  Alexander Hamilton
I would like to introduce to you a series of stories devoted to famous Americans. In Russia we usually know quite well such American politicians as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Tomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and John F. Kennedy. And if we see the portraits or hear the names of the others we don’t actually remember what they are famous for and why are they honoured. So let’s begin:
Pre-reading Questions:
1. Did you know anything about Alexander Hamilton?
2. Look at his portrait. Doesn’t his face seem familiar to you?
Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804)
 The solid reputation of Alexander Hamilton places him among but a handful of figures in the history of America. No single figure was ever a stronger advocate of the US Constitution; and only a few people have made a comparable contribution to the substance of American government. Because of his fame, few Americans have been as widely controversial as Hamilton. To this day, his importance remains unsurpassed in the areas of sharp finance, principled politics, romantic scandal, hard work, intellectual acuteness, and bravery. Hamilton’s visasge on the $10 bill is the only non-presidential face besides Benjamin Franklin to appear on the US common currency.
A Chronology of His Life
Alexander Hamilton was born as a British subject on the island of Nevis in the West Indies on the 11th of January 1755. His father was James Hamilton, a Scottish merchant of St. Christopher. Hamilton’s mother was Rachael Fawcette Levine, of French Huguenot descent. Heavy burdens fell upon Hamilton’s shoulders during childhood. Business failures caused Hamilton’s father to become bankrupt. Soon thereafter, his mother died in 1768. At twelve, Alexander entered the counting house of Nicholas Cruger and David Beekman. There, young Alexander served as a clerk and apprentice. At the age of fifteen, Mr. Cruger left Alexander in charge of the business.
During adolescence, Hamilton had few opportunities for regular schooling. However, he possessed a commanding knowledge of French, due to the teaching of his late mother. This was a very rare trait in the English continental colonies. Hamilton was first published in the Royal Danish-American Gazette with his description of the terrible hurricane of August 30th, 1772 that gutted Christiansted. Impressed by this, an opportunity to gain his education was provided by family friends. Seizing this, Hamilton arrived at the grammar school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey in the autumn of 1772. One year later, in 1774, Hamilton graduated and entered King’s College in New York City. There, Hamilton obtained a bachelor of arts degree in just one year.
As the War of Independence began, Hamilton took a trip to Boston, which seems to have solidified his loyalties with the colonists. At a mass meeting held in the fields in New York City on July 6, 1774, he made a sensational speech attacking British policies. In addition, he wrote a series of letters for John Holt’s New-York Journal. When an Anglican clergyman, Samuel Seabury, denounced the first Continental Congress in several Westchester Farmer letters, Hamilton replied with two powerful pamphlets.
His military aspirations also flowered with a series of early accomplishments. At King’s College he joined a patriot volunteer band known as the “Corsicans” and drilled every morning before classes. In August of 1775, the “Corsicans” participated in a raid to seize the cannon from the Battery. On March 14th, 1776, he was commissioned captain of a company of artillery set up by the New York Providential Congress. On January 3, 1777, Hamilton’s military reputation won the interest of General Nathaniel Greene. His cannon were brought to rear on Nassau Hall, and Hamilton gave the order to fire when the British troops there refused to surrender. Impressed by this, General Greene introduced the young Captain to General Washington.
The proficiency and bravery Hamilton displayed around New York City impressed General Washington. He joined Washington’s personal staff in March of 1777 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He served four years as Washington’s personal secretary and confidential aide. At the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778), Hamilton again proved his bravery and leadership. He warned the retreating General Charles Lee that a troop of British cavalry would soon be in a position to counterattack and was authorized to give the order. Hamilton rallied the fleeing men, who turned upon the British and swept them with a withering fire.
Hamilton, however, remained ambitious for military glory. He became impatient in his position of dependence and used a slight reprimand from Washington as an excuse for leaving his staff position in February of 1781. He secured a field command through Washington and won laurels at Yorktown (Sept. – Oct. 1781), where he led the American column in a final assault in the British works.
As the need for the military diminished, Hamilton acquired a domestic life. On December 14, 1780, he married Elizabeth, the daughter of General Philip Schuyler. The Schuylers were one of the most distinguished families in New York. Hamilton and Elizabeth eventually had eight children.
At twenty-five, Hamilton began his popular political efforts from which his greatest fame arises. In letters dated from 1779 to 1780 he correctly diagnosed the ills of the new Confederation and suggested the necessity of centralization.
At twenty-seven, with the Revolutionary War over, Hamilton began a non-military career. After three months of intensive study of the law in Albany, New York, Hamilton was admitted to the bar in July of 1783. Then, after the British army evacuated New York City, he opened his law office at 57 Wall Street. Hamilton also continued with his political endeavors. He served in Congress from 1782 to 1783, was elected to the Continental Congress, and founded the Bank of New York in February of 1784.
Once elected, Hamilton remained politically active all of his life, immediately used his talents to secure the adoption of the Constitution. Hamilton was the first to publish a letter in the Constitution’s defense. This article was published in the New York Independent Journal on October 2, 1787, only two weeks after the Constitution was signed. He was one of three authors of The Federalist. This work remains a classic commentary on American constitutional law and the principals of government. Its inception and approximately three-quarters of the work are attributable to Hamilton (the rest belonging to John Jay and James Madison). Hamilton also won the New York ratification convention vote for the Constitution against great odds in July 17–July 26, 1788. Chancellor James Kent stated that “all of the documentary proof and the current observation of the time lead us to the conclusion that he surpassed all of his contemporaries in his exertions to create, recommend, adopt and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
During Washington’s presidency, Hamilton became the first secretary of the Treasury. In this position he secured the traditional strength of American finance. He is chiefly responsible for establishing the credit of the United States, both at home and abroad. His Report on the Public Credit, January 14, 1790, constituted a watershed in American history. It marked an end of an era of bankruptcy and repudiation. His Report on a National Bank, December 13, 1790, advocated a private bank with semipublic functions and was patterned after the Bank of England. His Report on Manufacturers, 1791, itself entitles Hamilton to a position as an epoch economist. It was the first great revolt from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1776). The inspirations from this work became England’s official economic policy and remain the primary foundation of the German economic system. His masterly opinion on the implied powers of the Constitution persuaded Washington of the Constitutionality of the bank.
Hamilton sometimes overstepped the limits of his office in interfering with other departments. For instance, serious differences between Jefferson and Hamilton developed in the field of foreign affairs. When the French Revolution turned into war against all of Europe, and the French Republic sought to involve the United States, Hamilton advocated strict neutrality, which Washington proclaimed on April 22, 1793.
Hamilton also became the esteemed leader of one of the two great political parties of the time, the Federalists.
On January 31, 1795 Hamilton resigned from his position of Secretary of the Treasury and returned to the practice of law in New York. Despite his resignation, Hamilton remained Washington’s chief advisor through a continual interchange of letters between the two men. Typical of the relationship, Hamilton wrote Washington’s Farewell Address in 1796.
Two years later, Hamilton returned to military service at the age of forty-three. Here, he served as active head of the army under Washington that was organized for the impending war with France.
After the death of George Washington, the leadership of the Federalist Party became divided between John Adams and Hamilton.
Hamilton, by himself, was not a leader for the population. Hamilton himself once said that his heart was ever the master of his judgment. He was indiscreet in utterance, impolitic in management, opinionated, self-confident, and uncompromising in nature and methods. Three times Hamilton used the political fortunes of John Adams in presidential elections as a mere hazard in his maneuvers. After Adams became President Hamilton constantly advised the members of the cabinet and endeavored to control Adams’s policy. On the eve of the presidential election of 1800, Hamilton wrote a bitter personal attack on the president that contained much confidential cabinet information. Although this pamphlet was intended for private circulation, the document was secured and published by Aaron Burr, Hamilton’s political and legal rival.
Hamilton denounced Burr as “a man of irregular and unsatiable ambition…who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government.” After that, Burr forced a quarrel between the two stating that Hamilton said he had a “despicable” opinion of Burr. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. Before going to this confrontation, Hamilton wrote a letter stating that a compliance with the dueling prejudices of the time was inseparable from the ability to be in future useful in public affairs. The duel was fought at Weehawken on the New Jersey shore of the Hudson River opposite New York City. At forty-nine, Hamilton was shot, fell mortally wounded, and died the following day, July 12th, 1804. It is unanimously reported that Hamilton himself did not intend to fire, his pistol going off involuntarily as he fell. Hamilton was apparently opposed to dueling following the fatal shooting of his son Philip in a duel in 1801. Hamilton’s death was very generally deplored as a national calamity.
Perhaps the fate of Hamilton’s reputation is unfair; perhaps public memory is unfair in its nature. His vision of the United States as a global power stabilized by capitalism proved prophetic. Hamilton lived his life for his country. Yet his birthday goes uncelebrated; his visage does not peer out from Mt. Rushmore; his name is not evoked in soaring political oratory; and his accomplishments are sung mainly by academics, not by the people.
Exercise 1. Match the words from the above text with their Russian translations.
Exercise 2. Put the events of Hamilton’s life in the chronological order.
1. He becomes the first secretary of the Treasury.
2. He studies law in Albany, New York.
3. At twelve Hamilton enters the counting house where he serves as a clerk and apprentice.
4. Burr challenges Hamilton to a duel.
5. Hamilton obtains a bachelor of arts degree in just one year at King’s College in New York City.
6. Hamilton is introduced to General Washington and becomes his personal secretary and confidential aide.
7. The “Corsians” participate in a raid to seize the cannon from the Battery.
8. Hamilton publishes a letter in Constitution’s defense.
9. Alexander Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis in the West Indies on the 11th of January 1755.
10. Hamilton is first published in the Royal Danish-American Gazette.
11. At a mass meeting held in the fields in New York City he makes a sensational speech attacking British policies.
12. He writes a bitter personal attack on President Adams.
Exercise 3. Classify Hamilton’s accomplishments into the three spheres:
Exercise 4. Choose the statements that apply to the US Constitution.
1. It is a specific written document.
2. It is a collection of documents, statutes, and traditional practices that are generally accepted as governing political matters.
3. It is the oldest written national Constitution in operation.
4. It defines the principal organs of government and jurisdictions and the basic rights of citizens.
Exercise 5. Points for discussion.
1. What character traits does a good politician need? What character traits did Alexander Hamilton possess?
2. According to you should a politician of any kind and rank fight in a duel? Why? Why not?
3. Why isn’t Alexander Hamilton much remembered now?
Exercise 6. Here are some of Alexander Hamilton’s famous quotes. Do you agree with all of them? How do you understand them? Choose one of his quotes and give a detailed explanation of how it should be understood.
• A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.
• Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.
• Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.
• Learn to think continentally.
• The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact. The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right.
• Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
Keys:
Ex.1: 1. k; 2. c; 3. n; 4. f; 5. j; 6. a; 7. o; 8. q; 9. p; 10. b; 11. e; 12. d; 13. m; 14. g; 15. l; 16. i
Ex. 2: 9, 3, 10, 5, 11, 7, 6, 2, 8, 1, 12, 4
By Natalia Plyugina,
School No. 44, Kaliningrad |