Alexander Hamilton The Founding Father

The term "Founding Father" is given to the men who fought for American liberation from Britain in the 18th century and proceeded to build an independent country from the ground up. Certain names are almost synonymous with the term founding father – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin for example. However, one man who embodied the American Dream before the term was even coined and had an enormous role in shaping America is Alexander

Hamilton. Undoubtedly a lesser known figure to the general public, Hamilton is probably best known to most Americans for being on the 10-dollar bill. Hamilton was born in 1757 on the island of Nevis in the West Indies before he arrived in the colonies as an orphaned teenager, hoping to get a

He was only twenty years old.Hamilton spent the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge with Washington, and the time the Continental Army spent in Valley Forge is widely regarded as a turning oint in the war as the Army emegerged revitalised and stronger than ever. Hamilton spent four years as Washington 's aide. Hamilton was a very skilled writer and his responsibilities included writing letters to Congress, state politicians and generals in the Continental Army. It was here that his political thoughts and beliefs took shape. He was also sent as Washington 's emissary to negotiate with senior army officials and was involved in many high-risk assignments including intelligence and diplomacy. Hamilton was not content and wished to return to active combat but feared he would not get the chance as the war was coming to an end. In early 1981 Hamilton and Washington had a mild disagreement and Hamilton used this as an excuse to resign from his position on

Washington 's staff. He proceeded to ask for a field command but they two men could not agree. Ultimately, several months later Hamilton was given command of a light infantry battalion in Lafayette 's divison. He was given command of

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress could not demand taxes or money from the states. This meant there was no stable source of funding during wartime for the Continental Army and this made it difficult for them to obtain provisions and to pay soldiers. Hamilton used the discontent amongst soldiers about pay to emphasise how important tax would to be to the country and to congress. An amendment to Articles was proposed that would allow Congress to tax imports, but was rejected by Rhode Island in November

1982. Hamilton and James Madison joined forces to persuade Congress to send a delegation to convince Rhode Island to change its mind. They issued a report that argued that Congress needed financial autonomy and also that Congress needed to be able to put laws in place that would override those of individual states.

Virginia 's rescission of its ratification ended the Rhode Island negotiations.

Hamilton was frustrated at the failure of the establishment of a national funding system and at the weakness of the central government and so he drafted a call to revise the Articles of Confederation, which contained many features of the future

US Constitution. These features included a strong federal government that