Did a Alexander Hamilton ever oppose The Bill of Rights?

Answer 1

- Not at AllNo, he did not. In Henry Mark Holzer's book, "Sweet Land of Liberty", he outlines the reason.

The reason is that he believed that the enumeration of rights would exclude others not mentioned, subjecting the unwritten rights to government predation - James Madison believed otherwise, and the assurance that the rights enumerated in the Constitution were not exhaustive was Amendment IX of the American Constitution.

"[t]he enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

Of course, this was at odds with Hamilton's position as First Secretary of the Treasury, pro-Bank of America (the US's first central bank), strong central government Federalist position later on, but that's another story. =D

Answer 2

Short answer: Yes

Long answer - Because the constitution was intended to be a limit on government powers, the founders were divided over whether our rights should be defined, fearing that the government would use that same list to limit rights only to those contained on the list, which would directly conflict with the concept that our rights come not from government, birthright or a document, but from the Creator.

Answer 3

In Henry Mark Holzer's book, "Sweet Land of Liberty", he outlines the reason.

The reason is that he believed that the enumeration of rights would exclude others not mentioned, subjecting the unwritten rights to government predation - James Madison believed otherwise, and the assurance that the rights enumerated in the Constitution were not exhaustive was Amendment IX of the American Constitution.

"[t]he enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

Answer 4

Yes, he did.

The reason is that he believed that the enumeration of rights would exclude others not mentioned, subjecting the unwritten rights to government predation - James Madison believed otherwise, and the assurance that the rights enumerated in the Constitution were not exhaustive was Amendment IX of the American Constitution.