Hamilton, Alexander
Hamilton, Alexander( 1755–1804),was born in the Leeward Islands, the illegitimate son of a Scottish merchant. A letter he wrote to the local newspaper describing a West Indian hurricane won popular attention and led to his aunt's sending him to be educated at Elizabethtown, N.J., and at King's College. Unsettled political conditions interrupted his education, and although he was only 17, he published two anonymous pamphlets, A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress (1774) and The Farmer Refuted (1775), answering the arguments of Samuel Seabury and brilliantly defending the patriot position and justifying the appeal to arms. During the Revolutionary War he served as captain, lieutenant colonel, and aide-de-camp to Washington. After the victory he was appointed receiver-general of continental taxes, was elected to the Continental Congress (1782–83), practiced law in New York, and served as a delegate to the Annapolis...
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