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Alexander Hamilton was born in the West Indies, the second bastard son to Rachel Lavien and James Hamilton, in 1755. His father left the family when he was ten years old and his mother died three years later causing them to live with their cousin who committed suicide. After moving in with a family friend, Alexander worked as a clerk on the island of St. Croix which was hit by a hurricane when he was seventeen. He wrote an impressive letter describing the destruction, got it published in a newspaper and caught the attention of many. A fund was taken up to send him to school in North America and by the end of the year 1772 he was living in New York. He attended school at King’s College where he spoke out against the British and gave support towards revolutionary efforts, such as the Boston Tea Party.
By 1777, at the age of twenty-two, he was made lieutenant colonel by George Washington. Hamilton and Washington became close friends and the general relied on him to write many of his letters, messages and speeches. During the Revolution, Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler in December of 1780. Later he led three battalions at the battle of Yorktown, which ended the war.
In 1782 he joined the Continental Congress representing New York where he fought for Congress to have the power to tax. Afterwards, he became a lawyer in New York City, created the Bank of New York and spent his free time calling for a revision of the Articles of Confederation. His main issues with the Articles were that Congress had no power to tax and couldn’t raise an army to fight off uprisings. In 1787, Alexander Hamilton was one of the three delegates chosen to represent New York in the Constitutional Convention where he advocated for an executive and a judiciary branch to be added. He was the only delegate out of the three that signed the United States Constitution.
After its signing, Hamilton fought for the new Constitution with John Jay and James Madison. Together they wrote the Federalist papers, although Hamilton wrote the bulk of the essays (fifty-one out of the eighty-five), using the pen name “Publius”.
When George Washington became President of the United States in 1789, he chose his right hand man, Hamilton, as the first Secretary of the Treasury. One of the main problems he faced was the country’s massive debt which was first acquired from the costly Revolution and grew thanks to Congress’s lack of tax power in the Articles. He wanted to make it a federal debt so that the states could each pitch in to help pay it off. The southern states were strongly against this, the most notable oppositionists being Thomas Jefferson and ironically James Madison. They felt it would be unfair to have states with no debt pay for the debts of others. Hamilton saw it differently, seeing that because the Revolution was fought for ALL the states, ALL the states should help each other pay for it. At first, this assumption of debts plan was shot down by Congress. In order to get approval by the Southern states, Hamilton agreed to move the capital from New York to Philadelphia temporarily and have it later moved to the now Washington DC. It is ironic to note that, while Hamilton - like many of the founders - opposed political parties, it was his very policies that started their formation. Despite difficulties along the way, Alexander Hamilton, like Washington, was paving the way for the progress of America. He created not only a federal tax system but also a customs service, the Coast Guard, a central bank and the United States Mint.
Although it would seem that the Treasury Secretary had enough on his plate, he found the time to carry on an affair with a woman named Maria Reynolds for a year. She came to him in need of money, her husband having left her. Hamilton ended up giving her more than money and the two continued to meet even after her husband, James Reynolds, found out. The only difference this made was that he would have to pay Mr. Reynolds blackmail money or else risk the truth to be spilled to Mrs. Eliza Hamilton. All was found out years later when Hamilton was accused of speculating a treasury security with James Reynolds. To defend his honor, the proud to a fault Alexander had a series of letters, known as the “Reynold’s Pamphlet”, published explaining how his only affiliation with James Reynolds was linked to the affair with his wife.

Alexander Hamilton stepped down from the position of Treasury Secretary in 1795 and continued practicing law in New York although he remained active in the political sphere by supporting the Jay’s Treaty and criticizing John Adams’ administration.
Come the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson was running against Aaron Burr. When the election ended in a tie, the decision rested on who Hamilton endorsed. While Alexander Hamilton disliked both, he disliked Jefferson the least and Thomas Jefferson become the third president of the United States.
Aaron Burr, infuriated from this loss and also rumors of Hamilton talking against him, challenged him to a duel four years later. The duel took place on July 11, 1804 at Weehawken, New Jersey. Alexander’s son, Philip, had been shot in a duel in that same location three years earlier and died. Likewise, Burr shot Hamilton, fatally wounding him. Alexander Hamilton died the next day, July 12, 1804.

Alexander Hamilton never became president. He never got to grow old. Oftentimes he is forgotten when we think of the founding fathers of America. Thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s genius broadway production Hamilton that may never be an issue again. The musical shines a light on who Hamilton was and how he set the groundwork for America’s financial system and helped establish and shape the country that we know today. He is much more than a face on the ten dollar bill.

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Primary Source                                                                    Constitution signatures 

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Primary Source                                                                    Constitution signatures 

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Alexander Hamilton was the only delegate from New York to sign the Constitution.
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution

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Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the hit broadway musical "Hamilton" 

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Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the hit broadway musical "Hamilton" 

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http://entertainmentweekly.tumblr.com/post/143648782868/lin-manuel-miranda-stops-by-alexander-hamiltons

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Primary Source                      The Federalist Papers, 1787        

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Primary Source                      The Federalist Papers, 1787        

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From the Resources of Congress

"After an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks of its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the Union, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind."

- Alexander Hamilton

http://www.mountvernon.org/digital-encyclopedia/article/federalist-papers/

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http://www.history.com/news/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-alexander-hamilton