Alexander Hamilton Biography

How does a historical figure from the 1700’s have his name on biographies, hip hop tracks, and “The Federalist Papers”? Alexander Hamilton may not have written his own biography or hip hop/musical theatre albums about himself, but he will always be remembered as a phenomenal writer. He wrote his way out of poverty. He wrote down his oppositions of Britain’s governing of the colonies. He impressed George Washington so much with, not just his combat skills, but, his skills with the pen that he made Hamilton his writing correspondent during the American Revolution war. These are just a few accomplishments when he was alive. Although he had not always had a common name in our pop culture, Lin-Manuel Miranda had made his name famous again by writing

Impoverished, in squalor. Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?” (Miranda, Lin-Manuel. “Alexander Hamilton”). Hamilton was born on the West Indian island of Nevis. The accurate year of his birth is not known because conflicting records have been found (despite the fact that Hamilton himself kept up he was born in 1757). It is normally said that the date of birth was January 11. He was the illegitimate child of James Hamilton, a Scottish dealer, and Rachel Faucett Lavien. In 1769, after the demise of his mother and the bankruptcy of his father, he entered the counting house of David Beckman and Nicholas Cruger at Saint Croix, where he displayed an intelligent capacity to comprehend the complexities of trade and bookkeeping. He passed an offering plate around and received funds from all over the island for his writing to pay for his tuition and passage to New York, he studied at a sentence structure school at Elizabethtown, N.J., and after that entered King 's College (now Columbia University) (Hamilton, K.

“Alexander Hamilton had a torrid affair, and he wrote down right there!” (Miranda, Lin-Manuel. “The Reynolds Pamphlet”). Hamilton had the first public scandal of the United States Government. He committed a two-to-three year affair with Maria Reynolds. Her husband, John Reynolds, discovered this and threatened to tell Hamilton’s wife, Eliza Hamilton, and Hamilton’s colleagues if he did not pay him. Hamilton decided to continue the affair and gave Mr. Reynolds over a thousand dollars, paid in different amounts. Eventually Thomas Jefferson, one of Hamilton’s nemeses, got hold of the love letters to Maria and check stubs to John. Jefferson then accused Hamilton of mishandling public money and committing treason while running the U.S. Treasury (Chernow). Rumors started to grow. An immigrant embezzling the government funds was a headline that could end Hamilton’s career. Alexander Hamilton decided to face the scandal clear-on to protect his name. Hamilton wrote "Observations on Certain Documents contained in Nos. V. and VI. of The History of the United States for the Year 1796, in which the Charge of Speculation against Alexander Hamilton, late Secretary of the Treasury, is fully refuted.", or “The Reynolds Pamphlet”, to defend himself from treason but, in the process, admitted to the affair by providing the love letters to Maria (Chernow). He sacrificed his own “family values” reputation, in order to preserve his economic reputation, but acknowledging an affair, much