One of the most vivid, influential, and controversial figures of the American founding, Alexander Hamilton, was an unusually prolific and vigorous writer. As a military aid to George Washington, critic of the Articles of Confederation, proponent of ratification of the Constitution, first Secretary of the Treasury, and leader of the Federalist party, Hamilton devoted himself to the creation of a miltarily and economically powerful nation guided by a strong, energetic republican givernment. His public and private writings demonstrate the perceptive intelligence, confident advocacy, driving ambition, and profound concern for honor and reputation that contributed both to his astonishing rise to fame and to his tragic early death.