Alexander Hamilton's History
...g with what she could, opened a shop. That didn’t fully pull the family through, though. Hamilton stepped up to the plate and started working at a trading firm in St. Croiz (now known as the Virgin Islands). He did so well during those two years with the firm, that they decided to send him to a preparatory school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Later, friends sent him to King’s college (modernly known as Columbia University) in New York City. Though Hamilton was doing great in school, the developing revolt against Britain interrupted his studies. He enlisted in the New York Artillery and moved up in rank just as quickly as he did in past situations and soon became a captain. When Hamilton met George Washington, he favored Hamilton and he served under Washington with the title of Lieutenant Colonel. By March 1776, Hamilton was delegated captain in the regional artillery. In this he brought together a group of people under his command. This brigade starred in a leading roll by saving George Washington’s main army from the British under Lord Cornwallis. He moved up to aide-de-camp under the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in February 1777. Hamilton was trusted with important missions and Washington’s correspondence. Because of Hamilton’s fluent French, he became liaison officer between Washington and the French Generals and Admirals. All of this, though wasn’t good enough for Hamilton, he wanted more. In order to connect himself with wealth and influence, Hamilton married the daughter of the “head of one of New York’s most distinguished families”, Elizabeth Schuyler. Hamilton was later promoted to command of a battalion at the siege of Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown. When the war was nearing its end, he moved to Albany where he studied law and was licensed to practice in 1782. He was then elected to the Continental Congress where he argued for a stronger central government. About a year later, the constitution was approved, partly under Hamilton’s influence. Hamilton didn’t stop there, of course. Once Washington was president (in 1789), he made Hamilton the secretary of treasury. Ha...