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    Alexander Hamilton: Adultery and Apology: Observations on Certain Documents in the History of the United States for the Year 1796
    Alexander Hamilton: Adultery and Apology: Observations on Certain Documents in the History of the United States for the Year 1796
    Alexander Hamilton: Adultery and Apology: Observations on Certain Documents in the History of the United States for the Year 1796
    Ebook124 pages2 hours

    Alexander Hamilton: Adultery and Apology: Observations on Certain Documents in the History of the United States for the Year 1796

    By Alexander Hamilton and Robert P. Watson

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    About this ebook

    Written by Hamilton himself to confess to the affair he conducted with Maria Reynolds, Alexander Hamilton: Adultery and Apology is Hamilton’s attempt to defend and rationalize his misdoings, and ultimately salvage what was left of his reputation.

    The pamphlet was originally published in 1796 after accusations of the adultery arose. This personal exposé reveals a man, whom the public initially revered as a politician and Founding Father, as a flawed human-being. Within these documents Hamilton describes his exploits in impeccable detail and languid prose, at the risk of tarnishing his public image, to prove to the public that he had nothing to hide.

    With a new foreword by Robert Watson, presidential scholar and author of Affairs of State, delve into this exquisite, essential account of history’s most scandalous love affairs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRacehorse
    Release dateJan 31, 2017
    ISBN9781631581687
    Alexander Hamilton: Adultery and Apology: Observations on Certain Documents in the History of the United States for the Year 1796
    Author

    Alexander Hamilton

    Alexander Hamilton was born in 1757 on the island of Nevis, in the Leeward group, British West Indies. During the Revolutionary War, he joined the staff of General Washington as secretary and aide-de-camp and soon became his close confidant as well. Hamilton was elected to the Continental Congress in 1782-83. Hamilton's part in New York's ratification of the Constitution the next year was substantial, though he felt it was deficient in many respects. Against determined opposition, he collaborated with John Jay and James Madison in writing The Federalist Papers.

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      Book preview

      Alexander Hamilton - Alexander Hamilton

      Cover Page of Alexander Hamilton: Adultery and ApologyHalf Title of Alexander Hamilton: Adultery and ApologyTitle Page of Alexander Hamilton: Adultery and Apology

      First Racehorse Publishing edition 2017

      All rights to any and all materials in copyright owned by the publisher are strictly reserved by the publisher.

      The material contained in this work is derived from government documents. Nevertheless, Racehorse Publishing, claims copyright in all additional content, including, but not limited to, compilation copyright and the copyright in and to any additional elements, design, or layout of whatever kind included herein. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

      Racehorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or [email protected].

      Racehorse Publishing™ is a pending trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation.

      Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Cover design by Michael Short

      Cover photographs: iStockphoto

      Print ISBN: 978-1-63158-167-0

      Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63158-168-7

      Printed in the United States of America

      FOREWORD

      SHOCKER!

      It was a shocker! News of the publication spread far and wide, sparking gossip and disbelief among both the general public and the political class. By his own hand, the secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, had admitted in print the sordid details of his sexual affair with a married woman. The Founding Father and hero of the Revolutionary War had hoped his lengthy pamphlet written with forthright candor and in vivid prose would nullify the charges of financial misconduct being leveled against him. But rather than defending his character, the infamous essay ended up being his undoing. Not only was it one of the first highly public sex scandals in America, but the affair marked the beginning of the end of Hamilton’s political power. Yet, this unusual and fascinating publication offers a window into both the temperament of the man at the center of the maelstrom and the state of political intrigue in the early days of the new republic.

      It all started with a surprise visit by a twenty-three-year-old woman named Maria Reynolds. The attractive blond showed up one summer day in 1791 at Hamilton’s residence in Philadelphia distressed and begging for help. He was, at the time, thirty-four and serving as the secretary of the treasury in George Washington’s Administration. As she told it, her husband, James Reynolds, was abusive and had departed the city and abandoned her. Now destitute, the tearful Mrs. Reynolds needed legal assistance, money, and a place to stay.

      The handsome, charismatic politician with a reputation for enjoying the company of attractive, young women happened to also be alone, his wife and children having gone back to their native New York for an extended vacation. Hamilton greeted Mrs. Reynolds but claimed he was busy that day. He did, however, offer his assistance and promised he would obtain the money Maria needed and deliver it later that evening. Foolishly, Hamilton went to the Reynolds residence claiming that nothing other than pecuniary consolation would be acceptable to either of them. But they both had other interests. She invited him to join her in the upstairs bedroom and the two began a torrid affair.

      The sexual relationship continued through the summer and fall of 1791. However, James Reynolds returned to the city in December. On the fifteenth of the month, Hamilton received an emotional warning from Maria, who wrote in a marginally literate letter, I have not tim[e] to tell you the cause of my present troubles only that Mr. has [w]rote you this morning and I know not w[h]ether you have got the letter or not and he has swore that If you do not answer It or If he dose not se[e] or hear from you to day he will write Mrs. Hamilton.

      In a state of panic, Maria also told Hamilton that her husband had Gone oute. Noting that she was alone, she begged Hamilton to Come to her one moment that you May know the Cause then you will the better know how to act. Being caught by her husband appears to have unnerved Maria and prompted concern about her lover’s career. She confessed, Oh my God I feel more for you than myself and wish I had never been born to give you so much unhappiness. Nevertheless, the two continued their affair.

      A PROPOSAL AND A PREDICAMENT

      The letter from Mr. Reynolds arrived two days later. It charged that the affair had ruined a happy marriage. Of the injury done me, Reynolds claimed, there is nothing that you Can do will compensate for it. In the late eighteenth century, it was not uncommon for men embroiled in a lover’s triangle to settle matters on the dueling grounds, but Reynolds proposed a different resolution for the predicament. Despite his earlier claim, apparently there was a way to compensate him. Literally. He wrote, I have this preposial to make to you. [G]ive me the Sum Of thousand dollars and I will le[a]ve the town and take my daughter with me ….

      Reynolds played on Hamilton’s guilt, baiting him by claiming falsely, Its true its in your power to do a great deal for me, but its out of your power to do any thing that will Restore to me my Happiness again for if you should give me all you possess would not do it. [G]od knows I love the woman and wish every blessing may attend her, you have bin the Cause of Winning her love, and I Don’t think I Can be Reconciled to live with Her … Hamilton paid the bribe.

      However, Reynolds did not leave town; nor did Hamilton end the affair. Both matters allowed Reynolds to further entrap the famous Founder. In fact, Mrs. Reynolds appears to have become complicit in the scheme. Maria continued to invite Hamilton to her bed, writing, With tears in my eyes … I shal[l] be miserable till I se[e] you … My breast will be in a state of pain and woe. She closed the letter: P.S. If you cannot come this Evening to stay just come only for one moment as I shal[l] be [a]Lone … Hamilton did not resist. Mr. Reynolds soon began requesting small payments of thirty and forty dollars to guarantee his silence.

      The bizarre arrangement may have continued if not for two developments. A professional swindler, Reynolds was also involved in a shady plan to purchase Revolutionary War veterans’ pensions. The scheme eventually caught the attention of the law. In November of 1792, he was charged with forgery and jailed. From his cell the opportunistic businessman asked Hamilton for help, but the request was denied. Angry and desperate, Reynolds then informed Hamilton’s political opponents of the affair and the arrangement for hush-money payments. The crook even inaccurately insinuated that Hamilton was the source behind the war pension speculation and forgery cabal.

      As one of the leaders of the Federalist Party since its inception, Hamilton was an inviting target for Anti-Federalists (also known as the Democratic-Republicans or simply Republicans). Sure enough, Republican members of Congress visited Mr. Reynolds in his jail cell and Mrs. Reynolds at her home. Armed with the shocking details of the affair and Reynolds’s nefarious claims, two of them—James Monroe and Frederick Muhlenberg—confronted Hamilton with the evidence in December of 1792. They even produced the steamy letters he had written to Maria.

      Monroe and Muhlenberg assured Hamilton they would be discrete and, for the time being, the affair remained a secret. But Monroe’s mentor was Thomas Jefferson, who happened to also be Hamilton’s bitter rival. As the two most influential members of George Washington’s cabinet, these two men squared off on nearly every issue, with Hamilton usually besting the secretary of state. Monroe informed Jefferson of the details of the affair. The secretary of state was eager to settle several scores with Hamilton.

      In 1797 the story finally broke. The timing was critical—the competition between the two political factions was heating up, Hamilton and Jefferson had recently resigned their cabinet posts, and Jefferson was pursuing the presidency. The embarrassing and damning details of the affair were published by the muckraking newspaperman, Republican attack dog, and Jefferson ally James Thomson Callender. Hamilton was portrayed in the story as a home-wrecker, seducer, and the mastermind behind Reynolds’s financial crimes. His career, marriage, and all that he had worked for was in jeopardy.

      THE PRIDEFUL ORPHAN

      As Lin Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway musical Hamilton raps in the opening act, the Founder was the bastard, orphan, son of a whore, and a Scotsman dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean. Born on January 11, 1757 (some historical accounts suggest 1755) on the small island of Nevis in the West Indies, Hamilton’s upbringing was filled with difficulty, frustration, and tragedy.

      As a teenager living in St. Croix, Hamilton’s mother, Rachel Fawcett, was pushed into a marriage she never wanted to a Danish-German Jew named Johann Michael Lavien (sometimes listed as Lavine). Lavien appears to have been abusive and the couple suffered financially after

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