Alexander Hamilton

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“[T]he man on the ten-dollar bill is the father of the American treasury system, a signer of the Constitution, one of the primary authors of the Federalist Papers, and the loser of the infamous duel with Vice President Aaron Burr. Alexander Hamilton's earlier career as a Continental Army officer is less well known. Yet Hamilton's first experience in public service is important, not only because it was the springboard to his later career, but because it also deeply influenced his values and thinking” (Hamilton). Alexander Hamilton was born as a British subject on the island of Nevis in the West Indies on the 11th of January 1755. His father, James Hamilton -- Scottish merchant of St. Christopher – was the younger son of a minor Scottish noble. His mother, Rachel Fawcett Levine was married a Danish proprietor of St. Croix named John Michael Levine. Ms. Levine left her husband John and was later divorced from him on June 25, 1759, two years after Alexander was born. His parents soon separated. However, Alexander grew up with his mother and his brother James, living on the ragged edge of poverty. He had no further contact with his father, and when his mother died in 1768, he became an orphan at the age of 11 (Hamilton). Hamilton found a job as a merchant’s apprentice with the help of his aunts. By the time he was fifteen, his employers paid attention to his honesty and intelligence and they were impressed. Therefore, they collaborated with his aunts to send him for a formal schooling in New York. First, he attended Francis Barber's Preparatory School in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Hamilton always displayed an unusual capacity for impressing older, influential men: so he gained his social footing in Elizabethtown with the surpassing spe... ... middle of paper ... ...July 11, 1804, they shot on each other on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. Hamilton was fatally injured so he died the next afternoon (Famous People). Works Cited "Hamilton, Alexander (1757-1804)." The American Revolution 1775-1783: An Encyclopedia. 1985. History Study Center. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. 1st. New York: Penguin Group, 2005. eBook. "Alexander Hamilton." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Nov 20 2013, 11:15 "Alexander Hamilton." The Famous People. Web. 20 Nov 2013. . Finseth, Ian. "The Rise and Fall of Alexander Hamilton." xroads virginia. asgrp@virginia.edu, Web. 20 Nov 2013. .

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