342 Quotes by Ron Chernow

The president was running out of room to maneuver as the country backed away from further federal interference in the South. The outcry over Louisiana began to ring down the final curtain on Reconstruction. Southern whites increasingly substituted the word “Redemption” – a restoration of white rule – for the hated term “Reconstruction.

They profess to aim only at a reform of the constitution and of certain abuses in the public administration, but an abolition of debts public and private and a new division of property are strongly suspected in contemplation.

The thing with all the Founding Fathers, one of the most common words they used was 'posterity.' They were constantly referring to posterity.

Reconstruction is the great black hole that remains to be filled. Even experts on the Civil War don't really understand its full significance.

Every time I wrote fiction, I was discouraged, and every time I wrote nonfiction, I was encouraged.

Strange as it may seem, George Washington's life has now been so minutely documented that we know far more about him than did his own friends, family, and contemporaries.

Hamilton was young, dashing, and romantic. He lent himself perfectly to be the star of a musical.

I'm sure there are many more people who can identify with failure and hardship in life than with the success of an Alexander Hamilton or a John D. Rockefeller.

In many ways, the North won the Civil War militarily and then lost the peace. You know, a group of writers, included many Confederate generals, began a school of thought called the Lost Cause in which they began to romanticize the Confederacy.