Courtesy of Douglas Hamilton
The New-York Historical Society
In addition to these hobbies and personal passions, Hamilton was a prominent
New York City lawyer and was recognized
for his accomplishments in law, political
theory and political commentary. While
studying for the bar, he compiled a manual entitled “Practical Proceedings in the
Supreme Court of the State of New York”
that was hand copied by law students and
became the de facto legal text book for the
following decade.
He practiced law as a private citizen
to pay his bills, while remaining close to
politics. During his short but influential
political career he was elected and served as
New York delegate to the Continental Congress, the Annapolis Convention and the
Constitutional Convention. He also served
as delegate from New York County to the
New York State Legislature, where he convinced his fellow New Yorkers to ratify the
Constitution. Shortly after the ratification,
Hamilton was appointed as the nation’s first
Secretary of the Treasury, and in his first
three years in this role he published reports
that set the foundations of the nation’s
financial system including “First Report on
the Public Credit,” “Report on a National
Bank,” “Report on the Establishment of a
Mint” and “Report on Manufactures.”
26 Financial History | Spring/Summer 2011 | www.MoAF.org
(Left) Portrait of Alexander Hamilton wearing his
general’s uniform. (Right) Hamilton’s Society
of the Cincinnati badge.
Although Hamilton is most recognized
for his financial contributions, he is perhaps most notoriously known for his duel
with his political rival, Aaron Burr, and his
extramarital affair with Maria Reynolds. In
1791, around the same time Hamilton was
publishing reports as Secretary of Treasury,
he began an affair with the married Maria
Reynolds and quickly became entangled in
a blackmail scheme involving her husband.
To keep his affair from being exposed,
Hamilton paid the couple sums of money
under the guise of a personal loan. His political enemies discovered this and accused
him of using public funds to conceal his