Tom Holland asserts that Benjamin Franklin deserves his place on the $100 bill as a monumental figure in the history of the United States.

“I think he completely does. I'm going to lay my cards on the table. I think Franklin is an incredibly impressive man, but he's also, I think, a very appealing man.”

Conan O'Brien argues that George Washington was a crucial, indispensable leader whose dullness was a beneficial quality for the early republic.

“But what you can't take away from Washington is he, as has been said about him, he was the indispensable man. Uh he was very courageous, and uh he he kept that thing going.”

The founders successfully established a government because they prioritized getting property owners to support and invest in the new system.

“one of the things that they are going to um uh to focus on after this period in the articles confederation is the need for property interests to buy into the government that is literally you need to have the people who have property get behind your government or it's not going to succeed”

Hamilton believed that corruption in government was inevitable, and thus required a system that channels human self-interest in ways that serve the public good.

“In his mind, corruption was acceptable because that's one of the things that inspired people, uh particularly people with power, to do things in one way or another. And you just had to have a system that helped channel that in one way or another.”