Alexander Hamilton was a famous American lawyer, military leader, political scientist, economist and journalist. He was the founder of the first political party and the U.S. financial systems. Historians consider him as the founding father of America. Also, Hamilton was one of the most influential promoters of American constitution. The following paper gives a brief overview of Alexander Hamilton’s entire life and career. Also, it defines his contribution to the U.S. history and constitution.
Early Life
Alexander Hamilton was born in Nevis Island in 1757. He was an illegitimate son of Scottish merchant father, James A. Hamilton and English-French mother, Rachel Faucette. Hamilton’s father left his family when Alexander was small. Therefore, his mother supported him by doing small business. However, Rachel suffered from severe fever, and died in 1768. As a result, he had a hard childhood with emotional challenges. It is important to mention that his cousin, Peter Lytton and Nevis merchant Thomas Stevens helped him in his life. Steven guided him to learn French language. Hamilton was an intelligent student. As a result, he was fluent in French and some other languages. Initially, he worked as a clerk in an export-import company. Later, Hamilton learned to write different reports. In 1772, Hamilton’s first essay was published in Royal Danish-American Gazzette. He included various detailed information about hurricane in the literature. The essay impressed different leaders and they funded him to go to North America to get education. In the same year, he started to study in Elizabeth Academy, New Jersey. During the college days, he came under the influence of various revolutionary leaders. He developed his intellectual knowledge with the scholar and leader, William Livingston. Hamilton had his first public appearance in 1774 at the liberty pole of King’s college, New York. He was encouraged by his friends and critics in that event. In 1774, he published his first political writings, The Farmer Refuted and A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress. Also, he wrote additional articles against Quebec Act. Furthermore, he wrote revolutionary reports in New York Journal. In 1775, he helped the college president and the loyalist, Myles Copper to escape by speaking long to an aggressive mob. Thus, Hamilton started his writing and political career.
Contributions to the U.S. History
Alexander Hamilton had an immense contribution to the U.S. history. In his early life, he joined the American volunteer military company of the King’s college. He studied military history and achieved the lieutenant rank. Also, he created the New York Provincial Company of Artillery in 1776 to support The American Revolutionary War. He took part in the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of White Plains. Later, he served as the Washington’s aide by accepting the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He worked as the chief staff aide of Washington for four years. He drafted and analyzed various important orders of Washington. Also, he handled the most powerful general of Army, state governors and letters to the Congress. He organized a wide level of duties for the American president including the diplomacy, negotiations and intelligence with senior government officers. In 1781, Hamilton became the commander of New York light infantry battalion and took part in North American British military operations.
In 1782, Hamilton joined Congress. He was appointed as a New York representative of the Confederation Congress. He supported famous Congress leaders including Robert Morris, James Madison, Gouverneur Morris and James Madison, and helped them to improve their political duties. Also, Hamilton argued against decentralized nature of congress. He opposed the laws that did not allow Congress to demand money from states. These tax issues cause problem to fulfill the financial demands of Continental Army. Therefore, he requested several states to help with the funds to sustain the military demands. Besides, in late 1777, the U.S. soldiers face different difficulties with supplies, salaries, pensions and other payments. So, Hamilton and several other Congressmen used the Newburgh Conspiracy to get support from various American states. However, these approaches were not successful and military leaders were disappointed by the government’s actions. Therefore, Hamilton drafted a call to revise some articles of the U.S. constitution. The new resolution contained many features that improved the federal laws. According to the new American law, federal government had the ability to collect funds and taxes for defense administration. Also, the new rules separated the powers of judicial, executive and legislative departments.
In 1783, Hamilton resigned from Congress and started to practice law in New York. He worked with defense of British and Tories subjects. He had lots of achievements in law practice. Later, in 1784, he established the Bank of New York. Also, he restored the old King’s college. Moreover, he played an important role in 1786 Annapolis Convention. He helped federal government to become financially independent and more powerful. In 1787, Hamilton worked as assemblyman, and became popular as the leader of new Constitutional Conventions. Additionally, in the convention, he delivered a great speech and proposed to have the elected Senators and a President. Also, he added that leaders should have good behavior, and the law should have capabilities to remove them, if they involve in misconduct, corruption or other abuses. Furthermore, he added that Supreme Court should have the highest power to take various important decisions. Majority of the leaders and scholars supported Hamilton’s proposals. Later, he created a successful campaign to improve the Constitutional laws. He took help from James Madison and John Jay to write 85 essays that defended the proposed constitution. These essays got immense support from the U.S. citizens. Also, the American political scientists, historians, lawyers and jurists encouraged Hamilton’s proposals.
In 1789, Hamilton became the first United States Secretary of the Treasury. The U.S. president George Washington appointed him and proposed to oversee other political leaders. During his service in Treasury Department, he submitted five reports that included the analysis of public credit and manufacturing reports. Moreover, these reports provided the information of controversial proposals of state debts, federal debts and payment postpone reports. Furthermore, he analyzed the National Bank’s projections. In this research, he found the issues of the bank since past eleven years. Also, he improved the service of the National Bank by suggesting the Congress to support the bank with the capital of $10 million. Later, he proposed the administration to create a 25 member board to direct the bank models and projects. Also, he advised government to provide financial supports to the large companies and firms through banking system. These proposals developed the financial status of American businessmen. Besides, he suggested increasing the import taxes of various alcoholic beverages including whiskey, rum and other liquor. Initially, Washington was hesitated to sign the bill, because several leaders opposed it. However, Hamilton stated that those bills were needful and useful for the nation’s welfare. Hence, Washington signed the bill and it became the law.
Moreover, Hamilton suggested the U.S. government to introduce national currency. In the past, the government used the Spanish coins. However, Hamilton discussed the new plan with various European economists and other leaders, such as, Thomas Jefferson and Gouverneur Morris. In 1792, the Congress accepted Hamilton’s principles and established Coinage Act. The new act created the United States Mint. Furthermore, he introduced revenue cutter service to boost the American economy. Before the American Revolutionary War, a large number of goods were smuggled through water. Therefore, Hamilton introduced revenue cutter service of the U.S. law enforcement department. The police force patrolled the borders and helped customer collectors to improve their service. In addition, he guided Congress to receive revenues from whiskey and excise tax. Also, he submitted a report about the U.S. manufacturing companies that expanded the independence of factory production. Especially, Hamilton showed interest in the agricultural industries. He improved the U.S. production market by increasing the taxes of imported goods and by reducing the taxes of imported raw materials. Thus, the U.S. companies bought inexpensive raw materials and delivered goods to consumers in a reasonable price. Also, he improved the immigration policies for intelligent people, which helped the U.S. technological spheres to receive international service and support. Thus, Hamilton helped the U.S. government to develop its policies.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Alexander Hamilton was a great American politician, lawyer, economist and military leader. He made various contributions to develop the U.S. history. Hamilton founded the base of American political system. Also, he designed various federal and state organizations including the Bank of New York. He wrote several political essays during his college life that influenced American leaders and politicians. After finishing college he joined American army to serve for his country. Later, he became a member of Congress and guided congressmen to reform the constitution. He proposed various new bills to the government, which helped to develop the U.S. economy. Moreover, he worked as the First Secretary of the Treasury, and introduced various plans that increased yearly revenues. Accordingly, Hamilton improved the political and economical histories of the United States.