Alexander Hamilton: From Orphan to Founding Father

Alexander Hamilton came from humble beginnings, which he overcame to establish himself as a voice of revolutionary ideals. His service as a young man during the struggle for independence brought him into close contact with George Washington. His skills and connections made him an influential framer of the Constitution and a force in Federalist politics. Washington appointed him the first Secretary of the Treasury, where he greatly influenced the development of the struggling United States.

Alexander Hamilton was born on Nevis, an island in the British West Indies, in 1755 or 1757. His mother, Rachel Faucette, was the daughter of a sugar planter and fled an abusive marriage to the island of St. Kitts. There, she met James Hamilton, the son of a Scottish landowner with whom she had two children. James abandoned the family shortly after Alexander’s birth, and Alexander, his brother, and his mother moved to Danish St. Croix.

The family operated a small store out of their home until 1768 when Rachel died of a fever. Shortly after, the children’s cousin, who acted as their guardian, committed suicide, leaving Alexander and his brother without familial support. Alexander began working as a clerk for a trading company around the age of eleven. He proved prodigious as an accountant, and by the time he was roughly sixteen, his boss and other traders paid for him to study in America.

Alexander immigrated to America in 1772 and applied to present-day Princeton before settling at King’s College, now Columbia University. He took a variety of classes and attempted to graduate in only two to three years but got caught up in revolutionary fervor. In 1774 and 1775, he published documents criticizing a local British loyalist, which were widely publicized. He joined a militia unit with other students and rose to captainship of the New York Provincial Company of Artillery in 1776.

Career in the Revolutionary War

Alexander served with distinction at the Battles of Kip’s Bay and White Plains. After proven success in combat, George Washington selected him to serve on his staff. Hamilton became a lieutenant colonel, charged with communication between the military and civil authorities. This duty was essential, as he petitioned for supplies from the government while the army languished at Valley Forge.

Hamilton resigned in March 1781 because of a gripe with Washington and frustration over not being given a field command. Washington relented and made him the head of a force to bring the lieutenant colonel back. On October 14, 1781, Hamilton played a decisive role in the Siege of Yorktown as he attacked and captured Battery 10. He and Washington renewed their friendship, which persisted until the latter’s death.

Throughout the war, Hamilton observed the supply issues in Washington’s command, owing to the lack of cooperation between governing bodies. He became convinced that only a strong federal government could effectively rule and preserve the colonies as a new nation.

The state of New York selected Hamilton as a representative to the Confederation Congress in 1782. Seeing the need for a more powerful government after the failure of the Articles of Confederation, he called for a Constitutional Convention at a meeting in 1786. The next year, he was again a representative in 1787 to that founding body.

A staunch Federalist, he advocated for lifetime terms in many government positions and a total veto for the president. Hamilton worked with John Jay and James Madison in publishing the Federalist Papers and wrote fifty-one of the eighty-five essays. One year later, he proved instrumental to New York’s ratification of the Constitution.

Federalist No. 78, published in 1788, ranks among the most important pieces in the Federalist Papers. Hamilton argued that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and the will of the people. As such, the federal court system acts to check the power of the legislature and executive, ensuring they did not exceed the bounds set in the Constitution. Members of the judicial branch possessed benefits like lifetime tenure and a guaranteed salary to ensure their separation from the other branches.

Hamilton saw the courts as a medium between the government and its people. Federalist No. 78 served as the main source arguing for judicial review in Marbury vs. Madison. This 1803 case solidified the ability of the Supreme Court to declare laws unconstitutional and nullify them.

Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury

Washington became president in 1789 and made Hamilton the Secretary of the Treasury.

The new national government struggled with debts from the Revolution and the question of where the capital should be located. Hamilton proposed chartering a federal bank, the First Bank of the United States, which would acquire all state debts. To pay off the dues, the bank could issue currency, store government money, and collect federal taxes.

These measures appealed to Northern states, which languished in significant debt. Southern states resented this plan as they were further along in paying off their expenses and feared a national bank would increase federal power over the states. Southerners also wanted the capital constructed between Virginia and Maryland to increase their access to markets. Northerners preferred not to situate the capital between slave states, fearing it would help legitimize slavery.

Neither issue gained headway independently, but Hamilton compromised with Democratic-Republican leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to pass both bills. The Residence Act codified Washington DC as the capital in 1790, and the First Bank received a twenty-year charter in 1791.

The bank functioned as a commercial enterprise as well, allowing the public to deposit funds and apply for loans. It could control inflation by purchasing precious metal reserves from state banks with the state’s notes, slowing the issuance of new currency. It had branches in port cities as far west as New Orleans, allowing a stable financial system to spread across the country. Efforts to renew the charter failed over fears of a monopoly, and it expired in 1811.

The complex and disorganized financial system could not be rectified by the First Bank alone. Hamilton issued his Report on the Subject of a Mint to Congress in 1791, weighing the possibility of a federal center to produce and issue coins. Foreign and state coins then in circulation leaned too heavily on the success of other countries and individual states. Some currencies were valued differently in certain areas of the country, and many came in different denominations. These discrepancies made interstate transactions tedious.

His report outlined the creation of the dollar to be tied to the value of gold and silver. Coins functioned as decimal values of the dollar, manufactured with alloys of gold, silver, or copper according to their worth. Congress implemented the plan and created the United States Mint in Philadelphia in 1792.

As Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton leveraged another observation he made during the Revolution. The colonies depended on Britain for manufactured items and were barred from establishing industry themselves. He recognized industrial power as a catalyst for a strong economy and nation. In 1791, he helped create the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures, which raised funds through private speculators and government aid.

The organization purchased 700 acres in New Jersey in May 1792 to create the country’s first planned industrial settlement. This community, named Paterson, existed next to a significant fall zone, which generated power for cotton mills via waterwheels. Growth progressed slowly during Hamilton’s lifetime because of challenges in central planning. By the late 1800s, the city became the predominant silk producer in the country, a major manufacturer of train engines, and a home for thousands of immigrant workers. Most factories folded by the 1960s, yet for over 150 years Hamilton’s vision for an inventive, wealthy industrial city persisted.

In 1795, Hamilton stepped down from his cabinet position to practice law. Two years later, he faced allegations of having an affair and of corruption during his secretary tenure. To disprove the latter claim, he admitted to the affair, which brought public outcry. He accumulated substantial debt from mortgages and legal fees owed to his clients.

Threats of war with France in 1798 prompted President John Adams to ask Washington to command American forces. The retired Washington did not want to do so unless the conflict escalated. Instead, he suggested Hamilton serve as the Inspector General as second in command, and Adams agreed. When Washington died in 1799, Hamilton briefly became the highest-ranking American officer. Ultimately, tensions did not lead to martial combat, and Hamilton resigned in 1800.

How Alexander Hamilton Met His End

Hamilton maintained a longstanding feud with Aaron Burr, another Federalist politician. The rivalry began in 1791 when Burr beat Hamilton’s father-in-law, Philip Schuyler, in a New York senatorial election. Hamilton consistently fought against Burr’s political campaigns, and insults flew both ways. An Albany newspaper published comments from a dinner party in 1804, in which Hamilton derided Burr’s character and made a “more despicable” claim as well.

Burr, then Thomas Jefferson’s vice president, had just lost the race for the office of New York governor. In a series of letters, Burr asked for clarification or an apology, both of which Hamilton refused to provide. To defend his honor, the vice president challenged the former secretary of the treasury to a duel.

Although he had reservations about the ethics of dueling and the well-being of his family, Hamilton accepted. The location and date decided upon was Weehawken, New Jersey, on July 11, 1804. Upon the signal to fire, Hamilton’s shot missed, but Burr’s bullet found his opponent’s right torso. Suffering from his wound, Hamilton was taken to Manhattan and could bid his family farewell before he died the next day. In his lifetime, he introduced significant reforms to the United States, which ensured the permanence of the country and his legacy.