Alexander Hamilton: America’s First Treasury Secretary
MEET ALEXANDER HAMILTON The United States government was founded more than 240 years ago by a group of men who worked together but didn’t always agree about what a government should do This group is called the Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton was one of the youngest youngest and brightest of the Founding Fathers Unlike most of the other founders Hamilton was not born in one of the thir teen colonies that broke away from Great Britain to form the United States in 1776 Alexander Hamilton was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States He helped design the nation’s government 4 CHAPTER ONE
MEET ALEXANDER HAMILTON He was born in the West Indies The West Indies are a chain of islands in the Caribbean Caribbean Sea that extend from Florida to South America Hamilton immigrated as a teenager moving first to New Jersey and then to New York to get an education The American Revolution broke out soon after Hamilton arrived He enthusiastically joined the fight to win his new home its freedom from the British After the war Hamilton was Soon after arriving in the colonies Hamilton got caught up in their fight for independence He joined a New York artillery company to fight against the British named the first secretary of the treasury The treasury is the government government department that collects taxes borrows money for the government and deals Vocabulary A person who IMMIGRATED moved to a new country to live there 5
ALEXANDER HAMILTON Quick Fact The first political parties in the United States were the Federalist Party and the Republican Party later called the Democratic-Republican Party The parties that control the government today are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party with other matters relating to money Hamilton worked to create a strong national government However others others were worried that the national government was too strong These disagreements led the early leaders of the country to create two political political parties Hamilton led the Federalist Party Hamilton foreground seated wearing black joins in the signing of the US Constitution in 1787 After the United States won the American Revolution the Founding Fathers needed to set up a lasting government for the new nation 6
CHAPTER TWO A SMART YOUNG MAN Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11 in about 1755 on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies His mother was Rachel Fawcett Lavine the daughter of a French doctor His father James Hamilton was a trader and the son of a Scottish nobleman nobleman Alexander’s parents weren’t married and the family family was poor These facts made some people look down on them Alexander had a difficult childhood The family moved to the nearby island of St Croix in 1765 and James abandoned the family soon after Rachel supported supported Alexander and his brother James by setting up a small shop but she died in 1768 7
