Alexander Hamilton

Chapter I. Boyhood And Youth

On the eleventh day of January in the yeai 1757, the wife of a Scotch merchant in the island of Nevis gave birth to a son, who received the name of Alexander Hamilton.^ Many varying elements were mingled in this boy. He was a British subject born in the tropics, Scotch on his father's side and of French Huguenot descent on his mother's. To this conjunction many of the qualities which Hamilton exhibited in after life may be traced. But that which strikes us most at the outset is his extraordinary precocity; his mind and character seemed to partake of the nature of those luxuriant tropical plants which in a few months attain a growth permitted only after years of conflict and care in the harsher climate of the North. Upon the childhood of Hamilton even the ex haustive and devoted labors of his son and biog rapher, Mr. John C. Hamilton, fail to thro^

1 See Appendix, Note A.

much light. His mother, who apparently po8« sessed an unusual degree of wit and beauty, died early. His father was unsuccessful in business, and Alexander, the only surviving child, fell to the care of maternal relations, among whom he picked up a rude, odd, and desultory Bort of education, and by whom he was placed in a counting-room before he was twelve years old.

There at his clerkly desk we catch the first clear glimpse of the future statesman in the well-known letter addressed to his friend Edward Stevens : " I contemn the grovelling condition of a clerk, or the like," he says, " to which my fortune condemns me, and would willingly risk my life though not my character, to exalt my station. I am confident, Ned, that ray youth excludes me from any hopes of immediate preferment, nor do I desire it ; but I mean to prepare the way for futurity." The expression Bayers of the grandiloquence of the last century, but the thought is natural and even sober, and is moreover that of a man, and yet it was uttered by a boy who had not passed his thirteenth birthday. At the same teniier age he was left in charge of his employer's affairs, and some of his correspondence of that time \ias been preserved to as. These clear and sensible letters of business have nothing in

EARLY LIFE. 3

khemselves unusual, but it is not a little remarkable that they should be the work of a lad whose contemporaries were studying the rudiments of grammar on school benches, while his capacity was great enough not only to write such letters but practically to manage on his own responsibility the concerns of a considerable merchant.

In the intervals of his oflBce work Hamilton read and wrote much ; Pope and Plutarch, we are told, were his favorite authors^ and to his exercises in composition was due the publication of a vivid account of a severe hurricane which raged with devastating force in the West Indies. This literary effort attracted a good deal of attention, especially among those vague relatives to whom the boy's interests were intrusted, and by them it was decided that so much talent deserved wider opportunities than could be found in a West Indian countingnouse. Funds were provided, and in his fif* teenth year Hamilton bade a final adieu to his birthplace and took ship for Boston, where he arrived in October, 1772. Thence he proceeded to New York where, thanks to letters from the excellent Dr. Knox, a Presbyterian clergyman of Nevis, and one of the boy's earliest friends, be found wise and good counsellors. By theii advice he entered a grammar school of som€ note at Elizabethtown, where he extended hia acquaintance, and where during the winter he pursued his studies with the fiery and unresting energy so characteristic of him throughout his life. At odd moments he indulged in his propensity for writing. He produced not only prose but poetry, including hymns, elegies, and verses of all sorts, which were not without the merit inseparable from the work of an active, fresh, and fertile mind. At the end of the year he was ready for college. His first thought was for Princeton, but, as he characteristically proposed to go through the course as rapidly as he could without regard to classes, the rules of the college would not permit his admittance, and he entered King's College in New York, where he prosecuted his studies with the aid of a private tutor as fast as he wished. In the university as at school he threw himself heart and soul into his work, gathering up knowledge with quick apprehension, while the tireless activity of his mind continually sent his thoughts ranging into other and wider fields of finance, government, and politics. It was then his custom of an afternoon, as we are told, to walk under the shadow of the trees on Batteau Street, plunged in thought and talking eagerly to himself. The passers-by would turn to look at the small, slight youth Etill a mere boy in appearance, dark of skii^

EARLY LIFE. 5

and with deep-set eyes ; and those who knew the " young West Indian," as he was called, abeady speculated about him vaguely as people are wont to do about those who give or seem to give obvious promise of an illustrious future. But while Hamilton was leading the reflective life of a student, and meditating beneath the shadow of the trees, imbued perhaps with the "prophetic soul of the wide world, dreaming of things to come," a great revolution was swiftly coming to its crisis about him.

Successful men are those who take advantage of their opportunities, for opportunities are not made by men but for them. Hamilton, we may be sure, would have taken full advantage of any and every opportunity, but he had the good fortune to have a great one opened to him. The question was which side in the gathering conflict he would espouse. It seemed perhaps more difficult to Hamilton to decide then than it does to us to decide for him now ; and yet his choice was simple and his selection inevitable. He was singularly free in making his decision. He was born, it is true, in a little English dependency and had always been a provincial, but he had no family in New York to warp or incumber him, his ties of friendship were new and probably as much with one side an the other, and he was to all intents and pur poses his own master. A, visit in the spring of 1774 to Boston, the hot-bed of resistance to England and possessing an atmosphere very different from that of New York, where the Tories were in the ascendant, probably affected him not a little, and led him to a close examination of the all-absorbing controversy. He himself tells us that he had formed " strong prejudices on the ministerial side until he became convinced by the superior force of the arguments in favor of the colonial claims." This explanation is exceedingly characteristic and highly instructive. His masterful temper and innate love and respect for government, order, and strong rule dictated his prejudices. His clear, vigorous mind, and his profound belief in reasoning and argument, which so prevailed with him always, showed him plainly that the Colonies were in the right. But after every allowance for the conviction brought by reason, an instinctive sense of what must be the true path for him to follow undoubtedly played a large part in Hamilton's decision. He was young, unknown, an adventurer in a strange land, and burning with a lofty ambition. The world was before him, and his fortune, which he meant should be a great one, was to be made. Constituted authority and a continuity of government offered at best but little to the most successfu)

RESISTANCE TO ENGLAND. 7

provincial. Change, revolution, and war might bring almost anything in the way of military or civic glory. He chose rightly, and he also chose wisely when he cast in his lot with the opponents of England.

l^ew York was in possession of the Tories. The Assembly was ministerial, narrow-minded, and with a majority controlled by the home gov-, ernment. Upon this Assembly, in order to force New York into line with the other colonies now preparing for the first Congress, it was decided to bring what in these days would be called *' pressure." With this purpose a great meeting in the fields was held on July 6, 1774, under the auspices of the patriot leaders. Hamilton was present listening to the orators. Like the boy Pitt under the gallery of the House of Commons, Hamilton was impressed by what was left unsaid far more than by all the rhetoric of the speakers. Filled with the belief that he could supply the omissions which he detected, he made his way to the platform and stood before the people. There were a few moments of youthful embarrassment and hesitation, while the crowd stared at the audacious boy, and then nature asserted itself and hia words flowed unchecked. Hamilton was nevei eloquent in the sense in which Chatham or Mirabeau or Henry were eloquent, for he ha<J not the imaginative and poetical temperament. But he had the eloquence of sound reason and 3lear logic, combined with great power and lucidity of expression, and backed by a strong and passionate nature. As he poured out with all his young fervor thoughts long pent up in his breast, we can well believe that the crowd, murmuring "it is a collegian! it is a collegian!" were deeply stirred by the oratory of one who spoke so well, although he was a stranger and in appearance a mere boy.

Once embarked, Hamilton was too honorable, too high-minded, and too thoroughly satisfied of the soundness of his convictions ever to waver or turn back, and tempting offers from the other side at a later day, when his value and his powers were better known, passed idly by him. He was not only firm of purpose but having taken his part he pushed on in every direction open to him with his accustomed zeal. In those days public opinion was formed and the power of the press exerted through pamphlets or by essays addressed to the printer, and published by him in his newspaper as communications. The ablest men of the country employed these channels to reach the publio mind, and great importance was attached to such productions. Two tracts of considerable force asoai^ing Congress and its measures, and

WRITES AGAINST ENGLAND. 9

jH'itten by two of the ablest writers on the Tory side, appeared in the autumn of 1774 The effect of these pamphlets was severe tc fche patriots, and while they were casting about for a champion Hamilton answered the attack. The Tories replied, and Hamilton rejoined in a second pamphlet of some seventy-eight pages. Both these tracts, which showed marked ability, were variously attributed to the most eminent leaders, and when their authorship was known fche young writer gained a wide and immediate reputation. To argue points of constitutional law and of political justice and expediency was above all things congenial to Hamilton with his already well-stored mind, acute logic, and capacity for discussion. The pamphlets were excellent of their kind at a time when such performances were strictly judged, and, taken in connection with the youth of the author, deserved the great success which they obtained. They gave Hamilton an assured position and led to the rejected offers from the Tories to which allusion has just been made.

The winter of 1775 passed away. New York was at last forced into the Congress, the battles came in Massachusetts, and revolution began Meanwhile Hamilton continued his arguments against England in vigorous newspaper essays, took part in public meetings, and devoted hi* kime to a study of military affairs, seeking also for practical experience by joining a volunteer corps commanded by Major Fleming. Besides showing nerve in the performance of some trying military duties which were becoming very necessary in those troublous times, Hamilton appeared prominently on several occasions in efforts to repress, by argument and by fearless personal exposure, outbreaks of mob-violence. The most memorable of these occasions was one which happened during the disturbances caused by the British ship of war Asia opening fire on the town. Persons and property had been injured, and there was wild commotion and an angry rising of the people in New York. The king's store-house was pillaged, the Connecticut troops were sent for, and Liberty Boys rushed through the streets threatening outrage and ruin to every Tory. Most prominent among the adherents of the Crown was Dr. Cooper, president of the college, and thither the angry mob hurried, bent on mischief of a desperate Bort. When they arrived they found Hamilton and his friend Troup on the steps of the building ready to delay their entrance. The former at once stepped forward and began to reason vigorously with the crowd, and to denounce their disorderly conduct. While Hamilton was thus engaged, and while the populace halted to listen with amazement, no doubt, to the eage

RESISTANCE TO MOBS. 11

words of a youth whom they had last seen exposed to the fire of the Asia with other patriots occupied in removing cannon, the excellent Dr. Cooper fled, after warning the people from a high window not to be guided by such a madman as his former pupil who was then addressing them.

The doctor's mistake was natural enough. He could not believe that Hamilton, patriot and rebel, was resisting the people and restraining their violence for the sake of an old Tory clergyman. There is, indeed, something very surprising as well as very fine in the spectacle thus presented of a boy, whose blood was hot with the new strong wine of revolution, risking his life and what he loved probably much more, his influence and his popularity in behalf of law, order, and mercy. In a similar fashion he interfered to save the life of one Thurman from what was then known as " Travis's mob," and when the Connecticut horse broke into the town and carried off the types of Rivington, the Tory printer, Hamilton was filled with indignation at this violent suppression of opinion, and if he could have got a few men to go with \iim would have ridden after the marauders and recaptured the property. These instances of self-restraint and cool bravery are all very remarkable in so young and so enthusiastic a man as Hamilton. In the midst of revolutionary excitement he did not hesitate to come forward to check his own party, to oppose and censure their excesses, to take the side of the unpopular minority in behalf of mercy, justice, order, free speech, and a free press. But whether he succeeded or failed in these at^ tempts they were creditable alike to his sense and courage ; and show strongly his early and deep detestation of anything like disorder, and above all his hatred of that most noxious of all forms of confusion, a riotous city rabble.

But the time for preparation was closing fast. Early in 1776 the New York convention ordered a company of artillery to be raised. Hamilton applied for the command, and his examination quickly dispelled the doubts of his fitness in those who suspected mere youthful presumption. He recruited his company rapidly, and spent upon its equipment his second and last remittance from home. He had now burned his ships behind him. Youth, study, and the days of dreaming and meditation were gone. He was a man striving for everything that an ambitious man can desire. He had already entered upon the stage of life at an age when most boys were Btill in school or college, and a very exciting and bustling drama he found in progress. He had youth, health, great talent, a strong will, eourage, ambition, and his sword. With thest weapons his fortune was to be made.

Chapter II. The Revolution

The artillery company quickly showed the talent of its commander. Hamilton devoted himself to it as he did to everything he undertook, and by unceasing drill soon made its evolutions conspicuous in an army where discipline was novel and models were rare. The young captain, by the excellence of his troop, attracted the attention of Greene, who fell into conversation with him, was impressed by his talent, and introduced him to Washington, thus putting him at this early day in the line of advancement. The kindness of the Rhode Island General was never forgotten by Hamilton, who became one of Greene's strongest supporters and warmest admirers, afterwards declaring him to have been the first soldier of the Revolution. Hamilton, however, was soon tested by a severer experience than any which drill or parade could offer. He won his spurs at the disastrous battle of Long Island, where with great coolness and couraga he brought up the rear in the masterly retreat which saved the army and gave tlie first conspicuous proof of that daring and sagacious genius for which Washington was as eminent in good as in evi, fortune. With the rest of the army Hamilton took part in the retreat up the Hudson, distinguished himself by the admirable manner in which he served his battery at White Plains, and offered to recover by storm Fort Washington, — a piece of reckless daring to which Washington refused his consent. From New York Hamilton went with the army in their terrible march through New Jersey, and shared in the brilliant campaign of Trenton and Princeton. By this time, after six months of hard fighting, his company was reduced to twenty-five men, who retained their old discipline but little else. Their commander had, however, made a name as a dashing and gallant oflB.cer, and this, added to his literary reputation, led to his appointment as one of Washington's aides with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, on March 1, 1777, when he was barely twenty years old.

Hamilton acted wisely in accepting this new position, for which he was peculiarly fitted. He seems to have regarded the step with some misgiving, and to have felt that he had made a considerable sacrifice. His self-confidence natural enough under the circumstances, was

THE REVOLUTION. 15

fchen as always too strong; but in this instance he controlled it. Extraordinary success and the consciousness of great talents made it easy for a very young man to believe that if he remained in the line nothing was beyond his reach, and that no prospect was too brilliant for reasonable hope. Yet it is more than probable that if he had continued a line officer he would have attained no higher rank than that which he ultimately reached, while he would have sacrificed experiences and connections of inestimable value. With all his precocity and undoubted aptitude for military affairs, he was still too young to have obtained the highest commands before the end of the war, whereas, &s a member of Washington's family, he was brought into close association with the greatest man of the age, whose friendship he was able to win and retain. As a member of the staff of the Commander-in-chief, Hamilton's duties were various and highly responsible. He did not have she independent command for which he sighed, but he was present at all the battles in which the army was engaged, took more or less part in them, and always gained honor and distinction. His principal occupation was in the conduct of Washington's immense correspondence. A large proportion of the endless letters, reports, and proclamations which issued from headquarters, was the work of Hamilton. In regard to these documents there has been a very needless discussion. To claim for Hamilton the merit of all the correspondence which hearts Washington's name but which is in the handwriting of his aide-de-camp, and to speak of it as if Hamilton was the man who directed the movements of armies and informed Congress of their duty, is absurd. Washington was fortunate in having on his staff one of the most brilliant men of the day, with a vigorous, original, and well-stored mind, fertile in thought, a lucid and acute reason er, and a master of a clear and forcible style. We may be sure that nothing passed through Hamilton's hands without being put in the strongest and most condensed form, and at the same time amplified and adorned; but we may be equally sure that however much the General profited by the suggestions of his able secretary, the central ideas and guiding principles, whether conveyed in a word or dictated at length, were the intellectual property of the man who signed those letters and reports with the name of George Washington. The kernel of a letter may lie in a simple negative or aflBrmative, which when fully expressed mil cover pages, but the author of the letter is be who directs the decisive " yes " or " no,* and not the man who clothes the thought in

THE REVOLUTION. 17

fitting words. This in no sense implies detraction. It is a wrong to any man, be he great or small, to attribute to him something to which he is not entitled, and to present Hamilton, even in the most indirect way as the author of Washington's despatches, is merely to injure the former and neither to hurt nor help the latter, Hamilton's work as military secretary — and there is a great mass of it extant — deserves all praise, and greatly redounds to his credit. As his enthusiastic comrade, the gallant Laurens, said, he certainly held the pen of Junius in the American army, and to that gifted pen, employed as freely in another's service as in his own, and to the versatile and original mind of its possessor, Washington owed much and gave every proof that he appreciated the debt. For those interested in a close study of Hamilton's mind and character, the despatches which he wrote as secretary, as well as those which he composed in his individual capacity, are of great value. In them we can trace the rapid development of a keen and powerful intellect. There we can see displayed sagacity, foj:esight, acuteness, and force in every affair to which they relate, whether military or civil. There, too, we perceive the fertility of resource, the vigorous self-confidence, unhesitating decision, and undaunted spirit, which the young aide afterwards made conspicuous on broader fields. All these qualities ^^ and they form a goodly iist — were moreover in a state of vigorous growth. There is nothing in Hamilton to suggest his namesake who bore the famous sobriquet of "single speech," who was content with one splendid effort and then silent forever. Hamilton's correspondence, on the contrary, during his service on Washington's staff, constantly improves. In this and in many other ways he shows that reserved force which is one of the most essential elements of greatness, and the capacity to gather increased strength, like Antaeus, from each fresh contact with the earth of every-day events in a time of strain and trial.

The most important duty which fell to Hamilton while serving as an aide was his mission to Gates to seek reenforcements. At that moment additional troops were essential to Washington, and they were only to be obtained from the northern army. While Washington was bearing defeat, and fighting on with grim pertinacity, Gates, in command of an army formed from the hardy levies of the North, had achieved a signal victory which has taken a place among tho dozen decisive battles of the world's history. The surrender of Burgoyne had made Grates — to whom as little was due for the victory as

MISSION TO GATES. 19

?ould well be the case with the commanding officer — the idol of the North, and of New England especially. To offend Gates personally was a small matter, but to offend the northern colonies just then dissatisfied with Washington, would have been a very serious affair. As the superior officer of Gates, Washington had the right to command, and at the same time this was precisely what he wished to avoid. Hamilton was, therefore, to get the troops without using, except in the last resort, the imperative authority which he carried in his pocket. It was a delicate and difficult mission. Hamilton was never conspicuous for the patient and tolerant qualities which make a great diplomat, least of all, in the days of impetuous youth, and yet, thanks to his strong sense and clear perception of facts, he acquitted himself most admirably. Gates, naturally a weak man, was blinded by the glamour of his great victory. When the wishes of the Commander-in-chief were made known to him he held back, hesitated, and finally gave way. Hamilton got his troops by the exercise of much patient persistence, and kept the tempting letter of command out of sight. On his way back he also pushed forward the delaying Putnam, treating that General much more cavalierly than Gates, but only, it is to be feared.

as the unmanageable temper of the old wolf killer deserved. Hamilton won much credit, as well as the approbation of Washington, fo*r hie excellent behavior on this occasion. Not long afterward he was sent to Newport on a similar mission to the French, and again he showed himself a good envoy, although he failed to bring our allies to accede to Washington's wishes.

One other episode of Hamilton's career as an aide-de-camp deserves notice in any account of his life. His position brought him into close connection with the wretched attempt to betray West Point. It fell to him to see and strive to console Mrs. Arnold in the first agony of her distress after the flight of her traitor husband, and it was his lot also to be much with the gifted and ill-fated Andr^. In letters to Miss Schuyler, his future wife, he depicted the scene with Mrs. Arnold ; he described the whole unhappy affair and dwelt much upon Andrd and upon his expiation of another's crime in which be had been but a tool. In all this there was deep pathos, and it acquires a fresh interest for the student of Hamilton's character as it shows fche deep feeling and tenderness of his nat'ire. No account of Arnold's treason and of the actors in it has ever equalled Hamilton's letcers, which iu their clear and forcible sente'veea

QUARREL WITH WASHINGTON. 21

are full of a subdued eloquence, touching us and appealing to us even now by the emotion of a strong and reserved nature.

Such, in brief, were the salient events in Hamilton's experience of four years as a member of Washington's staff. But not the least striking incident of this period of his life was that which resulted in the sudden close of his service with the Commander-in-chief. We have Hamilton's own account of the affair written on February 18, 1781, two days after it happened. Washington had sent for Hamilton to come to him. The latter, delaying a few minutes in obeying, found the General at the head of the stairs, who reproved him with no undue sharpness, saying that to keep him waiting was a mark of disrespect. Whereupon Hamilton replied, " I am not conscious of it, sir ; but since you have thought it, we part." One can hardly read this youthful ebullition even now without a smile. The fashion has prevailed of treating this quarrel as if the two participants stood upon equal ground, and this puts the whole matter on a thoroughly false footing. Let us look at the pair a moment as they stand there at the head of the stairs in the New Windsor house. One is a boy in years, although of wonderfui and manly maturity of mind. He is a stranger in the land who has shown himfielf possessed of great and promising talents ; he has proved himself an able writer, a brave soldier, an excellent secretary. This small, slight, dark-eyed stripling is facing George Washington, and brimming over with a sense of offended dignity. Washington stands there in the prime of his middle age, large and imposing in personal appearance. He is one of the foremost men in the world, a great general and statesman, grave and impressive as becomes a man who has carried in his hands the life of a nation. Some of Hamilton's biographers have referred to this affair as one of Washington's outbursts of passion. Like all great men Washington had strong passions, like very few great men he had them under almost complete control. When they did break forth, as happened now and then in great stress of feeling, they bent everything before them, and there was a hush among those who listened. If Washington had spoken to Hamilton as he did to Lear about St. Clair's defeat, that fine reply, we are inclined to think, would not have been uttered. But deep waters are ruffled, not stirred by a passing breeze. Washington spoke to Hamilton in a tone of sharp, but proper reproof. Few generals, probably, would have spoken so courteously and gently to a young aide, who had kept them s^aiting and thus sinned against the first of

YORKTOWy. 23

Uiilitary virtues, prompt obedience. The event m itself is trivial enough. We smile at Hamilton's dignity and at his youthful satisfaction with his own conduct ; but Washington's behavior, then and subsequently, is not without importance. He not only endeavored at once to heal the breach, although Hamilton repelled his advances, but he continued to interest himself in his former aide, and suffered their friendship to undergo no diminution. There was more in this than the magnanimity, absolutely without flaw, which Washington always showed. It was a tribute to Hamilton's abilities from one of the best judges of men who ever lived. He saw Hamilton's capacity ; he cared nothing for his little outburst, and he was determined to retain his hold upon one in whom he perceived the possibility of great service to the country at some future time. He did this, too, without advancing Hamilton over the heads of other men to the position which the latter felt he would have gained if he had not joined the staff.i Washington watched over his fortunes at Yorktown, where Hamilton had a command and obtained the perilous privilege of leading the assault upon one of the outworks of the enemy. The opportunity was not lost. At the head of his men Hamilton rushed with aU his fiery impetuosity upon the British redoubt, 1 See Appendix, Note B.