Alexander Hamilton (1757 - 1804)

Born 11 Jan 1757 in Charlestown, Nevis, British West Indies [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Schuyler) Hamilton — married 14 Dec 1780 in Albany, New York, United States

Descendants

Died 12 Jul 1804 at age 47 in West Bank of the Hudson River on a rocky ledge in Weehawken, New Jersey.United States

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Biography

Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father in the American Revolution.

Alexander Hamilton is Notable.

Alexander Hamilton is a member of Clan Hamilton.

Alexander Hamilton is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A050054.

Alexander Hamilton is recognized as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, participating in the American Revolution. He is probably best remembered for the way he died, after being shot in a duel with Aaron Burr.^[1][2]

Family

Alexander Hamilton was born circa January 11, 1755^[3], allegedly on the island of Nevis, British West Indies^[4] to James Hamilton and Rachel Fawcett,^[5] who were not married.^[1][2] Rachel was caught in an abusive marriage to John Lavien before she fled him and began her affair with James, the son of a Scottish Lord.^[6]

James and Rachel had one other son, James.^[2] James Sr abandoned Rachel and the boys, leaving them destitute.^[6] Alexander took a job to help support the family, determined to not remain poor.^[6] He was only eleven.^[6] Soon after, his mother died.^[2]

Alexander Hamilton was born and spent the early part of his childhood in Charlestown, the capital of the island of Nevis in the British Leeward Islands. Hamilton and his older brother, James Jr.,^[7] were born out of wedlock to Rachel Lavien (née Faucette),[b] a married woman of half-British and half-French Huguenot descent,^[8]and James A. Hamilton, a Scotsman who was the fourth son of Alexander Hamilton, the laird of Grange, Ayrshire.^[9]

Alexander impressed his employers, working as an accounting clerk in St. Croix.^[6] This exposed him to international trade and business, and began his education in the area.^[6] So impressed with Alexander were his employers (or his aunts, by some accounts) that they pooled their resources to send him to school on the colonial mainland, at King's College in New York.^[6][1][2] His spark for patriotism began while in college.^[6]

During his time serving as an advisor to George Washington, Alexander met Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of a wealthy New York family.^[6][2] They were married 14 December 1780.^[2] Together, they had eight children.^[2] There were rumors of Alexander having an affair with a woman named Maria Reynolds, but his dying letter to his wife showed his undying love to her, and she continued to defend and support his legacy for the 50 years she outlived him.^[6][10]

Patriot

Alexander wrote his first propaganda for the Revolution while attending King's College in 1774.^[6] He left King's College without graduating to join the Patriot's cause.^[2] He joined in the New York Provincial Artillery Company in 1775.^[6] By 1777, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Continental Army.^[6] He soon caught the attention of General George Washington, who asked him to be his assistant and close advisor.^[2][1]

Alexander grew restless in his role, and was granted release from Washington's side to lead troops on the battlefield again.^[6] His wins there led to the treaties collectively known as the Peace of Paris.^[6]

In 1782, Alexander left his advisory role with Washington completely and focused on the blossoming government, hoping to steer it towards a strong central government which might discourage the abuses he was seeing under the Articles of Confederation.^[6] He attended law school at this time, passing the bar and establishing a law practice in New York.^[6] In an interesting turn, he ended up defending British Loyalists in their suits to try to regain property they lost when the war was lost.^[6] A particular case in 1784, Rutgers v. Waddington, led to the creation of a judicial review system.^[6]

Alexander served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, though he didn't do much of the writing.^[6] He was an important author of the Federalist Papers (writing 51 of 85 of the essays).^[6] He helped convince New Yorkers to agree to ratify the U.S Constitution in 1788.^[6] He then served as the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury, from 1789 to 1795, under President George Washington.^[6]

The Infamous Duel

On July 12, 1804, in New York, Hamilton died of a gunshot wound that he sustained during a duel with Aaron Burr.^[6][2] Burr served as Vice President under Thomas Jefferson, but when Jefferson ran the second time, he removed his association with Burr.^[6] Burr was angered by comments Hamilton had made at the time, as well as his attempt to block Burr from a role as governor of New York.^[6][1][2] Believing Hamilton to have damaged his political career, Burr challenged him to a duel (this despite the two having had a friendly relationship in years prior).^[6][2] Hamilton reluctantly accepted.^[6] Some believe his reluctance and poor performance in the duel could be traced back to his own son Philip's death in a duel three years earlier.^[1] The duel commenced at dawn July 11, 1804 in Weehawken, New Jersey.^[6][6] Both men drew and shot.^[6] Hamilton missed, while Burr injured Alexander, who was transported to New York where he died the next day.^[6]

Alexander Hamilton was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery, New York City, New York.^[2][11]

Duel with Burr and death[1]

Soon after Lewis' gubernatorial victory, the Albany Register published Charles D. Cooper's letters, citing Hamilton's opposition to Burr and alleging that Hamilton had expressed "a still more despicable opinion" of the vice president at an upstate New York dinner party. Cooper claimed that the letter was intercepted after relaying the information, but stated he was "unusually cautious" in recollecting the information from the dinner.

Burr, sensing an attack on his honor, and recovering from his defeat, demanded an apology in the form of a letter. Hamilton wrote a letter in response and ultimately refused because he could not recall the instance of insulting Burr. Hamilton would also have been accused of recanting Cooper's letter out of cowardice.  After a series of attempts to reconcile were to no avail, a duel was arranged through liaisons on June 27, 1804.

The concept of honor was fundamental to Hamilton's vision of himself and of the nation. Historians have noted, as evidence of the importance that honor held in Hamilton's value system, that Hamilton had previously been a party to seven "affairs of honor" as a principal, and to three as an advisor or second. Such affairs of honor were often concluded prior to reaching the final stage of a duel.

Before the duel, Hamilton wrote an explanation of his decision to participate while at the same time intending to "throw away" his shot. His desire to be available for future political matters also played a factor. A week before the duel, at an annual Independence Day dinner of the Society of the Cincinnati, both Hamilton and Burr were in attendance. Separate accounts confirm that Hamilton was uncharacteristically effusive while Burr was, by contrast, uncharacteristically withdrawn. Accounts also agree that Burr became roused when Hamilton, again uncharacteristically, sang a favorite song, which recent scholarship indicates that it was "How Stands the Glass Around", an anthem sung by military troops about fighting and dying in war.

How Stands the Glass Around?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eH-2vvTnCY

The duel began at dawn on July 11, 1804, along the west bank of the Hudson River on a rocky ledge in Weehawken, New Jersey. Both opponents were rowed over from Manhattan separately from different locations, as the spot was not accessible from the west due to the steepness of the adjoining cliffs. Coincidentally, the duel took place relatively close to the location of the duel that had ended the life of Hamilton's eldest son, Philip, three years earlier. Lots were cast for the choice of position and which second should start the duel. Both were won by Hamilton's second, who chose the upper edge of the ledge for Hamilton facing the city to the east, toward the rising sun. After the seconds had measured the paces Hamilton, according to both William P. Van Ness and Burr, raised his pistol "as if to try the light" and had to wear his glasses to prevent his vision from being obscured. Hamilton also refused the more sensitive hairspring setting for the dueling pistols offered by Nathaniel Pendleton, and Burr was unaware of the option.

Vice President Burr shot Hamilton, delivering what proved to be a fatal wound. Hamilton's shot was said to have broken a tree branch directly above Burr's head. Neither of the seconds, Pendleton nor Van Ness, could determine who fired first, as each claimed that the other man had fired first.

Soon after, they measured and triangulated the shooting, but could not determine from which angle Hamilton had fired. Burr's shot hit Hamilton in the lower abdomen above his right hip. The bullet ricocheted off Hamilton's second or third false rib, fracturing it and causing considerable damage to his internal organs, particularly his liver and diaphragm, before becoming lodged in his first or second lumbar vertebra. The biographer Ron Chernow considers the circumstances to indicate that, after taking deliberate aim, Burr fired second, while the biographer James Earnest Cooke suggests that Burr took careful aim and shot first, and Hamilton fired while falling, after being struck by Burr's bullet.

The paralyzed Hamilton was immediately attended by the same surgeon who tended Philip Hamilton, and ferried to the Greenwich Village boarding house of his friend William Bayard Jr., who had been waiting on the dock. On his deathbed, Hamilton asked the Episcopal Bishop of New York, Benjamin Moore, to give him holy communion. Moore initially declined to do so on the grounds that participating in a duel was a mortal sin and that Hamilton, although undoubtedly sincere in his faith, was not a member of the Episcopalian denomination. After leaving, Moore was persuaded to return that afternoon by the urgent pleas of Hamilton's friends. Upon receiving Hamilton's solemn assurance that he repented for his part in the duel, Moore gave him communion.

After final visits from his family, friends, and considerable suffering for at least 31 hours, Hamilton died at two o'clock the following afternoon, July 12, 1804, at Bayard's home just below the present Gansevoort Street. The city fathers halted all business at noon two days later for Hamilton's funeral. The procession route of about two miles organized by the Society of the Cincinnati had so many participants of every class of citizen that it took hours to complete and was widely reported nationwide by newspapers.Moore conducted the funeral service at Trinity Church. Gouverneur Morris gave the eulogy and secretly established a fund to support his widow and children. Hamilton was buried in the church's cemetery.

Religion[2]

On his deathbed, Hamilton asked the Episcopal Bishop of New York, Benjamin Moore, to give him holy communion. Moore initially declined to do so, on two grounds: that to participate in a duel was a mortal sin, and that Hamilton, although undoubtedly sincere in his faith, was not a member of the Episcopalian denomination. After leaving, Moore was persuaded to return that afternoon by the urgent pleas of Hamilton's friends, and upon receiving Hamilton's solemn assurance that he never inttended to shoot Burr and repented for his part in the duel, Moore gave him communion. Bishop Moore returned the next morning, stayed with Hamilton for several hours until his death, and conducted the funeral service at Trinity Church.

Relationship with Jews and Judaism[3]

Hamilton's birthplace had a large Jewish community, constituting one quarter of Charlestown's white population by the 1720s. He came into contact with Jews on a regular basis; as a small boy, he was tutored by a Jewish schoolmistress, and had learned to recite the Ten Commandments in the original Hebrew.

Hamilton exhibited a degree of respect for Jews that was described by Chernow as "a life-long reverence." He believed that Jewish achievement was a result of divine providence:

The state and progress of the Jews, from their earliest history to the present time, has been so entirely out of the ordinary course of human affairs, is it not then a fair conclusion, that the cause also is an extraordinary one—in other words, that it is the effect of some great providential plan? The man who will draw this conclusion, will look for the solution in the Bible. He who will not draw it ought to give us another fair solution.

Based primarily on the phonetic similarity of Lavien to a common Jewish surname, it has been suggested that Johann Lavien, the first husband of Hamilton's mother, was Jewish or of Jewish descent. On this contested foundation, it was rumored that Hamilton himself was born Jewish, a claim that gained some popularity early in the 20th century, and that was given serious consideration by one present-day historian. The belief that Lavien was Jewish was popularized by Gertrude Atherton in her 1902 novel The Conqueror, a fictionalized biography of Hamilton which made the earliest known written assertion of the claim. The consensus of mainstream scholars and historians who have addressed the underlying question of whether Lavien was Jewish, such as Ron Chernow, is that the assertion is not credible. (Perhaps)

Notes

Previously there were extensive extracts presented here as notes including a copy of the letter from Burr to Hamilton in 1804 and the text of Hamilton's speech to the Federalists in 1804. These have been converted to a PDF file and can now be found under the Images tab and headed "Some General Notes".

Legacy

Eight U.S. states have named counties in Alexander Hamilton's honor. They are: Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee.

Research Notes

DNA Information

In the Hamilton Y-DNA Project, known descendants of Alexander Hamilton have been assessed as Group I1-5 Haplogroup I1a2a1a or I-Z140. In order to be a male-line descendant of his, you should have the same genetic result.^[12]

One of his descendants currently on WikiTree has completed an autosomal test and a paternal cousin has completed a Y-DNA test.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Alexander Hamilton on History.com, accessed 26 Jun 2018
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13} "Alexander Hamilton" Historic Valley Forge, www.ushistory.org/valleyforge, accessed 26 Jun 2018
3. ↑ There was a longstanding debate over whether the birth year was 1755 or 1757 as that latter date is stated in several sources. The 1755 date did not appear until revalations were made in 1939 regarding Rachel Faucett's probate dated 22 Feb 1768 lising Alexander as age 13 (placing his birth between 23 Feb 1754 and 22 Feb 1755). This evidence was convincing to a number of genealogists and historians but not all with the camps split in roughly equal numbers. More recently, the testimony of Jemima Gurley (Rachel's sister and Alexander's aunt) at the divoce proceedings against Rachel on 18 Apr 1759 describe he sister, two years earlier, having two children with the younger child (Alexander) bing about three years old at that time. In other words Rachel's youngest child in Apr 1757 was about three years of age not three months of age. Were one to interpret 'about three years' as three years +/- a year, a birth in the range of Apr 1753 to Apr 1755 results. Lastly, also recently revealed is testimony by Alexaner on 5 Aug 1771 in a case against his employer where he states his age as 17 (i.e., born between 6 Aug 1753 and 5 Aug 1754). This range excludes both the 1757 date and the 1755 date unless one allows that he was, at 16 years and nearly 7 month, closer to 17 years of age than 16 years of age. In any case, the 1757 date seems to be ruled out entirely. Were one to believe that the range just specified is what was implied by Alexander's testimoney, one would have to conclude that he was born between 23 Feb 1754 and 5 Aug 1754 but were one to allow that he merely rounded up as he any youth would want to express greater maturity especially when giving testimony, then one could modify the range as 23 Feb 1754 to 5 Feb 1755. See the following for an argument that centers on the more restricted range: Alexander Hamilton’s Birthdate, Early Biography, and More: Lecture presented on July 10, 2019
4. ↑ It is possible that he was born on Nevis but the family was spending most of its time on St Eustatius and much of its time on St. Christopher (aka St. Kitts) where his elder brother was born.
5. ↑ Hamilton: p. 841
6. ↑ ^{6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 6.25 6.26 6.27 6.28 6.29 6.30 6.31} "Alexander Hamilton", Biography.com. Accessed 26 Jun 2018
7. ↑ Ramsing, Holger Utke (1939). "Alexander Hamilton". Personalhistorisk Tidsskrift (in Danish): 225–70.
8. ↑ Chernow, Ron (2005). Alexander Hamilton. Penguin Press. ISBN 978-0-14-303475-9. OL 35261741M.
9. ↑ Randall, Willard Sterne (2004). Foreword. Practical Proceedings in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. By Hamilton, Alexander. New York: New York Law Journal. p. ix.
10. ↑ Serratore, Angela, "Alexander Hamilton's Adultery and Apology", Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Jul 2013, smithsonianmag.com. Accessed 26 Jun 2018
11. ↑ Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) on Find A Grave: Memorial #437 Retrieved 30 December 2017.
12. ↑ Hamilton DNA on PSU.edu

See also:

• Hamilton, John C, Life of Alexander Hamilton. A History of the Republic of the United States of America, as Traced in His Writings and in Those of His Contemporaries. Cambridge, (Houghton, Osgood and Company, 1879), Volume VII

• F.S Oliver, Alexander Hamilton. An Essay on American Union. Thomas Nelson & Sons.

• Wikipedia: Alexander Hamilton

• Wikidata: Item Q178903, en:Wikipedia

• "'Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years', by Michael E. Newton; Eleftheria Publishing; Phoenix, AZ, USA; 2015." Also see 'Timeline of Key Events', pp vii - ix

• "The Everything Founding Fathers Book: All you need to know about the men who shaped America', by Meg Greene, Paula Stathakis; Simon and Schuster; 2011, Chapter 11."

• "H★milton," Presenting the tale of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, this revolutionary moment in theatre is the story of America then, told by America now, Disney+, (03 July 2020) .

• New York Heritage Digital Collections, Hamilton-Burr Duel Collection, Collection Owner: Fenimore Art Museum, The Burr - Hamilton Duel Collection is comprised of the correspondence that passed between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr (and their seconds, Pendleton and Van Ness) before the historic duel. https://nyheritage.org/collections/hamilton-burr-duel-collection , accessed 18 Oct 2022.