Chronology
From St. Croix to the Treasury
Hamilton’s life spans fifty years of extraordinary upheaval — colonial poverty, revolution, nation-building, political warfare, and a fatal duel. This timeline traces the sequence that turned a teenage orphan into the architect of the American financial system.
c. 1755
Born in Charlestown, Nevis
Born to Rachel Faucette and James Hamilton on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies. His birth year is disputed — Hamilton himself sometimes claimed 1757 — but most historians place it around 1755. His early life was marked by poverty, abandonment, and the death of his mother.
1772
The Hurricane Letter changes everything
A letter Hamilton writes describing the devastating hurricane in St. Croix moves local readers so deeply that community leaders raise funds to send him to New York for an education. It is the first proof of what will become his defining weapon.
1776–1781
Revolutionary War aide-de-camp
Hamilton serves as General George Washington's chief aide, writing letters, orders, and intelligence dispatches. He earns battlefield glory at Yorktown in 1781, leading a bayonet charge on a British redoubt.
1787–1788
51 Federalist Papers in one year
Hamilton authors 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers under the pseudonym "Publius," making the intellectual and political case for ratifying the Constitution and forging a strong federal government.
1789–1795
First Secretary of the Treasury
Appointed by President Washington, Hamilton constructs the nation's financial architecture from scratch: a national bank, a federal mint, a system for managing war debt, and the foundations of American capitalism.
1790
Report on Public Credit
Hamilton's landmark document proposes that the federal government assume all state debts from the Revolution. Transformative and deeply controversial, it establishes American creditworthiness on the world stage.
1802
Builds The Grange
Hamilton constructs his only home — a Federal-style house in upper Manhattan — named after his grandfather's estate in Scotland. A rare domestic retreat from the political storms that will soon consume him.
1804
The duel with Aaron Burr
After years of political rivalry, Vice President Aaron Burr challenges Hamilton to a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton is fatally wounded on July 11, 1804, and dies the following day at forty-nine.
Hamilton died on July 12, 1804, the day after the duel. He was forty-nine years old. His death shocked the nation and effectively ended Aaron Burr’s political career. Hamilton was buried at Trinity Church in lower Manhattan, a few blocks from the site of his greatest institutional achievements.