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Similarities Between Hamilton And Thomas Jefferson

Decent Essays

Two of the greatest American Political figures during the revolutionary era of the U.S were Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Despite being such icons and both being revered by historians today, they were actually rivals. This could have been due to the conditions they were born and raised into, the same conditions that would shape their political outlooks as well. To see how their life developed how and why they became such iconic political figures, we must analyze both Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s lives up to the point whence their careers turned to politics.

Alexander Hamilton was not born into the lap of luxury, far from it actually. Hamilton was born on the Caribbean island of Nevis as the second illegitimate child to Rachel Faucette & James A. Hamilton. At the age of ten, Hamilton's father abandons him, his brother, and mother. After that they receive support from Ann Lytton, Rachel's sister. This is short lived, in 1766 Ann dies, forcing Hamilton's mother to find work at a shop. Two years later while both Alexander and Rachel are suffering from a fever, Rachel passes away, leaving Alexander and James (Jr.) orphaned at the respective ages of 13 and 15. From then on Alexander and James are shipped around, first with a cousin, 32-year-old Peter Lytton, who committed suicide, and then with Peter's father who died before he could claim the children. Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, was born in 1743 on Shadwell plantation in western Virginia to the successful

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