Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton

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Portrait of Elizabeth Hamilton by Ralph Earl (1787)

Elizabeth Hamilton (born Elisabeth Schuyler on August 9, 1757 in Albany , New York Province; died on November 9, 1854 in Washington, DC ) was an American philanthropist and wife of the politician and founding father Alexander Hamilton .

Origin and youth

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, also known as Eliza or Betsey by family , was born in Albany in 1757 as the second daughter of the Continental Army general in the American Revolutionary War, Philip Schuyler and his wife Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler. Her mother came from the Van Rensselaer family, one of the richest and most politically influential families in New York State . She had 14 siblings, seven of whom reached adulthood, including Angelica Schuyler Church and Margarita "Peggy" Schuyler Van Rensselaer .

Her family was one of the wealthy Dutch landowners who had settled in the Albany area since the mid-17th century. Like many landowners at the time, Philip Schuyler had slaves and Eliza grew up in an environment marked by slavery . Her father fought for the British in the Seven Years' War , sometimes very close to the family home. The children's lives were not affected by this. Eliza learned to read and sew from her mother. The family was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church , and the religion gave Elizabeth a lifelong unshakable faith.

As a girl, Elizabeth accompanied her father to negotiations with the Iroquois Confederation and also met Benjamin Franklin when he was visiting the Schuyler family on a trip. As a child she was considered a tomboy and as an adult she was said to have a strong will and a certain impulsiveness.

Marriage and marriage to Alexander Hamilton

Elizabeth spent the spring of 1780 with her aunt Gertrude Schuyler Cochran in Morristown, New Jersey . Here she met Alexander Hamilton , one of the aides to General George Washington , who had been stationed with the general's staff in Morristown for the winter. They had met two years earlier, when Hamilton was invited to dinner with the Schuylers on his way back from a mission on behalf of Washington. While in Morristown, Eliza also met and befriended Martha Washington , a relationship that lasted well beyond her husbands' careers.

It is reported that after meeting Eliza, Hamilton was so excited that he forgot the password to enter Army Headquarters. The relationship between Hamilton and Eliza developed rapidly. Whenever he was out on business, there was intensive correspondence. They got engaged in early April. In June 1780 Hamilton left Morristown with the general staff. In September, Eliza learned that British Major John André had been arrested after his plan to hand over Fort West Point to the British by renegade General Benedict Arnold had failed. André had been a guest at Schuyler Mansion in Albany in 1775 as a prisoner of war en route to Pennsylvania . Hamilton promised to work to ensure that Andrés' last will to be executed by shooting would be fulfilled, but was unsuccessful. On December 14, 1780, Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler were married at Schuyler Mansion .

They moved into a house across the river from Headquarters in New Windsor. Elisa was busy building a home and helping Alexander with his political writings - parts of his 31-page letter to Robert Morris , which highlighted much of his financial expertise, are in her handwriting.

While pregnant with their first child Philip , who was born in January 1782, Eliza moved back to her parents' home in Albany. During his absence, Alexander wrote her countless letters in which he assured her that she did not have to worry about her safety. He also shared sensitive military information with her, such as preparations for the battle of Yorktown that fall. Fortunately, the family was spared the effects of the war.

After the Battle of Yorktown, the couple lived in Albany for almost two years, and in late 1783 they moved to New York City . In September 1784, Eliza gave birth to their second child, named Angelica after Eliza's older sister. Their third child Alexander was born in May 1786, the fourth James Alexander in April 1788, and the fifth John Church in August 1792.

In 1787 the family also took in Frances (Fanny) Antill as a foster child. The girl was then two years old and the youngest child of Hamilton's friend Edward Antill, whose wife had died young. Colonel Antill himself died two years later in Canada and Fanny lived with the Hamiltons for a total of eight years until her older sister married and was able to take her in.

The Hamiltons participated intensively in social life, often going to the theater and attending balls and parties. They hosted a dinner on the return of Thomas Jefferson from Paris in 1790, at which Eliza danced with George Washington. After Alexander was appointed Minister of Finance , social obligations increased significantly.

Elizabeth Hamilton, Portrait by James Sharples (ca.1795)

Eliza continued to support her husband in his political career, for example with the publication of the Federalist Papers , his work for the newly created central bank of the USA or the formulation of Washington's farewell speech.

She took care of the upbringing of the children and ran the household, which moved several times between New York, Philadelphia and Albany. In November 1794, Eliza suffered a miscarriage after her youngest child became seriously ill and worried when Hamilton was tasked with cracking down on the Whiskey Rebellion . Hamilton then resigned from all public offices in order to resume his legal practice in New York and so to stay closer to his family.

In 1797 an affair between Hamilton and Maria Reynolds came to light several years ago . He published a document later known as the Reynolds Pamphlet on August 25, 1797 , in which he admitted the past extramarital relationship but countered any allegation that he was involved in the dishonorable or criminal acts of Mary's husband, James Reynolds.

Eliza was pregnant with her sixth child at the time. She left Hamilton in New York and moved to live with her parents in Albany, where William Stephen was born in August 1797. As a result, the couple got closer again. They continued their marriage and had two other children. The daughter Elizabeth was born in November 1799. Before the birth of her eighth child, in November 1801 she lost her eldest son Philip, who was killed in a duel . Their youngest child was born in June 1802 and was baptized after his late brother Philip.

During this time, Alexander commissioned the architect John McComb Jr. to build a house in Harlem , which was completed in 1802 and named after the Scottish place of origin of Alexander's father, Hamilton Grange .

In July 1804, a dispute between Alexander Hamilton and his political rival Aaron Burr escalated . He was critically injured in a pistol duel and died on July 12, 1804 with his family.

Next life

Elizabeth Hamilton, Portrait of Henry Inman (1925)
Elizabeth Hamilton at the age of 94

In the year before Hamilton's death, Eliza's mother Catherine died unexpectedly and a few months later, Eliza's father also died.

After the death of her husband, Eliza had to pay family debts. The Grange was auctioned off publicly, but she was soon able to buy it back cheaply with the help of the executors. In November 1833, Eliza, now 76 years old, sold The Grange for $ 25,000 to finance a new townhouse ( Hamilton-Holly House ), where she lived for nine years with her adult children Alexander Hamilton Jr. and Eliza Hamilton Holly and their spouses lived. In 1836, Eliza was able to obtain a transfer of Alexander's army pension at Congress. In 1848 she moved from New York to Washington DC, where she lived with her widowed daughter Eliza until 1854.

In 1798, Eliza accepted the invitation of her friend Isabella Graham to become a member of the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children , which had been founded the previous year. In 1806 she founded the Orphan Asylum Society with several other women . Eliza first became Vice President, from 1821 she was President for 27 years until she left New York in 1848. She raised funds, collected necessary consumer goods and looked after the care and upbringing of over 700 children. When she left, she had worked for the organization for a total of 42 years. Elizabeth Hamilton's engagement is associated, for example, in the musical Hamilton with the fact that her husband Alexander grew up as an orphan. The Orphan Asylum Society still exists today as a children's aid organization under the name Graham Windham .

After the death of Alexander Hamilton, Eliza defended her husband against various accusations. She underscored his claim to authorship of Washington's farewell speech and fended off allegations by James Monroe against Alexander of financial irregularities. After meeting Monroe in person shortly before he died, she actually received an official apology. In 1846 she applied to Congress to publish the writings of Alexander Hamilton. In 1848, Congress bought Hamilton's works, added them to the Library of Congress , and published them.

Eliza remained committed to her husband's legacy. She searched through all of his letters, documents and papers with the help of her son John C. Hamilton, who after many setbacks finally published the book "History of the Republic of the United States America, as Traced in the Writings of Alexander Hamilton and of His Contemporaries" , which set the standard for all future biographies about Alexander Hamilton.

After moving to Washington, DC, she supported Dolley Madison and Louisa Adams in their campaign to build the Washington Monument .

Elizabeth Hamilton died on November 9, 1854 in Washington, DC She was buried near her husband in the cemetery of Trinity Church in New York City.

reception

literature

Web links

Commons : Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jenny L. Presnell: Hamilton, Elizabeth Schuyler (9 August 1757-09 November 1854), statesman's wife and charity worker . Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b R. Brookhiser: A Love Letter from Alexander Hamilton to His "Nut-Brown Maid" . In: OAH Magazine of History . 18, No. 4, July 1, 2004, pp. 49-52. doi : 10.1093 / maghis / 4/18/49 .
  3. ↑ Mrs. Philip John Schuyler (Catherine van Rensselaer) ( en-US ) Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  4. ^ A b Diana Childress: Family Man , Cobblestone, Vol 37, October 2016
  5. ^ Stefan Bielinski: Dutch Reformed Church In Albany, New York . August 23, 2016. Accessed July 4, 2020.
  6. ^ John Church Hamilton: 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 , Volume 3. Houghton, Osgood and Company, Boston 1879, p. 361– 362: "Colonel Antil of the Canadian Corps, a friend of General Hazen, retired penniless from the service — his military claims, a sole dependence, being unsatisfied. Hoping to derive subsistence from the culture of a small clearing in the forest, he retired to the wilds of Hazenburgh . His hopes were baffled, and in his distress he applied to Hamilton for relief. His calamities were soon after embittered by the loss of his wife, leaving infant children. With one of these Antil visited New York, to solicit the aid of the Cincinnati , and there sank under the weight of his sorrows. Hamilton immediately took the little orphan home, who was nurtured with his own children ... "
  7. ^ Henry Knox: Letter from Henry Knox to Alexander Hamilton, November 24, 1794 . Archived from the original on October 20, 2017.
  8. ↑ Alexander Hamilton: Letter from Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, December 1, 1794 .
  9. ↑ Alexander Hamilton: Letter from Alexander Hamilton to Angelica Schuyler Church, March 6, 1795 .
  10. ↑ To Alexander Hamilton from John B. Church, July 13, 1797 . Archived from the original on October 24, 2017.
  11. ↑ Alexander Hamilton: Letter from Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, July 21, 1797 .
  12. ↑ Alexander Hamilton: Printed Version of the "Reynolds Pamphlet", 1797 . Archived from the original on July 10, 2016.
  13. ↑ a b c Audrey DeAngelis, Gina DeAngelis: Notable Givers . In: Cobblestone . 39, No. 2, February 2018, pp. 10-12.
  14. ↑ George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation . Archived from the original on December 9, 2017. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
  15. ↑ George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation . Archived from the original on August 4, 2017. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
  16. ↑ Kathy Henderson: Meet the Magnetic Schuyler Sisters, the Heart of Hamilton . May 19, 2015. Archived from the original on August 5, 2017.
  17. ↑ Michael Paulson: 'Hamilton' Makes History With 16 Tony Nominations . In: The New York Times , May 3, 2016. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. 
personal data
SURNAME Schuyler Hamilton, Elizabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hamilton, Elizabeth; Schuyler, Elizabeth (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1757
PLACE OF BIRTH Albany (New York)
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1854
Place of death Washington, DC