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=__**Alexander Hamilton**__= Alexander Hamilton was an important Founding Father who helped to turn the United States into a world power. He was a soldier and aide de camp of George Washington during the American Revolution, the first Secretary of the Treasury, and a leader in the Federalist Party, of which George Washington was a member. Although Hamilton was never a President of the United States, he had an enormous impact on its direction and future.

Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11th, in Charlestown, the capital city on the island of Nevis in the Caribbean. At the time, it was a part of the British controlled West Indies. He was born out of wedlock to Rachel Faucette Buck and James Hamilton. Interestingly, there is some conflict about whether Alexander was born in 1755 or 1757, but most scholars use 1757 as his birth year. Alexander's mom, Rachel, had been married once before and had a son. She was unhappy in this marriage and left her husband and then met James Hamilton. Rachel and James had two sons, of which Alexander was the younger. His brothers name w as James Jr. Because Alexander's parents weren't legally married, Alexander was not allowed to attend the church school on the island, so he received limited individual tutoring in a private school as well as reading voraciously from the 34 books his family had in the home. These books included classic Greek and Roman texts. Eventually, James abandoned Alexander and his mother and brother. Alexander's mother supported the family by owning a small store in Christansted, Nevis. Suddenly, on February 19,1768, she contracted a severe fever and died, leaving Hamilton an orphan. After her death, her first husband, who she never officially divorced, claimed her estate and took the few valuables she had. Alexander was essentially left poor and without parents at the age of 11 (or 13).

To earn money, Alexander went to work as a clerk at a local firm which traded goods to New England. During this time, he and his brother were adopted by a cousin named Peter Lytton, but eventually Lytton committed suicide. When this happened, the brothers were separated. James went on to become a carpenter, while Alexander continued working in the merchant and trade business. The man that Hamilton worked for, Thomas Stevens, took an interest in him immediately. Stevens had a son, Edward, who became very close to Alexander. Many noted how much they looked alike, and shared the same interests. Some believe that Thomas Stevens was actually Alexander's birth father (not James Hamilton). Although he continued working as a clerk, he remained an avid reader, developed a love for writing, and began to want to leave the small island he was living on. He wrote a letter that became published in a local newspaper about the devastation a recent hurricane had on his town on August 30,1772. The essay impressed his community so much, they collected money to send him to the colonies in North America (still under British control) to be formally educated.

As a 15 year old, Hamilton arrived in Boston, and then moved to New Jersey to attend Elizabethtown Academy. While there, he became close with an influential founding father, William Livingston. Hamilton applied to attend the College of New Jersey (now Princeton), but was denied admittance. He also applied at King's College (now Columbia) and was accepted. He went to college as a 16 year old in 1774 and while there, began to write about the Patriot causes. He spoke out about and wrote against British taxes in the colonies. In 1775, after the Battle of Bunker Hill, Hamilton joined the New York volunteer militia company. For awhile, he continued to study in college and serve in the militia, but as more and more of the battles moved into New York and New Jersey, Hamilton found himself moving very quickly up the ranks of the military. Hamilton was invited to become an aide to Nathanael Greene and Henry Knox, but he declined this. Eventually, Hamilton was asked to be an aide for General George Washington as a Lieutenant Colonel and could not refuse this opportunity. Throughout the war, Hamilton and Washington became very close and Washington's trusted Hamilton very much.On December 14, 1780, Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler. She was the daughter of a very wealthy and prominent New York landowner, Philip Schuyler.Late in the war, Hamilton was seeking action, as opposed to the boring jobs that Washington gave him in writing letters and delivering them. Begrudgingly, Washington gave Hamilton command of a New York Light Infantry battalion during the siege of Yorktown. Hamilton led his group with fixed bayonets into the redoubt and successfully took over. This helped to win the battle of Yorktown.

After the war, Hamilton became involved in the Continental Congress and also got involved in national politics throughout the implementation of the Articles of Confederation. While serving there, he became convinced that the Federal Government was not strong enough and that the Articles needed to be seriously revised. He retired from Congress in 1783 and began to work as a lawyer in New York. He also helped found the Bank of New York in 1784, which is now the oldest bank in existence in the US. He helped organize the Annapolis convention in 1786 which led to the revision of the Constitution through the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Hamilton was selected by the state of New York to serve at the Constitutional Convention. Interestingly, although Hamilton had a lot of strong ideas about the way our government should work, the other New York delegates disagreed with him. So often, they were able to overrule him. At the end of the Convention, he was the only signer from New York. He didn't think it was perfect, but it was much better than the Articles of Confederation. After the convention ended, Hamilton played a very important role in trying to get the Constitution ratified by the states. He wrote 51 of 85 published essays now known as the Federalist papers. These essays were very influential and even today, they are referenced by judges, lawyers, and historians as important primary sources that interpret the constitution and its meanings.

When George Washington was president, he named him as the Secretary of the Treasury on September 11, 1789. He served for 6 years, resigning his post in January 1795. He left because of growing frustrations with other members of Washington's Cabinet which included Thomas Jefferson and feeling as if he had accomplished all he could. One of his accomplishments during his tenure as Secretary of Treasury involved his plan to assume all of the state debts into the national debt and then postpone payments over a longer period of time. This was controversial, especially since some states had already paid off their debts. Many of the national debts were monies owed to Continental soldiers. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were solidly against this plan. Eventually, the three men had a secret dinner party in which Jefferson and Madison agreed to supporting assumption of debts in exchange for the new national capital (which would become Washington DC), being created on a plot of land in the south. One of the lasting results of this issue was the creation of two political parties: The Federalists with Hamilton's supporters on one side, and the Democratic Republicans with Jefferson and Madison on the other.

Also during his time as Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton created the United States Mint, the first national bank, and a system of tariffs, duties, taxes to help promote industry and manufacturing. One of the ways in which Hamilton wanted the US to create income was through an excise tax which became known as the Whiskey Tax. There was strong opposition to this tax in western Pennsylvania where farmers felt that the tax was unfair to small farms while helped large producers of whiskey at an advantage. (Ironically, George Washington was one of the largest Whiskey Distillers in the US at the time). As the Whiskey rebels began to riot, burn down tax collectors homes, and threaten the lives of tax collectors, Hamilton accompanied George Washington and the federal army to western Pennsylvania in a show of force to stop the rebellion. There were more soldiers in western PA than there were ever in one place during the Revolution. The insurrection ended without bloodshed, but it marked a moment in which the US army was used to stop Americans from protesting their government.

One of the ways in which Hamilton differed from Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic Republicans was his "allegiance" to the British way of doing things. Jefferson sympathized more with the Revolution occurring in France at the time. During Washington's presidency, the French and British were at war with one another and both sides had tried to lure the US into supporting them. Many in America felt we had an obligation to support the French due to their overwhelming support during the American Revolution. However, Britain was our largest trade partner, making us tied economically to the British. Washington, smartly, chose to stay as neutral as possible. Hamilton, of course, wanted to further support the British. Jefferson, who had served as a diplomat in France, wanted to support the French. This rift in Washington's cabinet became too much to handle. In 1794, President Washington sent John Jay to Britain to attempt to negotiate with Britain and the result was the controversial Jay Treaty which barely passed through Congress. Hamilton was a proponent of the Jay Treaty and gathered a lot of support in Congress to help get it passed. In 1795, Alexander Hamilton decided to step down from his post as Secretary of the Treasury.

After Hamilton left his post, he began to practice law in New York city but remained a close friend and advisor to President Washington. When John Adams became President in 1796, Hamilton was reluctantly given the job of major general of the army after Washington refused the post. (he could no longer leave Mt. Vernon) At a time where war with France seemed inevitable, Hamilton was given the job by someone who did not particularly care for him much. John Adams felt that Hamilton was manipulative and sneaky and called him overly ambitious. The only reason Hamilton was given the job, was out of respect for General Washington, who hand selected him to fill the post. While serving in this post, Hamilton was upset because of the slowness of Congress to create the necessary funds to support the army. Hamilton convinced then Secretary of the Treasury, Oliver Walcott, to create a tax that was very similar to the Stamp Act from the pre-revolutionary era. This tax would tax homes, not land. This tax, because of its inconsistent and confusing way of being implemented, was resisted most famously during the Fries Rebellion in southeastern PA. (It began in QUAKERTOWN)

During the election of 1800, Hamilton played a crucial role in John Adams' defeat and Thomas Jefferson's election. Hamilton did not like either candidate and their political ideas. Behind the scenes, he endorsed other candidates such as South Carolina's Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. He wrote a pamphlet called Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq. President of the United States, which was highly critical of Adams. This hurt Adams re-election campaign and split the Federalist vote. This meant that Jefferson would be elected as President. However, Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, had tied for electoral votes and this meant that the US House of Representatives was to cast the tie breaking vote determining who should become President. Hamilton disliked both men but eventually convinced followers in the US House to support Jefferson, making him the President of the United States in 1801. Hamilton felt that Burr was a liar and dangerous. When it became known that Burr would not be asked to run for Vice President in 1804, Hamilton raised a campaign against Burr to keep him from becoming Governor of New York State.

Soon after Burr was defeated by Morgan Lewis for governor of New York, Aaron Burr engaged in an series of letters with Hamilton known as Affairs of Honor. These affairs would lead to a duel in which Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton. On the morning of July 11, 1804, Hamilton was shot in the side on the river banks of Weehawken, New Jersey. Ironically, this site was the same dueling site in which Hamilton's eldest son, Phillip, had been killed three years earlier. There is much debate about what happened at the duel, but we do know that Hamilton was ferried back to New York city and taken to the home of his friend William Bayard Jr. Family and friends came to visit him. The following afternoon, July 12, 1804, Hamilton died at what is now [|80-82 Jane street]. Hamilton was eulogized by Gouvernor Morris and was buried in the Trinity Churchyard in lower Manhattan.

Hamilton's widow, Elizabeth, lived another 50 years and died in Washington DC in 1854. Although he famously cheated on her in 1791 in the first sex scandal in American history, he referred to her as the best of wives, the best of women. Eliza spent much of her life helping widows and orphans and helped found New York City's first private orphanage. Alexander and Elizabeth had 8 children, including two named Phillip. The first Phillip died in a duel in 1801. The second Phillip was born after the first Phillip had died. Their other children were named Angelica, Alexander, James Alexander, John Church, William Stephen, and Eliza.

For more about Alexander Hamilton Overcoming Adversity: The Childhood of Alexander Hamilton PBS- American Experience: Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton Exhibition

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