ABSTRACT
Of all the Founders of the American Republic, the reputation of Alexander Hamilton has fluctuated the most according to the political fashions of the day. Hamilton is best described as a philosophically inclined political practitioner. In Frisch's words, "he was not a theoretical politician who stressed principles to the detriment of experience, though he believed firmly in political principles". The United States would be the first regime based on principle rather than force, fraud, or accident. There are various statements of the principles upon which the American regime is founded, but of course the best known expression of those principles is found in the Declaration of Independence. Like Jefferson, Hamilton did not hesitate to proclaim the right to revolt against such illegitimate governments. For Hamilton, resistance by the American colonies to the various acts of Parliament was justified by that body's usurpation of the rights of the people.
