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ALEXANDER HAMILTON (1757-1804)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 884 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALEXANDER See also:HAMILTON (1757-1804)  , See also:American statesman and economist, was See also:born, as a See also:British subject, on the See also:island of See also:Nevis in the See also:West Indies on the 11th of See also:January 1757 . He came of See also:good See also:family on both sides . His See also:father, See also:James See also:Hamilton, a Scottish See also:merchant of St See also:Christopher, was a younger son of See also:Alexander Hamilton of See also:Grange, See also:Lanarkshire, by See also:Elizabeth, daughter of See also:Sir R . See also:Pollock . His See also:mother, Rachael See also:Fawcett (Faucette), of See also:French Huguenot descent, married when very See also:young a Danish proprietor of St Croix, See also:John See also:Michael Levine, with whom she lived unhappily and whom she soon See also:left, subsequently living with James Hamilton; her See also:husband procureda See also:divorce in 1759, but the See also:court forbade her remarriage.' Such unions as hers with James Hamilton were See also:long not uncommon in the West Indies . By her James Hamilton had two sons, Alexander and James . Business misfortunes having caused his father's See also:bankruptcy, and his mother dying in 1768, young Hamilton was thrown upon the care of maternal relatives at St Croix, where, in his twelfth See also:year, he entered the counting-See also:house of See also:Nicholas Cruger . Shortly afterward Mr Cruger, going abroad, left the boy in See also:charge of the business . The extra-See also:ordinary specimens we possess of his See also:mercantile See also:correspondence and friendly letters, written at this See also:time, attest an astonishing poise and maturity of mind, and self-conscious ambition . His opportunities for See also:regular schooling must have been very scant; but he had cultivated See also:friends who discerned his talents and encouraged their development, and he See also:early formed the habits of wide See also:reading and industrious study that were to persist through his See also:life . An accomplishment later of See also:great service to Hamilton, See also:common enough in the See also:Antilles, but very rare in the See also:English See also:continental colonies, was a See also:familiar command of French . In 1772 some friends, impressed by a description by him of the terrible West See also:Indian See also:hurricane in that year, made it possible for him to go to New See also:York to See also:complete his See also:education .

Arriving in the autumn of 1772, he prepared for See also:

college at Elizabethtown, N.J., and in 1774 entered See also:King's College (now See also:Columbia University) in New York See also:City . His studies, however, were interrupted by. the See also:War of American See also:Independence . A visit to See also:Boston seems to have thoroughly confirmed the conclusion, to which See also:reason had already led him, that he should See also:cast in his fortunes with the colonists . Into their cause he threw himself with ardour . In 1774-1775 he wrote two influential See also:anonymous See also:pamphlets, which were attributed to John See also:jay; they show remarkable maturity and controversial" ability, and See also:rank high among the See also:political arguments of the time.' He organized an See also:artillery See also:company, was awarded its captaincy on examination, won the See also:interest of See also:Nathanael See also:Greene and See also:Washington by the proficiency and bravery he displayed in the See also:campaign of 1776 around New York City, joined Washington's See also:staff in See also:March 1777 with the rank of See also:lieutenant-See also:colonel, and during four years served as his private secretary and confidential aide . The important duties with which he was entrusted attest Washington's entire confidence in his abilities and See also:character; then and afterwards, indeed, reciprocal confidence and respect took the See also:place, in their relations, of See also:personal See also:attachment.' But Hamilton was ambitious for military See also:glory—it was an ambition he never lost; he became impatient of detention in what he regarded as a position of unpleasant dependence, and (Feb . 1781) he seized a slight reprimand administered by Washington as an excuse for abandoning his staff position.' Later he secured a See also:field command, through Washington, and won laurels at See also:Yorktown, where he led the American See also:column in the ' These facts were first definitely determined by Mrs Gertrude See also:Atherton from the Danish Archives in See also:Denmark and the West Indies; see See also:article in See also:North American See also:Review, Aug . 1902, vol . 175, p . 229; and See also:preface to her A Few of Hamilton's Letters (New York, 1903) . 2 These were written in See also:answer to the widely read pamphlets published over the nom de plume of " A Westchester See also:Farmer," and now known to have been written by See also:Samuel See also:Seabury (q.v.) . Hamilton's pamphlets were entitled " A Full Vindication of the See also:Measures of the See also:Congress from the Calumnies of their Enemies," and " The Farmer Refuted." Concerning them See also:George See also:Ticknor See also:Curtis (Constitutional See also:History of the See also:United States, i .

274) has said, " There are displayed in these papers a See also:

power of reasoning and See also:sarcasm, a knowledge of the principles of See also:government and of the English constitution, and a grasp of the merits of the whole controversy, that would have done See also:honour to any See also:man at any See also:age . To say that they evince precocity of See also:intellect gives no See also:idea of their See also:main characteristics . They show great maturity—a more remarkable maturity than has ever been exhibited by any other See also:person, at so early an age, in the same See also:department of thought." 'George See also:Bancroft was the first to point out that there is small See also:evidence that Hamilton ever really appreciated Washington's great qualities; but on the See also:score of persohal and Federalist indebtedness he left explicit recognition . 'For Hamilton's See also:letter to See also:General See also:Schuyler on this See also:episode—one of the most important letters, in some ways, that he ever wrote —see the See also:Works, ix . 232 (8 : 35) . final See also:assault on the British works . In 178o he married Elizabeth, daughter of General See also:Philip Schuyler, and thus became allied with one of the most distinguished families in New York . Meanwhile, he had begun the political efforts upon which his fame principally rests . In letters of 1779–178o1 he correctly diagnoses the ills of the See also:Confederation, and suggests with admirable prescience the See also:necessity of centralization in its governmental See also:powers; he was, indeed, one of the first, if not to conceive, at least to suggest adequate checks on the anarchic tendencies of the time . After a year's service in Congress in 1782–1783, in which he experienced the futility of endeavouring to attain through that decrepit See also:body the ends he sought, he settled down to legal practice in New York.2 The See also:call for the See also:Annapolis See also:Convention (1786) was Hamilton's opportunity . A delegate from New York, he supported See also:Madison in inducing the Convention to exceed its delegated powers and summon the Federal Convention of 1787 at See also:Philadelphia (himself drafting the call) ; he secured a place on the New York delegation; and, when his See also:anti-Federal colleagues withdrew from the Convention, he signed the Constitution for his See also:state . So long as his colleagues were See also:present his own See also:vote was useless, and he absented himself for some time from the debates after making one remarkable speech (See also:June 18th, 1787) .

In this he held up the British government as the best See also:

model in the See also:world.3 Though fully conscious that See also:monarchy in See also:America was impossible, he wished to obtain the next best See also:solution in an aristocratic, strongly centralized, coercive, but representative See also:union, with devices to give See also:weight to the See also:influence of class and See also:property.4 His See also:plan had no See also:chance of success; but though unable to obtain what he wished, he used his great talents to secure the See also:adoption of the Constitution . To this struggle was due the greatest of his writings, and the greatest individual contribution to the adoption of the new government, The Federalist, which remains a classic commentary on American constitutional See also:law and the principles of government, and of which See also:Guizot said that " in the application of elementary principles of government to See also:practical See also:administration " it was the greatest See also:work known to him . Its inception, and much more than See also:half its contents were Hamilton's (the See also:rest Madison's and Jay's).5 Sheer will and reasoning could hardly be more See also:bril- Especially the letter of See also:September 178o to James Duane, Works, i . 213 (1: 203) ; also the " Continentalist " papers of 1781 . 2 His most famous See also:case at this time (Rutgers v . See also:Waddington) was one that well illustrated his moral courage . Under a " Trespass Law " of New York, Elizabeth Rutgers, a widow, brought suit against one See also:Joshua Waddington, a Loyalist, who during the war of American Independence, while New York was occupied by the British, had made use of some of her property . In See also:face of popular clamour, Hamilton, who advocated a conciliatory treatment of the See also:Loyalists, represented Waddington, who won the case, decided in 1784 . , As Mr See also:Oliver points out (Alexander Hamilton, p . 156), Hamilton's idea of the British constitution was not a correct picture of the British constitution in 1787, and still less of that of the loth See also:century . " What he had in mind was the British constitution as George III. had tried to make it." Hamilton's ideal was an elective monarchy, and his guiding principle a proper See also:balance of authority . ', Briefly, he proposed a See also:governor and two See also:chambers—an See also:Assembly elected by the See also:people for three years, and a See also:Senate—the governor and senate holding See also:office for life or during good behaviour, and chosen, through See also:electors, by voters qualified by property; the governor to have an unqualified See also:veto on federal legislation; state See also:governors to have a similar veto on state legislation, and to be appointed by the federal government; the federal government to See also:control all See also:militia .

See Works, i . 347 (I: 331); and cf. his correspondence, which is scanty, passim in later years, notably x . 446, 431, 329 (8: 6o6, 596, 517), and references below . 5 Nearly all the papers in The Federalist first appeared (between See also:

October 1787 and See also:April 1788) in New York See also:journals, over the See also:signature " Publius." Jay wrote only five . The authorship of twelve of them is uncertain, and has been the subject of much controversy between partisans of Hamilton and Madison . Concerning The Federalist See also:Chancellor James See also:Kent (Commentaries, i . 241) said: " There is no work on the subject of the Constitution, and on re-publican and federal government generally, that deserves to be more thoroughly studied . I know not indeed of any work on the principles of See also:free government that is to be compared, in instruction and See also:intrinsic value, to this small and unpretending See also:volume . . It is equally admirable in the See also:depth of its See also:wisdom, the comprehensiveness of its views, the sagacity of its reflections, and the fearlessness, patriotism,liantly and effectively exhibited than they were by Hamilton in the New York convention of 1788, whose vote he won, against the greatest odds, for the ratification of the Constitution . It was the See also:judgment of Chancellor James Kent, the See also:justice of which can hardly be disputed, that " all the documentary See also:proof and the current observation of the time See also:lead us to the conclusion that he surpassed all his contemporaries in his exertions to create, recommend, adopt and defend the Constitution of the United States." When the new government was inaugurated, Hamilton became secretary of the See also:treasury in Washington's See also:cabinet.' Congress immediately referred to him a See also:press of queries and problems, and there came from his See also:pen a See also:succession of papers that have left the strongest imprint on the administrative organization of the See also:national government—two reports on public See also:credit, upholding an ideal of national honour higher than the prevalent popular principles; a See also:report on manufactures, advocating their encouragement (e.g. by bounties paid from surplus revenues amassed by See also:tariff duties)—a famous report that has served ever since as a storehouse of arguments for a national protective policy;' a report favouring the See also:establishment of a national See also:bank, the See also:argument being based on the See also:doctrine of " implied powers " in the Constitution, and on the application that Congress may do anything that can be made, through the See also:medium of See also:money, to subserve the " general welfare " of the United States—doctrines that, through judicial See also:interpretation, have revolutionized' the Constitution; and, finally, a vast See also:mass of detailed work by which See also:order and efficiency were given to the national finances . In 1793 he put to confusion his opponents who had brought about a congressional investigation of his See also:official accounts . The success of his See also:financial measures was ir_Is mediate and remarkable .

They did not, as is often but loosely said, create economic prosperity; but they did prop it, in an all-important field, with order, See also:

hope and confidence . His ultimate purpose was always the strengthening of the union; but before particularizing his political theories, and the political import of his financial measures, the remaining events of his life may be traced . His activity in the cabinet was by no means confined to the finances . He regarded himself, apparently, as premier, and sometimes overstepped the limits of his office in interfering with other departments . The heterogeneous character of the duties placed upon his department by Congress seemed in fact to reflect the English idea of its primacy . Hamilton's influence was in fact predominant with Washington (so far as any man could have predominant influence) . Thus it happens that in See also:foreign affairs, whatever credit properly belongs to the Federalists as a party (see also the article FEDERALIST PARTY) for the adoption of that principle of See also:neutrality which became the traditional policy of the United States must be regarded as largely due to Hamilton . But See also:allowance must be made for the See also:mere See also:advantage of initiative which belonged to any party that organized the government—the See also:differences between Hamilton and See also:Jefferson, in this question of neutrality, being almost purely factitious.' On domestic policy their differences were vital, candour, simplicity, and elegance, with which its truths are uttered and recommended." 'The position was offered first to See also:Robert See also:Morris, who declined it, expressing the See also:opinion that Hamilton was the man best fitted to meet its problems . 7 Hamilton's Report on Manufactures (1791) by itself entitles him to the place of an See also:epoch-maker in See also:economics . It was the first great revolt from See also:Adam See also:Smith, on whose See also:Wealth of Nations (1776) he is said to have already written a commentary which is lost . In his See also:criticism on Adam Smith, and his arguments for a See also:system of moderate protective duties associated with the deliberate policy of promoting national interests, his work was the See also:inspiration of Fried-See also:rich See also:List, and so the See also:foundation of the economic system of See also:Germany in a later See also:day, and again, still later, of the policy of Tariff Reform and Colonial Preference in See also:England, as advocated by Mr Chamber-lain .and his supporters . See the detailed See also:account given in the article See also:PROTECTION .

3 That is, while Jefferson hated British See also:

aristocracy and sympathized with French See also:democracy, Hamilton hated French democracy and sympathized with British aristocracy and order; but and in their conflicts over Hamilton's financial measures they organized, on the basis of varying tenets and ideals which have never ceased to conflict in American politics, the two great parties of Federalists and Democrats (or Democratic-Republicans) . On the 31st of January 1795 Hamilton resigned his position as secretary of the treasury and returned to the practice of law in New York, leaving it for public service only in 1798–1800, when he was the active See also:head, under Washington (who insisted that Hamilton should be second only to himself), of the See also:army organized for war against See also:France . But though in private life he remained the continual and See also:chief adviser of Washington—notably in the serious crisis of the Jay Treaty, of which Hamilton approved . Washington's Farewell Address (1796) was written for him by Hamilton . After Washington's See also:death the Federalist leadership was divided (and disputed) between John See also:Adams, who had the See also:prestige of a varied and great career, and greater strength than any other Federalist with the people, and Hamilton, who See also:con-trolled practically all the leaders of lesser rank, including much the greater See also:part of the most distinguished men of the See also:country, so that it has been very justly said that " the See also:roll of his followers is enough of itself to establish his position in American history " (See also:Lodge) . But Hamilton was not essentially a popular See also:leader . When his passions were not involved, or when they were repressed by a crisis, he was far-sighted, and his judgment of men was excellent.' But as Hamilton himself once said, his See also:heart was ever the See also:master of his judgment . He was, indeed, not above intrigue,' but he was unsuccessful in it . He was a fighter through and through, and his courage was superb; but he was indiscreet in utterance, impolitic in management, opinionated, self-confident, and uncompromising in nature and methods . His faults are nowhere better shown than in his See also:quarrel with John Adams . Three times, in order to accomplish ends deemed by him, person-ally, to be desirable, Hamilton used the political fortunes of John Adams, in presidential elections, as a mere See also:hazard in his manceuvres; moreover, after Adams became See also:president, and so the official head of the party, Hamilton constantly advised the members of the president's cabinet, and through them endeavoured to control Adams's policy; and finally, on the See also:eve of the See also:crucial See also:election of 1800, he wrote a See also:bitter personal attack on the president (containing much confidential cabinet See also:information), which was intended for private circulation, but which was secured and published by See also:Aaron See also:Burr, his legal and political See also:rival . The mention of Burr leads us to the fatal end of another great political antipathy of Hamilton's life .

Phoenix-squares

He read Burr's character correctly from the beginning; deemed it a patriotic See also:

duty to thwart him in his ambitions; defeated his hopes successively of a foreign See also:mission, the See also:presidency, and the governorship of New York; and in his conversations and letters repeatedly and unsparingly denounced him . If these denunciations were known to Burr they were ignored by him until his last defeat . After that he forced a quarrel on a trivial See also:bit of hearsay (that Hamilton had said he had a " despicable " opinion of Burr); and Hamilton, believing as he explained in a letter he left before going to his death—that a compliance with the duelling prejudices of the time was inseparable from the ability to be in future neither wanted war; and indeed Jefferson, throughout life, was the more peaceful of the two . Neutrality was in the See also:line of common-place American thinking of that time, as may be seen in the writings of all the leading men of the day . The cry of " British Hamilton " had no good excuse whatever . ' e.g. his prediction in 1789 of the course of the French Revolution; his judgments of Burr from 1792 onward, and of Burr and Jefferson in 1800 . ' After the Democrats won New York in 1799, Hamilton proposed to Governor John Jay to call together the out-going Federalist legislature, in order to choose Federalist presidential electors, a See also:suggestion which Jay simply endorsed: " Proposing a measure for party purposes which it would not become me to adopt."—Works, x . 371 (8 : 549) . Compare also with later developments of See also:ward politics in New York City, Hamilton's curious suggestions as to Federalist charities, &c., in connexion with the See also:Christian Constitutional Society proposed by him in 1802 to combat irreligion and democracy (Works, x . 432 (8 : 596).useful in public affairs, accepted a See also:challenge from him . The See also:duel was fought at See also:Weehawken on the See also:Jersey See also:shore of the See also:Huds