Alexander Hamilton, American Patriot

Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1757 – July 12, 1804) was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher. The chief of staff to General George Washington during the American Revolution, he was a leader of nationalist forces calling for a new Constitution. Hamilton was one of America’s first Constitutional lawyers, and wrote half of the Federalist Papers, a primary source for Constitutional interpretation. He was more influential than the other three members of Washington’s Cabinet, and the financial expert; the Federalist Party was formed in support of his policies.

Born and raised in the Caribbean, Hamilton attended King’s College (now Columbia University) in New York. At the start of the American Revolutionary War, he organized an artillery company and was chosen as its captain. Hamilton became the senior aide-de-camp and confidant to General George Washington, the American commander-in-chief. After the war, Hamilton was elected to the Continental Congress from New York, but he resigned to practice law and to found the Bank of New York. He served in the New York Legislature, and he was the only New Yorker who signed the U.S. Constitution. In the new government under President Washington, Hamilton became Secretary of the Treasury. An admirer of British political systems, Hamilton was a nationalist who emphasized strong central government and used the implied powers of the Constitution to fund the national debt, assume state debts, and create the government-owned Bank of the United States; he paid for it all with a tariff on imports and a highly controversial whiskey tax.

Soon after the gubernatorial election in New York—in which Morgan Lewis, greatly assisted by Hamilton, defeated Aaron Burr—the Albany Register cited Hamilton’s opposition to Burr and alleged that Hamilton expressed “a still more despicable opinion” of the Vice President at an upstate New York dinner party. Burr, sensing an attack on his honor, demanded an apology. Hamilton refused on the grounds that he could not recall the instance. Following an exchange of three testy letters, and despite the attempts of friends to avert a confrontation, a duel was nevertheless scheduled for July 11, 1804, along the west bank of the Hudson River on a rocky ledge in Weehawken, New Jersey, a common dueling site at which Hamilton’s eldest son, Philip, had been killed three years earlier. At dawn, the duel began, and Vice President Aaron Burr shot Hamilton. Hamilton’s shot broke a tree branch directly above Burr’s head. The paralyzed Hamilton, who knew himself to have been mortally wounded, was ferried back to New York.[78] After final visits from his family and friends and considerable suffering, Hamilton died on the following afternoon, July 12, 1804.

Excerpted from and continued on: Wikipedia

Alexander Hamilton is considered to be one of our more controversial Founders. His policies and his disagreements with Jefferson and Madison are still discussed today. There is much more to learn about Hamilton, beginning with the informative Wikipedia article referenced above.