"People give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this: when I found a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. My mind becomes pervaded with it. The effort which I have made is what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor and thought."
Alexander Hamilton was born on the West Indian island of Nevis, probably in 1755 and was one of the most influential of the United States' founding fathers. As the first secretary of the treasury he placed the new nation on a firm financial footing, and although his advocacy of strong national government brought him into bitter conflict with Thomas Jefferson and others, his political philosophy was ultimately to prevail in governmental development. Hamilton's own career was terminated prematurely when he was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804.
