Hamilton created our economy by manipulating debt assumption and repayment so as to create a wealthy investor class, and to put our currency on a good footing. He convinced Congress to assume ALL federal and state debts, mostly from the Revolutionary War, to pay FULLY to the CURRENT debt holders, and to re-issue bonds to cover it all. He paid for all of this with an increase in the Tariff. The wealthy class created from the speculators who had bought up Revolutionary War debt at pennies on the dollar, did what speculators do--they speculated some more, and built mills, shipyards, etc., creating a boom economy.
Richard Brookheiser has a great book on Hamilton--can't remember the title.
Hamilton also had the first real sex scandal, and he turned tables on his blackmailers by openly admitting every thing and publishing in the newspapers all the love letters between him and the woman. And, he did not quibble about the meaning of "is."
In the words of Brookheiser, Hamilton came from farther back and from poorer circumstances than any of the Founders. Orphaned at 11 on an obscure island in the Caribbean, he should have ended his life an unknown. But, as Providence would have it, Hamilton was a genius.
