Basic Info:
Statesman, politician, legal scholar, military commander, lawyer, banker, and economist
Founding father
First secretary of U.S. treasury
Born- January 1755
Died- July 12, 1804
Wife- Elizabeth Schuyler
Children- Philip Hamilton, Angelica Hamilton, Eliza Hamilton, James Alexander Hamilton, John Church Hamilton, William S. Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton Jr.
Mother- Rachel Fawcett Lavien
Father- James Hamilton

Childhood:
Alexander was born in Nevis, an island in the British West Indies. His exact birthdate isn't known, but most historians agree that it is somewhere between 1755-1757. His mother was Rachel Fawcett Lavien and his father was a Scottish trader named James Hamilton.

His mother was married John Lavien, a merchant who was very abusive to Rachel. They had a son called Peter together. He had her imprisoned for adultery at one point.

As soon as she was released, she moved to St. Kitt's and moved in with James Hamilton, and became pregnant with their first child, James. She gave birth to Alexander a couple of years later.

James Hamilton Sr. abandoned his children, leaving them in poverty.

Alexander got his first job at age eleven, eager to help his family. He worked and worked to support his family, but illness came and his mother died in 1768, when she was only 38 years old.

He worked as an accounting clerk in St. Croix. This gave him plenty of experience in trade and commerce. His boss was so impressed with him that he and several others piled up enough money to send Hamilton off to America so he could receive a better education.

The sixteen year old Alexander arrived in New York in 1773. He spent a little while at a preparatory school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey before moving on. He went to King's College (Colombia University).

America was on the brink of revolution at this time, and he became fascinated by the politics of it all. In 1774, he wrote his very first political article which defended the patriots and their cause against the British. He publicly defended the Boston Tea Party and between the years of 1774-75, he wrote three pamphlets that attacked British policy and upheld agreements of congress to boycott British products.

He eventually left King's College to join the patriots in their fight for independence.

Military:
The Revolutionary War began in 1775 and Alexander Hamilton became part of the New York Provincial Artillery Company. He fought in battles at Long Island, White Plains, and Trenton.

At the Battle of Trenton, he organized his own company and they prevented the British from crossing the Raritan River and showed a great amount of bravery during this fight.

In 1777, after fighting at Brandywine Creek, Princeton, and Germantown, he was given the position of lieutenant colonel of the continental army. George Washington trusted him and his military skill and Hamilton became his assistant and adviser.

The two of them were good friends and they greatly respected one another.

Because he was fluent in French, he became a translator for Washington and the French generals.

Marriage:
On December 14, 1780, Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler. She was the daughter of a Revolutionary War General names Philip Schuyler. They were a very wealthy and well known family.

Most accounts say that he and Eliza had a happy marriage, despite his affair with Maria Reynolds

Ending the War:
Hamilton began to grow annoyed and restless with the desk job he'd be given in the military. He wanted action and he pleaded with Washington, hoping to get a more active position on the battlefield. Washington declined.

In 1781, Hamilton left Washington's staff. That July, Washington finally gave him command of a battalion.

Hamilton led an assault on a British stronghold. The British surrendered at the Battle of Yorktown.

The war was finally over and the United States were finally independent.

Role in Politics:
Despite their independence, Hamilton realized that the state's were not going to get along just because the war was over now.

He moved to Albany in 1781 to study law. The following year, New York legislature elected him onto the Continental Congress.

He continued to write his pamphlets and essays, arguing for a stronger central government than the one provided by the Articles of Confederation. In 1783, he practiced law in New York City, were he defended unpopular loyalists who had remained faithful to the British and the king. Because of his efforts, state acts discriminating against loyalists were repealed.

He was appointed to a legislature and they met in Maryland to discuss politics. He suggested that they exceed their delegated powers and fall for another meeting that would include representatives from all states so they could discuss their new nation's problem. They agreed and the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in May of 1787.

He was one of the representatives on this delegation, but he didn't participate much in the actual debates. However, he did serve on two very important committees.

He made a long speech on June 18, presenting his idea of national government. Under his idea, the national government would have unlimited power on the state's, but the other delegates weren't exactly fond of this idea. His speech had very little impact and the delegates went on framing a constitution with a strong federal government, but also one they thought the states would like.

When the constitution was officially proposed, it was immediately met with challenge. Hamilton and a few others (James Madison and John Jay) answered these protests anonymously, under secret names. Hamilton wrote his under the name Caesar. He later changed it to Publius. The papers these men wrote became known as The Federalist Papers and they appeared in newspapers between October 1787-May 1788. Hamilton wrote two-thirds if these 85 essays.

In the year of 1788, Hamilton was reappointed as a delegate to the continental congress. The constitution was ratified in June, and at that same time, he became chief champion of the constitution.

Washington made him secretary of treasury in 1789. Congress began asking Hamilton to come up with a plan for the country's money and their debt.

His first goal was to establish credit within the country and abroad. He outlined his financial program in four reports to Congress. In the first two of these reports, he urged for the federal government to assume all state debts from the war and pressed for a system of taxation to help pay these debts. He received a lot of powerful opposition in Congress. (There's a whole rap about this in Hamilton, the musical. It's great). He was only able to push his plan through congress after he made a deal with Thomas Jefferson (who was Secretary of State at the time). Through this deal, he gained votes in Congress.

His third report was submitted on December 14, 1790 and it pressed for the need of a national bank. Congress passed this charter and Washington signed it into law.

His fourth report was the longest and most complex (but I'll do my best to sum it up). It was submitted on December 5, 1791 and in it, he proposed to help aid the growth of smaller industries through protective laws. He stated that the general welfare of the country required the encouragement of manufacturers and that the U.S. government was responsible to do this for the economy. Congress did nothing with this report.

Hamilton had hoped to be a part of a government that was above forming political parties, but he soon found himself head of the Federalist Party. He placed himself here because he knew it would gain him the support that he needed to get his programs through congress.

The part opposing them was the Republican Party (Or the Democratic-Republican party as it later became known). This was created by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. They wanted a stronger alliance with France, as opposed to the Federalists who wanted to keep strong ties and stay peaceful with England.

Hamilton tried to stop Jefferson's policies that were aimed to help France and he even told British officials of Jefferson's attachments to France. He suggested that the British should ignore Jefferson and work with him instead. This led to an ongoing feud between the two men, each of them trying to drive the other out of congress.

France and England went to war in 1793, and Alexander tried to use this as an excuse to end the alliance with France. Meanwhile, the British were seizing U.S. ships that were trading with the French. Calls for war with Britain began, and Hamilton strongly opposed this because most of his financial plans included trade with Britain to help American economy. John Jay was sent to London at the request of Alexander Hamilton and Jay made a treaty with the British.

Faced with harsh criticism, Alexander Hamilton left the cabinet on January 31, 1795. However, he still a great influence as an unofficial adviser to George Washington. Washington often consulted him on political matters, including the time when he was deciding on how to announce the end of his presidency and how he wasn't running for office again. Hamilton advised Washington to wait until a few months before the meeting of the presidential electors. Washington did as he asked, and gave his Farewell Address in September of 1796.

John Adams became the next president, but he didn't agree with many of Alexander's ideas. However, Hamilton still had great influence on government because the cabinet was still the same as it was under Washington.

After France broke off relations with America, Hamilton grew worried that they would try and invade the country. He tried to participate in the new army, and his request wasn't granted until Washington forced Adams to make Hamilton second in command, inspector general, and major general. Adams was humiliated and never forgave Hamilton for this.

Hamilton wanted to lead his army into Louisiana and Florida (which weren't owned by the U.S. at that time), but he never did. Congress disbanded the provisional army and Hamilton resigned his commission in June of 1800.

Adams rid his cabinet of all those he dubbed 'Hamilton's spies' and to get revenge, Hamilton tried to prevent Adams from being re-elected. He privately made many personal attacks on Adams, and Aaron Burr obtained a copy of this and had it published, forcing Hamilton admit that he'd written them.

Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr ended up winning the election, and because the votes were tied, the House of Representatives was called upon to make a decision. The Federalists hated Jefferson and preferred Burr, but Hamilton persuaded them to elect Jefferson anyways.

By supporting the enemy, Hamilton lost the respect of his own political party and ended his public career.

Quarrel with Aaron Burr:
All the Federalists except for Hamilton, supported Aaron Burr as a candidate as governor of New York. Hamilton supported Burr's opponent, who ended up winning, but probably not because of Hamilton's support.

Because of this and several other times that Alexander Hamilton and got in the way of Burr's ambitions, the two were enemies and hated each other.

After the election, in June of 1804, Burr demanded a duel with Hamilton. Hamilton had reportedly made a few insulting remarks at Burr during a dinner party in April. Hamilton was Hainaut dueling, hr wanted to keep his honor, so he accepted (not quite sure how that logic works. How do you keep your honor by caving in and going against your beliefs? But whatever).

The two men met on July 11, in Weehawken, New Jersey (which is also where Philip Hamilton, the eldest child of Eliza and Alexander, had died in a duel three years earlier).

Aaron Burr fired at Hamilton and the bullet found its mark. Alexander Hamilton was dead, leaving his wife and seven children in a tremendous amount of debt, which was paid off with the aid of friends.

Cool Facts:
• John Adams at one point described Hamilton by saying "the bastard brat of a Scottish peddler"
• he founded the newspaper that became The New York Post
• when they were attorneys, Hamilton and Burr worked together on the first U.S. murder trial
• 11 years before Burr and Hamilton dueled, Burr talked Hamilton out of dueling James Monroe.
• his affair with Maria Reynolds is considered one of the first sex scandals in America's history
• he's on the $10 bill
• in 1796, he published a pamphlet describing his affair with the married woman, Maria Reynolds, and how he paid and blackmailed her husband to cover up the affair
• Hamilton told people that he was born in 1757, but birth records in Nevis say he was born in 1755. He may have lowered his age so he could more easily get into college. Colleges didn't exactly want overages freshmen.
• he wrote a few poems, one of which helped him to win over Elizabeth Schuyler. She even placed the poem in a small bag and wore it around her neck
• Hamilton's Revolutionary War artillery company is the oldest unit in the U.S. military
• the last letter George Washington ever wrote was for Alexander Hamilton

Books and Musical:
A lot of you probably already know this, but there's a whole musical about him! It's great! You should listen to it

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There's also a few books about him. They're called Alex and Eliza, Love and War, and All for One.