Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757[1]  – July 12, 1804) was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury.

As Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was the primary author of the economic policies of the George Washington Administration, especially the funding of the state debts by the Federal government(Dell D6400 battery), the establishment of a national bank, a system of tariffs, and friendly trade relations with Britain. He became the leader of the Federalist Party, created largely in support of his views, and was opposed by the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Hamilton served in the American Revolutionary War. At the start of the war, he organized an artillery company and was chosen as its captain(Dell HF674 battery). He later became the senior[2] aide-de-camp and confidant to General George Washington, the American commander-in-chief. He served again under Washington in the army raised to defeat the Whiskey Rebellion, a tax revolt of western farmers in 1794. In 1798, Hamilton called for mobilization against France after the XYZ Affair, and secured an appointment as commander of a new army, which he trained for a war(Dell N3010 battery).[3] However, the Quasi-War, although hard-fought at sea, was never officially declared. In the end, President John Adams found a diplomatic solution that avoided war.

Of illegitimate birth and raised in the West Indies, Hamilton was effectively orphaned at about the age of 11. Recognized for his abilities and talent, he came to North America for his education, sponsored by people from his community(Dell Inspiron N4010 battery). He attended King's College (now Columbia University). After the American Revolutionary War, Hamilton was elected to the Continental Congress from New York. He resigned to practice law, and founded the Bank of New York.

Hamilton was among those dissatisfied with the first national governance document, the Articles of Confederation. While serving in the New York Legislature, Hamilton was sent as a delegate to the Annapolis Convention in 1786 to revise the Articles(Dell INSPIRON 1100 battery), but it resulted in a call for a new constitution instead. He was one of New York's delegates at the Philadelphia Convention that drafted the new constitution in 1787, and was the only New Yorker who signed it. In support of ratification by the states for the new Constitution, Hamilton wrote many of the Federalist Papers, still an important source for Constitutional interpretation(Dell Inspiron 1200 battery).[4] In the new government under President George Washington, he was appointed the Secretary of the Treasury.[5] An admirer of British political systems, Hamilton was a nationalist who emphasized strong central government, and successfully argued that the implied powers of the Constitution could be used to fund the national debt, assume state debts(Dell Inspiron 1420 battery), and create the government-owned Bank of the United States. These programs were funded primarily by a tariff on imports and later also by a highly controversial excise tax on whiskey.

Embarrassed when an extra-marital affair with Maria Reynolds became public, Hamilton resigned from office in 1795 and returned to the practice of law in New York. However, he kept his hand in politics and was a powerful influence on the cabinet of President Adams (1797–1801) (Dell Inspiron 1464 battery). Hamilton's opposition to John Adams helped cause Adams' defeat in the 1800 elections. When Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied in the electoral college, Hamilton helped defeat his bitter personal enemy Burr and elect Jefferson as president. After opposing Adams, the candidate of his own party, Hamilton was left with few political friends(Dell Inspiron 1564 battery). In 1804, as the next presidential election approached, Hamilton again opposed the candidacy of Burr. Taking offense at some of Hamilton's comments, Burr challenged him to a duel and mortally wounded Hamilton, who died within days.[6]

Childhood in the Caribbean

Alexander Hamilton was born in Charlestown, the capital of the island of Nevis, in the Leeward Islands; Nevis was then one of the British West Indies. Hamilton was born out of wedlock to Rachel Faucette Buck(Dell Inspiron 1764 battery), a married woman of partial French Huguenot descent, and James A. Hamilton, the fourth son of the Scottish laird Alexander Hamilton of Grange, Ayrshire.[7]

The birthplace and early childhood home of Alexander Hamilton, in Nevis, West Indies

His mother moved with the infant Hamilton to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, then ruled by Denmark. It is not certain whether the year of Hamilton's birth was 1757 or 1755; most historical evidence after Hamilton's arrival in North America supports the idea that he was born in 1757(Dell Inspiron 1520 battery), and many historians had accepted this birth date. Hamilton's early life in the Caribbean was recorded in documents first published in Danish in 1930; this evidence has caused historians since then to opt for a birth year of 1755.[8] Hamilton listed his birth year as 1757 when he first arrived in the Thirteen Colonies. He celebrated his birthday on January 11. In later life, he tended to give his age only in round figures. Probate papers from St. Croix in 1768(Dell Inspiron 1521 battery), after the death of Hamilton's mother, list him as then 13 years old,[9] a date that would support a birth year of 1755. Historians have explained the different birth years by the following: If 1755 is correct, Hamilton may have been trying to appear younger than his college classmates, or perhaps wished to avoid standing out as older; on the other hand(Dell inspiron 1525 battery), if 1757 is correct, the probate document indicating a birth year of 1755 may have been in error, or Hamilton may have been attempting to pass as 13, in order to be more employable after his mother's death.[10]

Hamilton in his youth

Hamilton's mother had been married previously to Johann Michael Lavien of St. Croix, a much older merchant planter, who is described in some accounts as Danish-Jewish.[7][11] To escape this unhappy marriage(Dell inspiron 1526 battery), Rachel left her husband and first son, traveling to St. Kitts in 1750, where she met James Hamilton.[12] Hamilton and Rachel moved together to Rachel's birthplace, Nevis, where she had inherited property from her father.[8] Their two sons were James, Jr., and Alexander. Because Alexander Hamilton's parents were not legally married, the Church of England denied him membership and education in the church school(Dell Inspiron 1720 battery). Hamilton received "individual tutoring"[8] and classes in a private school led by a Jewish headmistress.[13] Hamilton supplemented his education with a family library of thirty-four books,[14] including Greek and Roman classics.

Hamilton's father James abandoned Rachel and their two sons, allegedly to "spar[e] [Rachel] a charge of bigamy . . . [after finding out that her first husband] intend[ed] to divorce her under Danish law on grounds of adultery and desertion(Dell Inspiron 2000 battery)."[7] Rachel supported her family in St. Croix by keeping a small store in Christiansted. She contracted a severe fever and died on February 19, 1768, 1:02 am, leaving Hamilton effectively orphaned. This may have had severe emotional consequences for him, even by the standards of an eighteenth-century childhood.[15] In probate court(Dell INSPIRON 2600 battery), Rachel's "first husband seized her estate"[7] and obtained the few valuables Rachel had owned, including some household silver. Many items were auctioned off, but a friend purchased the family books and returned them to the young Hamilton.[16]

Hamilton became a clerk at a local import-export firm, Beekman and Cruger, which traded with New England; he was left in charge of the firm for five months in 1771, while the owner was at sea(Dell INSPIRON 3800 battery). He and his older brother James were adopted briefly by a cousin, Peter Lytton, but when Lytton committed suicide, the brothers were separated.[17] James apprenticed with a local carpenter, while Alexander was adopted by a Nevis merchant, Thomas Stevens. Some evidence suggests that Stevens may have been Alexander Hamilton's biological father: his son, Edward Stevens, became a close friend of Hamilton(Dell INSPIRON 4000 battery). The two boys were described as looking much alike, were both fluent in French, and shared similar interests.[18]

Hamilton continued clerking, but he remained an avid reader, later developed an interest in writing, and began to desire a life outside the small island where he lived. He wrote an essay published in the Royal Danish-American Gazette, a detailed account of a hurricane that had devastated Christiansted on August 30, 1772(Dell Inspiron 5000 battery). The essay impressed community leaders, who collected a fund to send the young Hamilton to the North American colonies for his education.[19]

[edit]Education

Statue of Hamilton outside Hamilton Hall overlooking Hamilton Lawn at his alma mater, Columbia University in New York City

In the autumn of 1772, Hamilton arrived by way of Boston, Massachusetts, at Elizabethtown Academy, a grammar school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. In 1773 he studied with Francis Barber at Elizabethtown in preparation for college work(Dell INSPIRON 500M battery). He came under the influence of a leading intellectual and revolutionary, William Livingston, with whom he lived for a time at his new house, Liberty Hall.[20] Hamilton applied to the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), asking to be allowed to study at a quicker pace and complete his studies in a shorter time.[21] The college's Board of Trustees refused his request. (Dell INSPIRON 5100 battery) Hamilton made a similar request to King's College in New York City (now Columbia University), was accepted, and entered the college in late 1773 or early 1774.[23]

Hamilton Lawn separates Hamilton Hall and John Jay Hall at Columbia University

When the Church of England clergyman Samuel Seabury published a series of pamphlets promoting the Loyalist cause the following year, Hamilton responded with his first political writings(Dell INSPIRON 510M battery), "A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress" and "The Farmer Refuted". He published two additional pieces attacking the Quebec Act[24] as well as fourteen anonymous installments of "The Monitor" for Holt's New York Journal. Although Hamilton was a supporter of the Revolutionary cause at this prewar stage, he did not approve of mob reprisals against Loyalists(Dell INSPIRON 6000 battery). On May 10, 1775, Hamilton saved his college president Myles Cooper, a Loyalist, from an angry mob by speaking to the crowd long enough for Cooper to escape the danger.[25]

[edit]During the Revolutionary War

Alexander Hamilton in the Uniform of the New York Artillery by Alonzo Chappel (1828–1887)

[edit]Early military career

In 1775, after the first engagement of American troops with the British in Boston, Hamilton joined a New York volunteer militia company called the Hearts of Oak, which included other King's College students(Dell INSPIRON 600M battery). He drilled with the company, before classes, in the graveyard of nearby St. Paul's Chapel. Hamilton studied military history and tactics on his own and achieved the rank of lieutenant. Under fire from HMS Asia, he led a successful raid for British cannon in the Battery, the capture of which resulted in the Hearts of Oak becoming an artillery company thereafter(Dell Inspiron 6400 battery). Through his connections with influential New York patriots such as Alexander McDougall and John Jay, he raised the New York Provincial Company of Artillery of sixty men in 1776, and was elected captain. It took part in the campaign of 1776 around New York City, particularly at the Battle of White Plains; at the Battle of Trenton, it was stationed at the high point of town, the meeting of the present Warren and Broad Streets, to keep the Hessians pinned in the Trenton Barracks. (Dell INSPIRON 7000 battery)

[edit]Washington's staff

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, 1787

Hamilton was invited to become an aide to Nathanael Greene and to Henry Knox; however, he declined these invitations, believing his best chance for improving his station in life was glory on the battlefield. Hamilton eventually received an invitation he felt he could not refuse: to serve as Washington's aide, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.[27] Hamilton served for four years as Washington's chief of staff(Dell INSPIRON 700M battery). He handled letters to Congress, state governors, and the most powerful generals in the Continental Army; he drafted many of Washington's orders and letters at the latter's direction; he eventually issued orders from Washington over Hamilton's own signature.[2] Hamilton was involved in a wide variety of high-level duties, including intelligence, diplomacy(Dell Inspiron 710m battery), and negotiation with senior army officers as Washington's emissary.[28] The important duties with which he was entrusted attest to Washington's deep confidence in his abilities and character, then and afterward. At the points in their relationship when there was little personal attachment, there was still always a reciprocal confidence and respect(Dell INSPIRON 8200 battery).

During the war, Hamilton became close friends with several fellow officers. His letters to the Marquis de Lafayette[29] and to John Laurens, employing the sentimental literary conventions of the late eighteenth century and alluding to Greek history and mythology,[30] have been read as revealing a homosocial or perhaps homosexual relationship, but few historians agree. (Dell INSPIRON 8600 battery)

Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown by John Trumbull, oil on canvas, 1820

Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler on December 14, 1780. She was the daughter of Philip Schuyler, a general and wealthy landowner from one of the most prominent families in the state of New York. The marriage took place at Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York(Dell INSPIRON 9100 battery).

Hamilton was also extremely close to Eliza's older sister, Angelica, who eloped with John Barker Church, an Englishman who made a fortune in the American colonies during the Revolution. She returned with him to London after the war, where she later become a joint friend of Maria Cosway and Thomas Jefferson(Dell INSPIRON 9200 battery).

While on Washington's staff, Hamilton long sought command in active combat. As the war drew nearer to a close, he knew that opportunities for military glory were fading. In February 1781, Hamilton was mildly reprimanded by Washington, and used this as an excuse to resign his staff position. He immediately began to ask Washington and others for a field command. This continued until early July 1781(Dell INSPIRON 9300 battery), when Hamilton submitted a letter to Washington with his commission enclosed, "thus tacitly threatening to resign if he didn't get his desired command."[32]

On July 31, 1781, Washington relented and assigned Hamilton as commander of a New York light infantry battalion. In the planning for the assault on Yorktown, Hamilton was given command of three battalions, which were to fight in conjunction with French troops in taking Redoubts #9 and #10 of the British fortifications at Yorktown(Dell Inspiron 9400 battery). Hamilton and his battalions fought bravely and took Redoubt #10 with bayonets, as planned. The French also fought bravely, took heavy casualties, and successfully took Redoubt #9. This action forced the British surrender of an entire army at Yorktown, effectively ending major British military operations in North America.[33]

[edit]Hamilton enters Congress(Dell Inspiron E1505 battery)

After the Battle of Yorktown, Hamilton resigned his commission. He was elected in July 1782 to the Congress of the Confederation as a New York representative for the term beginning in November 1782.[34] Hamilton supported congressmen such as Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris, his assistant Gouverneur Morris (no relation), along with James Wilson and James Madison, to provide the Congress with the independent source of revenue it lacked under the Articles of Confederation(Dell Inspiron E1705 battery).

While on Washington's staff, Hamilton had become frustrated with the decentralized nature of the wartime Continental Congress, particularly its dependence upon the states for financial support. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had no power to collect taxes or to demand money from the states(Dell Inspiron Mini 9 battery). This lack of a stable source of funding had made it difficult for the Continental Army both to obtain its necessary provisions and to pay its soldiers. During the war, and for some time after, Congress obtained what funds it could from subsidies from the King of France, from aid requested from the several states (which were often unable or unwilling to contribute), and from European loans. (Dell Latitude D400 battery)

An amendment to the Articles had been proposed by Thomas Burke, in February 1781, to give Congress the power to collect a 5% impost, or duty on all imports, but this required ratification by all states; securing its passage as law proved impossible after it was rejected by Rhode Island in November 1782. Madison joined Hamilton in persuading Congress to send a delegation to persuade Rhode Island to change its mind(Dell STUDIO 1450 battery). Their report recommending the delegation argued the federal government needed not just some level of financial autonomy, but also the ability to make laws that superseded those of the individual states. Hamilton transmitted a letter arguing that Congress already had the power to tax, since it had the power to fix the sums due from the several states(Dell Vostro 1400 battery); but Virginia's rescission of its own ratification ended the Rhode Island negotiations.[36]

[edit]Congress and the Army

While Hamilton was in Congress, discontented soldiers began to pose a danger to the young United States. Most of the army was then posted at Newburgh, New York. Those in the army were paying for much of their own supplies, and they had not been paid in eight months. Furthermore, the Continental officers had been promised(Dell Vostro 1500 battery), in May 1778, after Valley Forge, a pension of half their pay when they were discharged.[37] It was at this time that a group of officers organized under the leadership of General Henry Knox sent a delegation to lobby Congress, led by Capt. Alexander MacDougall (see above). The officers had three demands: the Army's pay, their own pensions, and commutation of those pensions into a lump-sum payment(Dell XPS M1210 battery).

Several Congressmen, including Hamilton and the Morrises, attempted to use this Newburgh Conspiracy as leverage to secure independent support for funding for the federal government in Congress and from the states. They encouraged MacDougall to continue his aggressive approach, threatening unknown consequences if their demands were not met(Dell XPS M1330 battery), and defeated proposals that would have resolved the crisis without establishing general federal taxation: that the states assume the debt to the army, or that an impost be established dedicated to the sole purpose of paying that debt.[38] Hamilton suggested using the Army's claims to prevail upon the states for the proposed national funding system. (Dell XPS 1340 battery) The Morrises and Hamilton contacted Knox to suggest he and the officers defy civil authority, at least by not disbanding if the army were not satisfied; Hamilton wrote Washington to suggest that Hamilton covertly "take direction" of the officers' efforts to secure redress, to secure continental funding but keep the army within the limits of moderation.[40] Washington wrote Hamilton back, declining to introduce the army(Dell XPS M1530 battery);[41] after the crisis had ended, he warned of the dangers of using the army as leverage to gain support for the national funding plan.[42]

On March 15, Washington defused the Newburgh situation by giving a speech to the officers.[38] Congress ordered the Army officially disbanded in April 1783. In the same month, Congress passed a new measure for a twenty-five-year impost—which Hamilton voted against—(Dell XPS M170 battery) [43] that again required the consent of all the states; it also approved a commutation of the officers' pensions to five years of full pay. Rhode Island again opposed these provisions, and Hamilton's robust assertions of national prerogatives in his previous letter were widely held to be excessive.[44] The Continental Congress was never able to secure full ratification for back pay, pensions, or its own independent sources of funding(Dell XPS M1710 battery).

In June 1783, a different group of disgruntled soldiers from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, sent Congress a petition demanding their back pay. When they began to march toward Philadelphia, Congress charged Hamilton and two others with intercepting the mob.[45] Hamilton requested militia from Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council, but was turned down(Dell XPS M1730 battery). Hamilton instructed Assistant Secretary of War William Jackson to intercept the men. Jackson was unsuccessful. The mob arrived in Philadelphia, and the soldiers proceeded to harangue Congress for their pay. The President of Congress, John Dickinson, feared that the Pennsylvania state militia was unreliable, and refused its help. Hamilton argued that Congress ought to adjourn to Princeton, New Jersey(Dell XPS M2010 battery). Congress agreed, and relocated there.[46]

Frustrated with the weakness of the central government, Hamilton while in Princeton drafted a call to revise the Articles of Confederation. This resolution contained many features of the future US Constitution, including a strong federal government with the ability to collect taxes and raise an army. It also included the separation of powers into the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. (Dell Latitude E5400 battery)

[edit]Return to New York

Hamilton resigned from Congress, and in July 1783 was admitted to the New York Bar after several months of self-directed education.[48] He practiced law in New York City in partnership with Richard Harison. He specialized in defending Tories and British subjects, as in Rutgers v. Waddington, in which he defeated a claim for damages done to a brewery by the Englishmen who held it during the military occupation of New York(Dell Latitude E5500 battery). He pleaded for the Mayor's Court to interpret state law consistent with the 1783 Treaty of Paris which had ended the Revolutionary War.[49]

In 1784, he founded the Bank of New York, now the oldest ongoing banking organization in the United States. Hamilton was one of the men who restored King's College, which had been suspended since the Battle of Long Island in 1776 and severely damaged during the War, as Columbia College(Dell Latitude E6400 battery). His public career resumed when he attended the Annapolis Convention as a delegate in 1786. While there, he drafted its resolution for a constitutional convention, and in doing so brought his longtime desire to have a more powerful, more financially independent federal government one step closer to reality(Dell Latitude E6500 battery).

[edit]Constitution and Federalist Papers

Further information: Federalist Papers

Hamilton shortly after the American Revolution

In 1787, Hamilton served as assemblyman from New York County in the New York State Legislature and was the first delegate chosen to the Constitutional Convention. Even though Hamilton had been a leader in calling for a new Constitutional Convention, his direct influence at the Convention itself was quite limited. Governor George Clinton's faction in the New York legislature had chosen New York's other two delegates(Dell Inspiron Mini 12 battery), John Lansing and Robert Yates, and both of them opposed Hamilton's goal of a strong national government. Thus, whenever the other two members of the New York delegation were present, they decided New York's vote; and when they left the convention in protest, Hamilton remained but with no vote, since two representatives were required for any state to cast a vote(Dell XPS M140 battery).

Early in the Convention he made a speech proposing a President-for-Life; it had no effect upon the deliberations of the convention. He proposed to have an elected President and elected Senators who would serve for life, contingent upon "good behavior" and subject to removal for corruption or abuse; this idea contributed later to the hostile view of Hamilton as a monarchist sympathizer, held by James Madison. During the convention(Dell XPS 13 battery), Hamilton constructed a draft for the Constitution based on the convention debates, but he never presented it. This draft had most of the features of the actual Constitution, including such details as the three-fifths clause. In this draft, the Senate was to be elected in proportion to the population, being two-fifths the size of the House(Dell XPS 16 battery), and the President and Senators were to be elected through complex multistage elections, in which chosen electors would elect smaller bodies of electors; they would hold office for life, but were removable for misconduct. The President would have an absolute veto. The Supreme Court was to have immediate jurisdiction over all law suits involving the United States, and state governors were to be appointed by the federal government. (Dell XPS 1640 battery)

At the end of the Convention, Hamilton was still not content with the final form of the Constitution, but signed it anyway as a vast improvement over the Articles of Confederation, and urged his fellow delegates to do so also.[51] Since the other two members of the New York delegation, Lansing and Yates, had already withdrawn, Hamilton was the only New York signer to the United States Constitution(Dell XPS 1645 battery). He then took a highly active part in the successful campaign for the document's ratification in New York in 1788, which was a crucial step in its national ratification. Hamilton recruited John Jay and James Madison to write a series of essays defending the proposed Constitution, now known as the Federalist Papers, and made the largest contribution to that effort(Dell XPS 1647 battery), writing 51 of 85 essays published (Madison wrote 29, Jay only five). Hamilton's essays and arguments were influential in New York state, and elsewhere, during the debates over ratification. The Federalist Papers are more often cited than any other primary source by jurists, lawyers, historians, and political scientists as the major contemporary interpretation of the Constitution. (Dell Latitude 131L battery)

In 1788, Hamilton served yet another term in what proved to be the last session of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation. When the term of Hamilton's father-in-law Phillip Schuyler was up in 1791, elected in his place was the attorney general of New York, one Aaron Burr. Hamilton blamed Burr for this result, and ill characterizations of Burr appear in his correspondence thereafter(Dell Latitude C400 battery). The two men did work together from time to time thereafter on various projects, including Hamilton's army of 1798 and the Manhattan Water Company.[53]

[edit]Secretary of the Treasury

President George Washington appointed Hamilton as the first United States Secretary of the Treasury on September 11, 1789. He left office on the last day of January 1795. Much of the structure of the government of the United States was worked out in those five years(Dell Latitude C500 battery), beginning with the structure and function of the cabinet itself. Forrest McDonald argues that Hamilton saw his office, like that of the British First Lord of the Treasury, as the equivalent of a Prime Minister; Hamilton would oversee his colleagues under the elective reign of George Washington. Washington did request Hamilton's advice and assistance on matters outside the purview of the Treasury Department(Dell Latitude C510 battery).

In the next two years, Hamilton submitted five reports:

First Report on the Public Credit: Communicated to the House of Representatives, January 14, 1790.

Operations of the Act Laying Duties on Imports: Communicated to the House of Representatives, April 23, 1790.

Second Report on Public Credit – Report on a National Bank. Communicated to the House of Representatives, December 14, 1790.

Report on the Establishment of a Mint: Communicated to the House of Representatives, January 28, 1791(Dell Latitude C540 battery).

Report on Manufactures: Communicated to the House of Representatives, December 5, 1791.

[edit]Report on Public Credit

In the Report on Public Credit, the Secretary made a controversial proposal that would have the federal government assume state debts incurred during the Revolution.[54] This would give the federal government much more power by placing the country's most serious financial obligation in the hands of the federal government rather than the state governments(Dell Latitude C600 battery).

The primary criticism of the plan was from Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson[54] and Representative James Madison. Some states, such as Jefferson's Virginia, had paid almost half of their debts, and felt that their taxpayers should not be assessed again to bail out the less provident. They further argued that the plan passed beyond the scope of the new Constitutional government(Dell Latitude C610 battery).

Madison objected to Hamilton's proposal to lower the rate of interest and postpone payments on federal debt as not being payment in full; he also objected to the speculative profits being made. Much of the national debt was in the form of bonds issued to Continental veterans, in place of wages the Continental Congress did not have the money to pay. As the bonds continued to go unpaid(Dell Latitude C640 battery), many had been pawned for a small fraction of their value. Madison proposed to pay in full, but to divide payment between the original recipient and the present possessor. Others, such as Samuel Livermore of New Hampshire, wished to curb speculation, and reduce taxation, by paying only part of the bond. The disagreements between Madison and Hamilton extended to other proposals Hamilton made to Congress(Dell Latitude C800 battery), and drew in Jefferson when he returned from serving as minister to France. Hamilton's supporters became known as Federalists and Jefferson's as Republicans. As Madison put it:

"I deserted Colonel Hamilton, or rather Colonel H. deserted me; in a word, the divergence between us took place from his wishing to administration, or rather to administer the Government into what he thought it ought to be..." (Dell Latitude C810 battery)

Hamilton eventually secured passage of his assumption plan by striking a deal with Jefferson and Madison. Hamilton would use his influence to place the permanent national capital on the Potomac River, and Jefferson and Madison would encourage their friends to back Hamilton's assumption plan. In the end, Hamilton's assumption, together with his proposals for funding the debt(Dell Latitude C840 battery), overcame legislative opposition and narrowly passed the House on July 26, 1790.[56]

[edit]Founding the US Mint

Hamilton helped found the United States Mint; the first national bank; and an elaborate system of duties, tariffs, and excises. Within five years, the complete Hamiltonian program had replaced the chaotic financial system of the Confederation era with a modern apparatus that gave the new government financial stability and investors sufficient confidence to invest in government bonds(Dell Latitude CPI battery).

[edit]Revenue Cutter Service

Hamilton developed a "System of Cutters", forming the Revenue Cutter Service, (later combined with other government entities to form the United States Coast Guard). Coast Guard vessels are still referred to as "Cutters" today.

[edit]Sources of revenue

One of the principal sources of revenue Hamilton prevailed upon Congress to approve was an excise tax on whiskey. Strong opposition to the whiskey tax by cottage producers in remote, rural regions erupted into the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794(Dell Latitude CPX battery); in Western Pennsylvania and western Virginia, whiskey was the basic export product and was fundamental to the local economy. In response to the rebellion, believing compliance with the laws was vital to the establishment of federal authority, Hamilton accompanied to the rebellion's site President Washington, General Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee(Dell Latitude D410 battery), and more federal troops than were ever assembled in one place during the Revolution. This overwhelming display of force intimidated the leaders of the insurrection, ending the rebellion virtually without bloodshed.[57]

[edit]Manufacturing and industry

Statue of Hamilton by Franklin Simmons, overlooking the Great Falls of the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey, where Hamilton envisioned using the falls to power new factories(Dell Latitude D420 battery)

Hamilton's next report was his "Report on Manufactures". Congress shelved the report without much debate (except for Madison's objection to Hamilton's formulation of the General Welfare clause, which Hamilton construed liberally as a legal basis for his extensive programs). The Report has been often quoted by protectionists since. (Dell Latitude D430 battery)

In 1791, while still Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton worked in a private capacity to help found the Society for the Establishment of Useful Manufactures, a private corporation that would use the power of the Great Falls of the Passaic River in New Jersey to operate mills. Although the company did not succeed in its original purpose(Dell Latitude D500 battery), it leased the land around the falls to other mill ventures and continued to operate for over a century and a half.

[edit]Emergence of parties

During Hamilton's tenure as Treasury Secretary, political factions began to emerge. A Congressional caucus, led by James Madison and William Branch Giles, began as an opposition group to Hamilton's financial programs, and Thomas Jefferson joined this group when he returned from France. Hamilton and his allies began to call themselves Federalists(Dell Latitude D505 battery). The opposition group, now referred to as the Democratic-Republican Party, was then known by several names, including , Republicans,[59] republicans,[60] Jeffersonians, and Democrats.

The Federalists assembled a nationwide coalition to garner support for the Administration, including the expansive financial programs Hamilton had made Administration policy; the Democratic-Republicans built their own national coalition to oppose these Federalist programs(Dell Latitude D510 battery). Both sides gained the support of local political factions; each side developed its own partisan newspapers. Noah Webster, John Fenno, and eventually William Cobbett were prominent editors for the Federalists; Benjamin Franklin Bache and Philip Freneau edited major publications for the Democratic-Republicans(Dell Latitude D520 battery). Coverage by newspapers of both parties was characterized by frequent personal attacks and information of questionable veracity.

In 1801, Hamilton established a daily newspaper, the New York Evening Post under editor William Coleman. It is now known as the New York Post.[61]

[edit]French Revolutionary wars

When France and Britain went to war in early 1793, all four members of the Cabinet were consulted on what to do. They unanimously agreed to remain neutral, and both Hamilton and Jefferson were major architects in working out the specific provisions that maintained and enforced that neutrality. (Dell Latitude D600 battery)

However, during Hamilton's last year in office, policy toward Britain became a major point of contention between the two parties. Hamilton and the Federalists wished for more trade with Britain, which would provide more revenue from tariffs; the Democratic-Republicans preferred an embargo to compel Britain to respect the rights of the United States and give up the forts it still held on American soil in contravention to the Treaty of Paris. (Dell Latitude D610 battery)

To avoid war, Washington in late 1794 sent Chief Justice John Jay to negotiate with the British; Hamilton helped to draw up his instructions. The result was Jay's Treaty, which, as the State Department says, "addressed few US interests, and ultimately granted Britain additional rights".[64] The treaty was extremely unpopular(Dell Latitude D620 battery), and the Democratic-Republicans opposed it for its failure to redress previous grievances and for its failure to address British violations of American neutrality during the war.

Several European nations had formed a League of Armed Neutrality against incursions on their neutral rights; the Cabinet was also consulted on whether the United States should join it, and decided not to(Dell Latitude D630 battery). It kept that decision secret, but Hamilton revealed it in private to George Hammond, the British Minister to the United States, without telling Jay or anyone else. (His act remained unknown until Hammond's dispatches were read in the 1920s). This "amazing revelation" may have had limited effect on the negotiations; Jay did threaten to join the League at one point, but the British had other reasons not to view the League as a serious threat. (Dell Latitude D800 battery)

[edit]Affair

In 1791, Hamilton became involved in an affair with Maria Reynolds that badly damaged his reputation. Reynolds's complicit husband, James, blackmailed Hamilton for money by threatening to inform Hamilton's wife. When James Reynolds was arrested for counterfeiting, he contacted several prominent members of the Democratic-Republican Party(Dell Latitude D810 battery), most notably James Monroe and Aaron Burr, touting that he could expose a top-level official for corruption. Presuming that James Reynolds could implicate Hamilton in an abuse of his position in Washington's Cabinet, they interviewed Hamilton with their suspicions. Hamilton insisted he was innocent of any misconduct in public office, but admitted to an affair with Maria Reynolds(Dell Latitude D820 battery). Since this was not germane to Hamilton's conduct in office, Hamilton's interviewers did not publish about Reynolds. When rumors began spreading after his retirement, Hamilton published a confession of his affair, shocking his family and supporters by not merely confessing but also by inexplicably narrating the affair at an unexpected level of detail. This public revelation damaged Hamilton's reputation for the rest of his life(Dell Latitude D830 battery).

[edit]1796 presidential election

Hamilton's resignation as Secretary of the Treasury in 1795 did not remove him from public life. With the resumption of his law practice, he remained close to Washington as an advisor and friend. Hamilton influenced Washington in the composition of his Farewell Address; Washington and members of his Cabinet often consulted with him(Dell Latitude 2100 battery).

In the election of 1796, under the Constitution as it stood then, each of the presidential electors had two votes, which they were to cast for different men. The one who received most votes would become President, the second-most, Vice President. This system was not designed with the operation of parties in mind, as they had been thought disreputable and factious(Dell Latitude 2110 battery). The Federalists planned to deal with this by having all their Electors vote for John Adams, the Vice President, and all but a few for Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina (who was on his way home from being Minister to Spain, where he had negotiated a popular treaty); Jefferson chose Aaron Burr as his vice presidential running mate(Dell Latitude E4300 battery).

Adams resented Hamilton's influence with Washington and considered him overambitious and scandalous in his private life; Hamilton compared Adams unfavorably with Washington and thought him too emotionally unstable to be President. Hamilton took the election as an opportunity: he urged all the northern electors to vote for Adams and Pinckney, lest Jefferson get in(Dell Vostro 1310 battery); but he cooperated with Edward Rutledge to have South Carolina's electors vote for Jefferson and Pinckney. If all this worked, Pinckney would have more votes than Adams, Pinckney would become President, and Adams would remain Vice President; but it did not work. The Federalists found out about it (even the French minister to the United States knew), and northern Federalists voted for Adams but not for Pinckney(Dell Vostro 1320 battery), in sufficient numbers that Pinckney came in third and Jefferson became Vice President.[66] Adams resented the intrigue, since he felt his service to the nation was much more extensive than Pinckney's.[67]

[edit]Quasi-War

During the Quasi-War of 1798–1800, and with Washington's strong endorsement, Adams reluctantly appointed Hamilton a major general of the army (essentially placing him in command, since Washington could no longer leave Mt. Vernon) (Dell Vostro 1510 battery). If full-scale war broke out with France, Hamilton argued that the army should conquer the North American colonies of France's ally, Spain, bordering the United States.[68]

To fund this army, Hamilton had been writing incessantly to Oliver Wolcott, Jr., his successor at the Treasury; William Loughton Smith, of the House Ways and Means Committee; and Senator Theodore Sedgwick of Massachusetts. He directed them to pass a direct tax to fund the war. Smith resigned in July 1797, as Hamilton scolded him for slowness, and told Wolcott to tax houses instead of land. (Dell Vostro 1520 battery)

The eventual program included a Stamp Act like that of the British before the Revolution and other taxes on land, houses, and slaves, calculated at different rates in different states, and requiring difficult and intricate assessment of houses. This provoked resistance in southeastern Pennsylvania, led primarily by men who had marched with Washington against the Whiskey Rebellion, such as John Fries. (Dell Vostro 2510 battery)

Hamilton aided in all areas of the army's development, and officially served as the Senior Officer of the United States Army as a Major General from December 14, 1799, to June 15, 1800. The army was to guard against invasion from France. Hamilton also suggested that its strategy involve marching into the possessions of Spain, then allied with France, and potentially even taking Louisiana and Mexico(Dell Vostro 1014 battery). His correspondence further suggests that when he returned in military glory, he dreamed of setting up a properly energetic government, without any Jeffersonians. Adams, however, derailed all plans for war by opening negotiations with France.[71] Adams had also held it proper to retain the members of Washington's cabinet, except for cause; he found, in 1800 (after Washington's death) (Dell Inspiron 1410 battery), that they were obeying Hamilton rather than himself, and fired several of them.[72]

[edit]1800 presidential election

Statue of Hamilton in the United States Capitol rotunda

Main article: United States presidential election, 1800

In the 1800 election, Hamilton worked to defeat not only the rival Democratic-Republican candidates, but also his party's own nominee, John Adams.

In November 1799, the Alien and Sedition Acts had left one Democratic-Republican newspaper functioning in New York City; when the last one, the New Daily Advertiser, reprinted an article saying that Hamilton had attempted to purchase the Philadelphia Aurora and close it down(Dell Vostro 1014N battery), Hamilton had the publisher prosecuted for seditious libel, and the prosecution compelled Mr. Greenleaf to close it.[73]

Aaron Burr had won New York for Jefferson in May; Hamilton proposed a rerun of the election under different rules, with carefully drawn districts, each choosing an elector,[74] so that the Federalists would split the electoral vote of New York. John Jay, a Federalist, who had given up the Supreme Court to be Governor of New York(Dell Vostro 1015 battery), wrote on the back of the letter the words, "Proposing a measure for party purposes which it would not become me to adopt," and declined to reply.[75]

John Adams was running this time with Thomas Pinckney's elder brother Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Hamilton, however, toured New England, again urging northern electors to hold firm for this Pinckney, in the renewed hope of making Pinckney President; and he again intrigued in South Carolina(Dell Vostro 1015N battery). This time, the important reaction was from the Jeffersonian electors, all of whom voted both for Jefferson and Burr to ensure that no such deal would result in electing a Federalist. (Burr had received only one vote from Virginia in 1796.)

In September, Hamilton wrote a pamphlet called Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq. President of the United States that was highly critical of Adams, though it closed with a tepid endorsement. He mailed this to two hundred leading Federalists(Dell Inspiron 1088 battery); when a copy fell into the Democratic-Republicans' hands, they printed it. This hurt Adams's 1800 reelection campaign and split the Federalist Party, virtually assuring the victory of the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Jefferson, in the election of 1800; it destroyed Hamilton's position among the Federalists.[76]

On the Federalist side, Governor Arthur Fenner of Rhode Island denounced these "jockeying tricks" to make Pinckney President(Dell Inspiron 1088N battery), and one Rhode Island elector voted for Adams and Jay. Jefferson and Burr tied for first and second; Pinckney came in fourth.[77]

Jefferson had beaten Adams, but both he and his running mate, Aaron Burr, had received 73 votes in the Electoral College. With Jefferson and Burr tied, the United States House of Representatives had to choose between the two men. (As a result of this election, the Twelfth Amendment was proposed and ratified, adopting the method under which presidential elections are held today.) (Dell Vostro A840 battery) Several Federalists who opposed Jefferson supported Burr, and for the first 35 ballots, Jefferson was denied a majority. Before the 36th ballot, Hamilton threw his weight behind Jefferson, supporting the arrangement reached by James A. Bayard of Delaware, in which five Federalist Representatives from Maryland and Vermont abstained from voting, allowing those states' delegations to go for Jefferson(Dell Vostro A860 battery), ending the impasse and electing Jefferson President rather than Burr. Even though Hamilton did not like Jefferson and disagreed with him on many issues, he was quoted as saying, "At least Jefferson was honest." Hamilton felt that Burr was dangerous. Burr then became Vice President of the United States. When it became clear that he would not be asked to run again with Jefferson(Dell Vostro A860N battery), Burr sought the New York governorship in 1804 with Federalist support, against the Jeffersonian Morgan Lewis, but was defeated by forces including Hamilton.[78]

In 1801, Hamilton announced his intention to withdraw from the Federalist Party if Burr became its presidential candidate in 1804. In 1802, he began to organize "The Christian Constitutional Society", the first principle of which, even before supporting the Constitution, was "the support of the Christian religion".(Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 battery)

[edit]Burr–Hamilton duel

Hamilton fighting his fatal duel with Vice President Aaron Burr (the depiction is inaccurate: only the two "seconds" actually witnessed the duel)

Hamilton's tomb in the graveyard of Trinity Church at Wall Street and Broadway in Lower Manhattan

Main article: Burr-Hamilton duel

Soon after the 1804 gubernatorial election in New York—in which Morgan Lewis, greatly assisted by Hamilton, defeated Aaron Burr—the Albany Register published Charles D. Cooper's letters(SONY PCG-5G2L battery), citing Hamilton's opposition to Burr and alleging that Hamilton had expressed "a still more despicable opinion" of the Vice President at an upstate New York dinner party.[80][81] Burr, sensing an attack on his honor, and surely still stung by his political defeat, demanded an apology. Hamilton refused because he could not recall the instance(SONY PCG-5G3L battery).

Following an exchange of three testy letters, and despite attempts of friends to avert a confrontation, a duel was scheduled for July 11, 1804, along the west bank of the Hudson River on a rocky ledge in Weehawken, New Jersey. This was the same dueling site at which Hamilton's eldest son, Philip, had been killed three years earlier(SONY PCG-F305 battery).

At dawn, the duel began, and Vice President Aaron Burr shot Hamilton. Hamilton's shot broke a tree branch directly above Burr's head. A letter that he wrote the night before the duel states, "I have resolved, if our interview [duel] is conducted in the usual manner, and it pleases God to give me the opportunity, to reserve and throw away my first fire, and I have thoughts even of reserving my second fire"(SONY PCG-5J1L battery), thus asserting an intention to miss Burr. The circumstances of the duel, and Hamilton's actual intentions, are still disputed. Neither of the seconds, Pendleton or Van Ness, could determine who fired first. Soon after, they measured and triangulated the shooting, but could not determine from which angle Hamilton fired. Burr's shot, however, hit Hamilton in the lower abdomen above the right hip(SONY PCG-5J2L battery). The bullet ricocheted off Hamilton's second or third false rib, fracturing it and caused considerable damage to his internal organs, particularly his liver and diaphragm before becoming lodged in his first or second lumbar vertebra. Chernow considers the circumstances to indicate that Burr fired second, after having taken deliberate aim(SONY PCG-5K2L battery).

If a duelist decided not to aim at his opponent there was a well-known procedure, available to everyone involved, for doing so. According to Freeman, Hamilton apparently did not follow this procedure; if he had, Burr might have followed suit, and Hamilton's death might have been avoided(SONY PCG-5L1L battery). It was a matter of honor among gentlemen to follow these rules. Because of the high incidence of septicemia and death resulting from torso wounds, a high percentage of duels employed this procedure of throwing away fire.[80] Years later, when told that Hamilton may have misled him at the duel, the ever-laconic Burr replied, "Contemptible, if true." (SONY PCG-6S2L battery)

The paralyzed Hamilton, who knew himself to be mortally wounded, was ferried back to New York[83]and taken to the Greenwich Village home of his friend William Bayard Jr., who had been waiting on the dock. After final visits from his family and friends and considerable suffering, Hamilton died on the following afternoon, July 12, 1804 at Bayard's home at what is now 80-82 Jane Street. (SONY PCG-6S3L battery)Gouverneur Morris, a political ally of Hamilton's, gave the eulogy at his funeral and secretly established a fund to support his widow and children. Hamilton was buried in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery in Manhattan.

[edit]Legacy

Alexander Hamilton on the Series 2004A $10 Federal Reserve Note, based on an 1805 portrait by John Trumbull

The Hamilton Grange National Memorial, now located in St. Nicholas Park. The Grange is the only home Hamilton ever owned and is where he was living at the time of his death(SONY PCG-6V1L battery).

From the start, Hamilton set a precedent as a cabinet member by formulating federal programs, writing them as reports, pushing for their approval by arguing for them in person on the floor of the United States Congress, and then implementing them. Hamilton and the other Cabinet members were vital to Washington(SONY PCG-6W1L battery), as there was no president before him (under the Constitution) to set precedents for him to follow in national situations such as seditions and foreign affairs.

Another of Hamilton's legacies was his pro-federal interpretation of the US Constitution. Though the Constitution was drafted in a way that was somewhat ambiguous as to the balance of power between national and state governments, Hamilton consistently took the side of greater federal power at the expense of the states(SONY PCG-7111L battery). As Secretary of the Treasury, he established—against the intense opposition of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson—the country's first national bank. Hamilton justified the creation of this bank, and other increased federal powers, under Congress's constitutional powers to issue currency, to regulate interstate commerce, and to do anything else that would be "necessary and proper"(SONY PCG-71511M battery). Jefferson, on the other hand, took a stricter view of the Constitution: parsing the text carefully, he found no specific authorization for a national bank. This controversy was eventually settled by the Supreme Court of the United States in McCulloch v. Maryland, which in essence adopted Hamilton's view, granting the federal government broad freedom to select the best means to execute its constitutionally enumerated powers(SONY PCG-6W3L battery), specifically the doctrine of implied powers.

Hamilton's policies as Secretary of the Treasury greatly affected the United States government and still continue to influence it. In 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States Navy was still using intership communication protocols written by Hamilton for the Revenue Cutter Service. His constitutional interpretation, specifically of the Necessary and Proper Clause(SONY PCG-7113L battery), set precedents for federal authority that are still used by the courts and are considered an authority on constitutional interpretation. The prominent French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, who spent 1794 in the United States, wrote, "I consider Napoleon, Fox, and Hamilton the three greatest men of our epoch(SONY PCG-7133L battery), and if I were forced to decide between the three, I would give without hesitation the first place to Hamilton", adding that Hamilton had intuited the problems of European conservatives. Talleyrand, who helped demolish the First French Republic, would have preferred to have a coalition of European monarchies curtail the solitary republicanism of the United States, which would permit the peaceful recreation of the French colonial empire of Louis XIV(SONY PCG-7Z1L battery); he believed himself and Hamilton in general agreement.[85]

Opinions of Hamilton have run the gamut: both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson viewed him as unprincipled and dangerously aristocratic. Aaron Burr and Hamilton became personal enemies. Herbert Croly, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Theodore Roosevelt directed attention to him at the end of the 19th century in the interest of an active federal government, whether or not supported by tariffs(SONY PCG-7Z2L battery). Several nineteenth- and twentieth-century Republicans entered politics by writing laudatory biographies of Hamilton.[86]

By the time of the American Civil War, Hamilton's portrait began to appear on US currency, including the $2, $5, $10, and $50 notes. His likeness also began to appear on US postage in 1870. His portrait has continued to appear on US postage and currency, and most notably appears on the modern $10 bill(SONY PCG-8Y1L battery). Hamilton also appears on the $500 Series EE Savings Bond. The source of the face on the $10 bill is John Trumbull's 1805 portrait of Hamilton, in the portrait collection of New York City Hall.[87] On the south side of the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. is a statue of Hamilton.

On March 19, 1956, the United States Postal Service issued the $5 Liberty Issue postage stamp honoring Hamilton(SONY PCG-8Y2L battery).

The only home Hamilton ever owned was a Federal style mansion designed by John McComb Jr., which he built on his 32 acre country estate in Harlem in upper Manhattan. He named the house-which was completed in 1802- the "Grange" after his grandfather Alexander's estate in Ayrshire, Scotland. The house remained in the family until 1833 when his widow sold it to Thomas E. Davis(SONY PCG-8Z2L battery), a British born real estate developer for $25,000. Part of the proceeds were used by Eliza to purchase a new townhouse from Davis (Hamilton-Holly House) in Greenwich Village with her son Alexander Hamilton Jr. The historic structure, first moved from its original location in 1889, was moved again in 2008 to a spot in St. Nicholas Park on land that was once part of the Hamilton estate(SONY PCG-8Z1L battery). The Grange was restored to its original 1802 appearance in 2011, and is maintained by the National Park service as Hamilton Grange National Memorial.

[edit]Family

Grave of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton (1757–1854) at Trinity Church

Hamilton's widow, Elizabeth (known as Eliza or Betsy), survived him for fifty years, until she died in Washington, D.C. in 1854; Hamilton referred to her as the "best of wives and best of women". An extremely religious woman, Eliza spent much of her life working to help widows and orphans. She co-founded New York's first private orphanage, the New York Orphan Asylum Society(SONY PCG-7112L battery). Despite the Reynolds affair, Alexander and Eliza were very close, and as a widow she always strove to guard his reputation and enhance his standing in American history.

Hamilton and Elizabeth had eight children, including two named Phillip. The elder Philip, Hamilton's first child (born January 22, 1782), was killed in 1801 in a duel with George I. Eacker, whom he had publicly insulted in a Manhattan theater. The second Philip, Hamilton's last child, was born on June 2, 1802(SONY PCG-6W2L battery), right after the first Philip was killed. Their other children were Angelica, born September 25, 1784; Alexander, born May 16, 1796; James Alexander (April 14, 1788 – September 1878);[91] John Church, born August 22, 1792; William Stephen, born August 4, 1797; and Eliza, born November 26, 1799. (SONY PCG-5K1L battery)

[edit]On slavery

Rob Weston has described modern scholarly views on Hamilton's attitude to slavery as viewing Hamilton as anything from a "steadfast abolitionist" to a "hypocrite"; Weston's view is that he was deeply ambivalent. Nevertheless, he attended meetings of the New York Manumission Society(SONY VGP-BPS4 battery).

Hamilton's first polemic against King George's ministers contains a paragraph that speaks of the evils that "slavery" to the British would bring upon the Americans. McDonald sees this as an attack on actual slavery; such rhetoric was quite common in 1776, and varied from the stand that slavery was wrong for free-born Americans of British descent to a recognition of the evils of black slavery. (SONY VGP-BPS2 battery)

During the Revolutionary War, there was a series of proposals to arm slaves, free them, and compensate their masters. In 1779, Hamilton's friend John Laurens suggested that such a unit be formed, under his command, to relieve besieged Charleston, South Carolina; Hamilton proposed to the Continental Congress to create up to four battalions of slaves for combat duty, and free them. Congress recommended that South Carolina (and Georgia) acquire up to three thousand slaves, if they saw fit(SONY VGP-BPS3 battery); they did not, even though the South Carolina governor and Congressional delegation had supported the plan in Philadelphia.[93]

Letter from Alexander Hamilton, 1779

Hamilton argued that blacks' natural faculties were as good as those of free whites, and he answered objections by citing Frederick the Great and others as praising stupidity in soldiers; he argued that if the Americans did not do this, the British would (as they had elsewhere). One of his biographers has cited this incident as evidence that Hamilton and Laurens saw the Revolution and the struggle against slavery as inseparable. (SONY VGP-BPS5 battery) Hamilton later attacked his political opponents as demanding freedom for themselves and refusing to allow it to blacks.[95]

In January 1785, he attended the second meeting of the New York Manumission Society (NYMS). John Jay was president and Hamilton was secretary; he later became president.[96] He was a member of the committee of the society that put a bill through the New York Legislature banning the export of slaves from New York; (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery) however, three months later, Hamilton returned a fugitive slave to Henry Laurens of South Carolina.[98]

Hamilton never supported forced emigration for freed slaves; it has been argued from this that he would be comfortable with a multiracial society, and that this distinguished him from his contemporaries.[99] In international affairs, he supported Toussaint L'Ouverture's black government in Haiti after the revolt that overthrew French control, as he had supported aid to the slaveowners in 1791—both measures hurt France. (SONY VGP-BPS8A battery)

Hamilton may have owned household slaves himself (the evidence for this is indirect; McDonald interprets it as referring to paid employees). He supported a gag rule to keep divisive discussions of slavery out of Congress, and he supported the compromise by which the United States could not abolish the slave trade for 20 years.[101] When the Quakers of New York petitioned the First Congress (SONY VGP-BPL8 battery) (under the Constitution) for the abolition of the slave trade, and Benjamin Franklin and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society petitioned for the abolition of slavery, the NYMS did not act.[102]

[edit]On economics

Alexander Hamilton is sometimes considered the "patron saint" of the American School of economic philosophy that, according to one historian, dominated economic policy after 1861.[103] He firmly supported government intervention in favor of business, after the manner of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, as early as the fall of 1781. (SONY VGP-BPS9 battery)

Hamilton opposed the British ideas of free trade, which he believed skewed benefits to colonial and imperial powers, in favor of US protectionism, which he believed would help develop the fledgling nation's emerging economy. Henry C. Carey was inspired by his writings. Some say[who?] he influenced the ideas and work of the German Friedrich List(SONY VGP-BPS9/S battery).

From the 1860s onwards members of Japan's Meiji leadership, after touring America's post-Civil War political and industrial landscape, embraced Hamilton's words and work as being applicable to their own need to modernize. Within the Grant Administration they found Hamiltonian advocates who opened up American financial and manufacturing operations for Japanese inspection(SONY VGP-BPS9A battery). The Meiji leadership sent their sons to study American finance and industry in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and other centers of commerce. These Japanese leaders found Hamilton's words and work also being used by Bismarck's administration in Germany, having been brought to Germany by Friedrich List in the 1840s after List had spent time in exile in Philadelphia(SONY VGP-BPS9A/B battery). Later Hamilton's reports to Congress could be found in libraries not only in Japan but in Taiwan and Korea, after they came under the colonial rule of Meiji Japan. Post-1945 leaders in both countries (i.e., South Korea) used Hamilton's Report on Credit to establish their own modern financial systems.

[edit]Hamilton's religion

During much of his life, Hamilton remained quite religious.[105] Biographer Ron Chernow argues that this was the source of his aggressive abolitionism. Hamilton, as a youth in the West Indies(SONY VGP-BPS9/B battery), was an orthodox and conventional Presbyterian of the "New Light" evangelical type (as opposed to the "Old Light" Calvinists); he was being taught by a student of John Witherspoon, a moderate of the New School.[106] He wrote two or three hymns, which were published in the local newspaper.[107] Robert Troup, his college roommate, noted that Hamilton was "in the habit of praying on his knees night and morning." (SONY VGP-BPS9A/S battery)

From 1777 to 1792, Hamilton appears to have been completely indifferent, and made jokes about God at the Constitutional Convention.[109] During the French Revolution, he had an "opportunistic religiosity", using Christianity for political ends and insisting that Christianity and Jefferson's democracy were incompatible.[109] After his misfortunes of 1801, Hamilton further asserted the truth of Christianity(SONY VGP-BPL9 battery); he also proposed a Christian Constitutional Society in 1802, to take hold of "some strong feeling of the mind" to elect "fit men" to office, and he wrote of "Christian welfare societies" for the poor. He was not a member of any denomination. After being shot, Hamilton spoke of his belief in God's mercy, and of his desire to renounce dueling; Bishop Moore administered communion to Hamilton. (SONY VGP-BPS10 battery)

[edit]Hamilton on US postage

The first postage stamp to honor Hamilton was issued by the US Post Office in 1870. The portrayals on the 1870 and 1888 issues are from the same engraved die, which was modeled after a bust of Hamilton by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Ceracchi[111] The Hamilton 1870 issue was the first US Postage stamp to honor a Secretary of the Treasury(SONY VGP-BPL10 battery). The 3-cent red commemorative issue, which was released on the 200th anniversary of Hamilton's birth in 1957, includes a rendition of the Federal Hall building, located in New York City.[112]

[edit]Memorials

Hamilton's statue on the south side of the treasury building.

Alexander Hamilton served as one of the first trustees of the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in New York state. When the Academy received a college charter in 1812, the school was formally renamed Hamilton College. There is a prominent statue of Alexander Hamilton in front of the school's chapel (SONY VGP-BPS11 battery) (commonly referred to as the "Al-Ham" statue) and the Burke Library has an extensive collection of Hamilton's personal documents.

Columbia University, Hamilton's alma mater, has official memorials to Hamilton on its campus in New York City. The college's main classroom building for the humanities is Hamilton Hall, and a large statue of Hamilton stands in front of it. The university press has published his complete works in a multivolume letterpress edition(SONY VGP-BPL11 battery). Columbia University's student group for ROTC cadets and Marine officer candidates is named the Alexander Hamilton Society.

The main administration building of the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, is named Hamilton Hall to commemorate Hamilton's creation of the United States Revenue Cutter Service, one of the predecessor services of the United States Coast Guard.

The U.S. Army's Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn is named after Hamilton as is Hamilton Heights, a neighborhood in upper Manhattan(SONY VGP-BPL12 battery).

A statue, by James Earle Fraser, was dedicated on May 17, 1923, on the south terrace of the Treasury Building, Washington, D.C.