A few Christmases ago my family thought it advisable to expand my reading diet. Left to my own devices, the scientific and philosophic are my staples. To wit, Christmas morn, along with the ties and underwear, I was presented with Ron Chernow's 800-plus page biography, Alexander Hamilton (excellent book, by the way).
For various reasons -- some justified, some not -- Hamilton has been eclipsed by Jefferson, Washington, Adams and other more celebrated founding fathers. Yet it was Hamilton who was most responsible for making an infant democracy grow legs and walk. We live in the practical, messy democracy of Hamilton's prose far more than the idealistic democracy of Jefferson's poetry. In his ascent from a wretched childhood, Hamilton's early life followed a plot line worthy of Charles Dickens. In his fall from the political pinnacle and ultimate bitter end, he was Shakespearian in tragedy. His religious journey was more gradual, but no less eventful. At a time when religion's place in the public sphere is being actively and passionately debated, Hamilton's personal beliefs as well as his counsel on religion's role in a democratic society are not only interesting but potentially instructive.
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