Alexander Hamilton Timeline

Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of General Philip Schuyler, a powerful New York landowner and politician. The marriage allied Hamilton with one of New York's most prominent families; the couple eventually had eight children.

Image source: Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton

Hamilton was elected as a New York delegate to the Congress of the Confederation, where he became frustrated by the weak central government and began advocating for a stronger national constitution.

Image source: Congress of the Confederation

After leaving Congress, Hamilton established a highly successful law practice in New York City, becoming known for defending Loyalists' rights and arguing for the rule of law even toward former enemies.

Hamilton attended the Annapolis Convention, called to address interstate commerce problems. With only five states represented, he drafted the report urging all thirteen states to meet in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation, paving the way for the Constitutional Convention.

As one of New York's three delegates, Hamilton spoke rarely but delivered a six-hour speech proposing a government modeled loosely on the British constitution. He signed the final Constitution as the only New Yorker still present.

Image source: Constitutional Convention (United States)

Writing under the pseudonym 'Publius,' Hamilton authored 51 of the 85 Federalist essays, with James Madison and John Jay writing the rest. These papers defended the proposed Constitution and remain among the most influential works of American political thought.

Image source: The Federalist Papers

At New York's ratifying convention, Hamilton led Federalist delegates against strong Anti-Federalist opposition. News that New Hampshire and Virginia had ratified shifted momentum, and New York narrowly approved the Constitution by a vote of 30 to 27.

Image source: Virginia Ratifying Convention

President George Washington appointed Hamilton as the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury. In this role he built the financial architecture of the United States almost from scratch, becoming the most influential member of Washington's cabinet.

Image source: United States Secretary of the Treasury

Hamilton proposed that the federal government assume state debts and fund the national debt at par value to establish public credit. After a famous compromise brokered over dinner with Jefferson and Madison, involving relocation of the capital, Congress adopted the plan.

Image source: First Report on the Public Credit

Hamilton advocated creating a national bank modeled on the Bank of England. Despite Madison and Jefferson's objections that it was unconstitutional, Washington accepted Hamilton's argument for implied powers and signed the bank into existence.

Image source: First Bank of the United States

Hamilton began an affair with Maria Reynolds, whose husband James extorted blackmail payments from him. When the scandal surfaced years later through journalist James Callender, it damaged Hamilton's reputation and contributed to his decision not to seek higher office.

Hamilton had helped draft the constitution of the Bank of New York in 1784, one of the first banks in the United States. It opened its doors in 1791 and became a cornerstone of New York's rise as a financial center.

Image source: BNY

Hamilton helped found the S.U.M., a private corporation promoting industrialization, and selected the Great Falls of the Passaic River as the site for what became Paterson, New Jersey — America's first planned industrial city, realizing his vision of an manufacturing economy.

Image source: Paterson, New Jersey

Hamilton's landmark report argued that government should actively promote industry through tariffs and subsidies, laying out an economic vision of a diversified economy that contrasted sharply with Jefferson's agrarian idealism.

Image source: Report on Manufactures

When western Pennsylvania farmers violently resisted federal excise taxes on whiskey, Hamilton accompanied President Washington at the head of a nearly 13,000-man militia force. The rebellion collapsed without significant bloodshed, affirming federal authority.

Image source: Whiskey Rebellion

Hamilton resigned from the cabinet to earn money for his growing family through private law practice, but he remained Washington's unofficial adviser and continued to shape Federalist policy behind the scenes.

Washington asked Hamilton to draft his farewell address announcing his retirement from the presidency. Hamilton shaped the document's warnings against partisan division and permanent foreign alliances, one of the most celebrated documents in American history.

Image source: George Washington's Farewell Address

Accused of corruption related to James Reynolds's blackmail, Hamilton published a detailed confession of his affair to prove his financial innocence. The self-inflicted scandal humiliated his wife Eliza and destroyed any remaining presidential ambitions.

During tensions with France, President John Adams appointed Hamilton inspector general of the Army with the rank of major general. Hamilton effectively organized and commanded the new army, though the conflict ended without full-scale war.

Image source: Quasi-War

Hamilton circulated a scathing pamphlet attacking President John Adams, hoping to swing the election to Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Instead, the pamphlet discredited the party and helped Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr win the election.

Image source: 1800 United States presidential election

With Jefferson and Burr tied in electoral votes, Hamilton lobbied Federalists in the House to support Jefferson, whom he considered principled if wrong, over Burr, whom he called unprincipled. Jefferson won the presidency, and Burr's grudge against Hamilton deepened.

Hamilton founded the New York Evening Post as a Federalist newspaper, recruiting editor William Coleman. The paper, now the New York Post, survives today as one of America's oldest continuously published newspapers.

Image source: New York Post

Hamilton's eldest son Philip died in a duel defending his father's honor after a confrontation with lawyer George Eacker. Philip's death devastated the family; his sister Angelica suffered a mental breakdown from grief.

Image source: Philip Hamilton

After Aaron Burr lost the New York governor's race and blamed Hamilton's opposition, Burr challenged him to a duel. At Weehawken, New Jersey — the same site where Philip had fallen — Hamilton apparently fired into the air while Burr's shot mortally wounded him.

Image source: Burr–Hamilton duel

Hamilton died at William Bayard's house in Greenwich Village the day after the duel, surrounded by family and clergy. He received last rites and was buried in Trinity Churchyard. His death made Burr a pariah and ended Burr's political career.

Image source: Burr–Hamilton duel