Rating: 5 out of 5
There are two sentiments in this well-known piece which echo through the years — the first is of the national hero who yet manages to apologise for whatever he may have done wrong, and the second is of his eternal wish to be equal to every other person in his nation.
Yet, for the modern reader a lot of the pamphlet is barely understandable — who now has heard of the conflicts between the USA and France in the 1790’s? I have a good grounding at this point for I just read Hamilton’s biography and got the inspiration to investigate this piece, which is definitely worth doing — Just be prepared for some background reading. Yet, I’ll emphasise… “Though … I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors.” What a character!
