Please click the icon to follow us on Facebook.the decisive French naval victory at the Battle of the Saintes marked the beginning of the end of British rule over the Sugar Islands.

Because the crushing of Royal Naval Forces under the command of Admiral Sir George Rodney by the Comte de Grasse's French Fleet enabled the French and Spanish to proceeds with the planned invasion of Jamaica.

Within eighteen months, the seven thousand islands, islets, reefs, and cays of the Caribbean region would be admitted into the Union as a single maritime polity known as "The Sugar State". And the infant American Republic would confront a whole set of fresh challenges that threatened to wreck the ship of state.

The Founding Fathers made a pragmatic choice in proposing the appointment of Alexander Hamilton (pictured) as First Governor. In theory he was uniquely qualified for the position. Born out of wedlock on the Leeward Island of Nevis, he emigrated to the Eastern Seaboard as a young man. Initially loyalist in outlook, he was radicalized as a student at King's College in New York City (now Columbia University) and would later serve as George Washington's Chief of Staff.

In the medium term, white sugar farmers would have to confront the rise of enslaved African labourers long before the cotton plantation owners in the southern states of the interior. But a more pressing problem was the almost immediate outbreak of a quasi-war with Great Britain. With States coffers drained by the War of Independence, the new nation would need to raise big money fast in order to build a navy capable of defending their maritime forward position. By the time of the 1800 election, the situation was critical. And so immediately after the inauguration, Governor Hamilton travelled to Washington for a fateful confrontation with the third US President, Colonel Aaron Burr.