美国名人榜5：亚历山大•汉密尔顿

英语自学网

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        亚历山大·汉密尔顿（Alexander Hamilton，1757年1月11日 - 1804年7月12日）是美国的开国元勋之一，宪法的起草人之一，财经专家，是美国的第一任财政部长。因政党恶斗而丧失生命的知名政治人物。
        亚历山大·汉密尔顿从一个来自英属西印度群岛的私生子和无家可归的孤儿，一跃成为乔治·华盛顿最信任的左膀右臂，但后来卷入一桩性丑闻，在与副总统阿伦·伯尔的决斗中命丧黄泉。在美国的开国元勋中，没有哪位的生与死比亚历山大·汉密尔顿更富戏剧色彩了。在为美国后来的财富和势力奠定基础方面，也没有哪位开国老臣的功劳比得上汉密尔顿。虽然他也身为美国建国之父之一，却始终没能象别的人那样做上美国总统，而且在与其主要政治对手托马斯·杰斐逊（Thomas Jefferson）的竞争中更似乎是输得惨不忍睹，可孰料——历史的戏剧性就在于此——在其过世之后，他的政治遗产，包括“工业建国之路”和建立一个强有力的中央政府等等，却在此后的美国历史中起着越来越显著的作用。甚至一些影响了美国历史进程的总统，如林肯和西奥多·罗斯福（Theodore Roosevelt），他们所施行的政策就是建立在汉密尔顿的遗产基础上的。
       
        Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 – July 12, 1804) was the first United StatesSecretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher. Aide-de-campto General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War, he was a leader ofnationalist forces calling for a new Constitution; he was one of America's first Constitutionallawyers, and wrote most of the Federalist Papers, a primary source for Constitutionalinterpretation. He was the financial expert of Washington's administration; the Federalist Partyformed to support his policies.Born and raised in the Caribbean, Hamilton attended King's College (now Columbia University) in New York.
       
        At the start of the American Revolutionary War, he organized an artillery company and was chosenas its captain. Hamilton became the senioraide-de-camp and confidant to General GeorgeWashington, the American commander-in-chief. After the war, Hamilton was elected to theContinental Congress from New York, but he resigned to practice law and found the Bank of NewYork. He served in the New York Legislature, and he was the only New Yorker who signed the U.S. Constitution. He wrote about half the Federalist Papers, which secured its ratification by NewYork; they are still the most important unofficial interpretation of the Constitution. In the newgovernment under President Washington he became Secretary of the Treasury. An admirer ofBritish political systems, Hamilton was a nationalist who emphasized strong central governmentand successfully argued that the implied powers of the Constitution could be used to fund thenational debt, assume state debts, and create the government-owned Bank of the United States. These programs were funded primarily by a ariff on imports and a highly controversial whiskeytax.