Philip Hamilton

Philip Hamilton

Philip Hamilton (born January 22, 1782 , † November 24, 1801 ) was the eldest son of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton and Alexander Hamilton . His father was the first US Treasury Secretary and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States . Philip Hamilton died as a young man as a result of a duel .

Life

The parents had great expectations of their son Philip; Alexander Hamilton believed he could tell from the hand movements of the seven-month-old baby that he would one day become a great speaker. As a nine year old Philip Hamilton was sent to boarding school in Trenton . Three years later, in 1794, his younger brother Alexander followed him there. Philip turned out to be a bright student. He attended Columbia College to later study law. His father demanded strict discipline from him at work. In 1800 Philip Hamilton graduated from college and began his studies.

death

On July 4, 1801, George Eacker , a supporter of Thomas Jefferson , gave a speech at Columbia University in which he was critical of Alexander Hamilton. Philip Hamilton learned of this speech from a newspaper and was outraged by it. On November 20th of the same year he wanted to go to a theater performance with his friend Richard Price. When he arrived at the Park Theater, he met Eacker and spoke to him about the speech. The dialogue degenerated into violent insults, among other things Eacker described Philip Hamilton as “rascal”, whereupon Hamilton and Price Eacker challenged a duel. Weehawken was chosen as the location of the duel , where Philip Hamilton's father would later also fall in a duel.

Notice board at the location of the duel

On November 22, 1801, Eacker dueled with Price; both remained unwounded. The next day the duel between Eacker and Hamilton took place. True to his father's advice, when Hamilton was given the command to shoot, he did not raise his weapon at first, whereupon Eacker did not fire either. In the end, however, Eacker shot and hit Hamilton above the right hip. This fell to the ground; It is unclear whether the shot from his weapon that came off was intentional. But Eacker was not hit.

The injured man was taken to Manhattan , where all doctors in the city were called. Alexander Hamilton rushed to the house of David Hosack , who had already been alerted and broke into the house of the couple Angelica and John Church, where the injured Philip Hamilton had been taken. Alexander Hamilton followed the doctor; a little later, Philip Hamilton's mother also arrived at the Church's house. It turned out that there was no longer any hope for the injured person. Philip Hamilton died 14 hours after he was shot in the early morning of November 24, 1801. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Trinity Church in Manhattan.

Philip Hamilton's 17-year-old sister Angelica lost her mind after her brother's violent death. His mother, who was three months pregnant when he died, gave birth to a son on June 2, 1802, who was also named Philip in honor of the deceased.

aftermath

The life of Alexander Hamilton was used as the subject of a musical entitled Hamilton , which in turn is based on the Hamilton biography by Ron Chernow , which had previously been adapted for the stage. In this book and the musical, of course, the son Philip also appears.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Philip Hamilton: Like Son, Like Father . November 24, 2010. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
2. ^ Warren Roberts: A Place in History. SUNY Press, 2010, ISBN 978-1-438-43331-8 , p. 135 ( limited preview in Google book search).
3. ↑ CB Richardson: Historical Magazine. CB Richardson, 1867, p. 193 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
4. ↑ A Biography of Alexander Hamilton at www.let.rug.nl