Washington was willing to overlook the occurrence, but Hamilton was desirous to return to active service. At Yorktown he led a gallant attack against a British redoubt which he took in ten minutes.
After the Revolution, he read law four months and then began to practice in Albany. He put aside professional work to serve his adopted country again. This time in Congress. The colonies which had united in their war of defence now seemed drifting apart and the general government had no power to hold them together. The country was in debt and had neither money nor credit. The states, therefore, sent representatives to Philadelphia in 1787 to form a Constitution to take the place of the Articles of Confederation.
Hamilton was one of these delegates. He argued in favor of a strong central government, ruled by a president, congress, and supreme court; he thought that practically all power should be put in the hands of the general government, and that the governors of states should be appointed by it and should have veto power over state legislation. To him an American state was a mere geographical division, like an English county. Most of the people, however, clung to the independence of the separate states, and there was heated discussion as to what rights should be delegated to the general government and what should be reserved by the states. At last a constitution was drawn up, in favor of which Congress voted. It was decided that this constitution should go into effect as soon as it should be ratified by nine states. As yet the states “had given up none of their rights to the general government.”
In order to present the views in favor of this constitution and to secure its adoption, Hamilton, with some assistance from Madison and Jay, published a series of eighty-five papers called “The Federalist.” The constitution was adopted, and George Washington was elected first President. When he formed his Cabinet he made Alexander Hamilton Secretary of the Treasury. It was felt that this young man of thirty-two could do more than any one else to establish the finances of the country on a safe basis. He made a report “On the Public Credit” which “laid the corner-stone of American finance under the constitution.”
He insisted that the credit of the United States should be firmly established and the United States should assume the war debt of fifty-four million dollars; to secure the payment of this a national bank was established. Hamilton suggested ways in which money might be raised by taxing whiskey and imported articles and by the use of public lands, the Northwest Territory ceded by Virginia, and the western lands ceded by Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia.
After some opposition Hamilton’s plan was adopted and the finances of the country were established on a safe basis. An insurrection called the Whiskey Rebellion was raised in Pennsylvania by people who were unwilling to pay the tax on liquor, and Hamilton went with troops who suppressed it.
Jefferson and others argued that under this constitution the general government had no power to establish a national bank. Hamilton brought forward the view, which he was the first to advance, that Congress had “implied” powers as well as “delegated” ones. One of his chief motives in urging national banks was that he felt they would be a “powerful cement of union,” uniting the business interests of the country in the support of the government. It was Hamilton, then, who originated the “protective tariff” and “national banks,” over which political parties are still contending.
In 1795 after his national policies were adopted, Hamilton resigned public life and began to practice his profession in New York. He put aside his brilliant and profitable professional work, however, when war with France seemed imminent, in order to assist Washington in his plans for the organization of the army. When the war-cloud passed he resumed the practice of his profession. But his brilliant life was to come to an early and untimely end. In his political life he made many antagonists. One of these was Aaron Burr, as brilliant and hot-tempered as Hamilton, and a man of bold and dangerous ambition.
After a political quarrel, Burr challenged Hamilton to fight a duel. In theory Hamilton recognized the sin and folly of dueling, but he was not willing to refuse to fight for fear people would think he was a coward. Early one morning, July 11, 1804, the two rivals met in a quiet spot. Hamilton fired into the air, as he had said he would do; Burr with deadly skill aimed straight at his opponent who fell fatally wounded. Hamilton left his mourning country the record of a brilliant public career, the main purpose of which was to strengthen the general government and to consolidate the Union.