“[T]he man on the ten-dollar bill is the father of the American treasury system, a signer of the Constitution, one of the primary authors of the Federalist Papers, and the loser of the infamous duel with Vice President Aaron Burr. Alexander Hamilton's earlier career as a Continental Army officer is less well known. Yet Hamilton's first experience in public service is important, not only because it was the springboard to his later career, but because it also deeply influenced his values and thinking” (Hamilton).
Alexander Hamilton was born as a British subject on the island of Nevis in the West Indies on the 11th of January 1755. His father, James Hamilton -- Scottish merchant of St. Christopher – was the younger son of a minor Scottish
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For the next five years, Hamilton put his writing skills to work. He wrote Washington's critical letters, and composed numerous reports on the strategic reform and restructuring of the Continental Army”. As Hamilton was serving as an adviser for Washington, he realized the weaknesses in the Congress, including jealousy and resentment between states. These weaknesses stemmed from the Articles of Confederation – he believed that these Articles separated the nation rather than unified (Alexander).
Hamilton left his adviser post in 1782, convinced that establishing a strong central government was the key to achieving America's independence. It would not be the last time that Hamilton worked for the U.S. Army. In 1789, Hamilton was appointed inspector general and second in command, as America geared up for a potential war with France. In 1800, Hamilton's military career came to a sudden halt when America and France reached a peace agreement” (Alexander). “In November 1782, Hamilton was elected to the Congress of the Confederation, as a New York representative. While he was there, several Congressmen from that area, including Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, James Wilson, and James Madison, were trying to provide the Congress with an independent source of revenue, which it lacked under the Articles of
Alexander Hamilton was the most interesting figure in the American Revolution because he contributed many ideas that formed the America that we live in today. He was on on January 11, 1755. He started working at the age of 11 due to a rough childhood and history of father figures in his life. His mother was left twice by her husband and Alexanders’ father. They had no money and no other family so Alexander worked to support them both. His first job was working as a clerk in an accounting firm. His hard work inspired his boss and helped send him to get an education. When he was just 17, he wrote his first political article that sparked popularity for him. As the Revolutionary War started he enrolled and was made George Washington’s
When Thomas Jefferson took office in 1801, after an intense realignment of the majority of office holders from Federalist to Anti-Federalist in the “Revolution of 1800”, there were many policies headed by former Treasurer Alexander Hamilton that were still in place. Instead of doing what would have been expected of him by his peers, and taking steps
Another thing that Hamilton had done was fight through the revolution as George Washington's right hand man and he was able to, after fighting, fund the nation's federal debt. The writer states “great achievement was funding the federal debt at face value, which rectified and nationalized the financial chaos inherited from the Revolution” (history.com Para. 5). We can tell that he fought through the war, risking his life to help America and eventually help America, even more, afterwards. After going through a tough life so far he was able to also become the nation's first Secretary of Treasury, which deals with the nation's debt and credit which he helped create. It states in the article “As secretary of the treasury” (history.com Para. 5). This just simply shows that he was able to become the Treasurer. Hamilton in total was a very good man, nevertheless, he had cheated on his wife and kinda caused the death of his son helped form America and is very awesome.
On the other hand, Hamilton’s self-righteousness sometimes helped him and his country. When the Constitution was under fire by many in Congress and in the public, Hamilton took it upon himself to defend it and make sure it stayed in place even with a few amendments. In the song “Non-Stop,” Hamilton puts so much effort into defending the Constitution. This attitude led him to rise to his highest points in the cabinet. At the beginning of the song, he tries to convince Burr to help him in the middle of the night, as Burr puts it, “How do you write like you’re running out of time?” (Miranda and McCarter 143). Hamilton ends up leaving his wife home against her wishes to go and be the secretary of the treasury. From here on, Hamilton joined forces with one of his political opponents, Madison, to write The Federalist Papers. On that topic, the narrator Burr states, “The plan was to write a total of 25 essays work divided evenly among the three men. In the end, they wrote 85 essays, in the span of six months. John Jay got sick after writing 5. James Madison wrote 29. Hamilton wrote the other 51.” This shows the positive impact of Hamilton’s self-righteousness and describes the reason that he became secretary of the treasury and a founding father. His love to write and his attitude brought him far in his line of work and has impacted his life positively by making him a high official in the government and a respected person.
George Washington had recognized Hamilton’s leadership abilities and promoted him as Lieutenant Colonel. He was also an innovator of military design, where he designed reports on the defects and how there could be improvement in the military. While Hamilton was working as an adviser for Washington, Hamilton had come to realize the Congress' weaknesses, including jealousy between states, which he believed came from the Articles of Confederation (http://www.ushistory.org/). In 1782, Hamilton was convinced that establishing a strong central government was the key to achieving America’s independence.
During the Revolutionary War, he served as General Washington’s right hand man, writing Congress for supplies and convincing more people to help with the war effort. At the time he was only twenty-two. After the war he went back to New York and practiced law, quickly rising in status and influence. As it was decided that this country could not be sustained under the Articles of Confederation, the Continental Congress was formed, to which Hamilton was elected the New York junior delegate. “In 1786 he played the leading role in the convention at Annapolis, which prepared the way for the great Constitutional Convention that met at Philadelphia in 1787” (Rodger). His ideas and words were powerful among the framers of the Constitution. Even after the Constitution was written people were not sure if this document truly created the government they wanted. Without Hamilton’s brilliant turn of phrase, the US Constitution as we know it may never have been ratified. Hamilton led James Madison and John Jay in writing the Federalist papers defending the document to the public, writing fifty-one of the eighty-five essays himself. “He [was also] leader of the Federalist Party until his death,” a party that was created to form the style of government that still rules this country today; a system
Did Alexander Hamilton play as important a role in our founding as history portrays? This short paper on Alexander Hamilton will outline his importance in the journey of the United States of America to become a free country and will also show the various ways he made this country successful by pioneering the formation of the American government.
Alexander Hamilton played pivotal role in the war for American independence. He served for four years, some of it as a staff officer and some of it as a line officer. While working as a staff officer, George Washington began to consider him a trusted military advisors given that they both had a similar outlook on war. Hamilton and Washington worked hard and their units began to win battles together. One
Alexander Hamilton was one of the most influential figures to shape American finances. He made his contribution through the The Hamiltonian Economic Program. The goal of his plan is to improve the American economy through three steps. The first is to pay off the nation’s national debt in order for states to focus on business. This way maximum profit can be achieved. The second step is to place tariffs on imported goods to gain money. Lastly is to create a national bank in order to regulate money flow and currency. However, Thomas Jefferson strongly disagreed with Alexander Hamilton’s views which was evidently seen in the political parties, the Democratic Republicans and the Federalists. One of the main differences between the two is regarding the type of government America would have. Hamilton favored a strong federal government while Jefferson favored a small local government.
A meeting, called the Continental Congress, took place where representatives from each state would discuss how they could improve it. Hamilton was one of the three representatives from New York, but he was the only Federalist of the three, which means he was the only one that was in favor of a strong national government. Eventually, the Continental Congress agreed on the Constitution. It would take more work than that though. After the Constitution was agreed upon by the Continental Congress, it had to get ratified by each state, and New York would be one of the hardest to get the Constitution ratified in. Hamilton, knowing that it was going to be hard, took a stand alongside James Madison and John Jay, and the wrote a series of essay entitled The Federalist, defended the new U.S. Constitution. The three of them combined wrote a total of eighty five essays, of which Hamilton himself wrote fifty one. The essays convinced the people of New York City of how important it would be, but upstate farmers were holding out. It wasn’t until New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution and thus make it law, that New York realized that holding out wouldn’t benefit them and accepted the new Constitution, on the condition that there would be a list of amendments that we now call The Bill of
Few Americans are aware of the profound impact Alexander Hamilton had on our nation’s development with his creation of multiple, important institutions. Hamilton, a true Founding Father of our nation, is primarily accountable for the design and establishment of Federal institutions, especially for the financial system which helped form the states into a nation. These creations of his helped put this nation on its path toward an industrial economy. Hamilton wanted a manufacturing economy founded on financial principles. He played a key role in shaping President George Washington’s foreign policy based on American self-interest.
Although Hamilton attended most of the proceedings at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, he did not actually participate much in the drafting of the new document. Hamilton argued that a new and stronger central government was needed to correct the mistakes made in the government outlined in the Articles of Confederation, but
Alexander Hamilton, recognized as one of the Founding Fathers of our country, had a great impact on the wars and political issues of his time. He presented himself as a well respected man and proved himself worthy of the tasks he was given. He impressed many people and played a substantial part in influencing where America stands today. Although his early childhood circumstances were difficult, putting him at a disadvantage, Alexander proved himself capable of achieving success all on his own, without the need of others’ assistance or provision. His efforts ultimately played a significant role in the founding of America.
There are many historical sites in New York City that have contributed and still contribute to America’s political history in some way. The historical site that I have decided to expand my research on is, the Hamilton Grange National Memorial located in Harlem, New York. This site was the home of Alexander Hamilton, one of the seven foreign-born Founding Fathers of the United States of America. He had a great influence on the foundation of the United States of America, the United States constitution and the Federalist Party. He was a Military officer, lawyer and member of the US constitutional convention, an American political philosopher, and author of the majority of the Federalist Papers.
He was also one of the first to suggest adequate checks on the anarchic tendencies of the time. At twenty-seven, with the Revolutionary War over, Hamilton began a non-military career. After three months of intensive study of the law in Albany, New York, Hamilton was admitted to the bar in July of 1783. Then, after the British army evacuated New York City, he opened his law office at 57 Wall Street. Hamilton also continued with his political endeavors. He served in Congress from 1782 to 1783, was elected to the Continental Congress, and founded the Bank of New York in February of 1784. Once elected, Hamilton remained politically active all of his life. He prepared but did not present a proposal calling for a convention with full powers to revise the Articles of Confederation. Instead, he became one of the prime movers for calling the Annapolis Convention. At the Annapolis Convention in September of 1786, Hamilton served as one of three delegates from New York. He supported Madison in inducing the Convention to exceed its delegated powers and personally drafted the call to summon the Federal Convention of May 1787 at Philadelphia. At that Convention, Hamilton again represented New York as one of three delegates. Hamilton's own presence at the Convention was limited. His colleagues from New York represented converse political views from Hamilton. They chose to withdraw from the convention, leaving New York without an official