Sept. 8, 2025\u2014The Alexander Hamilton Awareness (AHA) Society Facebook site today published an interview with AHA member and public historian Nancy Spannaus, in which she elaborated on the relevance of her latest book, From Subject to Citizen: What Americans Need to Know about Their Revolution<\/em>, to the current situation in the United States. Special emphasis, of course, was given to the role of Alexander Hamilton. The original interview can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society was founded in 2011, and\u00a0 is dedicated to serving as an active resource for all to access factual, well-researched information on the Founding Era, delivered in a professional, non-partisan manner. Through a variety of educational initiatives, the AHA Society aims to be a catalyst in inspiring more people to learn about Alexander Hamilton and apply lessons from his life to their own.<\/p>\n Spannaus has published two previous books focused on the significance of Alexander Hamilton\u2019s economic perspective: Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics (2019), <\/em>and Defeating Slavery: Hamilton\u2019s American System Showed the Way (2023)<\/em>. For more information on these books and Spannaus\u2019 writings, see the Nancy\u2019s Books<\/a> feature on her blog, americansystemnow.com. Copies can be ordered by\u00a0 clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n The full interview text is reproduced below.<\/p>\n What does your book show about the early revolutionary mindset before independence?<\/strong><\/p>\n While there were many areas of conflict between the colonies and Great Britain over the first 120 years or so, I emphasize that the turning point toward an outright break came with the Seven Years War. From1760 to 1775, revolutionary fervor grew, as British-American colonists saw their \u201crights of Englishmen\u201d trampled on. I review what they read and were thinking about in the press and pamphlets at the time \u2013 it\u2019s fascinating. To understand the process, however, you have to understand that the War for Independence, and the American Revolution, were not the same thing.<\/p>\n How did Hamilton\u2019s vision in 1774-74 set him apart from his peers in imagining America\u2019s economic future?<\/strong><\/p>\n Alexander Hamilton was not the only American revolutionary who emphasized the economic reasons for declaring independence, but he was unique in promoting \u2013 in the pamphlets he wrote before<\/strong> the shooting war broke out \u2013 the vision of an economically independent nation. In his Vindication of the Continental Congress (1774) and The Farmer Refuted )1775) he described how Americans could utilize their own rich resources to be able to do so. My detailed discussion of these documents is a real eye-opener.<\/p>\n You quote his phrase \u201cTo the Future Grandeur and Glory of America.\u201d How does this sentiment capture both the mood of the Revolution and Hamilton\u2019s unique perspective?<\/strong><\/p>\n When Hamilton put forward his first proposals for our industrialization and economic independence, the Revolutionary movement was embroiled in fierce debate over whether the colonies would be crushed by Great Britain if they implemented non-exportation and non-importation. Hamilton\u2019s grasp of economics led him to confidence that America could not only survive, but thrive. It was a hard sell, which he continued to work on for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n Compared with Jefferson or Adams, how was Hamilton\u2019s definition of independence more tied to economic power than political declarations?<\/strong><\/p>\n The contrast between Jefferson and Hamilton on the concept of independence is stark, and full of irony. By opposing Hamilton\u2019s manufacturing perspective, Jefferson was effectively maintaining our dependence on Great Britain, even as he attacked Hamilton for allegedly being \u201cpro-British.\u201d When people characterize Hamilton as pro-British,\u201d they ignore the fact that his economics aimed to undercut Britain\u2019s aggressive demand that other countries leave manufacturing to them, thus making them less than free.<\/p>\n How do you situate Hamilton vis-\u00e0-vis the Declaration of Independence?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think he believed in the basic tenets of that document \u2013 man\u2019s God-given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and governments based on man\u2019s consent. See his most poetic statement of 1775: \u201cThe sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchment, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.\u201d Hamilton did, however, believe that a declaration of rights was inadequate for forming a government: for that, you needed to situate those rights within the rights of society: it\u2019s the difference between natural law and natural rights.<\/p>\n What role did Hamilton play in embedding economic strength into the Constitution?<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the 22 articles which comprise my book is entitled \u201cOur Constitutional Commitment to Economic Progress.\u201d There I emphasize the Constitution\u2019s establishment of the \u201cgeneral welfare\u201d as a major objective, as well as the specific measures of Article I, Section 8 which point us toward economic development. Hamilton was involved in the final crafting of the Constitution as a member of the Committee of Style, which shaped the final document. He then shaped our financial system as Treasury Secretary, in a manner which created a sound credit system, and the basis for supporting economic growth.<\/p>\n Could you explain how your book contrasts the Confederate Constitution with the framework Hamilton defended?<\/strong><\/p>\n My husband did a study of the difference a long time ago. What he discovered is that the discrepancy didn\u2019t simply lie with the stance on slavery ( The Confederate constitution banned the banning of slavery). Along with that provision was a set of prohibitions against Federal government support for industry, infrastructure, and the general welfare. The Confederate Preamble also differed significantly by eliminating the aims of forming a \u201cmore perfect Union\u201d (\u201ca permanent federal government,\u201d instead), and of \u201cpromoting the general Welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s the short answer; I refer people to the book for more.<\/p>\n How central was the phrase \u201cGeneral Welfare\u201d to Hamilton\u2019s constitutional thinking?<\/strong><\/p>\n As you can tell by my last two answers, VERY CENTRAL. Hamilton, like Washington, was committed to building a nation which would hold together \u2013 which meant it had to prosper together, or it would fall apart. He was constantly aware of the danger of that, right up to the moment of his death. The concept of the \u201cgeneral welfare\u201d can also be rendered as the \u201ccommon good,\u201d and I do have a favorite (and to many people, shocking) quote from Hamilton on that question. It comes from his Opinion on the Constitutionality of the National Bank (February 1791), where he is arguing against Jefferson\u2019s view that that institution was not \u201cnecessary,\u201d because we might survive as a nation without it.\u00a0 Hamilton wrote: \u201cThis restrictive interpretation of the word necessary is also contrary this sound maxim of construction \u2013 namely, that the powers contained in a constitution of government, especially those which concern the general administration of the affairs of a country, its finances, trade, defence & ought to be construed liberally, in advancement of the public good.\u201d<\/p>\n In your view, did Hamilton envision that Constitution as an engine of progress more than a safeguard of liberty?<\/strong><\/p>\n I do not think he would have separated them. Neither one can be sustained for a long time without the other, in my view, and I think Hamilton would agree.\u00a0 This territory is what I covered in my first self-published book, Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics<\/em>, back in 2019. Interestingly, the Kirkus<\/em> reviewer at the time wrote that the book was a \u201cthoughtful, well-written argument for Alexander Hamilton\u2019s financial system as a guard against tyranny.\u201d That surprised me a bit at the time, but I think it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n What do you describe as the \u201cChallenge\u201d after the Constitution, and where does Hamilton\u2019s presence still loom?<\/strong><\/p>\n This book on the Revolution begins and ends with the idea of challenging today\u2019s citizens to get into the thinking of those who sacrificed their lives to build this nation. In my experience, many too few Americans take seriously enough what it means to go from being a \u201csubject\u201d to a \u201ccitizen\u201d of a republic. Alexander Hamilton was a leading thinker in helping our nation make this transition, because political economy ( the intersection of politics and economics) is so important in shaping public life, but you\u2019ll find more than him in this book.<\/p>\n How might Hamilton\u2019s vision help us think about the ongoing challenges of balancing liberty and economic progress today?<\/strong><\/p>\n Let me answer this one by calling your attention to an article in the book \u201cFreedom, Not Libertarianism.\u201d While that article is confined to the subject of the Declaration of Independence, I think that the concept here would apply well to Hamilton. If you understand that the welfare of the individual is not opposed to that of the society as a whole, but improves with it, then you have a guidepost for navigating conflicts which may come up between individual freedoms, and progress for the country as a whole. \u00a0We have tilted so far toward empowering individual rights, rather than the welfare of society as a whole, that when you bring up the Constitution, many people think of it as a Bill of Rights.\u00a0 Those were additions, folks! They work in the context of the whole. I could say a lot more about that, and I wrote about it in the slavery context at some length (See Chapter 15, Slavery: America\u2019s Economic Cancer, in Defeating Slavery: Hamilton\u2019s American System Showed the Way<\/em>).<\/p>\n Do you see Hamilton as a prophet whose ideas will continue to resonate?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t see Hamilton as a prophet \u2013 although a visionary, yes. His ideas DID resonate and go into practice in some very important eras of our nation\u2019s history, especially those of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, and they are not dead, although dormant, today. But, for many reasons, I think it is Lincoln who can speak most directly to the kinds of conflicts over the Constitution and individual rights which we face today, and that\u2019s why I conclude this book with Lincoln\u2019s advice for saving our institutions. Lincoln does not mention Hamilton in this piece, but he was a true Hamiltonian, applying his principles in economy, and I suspect in law as well (both were lawyers, you\u2019ll recall).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Tags:<\/strong> AHA Society<\/a>, Alexander Hamilton<\/a>, American Revolution<\/a>, From Subject to Citizen<\/a>, Nancy Spannaus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sept. 8, 2025\u2014The Alexander Hamilton Awareness (AHA) Society Facebook site today published an interview with AHA member and public historian Nancy Spannaus, in which she elaborated on the relevance of her latest book, From Subject to Citizen: What Americans Need to Know about Their Revolution, to the current situation in the United States. Special emphasis, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":342948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12032],"tags":[48817,30695,4868,31406,3924,44216],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-342947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-history","tag-aha","tag-historian","tag-interviews","tag-nancy","tag-society","tag-spannaus"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"AHA](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/americansystemnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AHA-logo.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1){kind=logo}
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