Alexander Hamilton

(noun)

Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757[1] – July 12, 1804) was a Founding Father,[2] soldier, economist, and political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury.

Related Terms

Examples of Alexander Hamilton in the following topics:

  • The Annapolis Convention

    • The Annapolis Convention, led by Alexander Hamilton, was one of two conventions that met to amend the Articles of Confederation.
    • Long dissatisfied with the weak Articles of Confederation, Alexander Hamilton of New York played a major leadership role in drafting a resolution for a constitutional convention, which was later to be called the Annapolis Convention.
    • Hamilton's efforts brought his desire to have a more powerful, more financially independent federal government one step closer to reality .
    • Hamilton called the Annapolis Convention together and played a prominent role in the Philadelphia Convention the following year.

  • Federalists and Antifederalists

    • Three Federalists—Alexander Hamilton , James Madison, and John Jay—wrote a series of essays called The Federalist Papers.

  • The First Political Parties: Federalists and Anti-Federalists

    • The dynamic force in the Presidency of George Washington was the secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton .
    • Hamilton had the vision of a strong national government and a strong national economy.
    • Hamilton's programs included:
    • Following the acceptance of the Constitution, the initial Federalist movement faded briefly only to be taken up by a second movement centered upon the support for Alexander Hamilton's policies of a strong nationalist government, loose construction of the Constitution, and mercantile economic policies.
    • Alexander Hamilton, secretary of treasury under President George Washington, became a leading Federalist in the Federalist vs.

  • The Federalist Papers

    • The three people who are generally acknowledged for writing these essays are Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.
    • Since Hamilton, Madison, and Jay were considered Federalists, this series of essays became known as The Federalist Papers.

  • Concurrent Powers

    • As Alexander Hamilton explained in The Federalist #32, "the State governments would clearly retain all the rights of sovereignty which they before had, and which were not, by that act, exclusively delegated to the United States. " Hamilton goes on to explain that this alienation would exist in three cases only: where there is in express terms an exclusive delegation of authority to the federal government, as in the case of the seat of government; where authority is granted in one place to the federal government and prohibited to the states in another, as in the case of imposts; and where a power is granted to the federal government "to which a similar authority in the States would be absolutely and totally contradictory and repugnant, as in the case of prescribing naturalization rules. "

  • Political Parties from 1800–1824

    • Anti-Federalist debates, it featured two national parties competing for control of the presidency, Congress, and the states: the Federalist Party, created largely by Alexander Hamilton, and the rival Democratic-Republican Party formed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
    • The Federalists promoted the financial system of Treasury Secretary Hamilton, which emphasized federal assumption of state debts, a tariff to pay off those debts, a national bank to facilitate financing, and encouragement of banking and manufacturing.
    • The Republicans, based in the plantation South, opposed a strong executive power, were hostile to a standing army and navy, demanded a limited reading of the Constitutional powers of the federal government, and strongly opposed the Hamilton financial program.

  • Constitutional Issues and Compromises

    • At the Constitutional Convention, the Virginia, Pinckney, New Jersey, and Hamilton plans gave way to the Connecticut Compromise.
    • Unsatisfied with the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan, Alexander Hamilton proposed his own plan.
    • Hamilton's plan advocated doing away with much state sovereignty and consolidating the states into a single nation.
    • Hamilton presented his plan to the Convention on June 18, 1787.

  • The Cabinet

    • The existence of the Cabinet dates back to the first President of the United States, George Washington, who appointed a Cabinet of four men: Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph to advise him and to assist him in carrying out his duties.

  • Cabinet Departments

    • George Washington thus began the practice of having a formal cabinet of advisors when he appointed Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph.

  • The Democratic Party

    • The Democratic Party evolved from Anti-Federalist factions that opposed the fiscal policies of Alexander Hamilton in the early 1790s.