''A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress'' was one of

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

's first published works, published in December 1774, while Hamilton was either a 19 or a 17-year-old student at King's College, later renamed Columbia University, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

.Joseph C. Morton, ''Shapers of the Great Debate at the Constitutional Convention of 1787: A Biographical Dictionary'' (2006), Greenword: p. 125. James Flexner, ''The Young Hamilton: A Biography'' (1978), Fordham University Press: p. 67. In this

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...

, dated December 15, 1774, Hamilton defended the actions of the

First Continental Congress The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that became the United States. It met from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after the British Navy ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

against the accusations of author A.W. Farmer ("A Westchester Farmer"),Ross N. Hebb, ''Samuel Seabury and Charles Inglis: Two Bishops, Two Churches'' (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (2010), p. 114. a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Samuel Seabury Samuel Seabury (November 30, 1729February 25, 1796) was the first American Episcopal bishop, the second Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and the first Bishop of Connecticut. He was a leading Loyalist ...

, Episcopal

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Westchester County, who had written an incendiary

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

pamphlet attacking the Congress, ''Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress'', dated November 16, 1774. Most political essays of the time were written under pen names.

Ron Chernow Ronald Chernow (; born March 3, 1949) is an American writer, journalist and biographer. He has written bestselling historical non-fiction biographies. He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the 2011 American History Book Prize for his ...

, ''Alexander Hamilton'' (2005), Penguin: pp. 57-58. The identity of Farmer was not known at the time Hamilton wrote his reply, although it was generally thought that the author was among the Anglican ministers who were among the most articulate Loyalists. Hamilton might have believed, as others did at the time, that the author of ''Free Thoughts'' was the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of his own college, the Reverend

Myles Cooper Myles Cooper (1735 – May 1, 1785) was a figure in colonial New York. An Anglican priest, he served as the President of King's College (predecessor of today's Columbia University) from 1763 to 1775, and was a public opponent of the American Revo ...

. Cooper was indeed part of a "Loyalist literary clique" that included Seabury and Charles Inglis (later rector of Trinity Church in New York), and was aware that Seabury had written the pamphlet. Hamilton's thirty-five page reply to Farmer, addressed to "Friends and Countrymen," took two to three weeks to write and is signed "A Friend to America"; it responds systematically to Farmer's argument. Hamilton warns against "the men who advise you to forsake the plain path, marked out for you by the congress" and states that "our representatives in general assembly cannot take any wise or better course to settle out differences, than our representatives in the continental congress have taken." After ''A Full Vindication'' was published, "Farmer" (Seabury) responded with another pamphlet, ''A View of the Controversy'', dated December 24, 1774, but not announced until January 5, 1775. Hamilton then responded with another pamphlet, ''

The Farmer Refuted ''The Farmer Refuted'', published in February 1775, was Alexander Hamilton's second published work, a follow-up to his 1774 ''A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress''. Summary In ''The Farmer Refuted,'' Alexander Hamilton addresses dir ...

'', on February 23, 1775. With these two pamphlets, Hamilton "embraced wholeheartedly the 'radical' American side" of the growing conflict with Britain.

References

Links to original sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress 1774 books Works by Alexander Hamilton 18th-century essays