The surrender of Lord Cornwallis’s British army at Yorktown, Virginia, on 19 October 1781 marked the effective end of the War of American Independence, at least in North America. The victory is usually assumed to have been Washington’s; he led the army that besieged Cornwallis, marching a powerful force of 16,000 troops down from near New York City to oppose the British. Charles O’Hara, The presence of the young Alexander Hamilton, one of Washington’s aides-de-camp, who led a light infantry unit in the final stages of the siege, adds to the sense of its being a great American triumph.
The post The French Victory at Yorktown: 19 October 1781 appeared first on OUPblog.
Inspired by the 11 Tony awards won by the smash Broadway hit Hamilton, last month I wrote about Alexander Hamilton as the father of the US national debt and discussed the huge benefit the United States derives from having paid its debts promptly for more than two hundred years. Despite that post, no complementary tickets to Hamilton have arrived in my mailbox. And so this month, I will discuss Hamilton’s role as the founding father of American central banking.
The post Hamilton’s descendants appeared first on OUPblog.
have not yet seen Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway show Hamilton. I feel badly about this for three reasons. First, Miranda is a 2002 Wesleyan graduate, a loyal and generous alumnus who gave a great commencement speech in 2015 and remains solidly committed to the university. Second, the music and lyrics are, quite simply, amazing. Third, as an economic historian, it is heartening to see one of America’s economic heroes make it to Broadway.
The post Alexander Hamilton and the public debt appeared first on OUPblog.
have not yet seen Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway show Hamilton. I feel badly about this for three reasons. First, Miranda is a 2002 Wesleyan graduate, a loyal and generous alumnus who gave a great commencement speech in 2015 and remains solidly committed to the university. Second, the music and lyrics are, quite simply, amazing. Third, as an economic historian, it is heartening to see one of America’s economic heroes make it to Broadway.
The post Alexander Hamilton and the public debt appeared first on OUPblog.
It was only after I finished writing The Founding Fathers: A Very Short Introduction that I got to see the off-Broadway version of Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton: An American Musical" at New York City's Public Theater. I was lucky enough to see the Broadway version (revised and expanded) last month.
The post Hamilton the musical: America then told by America now appeared first on OUPblog.
Theatergoers have been dazzled by the new Broadway hit Hamilton, and not just by its titular lead: the Schuyler women often steal the show. While Alexander Hamilton’s wife Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton provides heart and pathos, her sister Angelica Schuyler Church is sassy, witty, and flirtatious.
The post The flirtatious friendship of Alexander Hamilton and Angelica Church hits Broadway appeared first on OUPblog.
It's
Nonfiction Monday and I'm back from my vacation to Boston, a wonderful city which lays claim to the title of Birthplace of America. The role of Boston in the American Revolution cannot be denied, nor can the contributions of Alexander Hamilton, scholar, soldier, politician and statesman.
Frtiz, Jean. 2011.
Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider. New York: Putnam.
In
Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider, Jean Fritz follows a theme that ran through all aspects of Hamilton's life - that of outsider. Born on the island of St. Kitts in the West Indies, Hamilton was often accused of being an interloper in Revolutionary American politics. Once committed to the ideal of a free and independent America, however, his "outsider" status never dampened his enthusiasm for his country. Fritz recounts his many contributions to the revolutionary cause and to these United States.
Besides serving in the Revolutionary War, he was also an aide-de-camp to then General George Washington. He served as a New York delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He was the architect of the Bank of the United States and the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury. As a New Jerseyan, I knew that his life ended in Weehawken in the famous duel with Aaron Burr, but I did not know that he founded the city of Paterson. He was convinced that American should and would be more than an agrarian society. He chose Paterson because its large waterfall could be used to generate electricity for business. (In 2009,
Paterson's Great Falls became a National Park Historic District)
In short, using her customary exactitude, Fritz tells a complete story of a complex man, using only facts and period quotations in this small, slim, 144-page volume. Archaic language ("poltroon") or long-abandoned customs (anonymous leaflet writing) are explained fully in the author's Notes. Historical reproductions (credited) are scattered throughout. A Bibliography and extensive Index complete the book.
This would make an excellent choice for a school biography report, much better than the formulaic series that students often choose.
The United States Treasury website features a page on Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury, and architect of the National Bank and the US Mint.Just an aside - Jean Fritz is 95 years old! How wonderful that she's still working and producing great children's books.
Today's Nonfiction Monday roundup is at
Telling the Kids the Truth: Writing Nonfiction for Children. Please
Today, the international community has its hands full with a host of global challenges; from rising numbers of refugees, international terrorism, nuclear weapons proliferation, to pandemics, cyber-attacks, organized crime, drug trafficking, and others. Where do such global challenges originate? Two primary sources are rogue states like North Korea or Iran and failed states like Afghanistan or Somalia.
The post Failed versus rogue states: which are worse? appeared first on OUPblog.
Martial adores sexy boys. He craves their kisses, all the more so if they play hard to get, "… buffed amber, a fire yellow-green with Eastern incense… That, Diadumenus, is how your kisses smell, you cruel boy. What if you gave me all of them, without holding back?" (3.65) and "I only want struggling kisses – kisses I’ve seized; I get more of a kick out of your bad temper than your good looks…" (5.46).
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