Hamilton which president

He famously made a six-hour speech about his own plan for a strongly centralized government, drawing criticism that he wanted to create a monarchy.

Though Hamilton ended up having little influence on the Constitution itself, he played an important role in its ratification. Along with James Madison and John Jay , Hamilton published a series of 85 essays defending the new document to the American people.

Hamilton wrote no fewer than 51 of these Federalist Papers , and they would become his best-known writings. In , Washington was unanimously elected as the first president of the United States; he appointed Hamilton as the first secretary of the U. Hamilton left his Treasury post in and returned to his law practice in New York. When Washington stepped down after two terms, Hamilton drafted the majority of his farewell address, which memorably warned about the dangers of excessive political partisanship and foreign influence.

Eacker, had given a speech in which he accused Hamilton of being a monarchist. According to historian Joanne Freeman, he was involved in no fewer than 10 affairs of honor or near duels before the notorious duel that took his life. Hamilton and Aaron Burr had been political opponents since the debate over the Constitution in Senate in He made good on this in , after Federalist divisions led to a tie between Jefferson and Burr, both Democratic-Republicans, in the presidential election.

Largely sidelined by Jefferson as vice president, Burr decided to run for governor of New York in After he lost, largely due to the opposition of powerful party rivals, the frustrated Burr fixated on a newspaper article, published during the gubernatorial campaign, which claimed that Hamilton had insulted him at a private dinner.

He wrote to Hamilton confronting him about the slight. When Hamilton characteristically refused to back down, Burr challenged him to a duel. Both men fired. Centuries later, Hamilton's legacy rose in prominence with the debut of the groundbreaking musical, Hamilton. The performance, written by and starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, offered a new perspective on the Founding Father's biography by marrying hip-hop with Broadway.

It dominated at the Tony's, winning 11 awards. Hamilton was born in January or , on the Caribbean Island of Nevis, out of wedlock. His mother, Rachel Faucette Lavien, the daughter of a French Huguenot physician, met his father, Scottish trader James Hamilton, after fleeing a troubled marriage that left her penniless, abused, and locked up for adultery.

Hamilton claimed that he was born in , but official documents from Nevis list the year as Unfortunately, for him and his older brother, a lot of heartache was to follow. By , James Hamilton had abandoned the family. Just two years later, his wife passed away, leaving the two boys essentially parentless before they were barely teenagers.

When he was just 13, Alexander got a job as a clerk at a local trading company run by two New York merchants. Not long after, he was promoted to manager. Among the fundraisers was local newspaper editor Hugh Knox, who was deeply impressed by a letter young Hamilton wrote describing a hurricane that hit the island in While there, he became famous for his series of anonymous pamphlets addressing Anglo-American trade relations, one of which was even attributed to John Jay and John Adams, two renowned American propagandists.

By , the Revolutionary War had begun against the British and he wanted a piece of the action. He got it. He became a founder of the new nation that grew out of it and a creator of the economic system we still live with today. After the war, he practiced law, was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and became the nation's first secretary of the Treasury.

Here is a basic sketch of his most groundbreaking achievements. He impressed George Washington with his bravery and tactical skill. In , Washington promoted him to lieutenant colonel of the Continental Army and made him his aide-de-camp.

Hamilton spent the next years putting his writing skills to work at the service of the general. Restless to return to battle, he left Washington in Later that year, the general gave him command of a battalion that took part in the assault on Yorktown that resulted in the surrender of British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and the end of the war.

Historian Michael E. However, he has been credited with helping to validate it, most notably by penning 51 of the 85 essays known as "The Federalist Papers," a widely read collection of articles that defended the newly drafted Constitution before it was ratified.

In a number of "Federalist Papers" articles, Hamilton also laid the groundwork for some of his ideas for the U. He argued, for example, that a strong union would benefit American commerce, that tax revenue should be raised by both the individual states and the federal government, and that trade should be free among the states. When the U. When not on the battlefield, Hamilton had studied financial history and developed an admiration for how the British government managed its economy and hefty national debt.

In the election, he temporarily cast aside his dislike of Jefferson to engineer the defeat of fellow New Yorker and Federalist Burr who he deeply distrusted , fueling a hatred in Burr that would lead to their deadly duel just four years later. In , while serving as treasury secretary, the married Hamilton became involved with Maria Reynolds, a young woman who had approached him for financial assistance to escape what she claimed was an abusive marriage. It was an extortion scheme, and it worked.

Hamilton continued to pay the couple money, while he continued his relationship with Maria for another year with James' encouragement.

When James was arrested on an unrelated crime, he implicated Hamilton, claiming he was pursuing illegal land speculation to raise hush-money to hide the affair. When investigators confronted Hamilton, he admitted to the affair, but denied any charges of financial impropriety, showing them letters from both Maria and James, which seems to have ended the incident.

But when Hamilton published an essay in , hinting at the sexual relationship between Jefferson and his enslaved person, Sally Hemings , Jefferson struck back. Several months later, James Callander, a controversial journalist, published an article revealing the affair and claiming that Hamilton had used government funds to hide it.

More concerned about the implication of financial misdeeds than amorous ones and seemingly unconcerned about the effect the revelations would have on his wife and family , Hamilton decided to go on the offensive. He published his own pamphlet, admitting to the affair in great detail while denying all other charges. Hamilton may have hoped the Reynolds Pamphlet would save his political hide, but, instead, his career was in tatters. Washington was called out of retirement in to lead a Provisional Army, when war with France loomed.

When Thomas Jefferson finished in an electoral tie with Aaron Burr in the election of , some Federalist Congressmen wanted to give Burr the election. Hamilton believed Jefferson was preferable to Burr, and wrote to Federalists imploring them to support Jefferson. During the New York gubernatorial election of , the Albany Register published a letter stating that Hamilton had insulted Aaron Burr, one of the candidates, at a private dinner.

Burr lost the election, and after confronting Hamilton about the reported slander, challenged him to a duel. Eliza survived her husband by fifty years, passing away in He gained new acclaim in with the Broadway production Hamilton , a Tony Award-winning musical about his inspiring rise to prominence.

Borden, Morton. Parties and Politics in the Early Republic: Harper, John Lamberton. Foreign Policy. New York: Cambridge University Press, Podcast Mount Vernon Everywhere!