Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11 in Charlestown on the Caribbean island of Nevis. Two different birth years, 1755 and 1757, are recorded: the Mount Vernon digital encyclopedia lists both, while the U.S. Department of the Treasury biography uses 1757.⁠[1][2]

In 1766, Hamilton’s father, James, left the family; his mother, Rachel, died in 1768. He grew up on St. Croix, worked as an apprentice clerk at a trading firm as a youth, and later received financial support to go to North America for his education.⁠[1][3]

In 1773, Hamilton entered King’s College in New York, later Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University, formally Columbia University in the City of New York, is a private research university in New York City and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1754 by royal charter from King George II as King's College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in New York State and the fifth oldest in the United States. It was renamed Columbia College in 1784 and adopted the university name and moved to Manhattan's Morningside Heights in 1896. It has 17 schools and four affiliated colleges, with 35,978 students enrolled in fall 2025. Legal scholar Jennifer L. Mnookin became president on July 1, 2026.Open the full entry. From 1774 to 1775, he supported the colonial movement against British policies through political pamphlets; his studies were later interrupted by the Revolutionary War.⁠[3]

In 1776, Hamilton became a captain of New York artillery. In 1777, he became an aide-de-camp to George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington (1732–1799) was the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. Earlier he commanded the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787.Open the full entry with the rank of lieutenant colonel, mainly handling correspondence and administrative work, and gradually entered Washington’s inner circle of staff.⁠[4]

On December 14, 1780, Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of Continental Army general Philip Schuyler; the couple later had eight children.⁠[1][5]

In 1781, after leaving his post as aide-de-camp, Hamilton obtained a field command. On October 14, he led a successful night assault on a British redoubt at Yorktown, taking part in the siege.⁠[4]

After leaving the army, Hamilton studied law and began to practice. From 1782 to 1783, he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress; in 1783, he opened a law office in New York.⁠[3]

In 1784, Hamilton took part in founding the Bank of New York and drafted the bank’s constitution. The bank opened for business on June 9 of that year. This experience was an important part of his work building financial institutions before he became Secretary of the Treasury.⁠[6]

Hamilton was a member of the New York Manumission Society. Founded in 1785, the organization encouraged slaveholders to free the people they enslaved; his activities in the society and the connection to slave transactions shown in later accounts need to be examined separately.⁠[7][8]

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Hamilton proposed a plan to strengthen the central government, but his plan was not adopted. He served on the Committee of Style and was the only New York delegate to sign the final text of the Constitution.⁠[9][3]

To win ratification of the Constitution, Hamilton worked with James Madison and John Jay to publish a series of essays under the pen name Publius. The essays were collected as the 85 essays of The Federalist Papers, which discuss the powers and institutional design of the new federal government.⁠[9]

On September 11, 1789, Hamilton became the first Secretary of the Treasury in the Washington administration. He set about building the financial management system of the new federal government, and his tenure lasted until January 31, 1795.⁠[10][2]

Hamilton advocated that the federal government assume the debts the states had incurred during the Revolutionary War, supporting the new government with a unified system of public credit. He raised revenue through tariffs and excise taxes to advance repayment of the war debt; these policies also provoked political opposition.⁠[5][2]

In December 1790, Hamilton proposed to Congress the creation of a national bank, and Washington signed the related law in February 1791. The First Bank of the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry opened in Philadelphia on December 12, serving as the government’s fiscal agent and conducting commercial banking business. It did not have the full regulatory or lender-of-last-resort functions of a modern central bank.⁠[11]

On December 5, 1791, Hamilton submitted the Report on Manufactures. The report called for using public funds to reward useful inventions, attract skilled workers, and support manufacturing, reflecting the importance he placed on American industrial development.⁠[12]

In 1794, conflict over federal taxes escalated in western PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaPennsylvania (officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) is a Middle Atlantic state of the United States; its capital is Harrisburg, and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are its two great metropolitan areas. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on December 12, 1787, the second state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 13,002,700.Open the full entry. Hamilton helped draw up the plan for military action, and Washington called up militia from four states, Pennsylvania, New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the eastern United States on the Atlantic Ocean, bordered by New York State, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, with the Hudson River forming its northeastern boundary and the Delaware River its western boundary; its capital is Trenton and its largest city is Newark. One of the original 13 colonies, it became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on December 18, 1787, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 9,288,994.Open the full entry, MarylandMarylandMaryland is a Middle Atlantic state of the United States, deeply indented by Chesapeake Bay and bordered by Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, the District of Columbia and West Virginia; its capital is Annapolis and its largest city is Baltimore. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on April 28, 1788, as the seventh state to do so, and had a population of 6,177,224 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, and VirginiaVirginiaVirginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state whose capital is Richmond. It entered the Union on June 25, 1788, as the 10th state, and had a population of 8,631,393 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, to enforce federal law.⁠[13]

On January 31, 1795, Hamilton ended his term as Secretary of the Treasury and returned to law practice in New York. The Treasury biography links his resignation to personal financial pressures; after leaving office, he continued to advise his successor, Oliver Wolcott Jr.⁠[10][2]

In 1797, facing suspicions of financial misconduct, Hamilton published the Reynolds Pamphlet, admitting an extramarital affair with Maria Reynolds and explaining the related payments as blackmail. This public statement brought the scandal in his private life into political debate.⁠[4]

Hamilton’s account with John Barker Church, prepared on June 15, 1797, lists a May 29 payment for the purchase of an enslaved woman. The editorial note published by the National Archives also cites his cash book, which records $225 as paid by Church for the purchase of a woman and a child. These accounts show his involvement in a relative’s related financial affairs.⁠[8]

During the period of tension between the United States and France, Washington supported Hamilton’s appointment as inspector general of the U.S. Army. From 1798 to 1800, Hamilton carried out preparations for the army, his return to public office after leaving the Treasury.⁠[4][3]

In 1801, Hamilton founded the New York Evening Post, hoping to use the newspaper to spread Federalist views. In 1802, he moved into The Grange, his newly completed house in northern Manhattan; the year before, his eldest son, Philip, had died in a duel.⁠[5]

On July 11, 1804, Hamilton fought a duel with then Vice President Aaron Burr at Weehawken, New Jersey, and was mortally wounded; he died in New York the next day. Accounts differ over which man fired first. Hamilton was then buried in the Trinity Church graveyard in New York.⁠[14][3]

In 2020, Jessie Serfilippi, a researcher at Schuyler Mansion, drew on account books, letters, and the valuation of his estate to conclude that Hamilton himself also held enslaved people. The Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society then challenged this interpretation, arguing that the existing records are not sufficient to prove it. Judgments about his personal ownership remain disputed, while the transaction records in his accounts with a relative can be checked in the original documents.⁠[7][15][8]