Alexander Hamilton at 4 years old

Because we look at anything connected to Fort Loudoun and Virginia as well as George Washington during these French and Indian War years, we wonder what one man is doing now. That person is Alexander Hamilton. He's 4 years old in 1759.

He's going to become the most influential man, more than anyone else in Washington's Presidential cabinet, populated by the best and brightest. Hamilton had the ear of Washington the most. Hamilton will beat out all those men for influencing in his own day and that of the future. It is mostly Hamilton's vision shaping the America we have today. Not Jefferson's. A bustling city and banking system was not Jefferson's agrarian economy. Did both agree on liberty? Yes. But Hamilton was an abolitionist. Jefferson did not know how to solve that problem. Hamilton favored a stronger executive branch. Jefferson favored a stronger legislative branch. Both championed the bipolar political party split that harries our nation to this day.

Did we miss George Washington's contribution here? He was the indispensable glue that held this jenga game toghether.

So . . . what was Hamilton's life like at age 4 in the Carribean?

His early years saw the sights and sounds of these two islands.

Nevis became the seat of the British colony and the Admiralty Court also sat in Nevis. Between 1675 and 1730, the island was the headquarters for the slave trade for the Leeward Islands, with approximately 6,000–7,000 enslaved West Africans passing through en route to other islands each year. The Royal African Company brought all its ships through Nevis. - wikipedia.

Let us linger on that Admiralty court and the amount of slave trade a moment.

That central court is significant because pirates and bucanneers and the accused were brought to Nevis from all the islands in the area. This created a lore of colorful stories -- stories that Hamilton heard. Duels were also prosecuted at this court.

And the slaves? Not only did his own family own them, but so too this population and the cruelty shown to them is also what Hamilton saw. He became a staunch abolitionist in the forming of a new Republic.

These colorful stories of the courts and the cruel slave trade contrasted to the heavenly, unworldly beauty of the islands.

This is what Hamilton saw.

Rachel Faucette was Alexander Hamilton's mom. Rachel's first husband was a nightmare. He had failed in his business. The difficulties of this eventually led to disunion and her husband throwing Rachel into jail on St Croix. The huge fort there was used as a prison.

She survived that.