[Photo: Alexander Hamilton] Alexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political philosop (more)

[Photo: Alexander Hamilton]

Alexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher. He led calls for the Philadelphia Convention, was one of America's first Constitutional lawyers, and cowrote the Federalist Papers, a primary source for Constitutional interpretation.

Born on the British West Indian island of Nevis, Hamilton was educated in the American Colonies. During the American Revolutionary War, he joined the American militia and was chosen artillery captain. Hamilton became senior[1] aide-de-camp and confidant to General George Washington, and led three battalions at the Siege of Yorktown. He was elected to the Continental Congress, but resigned to practice law and to found the Bank of New York. He served in the New York Legislature, was the only New York signer at the Philadelphia Convention, and later returned to Congress. As Washington's Treasury Secretary, he influenced formative government policy widely. An admirer of British political systems, Hamilton emphasized strong central government and Implied Powers, under which the new U.S. Congress funded the national debt, assumed state debts, created a national bank, and established an import tariff and whiskey tax.

By 1792, a Hamilton coalition and a Jefferson-Madison coalition had arisen (the formative Federalist and Democratic-Republican Parties), which differed strongly over Hamilton's domestic fiscal goals and his foreign policy of extensive trade and friendly relations with Britain. Exposed in an affair with Maria Reynolds, Hamilton resigned from the Treasury in 1795 to return to Constitutional law and advocacy of strong federalism. In 1798, the Quasi-War with France led Hamilton to argue for, organize, and become de facto commander of a national army.

Hamilton's opposition to fellow Federalist John Adams contributed to the success of Democratic-Republicans Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr in the uniquely deadlocked election of 1800. With his party's defeat, Hamilton's nationalist and industrializing ideas lost their former national prominence. In 1801, Hamilton founded the New York Post as the Federalist broadsheet New-York Evening Post. His intense rivalry with Vice President Burr eventually resulted in a duel, in which Hamilton was mortally wounded, dying the following day.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), serving as both a federal crimi (more)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), serving as both a federal criminal investigative body and a domestic intelligence agency. At present, the FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes, making the FBI the de-facto lead law enforcement agency of the United States government. The motto of the bureau is "Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity". (less)

George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter who gained fame as the lead doctor in the long-running television drama, ER (more)

George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter who gained fame as the lead doctor in the long-running television drama, ER (1994–99), but is best known for his subsequent rise as an "A-List" movie star in contemporary American cinema. Winner of an Academy Award and two Golden Globes, Clooney has balanced his glamorous performances in big-budget blockbusters with work as a producer and thinker behind commercially riskier and thought-provoking projects. (less)

[Photo: Sarah Palin] Sarah Louise Heath Palin is the governor of Alaska and the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee in the 2008 United States (more)

[Photo: Sarah Palin]

Sarah Louise Heath Palin is the governor of Alaska and the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee in the 2008 United States presidential election.

Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska, city council from 1992 to 1996, then won two terms as mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004 while also serving as Ethics Supervisor of the commission.

On December 2006, Palin was sworn in as the governor of Alaska, becoming the first woman and youngest person to hold the office. She defeated incumbent Republican governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and former Democratic governor Tony Knowles in the general election.

On August 29, 2008, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain announced that he had chosen Palin as his running mate. She is expected to be formally nominated at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Palin would be the second woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket and the first Republican woman to do so.

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A play by play history of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team from their creation, and leading through all five of their super bowl wins, to the current s (more)

A play by play history of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team from their creation, and leading through all five of their super bowl wins, to the current state of the team. (less)

Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) became the first African-American major league baseball player of the moder (more)

Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) became the first African-American major league baseball player of the modern era in 1947. While not the first African American professional baseball player in United States history, his Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers ended approximately eighty years of baseball segregation, also known as the baseball color line, or color barrier. In the United States at this time, many white people believed that blacks and whites should be segregated or kept apart in many phases of life, including sports and daily life. (less)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of (more)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rates and the balance of payments. It also offers financial and technical assistance to its members, making it an international lender of last resort. Its headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., USA. (less)

Italy has been the home of many European cultures, such as the Etruscans and the Romans, and later was the birthplace of the universities and of the movemen (more)

Italy has been the home of many European cultures, such as the Etruscans and the Romans, and later was the birthplace of the universities and of the movement of the Renaissance, that began in Tuscany and spread all over Europe. Italy's capital Rome was for centuries the center of Western civilization, it also spawned the Baroque movement and seats the Catholic Church. Italy possessed a colonial empire from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. (less)