Today is the anniversary of the birth of Alexander Hamilton. You know, the guy in the play. Here are some interesting facts about this fascinating Founding Father.
- Alexander was born an illegitimate child on Nevis Island in the West Indies. His birth year was either 1755 or 1757. His father abandoned the family. He was orphaned in 1768.
- He wrote a letter about a hurricane. It was so well written that it was published in a newspaper, which brought attention to him. The locals collected money to send him to college in New York. He enrolled in King’s College.
- While in college, he wrote supporting the idea of a revolution. But he did not call for violence. When the college president, who was a loyalist, was threatened by a mob of patriots, Hamilton talked them down. He and friends started a militia unit they called the Corsicans. They raided a British armory to acquire some cannons, so they became the New York Provincial Company of Artillery.
- When the British occupied New York City, King’s College was shut down and Hamilton’s artillery unit joined the Continental Army. It participated in the Battles of Harlem Heights and White Plains. They were with Washington on the retreat across New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
- Hamilton and his cannons crossed the Delaware River to attack Trenton. His artillery played a role in defeating the Hessians. It also was at the Battle of Princeton where it fired on the British taking refuge in Nassau Hall. The Redcoats surrendered soon after.
- During the rough winter at Morristown in 1779-1790, Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of Gen. Philip Schuyler. They had 8 children.
- He reluctantly agreed to be Washington’s aide de camp with a rank of Lieutenant Colonel. This made him the general’s chief aide. He handled correspondence, intelligence gathering, and orders to the generals.
- Hamilton was not happy with being away from the action. In 1781, he and Washington had a disagreement and the general, who had a bad temper, laid into Hamilton. Hamilton used the incident to demand a field command. Washington tried apologizing, but Hamilton was adamant. He was given some soldiers to command and his unit participated in the Battle of Yorktown. He led a night assault on a British redoubt. (below) The capture of the fort and that of another by French soldiers that night, was the last straw for the British.
- He was good friends with Lafayette and Henry Laurens. Their letters were so florid, that some historians suggest a homosocial relationship between the trio. This is almost surely a reach.
- After the war, he studied for six months and then passed the bar exam to become a lawyer in NYC. He founded the Bank of New York.
- He was interested in politics and angry that the Articles of Confederation government was too weak. He pushed for a constitutional convention to create a strong national government. He was chosen as a delegate from New York. At the convention, he had little influence because he was outvoted by the other two delegates. If Hamilton had had his way, we would have a President for life who could be impeached if he was corrupt or a tyrant. For this reason, Hamilton is viewed as a monarchist. It would be more accurate to call him a believer in a very strong executive. Despite him not getting his way on a lot of the document, he still voted for it.
- Hamilton’s belief that the Constitution was significantly better than the Articles of Confederation caused him to initiate the Federalist Papers supporting its ratification. He wrote 51 of the 85 essays. His essays were on the executive and judicial branches, taxation, and the military.
- Washington appointed him the first Secretary of the Treasury. It was Hamilton who put the new nation on a solid financial footing. He paid off the national and state debts. He created the Bank of the U.S. and the U.S. Mint. He got a tax on whiskey passed knowing it would result in a backlash from frontier farmers who converted their crops to whiskey. Sure enough, the Whiskey Rebellion broke out in Pennsylvania. Hamilton accompanied Washington as he led an army to squash the rebellion. The farmers accepted the fact that everyone must obey the laws. Score one for Hamilton and his realpolitik. While with the army, his wife suffered a miscarriage. He resigned from the Cabinet to be at home with her.
14, Although Washington naively hoped for a nation without political factions, Hamilton’s disagreements with Jefferson and Madison about how strong the government should be led to the creation of the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. If Hamilton had been born in America, he might have challenged Adams for the Presidency.
- In 1791, a Mary Reynolds visited him to ask for financial help. Her husband had left her and she was in trouble. Hamilton took pity on her and they began an affair. In 1792, her husband confronted him. If Hamilton wanted to keep the scandal a secret, he needed to play blackmail, which he did. When the husband came under investigation for fraud, he ratted out Hamilton. James Monroe and two other Congressmen were sent to question Hamilton. He admitted to the affair and blackmail payments, but gave the trio letters from both Reynolds to prove it was a private matter and the money was his own. They agreed to keep it a secret, but somehow the story broke in a notoriously anti-Federalist newspaper. Hamilton put out a booklet describing the affair in salacious detail. It was the Starr Report of its day. Elizabeth forgave him, but his political career was badly damaged.
- I won’t go into details about the famous duel, but here are some facts you may not know. Hamilton had been involved in 12 previous challenges. All of them were settled before shots were fired. His eldest son Philip had been killed in a duel at the same spot three years earlier. He had challenged a man who had made a speech criticizing his dad. The same dueling pistols were used for Alexander’s duel.
- Washington’s last letter was to Hamilton. In it, he agreed with Hamilton that the U.S. needed national military academy.
https://www.historyhit.com/fascinating-facts-about-alexander-hamilton/
https://www.dk.com/us/article/10-things-alexander-hamilton/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton
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