Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757-1804) was a politician and senior officer. One of the Founding Fathers, Hamilton was the first secretary of the treasury for the fledgling United States. He is largely remembered for the infamous duel between him and Aaron Burr which cost Hamilton's life.
Life[]
Born in January of either 1755 or 1757 (something which historians are unsure of) in the Colony of Nevis in the British Leeward Islands, Hamilton was born out of wedlock to the ex-wife of a merchant and a Scottish man. While Alexander was a young boy, his mother moved to the town of Christianshed in Saint Croix and his father abandoned his mother (seemingly to stop her from being arrested for bigamy), In 1768, Alexander's mother died from yellow fever. While Alexander's mother's ex-husband claimed most of the family estate, a family friend purchased the family library (which comprised 34 books) and gave them to Hamilton. Alexander and his brother James Jr. were briefly adopted by a cousin but this cousin killed himself shortly after adopting the two boys. While James became a carpenter's apprentice, Alexander was adopted by a merchant.
While still a teenager, Alexander became a clerk at the import-export firm of Beekman and Cruger. Hamilton proved himself to be an extremely competent trader and was allowed to run the firm while its owner was away at sea. Around this time, Hamilton began writing. He was tutored in this skill by a Presbyterian Reverend. In 1772, a hurricane devastated Christianshed. Hamilton wrote a lengthy letter on this hurricane and its effects which was published in the Royal Danish-American Gazette by the Reverend. This letter impressed locals enough for them to help send Hamilton to the mainland of North America to gain higher education.
After arriving in Boston in October, Hamilton travelled to New York and lodged with a man named Hercules Mulligan. This lodger helped Hamilton to sell cargo (something which Hamilton used to pay for his education). To ready himself for college, Hamilton enrolled in the Elizabethtown Academy and met an intellectual named William Livingston. Livingstone became something of a mentor to Hamilton.
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Character and writing style[]
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Appearances in fiction[]
- Hamilton is the main and titular character of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton.
- Due to his rivalry with the Founding Father, Hamilton is a major character in Gore Vidal's novel Burr. Burr describes Hamilton as being a "professional orphan".
Sources[]
- Wikipedia