SOURCES

1 • The storm tore homes and buildings: William F. Cissel, “Alexander Hamilton: The West Indian ‘Founding Father’ ” (paper presented at Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years conference, Christiansted, Saint Croix, July 2004), 16.

1 • The air itself reeked of gunpowder and sulphur: [Alexander Hamilton], Letter to the Royal Danish American Gazette, Sept. 6, 1772, in A Few of Hamilton’s Letters, Including His Description of the Great West Indian Hurricane of 1772, ed. Gertrude Atherton (New York: Macmillan, 1903), 261.

3 • 1755: Historians are split on the year. Alexander Hamilton gave 1757 as the date of his birth, but there is reason to doubt this.

5 • relatives who lived a mile and a half: Cissel, 2.

5 • Rachel’s mother, fooled by the glitter: Alexander Hamilton to William Jackson, Aug. 26, 1800, in Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0068.

11 • One famous duel: “Trial of John Barbot, at St. Christopher’s in the West-Indies, for the Murder of Matt. Mills, Esq.,” London Magazine, August 1753, 350.

11 • he had to stand on the table next to his teacher: John C. Hamilton, The Life of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 1 (New York: 1840), 3.

12 • Hark! hark! a voice from yonder sky: Alexander Hamilton, “The Soul ascending into Bliss, In humble imitation of Popes Dying Christian to his Soul,” Oct. 17, 1772, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0043.

13 • crammed into the bellies of overcrowded ships: A watercolor illustration of the slave ship Marie Séraphique painstakingly depicts the contents of the hold, steerage, and bridge, including the 307 men, women, and children lying side by side on board. The Slavery and Remembrance project describes the drawing thus: “Illustrations of captives, their positions noted with accuracy, reveal some wrapped with linen and doubtlessly suffering in the middle of the steerage…. Apparently, this document was created at the request of the ship owner. The general table of this slave trading voyage, begun August 25 and finished December 16, 1769, presented in the bottom, details the journey in chilling numbers.” Slavery and Remembrance: A Guide to Sites, Museums, and Memory, “Plan, profile and layout of the ship Marie Séraphique,” ca. 1770, Nantes History Museum, Castle of the Dukes of Brittany, slaveryandremembrance.org/collections.

15 • Lavien sent a court summons: Cissel, 4.

15 • “She has shown herself to be shameless …”: Holger Utke Ramsing, “Alexander Hamilton og hans m⊘drene stoegt Tidsbilleder fra Dansk Vestindiens barndom,” Personalhistorisk tidsskrift, 24 cm., 10 Raekke, 6bd. (Copenhagen, 1939), 244.

18 • Family members helped: Probate court transactions for Rachel Lewine, February 19, 1768–December 11, 1769, in the Alexander Hamiltons Papers Publication Project Records (Columbia University, Rare Book & Manuscript Library).

19 • Alexander, always great at math … chairs from Uncle James: Ramsing, 244.

20 • the financial vultures arrived an hour later: “Probate Court Transaction on Estate of Rachel Lavien,” Feb. 19, 1768, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified June 29, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0001.

21 • She was buried the next day in the family cemetery: Gertrude Atherton, “The Hunt for Hamilton’s Mother,” The North American Review 175 (August 1902), 229–242, jstor.org/stable/25119289.

21 • their cousin grew distraught about his finances: Cissel, 13.

24 • “I sent all that were able to walk”: Alexander Hamilton to Nicholas Cruger, Feb. 24, 1772, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0026.

25 • “I wish there was a War”: Alexander Hamilton to Edward Stevens, Nov. 11, 1769, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0002.

30 • Ships moored there: Archaeologists excavating the remains of the wharf in modern times found a ton of stuff from the era: bottles, pottery, rigging from ships, shoes, and the like. From this, they learned a lot of the imports came from Bristol, and activity at the wharf was bustling enough that people frequently lost their belongings and portions of shipments. Paul R. Huey, “Old Slip and Cruger’s Wharf at New York: An Archaeological Perspective of the Colonial American Waterfront,” Historical Archaeology 18, no. 1 (1984): 15–37.

31 • “a deep azure, eminently beautiful”: New York Mirror, n.c. Co[y in LC-AHP, reel 31, as cited in Chernow, 51.

33 • The company Alexander kept: During the Revolution, Hessian mercenaries targeted Livingston’s grand house, Liberty Hall, which was finished with elegant details and wood paneling that held small cupboards. The mercenaries hacked away at the staircase with their swords, but Liberty Hall survived, as did a tree one of his daughters planted in 1770. Alexander’s school didn’t. It and the church burned during the Revolutionary War. Liberty Hall still stands today, greatly expanded from the original fourteen-room Georgian-style house.

34 • He once wrote a letter: Martha J. Lamb, History of the City of New York: Its Origin, Rise and Progress, vol. 2 (New York, 1880), 82.

35 • For the sweet babe, my doating heart: Alexander Hamilton, “Poem on the Death of Elias Boudinot’s Child,” Sept. 4, 1774, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0052.

36 • the plan was contrary to the usage of the college: Hercules Mulligan, “Narrative,” in Nathan Schachner, “Alexander Hamilton Viewed by His Friends: The Narratives of Robert Troup and Hercules Mulligan,” William and Mary Quarterly 4 (April 1947) 209, jstor.org/stable/1915991.

37 • “None of the Pupils …”: “Laws and Orders of the College of New York, Adopted June 3, 1755,” in A History of Columbia University, 1754–1904 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1904), 447.

42 • “nest of locusts”: As quoted by Professor Joanne Freeman, “The American Revolution: Lecture 7,” retrieved Dec. 9, 2016, openmedia.yale.edu/projects/iphone/departments/hist/hist116/transcript07.html.

46 • “The only distinction between freedom and slavery …”: [Alexander Hamiton], A Full Vindication of the Measures of the Congress…. (NewYork, 1774) on Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0054.

47 • “scorpions” who would “sting us to death”: [Samuel Seabury], The Congress Canvassed or an Examination into the Conduct of the Delegates at Their Grand Convention…. (New York, 1774) on Project Canterbury, anglicanhistory.org/usa/seabury/farmer/02.html.

47 • he preferred the man’s disapproval … : [Alexander Hamilton], The Farmer Refuted…. (New York, 1775) on Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0057.

52 • The Asia could burn down the city: James Thomas Flexner, The Young Hamilton: A Biography (New York: Fordham University Press, 1997), 81.

55 • The men lashed ropes to the cannons: Flexner, The Young Hamilton, 82.

56 • “I was born to die …”: “Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in New York, Dated February 18th,” Royal Danish American Gazette, March 20, 1776, as cited in Chernow, 72.

56 • New York Provincial Company of Artillery: This unit is still active today as the U.S. Army’s First Battalion, Fifth Field Artillery Regiment.

58 • Washington, a strict disciplinarian, approved: founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-04-02-0248.

61 • Patriots tore down the statue: connecticutsar.org/king-georges-head/.

61 • New York was difficult territory to defend: Middlekauff, (New York: Random House, 2015), 116.

63 • “Unsoldierly Conduct must grieve …”: George Washington, general orders, July 13 1776, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0207.

63 • “The Movements of the enemy …”: George Washington, general orders, Aug. 8, 1776, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0464.

64 • “Good God, what brave fellows …”: Quoted in David McCullough, 1776 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006), 145.

65 • “Are these the men …”: Rufus Rockwell Wilson, ed., Heath’s Memoirs of the American War. (1798; repr. New York, 1904), 70.

66 • Burr raced toward gunfire: Newton, 163.

66 • “These are the times …”: Thomas Paine, “The American Crisis: Number 1,” Dec. 19, 1776, in Collected Writings (New York: Library of America, 1955).

67 • “I noticed a youth, a mere stripling …”: John C. Hamilton, Life of Alexander Hamilton: A History of the Republic of the United States, vol. 1 (Boston: 1879), 137.

70 • “a valorous knight …”: Alexander Hamilton to Susanna Livingston, March 18, 1779, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0061.

75 • “I have won the bet …”: Max Ferrand, ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Volume 3. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911), 85.

76 • “I am compelled to desire you”: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, Sept. 21, 1777, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0288.

78 • On the night of October 3: George Washington, general orders for attacking Germantown, Oct. 3, 1777, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-11-02-0404.

79 • the patriots “were flying”: Extracts from the Journal of Mrs. Henry Drinker, of Philadelphia, from September 25, 1777, to July 4, 1778. Mrs. Henry Drinker, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Oct., 1889), 298–308. Published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. jstor.org/stable/20083329.

79 • “He does himself the pleasure …”: George Washington to William Howe, Oct. 6, 1777, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-11-02-0432.

81 • “impudence … folly … rascality”: Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens, April 1779, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0100.

81 • “I am astonished …”: Horatio Gates to George Washington, Nov. 7, 1777, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-12-02-0140.

83 • “Sir, I cannot forbear Confessing”: Alexander Hamilton to Israel Putnam, Nov. 9, 1777, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0338.

85 • The lack of shoes was so dire: “The Commander-in-Chief offers a reward of Ten dollars, to any person, who shall by nine o’clock on Monday morning, produce the best substitute for shoes, made of raw hides.” George Washington, general orders, Nov. 22, 1777, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-12-02-0342.

85 • a group of rivals had been plotting: The plot was called the Conway Cabal after one of its instigators. General Thomas Conway, an Irishman who was a veteran of the French military, thought Washington was a weak general and told Horatio Gates as much. Gates, who should have squelched such talk, didn’t—most likely because he thought he’d be a better leader of the army. In November 1777, Congress created the War Board to oversee Washington and named Gates president of it. Conway was made inspector general a month later. Some members of Congress had begun to question Washington’s leadership ability, but as president of the Congress, Henry Laurens, John’s father, made sure no more shenanigans could take place. Conway ended up resigning in April 1778, but he couldn’t stop criticizing Washington. Neither could Gates. Both were challenged to duels. Gates wept and apologized, and his duel was called off. Conway did not. General John Cadwalader shot him in the mouth. The musket ball sailed through his mouth and out the back of his head. He lived, but he was finished in the army.

86 • “vermin bred in the entrails …”: Alexander Hamilton to George Clinton, Feb. 13, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct, 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0365.

87 • “It is easy to see that if their privations”: Louis Duportail to Comte de St. Germain, Nov. 17, 1777, in Arthur P. Watts, “A Newly Discovered Letter of Brigadier-General Duportail,” Pennsylvania History 1 (April 1934), 105.

87 • soldiers who got ill had to discard their clothing: The doctors insisted on it. A December 26 entry in Weedon’s Valley Forge Orderly Book read, “It appears also that many men who go into the Hospitals well clad are in a manner naked when they get well and cannot return to their regiment till new cloathed, to prevent a continuance of this evil.”

89 • “A part of the army has been”: George Washington to George Clinton, Feb. 16, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-13-02-0466. Did Alexander Hamilton write this letter of his own accord and present it to George Washington for a signature? It seems possible, even likely. Hamilton was a New Yorker, so writing to his own governor for aid in desperate times would be a logical move for him, less so for Washington. The length of the letter and vividness of the descriptions are pure Hamilton. And Hamilton wrote a great deal of Washington’s correspondence. The men established a rhythm where Hamilton understood Washington’s intentions, and Washington trusted him to convey them with force and style.

91 • “ancient fabled god of war”: The Life of Ashbel Green, V.D.M., ed. Joseph H. Jones (New York, 1849), 109.

92 • “You say to your soldier …”: Steuben to Baron de Gaudy, 1787–88, in Friedrich Kapp, The Life of Frederick William von Steuben (New York, 1859), 699.

92 • “The American soldier, never having …”: Kapp, The Life of Frederick William von Steuben, 117.

93 • “My good republicans wanted …”: Steuben to Baron Von de Goltz, 1785, in Kapp, 698.

93 • “’Tis unquestionably to his efforts …”: Alexander Hamilton to John Jay, Dec. 7, 1784, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0393.

94 • “I think I see the reason …”: From Alexander Hamilton to Baron von Steuben, March–April 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified October 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0412. Translated by Eric Yves Garcia, April 17, 2017.

95 • Alexander wrote up Washington’s orders: George Washington, orders for march from Valley Forge, June 17, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-15-02-0443.

96 • In further orders delivered by horseback: “Proceedings of a General Court-Martial for the Trial of Major General Charles Lee,” July 4, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0498. Alexander Hamilton was a witness in Charles Lee’s court-martial. Lee cross-examined Hamilton, who provided clear, specific, and unemotional testimony.

97 • “I will stay here with you …”: John C. Hamilton, The Life of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 1 (New York, 1840), 201.

97 • “You damned poltroon, you never tried them!”: Washington, George Parke Custis. Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington by His Adopted Son (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1860), p 218. Poltroon and poultry share the same etymological roots. Washington essentially called him a damn chicken.

98 • At one point, a British cannonball: Private Joseph Plumb Martin described the moment in his narrative: “Looking at it with apparent unconcern, she observed that it was lucky it did not pass a little higher, for in that case it might have carried away something else, and continued her occupation.” Joseph Plumb Martin, Narrative of the Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier (1830), 96–97. This woman was one of many to fight in the Revolution. Some dressed as men. Margaret Corbin, the first woman given a pension by the Continental Congress, was buried at the Military Academy at West Point, New York. Patriotic literature commonly refers to Margaret Corbin as “Captain Molly.” Historian Linda Grant DePauw describes Margaret Corbin as a soldier who wore a uniform but made no attempt to conceal her sex. Emily J. Teipe, “Will the Real Molly Pitcher Please Stand Up?” Prologue Magazine, Summer 1999, on archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/summer/pitcher.html.

98 • “mouth of a heated oven”: Martin, Narrative, 92.

98 • “America owes a great deal …”: From Alexander Hamilton to Elias Boudinot, July 5, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified October 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0499.

99 • “A certain preconceived and preposterous …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elias Boudinot, July 5, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0499.

101 • “I must conclude that nothing …”: Charles Lee to George Washington, June 30, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-15-02-0651.

101 • “unnecessary, disorderly, and shameful”: George Washington to Charles Lee, June 30, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-15-02-0652.

101 • He dashed off another letter: Charles Lee to George Washington, June 30, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-15-02-0653.

102 • Lee had defenders: Lee to Burr, October 1778, Memoirs of Burr, vol. 1, 135. Only Lee’s response survives. No one knows what Burr said.

102 • All things considered, it was a light sentence: In 1858, evidence turned up that indicates Charles Lee wasn’t incompetent and that he was worse than disobedient. He was a traitor. While Lee was held a prisoner of war in 1777, he’d created a plan the British could use to capture Alexandria and Annapolis. “I will venture to assert with the penalty of my life, if the plan is fully adopted and no accidents (such as a rupture betwixt the Powers of Europe) intervenes, that in less than two months … not a spark of this desolating war remains unextinguish’d in any part of the Continent.” In other words, he swore on his life that his plan would end the war in British victory, barring intervention from other European nations. “General Charles Lee’s Treason in 1777,” Bulletin of the New York Public Library 1 (April 1897), 92. The British general Henry Clinton’s papers contained a note from Lee dated June 4, 1778—weeks before the Battle of Monmouth. Lee wished Clinton health and happiness and assured him he was a “most respectful and obliged humble servant.” Charles Lee to Henry Clinton, June 4, 1778, Henry Clinton Collection, Clements Library, University of Michigan.

103 • at three thirty in the afternoon: Alexander Hamilton and Evan Edwards, “Narrative of an Affair of Honor Between General Lee and Col Laurens,” Dec. 24, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0687.

104 • he had killed the Italian: Edward Langworthy, “Memoirs of Major General Lee,” March 10, 1787, in The Life and Memoirs of the Late Major General Lee (New York, 1813), 18.

105 • “Mr. Chouin the French Gentleman”: Alexander Hamilton to ———, Sept. 12, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0556.

106 • “I think that we Americans …”: David Duncan Wallace, Life of Henry Laurens (New York: G.F. Putnam’s Sons, 1915), 474.

106 • “We have sunk the Africans …”: David Duncan Wallace, Life of Henry Laurens (New York: G.F. Putnam’s Sons, 1915), 474.

108 • “I have not the least doubt …”: Alexander Hamilton to John Jay, March 14, 1779, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0051.

109 • “I foresee that this project …”: Hamilton to Jay, March 14, 1779.

110 • “We are much disgusted here …”: Gregory Massey, John Laurens and the American Revolution, (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2000), 140.

110 • “Prejudice and private interest …”: Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens, Sept. 11, 1779, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0446.

111 • “I wish, my Dear Laurens …”: Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens, April 1779, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0100.

112 • “She must be young …”: Hamilton to Laurens, April 1779.

113 • “If I did, I am sure I have missed my aim”: His family thought so. Someone reviewing the letter later cut out words from the sentence, “Mind you do justice to the length of my nose and don’t forget that I—” What was Laurens to remember? We’ll never know.

113 • “ALL FOR LOVE is my motto”: Alexander Hamilton to Catharine Livingston, May 1777, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0170.

113 • “I am chagrined and unhappy …”: Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens, Jan. 8, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0568.

116 • “Hamilton is a gone man”: Tench Tilghman to William Tilghman, May 12, 1780, in Memoir of Lieut. Col. Tench Tilghman (Albany, 1876), 173.

117 • “the soldier-lover was embarrassed”: Benson John Lossing, Hours with the Living Men and Women of the Revolution (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1889), 140.

118 • “She is most unmercifully handsome …”: Alexander Hamilton to Margarita Schuyler, February 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0613.

118 • He wrote a poem in response: Alexander Hamilton, “Answer to the Inquiry Why I Sighed,” in Allan McLane Hamilton, The Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton (New York: Scribner’s, 1910), 126.

119 • “She wore a plain, brown gown …”: Schuyler’s description is from Hugh Howard, Houses of the Founding Fathers (New York: Artisan, 2007), 147, in Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment (Dulles, Va.: Potomac, 2009), 190n8.

120 • “Though I have not the happiness …”: Alexander Hamilton to Catherine Schuyler, April 14, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0648.

120 • “I give up my liberty to Miss Schuyler”: Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens, June 30, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0742.

121 • “I love you more and more every hour”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, July 2–4, 1780, in The Papers of Alexander Hamilton vol. 2, 1779–1781, ed. Harold Syrett, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), 350–352.

121 • “My heart overflows with every thing …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, August 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0834.

121 • “Tell me my pretty damsel …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, August 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0834.

122 • “I shall again present him …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, June–October 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0746.

122 • “Mrs. Washington most cordially …”: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, Dec. 27, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-04348.

126 • “Gates has had a total defeat …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, Sept. 6, 1780, in The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 2, 422.

128 • “Arnold has betrayed us!”: Washington is quoted in Flexner, Young Hamilton, 308.

128 • “It was the most affecting scene …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, Sept. 25, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0869.

130 • Above all, Washington was furious: George Washington to John Jameson, Sept. 25, 1780, in The Writings of George Washington, vol. 20, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1937), 86-87.

130 • “He came within our lines in the night …”: George Washington to Nathanael Greene, Sept. 29, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-03430.

131 • “Let me hope, Sir”: John André to George Washington, Oct. 1, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-03449.

132 • “It has so happened …”: Alexander Hamilton to Henry Clinton, Sept. 30, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0879.

132 • A B: Because the letter is written in disguised handwriting with false initials, we can’t be certain Alexander Hamilton is the writer. But he did have the motive to write it and the opportunity to pass along the letter, leading many historians to believe he’s the author. He’d also used these initials elsewhere, and later in his life disguised his handwriting when he felt it necessary.

132 • “One of their principal excellencies …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, March 17, 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0622.

132 • It would have meant death for Arnold: Hamilton to Clinton, Sept. 30, 1780.

134 • “Must I then die in this manner?”: Alexander recounted André’s last words in Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens, Oct. 11, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0896.

134 • “I say this to you …”: Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens, Sept. 12, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0851.

137 • In that time, he rarely: Michael E. Newton, Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years (Phoenix: Eleftheria, 2015), 435.

138 • “I am sorry that you are not better known …”: John Laurens to Alexander Hamilton, Dec. 18, 1779, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0546.

139 • “There was a batalion without a field officer …”: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Nov. 22, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-04021.

139 • “I am unable to ansr …”: George Washington to John Sullivan, Feb. 4, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-04754.

141 • Washington found little better: Newton, The Formative Years, 431.

141 • One witness said his face: “Did George Washington Swear During the Battle of Monmouth?” Reader’s Almanac. N.p., n.d. Web. Dec. 1, 2016.

141 • “Colonel Hamilton,” he said: Alexander recounted the incident in a letter to his father-in-law. Alexander Hamilton to Philip Schuyler, Feb. 18, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1089.

143 • “Your Excellency knows I have been …”: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, April 27, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1163.

143 • “I beg you to be assured …”: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, April 27, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1164.

144 • “Indeed Betsey, I am intirely changed …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, July 13, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1180.

146 • Then he made sure his men: Alexander Hamilton to Timothy Pickering, Aug. 7, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1184.

146 • During an oppressively hot afternoon … the family’s silver: Benson John Lossing, Reflections of Rebellion: Hours with the Living Men and Women of the Revolution (Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2005), 123–124.

147 • “It has felt all the horror …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, Aug. 16, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1188.

148 • He wanted only to be happy: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, Sept. 6, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1195.

149 • “would be our misfortune …”: Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton (New York: Charles Scribner & Co, 1869), 11.

150 • “a modern Hannibal”: Newton, 466 [Footnoted as Nathanael Greene to Anthony Wayne, probably July 1781, in Charles J. Stillé, Major-General Anthony Wayne, (London: Forgotten Books, 2012), 271].

151 • Everything depended on speed: George Washington to Benjamin Lincoln, Aug. 24, 1781, in The Writings of George Washington, vol. 23, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1937), 43.

151 • “I cannot announce the fatal necessity …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, Aug. 22, 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct, 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1189.

151 • Over the next fifteen days … of their houses: James Thacher, A Military Journal During the American Revolutionary War, from 1775 to 1783 (Boston: Richardson and Lord, 1823), 325–326.

154 • “Circumstances that have just come …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, Sept. 6, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1195.

154 • Cash in hand … : Ludwig Closen and Evelyn Martha Acomb. The Revolutionary Journal of Baron Ludwig Von Closen, 1780–1783 (Chapel Hill: Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture at Williamsburg, Va., by the University of North Carolina, 1958), 124.

155 • “How chequered is human life!”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, Sept. 15–18, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1196.

155 • “The present moment offers …”: George Washington, general orders, Sept. 30, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-07054.

158 • “Five days more the enemy …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, Oct. 12, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1199.

158 • Clinton had never imagined: Narrative of Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton (London, 1783), 26–27.

159 • “We have it! …”: John C. Hamilton, The Life of Alexander Hamilton (New York, Halsted & Voorhies, 1834), 382.

161 • “Your father will tell you the news …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, Oct. 18, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1202.

161 • “You cannot imagine …”: Alexander Hamilton to Richard Kidder Meade, March 1782, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0011.

163 • Philip was perfect: Alexander Hamilton to Richard Kidder Meade, Aug. 27, 1782, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0064.

163 • “You know the circumstances …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, 1782, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0137.

165 • “I was out-voted …”: John Laurens to Alexander Hamilton, July 1782, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0044.

165 • “Quit your sword my friend …”: Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens, Aug. 15, 1782, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0058.

166 • “Intrepidity bordering on rashness”: David Duncan Wallace, The Life of Henry Laurens, with a Sketch of the Life of Lieutenant-Colonel John Laurens (New York: Russell & Russell, 1967), 489.

166 • “You know how truly …”: Alexander Hamilton to Marquis de Lafayette, Nov. 3, 1782, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0102.

166 • “How strangely are human affairs …”: Alexander Hamilton to Nathanael Greene, Oct. 12, 1782, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0090.

166 • “The more I see …”: Alexander Hamilton to Robert Morris, Sept. 28, 1782, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0082.

167 • he wanted Washington to secretly: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Feb. 13, 1783, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-10638.

167 • Washington, grateful, wrote back: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, March 4, 1783, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-10767.

168 • “You will give one more …”: George Washington to Officers of the Army, March 15, 1783, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-10840.

169 • “I have not only grown gray but …”: Joseph J. Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (New York: Vintages Books, 2000), 130.

169 • He saw now that: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, March 17, 1783, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-10850.

170 • Congress refused to negotiate: Edmund C. Burnett, ed., Letters of Members of the Continental Congress, vol. 7, (Washington, D.C., 1935), 193–94.

171 • “and the peace of this City …”: Continental Congress, “Resolutions on Measures to be Taken in Consequence of the Pennsylvania Mutiny,” June 21, 1783, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0256.

172 • Fed up, Alexander wrote a resolution: Alexander Hamilton, “Unsubmitted Resolution Calling for a Convention to Amend the Articles of Confederation,” July 1783, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0272.

174 • “I am strongly urged to stay …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, July 22, 1783, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0267.

174 • But New York felt pride in these men: James Grant Wilson, ed., The Memorial History of the City of New-York, vol. 2 (New York, 1892), 556.

176 • “Nothing is more common …”: [Alexander Hamilton], “A Letter from Phocion to the Considerate Citizens of New York,” Jan. 1–27, 1784, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0314.

177 • Though he joked to Lafayette: Alexander Hamilton to Marquis de Lafayette, Nov. 3, 1782, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0102.

177 • Alexander’s passion was for principles: James Parton, The Life and Times of Aaron Burr, vol. 1 (Boston, 1888), 154.

178 • “He is a grave, silent …”: Roger G. Kennedy, Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character (London: Oxford University Press, 1999).

179 • Burr helped Alexander: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, March 17, 1785, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0416. The house number later changed from 57 to 58.

180 • A newspaper advertisement invited: [Alexander Hamilton], Constitution of the Bank of New York, Feb. 23–March 15, 1784, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0332.

182 • “The abandonment of [enslaved black people] …”: Alexander Hamilton, “The Defence No. III,” July 29, 1795, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-18-02-0317.

183 • A few months later, he helped lobby: The Works of Samuel Hopkins, D.D. vol. 1 (Boston, 1852), 117.

184 • He listened to little Angelica: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, 1783–1789, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0312.

184 • “I confess for my own part …”: Alexander Hamilton to Angelica Church, Aug. 3, 1785, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0448.

184 • “The situation you describe …”: Alexander Hamilton to James Hamilton, June 22, 1785, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0444.

185 • “Let me know how …”: Alexander Hamilton to James Hamilton, June 22, 1785.

185 • “I feel that nothing can ever …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, Sept. 8, 1786, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0554.

187 • “Pardon me my love …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, Sept. 6, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0843.

190 • With Madison’s influence: Alexander Hamilton, address, Annapolis Convention, Sept. 14, 1786, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0556.

190 • “The heat of the day …”: Benjamin Brown, “Hot, Hot, Hot: The Summer of 1787,” July 31, 2012, Constitution Daily, National Constitution Center, blog.constitutioncenter.org/2012/07/hot-hot-hot-the-summer-of-1787/.

191 • “assembly of demigods”: Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, Aug. 30, 1787, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-0188.

196 • “with a little change of sauce”: James Madison, Notes on the Debates of the Federal Convention, June 18, 1787, n11, Avalon Project, Yale Law School, avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_618.asp.

197 • “Colo. Hamilton is deservedly …”: Notes of Major William Pierce (Georgia) in the Federal Convention of 1787, Avalon Project, Yale Law School, avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/pierce.asp.

197 • “I own to you Sir …”: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, July 3, 1787, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0110.

197 • “The Men who oppose …”: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, July 10, 1787, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-05-02-0236.

198 • Acting on orders during the war: Alexander Hamilton to Elias Dayton, July 7, 1777, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0211.

199 • Alexander determined how: Attendance, Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves meeting, Feb. 4, 1785, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0409.

199 • And then there were the enslaved people: Allan McLane Hamilton, The Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton (London: Dalton House, 2015), 268.

199 • “It will however by no means …”: Alexander Hamilton, remarks, New York Ratifying Convention, June 20, 1788, recorded by Francis Childs, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0012-0005.

202 • “I have the happiness to know …”: James Madison, Notes on the Debates, Sept. 17, 1787, avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_917.asp.

202 • “Nine states will fail …”: Madison, Notes on the Debates, Sept. 17, 1787.

204 • “This I confess hurts my feelings”: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Oct. 11, 1787, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-05-02-0335.

205 • “I do therefore, explicitly declare …”: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, Oct. 18, 1787, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0148.

206 • Parts of Virginia were enthusiastic: Washington to Hamilton, Oct. 18, 1787.

206 • “The constitution proposed has …”: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Oct. 30, 1787, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0153.

206 • It was based on an outline: Katharine Schuyler Baxter, A Godchild of Washington: A Picture of the Past (New York, 1897), 219.

208 • “If men were angels …”: [James Madison and Alexander Hamilton], “The Federalist No. 51,” February 6, 1788, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0199.

210 • “We think here that …”: Alexander Hamilton to James Madison, May 19, 1788, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0236.

211 • “Our adversaries greatly outnumber us”: Alexander Hamilton to James Madison, June 19, 1788, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0011.

211 • “I am very sorry to find …”: Alexander Hamilton to James Madison, June 25, 1788, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-11-02-0115.

211 • The next week, on June 28 … adjourned for the day: “Convention Debates and Proceedings,” New York, June 28, 1788, in The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution Digital Edition, ed. John P. Kaminski, Gaspare J. Saladino, Richard Leffler, Charles H. Schoenleber and Margaret A. Hogan, (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009), upress.virginia.edu/rotunda.

212 • A group of antifederalists attacked: Alexander Hamilton to James Madison, July 8, 1788, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0012-0057.

212 • The best of all, though: “Description of the New York City Federal Procession, New York Daily Advertiser,” Aug. 2, 1788, in The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution Digital Edition.

215 • “I take it for granted, Sir”: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Aug. 13, 1788, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0016.

215 • Washington wrote back: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, Aug. 28, 1788, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0025.

216 • “I am particularly glad …”: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, Oct. 3, 1788, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0038.

216 • If any other man should get the votes: In another letter to George Washington in November 1788, the thrust of which was to return a watch that had been plucked from the body of a British officer, Alexander included a postscript: “It is no compliment to say that no other man can sufficiently unite the public opinion or can give the requisite weight to the office in the commencement of the Government. These considerations appear to me of themselves decisive. I am not sure that your refusal would not throw every thing into confusion. I am sure that it would have the worst effect imaginable. Indeed as I hinted in a former letter I think circumstances leave no option.” Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Nov. 18 1788, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0051.

217 • “Your advices from the South …”: Alexander Hamilton to James Wilson, Jan. 25, 1789, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0075.

219 • He wore a brown suit: The brown suit was woven at the Hartford Woolen Manufactory in Connecticut. It sent a symbol that the future of America included manufacturing—something that would be a controversial idea in the years to come. George Washington Digital Encyclopedia, s.v. “Material Culture of the Presidency,” mountvernon.org/digital-encyclopedia/.

220 • nearby Masonic lodge: After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on New York City, the George Washington Inaugural Bible was rescued from the Fraunces Tavern by the director of the Masonic Museum. New York Police Department officers escorted him and the Bible to safety.

224 • “Tomorrow I open the budget …”: Alexander Hamilton to Angelica Church, Jan. 7, 1790, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-06-02-0072.

226 • “a general without an army …”: Andrew Hamilton, eulogy on Nathanael Greene, July 4 1789, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0141.

226 • He called Alexander a liar: Joanne B. Freeman, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), 30.

226 • “The attack which I conceived …”: Aedanus Burke to Alexander Hamilton, April 1, 1790, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-06-02-0216.

229 • “sombre, haggard, and dejected …”: Ellis, 48.

231 • The nation’s finances were so haphazard: Alexander Martin to Alexander Hamilton, June 1, 1790, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0002-0196.

231 • Jefferson even sniped to Madison: From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, October 1, 1792, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified October 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-24-02-0392.

235 • That night, he stashed money: He lived at 79 South Third Street.

235 • Alexander played up his concern: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, Aug. 2, 1791, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oc. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-09-02-0004.

236 • “A promise must never be broken …”: Alexander Hamilton to Philip A. Hamilton, Dec. 5, 1791, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-09-02-0419.

238 • “Burst with Greef”: Maria Reynolds to Alexander Hamilton, Jan. 23–March 18, 1792, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-10-02-0125.

239 • “Oh my God I feel more …”: Maria Reynolds to Alexander Hamilton, Dec. 15, 1791, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-10-02-0031.

239 • “I find the wife always weeping …”: James Reynolds to Alexander Hamilton, Dec. 17, 1791, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-10-02-0037.

239 • Alexander, fearing he was: Alexander Hamilton to ———, Dec. 18, 1791, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-10-02-0040.

240 • He’d feel much better: James Reynolds to Alexander Hamilton, Dec. 19, 1791, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-10-02-0045.

240 • the first, of $600: James Reynolds to Alexander Hamilton, Dec. 22, 1791, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-10-02-0053.

240 • the second on January 3, 1792: James Reynolds to Alexander Hamilton, Jan. 3, 1792, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-10-02-0080.

240 • “I have kept my Bed those tow …”: Maria Reynolds to Alexander Hamilton, Jan. 23–March 18, 1792, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-10-02-0125.

240 • “ If my dear freend …”: Maria Reynolds to Alexander Hamilton, Jan. 23–March 18, 1792, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-10-02-0126.

241 • Its author? James Reynolds: Broadus Mitchell, Alexander Hamilton: Youth to Maturity 1755-1788 (New York: Macmillan, 1957), 407.

242 • “It has been maintained …”: Alexander Hamilton, Report on the Subject of Manufactures, Dec. 5, 1791, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-10-02-0001-0007.

244 • Alexander considered it a “religious duty”: Alexander Hamilton to ———, Sept. 21, 1792, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-12-02-0309.

244 • “As a public man he …”: Alexander Hamilton to ———, Sept. 26, 1792, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-12-02-0334.

245 • Reynolds should be held: Oliver Wolcott, Reynolds Pamphlet, Appendix No. XXIV, July 12, 1792, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-21-02-0138-0009.

245 • In a meeting on December 13, 1792: Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg, Reynolds Pamphlet, Appendix No. I (a), Dec. 13, 1792, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-21-02-0138-0003.

246 • Alexander hoped the thorough confession: The next year, Maria and James Reynolds divorced, and Aaron Burr, his life becoming increasingly intertwined with Alexander’s, represented Maria in court. He also became the guardian of Maria’s child and placed the girl in the home of a congressman so she could escape the stain of her mother’s reputation. Nancy Isenberg, Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr (New York: Viking, 2007), 121. Maria later married Jacob Clingman, her husband’s accomplice. Marriage Records of Gloria Dei Church ‘Old Swedes’,’ Philadelphia: Compiled from the Original Records 1750–1863 (Philadelphia, 1879). 179.

247 • “Was I with you …”: Henry Lee to Alexander Hamilton, May 6, 1793, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-14-02-0278.

250 • “You can not immagin …”: Isaac Heston to his brother, Sept. 19, 1793, in Edwin B. Bronner, “Letter from a Yellow Fever Victim,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, April 1962, 204.

251 • As many as a hundred: Henry Knox to George Washington, Sept. 18, 1793, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-14-02-0073.

251 • In all, at least five thousand: “Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics,” Contagion digital collection, Open Collections Program, Harvard University Library.

251 • All day and night, the bereaved: Joshua Cresson, Meditations Written During the Prevalence of the Yellow Fever…. (London, 1803), Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

251 • They recovered in five days: John Sedgwick, War of Two: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Duel that Stunned the Nation (New York: Penguin, 2015).

251 • “Hamilton is ill of the fever …”: Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, Sept. 8, 1793, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-27-02-0058.

253 • The townspeople wanted to be certain: Alexander Hamilton to Abraham Yates Jr., Sept. 26, 1793, n1, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-15-02-0268.

254 • Some people had even spread: Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton, Oct. 10, 1793, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-15-02-0281.

254 • he wanted to be cleared again: Alexander Hamilton to Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg, Dec. 16, 1793, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-15-02-0387-0002.

254 • “I am just where I do not wish to be …”: Alexander Hamilton to Angelica Church, Dec. 27, 1793, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-15-02-0421.

255 • “the Secretary of the Treasury …”: Report of the Committee Appointed to Examine into the State of the Treasury, U.S. House of Representatives, May 22, 1794, (Philadelphia, 1794), 82.

255 • “War may come upon us …”: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, March 8, 1794, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-16-02-0107-0002.

256 • War was such a threat: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, April 14, 1794, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-16-02-0208-0002.

257 • A mentally ill man: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Aug. 5, 1794, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-16-02-0357.

257 • Around this time, Henry Knox: Knox to Washington, Aug. 8, 1794, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-16-02-0367.

257 • “They are all I can now offer …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, Aug. 12, 1794, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-17-02-0042.

258 • He asked Washington’s permission: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Sept. 19, 1794, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-17-02-0217.

258 • “to attack and subdue the wicked …”: Alexander Hamilton to Angelica Church, Oct. 23, 1794, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-17-02-0324.

259 • He quit his job that day: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Dec. 1, 1794, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-17-02-0392.

259 • “Don’t let Mr. Church be alarmed …”: Alexander Hamilton to Angelica Church, Dec. 8, 1794, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-17-02-0407.

261 • “After so long an experience …”: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, Feb. 2, 1795, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-18-02-0148.

261 • He had $500: Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton (New York: Penguin, 2004), 483.

262 • Not long after Alexander left office: Robert Troup to Alexander Hamilton, March 31, 1795, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-18-02-0207.

262 • “I dont want to be rich …”: Alexander Hamilton to Robert Troup, April 13, 1795, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-18-02-0218.

266 • “Philip inherits his father’s talents …”: A. M. Hamilton, Intimate Life, 212.

266 • Alexander’s role was secret: Chernow, 508.

267 • Someone had written the newspaper: Noah Webster Jr., Reynolds Pamphlet, Appendix No. XLIII, July 3, 1797, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-21-02-0138-0013.

268 • “I shall take no notice …”: John Adams to Abigail Adams, Jan. 9, 1797, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-11-02-0251.

268 • Writing as Phocion: Chernow, 511–512.

268 • Although Angelica had a husband: Thomas Jefferson to Angelica Schuyler Church, Aug. 17, 1788, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-13-02-0400.

269 • Philip was also distinguishing: A. M. Hamilton, Intimate Life, 217.

270 • “He has such skill …”: Callender, James Thompson. The history of the United States for 1796; including a variety of interesting particulars relative to the federal government previous to that period, 108.

272 • Alexander stormed into … reluctanly agreed: “David Gelston’s Account of an Interview between Alexander Hamilton and James Monrow, 11 July 1797,” Founders Online, National Archives, last midified March 30, 2017, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-21-02-0093. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 21, April 1797–July 1798, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974, pp. 159-162.]

273 • “I pray you to present my best wishes …”: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, Aug. 21, 1797, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-01-02-0276.

275 • Philip was delirious: Chernow, 544–545.

275 • Angelica once dropped: Emery, Moemie. Alexander Hamilton: An Intimate Portrait. New York: Putnam, 1982, p. 126.

276 • “I seldom write to a lady …”: Alexander Hamilton to Angelica Church, Dec. 6, 1787, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0172.

276 • “Tranquillize your kind and good heart …”: Sedgwick, War of Two, 260.

278 • “superabundance of secretions …”: John Adams to Benjamin Rush, Nov. 11, 1806, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-5152.

278 • “You will be compelled …”: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, May 19, 1798, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-02-02-0211.

278 • “If you command …”: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, June 2, 1798, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-21-02-0264.

279 • “the bastard brat of a Scotch Pedler”: John Adams to Benjamin Rush, Jan. 25, 1806, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified October 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-5119.

279 • “That he is ambitious …”: George Washington to John Adams, Sept. 25, 1798, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3028.

280 • In response, Jefferson and Madison: Chernow, 573–574.

281 • The Saturday, December 14, edition: Richard N. Rosenfeld, American Aurora (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), 725.

282 • Two days earlier, Washington: George Washington Digital Encyclopedia, s.v. “The Death of George Washington,” mountvernon.org/digital-encyclopedia.

282 • The day Washington took ill: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, Dec. 12, 1799, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-04-02-0402.

284 • “I have been acquainted …”: Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks on an indictment for the murder of Gulielma Sands, on Monday the thirty-first of March, and Tuesday the first day of April, 1800. New York, John Fuhrman, 1800, p. 82.

284 • “He must not Depart …”: Alexander Hamilton, “Rules for Philip Hamilton,” 1800, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0152.

285 • “The poor old Man …”: Oliver Wolcott Jr. to Alexander Hamilton, Sept. 3, 1800, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0080.

285 • Madison snickered to Jefferson: James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, Nov. 1, 1800, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-32-02-0145.

286 • “Of all the Libellers of me …”: John Adams to Benjamin Rush, June 23, 1807, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-5190.

286 • “hideous hermaphroditical character”: James Callender, The Prospect Before Us, vol. 2 (Richmond, Va., 1800–01), 57.

286 • “murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest …”: The Lehrman Institute, “The Election of 1800—American History—Thomas Jefferson, John Adams.” N.p., n.d. Web, retrieved Dec. 3, 2016. lehrmaninstitute.org/history/1800.html. [They cite: Gordon S. Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1719–1815 (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009), 586.]

286 • Burr’s election would be a disgrace: Alexander Hamilton to Theodore Sedgwick, Dec. 22, 1800, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0139.

286 • He was bankrupt beyond redemption: Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, Dec.24, 1800, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0141.

286 • Worse, his financial distress: Alexander Hamilton to James A. Bayard, Dec. 27, 1800, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0146.

287 • “We are all Republicans …”: Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801, Avalon Project, Yale Law School, avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/jefinau1.asp.

287 • “Viewing all that she had endured …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, March 16, 1801, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0195.

288 • “to diffuse among the people …”: Allan Nevins, The Evening Post: A Century of Journalism (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1922), 19.

288 • “the most elegant piece of workmanship …”: Nevins, 20.

288 • “a set of rascals”: An account of the duel between Philip Hamilton and George Eacker and the newspaper coverage of it can be found in “The Duels Between—Price and Philip Hamilton, and George I. Eacker,” The Historical Magazine, vol. 2, ser. 2, Oct. 1867, 193–204.

290 • “The highest as well as the eldest hope …”: Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Rush, March 29, 1802, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0312.

293 • “My Dear Sir …”: Alexander Hamilton to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Dec. 29, 1802, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0056.

295 • “To men who have been so much harassed …”: Alexander Hamilton, “Explanation of His Financial Situation,” July 1, 1804, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0244.

296 • For indeed my Eliza you are very essential …”: Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, Oct. 25, 1801, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0252.

296 • “there was a furious and dreadful storm …”: James Kent to his wife, April 26, 1804, in Memoirs and Letters of James Kent, L.L.D., ed. William Kent (Boston, 1898), 143.

299 • But he was financially corrupt: A. M. Hamilton, Intimate Life, 379.

299 • “1. He is in every sense a profligate …”: Alexander Hamilton, “Enclosure: Opinions on Aaron Burr,” Jan. 4, 1801, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0156-0002.

299 • “I consider Burr as a man to be shunned”: James Monroe to James Madison, Aug. 5, 1795, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-16-02-0038.

299 • “His conduct very soon inspired …”: Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on a Conversation with Aaron Burr,” The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 42: 16 November 1803 to 10 March 1804, (Princeton University Press, 2016), 346-9.

300 • “Discretion is the mentor …”: Alexander Hamilton, “Enclosure: Thesis on Discretion,” June 1804, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0242-0002.

300 • “I can only regret the circumstance …”: Alexander Hamilton to Aaron Burr, June 20, 1804, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0205.

301 • “Why, Soldiers, Why”: “What Was Hamilton’s ‘Favorite Song’?” The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol 12, no. 2 (1955): 298-307. doi:10.2307/1920510.

302 • “These were his last moments …”: Judah Hammond to John C. Hamilton, Dec. 13, 1843, Columbia University Libraries, in “From Alexander Hamilton to Theodore Sedgwick, 10 July 1804,” n4, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0264.

302 • Should he be killed: John C. Hamilton, Life of Alexander Hamilton: A History of the Republic of the United States of America, vol. 7 (Boston, 1879), 823.

302 • he enumerated his reasons: Alexander Hamilton, “Statement on Impending Duel with Aaron Burr,” June 28–10 July 1804, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0241.

303 • The night before the duel: A. M. Hamilton, Intimate Life, 407.

304 • The account of the duel and Alexander’s death come from reports Alexander’s and Burr’s seconds made to the editor of The New-York Evening Post. Their accounts and additional details from letters, visitor accounts, and additional family documents are collected in The Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton by Allan McLane Hamilton, his grandson.

308 • “My dear Brother …”: Angelica Church to Philip J. Schuyler, July 11, 1804, Gilder Lehrman Collection, New York Historical Society, gilderlehrman.org.

309 • “My Dear Dearly Beloved …”: Philip Schuyler to Elizabeth Hamilton, July 13, 1804, in A. M. Hamilton, Intimate Life, 410.

310 • “Thus has perished …”: Oliver Wolcott to Mrs. Wolcott, July 11, 1804, in A. M. Hamilton, Intimate Life, 407.

310 • “Yesterday General Hamilton expired …”: Oliver Wolcott to Mrs. Wolcott, July 13, 1804, in A. M. Hamilton, Intimate Life, 407.

312 • “Washington sought for splendid talents …”: Gouverneur Morris, Funeral Oration, July 14, 1804, in “The Funeral,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified Oct. 5, 2016, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0271.

313 • “My public labours have amounted …”: Alexander Hamilton, “Explanation of His Financial Situation,” July 1, 1804.