Alexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a
Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher. Aide-de-camp to General
George Washington during the American Revolutionary War, he was a leader of
nationalist forces calling for a new Constitution; he was one of America's first
Constitutional lawyers, and wrote most of the Federalist Papers, a primary
source for Constitutional interpretation. He was the financial expert of
Washington's administration; the Federalist Party formed to support his
policies.
At the start of the American Revolutionary War, Hamilton organized an artillery
company and was chosen as its captain. Hamilton became the senior aide-de-camp
and confidant to General George Washington, the American commander-in-chief.
After the war, Hamilton was elected to the Continental Congress from New York,
but he resigned to practice law and found the Bank of New York. He served in the
New York Legislature, and he was the only New Yorker who signed the U.S.
Constitution. He wrote about half the Federalist Papers, which secured its
ratification by New York; they are still the most important unofficial
interpretation of the Constitution. In the new government under President
Washington he became Secretary of the Treasury. An admirer of British political
systems, Hamilton was a nationalist who emphasized strong central government and
successfully argued that the implied powers of the Constitution could be used to
fund the national debt, assume state debts, and create the government-owned Bank
of the United States. These programs were funded primarily by a tariff on
imports and a highly controversial whiskey tax.
Hamilton's intense rivalry with political rival Aaron Burr resulted in a duel,
in which Hamilton was mortally wounded.
Hamilton's economic ideas, especially support for a protective tariff and a
national bank, were promoted by the Whig Party and after the 1850s by the newly
created Republican Party, which hailed him as the nation's greatest Secretary of
the Treasury. Hamilton's policies as Secretary of the Treasury have had an
immeasurable effect on the United States Government and still continue to
influence it.
Hamilton's pro-federal interpretation of the U.S. Constitution was adopted by
the Supreme Court of the United States which granted the federal government
broad freedom to select the best means to execute its constitutionally
enumerated powers, specifically the doctrine of implied powers. Many towns
throughout the United States have been named after Hamilton.
The Alexander Hamilton Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution was
chartered February 23, 2000.
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