Hamilton, Alexander

Hamilton, Alexander (1755–1804) Revolutionary army officer, statesman, and first secretary of the Treasury, born in Nevis, British West Indies. Hamilton exerted a profound influence on the nascent nation. During the Revolutionary War, Hamilton acted as George Washington's aide-de-camp (1777–81); he then obtained a field command and led a victorious regiment at Yorktown (1781). One of the authors of The Federalist Papers and an ardent nationalist, he believed in a strong federal government, and believed too that this required independent sources of revenue for Congress. As the first secretary of the treasury (1789–95), Hamilton moved to establish national credit and a national bank. He also advocated a military establishment, and it was largely through his influence and active involvement that the Whiskey Rebellion (1794) was quelled by an aggregate of state militias that came to constitute a Federalist force. Hamilton continued to play a vital role even after leaving federal government (1795), as an adviser and speechwriter (composing most of Washington's Farewell Address). Hamilton was mortally wounded in a duel with Aaron Burr (1804), who attributed his losing bid for the governorship of New York to remarks Hamilton had made.

Hamilton's son Philip was killed in a duel three years before his father, on the same dueling ground in Weehauken, New Jersey.