War Hero Alexander Hamilton’s Legacy and D.A.R.

Founding Father Alexander Hamilton was a solution seeker and he usually found what he was searching for.  As a homeless, parentless, 12-year old boy on an isolated Caribbean island, he “wished there was a war” thinking that it  would give him the opportunity to be somebody in the world.  Through hard work, providential contacts, and personal grit, he migrated to the United States of America and rose up to be the right-hand-man for General George Washington. He also became a Revolutionary War Hero, leading the final victorious battle over the British at Yorktown.

After the war, President Washington appointed Hamilton as America’s first Treasury Secretary, responsible for creating what many believe eventually became the best economic system in the world.

• When states needed to pay their fair share in order for the Union to survive, Hamilton devised a tax system which provided the foundation for the IRS.
• When he needed to stop sea smugglers from evading taxation, Hamilton created an organization that evolved into the US Coast Guard.
• When his detractors threatened  to destroy the proposed US Constitution, Hamilton wrote 51 of 85 supportive essays,—known as the Federalist Papers—which helped convince the states to ratify the US Constitution.
• When he felt that he was being stifled and censored by his many enemies, Hamilton helped start the New York Evening Post, which still exists today as the New York Post.

Although he played a major role as a Founding Father, why was Alexander Hamilton’s impact minimized in most US History curriculum books?  In fact, in 2015  the US Treasury Department planned to replace Hamilton’s image on the ten-dollar bill.  Why did they want to remove him and what made them change their decision?  How are these historical events related to D.A.R today?

Discover answers to these and other questions at Helena Reynolds’ Hamilton  D.A.R. workshop via Zoom at noon on Saturday, March 6, 2021 hosted by the Peter Puget Chapter, NSDAR.   For additional information or to request a free link, email helena@helenareynolds.net.