While at King's, Hamilton wrote anonymous pamphlets for newspapers and exhibited a solid grasp and knowledge of the British and American governments [http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/hamilton.html]. Hamilton soon joined the Continental Army in 1776 as a captain of Artillery, and in 1777 became a member of the staff of George Washington. .
Hamilton dealt constantly with the Continental Congress while serving as a member of Washington's staff. Hamilton worked so devoutly and close to Washington that one person said,.
"Many people, foreign visitors in particular, often mistook Hamilton as Washington's Prime Minister because of his extremely close advisory position to Washington. Hamilton, contrary to popular knowledge, was in essence Washington's prime minister [http://odur html]."".
Through his dealings with the Continental Congress, Hamilton came to see the need for a more centralized government, in particular, a central authority. Hamilton refuted the Articles of Confederation and proposed a Constitutional convention. .
During the framing and ratification of the Constitution, Hamilton was regarded as a radical because his ideas and proposals were too extreme in the strengthening of the central government. Some of these extreme ideas were 1) state governors would appointed by the president, 2) the president and senators would hold office for life, and 3) the Congress would retain exclusive authority to make all the laws of the country [http://xroads.Virginia.edu/~CAP/ham/hamilton]. .
Hamilton expressed his belief in a very centralized authority by saying,.
"The idea of a council to the Executive, which has so generally obtained in the State Constitutions, has been derived from that maxim of Republican jealousy which considers power safer in the hands of a number of men than of a single man the executive power is more easily confined when it is one; that it is far more safe there should be a single object for the jealousy and watchfulness of a people; and in a word, that all multiplication of the Executive is rather dangerous than friendly to liberty [Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, No.
