Hamilton, Alexander, 1755–1804, American statesman, b. Nevis, in the West Indies.

Early Career

He was the illegitimate son of James Hamilton (of a prominent Scottish family) and Rachel Faucett Lavien (daughter of a doctor-planter on Nevis and the estranged wife of a merchant). Orphaned and impoverished at around the age of 12, the brilliant, ambitious youth arrived in the North American colonies late in 1772 and studied (1773–74) at King's College (now Columbia). In the troubled times leading to the American Revolution, he wrote articles and pamphlets espousing the colonial cause so well that the works were popularly attributed to John Jay Jay, John, 1745–1829, American statesman, first Chief Justice of the United States, b. New York City, grad. King's College (now Columbia Univ.), 1764. He was admitted (1768) to the bar and for a time was a partner of Robert R. Livingston.
..... Click the link for more information. .

In the war he became a captain of artillery, attracted George Washington's notice, and, as Washington's secretary and aide-de-camp, performed invaluable services. Desiring more active duty, he left Washington's staff in 1781 and performed brilliantly in the field at Yorktown. His marriage to Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of Gen. Philip J. Schuyler Schuyler, Philip John (skī`lər), 1733–1804, American Revolutionary general, b. Albany, N.Y.
..... Click the link for more information. , connected him with an old and powerful New York family. He practiced law in New York City and was a member of the Continental Congress Continental Congress, 1774–89, federal legislature of the Thirteen Colonies and later of the United States in the American Revolution and under the Articles of Confederation (see Confederation, Articles of ).
..... Click the link for more information. .

Federalist Leader

By 1780 Hamilton had outlined a plan of government with a strong central authority to replace the weak system of the Articles of Confederation Confederation, Articles of, in U.S. history, ratified in 1781 and superseded by the Constitution of the United States in 1789. The imperative need for unity among the new states created by the American Revolution and the necessity of defining the relative powers of
..... Click the link for more information. , and as delegate (1782–83) to the Continental Congress he pressed continually for strengthening of the national government. It was Hamilton who proposed at the unsuccessful Annapolis Convention Annapolis Convention, 1786, interstate convention called by Virginia to discuss a uniform regulation of commerce. It met at Annapolis, Md. With only 5 of the 13 states—Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—represented, there could be
..... Click the link for more information. (1786) that a constitutional convention be called at Philadelphia in May, 1787, and he was one of New York's three delegates when it was convened.

Although he believed the Constitution to be deficient in the powers that it gave the national government, he did much to get it ratified, particularly by means of his contributions to The Federalist Federalist, The, series of 85 political essays, sometimes called The Federalist Papers, written 1787–88 under the pseudonym "Publius." Alexander Hamilton initiated the series with the immediate intention of persuading New York to approve the Federalist
..... Click the link for more information. . In New York, Hamilton was a powerful constitutional supporter, fighting vigorously against the opposition of George Clinton Clinton, George, c.1686–1761, colonial governor of New York (1743–53), b. England; father of Sir Henry Clinton . He entered (1708) the British navy and rose to the rank of admiral in 1747.
..... Click the link for more information. and becoming perhaps the strongest advocate of the new instrument of government aside from James Madison Madison, James, 1751–1836, 4th President of the United States (1809–17), b. Port Conway, Va.

Early Career

A member of the Virginia planter class, he attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton Univ.), graduating in 1771.
..... Click the link for more information. .

In the first decade of the republic, Hamilton played a decisive role in shaping domestic and foreign policy. As Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington Washington, George, 1732–99, 1st President of the United States (1789–97), commander in chief of the Continental army in the American Revolution , called the Father of His Country.

Early Life

He was born on Feb. 22, 1732 (Feb. 11, 1731, O.
..... Click the link for more information. , he presented (1790) a far-reaching financial program to the first Congress. He proposed that the debt accumulated by the Continental Congress be paid in full, that the federal government assume all state debts, and that a Bank of the United States Bank of the United States, name for two national banks established by the U.S. Congress to serve as government fiscal agents and as depositories for federal funds; the first bank was in existence from 1791 to 1811 and the second from 1816 to 1836.
..... Click the link for more information. be chartered. For revenue, Hamilton advocated a tariff on imported manufactures and a series of excise taxes. He hoped by these measures to strengthen the national government at the expense of the states and to tie government to men of wealth and prosperity.

Hamilton was a well-to-do lawyer and banker (he helped to found the Bank of New York), and his own high connections aroused suspicion among the less conservative; his policies alienated agrarian interests and drew opposition from those who feared concentration of power in the federal government. Widespread antipathy to party divisions muted the opposition, however, and Congress adopted the Hamiltonian program.

Foreign affairs soon brought this unity to an end. Hamilton's program depended for success on continued trade with Great Britain. He supported Jay's Treaty Jay's Treaty, concluded in 1794 between the United States and Great Britain to settle difficulties arising mainly out of violations of the Treaty of Paris of 1783 and to regulate commerce and navigation.
..... Click the link for more information. (1794), and, opposed to the French Revolution French Revolution, political upheaval of world importance in France that began in 1789.

Origins of the Revolution

Historians disagree in evaluating the factors that brought about the Revolution.
..... Click the link for more information. , encouraged strong measures against France in the near-war of 1798—measures bitterly opposed by the pro-French Thomas Jefferson Jefferson, Thomas, 1743–1826, 3d President of the United States (1801–9), author of the Declaration of Independence, and apostle of agrarian democracy.

Early Life

Jefferson was born on Apr.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Two opposing parties formed: the Federalists, led by Hamilton and John Adams Adams, John, 1735–1826, 2d President of the United States (1797–1801), b. Quincy (then in Braintree), Mass., grad. Harvard, 1755. John Adams and his wife, Abigail Adams , founded one of the most distinguished families of the United States; their son, John
..... Click the link for more information. (then President), and the Democratic Republicans (see Democratic party Democratic party, American political party; the oldest continuous political party in the United States.

Origins in Jeffersonian Democracy

When political alignments first emerged in George Washington's administration, opposing factions were led by
..... Click the link for more information. ), led by Jefferson and James Madison. Hamilton was perhaps the most powerful of the Federalists, but he was not in complete command of the party (he had even resigned his cabinet post in 1795, largely for financial reasons). There was little personal liking between Hamilton and Adams, and friction between them grew in the course of the Adams administration. Both were swept under in the election of 1800.

Because the Constitution did not provide for the election of the President and Vice President on separate ballots, a tie between Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr Burr, Aaron, 1756–1836, American political leader, b. Newark, N.J., grad. College of New Jersey (now Princeton).

Political Career

A brilliant law student, Burr interrupted his study to serve in the American Revolution and proved himself a
..... Click the link for more information. , left the choice of chief executive to the House of Representatives in 1800. Hamilton's influence made Jefferson President and Burr Vice President—an outcome in accord with the popular will, but Burr was disgruntled.

When in 1804 Hamilton again thwarted Burr, keeping him from the governorship of New York, Burr accused Hamilton of having called him a "dangerous" man and, when Hamilton replied to the charge, challenged him to a duel. The two men met at Weehawken Heights, N.J., and Hamilton was mortally wounded.

Bibliography

See the definitive edition of Hamilton's papers (ed. by H. C. Syrett, 27 vol., 1961–87) and law papers (ed. by J. Goebel, Jr., and J. H. Smith, 5 vol., 1964–81) as well as Alexander Hamilton: Writings (ed. by J. B. Freeman, 2001). See also biographies by H. C. Lodge (1898), N. Schachner (1946, repr. 1961), B. Mitchell (2 vol., 1957–62), J. C. Miller (1959, repr. 1964), F. McDonald (1979), R. Brookhiser (1999), W. S. Randall (2002), R. Chernow (2004), and one in his own words, ed. by M.-J. Kline (2 vol., 1973); R. Morris, ed., Alexander Hamilton and the Founding of the Nation (1957); C. Rossiter, Alexander Hamilton and the Constitution (1964); J. E. Cooke, ed., Alexander Hamilton: A Profile (1967); G. Stourzh, Alexander Hamilton and the Idea of Republican Government (1970); B. Mitchell, Alexander Hamilton: The Revolutionary Years (1970); S. Elkins and E. McKitrick, The Age of Federalism (1993); A. A. Rogow, A Fatal Friendship (1998); T. Fleming, Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the Future of America (1999); R. G. Kennedy, Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character (1999).

Hamilton, Alexander

Alexander Hamilton, detail of an oil painting by John Trumbull; in the National Gallery of Art, …

(credit: Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Andrew Mellon Collection)

(born Jan. 11, 1755/57, Nevis, British West Indies—died July 12, 1804, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. statesman. He first came to the U.S. in 1772, arriving in New Jersey. In the American Revolution he joined the Continental Army and showed conspicuous bravery at the Battle of Trenton (see Battles of Trenton and Princeton). He served as aide-de-camp to Gen. George Washington (1777–81); fluent in French, he became a liaison with French commanders. After the war he practiced law in New York. At the Continental Congress, he argued for a strong central government. As a delegate to the Annapolis Convention in 1786, he drafted the address that led to the Constitutional Convention. With James Madison and John Jay, he wrote an influential series of essays, later known as the Federalist papers, in defense of the new Constitution and republican government. Appointed the first secretary of the treasury (1789), Hamilton developed fiscal policies designed to strengthen the national government at the expense of the states. His proposal for a Bank of the United States was opposed by Thomas Jefferson but adopted by Congress in 1791. Differences between Hamilton and Jefferson over the powers of the national government and the country's foreign policy led to the rise of political parties; Hamilton became leader of the Federalist Party, and Madison and Jefferson created the Democratic-Republican Party. Hamilton favoured friendship with Britain and influenced Washington to take a neutral stand toward the French Revolution. In 1796 he caused a rift in the Federalist Party by opposing its nomination of John Adams for president. In 1800 he tried to prevent Adams's reelection, circulating a private attack that Aaron Burr, long at odds with Hamilton, obtained and published. When Jefferson and Burr both defeated Adams but received an equal number of electoral votes, Hamilton helped persuade the Federalists in the House of Representatives to choose Jefferson. In 1804 he opposed Burr's candidacy for governor of New York. This affront, coupled with alleged remarks questioning Burr's character, led Burr to challenge Hamilton to a duel, in which Hamilton was mortally wounded.

Hamilton, Alexander (1757–1804) cabinet officer, political thinker; born in Nevis, British West Indies. Son of a Scottish merchant and a French Huguenot mother who died when he was 11, he went to work in a store that same year because his father's business was failing. He showed an early talent for writing and an ambition to gain an education, so aunts sent him to America in 1772; he entered King's College (now Columbia University) in 1773. Although always a moderate in his political views, he soon aligned himself with the anti-British patriots, writing lengthy pamphlets that left many amazed at the knowledge and writing skills of a 17-year-old. With the outbreak of the American Revolution, he joined the army and by early 1776 was fighting under George Washington's command. By March 1777 he was Washington's secretary and aide-de-camp and soon assumed considerable responsibilities that extended well beyond organizing Washington's communications and affairs—setting forth plans to reorganize not only the present army but the government that would follow the fighting. After a minor quarrel with Washington, he got himself reassigned to head an infantry regiment that he led at the siege of Yorktown. After a term in the Continental Congress (1782–83), he went into private law practice in New York City. As one of New York's delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, he did not exercise much influence as his ideas on the organization of a government were too conservative; but he signed the new constitution and in October he published the first of the so-called "Federalist papers" endorsing the new government. (Of the 85 "papers"—actually open letters, most signed by "Publius"—he wrote 51 and collaborated with James Madison on 3 others; Madison and John Jay wrote the remaining 31.) Hamilton also played a most crucial role in applying the power of his oratory and arguments to persuade New York State to adopt the Constitution. Selected by Washington as the first secretary of the treasury (1789–95), he proceeded boldly to structure the new nation's fiscal system, setting up a national bank and national mint and taking on the national debt. But the very aggressiveness that served to strengthen the new government also contributed to the divisiveness—particularly between Thomas Jefferson and himself—that led to the emergence of two opposing political parties, the Federalists led by Hamilton and the Democratic-Republicans led by Jefferson. Hamilton resigned in 1795 and returned to private law practice in New York City and remained recognized as head of the Federalists, but when Jefferson and Aaron Burr ended up in a tie in the presidential election of 1800, Hamilton used his influence to get the House of Representatives to choose Jefferson because he believed Burr to be a dangerous man. In 1804 Hamilton then used his influence to help defeat Burr's candicacy for the governorship of New York. Burr then challenged Hamilton to a duel and although he was opposed to dueling—his own son having been killed in one in 1801—he met Burr early in the morning of July 11 at Weehauken, N.J.; Hamilton fired into the air but Burr mortally wounded Hamilton, who died the next day. Widely admired for his intellect, Hamilton was less popular for a certain arrogance in pursuit of his own beliefs. And if some of his ideas now seem less than congenial—especially his outspoken distrust of common people—he was probably the right man in the right place at the right time, giving form to many of the elements that allowed for the endurance of the government of the United States of America.