Do you know who Alexander Hamilton was? If you don’t, you should. He has done a lot for the United States. For this he’s a Founding Father of the United States and he’s on the 10 dollar bill. He’s also a very talented writer.
Alexander Hamilton was born January 11, 1757 on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies. His mother was Rachel Faucette Buck and his father was James A. Hamilton. His brother was James Hamilton Jr. When Hamilton was 13 his dad left and his mother died. He was hired as a clerk in the counting house of two New York, this was when he was 11. On August 30, 1772 Alexander wrote a detailed letter to his father regarding the hurricane that took place when his mother died. This was published in the Royal Danish-American Gazette. Nobody knew it was Alexander Hamilton who wrote it. When the word got out everyone started to work together to get him to the United States. Soon enough he was on a boat to the US.
Hamilton’s early friend, Ned Stevens, waited for him to arrive. Hamilton met Ned when his father, Thomas Stevens took him in at the age of 13. Not long after his arrival, Hamilton made friends with Hercules Mulligan. He applied into what is now known as Princeton University. He heard about a young man who graduated from Princeton at only 16 years old! Now, who was that young man? It was Aaron Burr, who (spoiler alert) was the one responsible for Alexander’s death. Soon enough Hamilton was going to college. Fast forward to after college. George Washington! A name everyone should know, he was the first president of the United States but this was way before that. This is when he was still General Washington. Hamilton became a captain and the general himself was amazed. Hamilton became Washington’s right hand man. They fought together at the Battle of White Plains in October 1776. Hamilton then joined him again in 2 months with a surprise attack. Hamilton stayed loyal to the job and even when he was in bed sick he still got up and led an eight-mile march through the snow to join his commander. When he was 22 Washington promoted him to lieutenant colonel. Marquis de Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton became friends after Lafayette made a good impression on Washington. Lafayette only spoke French so Hamilton’s French speaking skills worked well, he translated everything for Washington and for Lafayette. The lovely winter of 1780 is up next.
Why is it lovely? This is because we get introduced to the Schuyler (SKY-ler) sister’s. At the time it was Angelica, Elizabeth (Eliza), and Margarita (Peggy). These were the main three, however they had a fourth sister and three brothers. People said that you were lucky if you were able to marry a Schuyler sister, well there was one lucky person who met Angelica. That was Alexander Hamilton. However, he never ended up with Angelica. He did get with Elizabeth. Fast forward a bit, they get married. Alexander invited his father and brother to the wedding but neither showed up. Philip Schuyler welcomed him warmly to the family.
A new country! Here comes the big war, the United States tried freeing from Britain. Clearly they did but it’s really worth talking about. Before the war, Hamilton got really impatient and quit his job as Washington’s assistant. Why did he get impatient? He has always wanted to be a war hero but Washington sent him home, because he wanted Alexander away from the battlefield. Alexander was brought back after a while. America got independence on July 2, 1776. Though Independence Day is on July 4. Alexander thought we should have our own bank. Alexander founded the Bank of New York. To this day, the Bank of New York is still a thing.
America needs a leader. Alexander believed we needed a new leader and who did he think would be a great one? The one and only George Washington! George Washington won by a landslide in 1789. John Adams became vice president. Washington had to choose men to help him run the government, these men were known as his cabinet. Before he wanted Hamilton to be secretary of the treasury, he wanted Robert Morris but he turned down. Alexander happily accepted though. Washington was re-elected unanimously in the 1792 presidential election and chose to retire after two terms.
The eldest son of Alexander Hamilton died in a duel in 1801. Philip Hamilton dueled George Eacker. Philip was only 19 and he followed what Alexander said to do. In honor of Philip, Eliza and Alexander named their next son after him. In 1804, Alexander was at a dinner party and spoke forcefully and eloquently against Aaron Burr. Burr demanded an apology but Hamilton refused. They ended up dueling in New Jersey. New Jersey wasn’t as strict about dueling as New York. Dueling was in fact illegal so that’s why they would do it in New Jersey. Alexander shot first and missed but Burr didn’t. Hamilton got shot above his hip. Burr was rushed off scene and Hamilton was rushed to a boat. He died that evening from the injury.
His story is still being told to this day. There was even a Broadway Musical made about him. The musical can be found on Disney+. His story is a remarkable one and truly a great one.
