"I consider Napoleon, Fox, and Hamilton the three greatest men of our epoch, and if I were forced to decide between the three, I would give without hesitation the first place to Hamilton. He divined Europe."" "Charles Maurice de Talleyrand.
Before earning such a glowing acclamation from the French statesman, Alexander Hamilton had a rocky road to travel (USA Hamilton 1). In the first twenty-one years of his life, Alexander Hamilton struggled for a chance to prove himself and gain recognition of his abilities (Hamilton 1). He was also painfully aware that, having no money, family connections, or inherited prestige, nothing would be handed to him. He would have to work harder and excel beyond everyone else in order to make a name for himself, which is what he resolved to do early on (USA Hamilton 1). Even though Hamilton went through a lot of hardships, he grew stronger, and a lot of his experiences shaped him into the man that he came to be. Illegitimacy, abandonment, life in the Caribbean, and a devastating hurricane marked the early years of the highly intelligent young man and undoubtedly did much to supply the urgent drive that characterized his later career. .
Urbane and witty Governor Morris was asked to deliver Alexander Hamilton's funeral oration, and he "confided to his diary the problems that the assignment presented- (Hecht 1). "The first point of his biography,"" Morris said, "is that he was a stranger of illegitimate birth; some plan must be contrived to pass over this handsomely- (Hecht 1). It is clear that Hamilton led an illegitimate childhood, but he eventually overcame these hardships for the most part (Hecht 2). .
Hamilton's early life and the lives of his family members were set in the small islands "the Leeward and the Virgin Islands "that rim the northeast corner of the Caribbean. Rachel Faucett, Hamilton's mother, was born on Nevis, but went to St.