Additional content that, in the print edition, was collected in appendices appears here in its proper chronological place there is also a cumulative index, and all cross-references are linked. This digital edition contains all 27 volumes of the print edition of the Papers-all the writings by and to Hamilton known to exist, some 19,000 documents-including all editorial annotations. The cast comprises the most notable personages of the era, including the early presidents, the Marquis de Lafayette, John Jay, and archrival Aaron Burr, with whom he had his fatal duel.

Hamilton’s writings take us from the front lines of the Revolutionary War to the Congress of the Confederation to the early days of Manhattan Island. Hamilton was also the primary author of the Federalist Papers, to this day perhaps the most consulted commentary on the Constitution both in the academy and in our courts. A lawyer in his private life, he was the only person from New York to sign the Constitution and fought tirelessly for its ratification. Hamilton remains one of the key figures in American legal history. Despite his reluctance to see America split into factions, Hamilton’s Federalists-who called for a strong central government and a national bank-signaled the emergence of political parties in the young nation. Though never a president himself, he was a crucial advisor in Washington’s administration-where he served as the nation’s first secretary of the Treasury-and greatly influenced, not always benevolently, the elections of both Adams and Jefferson. We remember him above all as the nation’s first great fiscal voice, but his accomplishments extend into the arenas of diplomacy, law, warfare, and political strategy. His influence on our nation, however, has been consistent and profound.

Killed before he was fifty in the most famous duel in American history, Alexander Hamilton had the shortest life of all the major founding fathers and experienced a career filled with as much controversy as triumph. No Access? Click here for a free trial, or here to tell your librarian that you'd like it

Alexander hamilton and the federalists