Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11, 1755 in Charleston on the West Indies island of Nevis. He was born out of wedlock to Rachel Faucitt Lavien and James Hamilton, who abandoned the family in 1765. Hamilton was so frustrated and angered Aaron Burr that he challenged Hamilton to a duel. The two men fought at Weehawken, N.J., on July 11, 1804. Hamilton had fired into the air then Burr took aim. Hamilton fell wounded and died the next day in New York. He also doesn't like Samuel Chase. He was buried in Trinity churchyard, New York City. Alexander represented the state of New York. He attended school in Elizabethtown NJ, but by 1773 he went to Kings College. He was a mature young man, who knew a lot about political issues with a working knowledge of British and American government. He was only 17 at the time that he had entered college.
When he was only 20 years old Washington recognized Hamilton's leadership abilities and his writing ability. Hamilton's military reputation won the interest of General Nathaniel Greene. General Greene introduced the young Captain to General Washington with a recommendation for advancement. He was an advisor to Washington, as well as an innovator of military designer. He designed reports on the defects and how they could be improved in the military.Hamilton was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and made his aide-de-camp on March 1, 1777. Hamilton had a four and a half year career as a military secretary. During this time his political thoughts and theories began to grow. During his education years, he founded a volunteer military company. Hamilton spent the winter of 1777-1778 with Washington and the Continental Army at Valley Forge. After the death of George Washington, the leadership of the Federalist Party became divided between John Adams and Hamilton. It was during this winter that Brigadier General Horatio Gates tried unsuccessfully to incriminate Hamilton during the Conway Cabal.
Hamilton's personal life and social position in the new nation took a decisive turn in December 1780, when he married Elizabeth Schuyler who was the daughter of a wealthy and influential General Philip Schuyler. This connection placed Hamilton in the center of New York society. In 1782, shortly after leaving the army, he was admitted to legal practice in New York and became assistant to Robert Morris, who was superintendent of finance. He spent a year in Congress from 1782-1783 and then spent time working as a lawyer in New York. Hamilton resigned at the end of January in 1795 because he realized he couldn't live off of his $3,500 salary, he returned to the practice of law.
At the Convention in Annapolis, Maryland in 1786, he made a draft of a report which ended up becoming the Constitutional Convention a year later. He also made more than half of the Federalist papers, while being an advocate for a strong central government and working towards seeing the Constitution approved. He became an important member of the first Cabinet of the first President as the first Secretary of the Treasury in 1789-1795. The people that were involved in the cabinet are President Washington, Secretary of War Henry Knox, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. The financial situation of the country after the Revolution was the primary problem facing the new nation, and Hamilton developed the "Hamiltonian system". He became a leader in the Federalist Party.
The Democrat-Republican Party, more commonly known as the "Republicans", were their opponents, which was led by Thomas Jefferson. After this, Hamilton's career was not very famous. Hamilton was guilty of telling the Cabinet secrets to Major George Beckwith from Britain. Hamilton was very misleading and dishonorable in his dealings with other government officials, discrediting some of his contemporaries in order to see that his plans, ideas and policies were successful. The ideas of other visionaries like Thomas Jefferson were doomed to failure as a result. Other people involved in the affair were Senator William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut and Philip Schuyler, Hamilton's father-in-law from New York. James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton wrote the Federalist essays.
Personally, I think that he does deserve recognition for everything that he accomplished. He founded something was actually worked and was worth finding. He designed reports on the defects and how they could be improved in the military. His leadership was recognized so that obviously meant something and he was a good leader. He was seventeen years old and was already have a successful life and knew exactly what he wanted to do and how he was going to do it, and he did it. He made a slip up and told the Cabinet a secret that he knew that he wasn't suppose to tell anyone and soon people lost trust for him. He resigned because of the money but while he was in it he made good judgements and good things to benefit the positions that he was in. He was in many positions and in each position he did what he was suppose to do and knew exactly what he was doing and how everything was going to play out. I believe that he deserves recognition because he did his job and did what he was suppose to do and didn't have a problem with any of it.
http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/hamilton.html
