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Alexander Hamilton’s Role In Shaping American History

You may already know about Alexander Hamilton and his role as a founding father of the United States, but there’s a lot more that you may not know about him. Who was he, and what made him so influential? Here’s how Alexander Hamilton had such a pivotal role in shaping American history. 

Alexander Hamilton - Children, Death & Quotes - Biography

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Early Life

The date of Hamilton’s birth isn’t clear, but it’s known that he was born on the 11th January either in 1755 or 1757. He was born in Charlestown, on the British island of Nevis. His parents were James Hamilton, a trader, and Rachel Fawcett Lavine, the wife of John Michael Lavine, a merchant who had settled on the island of St. Croix in the West Indies. It’s believed that she started living with Hamilton in 1752, but wasn’t divorced by Lavine until 1758. 

Hamilton’s father abandoned their family in 1765, and to make ends meet Rachel had to set up a small shop. At age 11, Hamilton worked as a clerk in the counting house of two New York merchants. Rachel died in 1768, and Hamilton became the ward of his mother’s family. He showed himself to be highly intelligent and engaging, and so was promoted to manager. 

His abilities shone through when he published a letter describing a hurricane that hit the island. Seeing this, family and friends raised the money to send him to school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Until this point, he had been entirely self taught. 

After completing school, Hamilton went on to attend King’s College in New York City. While he was there, he was highly influenced by the events of the Boston Tea Party. He wrote three influential pamphlets, which were attributed to John Jay and John Adams. “These pamphlets helped uphold the agreements of the Continental Congress” says Adam Simmons, a history writer at Research Papers UK and Writinity. “They were the first sign of the skills that Hamilton would use in his career.”

Fighting In The American Revolution

In March 1776, Hamilton was made a captain in the provincial artillery and prevented the British from crossing the Raritan River at the Battle of Trenton. 

Thanks to the bravery he showed, he was made an aide-de-camp with the rank of lieutenant colonel with Washington’s staff. He grew close to the general over the four years he worked on it and became entrusted with important missions. He was also the liaison officer between him and the French generals and admirals, thanks to his fluency in French. 

Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of a general, which enabled him to connect himself to wealth and influence. At this time he was growing tired of his duties and was pressing Washington for an active role in battle. 

Washington refused, and so Hamilton used a quarrel as an excuse to leave his staff. That didn’t end their friendship though, and he was given command of a battalion in 1781. This was when he led an assault on the British army at the siege of Cornwallis’ army at Yorktown. 

Beginning A Political Career

When the war was nearly over in November 1781, Hamilton moved to Albany to study law. He was admitted to practice in 1782, and he was elected to the Continental Congress. He was still convinced that the country was weak because there wasn’t a strong central government, and would continue to argue for this in essays. 

In 1783 he began practicing law in New York City, defending unpopular loyalists who had remained faithful to the British. His work contributed to the repealing of the acts disbarring loyalist lawyers. At this point, he was also elected to the lower house of the New York legislature. 

He also attended a convention in September 1786, which was called to consider the commercial plight of the Union. Hamilton suggested that a further meeting of representatives from all states be called, to discuss the problems the Union was experiencing. 

He attended this subsequent meeting in May 1787 and put forward the idea that the Articles of Confederation should be replaced with a strong centralized government. His ideas didn’t have much impact at this point, and instead a constitution that would give strong powers to a federal government while still being accepted by the people. 

This was quickly attacked by opponents in New York. Hamilton would answer them in the newspapers under the names Caesar and then Publius. This lead to a series of essays called The Federalist, defending the Constitution and republican government. 

Hamilton As Secretary Of The Treasury

In 1789, Washington appointed Hamilton the Secretary of the Treasury, the first person to hold the title. He was asked to draw up a plan to get the ‘adequate support of the public credit’. He did so, with the goals of establishing credit both home and abroad, and strengthening the government at the expense of the states. 

He wrote two reports on public credit, urging for the funding of the national credit at full value, the assumption of debts incurred by the states during the Revolution by the federal government, and a system of taxation to pay for the assumed debts. 

There was powerful opposition to these arguments, and it was only pushed through Congress after Hamilton struck a deal with Thomas Jefferson, who was Secretary of State at this time. He gained Southern votes in favor of the deal by assuring his own support for locating the future national capital on the banks of the Pontomac. 

In a third report, he based the idea of a Bank of the United States on the Bank of England, and this was passed into law in 1790. This implied the power that the government had, and formed the basis of future interpretations of the constitution in later years. 

Hamilton As Head Of The Federalist Party

Typically, Hamilton was against the idea of political parties, as he felt they lead to a weakened and less unified government. However, he did need support for his policies, so he became the head of the Federalist party

Typically, the Federalists favored strong ties with England. Their opponents, the republicans, would favor their ties with France. As the head of the party, Alexander Hamilton would aim to thwart any policies that Jefferson would put through as the opposition. He even attempted to have British officials eschew the secretary of state and instead work through him. This lead to a feud between him and Jefferson, and the two would try and drive each other out of the cabinet. 

When war broke out between England and France in 1793, there was popular demand for war against Great Britain as they were seizing ships that were trading with the French West Indies. Hamilton opposed this, and persuaded Washington to negotiate a treaty. This was what kept the peace and saved his political system. 

Leaving The Cabinet

By 1795, Alexander Hamilton was tired and constantly criticised in his current role. He decided to leave the cabinet, but he still held influence over the government. He was still consulted on matters of policy, and Washington even consulted him when he was looking to retire from his position. 

The Federalist government nominated John Adams for president, but Hamilton tried to get his vice presidential pick Thomas Pinckney elected as Adams wasn’t dedicated to his ideals. Adams won, and Hamilton’s actions only served to sow distrust within his own party. 

Hamilton still had influence over the government though, as Adams retained most of Washington’s staff. When France broke relations with the US, Hamilton looked to command the new army. “Adams resisted, but Washington forced him to make Hamilton second in command” says Kerry Dover, a content writer at Draft Beyond. “Adams never forgave this action.” He did manage to keep the peace and disbanded the army in 1800. he also purged his cabinet of ‘Hamilton’s spies’. 

Hamilton in turn looked to prevent Adams’ re-election, and ended up supporting his old rival Jefferson. As Jefferson came to power, it caused further conflict in the Federalist party and essentially ended Hamilton’s public career. 

Duel With Aaron Burr

In 1801, Hamilton built a country house called the Grange on Manhattan island and helped found Federalist newspaper The New York Evening Post. 

At this point the Federalist party began to negotiate with Aaron Burr for his support. Hamilton campaigned for his opponent, who then won the election. At this point Hamilton and Burr were enemies, and in 1804 Burr demanded satisfaction for comments Hamilton has made at a dinner party about him.

As such, the two met to duel in the early morning of July 11th, at Weehawken, New Jersey. Burr won the duel and Hamilton died, survived by his wife and seven children. 

Alexander Hamilton left behind a legacy of intense statecraft, and was intent on making America strong and resourceful. He’s remembered as one of America’s first great Nationalists, where he believed that people should give their loyalty to the nation rather than any given state. As such, his legacy as a founding father still lives on, as many look onto his ideals today.

Stacey Baker is a freelance writer at Nursing assignments and Homework writing service, who offers copywriter, ghostwriter, content writer and SEO strategies for Business, Digital Marketing, Techer work, B2B and B2C brands. She also writes for Gum Essays.

 

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"Alexander Hamilton’s Role In Shaping American History" History on the Net
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March 27, 2024 <https://www.historyonthenet.com/alexander-hamiltons-role-in-shaping-american-history>
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