Young Philip (Hamilton 21)

I'd meant to write on the Battle of Monmouth this week, but I'm skipping ahead a bit, to the song after "Yorktown," because it's a perfect Father's Day song. Not bad…

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Hamilton Asks for a Military Command (Hamilton 20)

Alexander and Eliza were married in December, 1780 (see last week's post). A month earlier, with the prospect of a wife and family to support, Hamilton wrote to George Washington…

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Alexander and Eliza Engaged (Hamilton 19)

"Employ all your leisure in reading" By early July 1780, Alexander and Eliza had been engaged for several months. (For Alexander's list of requirements for a wife, his letter to sister…

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Hamilton’s Love Life as a Bachelor (Hamilton 18)

A note on long-distance relationships in the 18th century In the 1770s, there is no Snapchat or Twitter, no email or phone. If you can't talk to someone face to…

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Hamilton Joins Washington’s Staff (Hamilton 16)

Washington asks Congress for help Commander-in-Chief George Washington to John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress: New York July the 11th 1776 As I am truly sensible the time of Congress…

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A Revue of Royal & Revolutionary Rhetoric (Hamilton 15)

In several violent Acts and interludes, with important and incendiary dialogue in (of course) red. Setting: A world before the Industrial Revolution and capitalism, with countries ruled by kings and assorted…

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Hamilton vs. Seabury (Hamilton 14)

By 1774, 45-year-old Reverend Samuel Seabury (1729-1796) was a veteran of verbal combat. Assigned to a church in New Jersey from 1754 to 1757, he became embroiled in the debate over…

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New York, New York (Hamilton 13)

New York is the greatest city in the world: no argument from me about that. But greatness has to start somewhere ... Here's the Dutch settlement at the southern end of…

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Angelica Schuyler (Hamilton 12)

In 1776, the "old money" families in New York - the ones that had been around in Dutch times and had continued to thrive for a century under the British -…

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