America's first Treasury Secretary, architect of strong federalism and modern finance
One of America's founding fathers and first Secretary of the Treasury. Born a poor illegitimate child, he rose by talent and drive into Washington's inner circle of aides. At the founding, he single-handedly designed America's fiscal and financial system: a national bank, unified assumption of the states' debts, the establishment of federal credit — laying a powerful economic skeleton for a weak new nation. He argued for a strong central government, set head-on against Jefferson's advocacy of states' rights, and this struggle of 'federal vs. states' shaped American politics for two centuries. He died in a duel.
Hamilton and his rival Aaron Burr had long been at odds, and in 1804 the two dueled. Hamilton, it is said, deliberately fired into the air, but Burr shot him, and he died the next day. A man who had built America's financial skeleton, whose face is still on the ten-dollar bill, ended his life in the most ancient, most personal of ways — yet his vision of a strong federal union became reality step by step after his death.
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