A FOUNDING FATHER
Though Alexander Hamilton is considered a Founding Father, he is one of four in that historic group who didn’t sign America’s Declaration of Independence from the British on July 4, 1776.
The other three are George Washington, James Madison, and John Jay.
General Washington was too busy actually fighting for that independence. However, he read the newly-signed document to the Continental Army on July 9th. Alexander Hamilton was only 19 years old at the time.
Or maybe he was twenty-one. His birthday is January 11th, but historians disagree on whether he was born in 1755 or 1757.
Here are a few details historians accept as fact:
- Hamilton was born out-of-wedlock in the West Indies and orphaned in 1768. His father had abandoned the family before then.
- From 1777 to 1781, he served as George Washington's trusted aide-de-camp.
- He was an artillery officer in the American Revolutionary War and fought in the Siege of Yorktown (1781).
- After the war, he was a lawyer and founded the Bank of New York.
- As a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention, he was involved in the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.
- As the first Secretary of the Treasury, he served in President Washington's first cabinet.
AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR
Along with all his many historical political achievements, Hamilton also bequeathed a tremendous literary legacy…many written under a pen name.
Let’s take a look at a few of his better-known works.
The Revolutionary Versus the Loyalist
In 1774, Loyalist Samuel Seabury, a Church of England clergyman, published pamphlets intended to scare the American colonists from rebelling against the king. He wrote under the pseudonym of A. W. Farmer, an abbreviation for A Westchester Farmer.
In response, Hamilton anonymously published A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress. Seabury published another pamphlet in response to Hamilton and then Hamilton responded with The Farmer Refuted.
Pen Name ~ Publius
In 1778, Hamilton signed three accusatory letters with the pseudonym Publius. The name came from a book titled Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans. The original Publius Valerius, better known as Publicola or “friend of the people,” helped to found the ancient republic of Rome.
The three letters accused Samuel Chase—who is a signer of the Declaration of Independence and, in 1787, represented Maryland in the Continental Congress—of using insider knowledge to benefit from the flour market.
The Reynolds Pamphlet
To defend his own integrity, Hamilton wrote a ninety-five-page pamphlet confessing to an affair he’d had during his tenure as Secretary of the Treasury.
While not excusing Hamilton’s behavior, it’s widely believed Mrs. Reynolds and her husband conspired to set Hamilton up so they could blackmail him.
In the pamphlet, published in 1797, Hamilton admitted he was guilty of adultery but vehemently insisted he was not guilty of corruption.
The Federalist Papers
Hamilton is most well-known for writing fifty-one of the eight-five installments of The Federalist Papers. The remaining essays and articles were written by James Madison and John Jay, but each one appeared under the pseudonym of Publius—the same pen name that Hamilton used for his letters attacking Samuel Chase.
Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote The Federalist Papers to encourage public support for the proposed U.S. Constitution. The vast majority of the essays were published between October 1787 and August 1788 in New York newspapers and sometimes reprinted in other states' newspapers.
The collected Federalist Papers
in one volume and
an advertisement for the book.
Poetry
Before embarking on his political writing career—remember that his first anonymous pamphlets were written in 1774—Hamilton wrote a few poems and a hymn that appeared in the Royal Danish American Gazette, a St. Croix (Virgin Islands) newspaper.
The first two published poems were printed with Hamilton’s query letter. He wrote:
“I am a youth about seventeen, and consequently such an attempt as this must be presumptuous; but if, upon perusal, you think the following piece worthy of a place in your paper, by inserting it you’ll much oblige Your obedient servant, A.H.”
Another poem, “The Melancholy Hour,” was published on October 11, 1772 under the pseudonym Juvenis.
“This brooding work,” writes Ron Chernow in his biography of Hamilton, “reprises the theme of the hurricane as heavenly retribution upon a fallen world.” He quotes the following two lines:
Why hangs this gloomy damp upon my mind
Why heaves my bosom with the struggling sigh?
An unsigned four-stanza hymn, “The Soul Ascending Into Bliss,” appeared in the Gazette on October 17, 1772. Chernow calls this “a lovely, mystical meditation in which Hamilton envisions his soul soaring heavenward.”
Here’s an excerpt:
Hark! Hark! A voice from yonder sky
Methinks I hear my Savior cry…
I come oh Lord, I mount, I fly
On rapid wings I cleave the sky.”
The Gazette published another poem, “A Character” by A.H., on February 3, 1773.
“In this short, disillusioned work,” Chernow writes, “Hamilton evokes a sharp-witted fellow named Eugenio who manages inadvertently to antagonize all his friends.”
Here are the final two lines of the poem:
Wit not well govern’d rankles into vice
He to his Jest his friend he will sacrifice.
A DOOMED DUELIST
On July 11, 1804, Hamilton and Aaron Burr fought a duel.
Though Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson held opposing political views, Hamilton supported Jefferson for the presidency over Burr who was considered to be power-hungry and unprincipled scoundrel by his contemporaries.
Burr accused Hamilton of impugning his honor and challenged him to a duel after Hamilton refused to apologize for disparaging remarks he’d made.
Hamilton told his second that he would purposely miss Burr and may have expected his opponent to do the same.
However, Burr aimed at Hamilton and wounded him.
Hamilton died the next day.
Whether born in 1755 or 1757, he wasn’t yet 50 years old.
HONORING HAMILTON
“…he was first on the $5, then the $2, $20, $50, $500, $1000 (those larger denominations were only used to move money among banks or between banks and the Federal Reserve). Since the currency was redesigned and given a standard size in 1928, Hamilton has been on the $10” (Brian Phillips Murphy).
RE-IMAGINING HAMILTON
The highly-acclaimed Broadway production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton was nominated for 16 Tony Awards and won 11 including Best Musical, Best Actor, Best Choreography, and Best Orchestrations.
Your Turn ~ Which of Hamilton’s writings impress you the most?
Johnnie Alexander writes award-winning stories of enduring love and quiet courage. Her historical and contemporary novels weave together unforgettable romance, compelling characters, and a touch of mystery. A sometime hermit and occasional vagabond who most often kicks off her shoes in Florida, Johnnie cherishes cozy family times and enjoys long road trips. Readers are invited to discover glimpses of grace and timeless truth in her stories. Connect with her at johnnie-alexander.com.
Sources
Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin Press (2004). https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/38/mode/2up. (Accessed on June 29, 2025.)
Murphy, Brian Phillips. “Alexander Hamilton on the $10 Bill: How He Got There and Why It Matters.” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/alexander-hamilton-10-bill-how-he-got-there-and-why-it-matters (Accessed on June 30, 2025.)
https://declaration.fas.harvard.edu/faq/founding-fathers-not-signers
https://historythings.com/the-many-written-works-of-alexander-hamilton/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Federalist_Papers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_(musical)
Photos ~ All photos are in public domain except the Hamilton poster which is categorized as “Fair Use."
"Alexander Hamilton" ~ Portrait by John Trumbull.
"Alexander Hamilton in the Uniform of the New York Artillery" ~ Portrait by Alonzo Chappel.
Portrait of Hamilton authoring the first draft of the U.S. Constitution in 1787.
A 1901 illustration of Aaron Burr fatally wounding Alexander Hamilton in their 1804 duel in Weehawken, New Jersey.
The Federalist Papers.
An advertisement for the book edition of The Federalist.