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On January 11, 1755, Alexander Hamilton, US Founding Father and first United States Secretary of the Treasury (1789-95), was born in Charlestown, Nevis, West Indies (d. 1804). From the article:
"Alexander Hamilton Biography
Political Scientist, Military Leader, Journalist, Economist, Lawyer, Government Official (c. 1755–1804)
Alexander Hamilton, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and major author of the Federalist papers, was the United States' first secretary of the treasury.
Synopsis
Alexander Hamilton was born circa January 11, 1755 or 1757 (the exact date is unknown), on the island of Nevis, British West Indies. In 1777, Hamilton became General George Washington's assistant. In 1788, he convinced New Yorkers to agree to ratify the U.S Constitution. He then served as the nation's first secretary of the treasury, from 1789 to 1795. On July 12, 1804, in New York City, Hamilton died of a gunshot wound that he sustained during a duel with Aaron Burr.
Early Life
Founding father Alexander Hamilton was born circa January 11, 1755 or 1757 (the exact date is unknown), on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies. Hamilton's parents were Rachel Fawcett Lavien, who was of British and French Huguenot descent, and James Hamilton, a Scottish trader. At the time of Alexander's birth, Rachel was married to John Lavien, a much older merchant whom she had been pressured to wed by her parents when she was a teenager. They had a son, Peter together. Lavien was abusive to Rachel and had spent nearly all the money she had inherited when her father died in 1745. During their tumultuous relationship, by Danish law, he even had her imprisoned for several months for adultery.
When she was released, instead of returning to her husband and son, the independent-minded Rachel fled the troubled marriage and moved to St. Kitts. It was there she met and moved in with James Hamilton, with whom she had another son James, Alexander's older brother who was born in 1753. After moving back to St. Croix, James Sr. abandoned the family when Alexander was a boy, leaving Rachel and her sons impoverished. John Adams would one day come to characterize Hamilton's rise from humble beginnings by describing the young Hamilton as "the bastard brat of a Scottish peddler."
Determined to improve his lot in life, Hamilton took his first job at the tender age of 11, not long after his father left. But the family was soon dealt another sad blow. After working tirelessly to make ends meet, his mother became ill and died in 1768 at the age of 38.
Working as an accounting clerk in an mercantile in St. Croix, the bright and ambitious young lad quickly impressed his employer. Through this early experience, Alexander Hamilton was first exposed to international commerce (including the importing of slaves) and learned about the business of money and trade. Hamilton's boss, a businessman named Nicolas Cruger, so valued Hamilton's acumen when it came to accounting that he and other businessmen pooled their resources with a minister and newspaper editor named Hugh Knox to send Hamilton to America for an education. Hamilton had impressed Knox with an eloquent letter he had written describing a ferocious hurricane that had hit the island in 1772.
In 1773, when he was around 16 years old, Hamilton arrived in New York, where he enrolled in King's College (later renamed Columbia University). Despite his gratitude toward his generous patrons, with the American colonies on the brink of a revolution, Hamilton was drawn more to political involvement than he was to academics. In 1774, he wrote his first political article defending the Patriots' cause against the interests of pro-British Loyalists.
A quick learner, Hamilton deemed himself quite capable of becoming a self-made man. Intent on learning through hands-on experience, he left King's College before graduating to join forces with the Patriots in their protest of British-imposed taxes and commercial business regulations.
Military Career
In 1775, when the Revolutionary War began, Hamilton became part of the New York Provincial Artillery Company and fought in the battles of Long Island, White Plains and Trenton.
In 1777, after Hamilton fought in that year's battles of Brandywine Creek, Germantown and Princeton, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the Continental Army. During his early service in the fight for American independence, he caught the attention of General George Washington, who made Hamilton his assistant and trusted adviser. For the next five years, Hamilton put his writing skills to work. He wrote Washington's critical letters, and composed numerous reports on the strategic reform and restructuring of the Continental Army. Around the same time, Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, who was from an affluent New York family.
Growing restless in his desk job, in 1781, Hamilton convinced Washington to let him taste some action on the battlefield. With Washington's permission, Hamilton led a victorious charge against the British in the Battle of Yorktown. Cornwallis's surrender during this battle would eventually lead to two major negotiations in 1783: the Treaty of Paris between the United States and Great Britain, and two treaties signed at Versailles between France and Britain and Spain. These treaties and several others comprise the collection of peace agreements known as Peace of Paris, officially marking the end of the American Revolutionary War.
While serving as an adviser for George Washington, Hamilton had come to realize Congress' weaknesses, including jealousy and resentment between states, which, Hamilton believed, stemmed from the Articles of Confederation. (He believed that the Articles — considered America's first, informal constitution — separated rather than unified the nation.) Hamilton left his adviser post in 1782, convinced that establishing a strong central government was the key to achieving America's independence. It would not be the last time that Hamilton worked for the U.S. Army.
In 1798, Hamilton was appointed inspector general and second in command, as America geared up for a potential war with France. In 1800, Hamilton's military career came to a sudden halt when America and France reached a peace agreement.
Law Career
Hamilton left his position as an adviser to George Washington to study law. After completing a short apprenticeship and passing the bar, he established a practice in New York City. The majority of Hamilton's first clients were the widely unpopular British Loyalists, who continued to pledge their allegiance to the King of England. When British forces took power over New York State in 1776, many New York rebels fled the area, and British Loyalists, many of whom had traveled from other states and were seeking protection during this time, began to occupy the abandoned homes and businesses.
When the Revolutionary War ended, nearly a decade later, many rebels returned to find their homes occupied, and sued Loyalists for compensation (for using and/or damaging their property). Hamilton defended Loyalists against the rebels.
In 1784, Hamilton took on the Rutgers v. Waddington case, which involved the rights of Loyalists. It was a landmark case for the American justice system, as it led to the creation of the judicial review system. He accomplished another history-making feat that same year, when he assisted in founding the Bank of New York. In defending the Loyalists, Hamilton instituted new principles of due process.
Hamilton went on to take an additional 45 trespass cases, and proved to be instrumental in the eventual repeal of the Trespass Act, which had been established in 1783 to permit rebels to collect damages from the Loyalists who had occupied their homes and businesses.
Being a lawyer drew Hamilton further into politics, as he used his profession as a vehicle for achieving his political goals. After serving as secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795, he returned to his law practice in Manhattan, distinguishing himself as one of the city's most prestigious attorneys. Throughout his law career, Hamilton remained actively involved in public and political affairs and ranked among U.S. presidents' most sought-after advisors.
Politics and Government
Hamilton's political agenda entailed establishing a stronger federal government under a new Constitution. In 1787, while serving as a New York delegate, he met in Philadelphia with other delegates to discuss how to fix the Articles of Confederation, which were so weak that they could not persist in keeping the Union intact. During the meeting, Hamilton expressed his view that a reliable ongoing source of revenue would be crucial to developing a more powerful and resilient central government.
Hamilton didn't have a strong hand in writing the Constitution, but he did heavily influence its ratification, or approval. In collaboration with James Madison and John Jay, Hamilton wrote 51 of 85 essays under the collective title The Federalist (later known as The Federalist Papers). In the essays, he artfully explained and defended the newly drafted Constitution prior to its approval. In 1788, at the New York Ratification Convention in Poughkeepsie, where two-thirds of delegates opposed the Constitution, Hamilton was a powerful advocate for ratification, effectively arguing against the anti-Federalist sentiment. His efforts succeeded when New York agreed to ratify, and the remaining eight states followed suit.
When George Washington was elected president of the United States in 1789, he appointed Alexander Hamilton as the first secretary of the treasury. At the time, the nation was facing great foreign and domestic debt due to expenses incurred during the American Revolution.
Ever a proponent for a strong central government, during his tenure as treasury secretary, Hamilton butted heads with fellow cabinet members who were fearful of a central government holding so much power. Lacking their state loyalties, Hamilton went so far as to turn down New York’s opportunity to house the nation's capital in favor of securing backing for his economic program, dubbed the "dinner table bargain."
It was Hamilton's belief that the Constitution gave him the authority to create economic policies that strengthened the central government. His proposed fiscal policies initiated the payment of federal war bonds, had the federal government assume states' debts, instituted a federal system for tax collection and would help the United States establish credit with other nations.
State loyalists were outraged by Hamilton's suggestions, until a compromise was reached during a dinner conversation between Hamilton and Madison on June 20, 1790. Hamilton agreed that a site near the Potomac would be established as the nation's capital, and Madison would no longer block Congress, particularly its Virginia representatives, from approving policies that promoted a more powerful central government over individual states' rights.
Hamilton stepped down from his position as secretary of the treasury in 1795, leaving behind a far more secure U.S. economy to back a strengthened federal government.
Deadly Duel
During the 1800 presidential elections, Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic Republican, and John Adams, a Federalist, were vying for the presidency. At the time, presidents and vice presidents were voted for separately, and Aaron Burr, intended to be Jefferson's vice president on the Democratic-Republican ticket, actually tied Jefferson for the presidency.
Choosing Thomas Jefferson as the lesser of two evils, Hamilton went to work supporting Jefferson's campaign, and in so doing undermined the attempts of Federalists to garner a tie-breaking win for Burr. Ultimately, the House of Representatives chose Jefferson as president, with Burr as his vice president. However, the standoff had damaged Jefferson's trust in Burr.
During his first term, Jefferson often left Burr out of discussions on party decisions. When Jefferson ran for re-election in 1804, he decided to remove Burr from his ticket. Burr then opted to run independently for the New York governorship, but lost. Frustrated and feeling marginalized, Burr hit his boiling point when he read in a newspaper that Hamilton had called Burr "the most unfit and dangerous man of the community."
Burr was infuriated. Convinced that Hamilton had ruined yet another election for him, Burr demanded an explanation. When Hamilton refused to comply, Burr, further enraged, challenged Hamilton to a duel. Hamilton begrudgingly accepted, believing that in doing so he would assure his "ability to be in [the] future useful."
The duel, which began at dawn on July 11, 1804 in Weehawken, New Jersey, would rob Hamilton of that ability entirely. When both men drew their guns and shot, Hamilton was fatally wounded, but Hamilton's bullet missed Burr. Hamilton, injured, was brought back to New York City, where he died the next day, on July 12, 1804.
Marriage & Family
On December 14, 1780, Hamilton married Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler, the daughter of Revolutionary War general Philip Schuyler. By all accounts, they enjoyed a strong relationship throughout their marriage and would have eight children together, despite the revelation that Hamilton had once conducted an extramarital affair with a married woman, Maria Reynolds. Hamilton's affair with Reynolds is considered one of the first sex scandals in the country’s history. In a letter to his wife dated July 4, 1804, just days before his duel with Burr, Hamilton wrote, “Fly to the bosom of your God and be comforted. With my last idea; I shall cherish the sweet hope of meeting you in a better world. Adieu best of wives and best of Women. Embrace all my darling Children for me.” Eliza, who lived for 50 years after the death of Alexander, would dedicate her life to preserving his legacy."
"Alexander Hamilton Biography
Political Scientist, Military Leader, Journalist, Economist, Lawyer, Government Official (c. 1755–1804)
Alexander Hamilton, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and major author of the Federalist papers, was the United States' first secretary of the treasury.
Synopsis
Alexander Hamilton was born circa January 11, 1755 or 1757 (the exact date is unknown), on the island of Nevis, British West Indies. In 1777, Hamilton became General George Washington's assistant. In 1788, he convinced New Yorkers to agree to ratify the U.S Constitution. He then served as the nation's first secretary of the treasury, from 1789 to 1795. On July 12, 1804, in New York City, Hamilton died of a gunshot wound that he sustained during a duel with Aaron Burr.
Early Life
Founding father Alexander Hamilton was born circa January 11, 1755 or 1757 (the exact date is unknown), on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies. Hamilton's parents were Rachel Fawcett Lavien, who was of British and French Huguenot descent, and James Hamilton, a Scottish trader. At the time of Alexander's birth, Rachel was married to John Lavien, a much older merchant whom she had been pressured to wed by her parents when she was a teenager. They had a son, Peter together. Lavien was abusive to Rachel and had spent nearly all the money she had inherited when her father died in 1745. During their tumultuous relationship, by Danish law, he even had her imprisoned for several months for adultery.
When she was released, instead of returning to her husband and son, the independent-minded Rachel fled the troubled marriage and moved to St. Kitts. It was there she met and moved in with James Hamilton, with whom she had another son James, Alexander's older brother who was born in 1753. After moving back to St. Croix, James Sr. abandoned the family when Alexander was a boy, leaving Rachel and her sons impoverished. John Adams would one day come to characterize Hamilton's rise from humble beginnings by describing the young Hamilton as "the bastard brat of a Scottish peddler."
Determined to improve his lot in life, Hamilton took his first job at the tender age of 11, not long after his father left. But the family was soon dealt another sad blow. After working tirelessly to make ends meet, his mother became ill and died in 1768 at the age of 38.
Working as an accounting clerk in an mercantile in St. Croix, the bright and ambitious young lad quickly impressed his employer. Through this early experience, Alexander Hamilton was first exposed to international commerce (including the importing of slaves) and learned about the business of money and trade. Hamilton's boss, a businessman named Nicolas Cruger, so valued Hamilton's acumen when it came to accounting that he and other businessmen pooled their resources with a minister and newspaper editor named Hugh Knox to send Hamilton to America for an education. Hamilton had impressed Knox with an eloquent letter he had written describing a ferocious hurricane that had hit the island in 1772.
In 1773, when he was around 16 years old, Hamilton arrived in New York, where he enrolled in King's College (later renamed Columbia University). Despite his gratitude toward his generous patrons, with the American colonies on the brink of a revolution, Hamilton was drawn more to political involvement than he was to academics. In 1774, he wrote his first political article defending the Patriots' cause against the interests of pro-British Loyalists.
A quick learner, Hamilton deemed himself quite capable of becoming a self-made man. Intent on learning through hands-on experience, he left King's College before graduating to join forces with the Patriots in their protest of British-imposed taxes and commercial business regulations.
Military Career
In 1775, when the Revolutionary War began, Hamilton became part of the New York Provincial Artillery Company and fought in the battles of Long Island, White Plains and Trenton.
In 1777, after Hamilton fought in that year's battles of Brandywine Creek, Germantown and Princeton, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the Continental Army. During his early service in the fight for American independence, he caught the attention of General George Washington, who made Hamilton his assistant and trusted adviser. For the next five years, Hamilton put his writing skills to work. He wrote Washington's critical letters, and composed numerous reports on the strategic reform and restructuring of the Continental Army. Around the same time, Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, who was from an affluent New York family.
Growing restless in his desk job, in 1781, Hamilton convinced Washington to let him taste some action on the battlefield. With Washington's permission, Hamilton led a victorious charge against the British in the Battle of Yorktown. Cornwallis's surrender during this battle would eventually lead to two major negotiations in 1783: the Treaty of Paris between the United States and Great Britain, and two treaties signed at Versailles between France and Britain and Spain. These treaties and several others comprise the collection of peace agreements known as Peace of Paris, officially marking the end of the American Revolutionary War.
While serving as an adviser for George Washington, Hamilton had come to realize Congress' weaknesses, including jealousy and resentment between states, which, Hamilton believed, stemmed from the Articles of Confederation. (He believed that the Articles — considered America's first, informal constitution — separated rather than unified the nation.) Hamilton left his adviser post in 1782, convinced that establishing a strong central government was the key to achieving America's independence. It would not be the last time that Hamilton worked for the U.S. Army.
In 1798, Hamilton was appointed inspector general and second in command, as America geared up for a potential war with France. In 1800, Hamilton's military career came to a sudden halt when America and France reached a peace agreement.
Law Career
Hamilton left his position as an adviser to George Washington to study law. After completing a short apprenticeship and passing the bar, he established a practice in New York City. The majority of Hamilton's first clients were the widely unpopular British Loyalists, who continued to pledge their allegiance to the King of England. When British forces took power over New York State in 1776, many New York rebels fled the area, and British Loyalists, many of whom had traveled from other states and were seeking protection during this time, began to occupy the abandoned homes and businesses.
When the Revolutionary War ended, nearly a decade later, many rebels returned to find their homes occupied, and sued Loyalists for compensation (for using and/or damaging their property). Hamilton defended Loyalists against the rebels.
In 1784, Hamilton took on the Rutgers v. Waddington case, which involved the rights of Loyalists. It was a landmark case for the American justice system, as it led to the creation of the judicial review system. He accomplished another history-making feat that same year, when he assisted in founding the Bank of New York. In defending the Loyalists, Hamilton instituted new principles of due process.
Hamilton went on to take an additional 45 trespass cases, and proved to be instrumental in the eventual repeal of the Trespass Act, which had been established in 1783 to permit rebels to collect damages from the Loyalists who had occupied their homes and businesses.
Being a lawyer drew Hamilton further into politics, as he used his profession as a vehicle for achieving his political goals. After serving as secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795, he returned to his law practice in Manhattan, distinguishing himself as one of the city's most prestigious attorneys. Throughout his law career, Hamilton remained actively involved in public and political affairs and ranked among U.S. presidents' most sought-after advisors.
Politics and Government
Hamilton's political agenda entailed establishing a stronger federal government under a new Constitution. In 1787, while serving as a New York delegate, he met in Philadelphia with other delegates to discuss how to fix the Articles of Confederation, which were so weak that they could not persist in keeping the Union intact. During the meeting, Hamilton expressed his view that a reliable ongoing source of revenue would be crucial to developing a more powerful and resilient central government.
Hamilton didn't have a strong hand in writing the Constitution, but he did heavily influence its ratification, or approval. In collaboration with James Madison and John Jay, Hamilton wrote 51 of 85 essays under the collective title The Federalist (later known as The Federalist Papers). In the essays, he artfully explained and defended the newly drafted Constitution prior to its approval. In 1788, at the New York Ratification Convention in Poughkeepsie, where two-thirds of delegates opposed the Constitution, Hamilton was a powerful advocate for ratification, effectively arguing against the anti-Federalist sentiment. His efforts succeeded when New York agreed to ratify, and the remaining eight states followed suit.
When George Washington was elected president of the United States in 1789, he appointed Alexander Hamilton as the first secretary of the treasury. At the time, the nation was facing great foreign and domestic debt due to expenses incurred during the American Revolution.
Ever a proponent for a strong central government, during his tenure as treasury secretary, Hamilton butted heads with fellow cabinet members who were fearful of a central government holding so much power. Lacking their state loyalties, Hamilton went so far as to turn down New York’s opportunity to house the nation's capital in favor of securing backing for his economic program, dubbed the "dinner table bargain."
It was Hamilton's belief that the Constitution gave him the authority to create economic policies that strengthened the central government. His proposed fiscal policies initiated the payment of federal war bonds, had the federal government assume states' debts, instituted a federal system for tax collection and would help the United States establish credit with other nations.
State loyalists were outraged by Hamilton's suggestions, until a compromise was reached during a dinner conversation between Hamilton and Madison on June 20, 1790. Hamilton agreed that a site near the Potomac would be established as the nation's capital, and Madison would no longer block Congress, particularly its Virginia representatives, from approving policies that promoted a more powerful central government over individual states' rights.
Hamilton stepped down from his position as secretary of the treasury in 1795, leaving behind a far more secure U.S. economy to back a strengthened federal government.
Deadly Duel
During the 1800 presidential elections, Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic Republican, and John Adams, a Federalist, were vying for the presidency. At the time, presidents and vice presidents were voted for separately, and Aaron Burr, intended to be Jefferson's vice president on the Democratic-Republican ticket, actually tied Jefferson for the presidency.
Choosing Thomas Jefferson as the lesser of two evils, Hamilton went to work supporting Jefferson's campaign, and in so doing undermined the attempts of Federalists to garner a tie-breaking win for Burr. Ultimately, the House of Representatives chose Jefferson as president, with Burr as his vice president. However, the standoff had damaged Jefferson's trust in Burr.
During his first term, Jefferson often left Burr out of discussions on party decisions. When Jefferson ran for re-election in 1804, he decided to remove Burr from his ticket. Burr then opted to run independently for the New York governorship, but lost. Frustrated and feeling marginalized, Burr hit his boiling point when he read in a newspaper that Hamilton had called Burr "the most unfit and dangerous man of the community."
Burr was infuriated. Convinced that Hamilton had ruined yet another election for him, Burr demanded an explanation. When Hamilton refused to comply, Burr, further enraged, challenged Hamilton to a duel. Hamilton begrudgingly accepted, believing that in doing so he would assure his "ability to be in [the] future useful."
The duel, which began at dawn on July 11, 1804 in Weehawken, New Jersey, would rob Hamilton of that ability entirely. When both men drew their guns and shot, Hamilton was fatally wounded, but Hamilton's bullet missed Burr. Hamilton, injured, was brought back to New York City, where he died the next day, on July 12, 1804.
Marriage & Family
On December 14, 1780, Hamilton married Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler, the daughter of Revolutionary War general Philip Schuyler. By all accounts, they enjoyed a strong relationship throughout their marriage and would have eight children together, despite the revelation that Hamilton had once conducted an extramarital affair with a married woman, Maria Reynolds. Hamilton's affair with Reynolds is considered one of the first sex scandals in the country’s history. In a letter to his wife dated July 4, 1804, just days before his duel with Burr, Hamilton wrote, “Fly to the bosom of your God and be comforted. With my last idea; I shall cherish the sweet hope of meeting you in a better world. Adieu best of wives and best of Women. Embrace all my darling Children for me.” Eliza, who lived for 50 years after the death of Alexander, would dedicate her life to preserving his legacy."
Alexander Hamilton
Posted from biography.comPosted in these groups: 
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Military HistoryUS Department of the Treasury
War of Independence World History American History Military HistoryUS Department of the Treasury
Posted 6 y ago
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Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for letting us know that January 11 is the anniversary of the birth of American statesman and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States Alexander Hamilton who was (1) an influential interpreter and promoter of the U.S. Constitution, (2) founder of the nation's financial system, (3) founder of the Federalist Party, (4) founder of the United States Coast Guard, and (5) founder of the New York Post newspaper.
He was a renaissance man with tremendous talent across a wide range of areas IMHO.
Rest in peace Alexander Hamilton.
I read the Federalist Papers as a cadet at West Point in the 1970s.
Of course benighted Treasury Secretary Jacob Joseph "Jack" Lew seem to knuckle under to post modern tendencies of the Obama administration to replace the man who advocated the dollar as our currency from the $10 bill.
Thankfully he is still depicted on the $10 bill.
In the current anti historical figure atmosphere I would not be surprised if in the future there is a clamor to remove slave owner former President Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill.
Images
1. 1803 Portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull
2. 1756 King's College, reprint in 1859
3. Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) in the Uniform of the New York Artillery by Alonzo Chappel
4. 1787 painting of Mrs Alexander Hamilton by Ralph Earl
Background from ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/hamilton.html
"Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was born in Charlestown, Nevis, in the West Indies on January 11, 1757 (or 1755), to James Hamilton, a Scottish merchant of St. Christopher, and Rachel Fawcett. Rachel's father was a Huguenot physician and planter. While very young, she had been married to and divorced from a Danish proprietor on St. Croix. After her divorce, the court prohibited her remarriage. The marriage to James Hamilton was acceptable socially in the West Indies, but not elsewhere. The union resulted in the birth of two sons, but they were living apart less than 10 years later. Rachel and her boys lived on St. Croix, dependent on her relatives. She passed away in 1768. His father survived until 1799 — but the boys were virtually orphans before they were even teenagers.
At the age of 12, Hamilton began work as a clerk in a general store, but the boy had a keen intellect and ambitious goals. He was an excellent writer, in French as well as English. By 1772, his aunts scrimped and saved to send the young intellectual to New York for formal education.
In 1773 was entered at King's College (Now Columbia). Even as a young man he had a strong grasp on political issues concerning British and American government, which he exhibited in a series of anonymous pamphlets so discerning, they were attributed to John Jay. He was only 17 at the time.
In 1775 he withdrew from his college studies and founded a volunteer military company. On March 14, 1776, Hamilton was commissioned Captain of the New York Provincial Company of Artillery. He exhibited great skill and intelligence in his duties with artillery, and Nathanael Greene noticed. He was asked to serve on the staff of Lord Stirling, which he declined, and continued his career with artillery at Long Island, Harlem Heights, White Plains, and saw action at Trenton and Princeton in the New Jersey campaign.
Washington recognized Hamilton's leadership abilities, as well as his extraordinary talent for writing. Hamilton was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and made his aide-de-camp on March 1, 1777. Just twenty years old at the time, Hamilton had already made remarkable accomplishments.
Hamilton spent the winter of 1777-1778 with Washington and the Continental Army at Valley Forge. It was during this winter that Brigadier General Horatio Gates tried unsuccessfully to incriminate Hamilton during the Conway Cabal.
On December 14, 1780, Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of Philip Schuyler, a Revolutionary War general, and Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler. Both the Schuylers and Rensselaers were very wealthy and prominent New York families. It was a happy marriage that produced eight children.
On February 16, 1781, Hamilton quarreled with Washington, and their relationship was forever soured. He describes the incident in a letter to his father-in-law dated February 18, 1791:
. . . Two days ago, the General and I passed each other on the stairs. He told me he wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait upon him immediately. I went below, and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and interesting nature.
Returning to the General, I was stopped on the way by the Marquis de La Fayette, and we conversed together about a minute on a matter of business. He can testify how impatient I was to get back [. . .] I met him [Washington] at the head of the stairs, where, accosting me in an angry tone, "Colonel Hamilton," said he, "you have kept me waiting at the head of the stairs these ten minutes. I must tell you sir, you treat me with disrespect. I replied without petulancy, but with decision: "I am not conscious of it, sir, but since you have thought it necessary to tell me so, we part." "Very Well, sir," said he, "if it be your choice," or something to this effect, and we separated. I sincerely believe my absence, which gave so much umbrage, did not last two minutes.
Attempts at reconciliation were not successful. Several months later, in July, Hamilton was given command of a battalion of Lafayette's Division in Moses Hazen's Brigade. He led a successful attack at Yorktown, contributing to the final American victory there. He continued in the military for a couple of years when he was made Colonel on September 30, 1783. He left the service by the end of the year.
n July, 1782, Hamilton was appointed to the Congress of the Confederation, representing the state of New York. He resigned from Congress in 1783 and set up a law practice. In 1784, he founded the Bank of New York. He continued to exert an influence on national politics, co-authoring the Federalist Papers with John Jay and James Madison, and helping found and lead the Federalist political party, advocating for a much stronger central government than that provided by the Articles of Confederation. Hamilton played a key role in creating the Constitution, which replaced the Articles in 1787. He served as the first Secretary of the Treasury (1789-1795) in the cabinet of George Washington, and essentially established our national monetary system.
In 1789, Hamilton began a clandestine correspondence with British agent Major George Beckwith (who had been involved with Benedict Arnold in his treason years earlier). Unlike Arnold, Hamilton didn't betray his nation for financial reward, but his actions were nevertheless deceptive and dishonest, even if he believed they were in the best interest of the country.
Hamilton (addressed by Beckwith as "7" to protect his identity) selectively revealed secret cabinet discusssions to Beckwith, and deliberately misinformed President Washington concerning the conversations he had with the British agent, all with the apparent objective of guiding U.S. policy in the direction that he envisioned, overshadowing the visionary ideas of some of his contemporaries, most notably, Thomas Jefferson.
Much of the correspondence between Hamilton and Beckwith is presented as part of the Founder's Online project of the National Archives.
As Professor Julian Boyd, author of Number 7: Alexander Hamilton's Secret Attempts to Control American Foreign Policy (Princeton University Press, 1964) puts it, these secret conversations,
form, in fact, a part of the pattern of Hamilton's sustained effort to guide the conduct of American foreign policy that began in the autumn of 1789 and culminated in the treaty of 1794 (between the United States and British).
The Federalists were opposed by the Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson. The two parties contested in the election of 1796, but presidential selection was very different then than it is today. A candidate did not run for president with a vice presidential running mate. Instead, electors cast two votes for two different men. The winner became president and the runner-up, the vice president, even if they were from different political parties. This made a tie very likely, as all the electors for each party were likely to cast their two votes for the same two men.
The parties dealt with this by arranging for all their electors to cast one of their votes for the party's top choice, and all but a few to cast their second vote for the party's second choice, avoiding a tie. But there was disagreement within the Federalist party as far as who their top choice was. Other Federalists wanted John Adams as President, and Thomas Pinckney as Vice President and planned to vote accordingly. In an effort to keep John Adams from becoming president, Hamilton urged some electors to vote for Jefferson and Pinckney, rather than Adams and Pinckney, but not because he wanted Jefferson in either role. He intended to direct enough votes from Adams to Jefferson that Pinckney would end up with the most, Adams with the second most. The plan backfired and ultimately John Adams became president, Thomas Jefferson, Vice-President and Thomas Pinckney was elected to nothing.
In July of 1798, Hamilton was commissioned Major General when war threatened to break out with France, serving for almost two years, though war was averted. John Adams, elected in 1796 despite Hamilton's machinations, was up for re-election in 1800. Hamilton again schemed, urging support for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (brother of Thomas Pinckney) over John Adams, going so far as writing and circulating a pamphlet entitled Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq. President of the United States, a deeply critical attack.
Though he distributed the pamphlet solely among his fellow Federalists, and his intention was only to elect Pinckney and relegate Adams to Vice-President, it backfired even more dramatically than his 1796 scheming. A copy fell into the hands of the Democratic-Republicans, who published it. Adams' reputation was hurt and Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied for first place in the election. The tie was broken by the House of Representatives. Hamilton used his influence to get Jefferson, a man with whom he had publicly disagreed on many occasions and the leader of the opposition party, elected over Burr, a member of his own party. Four years later, he helped defeat the Burr campaign once more when Burr tried to become governor of New York.
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton had been on friendly terms for years, but after fifteen years of having every political aspiration thwarted by Hamilton, Burr was seething with anger and itching for revenge. The final straw came in the form of letters published in the Albany Register, outlining Hamilton's opposition to Burr, and rumors of even more savage attacks on Burr's character alleged to have been delivered at a dinner party. Ultimately, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. On July 11, 1804, Hamilton was mortally wounded and he died the following afternoon in extreme pain at the age of 47.
Hamilton's remains are buried in the graveyard of Trinity Church in New York City, the final resting place of several other key figures in U.S. history, including Horatio Gates and John Peter Zenger.Hamilton's grave is the most popular tourist attraction in the cemetery, even more so since the release of the Broadway sensation Hamilton."
Hamilton's Financial Plan and the Whiskey Rebellion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw7P82kOOs8
FYI Maj William W. "Bill" Price Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown 1stSgt Eugene Harless CW5 John M. MSG Andrew White SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"SCPO Morris Ramsey SGT Michael Thorin SGT (Join to see) SGT Robert George SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SP5 Robert Ruck SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke Sgt Arthur Caesar SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
He was a renaissance man with tremendous talent across a wide range of areas IMHO.
Rest in peace Alexander Hamilton.
I read the Federalist Papers as a cadet at West Point in the 1970s.
Of course benighted Treasury Secretary Jacob Joseph "Jack" Lew seem to knuckle under to post modern tendencies of the Obama administration to replace the man who advocated the dollar as our currency from the $10 bill.
Thankfully he is still depicted on the $10 bill.
In the current anti historical figure atmosphere I would not be surprised if in the future there is a clamor to remove slave owner former President Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill.
Images
1. 1803 Portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull
2. 1756 King's College, reprint in 1859
3. Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) in the Uniform of the New York Artillery by Alonzo Chappel
4. 1787 painting of Mrs Alexander Hamilton by Ralph Earl
Background from ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/hamilton.html
"Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was born in Charlestown, Nevis, in the West Indies on January 11, 1757 (or 1755), to James Hamilton, a Scottish merchant of St. Christopher, and Rachel Fawcett. Rachel's father was a Huguenot physician and planter. While very young, she had been married to and divorced from a Danish proprietor on St. Croix. After her divorce, the court prohibited her remarriage. The marriage to James Hamilton was acceptable socially in the West Indies, but not elsewhere. The union resulted in the birth of two sons, but they were living apart less than 10 years later. Rachel and her boys lived on St. Croix, dependent on her relatives. She passed away in 1768. His father survived until 1799 — but the boys were virtually orphans before they were even teenagers.
At the age of 12, Hamilton began work as a clerk in a general store, but the boy had a keen intellect and ambitious goals. He was an excellent writer, in French as well as English. By 1772, his aunts scrimped and saved to send the young intellectual to New York for formal education.
In 1773 was entered at King's College (Now Columbia). Even as a young man he had a strong grasp on political issues concerning British and American government, which he exhibited in a series of anonymous pamphlets so discerning, they were attributed to John Jay. He was only 17 at the time.
In 1775 he withdrew from his college studies and founded a volunteer military company. On March 14, 1776, Hamilton was commissioned Captain of the New York Provincial Company of Artillery. He exhibited great skill and intelligence in his duties with artillery, and Nathanael Greene noticed. He was asked to serve on the staff of Lord Stirling, which he declined, and continued his career with artillery at Long Island, Harlem Heights, White Plains, and saw action at Trenton and Princeton in the New Jersey campaign.
Washington recognized Hamilton's leadership abilities, as well as his extraordinary talent for writing. Hamilton was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and made his aide-de-camp on March 1, 1777. Just twenty years old at the time, Hamilton had already made remarkable accomplishments.
Hamilton spent the winter of 1777-1778 with Washington and the Continental Army at Valley Forge. It was during this winter that Brigadier General Horatio Gates tried unsuccessfully to incriminate Hamilton during the Conway Cabal.
On December 14, 1780, Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of Philip Schuyler, a Revolutionary War general, and Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler. Both the Schuylers and Rensselaers were very wealthy and prominent New York families. It was a happy marriage that produced eight children.
On February 16, 1781, Hamilton quarreled with Washington, and their relationship was forever soured. He describes the incident in a letter to his father-in-law dated February 18, 1791:
. . . Two days ago, the General and I passed each other on the stairs. He told me he wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait upon him immediately. I went below, and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and interesting nature.
Returning to the General, I was stopped on the way by the Marquis de La Fayette, and we conversed together about a minute on a matter of business. He can testify how impatient I was to get back [. . .] I met him [Washington] at the head of the stairs, where, accosting me in an angry tone, "Colonel Hamilton," said he, "you have kept me waiting at the head of the stairs these ten minutes. I must tell you sir, you treat me with disrespect. I replied without petulancy, but with decision: "I am not conscious of it, sir, but since you have thought it necessary to tell me so, we part." "Very Well, sir," said he, "if it be your choice," or something to this effect, and we separated. I sincerely believe my absence, which gave so much umbrage, did not last two minutes.
Attempts at reconciliation were not successful. Several months later, in July, Hamilton was given command of a battalion of Lafayette's Division in Moses Hazen's Brigade. He led a successful attack at Yorktown, contributing to the final American victory there. He continued in the military for a couple of years when he was made Colonel on September 30, 1783. He left the service by the end of the year.
n July, 1782, Hamilton was appointed to the Congress of the Confederation, representing the state of New York. He resigned from Congress in 1783 and set up a law practice. In 1784, he founded the Bank of New York. He continued to exert an influence on national politics, co-authoring the Federalist Papers with John Jay and James Madison, and helping found and lead the Federalist political party, advocating for a much stronger central government than that provided by the Articles of Confederation. Hamilton played a key role in creating the Constitution, which replaced the Articles in 1787. He served as the first Secretary of the Treasury (1789-1795) in the cabinet of George Washington, and essentially established our national monetary system.
In 1789, Hamilton began a clandestine correspondence with British agent Major George Beckwith (who had been involved with Benedict Arnold in his treason years earlier). Unlike Arnold, Hamilton didn't betray his nation for financial reward, but his actions were nevertheless deceptive and dishonest, even if he believed they were in the best interest of the country.
Hamilton (addressed by Beckwith as "7" to protect his identity) selectively revealed secret cabinet discusssions to Beckwith, and deliberately misinformed President Washington concerning the conversations he had with the British agent, all with the apparent objective of guiding U.S. policy in the direction that he envisioned, overshadowing the visionary ideas of some of his contemporaries, most notably, Thomas Jefferson.
Much of the correspondence between Hamilton and Beckwith is presented as part of the Founder's Online project of the National Archives.
As Professor Julian Boyd, author of Number 7: Alexander Hamilton's Secret Attempts to Control American Foreign Policy (Princeton University Press, 1964) puts it, these secret conversations,
form, in fact, a part of the pattern of Hamilton's sustained effort to guide the conduct of American foreign policy that began in the autumn of 1789 and culminated in the treaty of 1794 (between the United States and British).
The Federalists were opposed by the Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson. The two parties contested in the election of 1796, but presidential selection was very different then than it is today. A candidate did not run for president with a vice presidential running mate. Instead, electors cast two votes for two different men. The winner became president and the runner-up, the vice president, even if they were from different political parties. This made a tie very likely, as all the electors for each party were likely to cast their two votes for the same two men.
The parties dealt with this by arranging for all their electors to cast one of their votes for the party's top choice, and all but a few to cast their second vote for the party's second choice, avoiding a tie. But there was disagreement within the Federalist party as far as who their top choice was. Other Federalists wanted John Adams as President, and Thomas Pinckney as Vice President and planned to vote accordingly. In an effort to keep John Adams from becoming president, Hamilton urged some electors to vote for Jefferson and Pinckney, rather than Adams and Pinckney, but not because he wanted Jefferson in either role. He intended to direct enough votes from Adams to Jefferson that Pinckney would end up with the most, Adams with the second most. The plan backfired and ultimately John Adams became president, Thomas Jefferson, Vice-President and Thomas Pinckney was elected to nothing.
In July of 1798, Hamilton was commissioned Major General when war threatened to break out with France, serving for almost two years, though war was averted. John Adams, elected in 1796 despite Hamilton's machinations, was up for re-election in 1800. Hamilton again schemed, urging support for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (brother of Thomas Pinckney) over John Adams, going so far as writing and circulating a pamphlet entitled Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq. President of the United States, a deeply critical attack.
Though he distributed the pamphlet solely among his fellow Federalists, and his intention was only to elect Pinckney and relegate Adams to Vice-President, it backfired even more dramatically than his 1796 scheming. A copy fell into the hands of the Democratic-Republicans, who published it. Adams' reputation was hurt and Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied for first place in the election. The tie was broken by the House of Representatives. Hamilton used his influence to get Jefferson, a man with whom he had publicly disagreed on many occasions and the leader of the opposition party, elected over Burr, a member of his own party. Four years later, he helped defeat the Burr campaign once more when Burr tried to become governor of New York.
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton had been on friendly terms for years, but after fifteen years of having every political aspiration thwarted by Hamilton, Burr was seething with anger and itching for revenge. The final straw came in the form of letters published in the Albany Register, outlining Hamilton's opposition to Burr, and rumors of even more savage attacks on Burr's character alleged to have been delivered at a dinner party. Ultimately, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. On July 11, 1804, Hamilton was mortally wounded and he died the following afternoon in extreme pain at the age of 47.
Hamilton's remains are buried in the graveyard of Trinity Church in New York City, the final resting place of several other key figures in U.S. history, including Horatio Gates and John Peter Zenger.Hamilton's grave is the most popular tourist attraction in the cemetery, even more so since the release of the Broadway sensation Hamilton."
Hamilton's Financial Plan and the Whiskey Rebellion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw7P82kOOs8
FYI Maj William W. "Bill" Price Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown 1stSgt Eugene Harless CW5 John M. MSG Andrew White SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"SCPO Morris Ramsey SGT Michael Thorin SGT (Join to see) SGT Robert George SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SP5 Robert Ruck SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke Sgt Arthur Caesar SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
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