Hamilton Alexander - Alexander Hamilton: the Hero Who Helped Shape America

TITLE PAGE: Alexander Hamilton, 1806, by John Trumbull.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-1-4197-2578-4
eISBN: 978-1-68335-081-1

Text copyright 2017 Teri Kanefield

Cover and book design by Sara Corbett

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Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr duel, 1870s engraving, artist unknown.

O n a mild summer morning just after dawn, two men met on the dueling grounds in Weehawken, New Jersey. They were armed with Wodgon dueling pistolsheavy, elegant flintlock pistols, with highly polished curved wooden handles and brass barrels almost eleven inches long. One of the men was Aaron Burr, vice president of the United States. The other was former United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. The year was 1804.

A few weeks earlier, Burr had demanded that Hamilton apologize for fifteen years of insults. When Hamilton refused, Burr challenged him to a dueland Hamilton accepted.

Hamilton declined to practice before their meeting, even though he probably hadnt fired a pistol since the Revolutionary War. During the days leading up to the duel, hed spent time getting his affairs in order, writing farewell letters and redrafting his will. On his writing desk, he left a lengthy declaration containing the statement: I have resolved... to throw away my first fire, and I have thought even of reserving my second fireand thus giving a double opportunity to Burr to pause and reflect. Hed also said this to a friend, who begged him not to squander his first shot. But Hamilton had made up his mind, and he was nothing if not stubborn and determined. Then sir, his friend reportedly cried. You will go like a lamb to be slaughtered.

According to the standards of the day, turning down a duel was the sign of a coward. It was also taken as evidence that the person declining was not a true gentleman and had indeed behaved dishonorably. But duels were against the law, and Hamilton would have had good reasons for refusing. He believed duels were sinful and wrong. His own beloved son Philip had recently died in a duel defending Hamiltons honor, and his death devastated his family. Hamilton knew that his own death would further traumatize them. Before leaving for the dueling field, he left behind a letter to his wife, Eliza, that read:

If it had been possible for me to have avoided the interview, my love for you and my precious children would have been alone a decisive motive. But it was not possible, without sacrifices which would have rendered me unworthy of your esteem... Adieu best of wives and best of women.

In the papers Hamilton left behind, he admitted that Burr was justified in challenging him because he had, indeed, smeared Burrs character. But Hamilton couldnt avert the duel by apologizing because, in his opinion, everything he said was true.

Generations since have wondered about Hamiltons decision to accept Burrs challengeand his decision to throw away his fire. Some suggested it was a death wish, as indicated by a letter hed written in 1800, moaning that he should withdraw from the scene. Every day proves to me more and more that this American world was not made for me. Others suggested that Hamilton, who had been frail all his life and over the past few years had suffered stomach disorders and other illnesses, believed himself to be dying anyway. Its also possible that Hamilton didnt believe Burr would shoot to kill. Duels, while sometimes fatal, more often were not fought to the death, instead stopping before shots were even fired, or at the first draw of blood, or after a few misfires.

Hamilton must have known that if Burr killed him, Burr would be committing political suicide because thered be almost no chance hed ever again hold public office. Perhaps Hamilton thought reason would prevail, that the ever-ambitious Burr, not wanting to entirely end his own career, would make a show of firing, content to inflict a wound, but stop short of killing him. There was another possibility. Hamilton had long romanticized a glorious death, so perhapsknowing Burr would be committing political suicide by killing himHamilton thought it honorable to take a bullet to save the country from the threat posed by Burr.

B urr and Hamilton measured the distance of ten paces between them. Next they loaded their pistols and turned to face each other. Several others were there to watch and supervise, including two New York lawyers, Nathaniel Pendleton and William Van Ness. Also present, as customary at duels, was a doctor.

Pendleton made sure both men were ready, then gave the signal by saying, Present. Hamilton fired first, aiming upward. His bullet tore through the foliage overhead. Burr, who fired a moment later, aimed directly at Hamilton and shot him in the stomach. Hamilton fell to the ground. The doctor flew to his side. Hamilton looked up and said, This is a mortal wound, Doctor. With that, he sank into unconsciousness.

Pendleton and the doctor lifted him up and carried him down to the riverbank, where a boatman waited. Theyd rowed halfway across the Hudson River on their way back to Manhattan when Hamilton revived, his eyes fluttering but not opening all the way. He said his vision was blurred. He asked that the news be broken to his wife as gently as possible.

Hamilton died at home the next afternoon, surrounded by his wife and his childrenleaving behind a nation shocked and angry, and a legacy that continues to this day.

My ambition is prevalent that I contemn the groveling and condition of a clerk or the like to which my fortune condemns me and I would willingly risk my life though not my character to exalt my station.

Alexander Hamilton

A lex Hamilton was born in 1755 in Charleston on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies, a place of lush tropical jungles and sugar plantations. The island was only five miles across, surrounded by the sparkling turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Pirates swarmed the nearby seas. As a young boy, Alex would have seen captured pirates hauled through town to the courthouse for judgment before being hanged at Gallows Bay. He would have seen slaves brutally whipped in the open markets and sold in the auction blocks at Market Shop and Crosses Alley. He would have seen trading ships from all over the world sail into Charlestons port.