Despite his tragic family life, he demonstrated ability at journalism and public speaking. He lived on St. Croix, working as a newspaper clerk. When he wrote an article for the local newspaper about the devastation of a hurricane in the West Indies, the residents and clergy were so moved that they collected money to buy him passage to America so he could study. He settled in New York in 1772.

First he attended grammar school, and later enrolled in King's College (now Columbia University), intending to become a doctor. He trained as a lawyer with James Madison and John Jay. Within five years, he was an aide-de-camp to George Washington. Washington was an artillery captain in the Revolutionary Army at the time, and used Hamilton to publish pamphlets in New York to spread news of the emerging republic. In 1780, Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler. They had eight children.

As an aide, Hamilton wrote some of General George Washington's correspondence and likely influenced Washington's farewell address. As a Federalist, Hamilton supported a powerful central government for the new United States. He wrote the 'Federalist Papers.' Thomas Jefferson and James Madison opposed his views. Hamilton helped draft the Constitution, and he was the only New York delegate to sign the document.

In the first American government, Hamilton was appointed secretary of the treasury. He was pro-business, pro-Great Britain, critical of the excesses of the French Revolution and an abolitionist. He created the Coast Guard to stem the flow of contraband goods by sea. Hamilton proposed to pay off foreign debt and to assume the states' debts in order to consolidate power within the federal government. He was against any permanent government debt. Hamilton helped set up the First Bank of the United States to regulate commerce and issue currency.

In 1794, because of a love-affair between Hamilton and a married woman, he was forced (largely by Thomas Jefferson) to admit the affair. He resigned as secretary of the treasury and returned to practicing law.

Senator Aaron Burr was an attorney in New York. In 1791, as New York State attorney general, Burr ran against Hamilton's father-in-law, General Schuyler, for the U.S. Senate seat, and Burr won. Historians have traced the animosity between the two men to this event. Burr had, however, been Hamilton's ally when Hamilton's infidelity was revealed.

As the 1800 Presidential election approached, Hamilton supported Jefferson against Burr. That was an insult to Burr. Later, when Burr ran for governor of New York, he attributed critical newspaper article remarks about him to Hamilton. Burr demanded an apology, but Hamilton demurred and claimed that he had no recollection of having made such remarks. Burr then challenged Hamilton to a duel.

On July 11, 1804, they met on a rocky ledge in Weehawken, NJ (across the Hudson River from Manhattan), with pistols. Burr fired and he struck Hamilton below the chest. Hamilton died the following day and was buried in Trinity Church graveyard in lower Manhattan.

Governor Morris delivered Hamilton's eulogy, but said beforehand that 'The first Point of his Biography is that he was a Stranger of illegitimate Birth. Some mode must be contrived to pass over this handsomely.'

Partridge received further training in Florence (under Galli), in Rome (under Welonski) and in Paris. He knew Rodin Bougereau and Alfred Stevens. Partridge became a lecturer and writer, and from 1894 to 1897, he was a professor of fine arts at Columbian University (now George Washington University), Washington, DC. Among his publications are 'Art for America' (1894), 'The Song Life of a Sculptor' (1894), 'The Technique of Sculpture' (1895), 'The Angel of Clay' (1900), a novel, and 'Nathan Hale, the Ideal Patriot' (1902).

Partridge's sculptural works consist largely of portraiture. In New York his works include the statue of Samuel J. Tilden on Riverside Drive at 113th Street; the sculptures of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, and the bust of Dean van Amringe at Columbia University; the heroic marble 'Pieta' at St. Patrick's Cathedral; the equestrian statue of General Grant in Brooklyn; the bust of Theodore Roosevelt at the Republican Club; the marble 'Peace Head' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the 'Return of the Prodigal' in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; and the Joseph Pulitzer Memorial in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx. He made the sculpture of Shakespeare in Lincoln Park in Chicago. His last work was a statue of Lyon Gardiner for Saybrook, CT.

He was a member of the Sons of the Revolution, Veteran Corps of Artillery and the Architectural League. He was a member of the Cosmos, Washington, Authors, Psi Upsilon and Lotos clubs. His busts, statues, models, life masks and studies stored in the basement of 784 Madison Ave. were ruined when a winter's supply of coal for the apartment house was dumped on his collection.