
There's also a personal angle here: Hamilton's style made it inevitable that he would gain enemies and human nature makes it equally inevitable that his enemies would conflate their personal dislike for him with their own policy positions; just as hating his Hamilton's policies led some to hate him personally, hating him personally led others to hate his policies. Jefferson fits into the first category, Madison far, far better into the latter as their careers progressed.
Jan '11
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
All that aside:
- The historical Hamilton would almost certainly not approve of ObamaCare, nor any part of the Great Society that preceded it. Hamilton was a "statist" only in comparison to Patrick Henry or (at his most pure) Thomas Jefferson; and if Hamilton is a statist, so was James Madison.
- N/A
- I don't really like the phrase, but you can make a (limited) case for it. First, there's his personal biography, which is more American than apple pie served on a red-white-and-blue table cloth. Reputation aside, he was also was far more Burkean than most of the other Founders; he was far less Utopian than, say, Jefferson. Third, he was the only Founder devoted to ending slavery from the very beginning.
Edited on April 25, 2012 at 9:09pmJul '11
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Just so we know where this leads
Obama Pushes Granny Off A Cliff... Obamacare!
Feb '12
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Hamilton's big-governmentism, in my view, was invariably in the form of government trying to promote the economy. He wanted government investment in the country. This is why he promoted the Bank of the United States and not, for example, universal healthcare. He had a protectionist bent, but that's not unusual in the 18th century, and not necessarily un-conservative for that time period.
But here's the biggest piece of evidence that no founder would have favored Obamacare----they started a government, nearly from scratch, and never once attempted to enact universal healthcare. I'm pretty sure people got sick and died in the 1700s. And I'm willing to bet that not everyone had enough money for quality medical care. Yet the founders didn't try to co-opt the healthcare industry to provide free or nearly free healtcare to everyone.
Dec '10
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Umm, no. The system of government proposed by Hamilton at the convention was a purely centralized system with a chief executive governing for life (with abolute veto power) and a senate filled with men governing for life. State governors would be appointed from on high and a there would be national government veto power over state legislation. No way on earth was he just a statist compared to Henry. Some thought the constitution went to far (Henry), others thought it was just about right (Madison), but Hamilton thought it didn't go far enough to centralize power. His view of government was basically that which we see from the left today.
Edited on April 25, 2012 at 9:32pmDec '10
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Healthcare didn't eat up 10% or more of people's income then either. If that was the case who knows what the founders would have advocated.
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
That is exactly the point that Paul Clement (lead attorney for the challengers) made to Justice Breyer.
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Tom, I like all your points, but this is the one that resonates the most with me. Jefferson said many fine things about limited government and states' rights, but I've always been repelled by his utopianism. Hamilton took human nature as he found it, and that is (or has become) a marker of conservatism.
Jan '11
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
The King Prawn
Umm, no. The system of government proposed by Hamilton at the convention was a purely centralized system ... No way on earth was he just a statist compared to Henry.
Just to be clear, I absolutely agree that Hamilton was the most statist of the Founders (how can we have gone this far without talking about the Whiskey Tax?). But it's a low standard.
As for the speech in Philadelphia, bear in mind how closely he and Madison were working together at this point. A number of scholars argue -- and I think they have it right -- that this was probably a calculated move to make the Virginia Plan more palatable to the convention ("This constitution may go too far, but at least it's not what Hamilton proposed!").
And even if Hamilton had argued sincerely for his plan, he more than made up for it in his later actions: he signed the constitution, recruited Madison & Jay to work on the Federalist Papers, and led the federalist faction at NY's ratification convention while in close correspondence with Madison.
And where was Patrick Henry in all this? Opposing the constitution all the way.
Edited on April 25, 2012 at 10:03pmDec '10
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Very good points, Tom. Perhaps I react to Hamilton the way I do because of how much I agree with Henry on things. I think Henry a prophet (my first real paper in college was on Henry's antifederalist arguments.)
Edited on April 25, 2012 at 9:46pmJan '11
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Was that at the Patrick Henry University? ;)
Henry was a great patriot and -- look, I'm a small l-libertarian, too -- we benefited hugely from his skeptism of the new constitution. It was a major failing of his not to embrace it afterward, but he's still a great man.
Dec '10
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Tom Meyer: Was that at the Patrick Henry University? ;)
Henry was a great patriot and -- look, I'm a small l-libertarian, too -- we benefited hugely from his skeptism of the new constitution. It was a major failing of his not to embrace it afterward, but he's still a great man. · 1 minute ago
I see a direct line between the arguments he made against adopting the constitution and the signing of Obamacare. Henry was right not just because limited government is the best for mankind; he was also right that the new system put in place would lead to exactly where we are at today.
Mar '11
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Adam Freedman
Alexander Hamilton is suddenly popular among those trying to establish the constitutionality of Obamacare. Recently, David Brooks – an avowed “Hamiltonian” – wrote that the individual mandate would have been “perfectly acceptable” to the man on the ten dollar bill.
Of course it would have. I call Hamilton "the Worst Founder" for a reason. The man stood for almost unlimited federal power. He's the one that proposed a lifetime term for the Presidency, and he openly wanted to emulate the British Imperial Government in a Republican mold. He was as close to a royalist as you can get among the founders. If you know anything about Hamilton, then trying to sell Obamacare by saying "Hamilton would like it!" doesn't help your case much. You might as well say George III would have been delighted as well. Lucky for us that Hamilton was in the minority in his views of the scope of federal power, and that (much) wiser heads prevailed.
Mar '11
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Adam Freedman
Tom, I like all your points, but this is the one that resonates the most with me. Jefferson said many fine things about limited government and states' rights, but I've always been repelled by his utopianism. Hamilton took human nature as he found it, and that is (or has become) a marker of conservatism. · 58 minutes ago
If Hamilton was the Worst Founder, the Jefferson was the most Overrated Founder. His thought was a mix of brilliance and absolute balderdash. He's one of our most overrated Presidents. He got a lot more right than he did wrong, but he got a significant amount wrong.
Feb '11
Re: Alexander Hamilton, Obamacare, and Some Questions
Douglas
If you know anything about Hamilton, then trying to sell Obamacare by saying "Hamilton would like it!" doesn't help your case much. You might as well say George III would have been delighted as well. Lucky for us that Hamilton was in the minority in his views of the scope of federal power, and that (much) wiser heads prevailed. ·
If I recall from a biography I read a long time ago Hamilton was also heavily involved with ending slavery in New York State. So I conclude he would not approve of Obamacare, or the welfare state, as those essentially enslave people and compel them to work for the benefit of others without compensation.
But I also think that the Hamiltonian viewpoint about various measures including tariffs and industry were correct, which eventually enabled the US to win the Civil War, World War II, etc.
And about that state-sponsored bank Hamilton mentioned- has the Ron Paul view of the Federal Reserve now become accepted conventional wisdom?
Or was Hamilton correct about that as well?