Statesman · 1755 – 1804
Alexander Hamilton
Key Takeaways
- Hamilton designed the US financial system — the national bank, public credit, and customs duties — largely from scratch.
- He co-wrote 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers, the most important commentary on the US Constitution ever written.
- His vision of a strong central government and industrial economy won out over Jefferson's agrarian vision.
- He was fatally shot by Vice President Aaron Burr in a duel at Weehawken, New Jersey, in 1804.
Alexander Hamilton arrived in New York from the Caribbean as a teenager with nothing but intelligence and ambition, and proceeded to build the financial architecture of the most powerful nation in human history. He was 49 when Aaron Burr shot him. He had already done enough for several lifetimes.
The Federalist and the Treasury
During the Revolution, Hamilton served as George Washington’s most trusted aide, then commanded troops at Yorktown. In 1787, when the Constitution was written and needed defending, Hamilton organized the Federalist Papers — 85 essays written with James Madison and John Jay explaining and arguing for the new framework of government. He wrote 51 of them himself, sometimes several in a single week, producing the most important commentary on the US Constitution ever written. When Washington became president, he made Hamilton the first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton inherited a bankrupt nation with no credit, no banking system, and no reliable revenue. He invented one from scratch: assumption of state war debts, a national bank, tariffs to fund the government, an excise tax system. Within a few years the United States had the best credit rating of any nation in the world.
The duel
Hamilton’s rivalry with Thomas Jefferson defined the first decade of American politics — Hamilton’s vision of a strong federal government and commercial economy won out over Jefferson’s agrarian alternative, though the fight was vicious. His feud with Aaron Burr was personal as well as political; Hamilton blocked Burr’s presidential ambitions in 1800 and then blocked his gubernatorial campaign in 1804. Burr challenged him to a duel. On 11 July 1804, at Weehawken, New Jersey, Hamilton was shot. He died the next day. Burr fled New Jersey murder charges and spent the rest of his life in obscurity. Hamilton’s face ended up on the ten-dollar bill.
Influence
Hamilton won the fundamental argument of American political economy: the United States became an industrial, commercial, financially sophisticated nation rather than the agrarian republic Jefferson envisioned — his financial architecture made American economic power possible.
Legacy
One of the most consequential Founding Fathers, whose financial vision made the United States into an economic power — and whose dramatic life story, including his Caribbean origins, his rise by talent alone, and his death in a duel, made him the subject of the most successful Broadway musical in American history.
Controversies
- His extramarital affair with Maria Reynolds (1791–92), and subsequent blackmail, led to the first major American political sex scandal.
- His enemies accused him of wanting to create an American monarchy — a charge he denied but that his centralizing instincts made plausible.
Connections
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Alexander Hamilton?
Alexander Hamilton (c. 1755–1804) was the American Founding Father who designed the US financial system, co-wrote the Federalist Papers, served as the first Secretary of the Treasury, and was killed in a duel by Vice President Aaron Burr in 1804.
Citations & Sources
People Like Alexander
George Washington
91George Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolution and the first President of the United States, whose leadership and restraint shaped the new republic.
Why His patron and commander — Washington chose Hamilton as his aide-de-camp during the Revolution and then as his Treasury Secretary, the most important relationship of Hamilton's career.
Thomas Jefferson
88Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States, who was also a prolific writer, architect and scholar whose Notes on the State of Virginia was a landmark of early American letters.
Why His great rival — the Jefferson-Hamilton debate over federal power versus states' rights and manufacturing versus agrarian economy defined the first decades of American politics.
Benjamin Franklin
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Why A fellow Founding Father whose polymath ambitions and self-made rise from humble origins paralleled Hamilton's own remarkable ascent.
Abraham Lincoln
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Why Also a statesman & lawyer · Active in the same era
Tecumseh
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Why Also a military leader & statesman · Active in the same era
Theodore Roosevelt
85Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States, a soldier, conservationist and reformer — and a remarkably prolific author who wrote around forty books on history, nature, politics and exploration alongside his public career.
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