A little background information on Hamilton and his childhood. He was born on January 11, 1755 in Charlestown to Rachel Faucette, a partially British, partially French Huguenot descendant and James Hamilton, the fourth son of a Scottish estate owner, Alexander Hamilton. Due to being born in a noble family, it influenced him to dream of making America an urban country, which also opposed to Jefferson's views.
Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of Philip Schuyler. They had eight children, with the eldest and youngest sons named Philip. The eldest Philip was killed in a duel three years before the Burr-Hamilton duel.
The Burr-Hamilton duel was the end to a long and bitter rivalry between Hamilton and Burr. During Jefferson's and Burr's tie in the electoral college of 1801, Hamilton helped Jefferson win, because he despised Burr and believed that he had no principles. This didn't help their relationship, and it only went over the edge after Hamilton's last offense. Burr decided to run for governor of New York state in 1804. When Hamilton deemed him unworthy of the position, he was challenged to a duel. They fought brutally and Hamilton was defeated. Mortally wounded, he was carried to his close friend William Bayard's house on the Manhattan shore. He died the next day on July 12, 1804.
Insightful post on Hamilton's early life. I never knew about his non Puritan heritage,and his family. I love how you split the post into different paragraphs for different ideas, making it easier to read! It's interesting that Hamilton died the year the Lewis and Clark expeditions started(May, 1804). I thought he was around earlier in American history, but now I know. You mention that both Hamilton and his son died in duels. Why do you think the government allowed such a violent practice to continue, especially during their early days? For more information about dueling: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/duel/sfeature/dueling.html
ReplyDeleteThis post provides interesting background on Hamilton. I like how you chose to focus on not the political policies and facts we focused on in class, but details and key events of his life and family. It's interesting to see how his background and upbringing may have contributed to his political stances. It would be very interesting to look into Thomas Jefferson's background as well and see how his upbringing affected his beliefs. Perhaps the two had very different upbringings, which would have caused them to have the conflicting perspectives that established political parties in America. For more information on Jefferson's life and legacy: https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/thomasjefferson
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