Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton
Posthumous portrait by John Trumbull, 1806,[1] from a life bust by Giuseppe Ceracchi, 1794
1st United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office September 11, 1789 – January 31, 1795
President	George Washington
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Oliver Wolcott Jr.
8th Senior Officer of the United States Army
In office December 14, 1799 – June 15, 1800
President	John Adams
Preceded by	George Washington
Succeeded by	James Wilkinson
Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation from New York
In office November 3, 1788 – March 2, 1789
Preceded by	Egbert Benson
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
In office November 4, 1782 – June 21, 1783
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
Personal details
Born	(1755-01-11)January 11, 1755 or 1757[a] Charlestown, Colony of Nevis, British Leeward Islands
Died	July 12, 1804 (aged 47 or 49) New York City, U.S.
Cause of death	Gunshot wound
Resting place	Trinity Church Cemetery
Nationality	American
Political party	Federalist
Spouse	Elizabeth Schuyler ​ (m. 1780)​
Children	Philip Angelica Alexander James John William Eliza Philip
Relatives	Hamilton family
Education	King's College Columbia College (MA)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	New York (1775–1777) United States (1777–1800)
Branch/service	New York Provincial Company of Artillery Continental Army United States Army
Years of service	1775–1776 (militia) 1776–1782 1798–1800
Rank	Major general
Commands	U.S. Army Senior Officer
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War Battle of Harlem Heights Battle of White Plains Battle of Trenton Battle of Princeton Battle of Brandywine Battle of Germantown Battle of Monmouth Siege of Yorktown Quasi-War

Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757^[a] – July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 during the presidency of George Washington, the first president of the United States.

Born out of wedlock in Charlestown, Nevis, Hamilton was orphaned as a child and taken in by a prosperous merchant. He was given a scholarship and pursued his education in New York City where, despite his young age, he was an anonymous but prolific and widely read pamphleteer and advocate for the American Revolution. He then served as an artillery officer in the American Revolutionary War, where he saw military action against the British Army in the New York and New Jersey campaign, served for four years as aide-de-camp to Continental Army commander in chief George Washington, and fought under Washington's command in the war's climactic battle, the Siege of Yorktown, which secured American victory in the war and with it the independence of the United States.

After the Revolutionary War, Hamilton served as a delegate from New York to the Congress of the Confederation in Philadelphia. He resigned to practice law and founded the Bank of New York. In 1786, Hamilton led the Annapolis Convention, which sought to strengthen the power of the loose confederation of independent states over the limited authorities granted it under the Articles of Confederation. The following year he was a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention, which drafted the U.S. Constitution creating a more centralized federal national government. He then authored 51 of the 85 installments of The Federalist Papers, which proved persuasive in securing its ratification by the states.

As a trusted member of President Washington's first cabinet, Hamilton served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury. He envisioned a central government led by an energetic executive, a strong national defense, and a more diversified economy with significantly expanded industry. He successfully argued that the implied powers of the U.S. Constitution provided the legal basis to create the First Bank of the United States, and assume the states' war debts, which was funded by a tariff on imports and a whiskey tax. Hamilton opposed American entanglement with the succession of unstable French Revolutionary governments. In 1790, he persuaded the U.S. Congress to establish the U.S. Revenue Cutter service to protect American shipping. In 1793, he advocated in support of the Jay Treaty under which the U.S. resumed friendly trade relations with the British Empire. Hamilton's views became the basis for the Federalist Party, which was opposed by the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton and other Federalists supported the Haitian Revolution, and Hamilton helped draft Haiti's constitution in 1801.

After resigning as the nation's Secretary of the Treasury in 1795, Hamilton resumed his legal and business activities and helped lead the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. In the Quasi-War, fought at sea between 1798 and 1800, Hamilton called for mobilization against France, and President John Adams appointed him major general. The U.S. Army, however, did not see combat in the conflict. Outraged by Adams' response to the crisis, Hamilton opposed his 1800 presidential re-election. Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied for the presidency in the electoral college and, despite philosophical differences, Hamilton endorsed Jefferson over Burr, whom he found unprincipled. When Burr ran for Governor of New York in 1804, Hamilton again opposed his candidacy, arguing that he was unfit for the office. Taking offense, Burr challenged Hamilton to a pistol duel, which took place in Weehawken, New Jersey, on July 11, 1804. Hamilton was mortally wounded and immediately transported back across the Hudson River in a delirious state to the home of William Bayard Jr. in Greenwich Village, New York, for medical attention. The following day, on July 12, 1804, Hamilton succumbed to his wounds.

Scholars generally regard Hamilton as an astute and intellectually brilliant administrator, politician, and financier who was sometimes impetuous. His ideas are credited with influencing the founding principles of American finance and government. In 1997, historian Paul Johnson wrote that Hamilton was a "genius—the only one of the Founding Fathers fully entitled to that accolade—and he had the elusive, indefinable characteristics of genius."^[6]

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