... opportunities in life. This is evidenced by a letter written to his friend Edward Stevens at the age of fourteen on Nov. 11, 1769 where he stated, "my ambition is so prevalent that I contemn the groveling and condition of a clerk or the like,... and would willingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt my station." During adolescence, Hamilton had few opportunities for regular schooling. However, he possessed a commanding knowledge of French, due to the teaching of his late mother. Hamilton was first published in the Royal Danish-American Gazette with his description of the terrible hurricane of August 30th, 1772 that gutted the town of Christiansted. Impressed by this, an opportunity to gain his education was provided by family friends. Hamilton arrived at the grammar school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey in the autumn of 1772. One year later, in 1774, Hamilton graduated and entered King's College ...

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