Biography of alexander hamilton

American Founding Father and statesman (/–)

For other uses, see Alexander Hamilton (disambiguation).

Alexander Hamilton (January 11, or &#;&#; July 12, ) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from to during George Washington's presidency.

Born out of wedlock in Charlestown, Nevis, Hamilton was orphaned as a child and taken in by a prosperous merchant. He pursued his education in New York City where, despite his young age, he was a prolific and widely read pamphleteer advocating for the American revolutionary cause, though an anonymous one. He then served as an artillery officer in the American Revolutionary War, where he

Where Was Alexander Hamilton Born?

Hamilton was born on the Caribbean island of Nevis in either or His father, the Scottish trader James Hamilton, and mother, Rachel Faucette Lavien, weren’t married. Rachel was still married to another man at the time of Hamilton’s birth, but had left her husband after he spent much of her family fortune and had her imprisoned for adultery.

Hamilton’s father abandoned the family in and his mother died two years later. Hired as a clerk in a trading company on St. Croix when he was just 11, Hamilton gained wider attention after he published an eloquent letter describing a hurricane that had hit the island in Locals helped raise money to send him to America to study, and he arrived in New York in late , just as the colonies were gearing up for a war for independence from Great Britain. 

Rise from Obscurity 

While studying at King’s College in New York (now Columbia University), Hamilton got involved in the colonial cause, writing pamphlets like “A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress,” in which he defended the First Continental Congress’s proposal to embargo trade with Britain.

When the Revolutionary War began, he was commissioned to lead an artillery company in the Continental Army and fought bravely in the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, among others. By , he had captured the attention of the army’s commander-in-chief, General George Washington, who gave him a position on his staff.

Hamilton’s writing prowess and military skills helped him thrive as Washington’s aide-de-camp, and built his reputation in Revolution-era society.

Alexander Hamilton’s Children

In , he married Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of a wealthy and influential New York landowner and military officer. They would have eight children together, many of whom went on to have celebrated careers in law, politics and the military.

Elizabeth remained a key source of loyalty and stability for him throughout the many tumultuous years to co

biography

Alexander Hamilton is a biography of American statesman Alexander Hamilton, written by biographer Ron Chernow. Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, was an instrumental promoter of the U.S. Constitution, founder of the nation's financial system, and its first Secretary of the Treasury.

The book, which was met with mostly positive acclaim, went on to win the inaugural George Washington Book Prize for early American history and was a nominee for the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography. In , the book was adapted into the musical Hamilton by playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda. The stage production went on to win numerous accolades, including 11 Tony Awards.

Background

Before working on Alexander Hamilton, Chernow had previously written multiple books in the topics of business and finance. In , he published The House of Morgan, which covered the life of financier J.P. Morgan and went on to win the National Book Award for Nonfiction. In , he wrote a biography about John D. Rockefeller which remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 16 weeks. In , Chernow shifted his emphasis away from business moguls to start a biography in a new topic, American politics. He later cited his change in focus, "as a way to broaden my scope, and to stay fresh" after being inundated with requests for further biographies about Gilded Age industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt. Therefore, Chernow called Hamilton his "exit strategy". This book would allow a foray into constitutional law and foreign policy while still including a large financial dimension.

Chernow began the writing process in by going through more than 22, pages of Hamilton's papers and archival research around the world. He described Hamilton's extensive writing by calling him, "the human word machine", saying he "must have produced the max

Post-War Accomplishments ()

After his military service, Hamilton returned to New York where he passed the bar exam to practice law. Defending a British loyalist in , he helped establish the principle that courts have the right and responsibility to interpret law. Judicial review remains a cornerstone of the American legal system today.

Hamilton also helped found the Bank of New York to reenergize the war-torn economy. In , he helped to establish the Bank of New York. In , the Bank of North America was the first bank established in the United States in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To assist New York commerce, Hamilton wrote the bank’s constitution. This document inspired other banks to follow a similar model.

In , Hamilton was appointed to the Congress of the Confederation as a representative from New York and later served as an assemblyman in the New York State Legislator. In , as a member of Congress, Hamilton attended the Constitutional Convention at Independence Hallin Philadelphia. Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay later wrote a series of 85 essays known as the Federalist Papers. The essays were published in New York State newspapers and were written to persuade readers to support ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Writing 51 essays in total, Hamilton completed the bulk of the work.

As the first Secretary of the Treasury (), Hamilton devised plans for funding the national debt, securing federal credit, encouraging expansion of manufacturing, and organizing the federal bank. In , in his Report on Public Credit, Hamilton urged that the federal government assume the Revolutionary War debts of the 13 states. Nevertheless, he needed support for his economic plan in Congress. At the time, Thomas Jefferson and others wanted the national capital further south. They struck a deal: Hamilton’s economic plan passed, and Washington, D.C. ultimately became the permanent capital. As an integral member of Washington's cabinet, Hamilton also