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... he new country and its finances, lending, and forming an equal system among the states. He felt the need for a national bank. After assisting to get the Confederations financial situation stable, he then turned to forming an actual, tangible state in which to rely upon for a form of government.
He wrote a series of six essays, labeled "The Continentalist", in which he focused on one central theme; a centralized power of government not unlike the parliament, to aide in forming continental nationalism. His answer was more power to congress. He insisted that a fatal flaw in the Articles of Confederation was a "want of power in Congress. " One of his biggest fears played into an earlier theme- a fear of disorder, the fear that was most present in his mind, was of a state of anarchy, where "the members of the confederation would be an overmatch for the common head", as he wrote in a his essays "The Continentalist." In order to help ease the fears the public had about another oppressive force, he stated that all powers should be explicit that only those powers granted would be used. He also examined in detail the role that Congress should have in trade of imports and exports, specifically to preserve the balance of trade beyond the resources of private capitol.
He was noted as "[quickly adding that] he was utterly opposed to any governmental interference with prices or to any restrictions on private enterprise. " (Morris 96) Robert Hendrickson sums up Alexander Hamilton's life in the newly formed states well when he accounts: He was not just the young man who had been a shrew, articulate aide-de-camp to the father of his country nor just the brave officer who had led the final assault in the conclusive battle of the war and not just the pamphleteer of "The Continentalist" in powerful command of he most sophisticated economic and political ideas of his age. Nor was he merely a scholar with a seemingly inexhaustible stock of knowledge... But Hamilton was all of these remarkable young men rolled into one. At twenty-four he stood at the threshold of a public career that seemed to have no limits to the direction or distance it could go. " (452) These bounds did truly seem endless; in November 1782 he was elected to Congress. He argued in support of carriage tax in the U. S.
Supreme court, in 1796; and in 1800 supported Jefferson over Burr after an electoral tie. Now, this last point was important as to his relations toward a certain Aaron Burr. We find ourselves four years later in April of 1804 where Aaron Burr, on a steep decline in his political influence, lost what he felt to be his last great effort toward political standing, in an election for New York's Governor. In a private dinner with friends, Hamilton made some very critical political comments about Burr. A dinner guest wrote a summary of what was said, and the comments were made public.
As a method to exact his revenge, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. Before the duel Hamilton confided in his friend, the Rev. John Mason, that he detested the duel as a method of conflict resolution, and that he sensed that Burr was determined to kill him. Hamilton's son Philip was killed in a duel in 1802. On the Sunday before the duel, Hamilton read the service of Morning Prayer from the Episcopal Church.
He did his normal legal duties as a successful New York lawyer through Tuesday. That Wednesday morning, the duel was on as scheduled. Hamilton and Burr met in a secluded spot in New Jersey, because dueling was heavily punished in New York. Burr was a marksman, and he brought his own pistol, while Hamilton borrowed a pistol since he had not owned one for years.
At the word "present" the two pistols were fired. Hamilton's shot hit a tree. In French, delete, this was throwing away your shot. Burr's shot inflicted a mortal wound. "Hamilton raised his pistol once, then lowered it.
He reached into his pocket and put his reading glasses on... Pendleton gave the word "present", and they seemed to their seconds to have fired instantaneously. Burr's bullet struck Hamilton in the right side of the abdomen... His own bullet was found to have passed through the limb of a cedar tree four feet to the right and twelve feet high. " (Hendrickson 503) We see that Hamilton Even to his dying moments refused to kill a man in cold blood, though the manner of his death defiantly suits the attitude in which we saw that Hamilton wanted to die with honor. He made it commonly known he had no intention to shoot Burr, and was probably in the frame of mind that Burr wasn't truly intending to shoot him, either.
He was taken back to his residence, where he made his peace with the Episcopalian church, and was read his last rights. From the meager beginnings of a bastard child born out of wedlock, to one man heralding the power of friendship to the most powerful man in an early republic, Alexander Hamilton proved that what would come to be known as the American dream can be realized by anyone. Native or not; rich or poor; with the drive to realize your dreams, you can achieve them. Hamilton made great advances toward what we know as America today and left behind a legacy that has too commonly become forgotten. Bibliography Emery, Noemie. Alexander Hamilton an Intimate Portrait.
New York. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1982 Hendrickson, Robert.
Hamilton I (1757 - 1789). New York. Mason Charter. 1976. Mitchell, Joseph B. Decisive Battles of the American Revolution.
New York. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1962 Morgan, Edmund S. The birth of the Republic, 1763 - 89. Chicago London.
The University of Chicago Press. 1956. Morris, Richard B. Witnesses at the creation Hamilton, Madison, Jay, and the Constitution. New York. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1985.
Stokesbury, James L. A short History of the American Revolution. New York. William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1991.
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