14. Alexander Hamilton was accused of secretly being a British agent
One of the foremost Founding Fathers, imparting an indelible legacy upon the fledgling United States as one of the chief authors and promoters of the Constitution as well as serving as the founder and architect of the federal financial system, Alexander Hamilton was nevertheless one of the most controversial public figures of his day. An advocate of stronger, more centralized government, leading the charge against the weak Articles of Confederation and co-authoring fifty-one of the eighty-five installments of The Federalist Papers in support of its replacement, Hamilton quickly became the face of the federal government in a nation broadly opposed to regulatory oversight.
Although later turning on Adams and the Federalists during the election of 1800 – a sign of the unlikeliness of the conspiracy theory at hand – during the formative years of the United States it was persistently whispered that Hamilton was secretly a British spy or sympathizer. A ludicrous suggestion against the former military aide to General Washington during the Revolutionary War, Hamilton’s political opinions were recurrently used against him as evidence, including his brief support for a monarchy during the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. Nevertheless, supporting a strong federal government or national bank is insufficient proof to justify maligning one of the foremost patriots and devotees of the American nation.