OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 231 



FOUNDER OF FEDERAL UNITY 



90. Possibly the most brilliant intellect involved in the founda- 

 tion and organization of the American government was that of 

 Alexander Hamilton. Of historically uncertain parentage, he 

 was born on the island of Nevis in the West Indies, January 11, 

 1757. His education seems to have been desultory, as at the age 

 of thirteen he was forced to enter the office of a West India trades- 

 man and merchant. Owing to an early isolation he possessed a 

 most precocious independence, and at fourteen years of age wrote 

 business letters that were models of tradesmanship. His employer 

 soon became in the habit of going away for days at a time and 

 leaving this mere child in charge of the counting house. A severe 

 hurricane wreaked unprecedented devastation on the islands, and 

 young Hamilton prepared so vivid a description of it for the 

 press, that numerous friends and relatives combined to send him 

 to Boston for an education. Friends here, however, advised him 

 to proceed to Elizabethtown, N. J., where he studied energetically 

 in preparation for college, and wrote much prose and verse that 

 received wide publication. On the completion of his course here 

 he went to King's College, New York (now Columbia) where he 

 made remarkable progress. 



About this time the difficulties with the mother country were 

 coming to a head, and although temperamentally a loyalist, he 

 was soon won to the colonies' cause. His articles, although writ- 

 ten when only seventeen, possessed such remarkable ability that 

 they were popularly attributed to John Jay, or other patriots. 

 The discovery of their authorship made him a leader in New York 

 politics, and at the outset of the war he was appointed a captain 

 of New York artillery. At Long Island and White Plains his 

 battery so distinguished themselves by their smartness and disci- 

 pline (almost rare qualities in the Continental army) that he was 

 appointed staff officer with General Washington. Always pas- 

 sionate, he resigned this honor in 1781 as a result of mild 



