Editing Alexander Hamilton (section)

===Return to New York===
{{further|Annapolis Convention (1786)}}

Hamilton resigned from Congress in 1783.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alexander Hamilton Papers |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/alexander-hamilton-papers/articles-and-essays/timeline/ |access-date=July 4, 2020 |website=Library of Congress |archive-date=July 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704034105/https://www.loc.gov/collections/alexander-hamilton-papers/articles-and-essays/timeline/ |url-status=live}}</ref> When [[Evacuation Day (New York)|the British left New York in 1783]], he practiced there in partnership with [[Richard Harison]]. He specialized in defending [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Tories]] and British subjects, as in ''[[Rutgers v. Waddington]]'', in which he defeated a claim for damages done to a brewery by the Englishmen who held it during the military occupation of New York. He pleaded for the mayor's court to interpret state law consistent with the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which had ended the Revolutionary War.<ref name=chernow197-199>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n216 pp. 197–199].</ref><ref name=McDonald/>{{rp|64–69}} In 1784, Hamilton founded the [[Bank of New York]].<ref name=Globe2011>{{cite news |last1=Wallack |first1=Todd |title=Which bank is the oldest? Accounts vary |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2011/12/20/oldest-bank-america-accounts-vary/WAqvIlmipfFhyKsx8bhgAJ/story.html |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=December 20, 2011 |access-date=December 10, 2017 |archive-date=October 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025202634/https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2011/12/20/oldest-bank-america-accounts-vary/WAqvIlmipfFhyKsx8bhgAJ/story.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Long dissatisfied with the Articles of Confederation as too weak to be effective, Hamilton played a major leadership role at the [[1786 Annapolis Convention]]. He drafted its resolution for a constitutional convention, and in doing so brought one step closer to reality his longtime desire to have a more effectual, more financially self-sufficient federal government.<ref name=Morris1988>{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Richard B. |title=The Forging of the Union, 1781–1789 |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1988 |page=[https://archive.org/details/forgingofunion00morr_0/page/255 255] |url=https://archive.org/details/forgingofunion00morr_0 |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-06-015733-3}}</ref>

As a member of the legislature of New York, Hamilton argued forcefully and at length in favor of a bill to recognize the [[Vermont Republic|sovereignty of the State of Vermont]], against numerous objections to its constitutionality and policy. Consideration of the bill was deferred to a later date. From 1787 to 1789, Hamilton exchanged letters with [[Nathaniel Chipman]], a lawyer representing Vermont. After the Constitution of the United States went into effect, Hamilton said, "One of the first subjects of deliberation with the new Congress will be the independence of Kentucky, for which the southern states will be anxious. The northern will be glad to send a counterpoise in Vermont."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Founders Online: From Alexander Hamilton to Nathaniel Chipman, 22 July 1788 |url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0012-0088 |access-date=January 25, 2023 |website=founders.archives.gov |archive-date=March 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324105030/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0012-0088 |url-status=live}}</ref> Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vermont |url=https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/vermont |access-date=January 25, 2023 |website=History.com |date=October 31, 2019 |archive-date=January 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125214031/https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/vermont |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1788, he was awarded a [[Master of Arts]] degree from his [[alma mater]], the former King's College, now reconstituted as Columbia College.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/62640310R.nlm.nih.gov |title=Catalogue of Columbia College in the City of New-York : embracing the names of its trustees, officers, and graduates, together with a list of all academical honours conferred by the institution from A.D. 1758 to A.D. 1826, inclusive |date=1826 |publisher=T. and J. Swords |others=U.S. National Library of Medicine}}</ref> It was during this post-war period that Hamilton served on the college's [[board of trustees]], playing a part in the reopening of the college and placing it on firm financial footing.<ref>{{cite web |date=December 14, 2016 |title=Alexander Hamilton CC 1778 |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/alumni/content/alexander-hamilton-cc-1778 |access-date=February 13, 2023 |website=Columbia College Alumni Association |archive-date=February 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213220718/https://www.college.columbia.edu/alumni/content/alexander-hamilton-cc-1778 |url-status=live}}</ref>