HAMILTON, ALEXANDER

born Jan. 11, 1755/57, Nevis, British West Indies died July 12, 1804, New York City New York delegate to the Constitutional Convention (1787), major author of the Federalist papers, and first secretary of the Treasury of the United States (178995), who was the foremost champion of a strong central government for the new United States. He was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr. Additional reading Hamilton's public and private life is examined by Nathan Schachner, Alexander Hamilton (1946, reissued 1961), well-balanced and readable; Broadus Mitchell, Alexander Hamilton, 2 vol. (195762), a scholarly study; and John Chester Miller, Alexander Hamilton: Portrait in Paradox (1959, reprinted 1979), strong on his public career. Harvey Flaumenhaft, The Effective Republic: Administration and Constitution in the Thought of Alexander Hamilton (1992); and Forrest McDonald, Alexander Hamilton (1979, reissued 1982), reexamine his political philosophy. Jacob Ernest Cooke, Alexander Hamilton (1982); and Marie B. Hecht, Odd Destiny: The Life of Alexander Hamilton (1982), are political biographies.