Question

analyze ideas and events
annotate: mark the references
to time in paragraph 11.
analyze: how did the men’s view
of the french revolution change
over time? cite text evidence in
your response.
while hamilton considered jefferson a credulous apologist for the
gory excesses of the french revolution. descended from french
huguenots⁸ on his mother’s side, hamilton was fluent in french and
had served as washington’s liaison with the marquis de lafayette
and other french aristocrats who had rallied to the continental
army. the french revolution immediately struck him as a bloody
affair, governed by rigid, utopian thinking. on oct. 6, 1789, he
wrote a remarkable letter to lafayette, explaining his “foreboding
of ill” about the future course of events in paris. he cited the
“vehement character” of the french people and the “rurics of their
“philosophic politicians,” who wished to transform “human nature.
hamilton believed that jefferson while in paris “drank deeply of the
french philosophy in religion, in science, in politics.” indeed, more
than a decade passed before jefferson fully realized one so much as a
grotesque travesty.⁹
12 if jefferson and hamilton define opposite ends of the political
spectrum in u.s. history and seem to exist in perpetual conflict,
the two men shared certain traits, feeding a mutual cynicism. each
scorned the other as excessively ambitious. in his secret diary, or
anas, jefferson recorded a story of hamilton praising julius caesar
as the greatest man in history. (the tale sounds dubious, as hamilton
invariably used caesar as shorthand for “an evil tyrant.”) hamilton
repuid the favor. in one essay he likened jefferson to “caesar coyly
refusing the proffered diadem¹⁰ and rejecting the trappings, but
“tenaciously grasping the substance of imperial domination.”
13 similarly, both men hid a potent hedonism¹¹ behind an
intellectual facade. for all their outward differences, the two
politicians stumbled into the two great sex scandals of the early
republic. in 1797 a journalist named james t. callender exposed
that hamilton, while treasury secretary and a married man with
four children, had entered into a yearlong affair with grifter maria
reynolds, who was 23 when it began. in a 95 - page pamphlet,
hamilton confessed to the affair at what many regarded as inordinate
length. he wished to show that the money he had paid to reynolds’
husband james had been for the favor of her company and not for
illicit speculation in treasury securities, as the jeffersonians had
alleged. forever after, the jeffersonians tagged hamilton as “the
amorous treasury secretary” and mocked his pretensions to superior
morality.
8 french huguenots: a group of protestants who were persecuted in catholic france,
many fled to north america.
9 travesty: an unreasonable distortion or parody
10 caesar... diadem”: in shakespeare’s julius caesar, the roman general refuses a crown
three times, but his critics believe he really wanted to be named king.
11 hedonism: the belief that personal pleasure is the primary goal in life.
facade
(fə - sād) n. false or misleading
appearance.

Explanation:

1. Early view: Initially, Hamilton had ties to French aristocrats like Lafayette who supported the revolution, and he saw it through a Utopian lens (1789 letter to Lafayette referencing "foreboding of ill" but engaging with the revolution's ideals).
2. Later view: Within a decade, Hamilton deemed the French Revolution a "grotesque travesty" that was not a worthy sequel to the American Revolution, and he considered Jefferson a "credulous apologist" for its excesses.

Answer:

Hamilton's view of the French Revolution shifted from cautious optimism to outright condemnation, while Jefferson remained a supporter (though the text focuses on Hamilton's shift).