alexander hamilton essays free

Alexander Hamilton, the first financial genius of the United States, overcame tremendous childhood odds to lead America through its early monetary decisions and foundations in the time following the American Revolution. Alexander Hamilton was born in 1755 on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies. Hamilton was the illegitimate son of a Huguenot woman, Rachel Faucett Lavien, and a Scottish merchant named James Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton got his first financial experience while working as a clerk and bookkeeper at a store operated by his mother. Alexander soon became the topic of the town because of his mother's reputation as a whore and his status as an illegitimate child. After the death of Hamilton's mother in 1768, Hamilton's life and career began to take off. Hamilton's first real job came with an international trading firm run by Nicholas Cruger. Hamilton's duties included inspecting cargoes, advising ships' captains, and preparing bills of lading. Hamilton gained great knowledge and mastery of the global finance game,  including how international trade was done, under Cruger's guidance. Another individual who had a great influence on Hamilton was the reverend Hugh Knox. Knox, a Scottish Presbyterian minister, adopted  Hamilton after his mother's death, and provided him with a strong intellectual and spiritual base. Knox's philosophy on free will over predestination particularly appealed to Hamilton because it showed that he could be a respected person, despite his illegitimate status [ Knox tutored Hamilton in the humanities and sciences and allowed Hamilton to browse in the library, where Hamilton read tirelessly. In 1773, funding was made possible by Knox, Cruger, and other wealthy islanders for Hamilton to go to the United States to study medicine. When Hamilton arrived in the United States, he.
Alexander Hamilton 1755(?)-1804 American statesman and essayist. One of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, Alexander Hamilton is best known as the principal author of the classic work on constitutional government, The Federalist (1787-88). However, his enduring influence on American matters of state lies equally with his reports to Congress on the financial affairs of the Federal government. Hamilton is chiefly responsible for the design and establishment of Federal institutions, and above all for the financial system which helped consolidate the states into a nation, and then put that nation on its path toward an industrial economy. Hamilton is often considered the rival of Thomas Jefferson, for while Jefferson promoted a democratic agrarian society, and sided with France in matters of foreign policy, Hamilton foresaw a manufacturing economy founded on secure financial principles, and he sought for the United States a government closer to the British model. Biographical Information Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis in 1755, the illegitimate son of Rachel Faucett Lavien and James Hamilton. Orphaned early, Hamilton worked for a merchant on the island of St. Croix. His precocity and business acumen were quickly noted, and he was sent to the American colonies to be educated. Hamilton enrolled at King's College in New York (now Columbia University) but his studies were cut short by war with the British; he was appointed captain of an artillery company, and in 1777 was appointed aide-de-camp to General George Washington. In 1782 Hamilton was admitted to the New York Bar and appointed a New York delegate to the Continental Congress. He attended the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787, and his essay-writing campaign for ratification of the Constitution resulted in The Federalist, which also contained essays by John Jay and James Madison.
Enter Your Search Terms to Get Started! Alexander Hamilton's Economic Plan The young America needed a smart and eager Secretary of the Treasury, and that's what it found in Alexander Hamilton under the George Washington administration. Hamilton knew that the country's economy was in danger of going belly-up if there was not a drastic change and clear establishment of federal control of the direction of the budding economy. Alexander Hamilton's economic plan obligated America to pay off its national debt, establish a national bank, and establish tariff rates to make the most of American manufacturing. At the time that Hamilton became the Secretary of the Treasury, the nation was over fifty million dollars in debt, largely due to the costs of war and the foreign debts to accompany them. Hamilton's anticipation of global commerce in the decades and centuries to come fostered the creation of the Report on Public Credit. It was Hamilton's idea that the nation should pay off all war debts plus interest in full. This was a rather demanding goal for the economy, but one that would, if successful, solidify the nation's credit. Hamilton also wanted all state debts to be paid assumed by the Federal government, which he believed was the proper source of responsibility for financing national defense. The Secretary wanted more responsibility for the country's money. Namely, Hamilton wanted to control inflation, which Andrew Jackson had made a seriously problem by misuse of the previous national bank. Many were against the idea of a national bank, expressed by the argument from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison that America did not have the power to do such a thing nor was the establishment of a bank prioritized or even mentioned in the Constitution. Uneager to agree with Mr. Hamilton at first, Congress did not invest in his idea until he argued with the necessary and proper”.
Alexander Hamilton, as a lawyer, politician, and statesman, left an enduring impression on U.S. government. His birth was humble, his death tragic. His professional life was spent forming basic political and economic institutions for a stronger nation. As a New York delegate at the Constitutional Convention, Hamilton advocated certain powers for the central government. His principles led to his rise as chief spokesperson for the federalist party. The party had a short life span, but Hamilton's beliefs carried on through his famous federalist papers. In these documents he advocated broad constitutional powers for the federal government, including national defense and finance. According to Hamilton, a lesser degree of individual human liberties and civil rights would follow federal powers. His deemphasis of freedom put him at odds with other Founders, especially Thomas Jefferson's Democrats. However, he backed his beliefs with a strong record of public service from the Revolution onward. Through his contributions in the U.S. Army, in the treasury department, and as a lawyer, many still recognize him as a commanding architect of the United States government.Hamilton was born January 11, 1757, on Nevis Island, in the West Indies. His parents never married. His father, the son of a minor Scottish noble, drifted to the West Indies early in his life and worked odd jobs throughout the Caribbean. His mother died in the Indies when he was eleven. Hamilton spent his early years in poverty, traveling to different islands with his father. At the age of fourteen, while visiting the island of St. Croix, he met a New York trader who recognized his natural intelligence and feisty spirit. The trader made it possible for Hamilton to go to New York in pursuit of an education.Hamilton attended a preparatory school in New Jersey and developed contacts with men who had created a movement.
Study Questions Although Hamilton had very little formal education while growing up in the Caribbean, he did receive practical business experience as a clerk for the merchant Nicholas Cruger. While Cruger was away on business, Hamilton would often run the company's day-to-day operations and conduct business with the local government and other merchants. This greatly improved Hamilton's business sense and administrative ability, which he would later use in the government, especially as Secretary of the Treasury. When Hamilton attended King's College in New York, he studied mathematics, history, politics, and philosophy, which helped him as a government employee and cabinet member. The practical leadership experience he gained under General George Washington proved to be invaluable as well. Finally, Hamilton's training as a lawyer helped him as a legislator and politician. Hamilton played a significant role in amending the Articles of Confederation and subsequently creating the Constitution. In 1786, Hamilton attended the convention in Annapolis, Maryland to amend the Articles. He was one of only a few delegates to actually arrive in Annapolis, and he later called upon the states to send more delegates to the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. Ironically, Hamilton played a very minor role at the convention in Philadelphia. Most of the other delegates respected him, but believed he was far too radical and an extremist. Hamilton did, however, play a vital role in the ratification of the new Constitution by publishing the Federalist Papers, which he co- authored with James Madison and John Jay. The Federalist Papers were written to convince the people of New York and of the rest of the United States to ratify the Constitution, and many historians believe that Hamilton's efforts were essential to having the Constitution ratified. Hamilton is regarded as the most influential.
The Federalist redirects here. For other uses, see Federalist (disambiguation). Title page of the first collection of The Federalist Papers (1788) The Federalist (later known as The Federalist Papers) is a collection of 85 articles and essays written (under the pseudonym Publius) by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788. A compilation of these and eight others, called The Federalist; or, The New Constitution, was published in two volumes in 1788 by J. and A. McLean.[1] The collection's original title was The Federalist; the title The Federalist Papers did not emerge until the 20th century. Though the authors of The Federalist Papers foremost wished to influence the vote in favor of ratifying the Constitution, in Federalist No. 1 they explicitly set that debate in broader political terms: It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force.[2] Highlights abound in the essays of The Federalist. Federalist No. 10, in which Madison discusses the means of preventing rule by majority faction and advocates a large, commercial republic, is generally regarded as the most important of the 85 articles from a philosophical perspective; it is complemented by Federalist No. 14, in which Madison takes the measure of the United States, declares it appropriate for an extended republic, and concludes with a memorable defense of the constitutional and political.