Signing Their Rights Away by Denise Kiernan Read Free Book Online

ideas weren’t popular with everyone. Many people were still concerned about the federal government growing too powerful, and Hamilton’s aggressive policies, some believed, were just makingmatters worse. No one expressed these views more consistently than Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, whose constant bickering with Hamilton would lay the groundwork for the two-party political system that exists in the United States to this day.
    Jefferson argued that Hamilton didn’t understand the plight of the common man, which is plenty ironic, given that Hamilton grew up parentless and penniless while Jefferson was a patrician planter’s son. Their supporters tended to divide along class lines, with Federalists (city-dwelling bankers and businessmen) supporting Hamilton and Democratic-Republicans (pioneers and small farmers) supporting Jefferson.
    Hamilton wrote a good bit of Washington’s famous farewell address before another Federalist, John Adams, was set to take office. Though Hamilton and Adams belonged to the same party, they were far from friends. In the 1800 election, Hamilton blasted Adams in a missive titled “Letter from Alexander Hamilton Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams.” After Aaron Burr, the vice-presidential candidate for the Democratic-Republican Party, leaked a copy to the newspapers, the Federalist Party was divided and Thomas Jefferson waltzed into the White House. No wonder Adams bad-mouthed Hamilton as “a bastard brat of a Scotch peddler.”
    Of course, this wouldn’t be the last time that Hamilton and Burr crossed paths. In 1804, Burr ran for governor of New York against a Democratic-Republican and wanted the support of Federalists. Naturally, Hamilton urged his fellow party members to support Burr’s opponent and even wrote newspaper editorials describing Burr as dangerous and untrustworthy. The smear tactics worked. Burr lost the election and was so angry that he challenged Hamilton to a duel. The two-pistol dance with death was on.
    The encounter was scheduled for July 11, 1804, on the west bank of the Hudson River, near what is now Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton’s shot went wide, but Burr’s aim was true. A woundedHamilton was rowed across the Hudson to New York City and died the next day, July 12, at age forty-nine. Burr fled the city and was charged with murder, though he never stood trial.
    If you wish to commune with the spirit of Hamilton, a plaque in Weehawken commemorates the duel. Hamilton is buried in Trinity Church, in the heart of New York’s financial district. His house, known as the Grange, is a National Park site in New York City and is open to the public. The home has the notoriety of having been relocated not once, but twice. For its most recent move, the house had to be lifted off the ground, hoisted into the air on a platform of stilts, and transported over the corner of a neighboring church before being rolled to its new location in Saint Nicholas Park in Harlem.
    Of course, if you’re not in the mood for travel, you can simply head to your local ATM and snag a $10 bill. Hamilton is one of only three nonpresidents (along with Benjamin Franklin and Salmon P. Chase) to be honored on U.S. paper currency.

V. New Jersey

The Signer-Poet
    BORN : November 30?, 1723
    DIED : July 25, 1790
    AGE AT SIGNING : 63
    PROFESSION : Lawyer, writer, shipowner
    BURIED : Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

    William Livingston may have believed the pen was mightier than the sword, but he was willing to take up both, as needed, throughout his life. A would-be painter who longed to be a gentleman farmer, Livingston set aside his dreams to obey his family’s wishes: he went to law school. If his creativity wasn’t encouraged, it was never completely extinguished either. He exhibited fresh ideas through his writing throughout the course of a distinguished political career.
    The Livingston family was a financial and social powerhouse in New York and beyond.