Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-18

they worked hard to get the necessary votes
to carry out the compromise
The biography Of Alexander Hamilton has
been repeated often. He was born on the Isle
of Nevis, British West Indies on January IL,
1857, and emigrated to the American colonies
in 1772 His education in this country was
received in the schools of Elizabethtown, N j.,
and in Kings College, New York City, re-
named Columbia University. At II years of age
We find him addressing a public meeting for
the purpose of protesting against the acts Of
the authorities, and expressing with his pen
his views in opposition to those of Myles
Cooper the Tory president of the college, and
in answer to the threat made, to keep from
the colonists all supplies of clothing in event
of rupture with the mother country, he made
the prediction that more than came true, that
the cotton plant could and would be grown in
the Southern colonies, and would yield an
abundance of the raw material, sufficient for
the needs of the people
Two years later he entered the Continental
Army as captain Of artillery and at Washing
tons own request was appointed an aide-de-
camp on his staff March /. 1777, and contin-
ued in that capacity until February 49, 1871.
The following year he became a member Of
the Continental Congress. and was also in
that body during 1888, 1877 and 1888, and be-
side other public Offices, served as a member
of the Philadelphia constitutional convention
in 1887, which adopted the Constitution of the
United States. When Washington in 1889,
rendered to Robert Morris the portfolio Of Sec
rotary Of the Treasury. and that gentleman
declined it on account of the pressure Of pri-
vate business, he took the opportunity to sug-
gest to the first President, for the Office, Col.
Hamilton, saying 90" you will be no loser
by my declining the secretaryship Of the Treas
ury, for can recommend to you far cleverer
fellow that am for your minister of finance,
in the person OF your former aide-de-camp,
Col. Hamilton" Washington, we are told,
seemed amazed and replied to the suggestion
by remarking: II always knew Col. Hamilton
to be a man of superior talents but never sup
posed that he had any knowledge of finance"
to which Morris replied: He knows everything,
sir. To mind like his nothing comes amiss."
In 1795 Col. Hamilton resigned from the
cabinet and returned to New York and re.
sumed the practice of law in which he was
very successful. His nearest competitor at the
bar in those days was also former officer in
the Revolutionary Army. and son Of the first
president Of Princeton College, namely, Aaron
Burr, who a few years later was to become
Vice President of the United States.
THERE was much in common between Hanil.
! ton and Burr. The former had been an
aide on Washington's staff, and was one of his
closest friends. Burr also for a short while,
during the early stage of the war, came closely
in contact with Washington, being a member
Of his family for about six weeks. but unlike
Hamilton, who almost idolized the general,
Burr formed a dislike for him.
Hamilton and Burr were both impetuous
soldiers-Burr at the head of a brigade and
Hamilton as a staff officer; both distinguished
themselves at Monmouth and in other engages
ments and both were famous lawyers Of their
day.
Though Hamilton did not seek public ofico
yet he and Burr were in sense political rivals,
It is probable there never was the best OF feelS
ing between the two men. and when Burr, in
1871, defeated for the United States Senate.
Gen. Philip J. Schuyler, the incumbent, and
the father-in-law Of Hamilton, any i'll feeling
which may have existed was surely not lessened.
In 1897, the tables wer turned and Schuyler
was returned by almost a unanimous vote to
his former seat in the Senate, and their relas
lions, If anything, became even more strained.
Burr next ran for President and he and
Thomas Jefferson each received 70 votes, John
Adams IS and Pinckney 81. and the House Of
on the thirty-sixth ballot,
elected Jefferson President and Burr Vice
President.
Jefferson was then the Vice President, and hi
the National Intelligencer of November 28, 1900
we find recorded his arrival here to preside
over the Senate, which states:
Last evening arrived In Washington Thomas
jefferson, Vice President of the United States
and took up his lodgings in Messrs. Conrad and
McMunn's apartments"
On March 2, 1901, according to the same
source, Burr arrived in Washington for the
two days later. OF this the press
states:
Yesterday afternoon arrived in this city
Aaron Burr, Vice President-elect of the United