Alexander Hamilton had a profound impact on the early United States government through his roles as a revolutionary soldier, politician, and the first Secretary of the Treasury. He fought in the American Revolution and was a trusted aide to George Washington. As one of the key Federalists, Hamilton advocated for a strong central government and played a pivotal role in the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. In 1789, Hamilton was appointed as the first Secretary of the Treasury, where he established important financial institutions and policies that helped shape the American economy.

1. Faculty of foreign languages and area studies
Author: Andrey Kuznetsov
second year student of 1st English group

2. Alexander Hamilton - a revolutionary,
politician, and statesman
Hamilton, Alexander (1755-1804), as a
lawyer, politician, and statesman, left an
enduring impression on U.S. government.
Hamilton, who fought in the American
Revolution as an aide-de-camp to George
Washington, was a driving figure in the
Federalist movement and the first secretary
of the treasury. In his public and private life
he combined nationalist commitment, elitist
politics, and a vision of dynamic capitalist
development.
His interpretation of freedom put him at odds
with other Founders, especially Thomas
Jefferson's Democrats.
His birth was humble, his death was tragic.
His professional life was spent forming
basic political and economic institutions
for a stronger nation.

3. From naissance to school.
Hamilton was born on January 11, 1755,
on Nevis Island, in the West Indies.
His parents never married. His father,
the son of a minor Scottish noble, drifted
to the West Indies early in his life and
worked odd jobs throughout the Caribbean.
His mother died in the Indies when he was
eleven. Hamilton spent his early years in
poverty, traveling to different islands with his
father. At the age of fourteen, while visiting
the island of St.Croix, he met a New York
trader who recognized his natural intelligence and feisty spirit. The trader made
it possible for Hamilton to go to New York in pursuit of an education.
Hamilton attended a preparatory school in New Jersey and developed
contacts
with men who had created a movement seeking colonial independence. When
he
later entered King's College (now Columbia University), he became active in
the
local patriot movement.

4. Hamilton as a revolutionary
and a soldier
By 1774 he was speaking at public meetings and writing
revolutionary essays and he became active in the local patriot
movement. The American Revolution had been brewing in the
background, and Hamilton took a keen interest in the battles that
flared between the colonists and the British around Boston in 1775.
Instead of graduating from college, he opted to join a volunteer militia company.
He reported for orders to General George Washington's chief of artillery, Colonel
Henry Knox. In his duties, Hamilton assisted in the famous crossing of the
ice-jammed Delaware River on Christmas Night, 1776. Knox called Hamilton to
Washington's attention. In March
1777, Hamilton was appointed
aide to the commander in chief.
With Washington, Hamilton
learned his first lessons on
the need for central
administration in dealing
with crises.

5. Hamilton as a revolutionary and a soldier
Hamilton's ability was apparent, and he became one of Washington's most
trusted advisers. Although he played no role in major military decisions,
Hamilton's position was one of great responsibility. He drafted many of
Washington's letters to high-ranking Army officers, the Continental Congress,
and the states. He also was sent on important military missions and drafted
major reports on the reorganization and reform of the Army. Despite the
demands of his position, he found time for reading and reflection and expressed
his ideas on economic policy and governmental debility in newspaper articles
and in letters to influential public figures.
In February 1781, in a display of pique at a minor reprimand by Gen.
Washington, Hamilton resigned his position. In July 1781 Hamilton's persistent
search for active military service was rewarded when Washington gave him
command of a battalion of light infantry in the Marquis de Lafayette's corps.
After the Battle of Yorktown, Hamilton returned to New York. In 1782, following
a hasty apprenticeship, he was admitted to the bar.
During the Revolution, Hamilton's ideas on government, society, and
economic matured. These were conditioned by his foreign birth, which obviated a
strong attachment to a particular state or locality, and by his presence at
Washington's headquarters, where he could see the war as a whole. Like the
general himself, Hamilton was deeply disturbed that the conduct of the war was
impeded by the weakness of Congress and by state and local jealousies. It was
this experience rather than any theoretical commitment to a particular form of
government that structured Hamilton's later advocacy of a strong central
government.

6. The beginning of a political career
In 1780 he married Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of the
major general and Hudson Valley landlord Philip Schuyler.
He was already close to the Livingston family, and the marriage
cemented his social position and his political, elitist point of view.
From the end of the Revolution to the inauguration of the first
government under the Constitution, Hamilton tirelessly opposed what he
described as the "dangerous prejudices in the particular states opposed to
those measures which alone can give stability and prosperity to the Union."
Though his extensive law practice won him recognition as one of New York's most
distinguished attorneys, public affairs were his major concern.
Attending the Continental Congress as a New York delegate from November 1782
through July 1783, he unsuccessfully labored, along with James Madison and other
nationalists, to invest the Confederation with powers equal to the needs of
postrevolutionary America. Convinced that the pervasive commitment to states'
rights obviated reform of the Articles of Confederation, Hamilton began to advocate
a stronger and more efficient central government. As one of the 12 delegates to the
Annapolis Convention of 1786, he drafted its resolution calling for a
Constitutional Convention "to devise such further provisions as shall appear …
necessary to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to
the exigencies of the Union. … " Similarly, as a member of the New York
Legislature in 1787, he was the eloquent spokesman for continental
interests as opposed to state and local ones.

7. Ratification of Constitution
Hamilton was one of the New York delegates to the
Constitutional Convention, which sat in Philadelphia from May to
September 1787. Although he served on several important committees,
his performance was disappointing, particularly when measured against his
previous (and subsequent) accomplishments.
His most important speech called for a
government close to the English model, one so
high-toned that it was unacceptable to most of
the delegates.
Hamilton's contribution to the ratification of
the Constitution was far more important.
In October 1787 he determined to write a
series of essays on behalf of the proposed
Constitution. At the New York ratifying
convention in 1788, Hamilton led in
defending the proposed Constitution,
which, owing measurably to Hamilton's
labors, New York ratified.

8. Hamilton as federalist
By 1780 Hamilton had outlined a plan of government with a
strong central authority to replace the weak system of the Articles
of Confederation, and as delegate (1782-83) to the Continental
Congress he pressed continually for strengthening of the national
government. It was Hamilton who proposed at the successful
Annapolis convention (1786) that a constitutional convention be
called at Philadelphia in May, 1787, and he was one of New York's
three delegates when it was convened.
Although he believed the Constitution to be deficient in the
powers that it gave the national government, he did much to get it
ratified, particularly by means of his contributions to The Federalist.
In New York, Hamilton was a powerful constitutional supporter, fighting vigorously against the
opposition of George Clinton and becoming perhaps the strongest advocate of the new instrument of
government aside from James Madison.
First published in New York City newspapers under the pseudonym "Publius" and collectively
designated The Federalist, these essays were designed to persuade the people of New York to ratify the
Constitution. Though The Federalist was written in collaboration with John Jay and James Madison,
Hamilton wrote 51 of the 85 essays. First published in book form in 1788, the Federalist essays have
been republished in many editions and languages. They constitute one of America's most original
and important contributions to political philosophy and remain today the authoritative
contemporary exposition of the meaning of the cryptic clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

9. Hamilton as a secretary of Treasury
On September 11, 1789, some 6 months
after the new government was inaugurated,
Hamilton was commissioned the nation's first
secretary of the Treasury. This was the most
important of the executive departments because
the new government's most pressing problem was
to devise ways of paying the national debt – domestic
and foreign – incurred during the Revolution.
Hamilton's program, his single most brilliant achievement,
also created the most bitter controversy of the first decade
of American national history. It was spelled out between
January 1790 and December 1791 in three major reports on
the American economy: "Report on the Public Credit";
"Report on a National Bank"; and "Report on Manufactures."
In the first report Hamilton recommended payment of
both the principal and interest of the public debt at par
and the assumption of state debts incurred during the American Revolution.
Both the funding and assumption measures became law in
1791 substantially as Hamilton had proposed them.

10. Hamilton as a secretary of Treasury
Hamilton's "Report on a National Bank" was designed to facilitate
the establishment of public credit and to enhance the powers of the
new national government. Although some members of Congress
doubted this body's power to charter such a great quasi-public
institution, the majority accepted Hamilton's argument and passed
legislation establishing the First Bank of the United States. Before
signing the measure, President Washington requested his principal
Cabinet officers, Jefferson and Hamilton, to submit opinions on its
constitutionality. Arguing that Congress had exceeded its powers,
Jefferson submitted a classic defense of a strict construction of the Constitution; affirming the Bank's
constitutionality, Hamilton submitted the best argument in American political literature for a broad
interpretation of the Constitution.
The "Report on Manufactures, " his only major report which Congress rejected, was perhaps Hamilton's
most important state paper. The culmination of his economic program, it is the clearest statement of his
economic philosophy. The protection and encouragement of infant industries, he argued, would produce a
better balance between agriculture and manufacturing, promote national self-sufficiency, and enhance the
nation's wealth and power.
Hamilton also submitted other significant reports which Congress accepted. Hamilton's economic program
was not original (it drew heavily, for example, upon British practice), but it was an innovative and creative
application of European precedent and American experience to the
practical needs of the new country. Hamilton developed a fiscal and
economic system based on a national coinage, a national banking system,
a revenue program to provide for the repayment of the national debt, and
measures to encourage industrial and commercial development. He sought
a vigorous, diversified economy that would also provide the nation with
the means to defend itself. He stirred a considerable amount of controversy
with certain proposals, such as the need for tariffs on imports, several
kinds of excise taxes, the development of natural resources, a friendship
with England, and opposition to France during the French Revolution.

11. First Political party
Hamilton's importance during this period was not confined
to his work as finance minister. As the virtual "prime minister" of
Washington's administration, he was consulted on a wide range of
problems, foreign and domestic. He deserves to be ranked, moreover, as
the leader of the country's first political party, the Federalist party. Hamilton
himself, like most of his contemporaries, railed against parties and "factions", but
when the debate over his fiscal policies revealed a deep political division among the
members of Congress, Hamilton boldly assumed leadership of the proadministration
group, the Federalists, just as Jefferson provided leadership for the Democratic
Republicans.
Because of Hamilton's decisive stance on some issues, a split occurred between, and
even within, political parties. Hamilton and John Adams spoke the ideas of the
Federalists. Madison joined Jefferson in the Democratic-Republican party. Even
though Hamilton had previously worked alongside Secretary of State Jefferson, the
two were now, as Washington noted, "daily pitted in the cabinet like two cocks."
Hamilton stressed the need for a strong central government, while Jefferson
emphasized individuals' rights. Their rivalry, among the most famous political
clashes in U.S. history, led to a significant and ongoing level of frustration for
both sides. Because of the deadlock, Hamilton retired from his secretarial
position in 1795.

12. Hamilton vs Jefferson
Advocate Thomas Jefferson founded Democratic-Republican Party in opposition
to the Federalist Party of Alexander Hamilton is a term used to describe one of
two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s
to the 1820s. The term was commonly used to refer to the.
The Jeffersonians believed in democracy and equality of political opportunity (for
male citizens), with a priority for the "yeoman farmer" and the "plain folk". They were
antagonistic to the supposed aristocratic elitism of merchants and manufacturers,
distrusted factory workers, and were on the watch for supporters of the dreaded British
system of government. Above all, the Jeffersonians were devoted to the principles
of Republicanism, especially civic duty and opposition to privilege, aristocracy and corruption.
Jefferson has been called "the most democratic of the Founding fathers." The
Jeffersonians advocated a narrow interpretation of the Constitution's Article I provisions
ranting powers to the federal government. They
strenuously opposed the Federalist Party, led by
Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton.
President George Washington generally
supported Hamilton's program for a financially
strong national government. The election of Jefferson
in 1800 -Jefferson called it the "Revolution of 1800"-
brought in the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson and
the permanent eclipse of the Federalists, apart from
the Supreme Court. The Federalist Party especially its leader Alexander Hamilton,
was the arch-foe, because of its acceptance of aristocracy and British methods.

13. After retirement
After retirement in 1795, Hamilton went back to practicing law.
Thanks to his service in government and his connections with the Schuyler family,
Hamilton
became a prominent and prosperous lawyer. His practice extended to
wealthy clients in New York and in other states, both individuals and
partnerships. It resembled the practices of modern corporate lawyers, since he
also represented banks and companies.
During the presidency of John Adams, however, Hamilton continued to wield
considerable national influence, for members of Adams's Cabinet often sought and
followed his advice. In 1798 they cooperated with George Washington to secure
Hamilton's appointment - over Adams's strong opposition - as inspector general and
second in command of the newly augmented U.S. Army, which was preparing for a
possible war against France. Since Washington declined active command, organizing
and recruiting the "Provisional Army” fell to Hamilton. His military career abruptly
came to an end in 1800 after John Adams, in the face of the opposition of his Cabinet
and other Federalist leaders (Hamilton among them), sent a peace mission to France
that negotiated a settlement of the major issues.

14. Tragic final of his career
Hamilton's role in the presidential campaign of 1800 not
only was a disservice to his otherwise distinguished career, but
also seriously wounded the Federalist party. Convinced of John
Adam's ineptitude, Hamilton rashly published a long Philippic which
characterized the President as a man possessed by "vanity without bounds,
and a jealousy capable of discoloring every object, " with a "disgusting egotism"
and an "ungovernable discretion of … temper." Instead of discrediting Adams,
the pamphlet promoted election of the Republican candidates, Jefferson and Aaron
Burr. When the Jefferson-Burr tie went for decision to the House of Representatives,
however, Hamilton regained his balance. Convinced that Jefferson would
not undermine executive authority, Hamilton also believed that Burr was "the
most unfit and dangerous man of the community." He accordingly used his considerable
influence to persuade congressional leaders to select
Jefferson. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel.
Although Hamilton was reluctant, he believed that
his "ability to be in future useful" demanded his
acceptance. After putting his personal affairs in
order, he met Burr at dawn on July 11, 1804, on the
New Jersey side of the Hudson River. The two
exchanged shots, and Hamilton fell, mortally
wounded. Tradition has it that he deliberately
misdirected his fire, leaving himself an open
target for Burr's bullet. Hamilton was carried
back to New York City, where he died the next afternoon.

15. Glory after death
As the United States evolved in political,
legal, and economic dimensions, Hamilton's
contributions remained part of its basic structure. His legacy went on to
affect the way the rest of the world interpreted the proper role of government.
Numerous political experiments took place in the following centuries, but still,
Hamilton's notions of a strong central government made other systems appear
weak in comparison. In a letter to the Washington Post on January 28, 1991,
biographer Robert A. Hendrickson asserted that Hamilton's doctrine lives up to its
model status as "a beacon of freedom and financial success in the modern world. It has
peacefully discredited agrarianism, communism, and totalitarianism.”
By the time of the American Civil War, Hamilton's portrait began to appear on US
currency, including the $2, $5, $10, and $50 notes. His likeness also began to appear on
US Postage in 1870. His portrait has continued to appear on US postage and currency,
and most notably appears on the modern $10 bill. Hamilton also appears on the
$500
Series EE Savings Bond. The source of the face on the $10 bill is John Trumbull's
1805 portrait of Hamilton, in the portrait collection of New York City Hall. On
the south side of the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. is a statue
of Hamilton.

16. Glory after death

17. LINKS AND SOURCES
1. Who2 Profiles. Copyright © 1998-2011 by Who2, LLC. All rights reserved. See the Alexander Hamilton biography from
Who2.
2. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2011 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All
rights reserved.
3. Oxford Companion to US Military History. The Oxford Companion to American Military History. Copyright © 2000
by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
4. Gale Encyclopedia of Biography. Gale Encyclopedia of Biography. © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved
5. Oxford Dictionary of Politics. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Copyright © 1996, 2003 by Oxford University
Press. All rights reserved.
6. Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2011, Columbia University
Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
7. Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: History. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch,
Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All
rights reserved
8. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group,
Inc. All rights reserved.
9. www.wikipedia.com
10. www.answers.com