Alexander Hamilton

1) His Biography:

James Hamilton, a Scottish trader from St. Christopher, and Rachel Fawcett welcomed Alexander Hamilton into the world at Charlestown, Nevis, in the West Indies on January 11, 1757 (or 1755). Doctor and planter Huguenot was Rachel’s father. She had been married to and divorced from a Danish businessman on St. Croix when she was very young. The court forbade her from getting married again after her divorce.

In the West Indies, but not elsewhere, the marriage to James Hamilton was regarded as socially acceptable. Two sons were born into the union, but less than ten years later they were no longer together. On St. Croix, Rachel and her boys resided while being supported by her relatives. In 1768, she passed away. The boys were essentially orphaned before they were even teenagers, despite the fact that their father lived until 1799.

Hamilton started working as a clerk in a general store when he was 12 years old, but the young man had high aspirations. He was a talented writer in both French and English. A hurricane devastated the West Indies in 1772. A subscription fund was established to send the potential young thinker to North America for a formal education after Hamilton’s letter about the terrible storm was published in the Royal Danish American Gazette.

Hamilton enrolled at King’s College in 1773. (Now Columbia). He demonstrated his command of political matters between the British and American governments even as a young man in a number of anonymous pamphlets that were so insightful, they were credited to John Jay. Only 17 years old at the time.

He stopped attending college in 1775 and organised a volunteer military unit. Hamilton was appointed Captain of the New York Provincial Company of Artillery on March 14, 1776. Nathanael Greene observed that he performed his duty with artillery with remarkable skill and judgement. He was offered a position on Lord Stirling’s staff, which he turned down. He then resumed his career as an artilleryman, serving at Long Island, Harlem Heights, White Plains, and Trenton and Princeton during the New Jersey campaign.

Washington was aware of Hamilton’s exceptional literary talent as well as his capacity for leadership. On March 1st, 1777, Hamilton was appointed as his aide-de-camp and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. At the time, Hamilton was just twenty years old, but he had already accomplished a lot. Together with Washington and the Continental Army, Hamilton spent the winter of 1777–1778 at Valley Forge. Brigadier General Horatio Gates made a failed attempt to implicate Hamilton in the Conway Cabal during this winter.

Alexander Hamilton wed Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of Revolutionary War commander Philip Schuyler and Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler, on December 14, 1780. The Rensselaers and the Schuylers were both illustrious and rich New York families. It was a joyful union that gave birth to eight kids.

On February 16, 1781, Hamilton and Washington got into a fight, which permanently damaged their relationship. Reconciliation efforts were unsuccessful. Hamilton was granted command of a battalion of Lafayette’s Division in Moses Hazen’s Brigade a few months later, in July. At Yorktown, he oversaw a successful assault that contributed to the last American victory there. After a few more years in the military, he was promoted to Colonel on September 30, 1783. By the end of the year, he had departed the military. Hamilton was chosen to serve as the state of New York’s representative at the Congress of the Confederation in July 1782. In 1783, he announced his resignation from Congress and opened a law firm. He established the Bank of New York in 1784.

With John Jay and James Madison, he co-authored the Federalist Papers, which argued for a much more powerful central government than the one established by the Articles of Confederation. He also helped find and lead the Federalist political party. He continued to have an impact on American politics. In 1787, the Articles were superseded by the Constitution, which was largely the work of Hamilton. In his capacity as George Washington’s first Secretary of the Treasury (1789–1795), he essentially created the US’ monetary system.

Hamilton started a covert correspondence with British agent Major George Beckwith in 1789. (who had been involved with Benedict Arnold in his treason years earlier). Although Hamilton, unlike Arnold, did not betray his country in exchange for money, his acts were nevertheless dishonest and misleading even though he thought they were in the best interests of the nation.

The apparent goal of Hamilton’s actions was to influence U.S. policy in the direction he envisioned, overshadowing the ideas of some of his contemporaries, most notably Thomas Jefferson, who was addressed by Beckwith as “7.” Hamilton also purposefully misled President Washington about the conversations he had with the British agent.

The Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson, opposed the Federalists. The presidential election of 1796 had contests from both parties, but the process was considerably different from what it is today. A vice presidential running partner was not chosen by a candidate to run for president. Voters instead cast two ballots, each for a different man. Even if they were from different political parties, the victor was elected president and the loser, vice president. Due to the likelihood that the same two candidates would receive the two votes of each elector from each party, a tie was highly possible.

To avoid a tie, the parties made arrangements for every elector to cast one of their ballots for the party’s top candidate and, with the exception of a few, to cast their second vote for the party’s second choice. However, there was dissent within the Federalist party as to who their preferred candidate was. Other Federalists intended to vote to elect John Adams as president and Thomas Pinckney as vice president.

Hamilton advised certain electors to vote for Jefferson and Pinckney instead of Adams and Pinckney in an effort to prevent John Adams from becoming president, but not because he supported Jefferson in either position. In order for Pinckney to win the most votes and Adams to come in second, he planned to divert enough votes from Adams to Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson became president, John Adams served as vice president, and Thomas Pinckney received no support in the end due to the failure of the scheme.

When war with France looked imminent in July 1798, Hamilton was appointed Major General and went on to serve for nearly two years, even if conflict was avoided. John Adams was running for reelection in 1800 after winning the election in 1796 despite Hamilton’s interference. Once more, Hamilton plotted to defeat John Adams and promote Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, the brother of Thomas Pinckney. Hamilton even went so far as to publish a pamphlet titled Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq., President of the United States, which was a harsh criticism of Adams.

Even though his only goal in distributing the pamphlet to fellow Federalists was to elect Pinckney and demote Adams to the vice presidency, it flopped even more spectacularly than his 1796 plan. The Democratic-Republicans were given a copy, and they published it. Adams’ reputation suffered, and in the election, Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied for first place.

The House of Representatives broke the tie. In order to defeat Burr, a member of his own party, Hamilton used his influence to elect Jefferson, the leader of the opposition party and a man with whom he had frequently publicly disagreed. Four years later, when Burr ran for governor of New York, he once more assisted in the campaign’s failure.

Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr had been close for many years, but after fifteen years of Hamilton thwarting all of Burr’s political ambitions, Burr was enraged and yearning for retribution. The last straw was a series of letters written by Hamilton and published in the Albany Register expressing his opposition to Burr, as well as reports of even more virulent criticisms of Burr’s character that were allegedly made during a dinner party.

Burr ultimately demanded a fight with Hamilton. Hamilton was fatally wounded on July 11, 1804, and at the age of 47, he passed on the next day in excruciating pain. The graveyard of Trinity Church in New York City, where Horatio Gates and John Peter Zenger were also laid to rest, is where Alexander Hamilton’s bones are interred. Since the debut of the Broadway smash Hamilton, Hamilton’s burial has been the cemetery’s most visited tourist destination.

2) Main Work:

The Federalist Papers:

The Federalist Papers, a collection of essays that described the fundamental ideas and precepts of the U.S. Constitution, were mostly written by Alexander Hamilton, who is best remembered as the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. These articles have been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court as a reliable source for the intentions of the Founding Fathers in instances concerning constitutional interpretation ever since the country was founded.

3) His contribution to American Independence:

In 1776, Hamilton received a commission in the Continental Army, where he attracted the attention and confidence of General George Washington, who appointed him to his staff. Hamilton utilised his extraordinary writing skills during the Revolutionary War by composing some of Washington’s most important orders and letters to the Continental Congress and generals. He also achieved military distinction for his successful charge against British forces at the Battle of Yorktown.

4) His role as the Head of Treasury:

Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804), a well-known financier and former military adviser to George Washington, was appointed the first Secretary of the Treasury upon the establishment of the federal government in 1789. As a result, he became the designer of the Department’s organisational structure. Hamilton fought often with Albert Gallatin, then a Congressman, and Thomas Jefferson, then secretary of state, about how much authority the Department of the Treasury should be given. Hamilton wanted a powerful, centrally managed Treasury. In addition to promoting the nation’s economic development, he created a Treasury Department for the purpose of collecting and allocating public funds.

When Hamilton took office, he had the full repayment of the war debt as his top priority due to the disorganised treasury that was heavily burdened by the debt from the Revolutionary War. He declared, “The debt of the United States was the price of liberty,” and in 1790 and 1791 he implemented a revenue structure centred on excise and customs taxes. Hamilton’s criticism of the debt contributed to winning over the trust and respect of other countries.

He unveiled plans for the 1791-founded First Bank of the United States, which was intended to serve as the Treasury Department’s financial representative. The Bank aided the Government in its financial dealings and acted as a depository for public funds. Paper money was produced by The First Bank and used to settle federal debts and pay taxes.

Hamilton also unveiled designs for a US mint. Despite his desire for the Mint to be an integral part of the Treasury, he was defeated by Jefferson, and it was formed in the State Department in 1792 instead. In 1797, the Mint became a separate organisation, and in 1873 it was given to the Treasury. With his office only paying $3500 a year, Hamilton resigned in 1795 due to personal financial strain and joined the New York bar. However, he continued to advise Oliver Wolcott, President Washington’s successor, on financial matters and maintained close contact with the latter. In 1804 Hamilton and Aaron Burr engaged in a duel over a political issue that resulted in Hamilton’s death.

5) Burr–Hamilton duel:

On the morning of July 11, 1804, Aaron Burr, the vice president of the United States, and Alexander Hamilton, the first and former secretary of the Treasury, engaged in combat in Weehawken, New Jersey. The fierce rivalry between the two men, who rose to prominence as politicians in postcolonial America, culminated in the duel. Burr killed Hamilton in the duel while Hamilton fired onto a branch of a tree above and behind Burr’s head. After being returned across the Hudson River, Hamilton died on the next day in New York.

The Federalist Party’s declined in internal American politics and became weak as a result of Hamilton’s passing. Burr, who was demonised for killing Hamilton, never held another high post when his term as vice president came to an end in 1805, thereby ending his political career.

6) His Legacy in Economic Policy:

How to handle the financial upheaval brought on by the American Revolution presented a significant challenge for the first federal administration. States owed a lot of money for fighting. Runaway inflation was present. The 1780s were a bleak time economically in almost all respects. One of the main causes of the crisis that led to the new Constitution’s stronger central government was the economy.

Alexander Hamilton, a gifted soldier who had fought beside George Washington during the Revolutionary War, was chosen to take on the responsibility of managing federal economic policy as the treasury secretary. Hamilton is an intriguing person whose drive led to great success as a self-made guy. He was raised by his shopkeeper single mother in the West Indies, where he was born. He then served as an apprentice for a major commercial company. From these humble beginnings, Hamilton would go on to lead the early national United States as the leading proponent of a modern capitalist economy.

Hamilton’s true legacy is his work in building and ensuring the success of the newly independent United States. As a key author of the Federalist Papers arguing in favor of the U.S. Constitution, he was a driving force behind its ratification. As resident Washington’s first treasury secretary, Hamilton advocated for a national banking system, established the U.S. Mint and a system of tariffs and international trade agreements, and crafted monetary policies that assured financial security for the new nation.