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Alexander Hamilton

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   CAPTION: Alexander Hamilton

   Portrait of Alexander Hamilton by Daniel Huntington c.1865, based on a
   full length portrait painted by John Trumbull
   1st United States Secretary of the Treasury
   In office
   September 11, 1789 –  January 31, 1795
   President George Washington
   Preceded by None
   Succeeded by Oliver Wolcott, Jr.
   Born January 11, 1755 or 1757
   Nevis, British West Indies
   Died July 12, 1804
   New York City, New York
   Political party The Federalist Party founder
   Spouse Betsey [Elizabeth] Schuyler Hamilton
   Profession Secretary of Treasury

   Alexander Hamilton ( January 11, 1755 or 1757 — July 12, 1804) was an
   American politician, leading statesman, financier, intellectual,
   military officer, and founder of the Federalist party. One of America's
   foremost constitutional lawyers, he was an influential delegate to the
   U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787; he was one of the two leading
   authors of the Federalist Papers, which has been the single most
   important interpretation of the Constitution.

   He was the first Secretary of the Treasury and had much influence over
   the rest of the Government and the formation of policy, including
   foreign policy. He convinced Congress to use an elastic interpretation
   of the Constitution to pass far-reaching laws. They included the
   creation of a national debt, federal assumption of the state debts,
   creation of a national bank, and a system of taxes through a tariff on
   imports and a tax on whiskey that would pay for it all. He admired the
   British system and strongly denounced the French Revolution.

   Hamilton created the Federalist party, the first American political
   party, which he built up using patronage, networks of elite leaders,
   and aggressive newspaper editors. His great adversary was Thomas
   Jefferson, who opposed his urban, financial, industrially pro-British
   vision and, with James Madison, created the "republican party" ,
   eventually^ called the Democratic-Republican Party. Hamilton retired
   from the Treasury in 1795 to practice law but returned to the public
   arena in December, 1798 as organizer of a new army; if full scale war
   broke out with France, the army was intended to conquer the colonies of
   Spain, France's ally. Hamilton also used it to threaten political foes
   in Virginia. He worked to defeat both John Adams and Jefferson in the
   election of 1800; but when the House of Representatives deadlocked, he
   helped secure the election of Jefferson over Aaron Burr.

   Hamilton once proposed (as recorded briefly in notes taken by James
   Madison) the concept of elective monarchial republicanism in a speech
   at the Continental Congress, although he came to doubt its possibility
   after the election of Jefferson. His nationalist and modernizing vision
   was rejected in the Jeffersonian "Revolution of 1800." However, after
   the War of 1812 showed the need for strong national institutions, his
   former opponents, led by John C. Calhoun, came to emulate his programs
   as they too set up a national bank, tariffs, internal improvements, and
   a standing army and navy. The later Whig and Republican parties adopted
   many of Hamilton's themes, but his negative reputation after 1800 did
   not allow them to acknowledge his role until his style of nationalism
   became dominant again about 1900, when Progressives such as Theodore
   Roosevelt and Herbert Croly, as well as conservative Henry Cabot Lodge,
   revived his reputation.

Early years

   A young Alexander Hamilton.
   Enlarge
   A young Alexander Hamilton.

   Alexander Hamilton was born on the West Indies island of Nevis to James
   Hamilton, the fourth son of a Scottish laird, and Rachel Fawcett
   Lavien, of part French Huguenot descent. Hamilton's mother had been
   married to Johann Michael Lavien on the island of St. Croix. When she
   moved to Nevis she left a son from that marriage. (The spelling of
   Lavien varies; this is Hamilton's version, which may be a Sephardic
   spelling of Levine.) The couple may have lived apart from one another
   under an order of legal separation; since Rachel was the guilty party,
   re-marriage was impossible.

   There is some uncertainty as to the year of Hamilton's birth; he used
   January 11 as his birthday. Most historians now use January 11, 1755,
   as Hamilton's birthday, although there is disagreement. He claimed 1757
   as his birth year when he first came to North America; but the Dane,
   Ramsing, found in 1930 that he is recorded as thirteen in the probate
   papers after his mother's death—which would make him two years older.
   He was often approximate about his age thereafter. Various explanations
   of this have been suggested: He may have been trying to appear younger
   than his college classmates, and so precocious; he may have been
   avoiding standing out as older; the probate document may be wrong; he
   may have been passing as older than he was, and so more employable, at
   his mother's death.

   Hamilton was always sensitive about his illegitimate birth. His father
   abandoned his two sons in the course of breaking with Hamilton's
   mother. (This presumably had severe emotional consequences, even among
   eighteenth-century childhoods.) His mother kept a small store on Nevis,
   and had, it is said, the largest library on the island—some thirty-odd
   books. She died in 1768, leaving Hamilton effectively orphaned. A short
   time afterwards, Rachel's son from her first marriage appeared in
   Nevis, and (legally) confiscated the few valuables Hamilton's mother
   had owned, including several valuable silver spoons. Hamilton never saw
   him again, but years later received his death notice and a small amount
   of money.

   Hamilton's business career began in 1768 at the counting house of
   Nicholas Cruger. Cruger took a trip off-island in 1771-72, leaving
   young Hamilton in charge of business affairs for five months. He
   displayed a remarkable flair for business and leadership skills that
   involved dealing with senior ship captains and businessmen on an equal
   basis. Later, Hugh Knox, a Presbyterian minister, came to St. Croix. He
   opened his library to Hamilton and preached about the practical evils
   produced by slavery. He influenced Hamilton greatly; some biographers
   derive Hamilton's opposition to slavery from Knox. In September, Knox,
   who also edited the local paper, published a remarkable letter by
   Hamilton describing and moralizing about a devastating hurricane. The
   islanders, perhaps chiefly Knox and Cruger, in response to the
   hurricane letter, raised a fund to send the young man to America for
   schooling.

Education

   In 1773, Hamilton attended a college-preparatory program with Francis
   Barber at Elizabethtown, New Jersey. There, he most probably came under
   the influence of a leading intellectual and revolutionary, Robert
   Livingston. He may have applied to the College of New Jersey
   (forerunner to Princeton University) and been rejected; but he attended
   King's College (the predecessor of Columbia University) in New York
   City.

   When Anglican clergyman Samuel Seabury published a series of pamphlets
   promoting the Tory cause with conviction, Hamilton struck back with his
   first political writings, A Full Vindication of the measures of
   Congress, and The Farmer Refuted written in 1774. He published two
   other pieces attacking the Quebec Act as "establishing arbitrary power
   and Popery" in Canada , and he wrote fourteen anonymous installments of
   "The Monitor" for Holt's New York Journal. Nevertheless, Hamilton is
   said to have preferred civil debate over revolutionary fervor; the
   report that he saved King's College president and Tory sympathizer
   Myles Cooper from an angry mob by persuasion alone is generally
   accepted.

Military career

   Hamilton joined a New York volunteer militia company called the Hearts
   of Oak in 1775 after the first engagements of American troops with the
   British in Boston. He drilled with the company (which included other
   King's students) before classes in the graveyard of nearby St. Paul's
   Chapel. Hamilton achieved the rank of lieutenant, studied military
   history and tactics on his own and, under fire from the HMS Asia, 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.
   Through his connections with influential New York patriots like
   Alexander McDougall and John Jay, he raised his own artillery company
   of sixty men in 1776, drilling them, selecting and purchasing their
   uniforms with donated funds, and winning their loyalty; they chose the
   young man as their captain. He won the interest of Nathanael Greene and
   George Washington by the proficiency and bravery he displayed in the
   campaign of 1776 around New York City, particularly at the Battle of
   Harlem Heights.

   He joined Washington's staff in March 1777 with the rank of
   lieutenant-colonel and for four years served in effect as his chief of
   staff. He handled the paperwork and drafted many of Washington's orders
   and letters (but Washington always made the decisions and gave the
   commands). He negotiated with general officers as Washington's
   emissary. The important duties with which he was entrusted attest
   Washington's entire confidence in his abilities and character, then and
   afterward. Indeed, reciprocal confidence and respect initially took the
   place of personal attachment in their relations. During the war
   Hamilton became close friends with several fellow officers, including
   John Laurens and the Marquis de Lafayette.
   Alexander Hamilton
   Enlarge
   Alexander Hamilton

   Hamilton repeatedly sought independent command, especially of small
   units. He became impatient of detention in what he regarded as a
   position of unpleasant dependence, and in February 1781, he received a
   slight reprimand from Washington as an excuse for resigning his staff
   position. But later, through Washington, he secured a field command: he
   led an (elite) light infantry regiment that took Redoubt #10 of the
   British fortifications at Yorktown, the last necessary to force the
   British surrender there.

Relationship with John Laurens

   Some historians contend that Hamilton had a homosexual relationship
   with John Laurens although it was later found out he did not while both
   were aide-de-camps to Washington. Laurens took leave, travelling to his
   home state of South Carolina, in an effort to persuade the legislature
   to recruit African-American troops for the Continental Army. The
   suspicions about their relationship are based upon letters Hamilton
   wrote to Laurens shortly afterward. The first correspondence that we
   have appears to be a response from Hamilton to Laurens, written in
   December, 1779.

   The letter says, in part: “Cold in my professions, warm in my
   friendships, I wish, my Dear Laurens, it might be in my power, by
   action rather than words to convince you that I love you. I shall only
   tell you that 'til you bade us Adieu, I hardly knew the value you had
   taught my heart to set upon you… You should not have taken advantage of
   my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent. But as
   you have done it, and as we are generally indulgent to those we love, I
   shall not scruple to pardon the fraud you have committed, on condition
   that for my sake, if not for your own, you will always continue to
   merit the partiality, which you have artfully instilled into me.”

   In the same letter, however, Hamilton asks Laurens to find him a wife
   in South Carolina: “She must be young--handsome (I lay most stress upon
   a good shape) Sensible (a little learning will do)--well bred. . .
   chaste and tender (I am an enthusiast in my notions of fidelity and
   fondness); of some good nature--a great deal of generosity (she must
   neither love money nor scolding, for I dislike equally a termagant and
   an economist)--In politics, I am indifferent what side she may be of--I
   think I have arguments that will safely convert her to mine--As to
   religion a moderate stock will satisfy me--She must believe in god and
   hate a saint. But as to fortune, the larger stock of that the better."

   In preparing a biography, Hamilton's family redacted parts of the
   letters the two sent one another. It remains rumor whether their
   relationship was sexual or not. Hamilton was apparently never as
   emotionally open with any other man in his lifetime, but he knew no
   other comrade or peer in age, rank, and common war experience to share
   a deep platonic friendship with. Though the depth of sentiments
   expressed by him are equaled only in letters he wrote to his wife
   Eliza, the language is not uncommon between men for the historical
   period.

   The two are pictured together in John Trumbull's "Surrender of Lord
   Cornwallis” and were featured together on a bicentennial US Stamp,
   issued May 19, 1976. A statue of two men clasping hands is attached to
   the larger Marquis de Lafayette statue across from the White House in
   Washington, D.C.. For years, it was rumored to depict Hamilton and
   Laurens congratulating each other after capturing the British redoubt
   at Yorktown, and served a popular gay rendezvous. However, the figures
   on the west side of the Marquis de Lafayette statue actually depict
   Louis Le Bègue Duportail and Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, the
   Comte de Rochambeau.

Under the Confederation

   After the war, he served as a member of the Congress of the
   Confederation from 1782 to 1783, and then he retired to open his own
   law office in New York City. 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. He pleaded that the Mayor's
   Court should interpret state law to be consistent with the 1783 Treaty
   of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War.

   In 1784, he founded the Bank of New York, now the oldest ongoing
   banking organization in the United States, and was also instrumental,
   along with John Jay, in the revitalization of King's College, which had
   been severely crippled by the war and discredited for its Tory
   affiliations, as Columbia College. His public career resumed when he
   attended the Annapolis Convention as a delegate in 1786 and drafted its
   resolution for a Constitutional convention.

Constitution and the Federalist Papers

   In 1787, he served in the New York State Legislature and was the first
   delegate chosen to the Constitutional Convention. Hamilton's direct
   influence at the Convention was limited, since New York at the time was
   dominated by Clintonians (under George Clinton) in opposition of a
   strong national government. Not long into the convention, the two other
   New York delegates left the convention in protest, and Hamilton
   remained with no vote (two representatives were required for any state
   to cast a vote).

   Early in the Convention he made a speech proposing what was considered
   a very monarchical government for the United States. Though regarded as
   one of his most eloquent speeches, it had little effect, and
   deliberations continued largely ignoring his suggestions.

   Based on his interpretation of history, he concluded the ideal form of
   government had represented all the interest groups, but maintained a
   hereditary monarch to decide policy. In Hamilton's opinion, this was
   impractical in the United States; nevertheless, the country should
   mimic this form of government as closely as possible. He proposed,
   therefore, to have a President and Senators for life, though they would
   be an elected assembly. He was also for the abolition of the state
   governments. Much later, he stated that his "final opinion" in the
   Convention was that the President should have a three year term. The
   notes of the Convention are rather brief; there has been some
   speculation that he might have also proposed a longer, and more
   republican, plan.

   During the convention, he constructed a draft on the basis of the
   debates which he did not actually present. This has most of the
   features of the actual Constitution, down to such details as the
   three-fifths clause, but not all of them. The Senate is elected in
   proportion to population, being two-fifths the size of the House, and
   the President and Senators are elected through complex multi-stage
   elections, in which chosen electors elect smaller bodies of electors;
   they still held 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 suits involving the United States, and
   State governors were to be appointed by the Federal Government.

   Hamilton was satisfied with the proposed U.S. Constitution, and became
   a stalwart promoter. He took the lead in the successful campaign for
   its ratification in New York, a crucial victory for ratification.
   Hamilton recruited John Jay and James Madison to write a defense of the
   proposed Constitution, now known as The Federalist Papers, but he made
   the largest collective contribution (writing 51 of the 85 that were
   published). Hamilton is considered the leading interpreter of the
   Constitution, and his essays and arguments were influential in New York
   state and others 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.

   In 1788, Hamilton served yet another term in what proved to be the last
   time the Continental Congress met under the Articles of Confederation.

Secretary of the Treasury: 1789-1795

   President George Washington appointed Hamilton as the first Secretary
   of the Treasury. Hamilton served in the Treasury Department from
   September 11, 1789, until January 31, 1795.

   Within one year, Hamilton submitted five reports that amounted to a
   financial revolution in the American Economy.
     * 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.
     * 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.
     * Report on Manufactures
          + Communicated to the House of Representatives, December 5,
            1791.

   In the Report on Public Credit, the Secretary made the controversial
   proposal that would have had the Federal Government assume state debts
   incurred during the Revolution. It was a bold move to empower the
   federal government over State governments, and it drew sharp criticism
   from Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Speaker of the House of
   Representatives James Madison. The disagreements between Jefferson and
   Hamilton extended to other proposals Hamilton made to Congress, and
   they grew especially bitter, with Hamilton's followers calling
   themselves Federalists and Jefferson's calling themselves republicans.
   These divisions are the first manifestations of political parties in
   the U.S.

   Jefferson and Madison eventually brokered a deal with Hamilton that
   required him to use his influence to place the permanent capital on the
   Potomac River, while 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, passed
   legislative opposition and became law.

   Hamilton's next milestone 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. Nevertheless, The Report on
   Manufactures is a classic document heralding the industrial future
   America would soon inhabit. In it Hamilton counters Jefferson's vision
   of an Agrarian American nation of farmers and gives a clear vision for
   a dynamic industrial economy, subservient to manufacturing interests.
   Hamilton discusses some problems relating to Adam Smith's Wealth of
   Nations, while borrowing from Smith's theory at the same time. As a
   state paper, the report on manufactures failed to bring about any
   policy recommendations but was much read during the nineteenth century.

   Apart from these, Hamilton helped found the United States Mint, the
   First National Bank, the U.S. Coast Guard, and an elaborate system of
   duties, tariffs, and excises. The complete Hamiltonian program is
   considered by many scholars to have amounted to a swift, five-year
   financial revolution that replaced the chaotic financial system of the
   confederation era with a modern apparatus to give investors the
   confidence necessary for them to invest in government bonds. His
   overall financial program is now acknowledged to have strengthened the
   Federal government considerably, a central objective in Hamilton's
   nationalist vision.

   Hamilton's reports are not the only noteworthy elements of his Treasury
   tenure. The very act of administering his programs has drawn much
   interest from students of public administration. Hamilton paid
   attention to how a government implemented policy, as much as what
   policy it implemented. "Administration," said Hamilton, "this is the
   true touchstone." James Madison later said:

   "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..."

   While Hamilton never penned a full theory of public administration, his
   practices in the domain reflect his recurring concern with energy and
   enterprise. The key idea was that a good administration of the
   government (meaning the confident and energetic assumption of power)
   would endear a government to the people. Hamilton worked this principle
   into the government through his own administration of the Treasury
   Department and as advisor to President Washington. However, his
   adherence to this principle engendered as many enemies as allies and
   brought into question the limits of executive power.

   As a principal sources of revenue, Hamilton's system imposed an excise
   tax on whiskey. Strong opposition to the whiskey tax erupted into the
   Whiskey Rebellion in 1794; in Western Pennsylvania and western
   Virginia, whiskey was commonly made and used (often in place of
   currency) by most of the community. In response to the rebellion—on the
   grounds compliance with the laws was vital to the establishment of
   federal authority—he accompanied President Washington, General "Light
   Horse Harry" Lee and more Federal troops than the Continental Line.
   This overwhelming display of force intimidated the leaders of the
   insurrection, ending the rebellion virtually without bloodshed.

Founding the Federalist Party

   Hamilton created the Federalist Party and dominated it until 1800. It
   was the first political party in the nation; some have called it the
   first mass-based party in any republic; others have seen its chief
   weakness in having too little connection to the masses. As early as
   1790, Hamilton started putting together a nationwide coalition, using
   the contacts he had made in the Army and the Treasury. To build vocal
   political support in each state, he signed up prominent men who were
   like-minded nationalists. The friends of the government especially
   included merchants, bankers, and financiers in a dozen major cities. By
   1792 or 1793 newspapers started calling Hamilton supporters
   "Federalists" and the opponents "democrats" or "republicans". Religious
   and educational leaders—hostile to the French Revolution—joined his
   coalition, especially in New England. Hamilton systematically set up a
   Federalist newspaper network, recruiting and subsidizing editors like
   Noah Webster and John Fenno; he wrote numerous anonymous editorials and
   essays for his papers.

   By 1793, Jefferson and Madison started the republican party, which
   eventually^ became the Democratic Republicans. The state networks of
   both parties began to operate in 1794 or 1795, thus firmly establishing
   what has been called The First Party System in all the states. Hamilton
   had over 2,000 Treasury jobs to dispense, while Jefferson had only one.
   Jay's Treaty of 1794 injected foreign policy into the party debates,
   with Hamilton and his party favoring Britain and denouncing the French
   Revolution, while the Jeffersonians tended to the opposite position.

   The Federalist and Democratic-Republican newspapers of the 1790s traded
   "rancorous and venomous abuse." John Fenno had founded the Gasette of
   the United States in 1789, on Hamilton's side; Philip Freneau, known as
   the "Poet of the Revolution," was a Democratic-Republican editor. The
   Democratic Republicans attacked Hamilton as a monarchist who betrayed
   America's true values; after the Reynolds affair became known they used
   salacious humor relentlessly. One poem began:

          ASK—who lies here beneath this monument?
          L o!—’tis a self created MONSTER, who
          E mbraced all vice. His arrogance was like
          X erxes, who flogg’d the disobedient sea,
          A dultery his smallest crime

Industrialist

   Statue of Hamilton by Franklin Simmons, overlooking the Great Falls of
   the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey. Hamilton envisioned the use
   of the falls to power new factories.
   Enlarge
   Statue of Hamilton by Franklin Simmons, overlooking the Great Falls of
   the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey. Hamilton envisioned the use
   of the falls to power new factories.

   Hamilton was among the first to predict an industrial future. In 1778,
   he visited the Great Falls of the Passaic River in northern New Jersey
   and saw that the falls could one day be harnessed to provide power for
   a manufacturing centre on the site. In the 1790s, he helped to found
   the Society for the Establishment of Useful Manufactures, a private
   corporation that would use the power of the falls to operate mills.
   Although the company did not succeed in its original purpose, it leased
   the land around the falls to other mill ventures and continued to
   operate for over a century and a half.

Out of the Cabinet

Affair

   In 1794, Hamilton became intimately involved in an affair with Maria
   Reynolds that badly damaged his reputation. Reynolds's husband, James,
   blackmailed Hamilton for money by threatening to tell Hamilton's wife,
   Eliza. When James Reynolds was arrested for counterfeiting, he
   contacted several prominent members of the Democratic-Republican Party,
   most notably James Monroe, touting that he could finger a top level
   official for corruption. When they visited Hamilton with their
   suspicions (believing Hamilton had abused his position in Washington's
   Cabinet), Hamilton insisted he was innocent of any misconduct in public
   office and admitted to the affair with Maria Reynolds. When rumors
   began spreading, Hamilton published a confession of his affair,
   shocking his family and supporters by not merely confessing but
   narrating the affair in detail. At first Hamilton accused Monroe of
   making his affair public, and challenged him to a duel. Aaron Burr
   stepped in and persuaded Hamilton that Monroe was innocent of the
   accusation. His well-known vitriolic temper led Hamilton to challenge
   several others to duels in his career.

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 adviser and friend. Hamilton
   influenced Washington in the composition of his Farewell Address, and
   Washington often consulted with him, as did members of his Cabinet.

   In the election of 1796, each of the presidential Electors had two
   votes, which they were to cast for different men; the one with most
   votes to be President, the second Vice President. This system was not
   designed for parties, which had been thought disreputable and factious.
   The Federalists planned to deal with this by having all their Electors
   vote for Adams and all but a few for Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina,
   then on his way home from a successful embassage to Spain. Jefferson
   chose Aaron Burr as his vice presidential running mate.

   Hamilton, however, disliked Adams and saw an opportunity. He urged all
   the Northern Electors to vote for Adams and Pinckney, lest Jefferson
   get in; 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 be President, and
   Adams would remain Vice President. It did not. The Federalists found
   out about it (even the French minister to the United States found out
   about it), and Northern Federalists voted for Adams but not for
   Pinckney, in sufficient numbers that Pinckney came in third and
   Jefferson became Vice President.

Quasi-War

   Adams resented this because, from the non-partisan point of view, his
   services and seniority were much greater than Pinckney's. Relations
   between Hamilton and Washington's successor, John Adams, however, were
   frequently strained. 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. 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 not leave Mt. Vernon).

   Hamilton proceeded to set up an army, which was to guard against
   invasion and march into the possessions of Spain, then allied with
   France, and take Louisiana and Mexico. 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. Adams had also held it right to retain Washington's cabinet,
   except for cause; he found, in 1800 (after Washington's death), that
   they were obeying Hamilton rather than himself and fired several of
   them.

1800 presidential election

   In the 1800 election, Hamilton acted against both sides. He proposed
   that New York, which Burr had won for Jefferson, should have its
   election rerun with carefully chosen districts. John Jay, who had given
   up the Supreme Court to be Governor of New York, declined to support
   this unbecoming proposal. John Adams was running this time with
   Pinckney's elder brother Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. On the other
   hand, Hamilton toured New England, again urging Northern Electors to
   hold firm for this Pinckney, in the renewed hope to make Pinckney
   President; and he again intrigued in South Carolina. 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.) On the Federalist side, Governor Arthur Fenner of
   Rhode Island denounced these "jockeying tricks" to make Pinckney
   President, and one Rhode Island Elector voted for Adams and Jay. The
   result was that Jefferson and Burr tied for first and second; and
   Pinckney came in fourth.

   In September, Hamilton wrote a pamphlet (Letter from Alexander
   Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams,
   Esq. President of the United States) which was highly critical of
   Adams, although it closed with a tepid endorsement. He mailed this to
   two hundred leading Federalists; when a copy fell into
   Democratic-Republican hands, they printed it. This also 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, and destroyed Hamilton's position
   among the Federalists.

   So Jefferson had beaten Adams; both he and his nominal running mate,
   Aaron Burr, 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.) Several Federalists who opposed
   Jefferson supported Burr, but Hamilton reluctantly threw his weight
   behind Jefferson, causing one Federalist congressman to abstain from
   voting after 36 tied ballots. This ensured that Jefferson was elected
   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." Burr then became Vice President of the
   United States. When it became clear that he would not be asked to run
   again with Jefferson, Burr sought the New York governorship in 1804 but
   was badly defeated by forces led by Hamilton.

Family life

   In spring 1779, Hamilton asked his friend John Laurens to find him a
   wife in South Carolina: [Mitchell vol 1 p 199]:

     "She must be young—handsome (I lay most stress upon a good shape)
     Sensible (a little learning will do)—well bred. . . chaste and
     tender (I am an enthusiast in my notions of fidelity and fondness);
     of some good nature—a great deal of generosity (she must neither
     love money nor scolding, for I dislike equally a termagant and an
     economist)—In politics, I am indifferent what side she may be of—I
     think I have arguments that will safely convert her to mine—As to
     religion a moderate stock will satisfy me—She must believe in God
     and hate a saint. But as to fortune, the larger stock of that the
     better."

   Hamilton however found his own bride. On December 14, 1780, he married
   Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of General Philip Schuyler, and thus
   joined one of the richest and most political families in the state of
   New York.

   Hamilton grew extremely close to Eliza's sister Angelica Church, who
   was married to John Barker Church, a Member of Parliament.

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

Duel with Aaron Burr

   Hamilton fights his fatal duel with Aaron Burr.
   Enlarge
   Hamilton fights his fatal duel with Aaron Burr.

   Soon after the gubernatorial election in New York—in which Morgan
   Lewis, greatly assisted by Hamilton, defeated Aaron Burr—a newspaper
   published a letter from a dinner party in upstate New York, during
   which Hamilton, discussing Burr, said he could reveal "an even more
   despicable opinion" of Colonel Burr. Burr, sensing an attack on his
   honour, and surely still stung by the defeat, demanded an apology.
   Hamilton refused on the grounds that he could not recall the instance.

   It was an exchange of three testy letters, and despite the attempts of
   friends to avert a confrontation, a duel was nevertheless scheduled for
   July 11, 1804, along the bank of the Hudson River on a rocky ledge in
   Weehawken, New Jersey. It was a common dueling site at which two years
   earlier Hamilton's eldest son, Philip, had been killed in a duel with a
   prominent Jeffersonian whom he had publicly insulted in a Manhattan
   theatre.

   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." 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. The next day they measured and triangulated
   the shooting (both men were the same height) and determined that
   Hamilton, probably more nervous than Burr, had fired from the hip. The
   guns had hair-trigger settings, but according to both seconds were not
   used. The same guns were used in Philip Hamilton's duel and still exist
   today.

   If a duelist decided not to aim at his opponent there was a well-known
   procedure, obvious to everyone present, for doing so. Hamilton did not
   follow this procedure. (If so, Burr might have followed suit, and death
   may have been avoided.) It was a matter of honour 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. Years later, when told that
   Hamilton may have misled him at the duel, the ever-laconic Burr
   replied, "Contemptible—if true."

   After considerable suffering, Hamilton died the next day and was buried
   in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery in Manhattan (Hamilton was
   Episcopalian). Governor Morris, a political ally of Hamilton's, gave
   the eulogy at his funeral and secretly established a fund to support
   his widow and children.

Legacy

   Alexander Hamilton on the current U.S. $10 bill
   Enlarge
   Alexander Hamilton on the current U.S. $10 bill

   From the start, Hamilton set a precedent as a Cabinet member by
   dreaming up federal programs, writing them in the form of reports,
   pushing for their approval by appearing in person to argue them on the
   floor of Congress, and then implementing them.

   Another of Hamilton's legacies was his pro-Federal interpretation of
   the U.S. Constitution. Though the Constitution was drafted in a way
   that was somewhat ambiguous as to the balance of power between Federal
   and state governments, Hamilton consistently took the side of greater
   Federal power at the expense of states. Thus, 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, on Congress's constitutional powers to issue currency, to
   regulate interstate commerce, and anything else that would be
   "necessary and proper." 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, specifically the
   doctrine of implied powers.

   Hamilton's policies as Secretary of the Treasury have had an
   immeasurable effect on the United States Government and still continue
   to influence it. In 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. Navy
   was still using inter-ship communication protocols written by Hamilton
   for the original U.S. Coast Guard. His constitutional interpretation,
   specifically of the necessary and proper clause, 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 once said "I consider Napoleon,
   Fox, and Hamilton the three greatest men of our epoch, and if I were
   forced to decide between the three, I would give without hesitation the
   first place to Hamilton. He divined Europe."

   Hamilton’s portrait began to appear during the American Civil War on
   the $2, $5, $10, and $50 notes. His face continues to appear on the
   front of the ten dollar bill, but after the death of Ronald Reagan,
   some suggested replacing Hamilton with Reagan. Hamilton also appears on
   the $500 Series EE Savings Bond.

   On the south side of the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. is a
   statue of Hamilton. Hamilton's upper Manhattan home is preserved as
   Hamilton Grange National Memorial.

On slavery

   In the nineteenth century, Hamilton earned a reputation for having been
   a staunch opponent of slavery: Abraham Lincoln, for example,
   characterized Hamilton as among "the most noted anti-slavery men of
   those times." A member and officer of the New York Manumission Society,
   Hamilton used his influence to press the New York legislature to adopt
   a law prohibiting the export of slaves from the state (import was
   already illegal).

   Some modern scholars believe that the historical record confirms
   Hamilton as a "steadfast abolitionist"; others see him as a
   "hypocrite.". For example, Hamilton returned an escaped slave to a
   friend. Hamilton's first polemic against King George's ministers
   contains a paragraph which speaks of the evils which "slavery" to the
   British would bring upon the Americans. One biographer sees this as an
   attack on actual slavery; such a view was not uncommon in 1776.

   During the Revolutionary War, there was a series of proposals to arm
   slaves, free them, and compensate their masters. Freeing any enlisted
   slaves had also become customary by then both for the British, who did
   not compensate their American masters, and for the Continental Army;
   some states were to require it before the end of the war. In 1779,
   Hamilton's friend John Laurens suggested such a unit be formed under
   his command, to relieve besieged Charleston, South Carolina; Hamilton
   wrote a letter 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; they did not, even though the South
   Carolina governor and Congressional delegation had supported the plan
   in Philadelphia.

   Hamilton argued that blacks' natural faculties were as good as those of
   free whites, and he forestalled objections by citing Frederick the
   Great and others as praising obedience and lack of cultivation in
   soldiers; he also 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. Hamilton later
   attacked his political opponents as demanding freedom for themselves
   and refusing to allow it to blacks.

   In January 1785, he attended the second meeting of the (New York)
   Society for Promoting Manumissions. John Jay was president and Hamilton
   was secretary; he later became president. He was also a member of the
   committee of the society which put a bill through the New York
   Legislature banning the export of slaves from New York.

   Three months later, Hamilton returned a fugitive slave to Henry Laurens
   of South Carolina; he was later to be Washington's intermediary in
   getting the Collector of Customs for Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to ship
   a runaway slave-woman back to Mount Vernon if it could be done quietly;
   it could not be, and she remained there.

   Hamilton never supported forced emigration for freed slaves; it has
   been argued from this that he would be comfortable with a multiracial
   society, and this distinguished him from his contemporaries. 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.

   He may have owned household slaves himself (the evidence for this is
   indirect; one biographer interprets it as referring to paid employees),
   and he did buy and sell them on behalf of others. 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 twenty years. When the Quakers of New York
   petitioned the First Congress (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. Historian James Horton concludes that Hamilton's
   racial views, while not entirely egalitarian, were relatively
   progressive for his day.

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. He firmly supported
   government intervention in favour of business, after the manner of
   Jean-Baptiste Colbert, as early as the fall of 1781. He inspired the
   writings and work of Friedrich List and Henry C. Carey.

Memorial at colleges

   Alexander Hamilton served as one of the first trustees of the
   Hamilton-Oneida Academy when the school opened in 1793. 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 (commonly referred to as the
   "Al-Ham" statue) and the Burke Library has an extensive collection of
   Hamilton's personal documents. Columbia College, Hamilton's alma mater,
   whose students formed his makeshift artillery company and fired some of
   the first shots against the British, has official memorials to
   Hamilton. 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.

   The main administration building of the Coast Guard Academy is named
   Hamilton Hall, because he founded the Coast Guard.

In pop culture

   In Saturday Night Live's comedy music video Lazy Sunday, one of the
   lyrics reference the infamous duel with Aaron Burr stating, "you can
   call us Aaron Burr, by the way we droppin' Hamiltons."
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