Alexander Hamilton: From War Hero To Political Turmoil

Where Was Alexander Hamilton Born?

Born in the Caribbean in 1755, by age 11, Alexander Hamilton was hired as a clerk in a trading company on St. Croix, and after he wrote an eloquent letter describing a 1772 hurricane that struck the island, locals raised money to send him to King’s College in New York, where he quickly involved himself in the push for American independence.

Hamilton’s War Efforts

When war broke out in 1775, Hamilton led an artillery company in the Continental Army, where he soon caught the attention of commander-in-chief, General George Washington, after Hamilton’s bravery and strategic forethought led to victory during the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Knowing that he could elevate his lowly birthright through valor on the battlefield, Hamilton accepted Washington’s offer as his aide-de-camp, until Washington granted Hamilton a field command under the Marquis de Lafayette during the Siege of Yorktown, which led to the surrender of British General Lord Cornwallis and the eventual end of Revolutionary War.

The Politician

After the war, Hamilton passed the New York bar exam before setting up a law practice in New York City. In 1787 he was chosen as a delegate to a federal convention in Philadelphia designed to overhaul the Articles of Confederation, and while Hamilton had little influence on drafting the Constitution itself, his participation in penning a series of pro-federal government essays—now known as the Federalists Papers—alongside James Madison and John Jay became his most remembered work.

When Washington was unanimously elected as the first U.S. president in 1789, Hamilton was tapped as the first secretary of the U.S. Treasury, where he pushed the need for a national banking system and the federal absorption of state debts. Hamilton’s call for a strong federal government drew ever-increasing push back from statesmen like Madison and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, leading to the nation’s first political parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, dividing the founding fathers a scant 15 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The Hamilton–Reynolds Affair

Hamilton’s own hopes for ascending to the nation’s highest office ended when he became involved in the country’s first major sex scandal, when he 1797 he was forced to publish his infamous Reynolds Pamphlet, where he confessed to an affair with the wife of James Reynolds, in order to clear his name from more serious charges of illegal financial speculation with James. The scandal would cost Hamilton and his wife Eliza the loss of their 21-year-old son Philip in 1801, when he was killed in a duel defending his father’s honor.

How Did Alexander Hamilton Die

Hamilton himself was involved in no less than 10 affairs of honor due to his combative personality, the last one ending his life on July 12th, 1804, following a duel with sitting Vice President Aaron Burr the previous day, making the life of Alexander Hamilton, an important ignition point in America’s long tradition of political dissension.