HAMILTON, Alexander (1755-1804), First Secretary of the Treasury. Autograph manuscript signed ("Alex Hamilton," with flourish), a legal opinion regarding an estate, n.p., 21 June 1784. 1 page, folio, written on the lower two-thirds of a sheet beneath a statement of the case in another hand. DEBTS FROM THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. Hamilton, practicing law in New York, comments on a state law which exempts "People that lived without the British lines from paying Interest due on Bonds & Mortgages to people that lived within the lines during the war. Bonds &c dated in 1776, 1777 and before." Hamilton, noting that the testator died in 1780, concurs that "There is a law of the state which discharges all interest on debts which were due from persons without the lines to persons within the lines." Enacted in 1782, it was to apply from 1 January 1776 to 1 January 1784, "provided those debts were contracted antecedent to the first of January 1776. And what is worse [it] enables the debtors to pay in loan office certificates [depreciated currency]. But it is a question whether Executors to persons who died before the passing of the act are included...there has been no determination; but I am of the opinion they are not. Of course Executors...will not be justifiable in receiving principal and giving up the interest till the point has been judicially settled."