The denied membership to Alexander and James Hamilton, Jr.—and education in the church school—because their parents were not legally married. They received "individual tutoring":17 and classes in a private school led by a Jewish . Alexander supplemented his education with a family library of 34 books.:34
In October 1772, he arrived by ship in Boston, and proceeded from there to New York City, where he took lodgings with , the brother of a trader who assisted Hamilton in selling cargo that was to pay for his education and support. In 1773, in preparation for college work, Hamilton began to fill gaps in his education at the Elizabethtown Academy, a run by in . He came under the influence of , a leading intellectual and revolutionary, with whom he lived for a time at his .
Hamilton entered King's College (now ) in New York City in the autumn of 1773 "as a private student", and officially matriculated in May 1774. His college roommate and lifelong friend spoke glowingly of Hamilton's clarity in concisely explaining the patriots' case against the British in what is credited as Hamilton's first public appearance, on July 6, 1774 at the Liberty Pole at King's College. Hamilton, Troup, and four other undergraduates formed an unnamed literary society that is regarded as a precursor of the .:53
Church of England clergyman published a series of pamphlets promoting the cause in 1774, to which Hamilton responded anonymously with his first political writings, and . Seabury essentially tried to provoke fear in the colonies, and his main objective was to stop the potential union among the colonies. Hamilton published two additional pieces attacking the , and may have also authored the fifteen anonymous installments of "The Monitor" for Holt's New York Journal. Hamilton was a supporter of the Revolutionary cause at this pre-war stage, although he did not approve of mob reprisals against Loyalists. On May 10, 1775, Hamilton won credit for saving his college president , a Loyalist, from an angry mob by speaking to the crowd long enough for Cooper to escape.
Hamilton was forced to discontinue his studies before graduating when the college closed its doors during British occupation of the city. When the war ended, after some months of self study by July 1782 Hamilton passed the bar exam and in October 1782 was licensed to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
