Hamilton wanted to lead the electorate and provide expert opinion instead of consulting popular opinion. He took tough, uncompromising stands and gloried in abstruse ideas in a political culture that pined for greater simplicity. Alexander Hamilton triumphed as a doer and thinker, not as a leader of the average voter. He was simply too unashamedly brainy to appeal to the masses. Fisher Ames observed of Hamilton that the common people don't want leaders 'whom they see elevated by nature and education so far above their heads.

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About Ron Chernow

Ron Chernow was a contemporary American writer. Ronald Chernow is an American writer, journalist, and biographer. He has written bestselling historical non-fiction biographies. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Politics — Governance, civic duty, and the structures of power

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