The County Line
In this time of great stress, we need stories of success and perseverance, so here’s one about the man for whom Hamilton County is named: Alexander Hamilton.
His story is stranger than fiction. An orphan, born out of wedlock on a remote Caribbean island, Hamilton’s intelligence was recognized by an employer when he was a teenager. Hamilton was lucky enough to be sent by his employer to college in the American colonies.
He was a student in New York when the American Revolution broke out. He left school to join the army. Lucky again, he was noticed by Gen. George Washington and given trusted duties in the general’s headquarters.
Toward the end of the war, he was given a field command and led a dramatic attack on British positions that help seal the final victory at Yorktown.
Then came some of his greatest contributions. He knew that a national constitution was needed for the country. He took a lead role in ‘selling’ the constitution to the public by writing a majority of the Federalist Papers.
Washington, as president, recognizing Hamilton’s abilities, then asked him to become Secretary of the Treasury. And, he was just getting started.
The original 13 states were all broke, and the national government had no income. So, Hamilton urged the government to take over the debts of the states. Crazy idea, said the critics.
But, he had a plan. He succeeded in getting tariffs levied on foreign-made products, developed a plan to sell millions of acres in the nation’s newly acquired territory to settlers wanting to push westward, and worked to enact a national currency.
The country got back on its feet financially, and was on its way to becoming the world’s greatest industrial power rather than the agrarian society that Thomas Jefferson and others had preferred.
Hamilton’s fatal mistake came when he and the nation’s vice president, Aaron Burr, agreed to a duel. Hamilton was killed at age 56. The country knew it was a great loss. Burr, of course, was blamed and left the country.
In the years following his death, Hamilton had dozens of towns, counties, schools, streets and parks named for him. Burr had virtually nothing named for him.
Our county was, of course, one of 10 U.S. counties named for Alexander Hamilton, the guy whose likeness is on the $10 bill. But, how many people know the story that would be considered more unbelievable than a fiction novel?