Alexander Hamilton:
One Dollar, One Vote
By Donald Hickey
In 1795 Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to his close friend and political ally James Madison to discuss their common nemesis, Alexander Hamilton. ‘Hamilton,’ he said, “is really a colossus to the anti-republican party. Without numbers, he is a host within himseif.’? Jefferson’s characterization was apt, for Hamilton was a man of enormous talent, driving ambition, and boundless energy. Although he lived in the Golden Age of American Politics, he was arguably the most gifted statesman of his era, and he left and indelible imprint on American history.
Born on the Caribbean island of Nevis in 1757, Hamilton suffered the taint of illegitimacy because his parents never married. His father was an obscure Scottish merchant whose business (so Hamilton tells us) ‘‘went to wreck’’ forcing the family to move to St. Croix, there to subsist on handouts from relatives. Hamilton’s father abandoned the family in 1763, and when his mother died in 1768, he was virtually an orphan, By this time he had already demonstrated the raw talent and boundless ambition that would carry him to greatness. ‘‘To confess my weakness,”’ he wrote a childhood friend, ‘‘I contemn [my] groveling condition…and would willingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt my station.’’ Hamilton showed such promise that in 1772 friends and relatives raised money to send him to the mainland for an education. After a year at a preparatory school in New Jersey, he enrolled in King’s College (now Columbia University) in New York. Though he applied himself assiduously to his studies, he spent his spare time promoting the patriot cause in the cold war that had developed between Great Britain and the colonies. Though only seventeen, he wrote a pair of pamphlets in 1774 that were so learned and eloquent and showed such command of the issues that they were attributed to older men.
When the cold war with England erupted into a hot war in 1775, Hamilton secured a commission – in the New York Line and took part in several campaigns in the middle states, displaying a remarkable talent for military leadership and organization. As his reputation spread, so too did the demand for his services. In 1777 George Washmgton, the Commander tn Chief of the Continental Army, invited him to join his staff as his secretary and aid – de-camp (with the rank of lieutenant colonel), a post Hamilton held for four years. It was a member of Washington’s official family that Hamilton made his first great contribution to the nation, helping to manage the war effort from the army’s roving headquarters in the field. Hamilton’s staff work also marked the beginning of a fruitful relationship with Washington that lasted for more than twenty years.
Though Hamilton enjoyed being at the center of power, he complained that it was difficult ‘‘to have the mind always upon the stretch, scare ever unbent, and no hours for recreation.’ Moreover, he chafed at the restraints of a desk job, longing for the honor, glory, and excitement of the battle field. In 1781 he used a petty quarrel with Washington as a pretext for resigning his staff position in order to return to the field. With Washington’s aid, he secured a regimental command and took part 1n the last great battle of the Revolution at Yorktown,Virgima.
Hamilton made his second great contribution to the nation’s development in the 1780s when he worked to strengthen the central government. He was no fan of the Articles of Confederation (America’s first constitution), believing that the ‘ government I created was too weak and feeble to operate effectively or to bind the thirteen states in # 10 a nation, The fatal defect of this government, he said, was ‘‘a want of power in Congress.”’ As early as 1780, he called for a constitutional convention to revise the Articles, and in the years that followed he continued to press this idea on all who would listen.
By the mid-1780s, Hamilton was convinced that the Confederation government was “on a state of decay, approaching nearly to anhilation, “Every day,” he added, ‘proves more and more the insufficiency of the Confederation.”’ By this time, many other Americans shared his view. Hence when he renewed his proposal for a constitutional convention, the response from other statesmen was favorable. The result was the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787.
Although Hamilton attended the Philadelphia Convention as a delegate from New York, he favored a much stronger central government than any of his fellow delegates. Believing that the British constitution was ‘the best model the world has ever produced,’’ he hoped to pattern America’s new government after Britain’s. In his only major speech, delivered on June 18, he argued that the president and senators ought to serve for life, that the federal judiciary should have extensive authority, and that the states should be little more than ad ministrative units of the central government. This plan went too far for all but the most high toned nationalists, and it garnered little support. Nevertheless, several of Hamuilton’s recommendations were incorporated into the final draft of the Constituuon.
Even though Hamilton had argued for a much stronger government, he signed the Constitution and worked tirelessly for its ratification. He wrote the bulk of the Federalist papers, a series of newspaper articles designed to promote ratification and now considered one of the great commentaries on the Constitution. He also attended New York’s ratifying convention. Working with John Jay, he secured approval for the Constitution, even though mutially two thirds of the delegates had opposed it.
After the new government was inaugurated in 1789, Hamilton made his last great contribution to the voung republic when he became the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury. Contemporaries regarded this as the most important post in the cabinet because American finances were in such a deplorable state. To remedy this problem, Hamilton devised a financial program that provided for funding all Revolutionary War debts at par, enacting a broadly-based tax program, and establishing a national bank. The program was a spectacular success. Public credit was restored, a stable currency was established, and close to $80,000,000 of investment capital was created. In addition, the program tied the financial interests of the country to the new government, thereby insuring its success.
As a member of Washington’s cabinet, Hamilton repeatedly clashed with Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, not only over financial matters but over foreign policy as well. Unlike Jefferson, Hamilton was an enemy of the French Revolution. He viewed France’s experience with ‘‘honor’’ and ‘‘revulsion,’” believing that her revolution was ‘‘a volcano of atheism, depravity, and absurdity,’’ Because he considered France a ‘‘monstrous, bloody, cannibal Republic,’’ Hamilton sided with England in the long series of Anglo-French wars that raged from 1793 to 1815.
Hamilton also clashed with Jefferson over defense policy. In common with most other Federalists, Hamilton was a strong advocate of preparedness, believing that the best way to avoid war is to be prepared for it. Only by developing a large defense establishment, he argued, could the nation protect its rights and promote its interests in a war-torn world. Hence throughout the 1790s he worked to build up the army and navy and to develop a system of coastal fortifications that would protect the nation’s cities from assault by the sea.
Hamilton envisioned the development of a powerful nation, one that would have a strong and stable central government and a prosperous, balanced, and expanding economy. The republic, Hamilton insisted, must be strong enough to preserve order at home and to meet the great powers on a equal footing abroad. ‘‘There is something noble and magnificent,’’ he said, ‘‘in the perspective of a great Federal Republic, closely linked in the pursuit of a common interest, tranquil and prosperous at home; respectable abroad.”’
Having achieved most of his goals, Hamilton retired from the cabinet in 1795 to devote himself to his legal practice. Though he jokingly called the law ‘‘the art of fleecing my neighbors,’’ he soon ‘established himself as one of the leading lawyers in the country, earning as much as $12,000 a year in spite of a modest fee schedule. He continued to advise Washington on public affairs (particularly the Farewell Address), and later he counseled members of John Adams’ cabinet. However, except for a stint aS inspector general of the army during the Quasi-War (America’s undeclared naval war with France, 1798-1801), his public career was over.
Despite his claim to greatness, Hamilton was not without faults. He could be impetuous and indiscreet, and he never came to terms with the rising democracy of his era. Though a proponent of representative government, he regarded mankind as “vicious’’ and avowed that he was ‘‘not much attached to the majesty of the multitude.’’ Moreover, even though happily married to Elizabeth Schuyler and the father of eight children, he had at least one extramarital affair–with the notorious Maria Reynolds.
Hamilton never mastered his pride, and like so many men of his era he had an overblown sense of personal honor. In 1800, when he heard that President John Adams had criticized him, he circulated a pamphlet detailing Adams’ faults, a pamphlet that deeply divided the Federalist party and contributed to its defeat. Four years later, when challenged to a duel by Aaron Burr, Hamilton agreed to meet him on the field of honor even though he was opposed to dueling. In the ‘‘interview’’ at Weehawken, New Jersey–surely the most famous duel in American history–the Vice President of the United States slew the former Secretary of the Treasury.
In spite of his peccadillos and his premature death, Hamilton made a vital contribution to the nation’s development. As a member of Washington’s staff in the 1770s, he played a pivotal — role in the winning of independence. As an ardent nationalist in the 1780s, he did yeoman’s service to strengthen the national government. And as Secretary of the Treasury in the 1790s, he devised a financial program that was so brilliant and so successful that he is still regarded as the greatest Secretary of the Treasury the nation has ever had.
Hamilton was not only a great administrator and financier but also a superb speaker and writer and a first-class lawyer and soldier. He was endowed with many talents, and he was driven to succeed. As a result, he excelled at almost everything he did. Though he lived in an era of giants, he was truly the colossus of his age.
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1806 portrait by John Trumbull.