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The circumstances of Alexander Hamilton's early life are largely unknown. He was born in the West Indies and gave the year of his birth as 1757, but modern inquiries have established 1755 as more likely. In 1772 he was sent to New York City, and sometime in 1773 or 1774 he enrolled at King's College (now Columbia University). He was a fervent Revolutionary, and when the American Revolution broke out, he enlisted in the militia. In 1777 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and served as General George Washington's aide-de-camp, though he persuaded Washington to allow him to lead a regiment of troops in the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. His fortunes took another turn for the better when he married a prominent and wealthy New York socialite in 1780.

Hamilton's career in politics began in 1782, when he was elected to the Continental Congress. There, and as a New York delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, he advocated a strong federal government. He was not fully satisfied with the Constitution that the convention produced, but he believed that it was superior to the earlier Articles of Confederation, and he urged its ratification. To that end, he, along with James Madison and John Jay, wrote a series of papers that were later collected in a book called The Federalist; in Federalist 84, which he wrote in 1788, Hamilton argues that including a bill of rights in the Constitution was unnecessary.

President George Washington appointed Hamilton as the nation's first secretary of the treasury, an office he held from September 11, 1789, to January 31, 1795. He gained a reputation as a brilliant administrator who placed the new nation on a sound financial footing. He founded the nation's first public mint and the first national bank. His "First Report on Public Credit" in 1790, an example of his fiscal views, was in large part responsible for the emergence of political parties in the 1790s. As a member of the cabinet, Hamilton urged neutrality in France's disputes with England, a position he argued in 1794 in "Against an Alliance with France."

After leaving office, Hamilton entered private law practice, but he remained involved in the young nation's affairs. From 1798 to 1800 he was the inspector general of the army, and in a letter he wrote in 1799 to Representative Harrison Gray Otis, he urged the use of the military to expand the nation westward. He also played a significant role in the 1800 presidential election. Although he was philosophically opposed to the republican views of the eventual winner, Thomas Jefferson, he believed that Jefferson's chief rival, Aaron Burr, was a man lacking in principle, so he lent his support to Jefferson. Over the next four years Burr's bitterness grew until he challenged Hamilton to a duel. The duel took place on July 11, 1804, in Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton, it appeared, fired into the air, but Burr did not, and Hamilton died of his gunshot wound the next day.

References:

1. Ambrose, Douglas, and Robert W. T. Martin. The Many Faces of Alexander Hamilton: The Life and Legacy of America's Most Elusive Founding Father. New York: New York University Press, 2006.

2. Brookhiser, Richard. Alexander Hamilton, American. New York: Free Press, 1999.

3. Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin, 2004.

4. Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.

5. Fleming, Thomas. Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America. New York: Basic Books, 2002.

6. Flexner, James Thomas. The Young Hamilton: A Biography. New York: Fordham University Press, 1997.

7. McDonald, Forrest. Alexander Hamilton: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982.

8. Miller, John Chester. Alexander Hamilton: Portrait in Paradox. Old Saybrook, Conn.: Konecky and Konecky, 1959.

9. Mitchell, Broadus. Alexander Hamilton. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1957-1962.

10. Randall, Willard Sterne. Alexander Hamilton: A Life. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.

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