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I 5 of merit rather than pedigree, knowledge of his father’s noble lineage clearly strengthened his sense of dignity in the face of concerted attempts to discredit and belittle him for his background and birth. Section V: Legal Practice In late 1781, after resigning from Washington’s staff and fighting heroically in the Battle of York- town, Hamilton left the army and began legal studies. Taking advantage of a temporary waiver for returning veterans of a three-year apprentice- ship requirement for the New York Bar, Hamilton immersed himself in the study of law while simul- taneously serving in his first politically appointed post as receiver of Continental taxes for New York. He pored over treatises on legal philosophy con- tained in his friend James Duane’s extensive law library and wrote for himself a legal manual, later used as a guide for law students, to help him sort through the complexities of New York law as it evolved out of the British and colonial system. In July 1782, just six months after beginning his stud- ies, he passed the New York Bar exam and became a licensed attorney. From this time until his death, Hamilton practiced law on and off among his other responsibilities and soon became one of the country’s preeminent lawyers. Because Hamilton planned to practice law in the busy port of New York City, he was forced to put his career on hold until the official end of Brit- ish occupation. Thus, a few weeks after becoming a licensed attorney, Hamilton agreed to serve as a New York delegate to the Continental Congress. Although he served only eight months before leaving in frustration over ineptitude and crony- ism, he played a pivotal role in urging Congress to accept the terms of the provisional peace treaty with Great Britain that had been signed in Paris on November 30, 1782. The terms of the peace treaty required restor- ing the rights and property of former Loyalists or Tories and forbid further prosecutions against them yet animosity in the states toward those who had remained loyal to the British remained strong, particularly in New York, which had been the cit- adel of British forces. Following the official end to British occupation of Manhattan in late 1783, pop- ulists associated with the Sons of Liberty scored resounding victories in New York elections. Con- sequently, the New York legislature, in clear viola- tion of the peace treaty, continued to impose harsh punitive measures against remaining Tories. Three particularly oppressive measures passed during and after the Revolution included the Confisca- tion Act, which permitted courts to confiscate the property of those who had aided or remained loyal to Great Britain the Citation Act, which allowed courts to suspend debts owed by Patriots to Loy- alists or to permit debtors to pay their obligations in devalued paper money and the Trespass Act, passed following negotiation of the peace treaty, which permitted Patriots to recover damages from those who had occupied their property during the war, even if such occupation was carried out under orders and in accordance with the laws of war. As a lawyer and former revolutionary with a long-term vision for the nation’s success, Hamil- ton was alarmed by both the treatment of Tories as a class and the blatant disregard for the author- ity of Congress to make and approve treaties. He believed that the obsession with vengeance, per- vading the country as a whole and his state in par- ticular, not only violated the rules of war and the terms of the peace treaty but also threatened the nation’s future liberty, prosperity, and credibility. Although many prominent politicians, lawyers, and business owners privately expressed concern over the persecution of Tories, Hamilton was, for some time, alone in his willingness to publically stand against the anti-Loyalist frenzy. In early 1784, Hamilton officially entered the public debate over the treatment of the Tories in response to a string of newspaper articles harassing former Loyalists and calling for their exile. In two pamphlets, written under the pseudonym Phocion,