In 1738 the family emigrated to New York as part of a party led by a British Army veteran, Captain Lachlan Campbell.

[4] Campbell had described fertile land available near Fort Edward, but when they arrived in New York City, they discovered that Lachlan had been awarded a patent for about 30,000 acres (12,000 ha) and expected them to become tenants to his estate.

The family prospered and young Alexander began his commercial career as a delivery boy for milk in New York.

[7] When revolutionary fervor grew with resistance to the Stamp Act, McDougall became active in the Sons of Liberty, and later was a leader in the movement in the colony of New York.

Difficulties in the city and colony were increased by the Quartering Act, which required the colonists to provide housing and support to the British troops.

[8] On 16 December 1769[9] McDougall wrote and printed an anonymous broadside, To the Betrayed Inhabitants, which criticized the assembly's vote and sparked the Battle of Golden Hill.

[12] McDougall became the street leader of the Sons of Liberty, and organized continued protests until the city became under de facto control of the Patriots in 1775.

[18] During the early period of the war, McDougall played a role, in collaboration with Peter T. Curtenius, in preparing for the siege of New York by the Regulars.

[20] When the Regulars won the Battle of Long Island, it quickly became apparent that the Continental Army would be unable to hold the city.

[21] After the Continental Army left New York City, they traveled north and made an initial stand against the British near the village of White Plains.

For much of the remainder of the war, McDougall was stationed in the Highlands of the Hudson as the commander of American forces at West Point, New York (Fort Clinton) after Benedict Arnold's defection in 1780.

[23] He died 9 June 1786, at the age of fifty-three[2] and was interred in the family vault in the First Presbyterian Church, New York City.

He was also close friends with Alexander Hamilton and was deeply respected by George Washington, who called him a "pillar of the revolution.

"[24] McDougall may have been born in Scotland, but he was rebellious and stubborn by nature and deeply loyal to his adopted home of America.