Again, when one looks for reasons for Hamilton’s high erudition, it is available in his childhood years. In the Caribbean Islands where he spent most of his early years, the overall standard of education and culture is not advanced, as these islands were primarily exploited as arable plantation lands. Added to this disadvantage, Hamilton’s parents and guardians were also not a constant in his life. In this climate, his private collection of thirty odd Greek and Roman Classic works of literature served as education, entertainment and solace. And this strong foundation in the classics partially explains the breadth and depth of Hamilton’s political thought during his later career. This is best reflected in his role as the first Secretary of the Treasury and the unofficial aide to George Washington. (Miller, 1959, p.65)
In his capacity as the Secretary of Treasury, Hamilton was instrumental in designing the American bureaucracy, which prevails even to this day. In his unofficial capacity as the confidante and aide of the first President, Hamilton also wrote many of the Presidential addresses, most notable of which is the Farewell Address delivered by Washington at the end of his second term. Hamilton’s contribution to the development of the economic system is more profound though. Inspired by such economic thinkers as Postlethwayt, Richard Price, Adam Smith and Wyndham Beawes, Hamilton strongly supported a market-based economy in which private enterprise would be encouraged. (White 2000, 186)
The growth trajectory of the American economy in the last two centuries will reinforce the lasting legacy of Hamilton’s ideas. Firstly, the financial panic of 1792 was largely withstood due to the safety mechanisms already put in place by him as Secretary of the Treasury. The policies of economic nationalism proposed by Hamilton had been pivotal in the United States catching up leading economies of the nineteenth century like Britain. By the time Hamilton’s term as Secretary of Treasury was completed in 1795, the United States economy was comprised of six crucial institutional elements that continue to shape contemporary economic outcomes as well. These are “stable public finances and debt management; stable money; an effective central bank; a functioning banking system; active securities markets; and a growing number of business corporations, financial and non-financial”. (Rust, 1999, 46)
Such economic foundations laid by Hamilton also contributed to lifting agrarian and backward regions such as the American South and West toward industrialization. The effects are easy to see, as by the end of the nineteenth century, the South was home to several manufacturing industries. One could trace the eventual economic and industrial development of the United States to the reports Hamilton presented to the Congress in his capacity as the Secretary of Treasury. His key insights in matters of public credit, manufacturing and national banking would transform the country’s economy from agrarian to industrial. (Rust, 1999, 46)