Hamilton, Alexander

Hamilton, Alexander (1755–1804), Revolutionary soldier and statesman.Born in Nevis, Hamilton migrated to New York in 1772, where he studied at King's College until lured into the Revolutionary War. Hamilton caught Gen. George Washington's eye, and in 1777 became his aide‐de‐camp. In 1781, Hamilton led an infantry regiment to victory against a British redoubt at the Battle of Yorktown.

Hamilton's wartime experiences convinced him that only a strong central government led by a natural aristocracy could preserve American liberty. In 1782, he entered the Confederation Congress, a body he worked to invigorate; Hamilton's Annapolis Convention report (1786) summoned the 1787 Constitutional Convention. At the Philadelphia meeting, he pushed a powerful national government; thereafter he wrote fifty‐one of the celebrated Federalist Papers.

As the first Treasury secretary (1789–95), Hamilton issued three brilliant, controversial reports to Congress, aimed at strengthening the national government. The first, favoring funding of the federal deficit at par and assuming state debts, helped establish national credit; the second proposed a national bank; the third (never enacted) advocated bounties and subsidies to boost manufacturing. Taken as a whole, Hamilton designed his program to win the public creditors to the government's support and to help the nation develop economically. His financial and diplomatic policies inspired the formation of the Republican opposition.

Hamilton's vision for national grandeur included a military establishment. Through a series of crises—including the Whiskey Rebellion, which Hamilton personally helped quell—the Federalists built a professional force despite the public's fear of standing armies. Appointed Inspector General in 1798 under Washington, Hamilton broke with John Adams when the president negotiated America's differences with France instead of waging war. In 1804, fearing a secessionist conspiracy, Hamilton opposed Aaron Burr's bid to become New York's governor. After his defeat, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, wounding him mortally at Weehawken, New Jersey.
[See also Jefferson, Thomas; Madison, James; Revolutionary War: Military and Diplomatic Course.]

Bibliography

Forrest McDonald , Alexander Hamilton, a Biography, 1979.
Jacob Cooke , Alexander Hamilton, a Biography, 1982.

Stuart Leibiger