New Jersey Baby Boomer

As we look at the Primaries and Caucuses leading up to the election of our next President, my thoughts turned towards leaders that carried out historic moments here in New Jersey. This post focuses on a government leader who had everything to live for, but his life ended in Weehawken, NJ in a famous duel. His name was Alexander Hamilton. A few of the things he is noted for follow:

• He was born in the West Indies, an illegitimate child to Rachel Fawcett Lavien and James Hamilton.
• He came to America around 1772 and lived in NY
• His guardian hoped to enroll him in College of New Jersey, but he ended up attending what would become Columbia University in New York
• He enlisted in the militia, his skills caught the eye of George Washington who commissioned him as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army
• He lead a regiment in the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.
• He was an elected member of the Continental Congress
• and his accomplishments go on, including being the first Secretary of Treasury

But the part of his life that capture the imagination, as if all the above isn’t enough, is how his life ended. After leaving the government, Hamilton returned to law. He did not support the leader of the nation at that time, President John Adams, and was against his re-election in 1800. He also did not like Aaron Burr who was running for the Presidency, hoping to win over Thomas Jefferson. Now Hamilton didn’t like Jefferson or his policies, but he decided to support Jefferson over Burr because he didn’t think Burr was a man of principle.

This angered Burr, and he challenged Hamilton to a duel…I thought these were things that you just saw in movies, or Westerns, not actions that were carried out by civilized men, but I am obviously wrong, because Hamilton took Burr up on his challenge. On July 11th of 1804 the two men met in Weehawken, NJ. From accounts that I have read, Hamilton shot his gun into the air, perhaps not wanting to actually do harm, and with his military training and skills, I’m sure he could easily have hit his mark. However, Burr aimed directly at his opponent, and Hamilton died the next day of his wound. He is buried in New York City at Trinity Church Yard.

What surprised me is that the man who was the first Secretary of the Treasury for our country left his wife and his 7 children with a large number of debts that they could not pay, but those debts were paid by friends who appreciated his service our Nation.