Alexander Hamiton

2 Pages 539 Words

Alexander Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis in the Caribbean in 1758. Hamilton’s parents were James Hamilton and Rachel Lavien. His parents started a family but they never married. In 1765 James left the family with Rachel when they moved to the island of St. Croix. Rachel and the boys opened a small shop in the main town. Alexander’s first job was that of a trading post clerk for Cruger and Beckman. St. Croix’s main export then was sugar and slaves. At the age of seventeen Hamilton moved to the state of New York. Early on in Hamilton’s life from seeing the brutal ways of slavery gave him a strong opinion of opposing slavery. Hamilton’s education was attending King college and later Columbia while he was in New York. He never considered himself as a revolutionary but in 1775 he joined the New York militia. Alexander always thought that the colonies and Britain would find a way to bind together. Hamilton was a captain of the New York Artillery Company. After two years Commander-and-Chief George Washington made him a lieutenant colonel. This rank boosted Hamilton’s future in the career of politics.
In 1787 Hamilton was a New York delegate to the constitutional convention. His philosophy rested in the true colonialist fashion. He believed in such ideas like seating the president for life, so that he would not be subject to the whims of the corrupt election process. The second major distinguishing feature of Hamilton’s political philosophy was the emphasis on energetic government. He believed that the government should be proactive in economic and military affairs, have the direct power the supersede lower governments (as at the state level), and be able to exercise authority directly on the people. Only a energetic government would be able to provide the stability and order necessary to secure the liberty of the people, especially over such a large area as the United States.
Hamilton wrote a ...