Alexander Hamilton Legacy

Adulterer, general, writer are three words that people think of in connection to Alexander Hamilton. Many people know that Alexander Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury, but he is much more. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton showed America through relentless fighting, sleepless nights, and determination, that immigrants and orphans could make a change. He left his legacy as a general, writer, Secretary of the Treasury, and adulterer.
The early life of Alexander Hamilton was rough. He experienced the life as an orphan and a slave on the island of Nevis in the Bahamas. When he was about 8, his parents filed a divorce, but due to Hamilton's mothers beliefs, she couldn't leave her husband (Sparknotes). So
As Washington's secretary, Hamilton would make plans for battles. Hamilton would ask Washington if he could fight in the war, but Washington declined Hamilton because he said he was of too much value.
Every now and then Hamilton and Washington would get into fights. One time Washington got so angry that he sent Hamilton to fight at the battle of Yorktown. After a week of fighting a British officer handed the sword of surrender to Hamilton and America won their freedom from the British (Knott, 3). Due to Hamilton's planning and fighting we now have freedom and the nation we are used to today. Once the war was over Hamilton realized that America used a lot of money from other countries to have money for guns, weapons, and food for war. So he devised a plan to meet with future president Thomas Jefferson and James Madison over dinner. “They made the deal that if the capital of the United States was moved to Virginia that they would back Hamiltons’ financial plan. After one long dinner Hamilton was off to his office thinking about how he could get the money back from the war ( Chernow, 476). So he made the tax system we know today and in about 2 years to pay
One night while his wife, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, was away he met a women named Maria Reynolds. This started an extramarital affair. This affair resulted in many of Hamilton's supporters to hate him. After some bad choices and the affair Hamilton started his political downfall (U.S Department of the Treasury). Hamilton was a strong believer in the federalist party. But when the election of 1800 came around many citizens did not know who to choose, Jefferson or Burr. The electoral votes came out to be 73 to 73. The citizens asked Hamilton who to vote for and Hamilton told the people to vote for Jefferson. Despite having different political beliefs Hamilton still campaigned for Jefferson and not Burr. This started a rivalry with Burr and Hamilton. After 4 years of writing to Burr, the two decided to have a duel at Weehawken, New Jersey. The two men walked ten paces, and Hamilton was found on the floor with a bullet above his right rib (Chernow, 716). This dual happened because Burr and Hamilton had such different beliefs. If only Hamilton had more time then he could have changed the world more than he already did. The legacy of Alexander Hamilton still lives on today, through our freedom, our banks, and our nation. Although Alexander Hamilton did many great deeds, he also made many mistakes on the journey to