Alexander Hamilton was a rare combination - active, influential politician and powerful, original thinker. He played a critical role in the formation of the American republic as delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1789, as co-author, with James Madison and John Jay, of The Federalist papers, and as the first secretary of the Treasury. His economic writings contributed to the transformation of America from a handful of small, isolated agrarian states into the powerful industrial nation of today. His writings on the Presidency helped shape an office at once powerful enough to deal with the major problems of domestic and foreign policy, and yet not so powerful as to threaten political liberty. Here, in one volume, are the most important of his political and economic writings and speeches. This volume of Hamilton's writings and speeches is a project of A Decade of Study of the Constitution, AEI's program of constitutional studies designed to help prepare the nation for a thoughtful observance of the bicentennial of the Constitution. We hope this volume contributes to such an observance by assisting scholars and the general public to recover and appreciate anew the principles of Hamilton's political thought - principles that undergird free and prosperous republics.