Quotes from Ron Chernow

He was a much less clever monopolist than his mentor.

We have abundant reason to rejoice that, in this land, the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition," President Washington wrote to one Baltimore church.26 "Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause.

At times Jacky wrote about King's College as if it were a swank resort staffed with servile employees hired to wait upon him, assuring his mother that "there has nothing been omitted by my good friend Doctor Cooper which was necessary to my contentment in this place.

Shaped by a childhood of uncertainty, he aspired to be self-sufficient in business

his massive shadow dominated his son's life.

These intimate conversations with myself, I'm sure, had a great influence on my life. I was afraid I could not stand my prosperity, and tried to teach myself not to get puffed up with any foolish notions.

His faculties stayed intact until about fifteen minutes before the end. Then, at 2:00 P.M. on Thursday, July 12, 1804, thirty-one hours after the duel, forty-nine-year-old Alexander Hamilton died gently, quietly, almost noiselessly.

Another explanation is that while he was persistent, he was also extremely slow; as at school, some people thought him a rather dim-witted dolt who would never rise in the world, and he had to prove himself to naysayers.

He is affable to the point of cordiality.

In 1752, John Barbot, a young Nevis lawyer, and Matthew Mills, a wealthy planter from St. Kitts, were bickering over a land deal when Mills lashed out at Barbot as "an impertinent puppy"—the sort of fighting words that prompted duels.

This treasured gift retained a secret meaning for Eliza, for it had been a tacit gesture of solidarity from Washington when her husband was ensnared in the first major sex scandal in American history. The

By one account, a dispute arose as to whether John would pay rent at the new house.

Some states, such as Massachusetts and South Carolina, struggled with heavy debts and were glad to be relieved by the central government. Others, such as Virginia and North Carolina, had settled most of their debts and saw no reason to help. Such differences threatened to explode the brittle consensus that had been so arduous to reach at the Constitutional Convention.

In early July 1777, Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York fell to the British, prompting King George III to clap his hands and exclaim, "I have beat them! Beat all the Americans." It was a potential calamity for the patriots, since it opened a corridor for General John Burgoyne and his invading army from Canada to push south to New York City, slicing the rebel army in half and isolating New England—an overarching objective of British war policy.

One day the king asked West whether Washington would be head of the army or head of state when the war ended. When West replied that Washington's sole ambition was to return to his estate, the thunderstruck king declared, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.

the visit was somewhat unsatisfactory.

In other words, the Sherman Antitrust Act wouldn't be used against U.S.

Would a treaty ratified by Congress trump state law? Could the judiciary override the legislature? And would America function as a true country or a loose federation of states? Hamilton left no doubt that states should bow to a central government: "It must be conceded that the legislature of one state cannot repeal the law of the United States.

Perhaps if Rockefeller had made himself available at the beginning of his career as he now did at the end, he might not have been sitting in the witness stand.

Congress lacked many of the prerequisites of an authentic government—an army, a currency, taxing power—yet it evolved in pell-mell fashion into the first government of the United States.

Most revealing is how the letter ends—with Jack portraying himself and Fanny as common victims of Pierpont.

He presumably felt that, having built the structure, he had earned the right to occupy it free of rent

Orders to handle commodity trades poured in almost faster than he could handle them.

The meeting dealt a blow to Rockefeller and Watson, for the railroads agreed to abrogate the SIC contract, end rebates and drawbacks, and institute uniform rates for all shippers.