Page 178 - Beers With Our Founding Fathers

Beers with our Founding Fathers

he was Washington’s trusted advisor and aid in composing letters,

reports and other communiques. The highlight of Hamilton’s
military career was the leading of a charge in the Battle of Yorktown.

One of the key successes of Yorktown (New York), this would soon
see the English army surrender, an end to the war, but not the

challenges of a new nation.
Following the American War for Independence, Hamilton

attended to studying the law and passing the bar. He settled in New
York City, where he would solidify his reputation defending Loyalists

(English supporters). During the war, homes and businesses were
abandoned by Tories (Colonial supporters). Loyalists occupied the

abandoned homes and businesses, until after the war when the
legal owners would return and sue under the Trespass Act.

Hamilton played a key role in having this act overturned, after
successfully defending multiple cases of trespass for the Loyalists. In

1784, he argued in Rutgers v. Waddington, which established the
case law of judicial review. Also in 1784 he established the Bank of

New York. With his self-made prominence and establishment of the
Bank of New York, it was fitting that he would be our Country’s first

Secretary of the Treasury, from 1789 to 1795, and one of
Washington’s most trusted advisors. With Thomas Jefferson as

Washington’s Secretary of State, Washington had two of the most
sought after advisors; but they conflicted with each other in the

advice they would give Washington. This included the type of

banking system and managing the post-war debts of the new
country and states.

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