What did Alexander Hamilton believe was important for the United States to become a great nation?

Alexander Hamilton was a founding father of the The states, who fought in the American Revolutionary War, helped draft the Constitution, and served as the first secretary of the treasury. He was the founder and main architect of the American financial organization.

Hamilton was born on January 11, in 1755 or 1757 at Charlestown, on the British isle of Nevis. His parents, Rachel Faucette and James Hamilton, were not married when he was built-in. James abandoned the family in 1766 and Rachel died in 1768. Hamilton spent his adolescence on the Danish possession of St. Croix. Locals recognized Hamilton'south remarkable intelligence subsequently he published an eloquent letter describing a hurricane that striking the island, and raised money to send him to school in Britain'due south Northward American colonies.

Hamilton arrived in the colonies in late 1772 and initially applied to the Higher of New Bailiwick of jersey, but instead attended King'south Higher in New York City. While in New York, Hamilton became a supporter of colonial protests against British regal policy. He wrote several pamphlets in 1774 and 1775 attacking the views of outspoken loyalist Samuel Seabury. In 1775, Hamilton drilled with a volunteer visitor of militia, and was fabricated captain of an artillery company in March 1776. In the American Revolutionary State of war, he fought at the battles of Kip'south Bay, White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton.

The young captain impressed senior officers in the Continental Army, and William Alexander (Lord Stirling) even asked Hamilton to serve as his armed forces aide. On Jan 25, 1777, the Pennsylvania Evening Post posted an advertisement: "Captain Alexander Hamilton, of the New-York company of artillery, by applying to the printer of this paper, may hear of something to his advantage."^one This referenced General George Washington'southward conclusion to invite Hamilton to his armed services staff, which Hamilton accepted, making him a lieutenant colonel. For the next four years, Hamilton was one of Washington'south most valued staff members, and had a variety of responsibilities, including writing letters to Congress, state politicians, and other Continental Army officers.

Washington and Hamilton from Mount Vernon on Vimeo.

While Washington'due south aide, Hamilton midweek Elizabeth Schuyler, on December fourteen, 1780. She was the daughter of Philip Schuyler, who had served equally a major general in the Continental Army and was i of the wealthiest men in New York. Hamilton left Washington'southward staff in March 1781 after a dispute with the general and out of frustration with his lack of field command. Washington ultimately granted him a field command, and on October 14, 1781, Hamilton led the successful set on of Redoubt 10 during the Siege of Yorktown, which contributed to the surrender of General Lord Charles Cornwallis.

Following Yorktown, Hamilton was selected by New York to be a delegate to the Confederation Congress in 1782. Every bit a member of Congress, he was role of a nationalist faction that attempted to apply discontent amongst officers about pay to frighten Congress and us into adopting an amendment that allowed Congress to revenue enhancement imports. Sure officers camped at Newburgh, New York, chosen for force against Congress, and only a personal plea past Washington quelled the and so-chosen Newburgh Conspiracy. Post-obit this incident, Washington warned Hamilton that "the Army is a dangerous musical instrument to play with."²

Hamilton served as i of New York's delegates to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787, and proposed that senators and the executive serve for life, and that the executive take an absolute veto. Although his proposals were non fully adopted, Hamilton passionately campaigned for the Constitution. He joined James Madison and John Jay in writing the Federalist Papers in back up of ratification, penning the majority of the essays. Hamilton was also a delegate to the New York ratifying convention in Poughkeepsie during the summer of 1788, and helped convince largely antifederalist New York to ratify the new Constitution.

After George Washington was elected the nation's commencement president in 1789, he appointed Hamilton secretary of the treasury. Hamilton sought to create a stable financial foundation for the nation and increase the power of the central regime. He pushed for the national government to assume country debts, which would bind creditors to the federal government. Secretarial assistant of State Thomas Jefferson and Representative James Madison opposed this plan, and merely assisted its passage through Congress when Hamilton agreed to a permanent location for the nation'south majuscule along the Potomac River. Hamilton made the Kickoff Bank of the United States a centerpiece of his financial program. Modeled on the Bank of England, the bank held government funds, issued loans to the government, provided currency, and increased liquid capital to facilitate economic growth. Hamilton's opponents, led past Jefferson and Madison, believed his policies dangerously empowered the cardinal government and favored the rich over yeoman farmers. In fourth dimension, Hamilton and Jefferson became the leaders of the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties respectively. Jefferson and Hamilton also disagreed over strange policy. After war broke out betwixt Great Britain and France in 1793, Hamilton favored Washington'southward Proclamation of Neutrality, which Jefferson opposed. Jefferson resigned in Dec 1793, frustrated that Washington usually sided with Hamilton. In 1794, Hamilton helped quell the Whiskey Rebellion, and resigned from his cabinet post in January 1795.

Hamilton remained active politically after leaving the cabinet, and helped typhoon Washington's Farewell Accost in 1796. Washington was called out of retirement in 1798 to lead a Provisional Regular army, when war with France loomed. The aging Washington insisted that Hamilton be his second in command, noting that "I know not where a more competent choice could be made."³ With Washington's death in December 1799, Hamilton was briefly the senior-ranking officer of the ground forces, until his deviation from the service the following year.

When Thomas Jefferson finished in an electoral tie with Aaron Burr in the election of 1800, some Federalist Congressmen wanted to requite Burr the ballot. Hamilton believed Jefferson was preferable to Burr, and wrote to Federalists imploring them to back up Jefferson. In one letter, he said Burr was "a human being of extreme and irregular appetite; that he is selfish to a degree which excludes all social affections" and added "he [Burr] is inferior in existent ability to Jefferson."⁴ Hamilton helped break the congressional deadlock and Jefferson was elected. During the New York gubernatorial ballot of 1804, the Albany Register published a letter of the alphabet stating that Hamilton had insulted Aaron Burr, i of the candidates, at a private dinner. Burr lost the ballot, and after against Hamilton about the reported slander, challenged him to a duel. On July xi, 1804, Burr mortally wounded Hamilton in Weehawken, New Bailiwick of jersey, and Hamilton died the following day. Eliza survived her husband by fifty years, passing away in 1854.

Today, Hamilton is recognized for his role in creating America's fiscal organisation, and his portrait is on the x-dollar bill. He gained new acclaim in 2015 with the Broadway production Hamilton, a Tony Award-winning musical nearly his inspiring rise to prominence.

Kieran J. O'Keefe
George Washington University

Notes:

1. Pennsylvania Evening Mail, Jan 25, 1777.

two. "To Alexander Hamilton from George Washington, 4 Apr 1783,"Founders Online,National Archives.

3. "From George Washington to Henry Knox, 16 July 1798,"Founders Online,National Archives.

4. "From Alexander Hamilton to James A. Bayard, 16 Jan 1801,"Founders Online,National Archives.

Bibliography:

Borden, Morton. Parties and Politics in the Early on Commonwealth: 1789-1815. Arlington Heights, IL: AHM Publishing, 1967.

Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: The Penguin Printing, 2004.

Harper, John Lamberton. American Machiavelli: Alexander Hamilton and the Origins of U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: Cambridge Academy Press, 2004.

McDonald, Forrrest. Alexander Hamilton: A Biography. New York: W.W. Norton, 1979.

Miller, John C. Alexander Hamilton: Portrait in Paradox. New York: Harper, 1959.

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Source: https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/alexander-hamilton/

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