Alexander Hamilton (ca. 1755–1804) politician

Hamilton, an American politician and first secretary of the Treasury, was born on the island of Nevis in the West Indies in 1755. As a boy, he worked for a trading company in St. Croix before being sent to America for further education by his employer. He attended school in what is today Elizabeth, New Jersey, before further study at King’s College in Manhattan (today Columbia University).

Hamilton served in the New York artillery during the Revolutionary War and was a secretary and assistant to George Washington from 1777 to 1781. He was admitted to the bar in New York in 1782 and also became a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation from New York in the same year. During the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia in 1787, he, John Jay, and James Madison wrote a series of letters to newspapers urging approval of the new Constitution. These letters were later collected and reprinted as The Federalist. He became secretary of the Treasury under Washington in 1789. Disputes with Madison and Jefferson in the early 1790s led to the development of the Federalist Party, which he led at a critical period in American political history.

As first secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton attempted to put the United States on a sound financial footing, especially since debt was consuming more than 50 percent of annual government revenues. He had a plan, as did a successor, Albert GALLATIN, to totally extricate the country from debt within 15 years, but the Louisiana Purchase would intervene.

Hamilton’s main contributions to business were twofold. As Treasury secretary, he favored establishing a national bank and also opposed excessive government spending. He also supported businessmen, whom he believed were the lifeblood of the nation. His essay The Report On Manufactures (1791) strongly supported early forms of manufacturing as a way of developing a strong economy, less dependent upon agriculture and imports of finished goods from Britain. In his view, independence in manufacturing would guarantee economic and political independence in the future.

Hamilton resigned as Treasury secretary in 1795 but continued to be involved in politics, taking opportunity to criticize John Adams, a Federalist, as well as Aaron Burr, whom Hamilton opposed as a gubernatorial candidate in New York in 1804. His opposition to Burr led to their famous duel, in which Hamilton was severely wounded. He died a day later, in 1804.

See also DUER, WILLIAM.

Further reading

• Brookhiser, Richard. Alexander Hamilton, American. New York: Free Press, 1999. 
• Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin Books, 2004. 
• McDonald, Forrest. Alexander Hamilton: A Biography. New York: Norton, 1979.