Hamilton co-founded New York's Manumission Society at a time when one-fifth of the city owned slaves.

ECONOMIST: A hero gets his due at last

The Mattatuck Museum now has an exhibit dedicated to Fortune, including a poem, called The Manumission Requiem, by Connecticut Poet Laureate Marilyn Nelson.

NPR: Hidden Museum Treasures: Fortune's Bones

While warning (presciently) that populism would breed demagoguery and tyranny, Hamilton opposed slavery (establishing the New York Manumission Society), founded a school to educate frontier Indians (now Hamilton College), launched the Bank of New York (1784), argued for a permanent defense (standing army), and extolled the virtue and productiveness of commerce, industry, and finance.

FORBES: Honoring Alexander Hamilton, The Great American Revolutionary