Alexander Hamilton was born in Charlestown, Nevis on January 11, 1755. In 1765, due to a business assignment his father, James Hamilton, moved the family to Christiansted, St. Croix (Miller 3). Shortly after that, James abandoned his wife, Rachel, and their two sons. Three years later, on February 19, his mother died of a severe fever; Hamilton was left orphaned. Following his mother's death, Hamilton was adopted by his cousin, Peter Lytton (Chernow 26). He then became a clerk at a local import-export company called Beekman and Cruger. Lytton soon committed suicide and Hamilton was adopted by Thomas Stevens, a local merchant (Chernow 27). During this time, Hamilton continued to work as a clerk. He became devoted to reading and developed an interest in writing.
The Church of England did not accept Hamilton’s family because his parents were not married. They were denied membership and education in the church school. Instead, in his early years, Hamilton received individual tutoring and classes in a private Jewish school. He extended his education with the help of his family’s library of thirty-four books. In 1772, at the age of 17, Hamilton left Christiansted to go to a grammar school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey (Chernow 43). In 1773, he came under the influence of William Livingston, a leading intellectual and revolutionary. Hamilton attended King’s College, now known as Columbia University, in New York City (Keller 14). In 1774, he composed his first political writings, A Full Vindication of the measures of Congress, and The Farmer Refuted. The works were aimed against Samuel Seabury, a clergyman from the Church of England (Chernow 50, 51). He also published two works attacking the Quebec Act and fourteen anonymous articles in the New York Journal (Brookhiser 23).
After the first confrontation between American and British troops in Boston in 1775, Hamilton joined a New York militia group called the Hearts of Oak. He trained with other King’s...