Three years after the battle of the Virginia Capes, which made victory possible at Yorktown, Alexander Hamilton asserted in 1784 that “the world has its eye upon America” and besought a weak government to establish a naval service. The naval assistance provided by the French had made possible the final defeat of the British in 1781, and the lesson was not lost on young Hamilton. British naval operations had been continually hampered by the fleets of France, Spain, and Holland, and by American war vessels under the command of such able leaders as John Paul Jones, John Barry, and James Nicholson. The Americans, moreover, were able to inflict considerable damage on British shipping, wrecking havoc with English foreign trade.
The coming of independence to a weak confederation of thirteen partially united states created new problems for the infant republic. No provision was made for a regular naval establishment, and no longer could American shipping claim the protection of the “White Ensign” of the Royal Navy.
Before the new nation had organized any regular Navy Department, Hamilton’s was a voice crying in the wilderness. Long before our undeclared naval war with France, in 1798, he had directed attention of public officials to the importance of sea power. In one of his Federalist Papers, he foretold that, although a wide ocean separated the United States from Europe, yet there were “various considerations that warn us against an excess of confidence or security.” In 1787, when our present Constitution was framed, Hamilton pointed out that American intrusion into world markets had already excited uneasy sensations among the maritime powers of Europe. They became apprehensive of American interference with their carrying trade. European nations, such as Spain, having colonies in the Americas had become painfully aware of the potential strength and latent commercial possibilities in the newly independent republic of the western hemisphere. Hamilton wrote that these European monarchies foresaw the dangers that might threaten their American colonial dominions “from the neighborhood of States, which have all the dispositions, and would possess all the means, requisite to the creation of a powerful marine.” He firmly stated, “to be secure on our Atlantic side, we must endeavor, as soon as possible, to have a navy.” Alexander Hamilton repeatedly advocated to the Congresses the creation of a strong navy to protect our commerce and thereby promote the national welfare. In 1791 he charged that “the want of a navy, to protect our external commerce, as long as it shall continue, must render it a peculiarly precarious reliance for the supply of essential articles.” Hamilton agreed that if Americans intended to become a commercial people, or even to be secure on their coastlines, they must endeavor, as soon as possible, to have a navy.
Unlike Jefferson, who would later limit our navy to a few small gunboats for coast defense, Hamilton favored a sea-going navy capable of protecting American commerce and upholding the young nation’s prestige on the high seas. Persisting in his efforts, he wrote President Washington that war might come upon us whether we chose it or not, and a fleet “to defend ourselves and annoy any who may attack us will be the best method of securing our peace.”
Hamilton’s pro-navy policies were borne out when war with France threatened in 1798. He proposed that the President be authorized to provide a force of ships-of-the- line, frigates and smaller warships, ready to “cut up all the small privateers and gunboats in the West Indies, so as at the same time to distress the French islands as much as possible, while protecting our own trade.” In 1798, half a century before George Bancroft became Secretary of the Navy, Hamilton recommended that an academy be established for naval instruction. He added: “This is a very important measure, and ought to be permanent.”
The Navy Department that Hamilton advocated was organized, and there was soon fighting on the high seas, although no formal declaration of war had been made either by France or the United States. In the naval war that followed, the French lost more than eighty vessels during the two years of fighting.
Hamilton reminded his countrymen that the national defense required dock yards and naval arsenals. With remarkable understanding of naval history, he urged the establishment of adequate shore facilities to support the forces afloat. He advocated the adoption of a regular naval establishment by interesting all sections of the country in this national project. It so happened that different sections of the country were able to contribute to a naval establishment. Hamilton invited the more southern states to furnish naval stores, such as tar, pitch, and turpentine. Certain states provided lumber for the construction of wooden ships, and iron for their armaments. Seamen from the northern states were persuaded to enlist in the new navy. Not only did he point out that all sections of the country had a mutual interest in a regular naval establishment, but Hamilton also gained support for the Navy by reminding merchants that “the necessity of naval protection to external or maritime commerce does not require a particular elucidation.”
Although Hamilton’s efforts to promote an effective naval establishment were opposed by Thomas Jefferson, the latter, as President, was soon compelled by the pressure of events in the Mediterranean to accept Hamilton’s theories to fit the exigencies of a practical problem. Both Washington and Adams had agreed to pay tribute to Algiers, Tripoli, Tunis, and Morocco to prevent the pirates from these countries from interfering with American commerce. But soon after Jefferson took office, the Pasha of Tripoli, enraged because he felt that he was not receiving his share of the money from the United States, had the flag on the American Consulate cut down. Jefferson responded by sending warships to the Mediterranean, and after considerable fighting the United States obtained a satisfactory treaty from Tripoli in 1805. In taking action against the Barbary pirates, Jefferson was compelled to overlook his earlier aversion to the Navy.
Since Hamilton’s time the weak republic with a few small seagoing warships has become a great power with the mightiest navy in the modern world. President Eisenhower has called upon all officials and agencies of the Federal Government, and upon all citizens, to observe the year commencing January 11, 1957, as the Alexander Hamilton Bicentennial, and to do honor to his memory with appropriate activities and ceremonies commemorative of his inspiring role in our national life. His role in the promotion of a regular naval establishment adequate for national defense was one of Hamilton’s contributions to the shaping of those national policies which have produced the greatest nation in the world today.