106 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 



Presbyterian divine led him to New Jersey, where 

 he entered a grammar school at Elizabethtown, and 

 for a while made his home in the house of William 

 Livingston. There he was introduced to the best 

 society, and met many good friends, among them 

 John Jay, who was soon to marry one of the four 

 charming daughters. A full year had not passed 

 when he was declared fit to enter Princeton, and he 

 called upon Dr. Witherspoon, the able president, 

 with the request that he might be allowed to ad- 

 vance toward his degree as fast as he could pass 

 the examinations, and without regard to the pre- 

 scribed curriculum. When the request was refused 

 by the trustees as vain and unreasonable, he re- 

 paired to New York, and succeeded in entering 

 King's College (now Columbia) upon his own 

 terms. 



This was late in the autumn of 1773, the stirring 

 season of the Boston Tea Party. Hamilton's wish 

 for a war was soon to be gratified. His childhood 

 had been passed in an atmosphere of loyalism; he 

 knew little as yet of American politics ; his instincts 

 were then, as always, in favour of strong government, 

 and opposed to anything that looked like insurrec- 

 tion, and his first impressions leaned toward the Tory 

 side. But he had hardly been six months at college 

 when he happened to visit Boston, about the time 

 when news arrived of the vindictive acts of Parlia- 

 ment and the appointment of a military governor. 

 It was a good place and a 'good time for comprehend- 

 ing the true character of the political situation. The 

 young man mastered the arguments with his usual 

 swiftness and thoroughness, and returned to New 



