Though his best work was done in later years, when he proved himself to be perhaps the most brilliant of American statesmen, with an extraordinary genius for administrative organization, the part that he took in the affairs of this period was important.

He was small and slight in person but with an expressive face, fair complexion, and cheeks of "almost feminine rosiness." The usual aspect of his countenance was thoughtful and even severe, but in conversation his face lighted up with a remarkably attractive smile.

He carried himself erectly and with dignity, so that in spite of his small figure, when he entered a room "it was apparent, from the respectful attention of the company, that he was a distinguished person." A contemporary, speaking of the opposite and almost irreconcilable traits of Hamilton's character, pronounced a bust of him as giving a complete exposition of his character: "Draw a handkerchief around the mouth of the bust, and the remnant of the countenance represents fortitude and intrepidity such as we have often seen in the plates of Roman heroes.
Veil in the same manner the face and leave the mouth and chin only discernible, and all this fortitude melts and vanishes into almost feminine softness." Hamilton was a leading spirit in the Annapolis Trade Convention and wrote the report that it adopted.

Whether or not there is any truth in the assertion of the French charge that Hamilton and others thought it advisable to disguise their purposes, there is no doubt that the Annapolis Convention was an all-important step in the progress of reform, and its recommendation was the direct occasion of the calling of the great convention that framed the Constitution of the United States.
The recommendation of the Annapolis delegates was in the form of a report to the legislatures of their respective States, in which they referred to the defects in the Federal Government and called for "a convention of deputies from the different states for the special purpose of entering into this investigation and digesting a Plan for supplying such defects." Philadelphia was suggested as the place of meeting, and the time was fixed for the second Monday in May of the next year.
Several of the States acted promptly upon this recommendation and in February, 1787, Congress adopted a resolution accepting the proposal and calling the convention "for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation and reporting.

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