Little Lion (14 page)

 

Alexander Hamilton was born on the tiny island of Nevis in the British West Indies. After his mother, Rachel Faucett Lavien, divorced her first husband, she moved to nearby Saint Croix. There she met James Hamilton and had Alexander and his older brother, James. When Alexander's father abandoned the family, his mother opened a small store in Christiansted. Alexander loved books and loved going to school. His mother had a small library filled with the classics of the time, and he read them all at a young age.

In February 1768, a yellow fever epidemic swept Saint Croix, and both Alexander and his mother fell ill. Although Alexander recovered, his mother died, leaving him orphaned. The family of Alexander's friend Neddy Stevens took him in. They also bought his mother's collection of books at an auction of her belongings so that Alexander could have them. At the age of thirteen, Alexander got a job as a clerk at Beekman and Cruger, a large import and export company that had its main office in New York City. New York was one of the thirteen colonies and was still ruled by Britain. Goods shipped to and from Saint Croix avoided the heavy taxes imposed on the colonies by the British. Saint Croix was also very active in the slave trade.

When Alexander was sixteen years old, his boss, Nicholas Cruger, got sick and went home to New York, leaving him in charge of the company for over five months. Local merchants and traders were impressed with how wise and confident Alexander was in this role. He was a tough negotiator and a good businessman. However, when Nicholas Cruger returned, Alexander reluctantly went back to his job as a clerk. He dreamed of joining Neddy, who now lived in New York and was studying at King's College (now Columbia University) to become a physician.

On August 31, 1772, a hurricane hit the island, devastating Christiansted. Alexander had already had some poems published in the newspaper, the
Royal Danish-American Gazette.
But in the aftermath of the hurricane, he wrote an essay describing its effects on Saint Croix. His mentor, Reverend Knox, and other community leaders were so impressed with his writing skills that they created a fund to send him to college in New York. That October, Alexander set sail for America. He never again set foot on Saint Croix.

Alexander lived with the Livingston family in New Jersey while he studied for the tests that would gain him entrance to college. Although he wanted to attend King's College, the Livingston family and others urged him to apply to the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University). However, the president there did not like the arrogant young man and declined him admission. King's College accepted him happily, and Alexander became a familiar figure on campus as he strode around memorizing by speaking out loud to himself. At only 5'7", he made an impression on everyone he met because of his keen intelligence and his passion to make a name for himself in the colonies.

When Alexander arrived in New York, tensions between the colonists and the British were building, and the Revolution was near. In 1776, he left college before graduating to fight for freedom. He was an officer in the Continental army and soon became one of General George Washington's most trusted advisers, writing reports and letters for him and going on important military missions.

Alexander believed in a strong central government. After the war, he was sent to the Continental Congress as a representative from New York. There, and at the Annapolis Convention, he fought that the interests of the union as a whole should be placed over those of the individual states. The only New Yorker to sign the Constitution, he wrote a series of fifty-one essays urging the people of New York to approve the Constitution. These essays, which are still considered the best explanations of the Constitution, became known as
The Federalist Papers
. (
The Federalist Papers
also include essays by John Jay and James Madison.)

In September 1789, Alexander was named the nation's first secretary of the treasury. Some historians consider this the most important of the executive departments because the new government had to find ways to pay off the debt incurred during the Revolutionary War. Alexander and Thomas Jefferson disagreed on many things. For example, Alexander believed that the nation should pay off the individual states' debts; Jefferson believed each state should pay its own debts. The men made a deal: Jefferson would back Alexander's plan if Alexander backed Jefferson's idea to move the nation's capital from New York to land near Virginia.

Before retiring to his home, the Grange, in Manhattan, Alexander established a national bank, helped rebuild the army, introduced the dollar system, and helped to create the silver dollar.

In 1804, Alexander was actively against Aaron Burr's bid for governor of New York. After Burr lost the race, he challenged Alexander to a duel. Although duels were common at the time, Alexander himself had worked to make them illegal in New York after his own son was killed in one. Therefore, Hamilton met Burr on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River at dawn on July 11, 1804. It is believed that Alexander's gun misfired, leading Burr to shoot and mortally wound him. He was carried back to New York City and died the next afternoon.

Known as the Little Lion because of his small stature and great power, Alexander Hamilton is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.