James Alexander Hamilton

James Alexander Hamilton (April 14, 1788 – September 24, 1878)[1] was an American soldier, acting Secretary of State, and the third son of Alexander Hamilton.

Early life and education

Hamilton was born in New York City, New York, on April 14, 1788, the third son of American founding father Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton.[2][3]

Hamilton later wrote of his childhood:

[Alexander] Hamilton's gentle nature rendered his house a joyous one to his children...His intercourse with his children was always affectionate and confiding, which excited in them a corresponding confidence and devotion. I distinctly recollect the scene at breakfast in the front room of the house in Broadway. My dear mother, seated as was her wont at the head of the table with a napkin in her lap, cutting slices of bread and spreading them with butter for the younger boys...When the lessons were finished the father and the elder children were called to breakfast, after which the boys were packed off to school.[4]

When he was sixteen, his father was killed in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr. Along with his mother and siblings, Hamilton was present in the room, sitting at his father's bedside, when he died a few hours after the duel.[5] Hamilton graduated from Columbia University in 1805 at the age of seventeen. He later studied law, and in 1809, he was admitted to the bar, and practiced law for a year in Waterford, New York.[6]

Career

In 1810, Hamilton moved to Hudson, New York, and practiced law there for several years.[7][8] During the War of 1812, Hamilton served as a Brigade Major and Inspector in the New York Militia.

In March 1829, Hamilton served as acting Secretary of State to President Andrew Jackson, surrendering the office on the regular appointment of Martin Van Buren.[9] That same year he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

In 1867, he published a book of memoirs. In the book's preface, he writes that he was "induced to undertake this work by a desire to do justice" to his father "against the aspersions of Mr. Jefferson, and more recently of Martin Van Buren." His father's life and career, friends and rivals, are discussed at length in Hamilton's memoirs.[10]

Curiously, he was with Jackson in opposing the Bank of the United States, the original invention of his father.[11]

Marriage and family

On October 17, 1810, Hamilton married Mary Morris, the daughter of Robert Morris and Frances Ludlum.[12][13] Mary was the great-granddaughter of Lewis Morris, an early colonial governor of New Jersey, and the grandniece of Lewis Morris (1726-1798), a signer of the Declaration of Independence.[14]

Hamilton later recalled their first years of marriage:

Both I and my wife were without means - our parents not being in a situation to do much for us. This I have always considered the most fortunate event of my life. I realized the embarrassments of my situation, and met them with the determination to overcome them. Nor did my resolution fail of its reward. Our self-denials were great, indeed, but our faith in the future was greater...Our poverty was so extreme that during our first year we boarded at four dollars per week for each. I now look back upon this event as not only the happiest, but the most fortunate occurrence of my long and eventful life. My poverty, with its burdens and responsibilities, nerved me to exertion, and necessity taught me the value of economy and self-denial.[15]

Hamilton had five children:[16][17][18]

  1. Eliza (Hamilton) Schuyler (1811-1863)[19]
  2. Frances "Fanny" (Hamilton) Bowdoin (1813-1887)[20]
  3. Alexander Hamilton (1816-1889)[21]
  4. Mary Morris (Hamilton) Schuyler (1818-1877)[22]
  5. Angelica (Hamilton) Blatchford (1819-1868).[23]

Hamilton built a large home in the Ardsley-on-Hudson section of Irvington, New York, which he named "Nevis" in honor of his father's birthplace in the British West Indies. It was originally "a simple Greek revival building with Doric columns", but in 1889 it was "extensively remodeled" by famed architect Stanford White. In 1934, Mrs. T. Coleman DuPont gave Nevis to Columbia University for the "establishment of a horticultural and landscape architecture center."[24] Today the estate is a physics and biological research facility operated by Columbia University.[25]

Mary (Morris) Hamilton died on May 24, 1869, in New York City, New York.[26] James Alexander Hamilton died nine years later on September 24, 1878, in Irvington, New York.[27]

References

  1. ↑ Tombstone of James Alexander Hamilton. Image online at Findagrave.com Accessed on Oct 11, 2012
  2. ↑ Fell, A. London. Origins of Legislative Sovereignty and the Legislative State, Volume 1 p. 395 Greenwood Publishing Co., 1983
  3. ↑ Tombstone of James Alexander Hamilton. Image online at Findagrave.com Accessed on Oct 11, 2012
  4. ↑ Hamilton, James Alexander. Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton: or, Men and events, at home and abroad, during three quarters of a century New York: C. Scribner & co., 1869
  5. ↑ Fell, A. London. Origins of Legislative Sovereignty and the Legislative State, Volume 1 p. 395 Greenwood Publishing Co., 1983
  6. ↑ Hamilton, James Alexander. Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton: or, Men and events, at home and abroad, during three quarters of a century New York: C. Scribner & co., 1869
  7. ↑ Fell, A. London. Origins of Legislative Sovereignty and the Legislative State, Volume 1 p. 395 Greenwood Publishing Co., 1983
  8. ↑ Hamilton, James Alexander. Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton: or, Men and events, at home and abroad, during three quarters of a century New York: C. Scribner & co., 1869
  9. ↑ Fell, A. London. Origins of Legislative Sovereignty and the Legislative State, Volume 1 p. 395 Greenwood Publishing Co., 1983
  10. ↑ Hamilton, James Alexander. Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton: or, Men and events, at home and abroad, during three quarters of a century New York: C. Scribner & co., 1869
  11. ↑ Fowler, Dorothy, The cabinet politician; the postmasters general, 1829-1909, published 1967
  12. ↑ Fell, A. London. Origins of Legislative Sovereignty and the Legislative State, Volume 1 p. 395 Greenwood Publishing Co., 1983
  13. ↑ Hamilton, James Alexander. Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton: or, Men and events, at home and abroad, during three quarters of a century New York: C. Scribner & co., 1869
  14. ↑ Americana Society, ed. The American Historical Magazine, Vol. 1 New York: The Publishing Society of New York, 1906
  15. ↑ Hamilton, James Alexander. Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton: or, Men and events, at home and abroad, during three quarters of a century New York: C. Scribner & co., 1869
  16. ↑ Americana Society, ed. The American Historical Magazine, Vol. 1 New York: The Publishing Society of New York, 1906
  17. ↑ Hamilton, James Alexander. Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton: or, Men and events, at home and abroad, during three quarters of a century New York: C. Scribner & co., 1869
  18. ↑ Reynolds, Cuyler. Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation, Volume 3 pp. 1381-1385 Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1914
  19. ↑ Tombstone of Eliza Hamilton Schuyler at Findagrave.com Accessed on Oct 11, 2012
  20. ↑ Tombstone of Fanny Hamilton Bowdoin at Findagrave.com Accessed on Oct 17, 2012
  21. ↑ Tombstone of Alexander Hamilton, Jr. at Findagrave.com Accessed on Oct 11, 2012
  22. ↑ Tombstone of Mary Morris Hamilton Schuyler at Findagrave.com Accessed on Oct 17, 2012
  23. ↑ Tombstone of Angelica Hamilton Blatchford at Findagrave.com Accessed on Oct 11, 2012
  24. ↑ Adams, Arthur G. The Hudson River Guidebook p. 128 New York: Fordham University Press, 1999
  25. ↑ Nevis Labs website, accessed on Mar 28, 2013
  26. ↑ Tombstone of Mary Morris Hamilton at Findagrave.com Accessed on Oct 11, 2012
  27. ↑ Tombstone of James Alexander Hamilton. Image online at Findagrave.com Accessed on Oct 11, 2012
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