Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton was born on the Caribbean island of Nevis and orphaned young. Local merchants, impressed by his talent, paid for him to study in New York. When the Revolution began he joined the army, and he became George Washington's aide-de-camp, later leading an attack at Yorktown. After the war he became a lawyer in New York, attended the Constitutional Convention, and wrote most of The Federalist essays defending the new Constitution. As the first Secretary of the Treasury he had the national government take over the states' war debts, set up a national bank and a mint, and encouraged manufacturing and trade. His plans gave the young country strong credit but caused bitter fights with Jefferson and Madison, who feared too much central power. He helped found the Bank of New York and the New York Post and was a founder of a society that worked to end slavery in New York. A long political feud with Aaron Burr ended in a duel at Weehawken, New Jersey, in 1804, where Hamilton was mortally wounded.

Alexander Hamilton is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: Mentored as a boy by Hugh Knox, a Presbyterian clergyman of Nevis. Source: Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography (via Wikisource)