“Intuitively Great”

Alexander Hamilton: Youth to Maturity, 1755-1788, by Broadus Mitchell. 675 pp. New York: The Macmillan Company. $8.75 This first of two volumes is a first-rate biography of Alexander Hamilton through New York’s ratification of the Constitution. Of course, one need not agree with Dr. Mitchell that Hamilton “was fitted to approve much of the fiscal counsel of Lord Keynes,” or that he would favor “national planning” as current advocates conceive it. These interpretations are in the foreword. The book itself is as free from bias as anyone could wish.

Along with other historians, the author has accepted 1755 as the year of Hamilton’s birth, instead of the long-established date of 1757, recognized by Hamilton and his descendants; and this on the basis of a single document in Danish, not necessarily authoritative, to which Hamilton’s age was not germane. Any child of five knows his name and age, and certainly Hamilton knew his.

JW

About the Author

J. Harvie Williams

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Alexander Hamilton: Youth to Maturity, 1755-1788, by Broadus Mitchell. 675 pp. New York: The Macmillan Company. $8.75 This first of two volumes is a first-rate biography of Alexander Hamilton through New York’s ratification of the Constitution. Of course, one need not agree with Dr. Mitchell that Hamilton “was fitted to approve much of the fiscal counsel of Lord Keynes,” or that he would favor “national planning” as current advocates conceive it. These interpretations are in the foreword. The book itself is as free from bias as anyone could wish.

Along with other historians, the author has accepted 1755 as the year of Hamilton’s birth, instead of the long-established date of 1757, recognized by Hamilton and his descendants; and this on the basis of a single document in Danish, not necessarily authoritative, to which Hamilton’s age was not germane. Any child of five knows his name and age, and certainly Hamilton knew his.