Chris Hobeiko's essay on Hamilton

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the gentlemen in this city to establish a bank on liberal principles… they are thereforehereby invited to meet tomorrow evening at six o’clock at the Merchants Coffee House,where a plan will be submitted to their consideration.” Hamilton was voted director ofthis bank and over the next three weeks drafted a constitution for it. He also received a50,000 dollar loan from the Federal Government for the bank. This constitution was usedas the pattern for many subsequent bank charters and helped to define American banking.The creation of the bank created much criticism. New Yorkers who lived upstatewanted a land bank and thought that a money bank would only benefit the urban elite, thevery same loyalists for whom Hamilton fought for prior to the creation of the bank.However despite the misgivings of these people, the bank reconciled the Patriots andLoyalist within the city who wanted to the bank to succeed. The bank also introducedorder into the American currency. Currently, the bank is the oldest stock traded on theNew York Stock Exchange.Aside from the purely economic contributions Hamilton gave to New York City,he also contributed to many local institutions. He created the Board of Regents, whichhelped to improved education in the state. He was a trustee to Columbia College,formerly Kings College of which he was a graduate. He helped to relive traffic in lowerNew York City by moving statues as well.During his tenure as Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton began issuing bondsfrom the Federal Government. The main place for selling these bonds was within NewYork City. At the onset these bonds, sold in the securities market, sky rocketed in price.However there were many corrupt price gougers in this business. Bonds could be riggedby swindlers planting false rumors and exploiting the auction system, similar to the pump
and dump techniques of many online investors in today’s market place. In order tocounter this corruption, Hamilton moved to aid in the creation of a more orderly way oftrading.On May 17, 1792, at the bequest of Hamilton 24 brokers gathered at 60 wallstreet, under a Button Wood Tree. The agreement they made there, henceforth called thebuttonwood agreement, reads as follows: We the Subscribers, Brokers for the Purchaseand Sale of the Public Stock, do hereby solemnly promise and pledge ourselves to eachother, that we will not buy or sell from this day for any person whatsoever, any kind ofPublic Stock, at least than one quarter of one percent Commission on the Specie valueand that we will give preference to each other in our Negotiations. In Testimony whereofwe have set our hands this 17 th day of May at New York, 1792.” This agreement was theprecursor of the New York Stock Exchange, a 9 trillion dollar industry, which is in manyrespects the life line of New York Cities Success to this day.Alexander Hamilton’s brilliant, logical, and economic mind helped to create thefinancial and economic capitol of the world, New York City. His defense of LoyalistsNew Yorkers, helped to retain the “Knickerbockers” society of New York City, whichwould become the leaders of this city. His creation of the Bank Of New York stabilizedAmerican currency, created trust in the American market, and helped to develop NewYork City as a trading center. The Buttonwood agreement is in fact the New York Stockexchange. Without it New York City would be undeniably less great. AlexanderHamilton’s many contributions to the City of New York have helped to make it what it istoday; one can only wonder how much greater the city would be today if his life was notcut short by his infamous duel with Aaron Burr.
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Chris Hobeiko's essay on Hamilton

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