Alexander Hamilton: the Forgotten Founding Father. mind. Names like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are also present in the list.

Transcription

1 Alexander Hamilton: the Forgotten Founding Father When one thinks of the founding fathers, George Washington immediately comes to mind. Names like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are also present in the list. But Alexander Hamilton is very rarely even mentioned. For our nation s first Secretary of the Treasury and founder of the Federalist Party, this is a sad truth. He had far more impact than many know. Alexander Hamilton was born to an unwed Scottish father and not-yet-divorced mother in the British island of Nevis. His father, James Hamilton became a drifter and left his family early on. His mother, an intelligent woman, started a grocer s business on St. Croix, but a fever struck her down when young Alexander Hamilton was only twelve years old. A wealthy merchant from nearby took him in, although his reasons are unclear. Many believed the young Hamilton to be his illegitimate son, owing to Hamilton s resemblance to his blood son Ned. When a hurricane ripped through the area in 1772, Hamilton s description of the destruction was featured in the local paper, and called the attention of several members of the community, including a clergyman, who together raised the funds to send the eloquent young boy to North America to study at University. He studied first at Princeton, but discovered that he was required to take the usual three years to graduate. Dissatisfied with what he saw as a rather slow pace, he went instead to King s College in New York City; it was there that he joined the Continental Army in He quickly rose through the ranks, and was given command of a New York artillery regiment. His bravery and coolness under duress was noticed by the upper command, and he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel directly under General George Washington. He impressed the general even further and was invited to be Washington s aide-de-camp. So close to

2 Washington, he watched the goings-on in congress with rapt attention, using his paybook to work out how to fix the problems he saw pervading the early government. He concluded in 1780 that a new convention was required to draft a new constitution, one that enabled a strong, central government with the power to raise taxes, draft an army and navy, regulate trade, mint coins, declare war, and establish a bank. Most importantly, it would have real executive power, not like the government under the Articles of Confederation. After the war, he returned to New York, where he joined the board of King s College, now renamed Columbia College, helped create the New York Board of Regents, and founded the Bank of New York, all within a year. In 1782, he won election to congress while simultaneously studying for the bar, and grew more and more passionate about reforming the government. At the Continental Convention in , he made a six-hour speech outlining his version of government that he had thought up in He proposed a House of Representatives to serve three-year terms, balanced with a Senate and President to serve for life, except in cases of misconduct. He wished to marry the monarch s power with the republican s liberty, created an energetic executive that didn t infringe on the rights of its subjects. His worry was that direct democracy would degenerate into mob rule. He had seen examples of this when angry mobs had charged the home of King s College s president, and later, the print shop of a Tory newspaper publisher. He agreed that men are reasoning animals, but disagreed with Thomas Jefferson s assessment that they are reasonable. All his efforts towards an effective government came to fruition with the drafting of the constitution. Partially during and partially afterwards, he and his friends James Madison and John Jay began a great propaganda campaign: The Federalist Papers. He penned over 50 of them himself, with Madison writing 30 others, and Jay writing perhaps five. These papers

3 argued that the nation needed a strong, central government, and attempted to placate the fears of the Democratic-Republicans, who feared a revived monarchy, while convincing readers that the lax, laissez-faire government that they envisioned would not be able to run a country, or keep it unified. Shortly after Washington took office as the first president under the Constitution, Hamilton was appointed to the office of Secretary of the Treasury, while his rival, the republican Thomas Jefferson, was appointed to Secretary of State. This inevitably led to conflict between the two, most famously over the matter of establishing a national bank. Hamilton proposed the national bank with the belief that it would assist the federal government in performing its duties of levying taxes, paying debts, and borrowing money. He cited the necessary and proper clause in the constitution, claiming that it fell under the umbrella of laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers. Jefferson, who argued against him on the floor, claimed that the constitution contained nothing citing federal authority to found a bank, and all powers not expressly given to the federal government were reserved for the states. Hamilton s argument prevailed, and set a precedent for use of implied powers that lasts to this day. Jefferson s argument for state powers evolved into the concept of states rights, which set the stage for the heated debate of the early 19 th century, and eventually the American Civil War. Jefferson and his republican followers believed that the country should depend largely on the rural families of the south, which Hamilton opposed. He put heavy reliance on agriculture and believed in self-sufficiency. Hamilton, on the other hand, supported commerce with England, which he saw as the mother country, banking, heavy industry, and credit. He intended to make the United States the forefront of the industrial world. By and large, he was successful.

4 The rivalry between the two politicians became so escalated that it taxed their resolve mightily. Jefferson finally resigned in 1793, Hamilton left scarcely a year later, and Washington decided that two terms was enough and retired to Mt. Vernon in Hamilton stayed active in the political world, although not in office, campaigning against Adams presidency in Even though they were both federalists, he believed that Adams personality would interfere with his ability to hold office, and attempted to ensure that he was vice president, rather than president. His campaign was a failure, and Adams was sworn in on March 4, Four years later, he campaigned against Adams again in favor of Adams running mate, Pinckney. When it became apparent that Jefferson and Aaron Burr had tied for first place, Hamilton threw all his support behind Jefferson, who, despite political differences, he preferred over Burr. In 1804, a man claimed that Hamilton had insulted Burr at a New York party. Burr demanded an apology, but Hamilton refused on the grounds that he could not remember the incident. Burr then challenged Hamilton to a duel, which Hamilton could not avoid. Avoiding the duel would have lost him his political career. He had no choice but to accept. The duel took place on July11, 1804, on the same ground where Hamilton s son Philip had lost his life in a duel three years earlier. Hamilton purposely missed his first shot, but Burr s shot struck him in the liver before lodging in his spine. Hamilton died the next day. Without a doubt, Hamilton has had one of the greatest impacts on American politics of any founding father, inventing our equal-opportunity society, learned from his New York experiences, setting up our first national bank, acting as chief policy-maker under Washington s administration (an uncommon duty for a treasury secretary), and effectively arguing the idea of implied powers that is still in use today. Perhaps the only person who could hope to compete with him was his ever-present rival Thomas Jefferson, who penned large parts of the Declaration

5 of Independence. Without Hamilton s influence on early American politics, the federal government would not be nearly as effective as it is, and would likely be operating as the Confederacy it once was.

6 Bibliography Rutledge, John, Edmund Randolph, Nathaniel Gorham, Oliver Ellsworth, and James Wilson. Constitution of the United States. Philadelphia: 1789 "Hamilton vs. Jefferson." American History: from Revolution to Reconstruction and Beyond. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov < Magnet, Myron. "Alexander Hamilton, Modern America's Founding Father." City Journal. 2009: n. page. Web. 27 Nov < Kennedy, Roger. Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: a Study in Character. New York: Oxford University Press, Print.