Hamilton: Founding Father

by Marie Raphael, Ray Raphael

An illegitimate child, born in the Caribbean, who arrived in America as a near-penniless teenager, Alexander Hamilton did not seem to have much in common with the rest of the Founding Fathers. But the audacious young immigrant quickly proved himself in the cauldron of revolutionary fervor gripping the colonies in the 1770s. After making a name for himself in the Revolution as an artillery officer and aide to George Washington, Hamilton became one of the foremost architects of the new United States of America. He wrote many of the Federalist Papers, established the first national bank, and became first Secretary of the Treasury before losing his life in a duel.

In Hamilton, veteran historians Marie Raphael and Ray Raphael (The Spirit of '74: How the American Revolution Began) explain how Hamilton's strong personality, quicksilver intellect, and taste for combat played into the contentious arguments over what kind of country the young republic would become. The debate between Thomas Jefferson's decentralized approach to democracy and Hamilton's belief in a strong federal government is still being argued today.

Vividly written and fully illustrated, including many colorful and rarely seen pieces of art, Hamilton is a powerful testament to one of the most illustrious figures of American history.

Genres: History, Biography

278 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Sophie's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

While there were thousands who helped in building this great nation, sadly only a handful of names comes to mind when reflecting on our founding fathers. As always, George Washington was not only our first president, under the constitution we followed today, but he is highly remembered as the Father of our Country. We also remember John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and lead author of the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson. However, who was Alexander Hamilton? Yes, he is among our nation’s founding fathers, but what were his contributions? To truly understand and appreciate his efforts in America’s independence, one would have to start at the beginning of Hamilton’s journey; and that’s exactly what authors Marie and Ray Raphael did.
As an immigrant, a bastard, and practically an orphan; Hamilton refused to allow his dire circumstances to govern his future. He was extremely ambitious and determined to change the narrative of his life. Hamilton is the epitome of the American Dream! Vividly written and fully illustrated, including many colorful and rarely seen pieces of art. Hamilton is a powerful testament to one of the most illustrious figures of American history.

[Perlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of pictures to illustrate times and events. A little light on his early years. Would have liked more insight into the practice of dueling, and why someone so intelligent and insightful would be drawn into one.

[Reagan Mordecai · Rating 5 out of 5]

What’s your name man?
Alexander Hamilton love this book describes his life amazingly

[Atlantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging book for younger readers of history. Lots of colorful pictures, maps and other graphics give this book a boost to kids learning about this founding father of our the United States.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for youth readers.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marie and Ray Raphael shine in highlighting the great deeds and flaws of Alexander Hamilton in this beautifully wrought biography. Written in an easily accessible style and chock full of gorgeous images, the book is a delight to both read and just flick through casually. The book isn’t terribly long, and works as a great introductory biography on Hamilton, his life, and his work.

For the most part, I was pleased by the book. As I said, it’s not a long book, and it’s easy to read. The Raphaels treat the various figures pretty evenly, not making anyone (except for the obvious people, like James Reynolds and Jacob Clingman) into a villain. They’re also very respectful of Eliza. I was thrilled to see absolutely no offhand remark about how if Angelica had been available, Hamilton would have pursued her instead of Eliza. Finally, a biography that doesn’t throw that out there. Very nice. Instead, the Raphaels make a point of showing how Eliza came into Hamilton’s life at just the right time, buoying him up from some the very low, even depressed, spirits he was in in late 1779/early 1780. And they do make mention of the fact that Eliza was present for the creation of Washington’s Farewell address. I love how Eliza first sic’d two of her sons on Rufus King to get the drafts back (though they did forget to mention that Nathaniel Pendleton stole the drafts from Hamilton’s papers essentially before the man was cold in his grave), but he refused to give them up. He only conceded when Eliza actually went and sued him, which was great. Eliza was the wife and mother of lawyers – it sounds like she knew how to use the law to her advantage.

I also love that the Raphaels took some time to chart how Hamilton’s legacy was treated after his death. While Stephen F. Knott goes into much greater detail about this in his book, Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth , the Raphaels do an excellent job summarizing it and also including a bit about how Hamilton’s legacy has been changed by the Broadway musical Hamilton.

Also loved the list of further reading. I have a couple of books to add to my to-read list!

I do have some issues, though. First, since we’re talking about Eliza, I feel like she kind of gets dropped and is pretty absent from the tale of Hamilton’s life after the Constitutional Convention. We know that she was involved in Hamilton’s work throughout his life just from the fact that many of his important works were written at least partially in her hand. While the Rays do mention this in regards to the letter Hamilton wrote to Robert Morris about governmental finances in, I think, 1781, it is left out for several other works that Eliza helped to write. There’s also the part she would have played in what was known as the Republican Court, which was at its height during the Washington administration while they tried to figure out what high society was to be like under a republican government as opposed to a monarchy. While Martha Washington was at the top owing to her position as First Lady, Eliza was also well up there, probably tied for second with Abigail Adams, wife of then-Vice-President John Adams. The women played a very important, if unofficial, role during this time, and much of the work the men did was made possible by the women and their networking and socializing with each other.

Also, no mention was made whatsoever of the miscarriage Eliza suffered in 1794, which was at least one motivation for Hamilton’s resignation from his post as Treasury Secretary. While Hamilton had been planning to resign for a while, he kept putting it off because of one crisis or another, and it was only when Eliza lost their baby (and the realization that he needed to make more money to keep their family afloat) that he finally bit the bullet and penned his resignation.

There was also no mention of the Hamiltons adopted/foster daughter, Frances Anthill, who lived with them for a good ten years and was treated very much as one of the family.

In general, I feel like the pacing was a bit off. Over half of the book is taken up covering Hamilton’s early years up through the Constitutional Convention, and then it seems to rush to get through the rest of Hamilton’s life to wrap it up at the duel and some of what came after that. The explanation of the various stages of the Reynolds Scandal also felt rushed. I think more time could have been taken to explain how things came about.

So in general, a great read, though the book isn’t without its flaws. Definitely a great book to introduce someone to Alexander Hamilton and his works without overwhelming them. I give it 3.5 stars.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good history book that seems to be written at the high school level. It would be a good source for a student book report. There are lots of photos and maps. That said I decided that Although I could relate to the young Alexander Hamilton, I disliked him and his political ideas more as he became older and more influential. I take comfort in knowing that Franklin Roosevelt also disliked his legacy.

[Hillary · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good book I liked the way it was written. Also the pictures were a really nice touch it helped me picture the things they were explaining in the book.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting factual historical story with some little known facts that made this a good read. The illustrations are beautiful! It's worth a look for the illustrations alone!