American Machiavelli - Paperbackby John Lamberton Harper (Author) Alexander Hamilton (1757 1804) was an illegitimate West Indian emigrant who became the first U. S. Secretary of the Treasury. American Machiavelli focuses on Hamilton's controversial activities as foreign policy adviser and aspiring military leader. In the first major study of his foreign policy role in 30 years, John Lamberton Harper describes a decade of bitter division over the role of the Federal government in the