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Keep Hamilton on the Ten

© Brian Tubbs

Twenty years ago, President Ronald Wilson Reagan boldly predicted that the philosophy of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin would be consigned to the "ash heap of history." Today, with victory in the Cold War having been achieved, Representative J.D. Hayworth (R-Arizona) wishes to toss another historical figure to the flames. With H.R. 4528, the President Ronald Reagan $10 Bill Act, Hayworth seeks to send not a communist to the abyss, but rather one of our most important Founding Fathers, the principal architect of American capitalism.

As of July 26, Hayworth's bill, which will replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill with the likeness of President Ronald Reagan, has 24 co-sponsors, a number that continues to grow. Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has confirmed that he will support similar legislation in the U.S. Senate. While alternative suggestions have been made, the President Ronald Reagan $10 Bill Act has the greatest momentum.

The conservative activist at the center of this proposal is Grover Norquist, a driving force behind adding Reagan's name to numerous landmarks across the country. According to Norquist's Reagan Legacy Project, there are 55 known dedications to Ronald Reagan in the United States, including our newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC.

By contrast, there are very few such tributes to the nation's first Treasury Secretary. In fact, Hamilton's image on the $10 is, for all intents and purposes, the only national honor currently bestowed on him. According to Norquist, Hamilton was a "nice guy and all, but he was never President." This dismissal of Hamilton is incredible. Never mind Norquist's apparent implication that Presidents have a greater claim to national recognition than non-Presidents, the fact is that Alexander Hamilton was more than just a "nice guy."

Alexander Hamilton was a Revolutionary War hero and trusted aide to General George Washington. He helped organize the Constitutional Convention and co-authored The Federalist Papers. As President Washington's Treasury Secretary, Hamilton laid the foundation for the first and most successful free market economy in the history of the world.

Hamilton also founded the Federalist Party, whose essential platform of free market consumerism, aggressive industrialism, and expanded trade continues to define American domestic policy. Federalists were also among the first to oppose slavery in this country. New York's first abolitionist society was co-founded by none other than Alexander Hamilton. It is no coincidence that the abolitionist movement of the mid-19th century and the Republican Party we have today can trace their origins to Hamilton's Federalist Party.

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