THE Quote of My Vacation

Snarling Enemies. My vacation reading was Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton (fairly titled Alexander Hamilton). One of the remarkable things about the book--and about the period 1790-1810 (at least)--is the venomous hatred among our nation's  founding fathers and mothers. Who knew that Jefferson was a scurrilous gossip?

So it was no surprise to read what President John Adams, who blamed Hamilton for almost everything that went wrong in his administration, said when he learned that Hamilton had died as a result of his duel with Aaron Burr:

"No one wished to get rid of Hamilton in that way."