Alexander Hamilton
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 and was the leading author of the
Federalist Papers (1788), which has been the single most important interpretation of the Constitution ever since.
He was the first and most influential
Secretary of the Treasury and had much influence over the rest of the Government and the formation of policy, including foreign policy. With a vision of using federal power to modernize the nation, 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. In foreign affairs he favored the British; he devised Jay's instructions for the
treaty of 1794.
[Elkins and McKitrick, p 396] He strongly opposed the
French Revolution.
Hamilton created and dominated 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, industrial pro-British vision and created a rival party. Hamilton retired from the Treasury in 1795 to practice law but returned to the public arena in 1798 as organizer of a new army, one designed to defend against the French by attacking the colonies of their ally, Spain
[Morison and Commager p. 327]; Hamilton also used it to threaten the state of Virginia. He worked to defeat both 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.
Historians regard Hamilton as the Founding Father who most effectively advocated the principles of a strong centralized federal government and elastic interpretation of the Constitution. He supported a strong national defense, solid national finances based on a national debt that linked the national government to the wealthy men across the country, and a strong banking system. His
Report on Manufactures envisioned an industrial nation in what was then a rural country. It advocated aid to infant industries, but that program did not pass.
"Many national leaders including Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, John Adams, John Jay, Gouverneur Morris, and Rufus King, saw slavery as an immense problem, a curse, a blight, or a national disease."
[Horton; quotation from David Brion Davis, Inhuman Bondage p. 154.] During the Revolution he wrote a letter to the Continental Congress to to create up to four battalions of slaves for combat duty, and free them - as the Continental army had become accustomed to do for enlisted slaves; some states were to require it by the end of the war.
[MacManus, 153-8. Arming slaves 192-3 ] . This would be the first black combat units; Congress approved a plan to purchase 3000 slaves, but South Carolina officials vetoed the plan.
[ Mitchell 1:175-77, 550 n.92] Previous plans had only involved the states. In 1785, as a leader of antislavery forces in New York, he helped stop the slave trade based in the city, and pushed for a state law to abolish slavery in New York ; one was finally passed in 1799. His racial views, while not entirely egalitarian, were relatively progressive for his day, concludes historian James Horton.
[Horton p.19.] Hamilton was deeply committed to the principles of
republicanism, as articulated most clearly in the
federalist Papers. His nationalist and modernizing vision was rejected in the Jeffersonian "Revolution of 1800." However, after the weaknesses revealed by the War of 1812, former opponents came to emulate his programs as they too set up a national bank, tariffs, internal improvements, and an 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 him as a direct inspiration until his style of nationalism became prominent again about 1900.
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A young Alexander Hamilton. |
Alexander Hamilton was born in 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, who had been married to Johann Michael Lavien. (The spelling of
Lavien varies; this is Hamilton's version, which may be a Sephardic spelling of Levine.
[Chernow, p. 10; Chernow doubts this, on the grounds that a religiously mixed marriage would have been unlikely. ]) 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. Some speculate that re-marriage did not occur, because Hamilton was in fact a homosexual.
There is some uncertainty as to the year of Hamilton's birth; he used January 11 as his birthday, and there is no reason to doubt it. "Most historians now give January 11, 1755, as Hamilton's birthday"; some disagree. 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.
[Chernow, Flexner, Mitchell's Concise Life. Quotation from McDonald, 366, n.8, who nevertheless gives 1757; he discounts the probate document because the clerk gives another spelling of "Lavien", and must therefore be unreliable. ] Hamilton was always sensitive about his illegitimate birth. Hamilton's childhood was
Dickensian. His father abandoned his two sons—with severe emotional consequences, even for the times—in the course of breaking with Hamilton's mother. Business misfortunes having caused his father to leave St. Croix, and his mother having died suddenly of a fever in 1768, young Hamilton was effectively orphaned.
Hamilton's business career began in 1768 when he became a clerk in the
counting house of
Nicholas Cruger. Cruger took a trip off-island in 1771-1772, leaving young Hamilton in charge of business affairs for six months. He displayed a remarkable flair for business and leadership skills that involved dealing with senior ship captains and businessmen on an equal basis, as well as expanding operations to include the trade of illicit goods such as opium and refined coca extract. In May 1772, Hugh Knox, a Presbyterian minister came to St. Croix. He opened his library to Hamilton, and preached about Satan and the 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.
In 1773, Hamilton attended a college-preparatory program with Francis Barber in
Elizabeth, New Jersey; he was admitted to Princeton in rural New Jersey but instead attended
King's College (later renamed Columbia College) in New York City, the center of revolutionary fervor. He soon became an intellectual leader of the patriotic cause. 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 1774-1775. He published two other pieces attacking the
Quebec Act as "establishing arbitrary power and Popery" in Canada
[Morison and Commager, p. 160; Miller p. 19] , and he wrote fourteen anonymous installments of "The Monitor" for Holt's
New York Journal.
He received his first taste of the military after joining a volunteer militia company called the
Hearts of Oak in
1775, and would drill 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 lieutentant, studied military history and tactics on his own, and lead a successful raid under fire on
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 19-year old 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, particulalry at the
Battle of Harlem Heights - the location of which, ironically, would become home to his Alma Mater over a hundred years later.
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
[Chernow p 90]. 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.
[ Lodge 1: 15-20; Miller 23-26]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.
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 seized a slight reprimand administered by 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.
[Mitchell, p. 254-60; Morison and Commager, p. 160]After the war, he served as a member of the
Congress of the Confederation (from 1782 to 1783), and then 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 largely defeated a claim for damages done to a brewery by the Englishmen who occupied it during the occupation of New York; pleading that the Mayor's Court should interpret state law to be consistent with the peace treaty.
[Chernow, p. 197-9, McDonald p. 64-9] 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.
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 when New York appointed two more delegates who usually disagreed with him. Since the Convention voted by states, this meant New York's vote was usually against him.
Early in the Convention, he made a speech presenting the best form of government for the United States. The ideal form of government would represent all the interest groups, but have a hereditary monarch to decide policy. This was impractical in the United States; but we should come as close to it as we could. He proposed, therefore, to have a President and Senators for life, but an elected assembly; and the abolition of the state governments. He was to say, much later, 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 argument that he must have put forward a longer, and more republican, plan.
[ Mitchell, p. 394-6].
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-fifth 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.
[Mitchell, p. 397 ff.]Hamilton was satisfied with the proposed
U.S. Constitution, even though it gave lifetime tenure only to judges, not to the President or Senate, he took the lead in the successful campaign for its ratification in
New York. Hamilton recruited John Jay and James Madison to write a defense of the proposed Constitution. It was he who made the largest single contribution to the authorship of the
Federalist Papers (writing 51 of the 85 that were published), which were influential in that 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.
Although not a native born citizen, Hamilton was a citizen at the time of the Constitution and was thus eligible to become president.
On the advice of financier
Robert Morris 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. It is for his tenure as Treasury secretary, as well as his contributions to the
Federalist Papers, that Hamilton is considered one of America's greatest early statesmen. He was in many ways Washington's most trusted advisor, handling critical domestic and foreign policies, and writing drafts of important messages such as Washington's
Farewell Address in 1796. In 1794 he designed a "bold initiative", the
Jay Treaty that "ushered in a new era of prosperity for Anglo-American trade," and resolved left-over issues from the Revolution. He fought Jefferson and Madison in the matterthus setting up foreign policy as a major dispute between the parties.
[Elkins and McKitrick, ch. 9, esp. p. 396]Hamilton's term was marked by innovation, planning and masterful reports. In office for barely a month, he proposed the creation of a seagoing branch of the military to discourage smuggling and enhance tax collections. The following summer, Congress authorized a
Revenue Marine force of ten cutters, the precursor to the
United States Coast Guard. He also played a crucial role in creating the
United States Navy (the
Naval Act of 1794). Hamilton's perceptive and creative mind, coupled with a driving ambition to set his ideas in motion, resulted in many proposals to Congress. His proposals included a plan for
tariffs and
excise taxes (on whiskey especially) for raising revenue, and funding the Revolutionary War debt including debts owed by the states. He developed the plans for the
First Bank of the United States and secured its adoption by Congress.
Funding the debt
Through a series of reforms, including a simple, workable tax system, an independent central bank, and a dollar tied to gold, Hamilton converted the $80 million national debt from a liability into an asset and provided liquidity to a cash-starved economy. To Hamilton, a national debt was not an evil but, "if it is not excessive, will be a national blessing"; in times of crisis, he argued, it would become a necessary strategic instrument of national policy.
In 1790, Hamilton put forth a plan to pay off at face value the international and internal debts run up by the Continental Congress, and the debts of the states they acquired in fighting the Revolution. He consolidated all into one national debt; people would turn in their paper at face value and receive federal bonds. He proposed to pay off all foreign debt to help restore credit in Europe, which would then enable the nation to issue bonds to pay off the domestic debt. Rich Americans would eagerly purchase the new bonds, thus guaranteeing that the "aristocracy of wealth and talent" had a stake in the success of the new government. His plan was for the Treasury to assume the state debts, which would stabilize the country and prevent any one state from pulling down the system.
Hamilton, contrary to popular belief, did not believe in perpetual debt. He thought it was a weakness that should be avoided except under exceptional circumstances. He had set up a
sinking fund that would have paid off all government debt, and wrote numerous articles denouncing perpetual government debt.
[PAH, vol. 6, pp. 98-106; Report on Public Debt, January 1790; and PAH, vol. 12, p. 570; Fact No. II National Gazette, Philadelphia, October 16, 1792.]He published the
Report on the Public Credit in January
1790. It was a milestone in
American financial history, marking the end of an era of slipshod finance and debt repudiation which had virtually ruined American credit. The secret of
British economic superiority and stable government, Hamilton argued, was its successful handling of debt.
James Madison and
Thomas Jefferson strongly opposed Hamilton's financial plans, arguing that a bank was unconstitutional, that the original debt holders often sold their certificates and the new owners did not deserve full payment. Hamilton argued that the rich and powerful men of every state, who held the state debt certificates, would give their loyalty to the national government if they had a financial investment in it. That is, the national debt could create national loyalties and without that loyalty the new nation would risk not having enough credit it might need in a future war. After six months of rancorous debate, Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison met and worked out
The Compromise of 1790. The national capital would move from
New York City to
Philadelphia for ten years, and then permanently to what would later be called Washington DC (District of Columbia). In return, both the funding of the Confederation debt and the assumption of the state debts would pass Congress. Furthermore, the Northern anti-slavery forces would allow the removal of the capital to a slave state.
When Jefferson alleged that a federal debt would create irresistible opportunities for corruption that would lead to monarchy, Hamilton slashed back, telling Washington that Jefferson's systematic opposition would lead to anarchy and then monarchy, and was a more dangerous threat: :The only path to a subversion of the republican system of the Country is, by flattering the prejudices of the people, and exciting their jealousies and apprehensions, to throw affairs into confusion, and bring on civil commotion. Tired at length of anarchy, or want of government, they may take shelter in the arms of monarchy for repose and security. Those then, who resist a confirmation of public order, are the true Artificers of monarchy.
[ Hamilton to Washington, August 18, 1792, as cited in McDonald p 253]New federal taxes; Whiskey rebellion
Hamilton asked for a whiskey tax and a high import tariff to help pay for the debt and increase domestic manufacturing (
Report on Manufactures).
Congress gave him the whiskey tax (
excise tax) and the
tariff but at a rate lower than he had wished. Finally, Hamilton asked for the creation of a
national bank (
First Bank of the United States) to help the government fulfill its financial obligations and create some income due to interest on loans and power to create a
national currency through issuance of public credit.
Strong opposition to taxing liquor erupted into the
Whiskey Rebellion in
Western Pennsylvania and
Virginia in 1794. Hamilton felt compliance with the laws was important, so he accompanied
President Washington, General
"Light Horse Harry" Lee and Federal troops to help put down the insurrection, virtually without bloodshed.
Hamilton, trying to promote close ties with Britain, repeatedly undercut the Secretary of State Jefferson, who feared Britain and wanted closer ties with France. By 1793 this disagreement became one of the major factors in Jefferson's creation of a new Democratic-Republican 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 the opposition started forming its own national party, which had no clear name at the time, but has since been called the
Democratic-Republicans, led by Jefferson and Madison. 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 2000 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 Republican newspapers of the 1790s traded "rancorous and venomous abuse."
[Jacobin and Junto Charles Warren (1931) pp 90-91.] Philip Freneau, known as the "Poet of the Revolution," was a Republican editor who seemed to have imagined that he was fighting 1776 all over again, this time with Hamilton and the Federalists in the place of George III and the Tories.
[Miller p. 344] The Republicans attacked Hamilton as a monarchist who betrayed America's true values; after the Reynolds affair became known they use salacious humor relentlessly. One poem began:
ASKâ€"who lies here beneath this monument? :
L o!â€"'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
[Independent Chronicle (Boston), 16 October 1797 quoted in Carol Sue Humphrey, The Revolutionary Era: Primary Documents on Events from 1776 to 1800 (2003) p, 260]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 center 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.
In 1794, Hamilton became intimately involved in an affair with
Maria Reynolds that badly damaged his reputation. Being born in St. Kitts-Nevis,thus, this scandal did not injure his career in that sense. Reynolds's husband, James, blackmailed Hamilton for money. When James Reynolds was arrested for counterfeiting, he contacted several prominent
Democratic-Republican Party, most notably
James Monroe. When they visited Hamilton with their suspicions of malfeasance, he insisted he was innocent of any misconduct in public office, and admitted to an affair with Maria Reynolds. When rumors began spreading, Hamilton was forced to publish a confession of his affair, which shocked his family and supporters.
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. 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 very reluctantly appointed Hamilton a
major general of the army.
Hamilton proceeded to set up an army, which was to 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.
[Morison and Commager, p.327] Adams had also held it right to retain Washington's cabinet, except for cause; he found, in 1800, that they were asking advice of Hamilton, rather than himself, and fired several of them. Hamilton also 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) which may have hurt Adams's 1800 reelection campaign and split the
Federalist Party, contributing to the victory of the
Democratic-Republican Party, led by Jefferson, in the
election of 1800. He did propose, however, that New York, which had gone for Jefferson and Burr, 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.
[Monaghan, p. 419-421.] He foresaw the possibility of a tie; while there were still hopes of a Federalist majority, he wrote Federalist Electors suggesting that they not vote for Adams, but still vote for his running mate
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
Although Jefferson had beaten Adams, both he and his nominal running mate,
Aaron Burr, received 73 votes in the
Electoral College. At the time, electors did not cast distinct ballots for a President and Vice President, but rather each had two votes, with the highest vote-getter becoming President, and the second-place finisher becoming Vice President. (In large part as a result of this election, the
Twelfth Amendment was proposed and ratified, adopting the method under which presidential elections are held today.) With Jefferson and Burr tied, the
United States House of Representatives had to choose between the two men. 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.
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 youngwell bred. . . chaste and tender (I am an enthusiast in my notions of fidelity and fondness); of some good natureIn politics, I am indifferent what side she may be ofAs 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--one who matched his specifications. 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 a
Member of Parliament.
[ Chernow, p. 133]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, Alexander and Eliza were very close and as a widow she always strove to guard his reputation and enhance his standing in American history.
Soon after the election, a newspaper referred to a "despicable opinion" attributed to Hamilton about Burr. This probably resulted from comments Hamilton made in private, sarcastically questioning Burr's integrity. Sensing a chance to regain political honor, Burr demanded an apology. Hamilton refused on the grounds that he could not recall the instance.
After an exchange of testy letters, and despite the attempts of mutual friends to avert a confrontation, a duel was nevertheless scheduled for July 11, 1804 along the bank of the Hudson River beneath a rocky ledge in
Weehawken, New Jersey.
At dawn, the duel began, and Vice President
Aaron Burr shot Hamilton. Hamilton's shot was fired into the air away from his opponent. 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; the guns were obtained by Hamilton, they have survived, and they have a hair-trigger setting that may be switched on or off.
After considerable suffering, Hamilton died the next day and was buried in the
Trinity Churchyard Cemetery in
Manhattan (Hamilton was
Episcopalian).
Gouverneur Morris, a political ally of Hamilton's, gave the eulogy at his funeral and secretly established a fund to support his widow and children; Hamilton's oldest son, Philip, had also been killed in a duel in Weehawken in 1801--defending his father's honor.
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. Hamilton did this brilliantly and forcefully, setting a high standard for administrative competence.
Another of Hamilton's legacies was his strongly 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 robust 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 portrait began to appear during the Civil War on the $2, $5, $10, and $50 notes. His face continues to grace the front of the ten dollar bill, but after the death of
Ronald Reagan, some suggested replacing Hamilton with Reagan; Hamilton, however, survived. 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.
Hamilton 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." Modern scholarship, however, has called that reputation into question. While some scholars believe that the historical record confirms Hamilton as a "steadfast abolitionist," others believe that it reveals him as a "hypocrite."
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;
[McDonald] such a view was not uncommon in 1776
[McManus; David Brion Davis, Inhuman Bondage p.156] There was a series of proposals to arm slaves during the Revolutionary War, free them, and compensate their masters. The first of these projects was put forth in August 1776, by
Jonathan Dickinson Sargeant; Rhode Island enacted one in 1777. 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.
[McManus, p.157 Arming slaves pp. 192-3, 206] In 1779, Hamilton's friend
John Laurens suggested such a unit be formed under his command, to relieve besieged Charleston; Hamilton wrote Congress in support of this proposal; but there was enough resistance in South Carolina to defeat it, even though the situation was so desperate that the governor had also written Congress in favor of it.
[ Wallace p 455] Hamilton argued that blacks' natural faculties were as good as those of free whites; and 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 didn't 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.
[letter to Jay of 14 March 1779; Chernow p.121. McManus, p. 154-7 ] He later attacked his political opponents as demanding freedom for themselves and refusing to allow it to blacks.
[ McDonald, p. 34; Flexner, p. 257-8, ] 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.
[McManus, p. 168.] 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.
[Chernow, p. 216] 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 couldn't, and she remained there.
[Littlefield, p.126, citing Syrett: 3:605-8. Wills, p. 209.] 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 Hamilton supported
Toussaint L'Ouverture's black government in Haiti after he revolted and overthrew French control; as he had supported aid to the slaveowners in 1791 - both measures hurt France.
[ Horton; Kennedy 97-98 Littlefield. Wills, p. 35, 40 ]He may have owned household slaves himself (the evidence for this is indirect; one biographer interprets it as referring to paid employees
[McDonald]), and bought and sold them on behalf of others. He supported a
gag rule to keep divisive discussions of slavery out of Congress, and supported the compromise by which the United States could not abolish the slave trade for twenty years.
[Flexner. 39] When the Quakers of New York petitioned the first Congress (under the Constitution) on the abolition of the slave trade, and Benjamin Franklin and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society for the abolition of slavery, the NYMS did not act.
[McDonald, p. 177]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.
[Lind, Michael. Hamilton's Republic (1997) pages xiv-xv, 229-30.] He firmly supported government intervention in favor of business, after the manner of
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, as early as the fall of 1781.
[Chernow, 170; citing Continentalist V, Syrett: 3:77; published April 1782, but written Fall 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 it opened the school 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.
Secondary sources
*
Samuel Eliot Morison and
Henry Steele Commager:
Growth of the American Republic (New York, Oxford University Press, 1969; other eds as cited.)
Biographies
*Brookhiser, Richard.
Alexander Hamilton, American. Free Press, (1999) (ISBN 0684839199).
*Chernow, Ron.
Alexander Hamilton. Penguin Books, (2004) (ISBN 1594200092). full length detailed biography
*Ellis, Joseph J.
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (2002), won Pulitzer Prize.
*Flexner, James Thomas.
The Young Hamilton: A Biography. Fordham University Press, (1997) (ISBN 0823217906).
*Fleming, Thomas.
Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America. (2000) (ISBN 0465017371).
*McDonald, Forrest.
Alexander Hamilton: A Biography(1982) (ISBN 039330048X), biography focused on intellectual history esp on AH's republicanism.
*Miller, John C.
Alexander Hamilton: Portrait in Paradox (1959), full-length scholarly biography;
*Mitchell, Broadus.
Alexander Hamilton (2 vols, 1957-62), the most detailed scholarly biography; also published in abridged edition
*Randall, Willard Sterne.
Alexander Hamilton: A Life. HarperCollins, (2003) (ISBN 0060195495). Popular.
Specialized studies
Arming slaves : from classical times to the modern age, Christopher Leslie Brown and Philip D. Morgan, eds. esp. 180-208 on the American Revolution, by Morgan and A. J. O'Shaubhnessy.
* Chan, Michael D. "Alexander Hamilton on Slavery."
Review of Politics 66 (Spring 2004): 207-31.
* Douglas Ambrose and Robert W. T. Martin, eds.
The Many Faces of Alexander Hamilton: The Life & Legacy of America's Most Elusive Founding Father (2006)
*Elkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick,
The Age of Federalism. (1993),
* Flaumenhaft; Harvey.
The Effective Republic: Administration and Constitution in the Thought of Alexander Hamilton Duke University Press, 1992
* Horton, James Oliver. "Alexander Hamilton: Slavery and Race in a Revolutionary Generation"
New-York Journal of American History 2004 65(3): 16-24. Issn: 1551-5486
online version* Roger G. Kennedy;
Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character Oxford University Press, 2000
*Knott, Stephen F.
Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth University Press of Kansas, (2002) (ISBN 0700611576).
*Harold Larsen:
Alexander Hamilton: The Fact and Fiction of His Early Years The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 9, No. 2. (Apr., 1952), pp. 139-151.
JSTOR link * Littlefield, Daniel C. "John Jay, the Revolutionary Generation, and Slavery."
New York History 2000 81(1): 91-132. Issn: 0146-437x
*McManus, Edgar J.
History of Negro Slavery in New York. Syracuse University Press, 1966.
*Mitchell, Broadus: "The man who 'discovered" Alexander Hamilton".
Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society 1951. 69:88-115
*Monaghan, Frank:
John Jay. Bobbs-Merrill (1935).
*Nettels, Curtis P.
The Emergence of a National Economy, 1775-1815 (1962).
*Rossiter, Clinton.
Alexander Hamilton and the Constitution (1964)
*Sharp, James.
American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis. (1995)
*Sheehan, Colleen. "Madison V. Hamilton: The Battle Over Republicanism And The Role Of Public Opinion"
American Political Science Review 2004 98(3): 405-424.
*Stourzh, Gerald.
Alexander Hamilton and the Idea of Republican Government (1970),
*Wallace, David Duncan:
Life of Henry Laurens,with a sketch of the life of Lieutenant-Colonel John Laurens Putnam (1915)
* Weston, Rob N. "Alexander Hamilton and the Abolition of Slavery in New York"
Afro-Americans in New York Life and History 1994 18(1): 31-45. Issn: 0364-2437 An undergraduate paper, which concludes that Hamilton was ambivalent about slavery.
*White, Leonard D.
The Federalists (1949), coverage of how the Treasury and other departments were created and operated.
* Richard D. White; "Political Economy and Statesmanship: Smith, Hamilton, and the Foundation of the Commercial Republic"
Public Administration Review, Vol. 60, 2000
* Wright; Robert E.
Hamilton Unbound: Finance and the Creation of the American Republic Praeger (2002)
Primary sources
*Hamilton, Alexander. (Joanne Freeman, ed.)
Alexander Hamilton: Writings (2001),
The Library of America edition, 1108 pages. ISBN 1931082049
*Syrett, Harold C. ed.
The Papers of Alexander Hamilton (27 vol, Columbia University Press, 1961-87)
*Cooke, Jacob E. ed.,
Alexander Hamilton: A Profile (1967), short excerpts from AH and his critics.
*Cunningham, Noble E.
Jefferson vs. Hamilton: Confrontations that Shaped a Nation (2000), short collection of primary sources with commentary.
*Morris, Richard. ed.
Alexander Hamilton and the Founding of the Nation (1957), short excerpts from AH's writings
*
Selected Writings and Speeches of Alexander Hamilton. Morton J. Frisch ed. (1985).
* George Rogers Taylor; ed,
Hamilton and the National Debt 1950, excerpts from all sides in 1790s
*
The Works of Alexander Hamilton edited by Henry Cabot Lodge (1904)
full text online at Google Books online in HTML edition*
Federalist Papers under the shared pseudonym "Publius" by Alexander Hamilton (c. 52 articles),
James Madison (28 articles) and
John Jay (five articles)
*
Report on Manufactures, his economic program for the United States.
*
Report on Public Credit, his financial program for the United States.
*
Harry Whittington*
famous quotes by Hamilton*
The Alexander Hamilton Historical Society (AHHS)*
Free ebook of Alexander Hamilton at
Project Gutenberg*
Hamilton's Report on Manufactures (Columbia University Press)*
The Rise and Fall of Alexander Hamilton by Ian Finseth*
Hamilton's Congressional biography*
The New York Historical Society's Alexander Hamilton Exhibit*
Alexander Hamilton: Debate over a National Bank (Feb 23 1791)*
Biography of Alexander Hamilton*
Alexander Hamilton by
Henry Cabot Lodge: analysis by politician/PhD who edited AH's Works
*
Elizabeth Hamilton 
