His illegitimate birth and unfortunate early circumstances meant he was a self-made man, but perhaps he remained, as John Adams called him, just a "bastard brat." Throughout his life he was preoccupied with honor, but the circumstances surrounding his duel with Aaron Burr may suggest only that Burr, who for the sake of honor shot him in the early morning hours of 11 July 1804, was merely the greater scoundrel.
Scholars have long considered 1757 the year of Hamilton's birth, but the earlier date of 1755, though it does take away some of his legendary precocity, seems more probable. Hamilton's mother, Rachel Fawcett Lavien of the British West Indies, had left her abusive husband in 1750. She soon began living with James Hamilton, a younger son of a Scotch family and an immigrant to the islands.
This is a free page. This page contains 124 words. This
biography contains 8,196 words (approx. 27 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our Alexander Hamilton Access Pass.
