Alexander Hamilton. American soldier, politician, economist, writer and lawyer. He participated in the American War of Independence and was secretary and close friend of George Washington . He took part in the drafting of the United States Constitution .
Biographical summary
He was born on Nevis Island , Lesser Antilles, on January 11, 1757 , the son of a poor Scottish itinerant merchant of aristocratic descent and a mother of French and English origin, the daughter of a landowner. In 1766 , after his father moved his family elsewhere in the Leewards, to St. Coix in the Danish Virgin Islands, he returned to St. Kitts, while his two sons remained on St. Croix.
Education
His mother, who opened a small store to support herself, and a member of the Presbyterian clergy, provided Hamilton with a basic education, in which he learned to speak French fluently. By the time of his mother’s death in 1768 , he had become an apprentice clerk in a mercantile establishment, whose owner became one of his benefactors. Recognizing his ambition and superior intelligence, his benefactors set up a fund for his education.
In 1772 , with letters of introduction, Hamilton traveled to New York . The benefactors he met there arranged for him to attend Barber’s Academy in Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), New Jersey. During this time, he stayed at the home of William Livingston , who was one day to be a signer of the Constitution.
In 1773 , Hamilton entered King’s College (later Columbia College and University ) in New York City, but the Revolution interrupted his studies.
Marriage
In 1780 he married Elizabeth Schuyler of New York, whose family was wealthy and politically powerful; they had eight children.
Participation in the American War of Independence
At the outbreak of the American War of Independence he became a captain of artillery and, after his participation in the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton and Princeton, George Washington appointed him his aide-de-camp and personal secretary. In 1781 he resigned from these positions and continued in the army as head of a regiment of New York light infantry , with which he participated in the Battle of Yorktown .
Political life
Signature of Alexander Hamilton.
After the war he studied law and became a lawyer. He actively participated in the events that took place to organize and establish the new nation. He was one of the main creators of the Federalist Party, the first political party in the history of the United States, which he led until his death.
In 1789 President Washington appointed him Secretary of the Treasury (Minister of Finance) and from that position, which he held until 1795 , he organized banking and established the first bank of the United States .
He pursued a protectionist policy, and by taxing strong liquor, he sparked the Whiskey War in 1794. He later returned to practice law in New York.
Hamilton’s policies soon brought him into conflict with both Jefferson and Madison. Their disputes over his pro-trade economic program, his sympathies with Great Britain, and his opposition to the principles and excesses of the French Revolution helped to form America’s first party system . This set Hamilton and the Federalists against Jefferson, Madison, and the Democratic-Republicans.
During most of Washington’s administration, Hamilton’s ideas predominated with the President, especially after 1793, when Jefferson left the government. In 1795 family and financial needs forced Hamilton to resign from the Treasury Department and resume his law practice in New York City. This was excepted for an appointment as Inspector General of the Armed Forces ( 1798-1800 ) during the undeclared war with France .
While his standing in the law increased, Hamilton continued to exert a powerful impact in New York and national politics. Always opposed to fellow Federalist John Adams , he attempted to prevent his election to the presidency in 1796. When that failed, he continued to use his influence secretly in Adams’s cabinet. The bad blood between the two men became public knowledge in 1800 when Hamilton denounced Adams in a letter that was published through the efforts of the Democratic-Republicans.
In 1802 Hamilton and his family moved to The Grange, a country house he had built in a rural part of Manhattan not far north of New York City. But the expenses involved and investments in northern land speculation seriously diminished his finances.
Meanwhile, when Jefferson and Aaron Burr were busy with the electoral votes in 1899 , Hamilton gave Jefferson valuable support. In 1804 , when Burr was running for governor of New York, Hamilton again managed to defeat him.
Death
In 1804 , Aaron Burr, the nation’s former vice president, offended by remarks he believed originated with Hamilton, challenged him to a duel, which took place in what is now Weehawken, New Jersey, on July 11. Mortally wounded, Hamilton died on July 12 and was buried in Trinity Cemetery in New York City .