Paul Hamilton (1762–1816), of St. Bartholomew Parish, South Carolina, fought in militia and partisan units late in the Revolutionary War before becoming a rice planter. He sat in the state house of representatives, 1787–88 and 1806–09, supported the United States Constitution at the state ratification convention in 1788, served in the state senate, 1794–99, cast his vote for TJ as a presidential elector in 1800, and was South Carolina’s comptroller of finance, 1800–04, and governor, 1804–06. President James Madison appointed Hamilton secretary of the navy in March 1809, and he resigned at the end of 1812. He played little role in the formulation or direction of military policy and, under the pressure created by the outbreak of the War of 1812, he was increasingly beset by rumors of alcoholism, lax record keeping, appointment of unqualified persons, and extravagant contracts. Madison nominated Hamilton as federal commissioner of loans for South Carolina in June 1813, but the Senate rejected the appointment (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; N. Louise Bailey and others, eds., Biographical Directory of the South Carolina Senate, 1776–1985 [1986], 1:645–7; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States description ends , 2:120, 373, 391–2 [7 Mar. 1809, 22 June, 19 July 1813]; Peter J. Kastor, “Toward ‘the Maritime War Only’: The Question of Naval Mobilization, 1811–1812,” Journal of Military History 61 [1997]: 464–5).

The current secretary of war was William Eustis, and his predecessor was Henry Dearborn.