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HAMILTON, Alexander: Memorial at the Treasury Dept in Washington, D.C.
by James Earle Fraser


Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757—July 12, 1804) was an Army officer, lawyer, Founding Father, American politician, leading statesman, financier and political theorist. One of America's first constitutional lawyers, he was a leader in calling the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787; he was one of the two chief authors of the Federalist Papers, the most cited contemporary interpretation of intent for the United States Constitution. During the Revolutionary War, Hamilton served as an artillery captain, was an aide-de-camp to General George Washington, and led three battalions at the Battle of Yorktown. Under President Washington, Hamilton became the first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton had wide-reaching influence over the direction of policy during the formative years of the government. Hamilton believed in the importance of a strong central government, and convinced Congress to use an elastic interpretation of the Constitution to pass far-reaching laws.

Soon after the gubernatorial election in New York—in which Morgan Lewis, greatly assisted by Hamilton, defeated Aaron Burr—a newspaper published a letter recounting a dinner party in upstate New York during which Hamilton said he could reveal "an even more despicable opinion" of Colonel Burr. Burr, sensing an attack on his honor, and surely still stung by the political defeat, demanded an apology. Hamilton refused on the grounds that he could not recall the instance. A duel was scheduled for July 11, 1804, along the west bank of the Hudson River, a common dueling site at which, three years earlier, Hamilton's eldest son, Philip, had been killed. At dawn, the duel began, and Vice President Aaron Burr shot Hamilton. Hamilton's shot broke a tree branch directly above Burr's head. A letter that he wrote the night before the duel states, "I have resolved, if our interview [duel] is conducted in the usual manner, and it pleases God to give me the opportunity, to reserve and throw away my first fire, and I have thoughts even of reserving my second fire." The circumstances of the duel, and Hamilton's actual intentions, are still disputed.

If a duelist decided not to aim at his opponent there was a well-known procedure, available to everyone involved, for doing so. Hamilton did not follow this procedure. (If so, Burr might have followed suit, and death may have been avoided.) It was a matter of honor among gentlemen to follow these rules. Years later, when told that Hamilton may have misled him at the duel, the ever-laconic Burr replied, "Contemptible, if true." Source: Wikipedia

Bronze by James Earle Fraser
Address: Pennsylvania Ave & 15th St NW Nearest Metro: Federal Triangle (Orange - Blue)
Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog: Control number 76006083 (dcMem ID #760)
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