Constitution Signer

Alexander Hamilton

Early Life

Born January 11, 1755/57, Nevis, British West Indies
Died July 12, 1804, New York, New York, U.S.

He was born in the West Indies, and moved to the colonies at the age of 17. His father, a Scottish trader, went bankrupt when Hamilton was 15, and Alexander worked in a counting house to help support the family.

State of residence: New York

Offices held: Congressman for New York 1781-1782 and Secretary of Treasury

Occupation: Lawyer

Role in the Revolutionary War: Ever ambitious, Hamilton was commissioned a captain in the provincial artillery. He organized his own company and at the Battle of Trenton his company bravely prevented the British under Lord Cornwallis from crossing the Raritan River and attacking George Washington’s main army.

From 1779 to 1781 he was Washington’s chief aide.

            At the siege of Cornwallis's army at Yorktown in October, Hamilton’s    battalion led an assault on a British stronghold.

Participation in the Constitutional Convention – Contributions to the final document and final vote

Hamilton went to Philadelphia representing New York and as an uncompromising nationalist who wished to replace the Articles of Confederation with a strong centralized government. He served on two important committees, one on rules in the beginning of the convention and the other on style at the end of the convention. In a long speech on June 18, he presented his own idea of what the national government should be. Under his plan, the national government would have had unlimited power over the states. Hamilton's plan had little impact on the convention. Nonetheless, even though he knew that New York wished to go no further than a revision of the Articles of Confederation, he signed the new constitution as an individual.

Federal Government and Congress

                        Nation’s first Treasury Secretary, 1789

                        New York Congressman 1781-82

Death and Legacy

Death: Hamilton and politician Aaron Burr had long been enemies. In June 1804, after the election, sitting Vice President Burr demanded satisfaction for remarks Hamilton had allegedly made at a dinner party in April in which he said he held a “despicable opinion” of Burr. Burr called for a duel. The two antagonists met on July 11 on the heights of Weehawken, New Jersey, where Hamilton's eldest son, Philip, had died in a duel three years before. Burr's bullet found its mark, and Hamilton fell.

Hamilton’s political legacy is embodied in the Federal Bank. He led the effort to establish the first such bank, which he saw as critical for sustaining the government’s fragile finances. His opponents saw the bank as an evil tool for expanding the power of the federal government, at the expense of the states.

Notes:

 Hamilton Quote: “The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”