Mr. Kipper
History 8(1)
27 January, 1999

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton, age 47, died of a fatal gunshot wound on 12 July, 1804, in Weehawken, New Jersey. This wound was inflicted by Aaron Burr during a duel on the previous day. He was survived by his wife of twenty-four years, Elizabeth Schuyler, and seven of their eight children.

Hamilton was born on 11 January, 1757, on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies. He was the illegitimate second child of James Hamilton and Mrs. Rachael Lavien; James Hamilton left her and the two children in 1765. As a boy, Alexander Hamilton worked at a trade firm on the island of St. Croix, which has now become part of the Virgin Islands. His employers and many other citizens of the island were impressed by his character and intellectual capabilities and felt that he deserved the opportunity to pursue a life that transcended the confines of St. Croix. They took up a collection that enabled him to travel to the United States for college.

The year was then 1774, and the American Revolution did not tarry long. During this war, Hamilton served as an aide to George Washington and a lieutenant-colonel in the Continental Army.

In the aftermath of the war and the establishment of the infant nation, the role Hamilton played would be a pivotal one. It was his essay on the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation that partially inspired the calling of the Constitutional Convention, and once the Constitution had been drafted, Hamilton fought tirelessly for its ratification. His ideas of a strong federal government and a good base in manufacturing have survived to this day, and his work to establish a stable economy during his period as Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington has shaped much of the system we still use today. Because he spent his entire youth outside of America-- arriving in New York at the age of 17-- Hamilton never developed the same regional or state loyalties that were so typical of his peers. As a result of this fact, he, unlike perhaps any of his contemporaries, was able to envision the United States as a single entity in which all regional interests would be subordinate to the needs and good of the whole. It was also Hamilton who, during the conflict of whether or not the establishment of a national bank was Constitutional, developed the doctrine of implied powers; that is, that the federal government does possess the right to carry out those “necessary and proper” actions which are not specifically granted to it in the Constitution. This doctrine would later be upheld by the Supreme Court.

Hamilton had almost no faith in the virtues of common people; like Aristotle, he believed them to be corrupt by nature, and incapable of successfully and justly governing themselves. As such, Hamilton was an advocate of aristocracy, or at the very least, a republic in which the reins of control were primarily held by the well-educated (i.e. the wealthy).

Hamilton and Aaron Burr shared a mutual hatred; after Hamilton had cast numerous (and truthful) aspersions on Burr’s character, Burr demanded a public apology and retraction of all the disparaging statements. Hamilton refused and Burr responded by challenging him to a duel. Of the famous duel itself, worthy of noting is the fact that Hamilton did not make any attempt whatsoever to kill Burr. In fact, he made a point of not drawing his pistol, feeling that this would give Burr an opportunity to pause and reflect. Shortly before the duel, he wrote in a letter to his wife that “the scruples of a Christian have determined me to expose my life to any extent rather than subject myself to the guilt of taking the life of another.” Unfortunately, no similar scruples were held by Burr.

Since the time of Alexander Hamilton’s untimely death, there have been very few who were his match in brilliance, wit, charm, imagination, or sense of honor. Hamilton’s reverence for human life was very great, even if the life belonged to a human whom he detested as strongly as Burr. He was also a man who knew exactly what he believed and stuck firmly to those beliefs. At the very least, Alexander Hamilton was an asset to the United States of America. Perhaps his popularity among the ordinary people never reached the levels of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, or other figures of the day; nonetheless, the loss suffered by the nation at his death was a great one and his accomplishments will be remembered.