Hamilton, Alexander
1755–1804

Hamilton was the founders' strongest advocate for federal power, banking regulation, manufacturing, urban-commercial pragmatism, and pro-immigration (he himself arrived in NYC at 17 as a Caribbean immigrant); his Federalist Papers are the definitive constitutional defense of energetic federal government. He spent his career warning against demagogues who would exploit popular sentiment against institutions — most famously in his 1804 letters opposing Aaron Burr, calling Burr 'a dangerous man, and one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government.' Paxton's populist-demagogic mode is exactly what Hamilton warned against; the anti-immigration position is incoherent with Hamilton's biography; the personal-attack campaign style would horrify the man who died in a duel triggered by exactly such attacks. Talarico's strong federal economic policy, pro-trade restoration, pro-immigration framework, anti-faction approach, infrastructure investment, and Hamiltonian banking-regulation align well with Hamilton's actual record. He drops some points on anti-billionaire framing — Hamilton was the founders' most explicit defender of moneyed-class economic dynamism as essential to American power.