Lauren Brady September 10, 2016 Period 4 What would be the impact on America today if Alexander Hamilton had lived?

          The following video answered the question: how would America be different if Alexander Hamilton had not been shot by Aaron Burr? It approached several aspects of today's society and of historical issues that Hamilton could have handled better than other politicians. First, Thomas Jefferson made mistakes that Hamilton would have avoided. Jefferson tried to stop the impending war with Britain by stopping commerce. This upended businesses all over the country and caused business owners to riot. If Hamilton had lived, he would have run for president against Madison, and probably would have won. With a Hamilton Administration, the War of 1812 would have been a decisive victory against the British. Hamilton had much more military experience than Madison, so instead of the defeats the America suffered, we would have overwhelmingly won the war, probably also claiming much territory in Canada. Another topic addressed was slavery. Hamilton hated slavery and would have made an amendment to the Constitution that would have gradually abolished it, thus avoiding a civil war and the struggling race relations that resulted from it to present times. So if Hamilton had won, America would not even be the same shape it is today because of territories he would have won in Canada during the War of 1812, and one of the most sensitive issues: race relations, would not exist because Hamilton would have handled slavery much more quickly and with no lasting impacts like the Civil War had.

          I thought that this video was very interesting. It was eye opening to see how one person could have avoided so much of the damage in our country today, and even made it stronger than it currently is. Slavery is a deep scar that is barely healing even today. Hamilton's plan to abolish it (gradually, so there was no surprise to slave owners, thus creating no unrest) would have saved our country a million men during a bloody civil war. So much of our news covers police shootings, riots, and other times when race relations were poor. What would America look like if that was not an issue? What would the presidential election look like? In this election season, it is important to ruminate upon our choices, and Hamilton proves a good example of how important one president really is, and how each one leaves their mark forever, for good or for bad.


Source: http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/10/05/counterfactual-files-what-if-alexander-hamilton-lived-thomas-fleming-jql.cnn/video/playlists/the-counterfactual-files/