Richard Brookhiser, author of Alexander Hamilton, American, will be the keynote speaker at The Hamilton Conference at Hamilton College. The conference, which examines the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton, takes place from Thursday, April 5, to Saturday, April 7. The keynote address, "Alexander Hamilton: His Success and His Failures," will take place on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Hamilton College Chapel.
Richard Brookhiser is the author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington, and The Way of the WASP. Brookhiser is also the senior editor at The National Review and a columnist at the New York Observer. He writes for numerous magazines and newspapers, including Time, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times. He also appears frequently on Charlie Rose, Politically Incorrect, and C-SPAN.
This conference, which is free and open to the public, will bring together wide range of scholars who will examine and analyze the historical significance of Alexander Hamilton to American political, economic, and intellectual life. Brookhiser's address will be followed on Friday and Saturday with sessions that will feature both young and well-established scholars who will examine various aspects of Hamilton, his era, and his legacy.
According to Doug Ambrose, conference coordinator and Hamilton College associate professor of history, "We must remember Hamilton's pivotal role in the formation of the United States and his contributions to the still unfinished importance to U.S. history and to the ongoing story of our nation. This does not only mean that we should simply praise him, but we should recognize Hamilton's historical significance. "
The first session on Friday, April 6, at 9:30 a.m. is on "Hamilton and the Dilemmas of Slavery in the Young Republic." Hamilton was one of the first public figures to publicly denounce slavery. This panel will discuss the role of slavery in the early republic and the ways it increasingly became an issue in public discourse.
The second session on Friday, at 2 p.m. is "Hamilton and Domestic Policy." Participants will debate Hamilton's economic and fiscal policies and beliefs; his views on the national debt; his promotion of manufacturing and his understanding of the nature of citizenship in the American republic.
The Saturday, April 7, 9:30 a.m. panel on "Hamilton's Legacy" will touch upon the ways Hamilton's ideas have influenced, and continue to influence, the United States. This includes how American's have portrayed Hamilton and how he influenced such figures as Abraham Lincoln.
The last panel is at 2 p.m. and is on "Hamilton and His Contemporaries." This panel will address how Hamilton and his contemporaries, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, shaped political discussion. Hamilton's vision of America directly contrasts to that of Madison's and Jefferson's. Hamilton envisioned a vigorous national government, while Jeffersonians emphasized a limited national government where states have a prominent role in the lives of its citizens.
For more information please visit http://alexander.hamilton.edu/conference or contact Doug Ambrose at 315-859-4134 or dambrose@hamilton.edu.
