Alexander Hamilton, Advisor card art from Lost Chapters (Cobalt, Character) — Card art: Alexander Hamilton, Advisor

Alexander Hamilton, Advisor: Cobalt Character

Alexander Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury, serving under George Washington from 1789 to 1795. He set up the young country's finances by paying the Revolutionary War debt in full, having the federal government take on the states' debts and creating the First Bank of the United States.

Cost: 5 crystals
Type: Character · Founder
Power / Health: 3 / 4
Color: Cobalt (Thinkers & Dreamers)
Rarity: Rare
Set: Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)

On play: draw 2.

Real history

The real history

Hamilton had helped win support for the Constitution before he ever ran a department. With James Madison and John Jay he wrote the Federalist essays, penning most of them himself, and in 1788 he helped persuade a reluctant New York convention to ratify. When the new government began in 1789, Washington named his former aide the first Secretary of the Treasury.

The treasury he took over was buried in war debt. Hamilton insisted the debt be repaid in full, calling it "the price of liberty," and in 1790 and 1791 he put in place a revenue system built on customs duties and excise taxes. He also pushed the national government to assume the debts the states still owed from the war, which tied creditors to the federal government. Jefferson and Madison opposed assumption, and it passed only after Hamilton agreed to put the permanent capital on the Potomac River.

The centerpiece of his plan was the First Bank of the United States, created in 1791 and modeled on the Bank of England. It held government funds, made loans to the government and issued paper currency. Jefferson and Madison argued that it gave the central government too much power and favored the rich over farmers, and the split between them grew into the first political parties.

His third major report, on manufactures, went to Congress on December 5, 1791. It called for tariffs to shield American industry from foreign competition, subsidies for manufacturers and support for internal improvements. Hamilton resigned in January 1795, partly because the job paid only $3,500 a year, and went back to practicing law in New York.

Sources

Alexander Hamilton (1789 to 1795), U.S. Department of the Treasury
Alexander Hamilton, George Washington's Mount Vernon
Special Exhibit: Alexander Hamilton's Report on Manufactures, National Archives, Pieces of History

Checked against these sources on October 2, 2026. Spot a mistake? Report an error. How we check facts.

Game lore (invented)

In the game's story

In the game's invented story, Hamilton arrives in Marginalia on a Tuesday and by Thursday hands the Archive's Registrar a forty-page memo on reforming the kingdom's finances. He proposes a national bank, bridge bonds and a new coin, which the Bridgecrew hate and the Merchants' Guild finds intriguing, and the Queen politely asks for shorter memos. Reunited with Washington at Spinehold, he quietly becomes the general's secretary again, and Captain Isguard personally keeps him and Aaron Burr out of the same room.

In Lost Chapters' frame story, history's heroes fall into an invented world called Marginalia. That story is fiction; the history on this page is real.

How the card plays

Alexander Hamilton, Advisor costs 5 crystals and is a 3/4 Rare Cobalt Founder. His only ability is card flow: when he arrives, draw 2 cards. That makes him a good way to refill your hand in the middle of the game while still adding a body to the field.

You can build him into a Martin Luther King Jr. or Neil Armstrong deck, the two historical Leaders who play Cobalt.

Washington, First President gives your other Founders +1/+1, so Hamilton becomes a 4/5. Because he is a Founder, he also switches on the conditional draw of James Madison, Constitution Lead and the Recover of John Jay, Constitution Drafter, so playing him first and those cards afterward gives you even more cards or Life. Play him when your hand is running low rather than on an empty field.

Playable in decks led by Martin Luther King Jr., Neil Armstrong, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Cobalt.
In the Dr. King starter deck (1 copy). Deck code: LC2-BAABAQICAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAQkCCgILAQwBDQIOAg8BEAIRARICEwIUAhUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAEdAR4B3v4
In the Armstrong starter deck (1 copy). Deck code: LC2-AQABAQECAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAgkCCgILAQwBDQIOAQ8BEAERARICEwIUARUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAIdAR4BfQK1eQ
A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.

Questions about Hamilton

Did Alexander Hamilton create the U.S. Mint?

He drew up plans for it and wanted it inside the Treasury, but he lost that fight to Jefferson. The Mint was set up in 1792 under the State Department and only moved to the Treasury in 1873.

Why is Alexander Hamilton on the ten-dollar bill?

He is honored for building the nation's early financial system as its first Treasury secretary, and his portrait appears on the ten-dollar bill.

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