Monday, May 14, 2007

TV Worth Watching, Part III

I shouldn't actually say that, given that I've not yet seen the show. But tonight (May 14), many PBS stations will be broadcasting an episode of the series, The American Experience about Alexander Hamilton. If they do as good a job on Hamilton as they did on Abigail and John Adams, this could be interesting.

Hamilton had much to do with the early economy of this nation. His imprint is large on the banking system. I hope to be able to watch the show. If I do, I'll try to post a review tomorrow. Is anyone else planning on watching?

***Follow-up***
I did watch it and I must say I was disappointed. I watched the full two hours. (I will admit to nodding off.) I remember only a couple of hastily passing references to Hamilton and the First Bank of the United States. And while there was discussion about his desire to expand the standing army, there was no mention (again that I caught) about his plan to use that army to march south into the Spanish possessions (particularly Mexico) in the event of war with Napoleonic France.

I remember significantly more time spent on his affair and how his opponents used it against him than on the Bank. I would have thought the First Bank of the U.S. (even as a failure) would be viewed as a more significant event. However, I went to the American Experience web site this morning and found, under the Teacher's Guide materials on the Creation of the National Bank. I watched the video clip and it was very informative (I don't remember seeing any of this). And there is a link to materials produced by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. I hope this material is of assistance.

Posted by TSchilling at 8:53 AM Comments (0)

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