Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its charter as Hamilton College in 1812, in honor of Alexander Hamilton, one of its inaugural trustees, following a proposal made after his death in 1804. Since 1978, Hamilton has been a coeducational institution, having merged with its sister school, Kirkland College.

Hamilton enrolled approximately 2,000 undergraduate students as of the fall of 2021. The curriculum offers 57 areas of study, including 44 majors, as well as the option to design interdisciplinary concentrations. The student body consists of 53% female and 47% male students, representing 45 U.S. states and 46 countries. The acceptance rate for the class of 2026 was 11.8%. Hamilton's athletic teams participate in the New England Small College Athletic Conference.

Hamilton College traces its origins back to 1793, when it was chartered as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, a seminary founded by Rev. Samuel Kirkland. The academy, located in a three-story building near the Oneida Nation's home, admitted both white and Oneida boys and was named in honor of Alexander Hamilton, who collaborated with Kirkland in starting the school and served on its first Board of Trustees. None of the Oneida boys lasted more than one year, the reason being lack of funding, along with the Oneida boys' lack of knowledge of English and their disinterest in the curriculum. It applied for a charter from the New York Board of Regents in 1805, and received it in 1812, conditional on raising an endowment of $50,000 (equivalent to $926,373 in 2024). Originally its location on College Hill was in the town of Paris from 1793 to 1827, then in the town of Kirkland. Clinton was not incorporated until 1843.

In 1812, pursuant to its new charter, the academy expanded its curriculum, dropped the reference to the Oneidas, and became Hamilton College, making it the third-oldest college in the State of New York. As the Board of Regents wanted, Hamilton started its career as a college with an endowment of $100,000 (equivalent to $1,852,745 in 2024)—a very large sum at the time. The Academy buildings, grounds, and other property were valued at $15,000. To this sum were added subscriptions and parcels of land amounting to another $50,000. The New York State Legislature granted $50,000 to the new institution, and then supported it with $3,000 per year until 1850.

According to the 1813 rules of the college, candidates for admission had to be "able to read, translate and parse Cicero's select orations, Virgil, and the Greek testament, and to write true Latin in prose, and shall also have learned the rules of vulgar arithmetic."

In 1836 Hamilton had 115 students, four buildings, four professors, and the President.

In fall 1846, Zeng Laishun entered the college, and became the first Chinese college student to study abroad.

Over time, the college evolved into a more secular institution under the leadership of President M. Woolsey Stryker, who sought to distance Hamilton from its Presbyterian Church roots.