Hamilton portrait by John Trumbull
On this day in 1804, military officer, lawyer, financier, political theorist, economist, philosopher, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton died from a gunshot wound suffered in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr along the west bank of the Hudson River on a rocky ledge in Weehawken, New Jersey, at the age of either 47 or 49. Born 11 January in 1755 or 1757 in Charlestown, the capital of the island of Nevis, in the Caribbean Sea; Nevis was then one of the British West Indies.
He was an influential interpreter and promoter of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the founder of the nation’s financial system, the Federalist Party, the United States Coast Guard, and the New York Post newspaper. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was the main author of the economic policies of George Washington’s administration. He took the lead in the Federal government’s funding of the states’ debts, as well as establishing the nation’s first two de facto central banks, the Bank of North America and the First Bank of the United States, a system of tariffs, and friendly trade relations with Britain. His vision included a strong central government led by a vigorous executive branch, a strong commercial economy, government-controlled banks, support for manufacturing, and a strong military.
Hamilton was born out of wedlock. He was orphaned as a child and taken in by a prosperous merchant. When he reached his teens, he was sent to New York to pursue his education. He took an early role in the militia as the American Revolutionary War began. In 1777, he became a senior aide to General Washington in running the new Continental Army. After the war, he was elected as a representative from New York to the Congress of the Confederation. He resigned to practice law and founded the Bank of New York before entering politics. Hamilton was a leader in seeking to replace the weak confederal government under the Articles of Confederation; he led the Annapolis Convention of 1786, which spurred Congress to call a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. He helped ratify the Constitution by writing 51 of the 85 installments of The Federalist Papers, which are still used as one of the most important references for Constitutional interpretation.
Hamilton led the Treasury Department as a trusted member of President Washington’s first Cabinet. Hamilton successfully argued that the implied powers of the Constitution provided the legal authority to fund the national debt, to assume states’ debts, and to create the government-backed Bank of the United States (the First Bank of the United States). These programs were funded primarily by a tariff on imports, and later by a controversial whiskey tax. He opposed friendly relations with the French revolutionaries. Hamilton’s views became the basis for the Federalist Party, which was opposed to the Democratic-Republican Party led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. In 1795, he returned to the practice of law in New York. He called for mobilization against the French First Republic in 1798–99 under President John Adams, and became Commanding General of the U.S. Army, which he reconstituted, modernized, and readied for war. The army did not see combat in the Quasi-War, and Hamilton was outraged by Adams’ diplomatic approach to the crisis with France. His opposition to Adams’ re-election helped cause the Federalist party defeat in 1800. Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied for the presidency in the electoral college, and Hamilton helped to defeat Burr, whom he found unprincipled, and to elect Jefferson despite philosophical differences.
Hamilton continued his legal and business activities in New York City, and was active in ending the legality of the international slave trade. Vice President Burr ran for governor of New York State in 1804, and Hamilton campaigned against him as unworthy. Taking offense, Burr challenged him to a duel on July 11, 1804, in which Burr shot and mortally wounded Hamilton. Hamilton is generally regarded as an astute and intellectually brilliant politician and financier, if often impetuous. His ideas are credited with laying the foundation for American government and finance.
The Final Footprint – Hamilton is entombed in a marble tomb in the graveyard of Trinity Church at Wall Street and Broadway in Lower Manhattan. His epitaph reads; The PATRIOT of incorruptible INTEGRITY. The SOLDIER of approved VALOUR. The STATESMAN of consummate WISDOM; Whose TALENTS and VIRTUES will be admired Grateful Posterity. Long after this MARBLE shall have mouldered into DUST.
#RIP #OTD in 1926, writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist Gertrude Bell died in Baghdad of an apparent overdose of sleeping pills at the age of 57. British cemetery in Baghdad’s Bab al-Sharji district
#RIP #OTD in 1935 French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history, Alfred Dreyfus died in Paris aged 75. Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris
On this day in 1973, the son of famous silent film actor, Lon Chaney, actor Lon Chaney, Jr. died of heart failure at age 67 in San Clemente, California. Born Creighton Tull Chaney on 10 February 1906 in Oklahoma City. Perhaps best known for playing such characters as The Wolf Man, The Mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster and Count Alucard for Universal. He is also notable for portraying Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men. From Warren Zevon’s song “Werewolves of London”; Well, I saw Lon Chaney walking with the Queen, / Doing the Werewolves of London / I saw Lon Chaney, Jr. walking with the Queen / Doing the Werewolves of London.
The Final Footprint – His body was donated for medical research. Chaney’s corpse was dissected by medical students, and the medical school kept his liver and lungs in jars as specimens of what extreme alcohol and tobacco abuse can do to human organs. There is no grave to mark his final resting place.
#RIP #OTD in 1979 singer-songwriter (“Lovin’ You”), the “Queen of the Whistle Register”, Minnie Riperton died from breast cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in the arms of her husband Richard Rudolph, aged 31. Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, Los Angeles
On this day in 2008, baseball player, 5x All-Star, New York Yankee, Bobby Murcer died from brain cancer, surrounded by his family at his home in Oklahoma City at the age of 62. Born Bobby Ray Murcer on 20 May 1946 in Oklahoma City.
He played for 17 seasons between 1965 and 1983, mostly with the Yankees, whom he later rejoined as a longtime broadcaster.
Murcer married his high school sweetheart, Diana Kay Rhodes (known as “Kay”), in 1966. They were married for 42 years until his death.
The Final Footprint – Yankees owner George Steinbrenner issued a statement following his death: “Bobby Murcer was a born Yankee, a great guy, very well-liked and a true friend of mine. I extend my deepest sympathies to his wife Kay, their children and grandchildren. I will really miss the guy.” Baseball commissioner Bud Selig eulogized, “All of Major League Baseball is saddened today by the passing of Bobby Murcer, particularly on the eve of this historic All-Star game at Yankee Stadium, a place he called home for so many years. Bobby was a gentleman, a great ambassador for baseball, and a true leader both on and off the field. He was a man of great heart and compassion.” The memorial service for Bobby was held in Edmond, OK on 6 August 2008, at the Memorial Road Church of Christ. Among the some 2,000 attending the memorial were Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Joe Girardi. Also in attendance Diana Munson, widow of Yankee captain Thurman Munson. The August 6 date was 29 years, to the day, since Murcer gave a eulogy at Munson’s funeral and is also the 25th anniversary of Bobby Murcer Day at Yankee Stadium. The uniform worn by Murcer at his final Yankee Stadium Old Timer’s Day appearance in 2007 was presented to his spouse Kay. Murcer is entombed in Rose Hill Mausoleum, in Oklahoma City, in the left side of the building.
#RIP #OTD 2020 actress (Mischief, Twins, Jerry Maguire, For Love of the Game, The Experts, Gotti, SpaceCamp, The Cat in the Hat, What a Girl Wants, Sky High, Old Dogs) Kelly Preston died at her home in Clearwater, Florida, from breast cancer, aged 57. Cremation
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