Alexander Hamilton

  Alexander Hamilton was born at Nevis, in the West Indies, January 11, 1757. His father was Scotch; his mother, French. He was sent to New York City to be educated. He was enrolled at King's College when the Revolutionary War broke out. He was a student of unusual precocity. He began writing political pamphlets at the age of seventeen. When hostilities began he organized a company of cavalry and served in the battles of Long Island and White Plains. Washington placed confidence in his ability and made him a member of his staff. After Yorktown, young Hamilton married the daughter of General Schuyler and settled down in New York to practice law. He could not refrain from politics, however, In 1782 he was in the Continental Congress. He took part in the Annapolis Convention of 1786. He was also a member of the Constitutional Con­vention of 1787. He advocated a constitution granting the general government much more extensive authority than was finally agreed to. When the Constitution was submitted to the votes of the several states for ratification, Hamilton entered into the discussion in its favor with all his heart. With others, he wrote a series of pamphlets devoted to arguments in fa­vor of adopting the new constitution. He carried his own state, New York.
  Hamilton was decidedly undemocratic. He wished a "governor" for life, chosen by electors selected by electors, and to his elected king he wished to give an absolute veto upon all legislation. The senate he wished to compose of members chosen for life by electors, while, for the lower house of Congress, he would have had only free-holders vote. The state governments he would have wiped out, or have left wholly dependent upon the central government.
  In 1789 Hamilton entered Washington's cabinet as the first secretary of the treasury. His opinions on fmancial matters, on the public credit, methods of raising revenue, the mint, the bank, manufactures, etc., were law with the administration. Hamilton and Jefferson came into direct conflict. Hamilton left the cabinet in 1795. He advocated putting down the whiskey insurrection with a firm hand. He defended Jay's Treaty with Great Britain. He assisted Washington in composing his farewell address.
Hamilton and Aaron Burr were not only bitter political enemies, but local rivals. Hamilton thwarted some of Burr's dearest plans. Burr, though vice-president of the United States, brought on a duel with his opponent at Weehawken, New Jersey, opposite the city of New York, in which Ham­ilton was mortally wounded. He died July 12, 1804.
  Hamilton's prívate life was far from right. He was imperious in his manners and had a degree of self-confidence that in any other man would be considered sheer egotism. He was one of the most brilliant and intellectual men ever connected with public affairs in this country. His writings were, for their day, marvelously ingenious and strongly formed pieces of argument. He possessed a genius for organization and administration such as belongs to few men. The faults of his prívate life, the quarrelsomeness of his disposition, and the manner of his death have prevented him from receiving the full degree of admiration and praise that is due.
  When Hamilton took his seat in the cabinet the United States treasury was empty and without credit. Webster says of him at this juncture, "He smote the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet."
Hamilton was buried in old Trinity Churchyard near the roar and bustle of Broadway—near Wall Street, the busiest center of finance in the world. Over his grave stands a monument bearing this inscription:

ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

The Patriot of Incorruptible Integrity;

The Soldier of Approved Valour; 

The Statesman of Consummate Wisdom; 

Whose Talents and Virtues 

will be admired

by

Grateful Posterity

long after this marble shall have

mouldered into

Dust. 

He died July 12, 1804. Aged 47.