51From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [27 October 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
I was made happy My beloved Eliza by the receipt of two letters from you which gave me the delightful intelligence that you & my dear Children were well. I shall be glad to come and receive the assurance in person. This moment I came from Court & I fear I shall not be disengaged from it before Saturday. Judge of my impatience by your own. Adieu My darling Eliza I am quite well ALS , Hamilton...
52From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [7–11 May 1804] (Hamilton Papers)
On Sunday Bonaparte & wife with the Judges will dine with you. We shall be 16 in number if Morris will come. Send him the enclosed note on horseback, this Evening, that James may bring me an answer in the morning. He is promised the little horse to return. If not prevented by the cleaning of your house I hope the pleasure of seeing you tomorrow. Let the waggon as well as the Coachee come in on...
53From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [18 October 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
I am thus far on my journey in good health. Tomorrow by eleven oClock I hope to reach Albany. This is the third letter I have written to you since we parted. I passed last night at Doctor Bards. The young couple seemed as usual in the like circumstances happy, and the rest of the company were in good spirits. Betsey Church talked of paying a visit to day to her uncle Philip. My former letters...
54From Alexander Hamilton to James A. Hamilton, [June 1804] (Hamilton Papers)
I have prepared for you a Thesis on Discretion. You may need it. God bless you. Your affectionate father. Hamilton, Reminiscences James A. Hamilton, Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton: or Men and Events, at Home and Abroad, During Three Quarters of a Century (New York, 1869). , 40. In describing this letter and its enclosure, James A. Hamilton wrote: “In 1804 a student in Columbia College...
55Enclosure: [Thesis on Discretion], [June 1804] (Hamilton Papers)
The celebrated Dean Swift calls discretion an Aldermanly virtue. With all his great and estimable qualities he possessed very little of it himself; and thus was disposed to turn it into derision. But his own experience should have taught him, that if not a splendid it is at least a very useful virtue, and ought on that account to be cultivated and cherished. Sayings of ⟨this⟩ kind by...
56From Alexander Hamilton to Robert G. Harper, 19 February 1804 (Hamilton Papers)
Since the receipt of your letter on the subject of the impeachment of the Judges, this is perhaps the first moment, that indifferent health and excessive occupation have permitted a reply. I view the attempts which are making completely in the light you do; and have very little doubt that they are in prosecution of a deliberate plan to prostrate the independence of the Judicial Department, and...
57From Alexander Hamilton to Richard Hartshorne, [23 March 1803] (Hamilton Papers)
I understand that our Supreme Court has decided that the Plaintiff is liable to the Sheriff for his poundage. The agents of Mr. Sansom are therefore to pay the above. ALS , Columbia University Libraries. Hartshorne, a New York City merchant, was acting as agent for Philip Sansom, a London merchant, who was bringing suit against the New York mercantile firm of Robert Murray and Company. In 1796...
58From Alexander Hamilton to John V. Henry, 20 March 1803 (Hamilton Papers)
I am afraid the frequency of my requests may induce you to think me troublesome; but I do not know any one to whom I can with more confidence address myself; and if I trespass too much on your politeness I beg you will retaliate by commanding me freely in any matter in which I can render you service. When I was last at Albany, I applied to The Comptroller, Mr. Jenkins, to ascertain the amount...
59From Alexander Hamilton to John V. Henry, 31 October 1802 (Hamilton Papers)
I left with a Watchmaker at Albany my watch to be put in order & forgot it when I came away. I believe the name of the Watchmaker is Howal . He lives near the Court House, obliquely SouthWest. Do me the favour to get it from him and send it to me by a safe opportunity; paying the expence. Yrs. with much esteem ALS , Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. Henry, an Albany lawyer, was...
60From Alexander Hamilton to James M. Hughes, [3 June 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
Mr. Hughes will please to execute the above order as follows—After deducting the Costs he will pay their proportions to the respective parties except that to Joseph Caste which I will receive. ALS , Emmett Collection, MS Division, New York Public Library. Hughes, a New York City lawyer, was a master of the New York Court of Chancery. This letter concerns the case of Benjamin Taylor v Charles...
61From Alexander Hamilton to Jedediah Huntington, 12 November 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
I take the liberty to ask the favour of your aid in respect to the inclosed notice from the Supreme Court of the UStates in the affair of the Schooner Peggy. It is to be delivered to the Agents of the Ship Trumball, who are Messieurs Howland and Allen and upon a copy of it an affidavit must be made before the District Judge of the UStates (who I am told resides at New London) that the original...
62From Alexander Hamilton to Nathaniel G. Ingraham, 6 March 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
Albany, March 6, 1801. Acknowledges receipt of Ingraham’s letter of February 26, 1801 . Regrets that he cannot serve as Ingraham’s attorney because of unavoidable delay in Albany. ALS , Mrs. Jean Ahnfeldt, Los Altos, California. Letter not found. Ingraham was declared a bankrupt on February 19, 1801 (RG 21, Records of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York,...
63From Alexander Hamilton to John Jay, 11 June 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
Mr. Davies, who appreciates your character as he ought, having expressed a desire to be personally acquainted with you, I promised him a letter of introduction. I comply with this promise with the greater pleasure, as the impressions which this Gentleman has made upon me induce me to believe that you will be glad of the opportunity of making his acquaintance. He is Attorney of the UStates for...
64From Alexander Hamilton to Rufus King, 24 February 1804 (Hamilton Papers)
You will have heared, before this reaches you, of the fluctuations and changes which have taken place in the measures of the reigning party, as to a candidate for Governor; and you will probably have also been informed that pursuant to the opinions professed by our friends, before I left New York, I had taken an open part in favour of Mr. Lansing. It is a fact to be regretted, though...
65From Alexander Hamilton to Rufus King, 28 July 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
You are, I believe, acquainted with The Reverend Mr. Mason who will deliver you this. I could not let him depart without placing him under the protection of your friendship. He is in every sense a man of rare merit . Yrs. Affect. ALS , New-York Historical Society, New York City. John Mitchell Mason became pastor of the Scotch Presbyterian Church on Cedar Street in New York City in 1793. It...
66From Alexander Hamilton to Rufus King, 3 June 1802 (Hamilton Papers)
I have been long very delinquent towards you, as a correspondent, and am to thank you that you have not cast me off altogether as an irretrievable reprobate. But you knew how to appreciate the causes and you have made a construction equally just and indulgent. In your last you ask my opinion about a matter delicate and important both in a public and in a personal view. I shall give it with the...
67Draft of a Resolution for the Legislature of New York for the Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, [29 … (Hamilton Papers)
Resolved , as the sense of the Legislature, that the following amendments ought to be incorporated into the Constitution of the United States as a necessary safeguard in the choice of a President and Vice President against pernicious dissensions as the most eligible mode of obtaining a full and fair expression of the public will in such election. 1st. That Congress shall from time to time...
68From Alexander Hamilton to Louis Le Guen, 11 January 1804 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, January 11, 1804. On January 18, 1804, Le Guen wrote to Hamilton : “Je n’ai recu que Ce matin, La Lettre dont Vous mavés favorisé Le 11.” Letter not found. ]
69From Alexander Hamilton to Louis Le Guen, 24 January 1804 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, January 24, 1804. On July 12, 1804, Le Guen wrote to Hamilton : “Le 24 Janvier aussy dernier, Vous maves fait la remise.” Letter not found. ]
70From Alexander Hamilton to Louis Le Guen, [6 May 1804] (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, May 6, 1804. On July 12, 1804, Le Guen wrote to Hamilton : “J’ai hier recu Votre Lettre du 6. mai.” Letter not found. ]
71From Alexander Hamilton to Louis Le Guen, 6 March 1804 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Albany, March 6, 1804. On March 22, 1804, Le Guen wrote to Hamilton : “Je nai recu que hier, Votre Lettre du 6.” Letter not found. ]
72From Alexander Hamilton to Louis Le Guen, 10 April 1804 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, April 10, 1804. On July 12, 1804, Le Guen wrote to Hamilton : “Vous m’aves fait La remise Le 10. avril dernier.” Letter not found. ]
73From Alexander Hamilton to Louis Le Guen, 12 September 1803 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, September 12, 1803. On September 30, 1803, Le Guen wrote to Hamilton : “Votre Lettre du 12, timbré du 19, ne m’est Parvenue que Le 29.” Letter not found. ]
74From Alexander Hamilton to Pierre Charles L’Enfant, 27 July 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
Three days since I received your letter of the 14th. As there is a Court sitting, I defer a particular answer to it, and drop you a line to say, that I shall certainly do every thing in my power to fulfil your wish. With regard, I am, Sir Yr. Obed ser ALS , Digges-L’Enfant-Morgan Collection, Library of Congress. Letter not found. The New York Supreme Court met in New York City from July 21,...
75From Alexander Hamilton to Pierre Charles L’Enfant, 18 August 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, August 18, 1801. On September 4, 1801, L’Enfant wrote to Hamilton : “I received your letter of the 18th. ulto.” Letter not found. ]
76From Alexander Hamilton to Herman LeRoy, 12 December 1803 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, December 12, 1803. Discusses the contents of a letter “this morning received from Mr. Pendleton” concerning an agreement made between Henry Sands and the Bank of New York which provided for the sale of mortgaged property owned by Sands in order to pay Sands’s creditors. AL [S], Bank of New York, New York City. For background to this letter, see H to LeRoy, September 19, 1802 . The...
77From Alexander Hamilton to Herman LeRoy, 19 September 1802 (Hamilton Papers)
Grange [ New York ], September 19, 1802 . Informs LeRoy of an arrangement he has concluded with Henry Sands to assign Sands’s mortgage on lots in Brooklyn to the Bank of New York, which, in turn, would sell the mortgaged property and use the proceeds to discharge Comfort Sands’s debts. States: “Going tomorrow morning to attend the W Chester Circuit which may occasion an absence of three or...
78From Alexander Hamilton to Edward Livingston, 10 February [1802] (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York ] February 10 [ 1802 ]. States that he is “of Counsel” in the case of Steinbach adm United States and asks Livingston for permission to examine the witnesses “ de bene esse .” ALS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. Joaquim L. Steinbach was a New York City merchant and shipowner. An entry in H’s Law Register, 1795–1804, reads: “Steinbach adsm UStates
79From Alexander Hamilton to Robert R. Livingston, [10 April 1804] (Hamilton Papers)
You were probably acquainted in this Country with Colonel Toussard who will have the honor of delivering you this letter. He has filled several stations in our Military service at different periods and always with much credit to himself and advantage to the service. During our revolutionary war he lost an arm in an action in which he displayed much zeal and bravery, and to my knowlege was...
80From Alexander Hamilton to John Lowell, Junior, 11 June 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
Mr. Davies, District Attorney for Kentucke being about to make a visit to your City, I with pleasure embrace the opportunity of introducing him to you. He was presented to me by Chief Justice Marshall and appears to me entitled to all the attention due to a man of sense and merit. With great esteem I am Dr Sir Yr Obed ser ALS , Columbia University Libraries.
81From Alexander Hamilton to Nicholas Low, [17 June 1803] (Hamilton Papers)
I send you the letter I have drafted to Mr. Ludlow. Be so good as to sign and forward it. Retain carefully the copy on the other side. Yrs. with esteem ALS , The Sol Feinstone Collection, Library of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia. Daniel Ludlow, a former Loyalist and a New York City merchant, was one of the founders of the Manhattan Company in 1799. In 1801 he was appointed...
82Enclosure: Alexander Hamilton and Nicholas Low to Daniel Ludlow, 17 June 1803 (Hamilton Papers)
It is now a considerable length of time since we became with you Trustees for the Creditors of Isaac Moses & Co and Samuel and Moses Meyers; and we feel anxious that the affairs of this trust should be finally closed. We therefore request that you will be good enough to communicate to us the present situation of this business and especially a statement of the funds, if any, which may remain in...
83From Alexander Hamilton to James Madison, 20 May 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, May 20, 1801. On May 26, 1801, Madison wrote to Hamilton : “I have received your letter of the 20th.” Letter not found. ]
84From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 21 November 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
The Prince Bailli Ruspoli of the order of Malta, who will deliver you this letter was strongly recommended to me by Mr. King. He appears to me a very Gentlemanlike respectable man. As such I ask for him your civilities. Among these you can do nothing more grateful to him than to give him a letter of Introduction to some friend of yours at Washington. Adieu My Dr. Mac Yrs. ever ALS , Montague...
85From Alexander Hamilton to Ann Mitchell, 28 June–10 July 1804 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, June 28–July 10, 1804. Nathaniel Pendleton described the eighth item on a list of ten, which were given to him after Hamilton’s death, as a “Letter to Mrs. Mitchell inclosing 400 dollars as was mentioned on the outside. Sealed.” Letter not found. ] Ann Mitchell, the daughter of James and Ann Lytton, was H’s cousin. Her mother was the sister of H’s mother, Rachel Lavien. In 1759,...
86From Alexander Hamilton to George Mitchell, 28 June–10 July 1804 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, June 28–July 10, 1804. Nathaniel Pendleton described the ninth item on a list of ten, which were given to him after Hamilton’s death, as a “Letter to Geo: Mitchell inclosing a lottery ticket, as mentioned on the outside. Sealed.” Letter not found. ] Mitchell, the husband of Ann Mitchell, H’s cousin, had died in the spring of 1797. See “List of Papers Given to Nathaniel Pendleton,”...
87From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, [4 September 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
I fully intended to have dined with you to day but going to Town the two last days & forgetting that I ought to observe a regimen, I have brought back in some degree the complaint which lately annoyed me & which requires to be well watched. This must deprive me of the pleasure of seeing you. I send Schedules of the papers required of Tillier, all which have been put into my hands—the bill to...
88From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, [7–11 May 1804] (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, May 7–11, 1804. On May 7–11, 1804, H wrote to Elizabeth Hamilton : “… if Morris will come. Send him the enclosed note.” Letter not found. ]
89From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, [29 February 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter of the 22d is the third favour for which I am indebted to you since you left N York. Your frankness in giving me your opinion as to the expediency of an application of our bar to Congress obliges me. But you know we are not readily persuaded to think we have been wrong. Were the matter to be done over I should pursue the same course. I did not believe the measure would be useful as...
90From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, 4 March 1802 (Hamilton Papers)
You have seen certain resolutions unanimously pass our legislature for amending the Constitution 1 by designating separately the candidates for President and Vice President 2 by having the Electors chosen by the people in districts under the direction of the National Legislature. After mature reflection I was thoroughly confirmed in my first impression, that it is true Fœderal policy to...
91From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, [25 August 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
It was my intention to have come to see you this afternoon, among other things to confer about the affair of the loan. But the uncertain state of the weather & some bodily indisposition prevent me. As to the security for the loan: I hold it to be the better opinion that no foreigner can be in any form a cestuy que trust of land—that consequently no conveyance directly for the security of the...
92From Alexander Hamilton to the New-York Evening Post, [24 February 1802] (Hamilton Papers)
We might well be excused from taking any notice of such a writer as the author of the leading article in the Citizen of this morning; but as in one instance he has pretended to state facts, in reply to what was said in the Evening Post, respecting the opinions held in the Convention by Mr. Hamilton and by Mr. Maddison, some answer may be expected. Mr. Hamilton had been charged with holding an...
93From Alexander Hamilton to Jeremiah Olney, 29 June 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
The original of your letter of the 9th. of April never came to hand. The copy in that of the 9th. of June arrived here while I was on a circuit, so that I did not receive it till a few days ago. It is the practice on the admission of honorary members to present them with diplomas. But there are no blanks in my possession and very few in that of the officers of the Society of this state. These,...
94From Alexander Hamilton to Harrison Gray Otis, 12 November 1803 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, November 12, 1803. Urges “the utmost caution and care” in preparing John B. Church’s case for hearing before the Supreme Court. ALS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. This letter concerns the case of John B. Church, Jr. v Tuthill Hubbart . See H to Theophilus Parsons, December 31, 1801 ; H to Otis, October 8, 1803 .
95From Alexander Hamilton to Harrison Gray Otis, 8 October 1803 (Hamilton Papers)
Grange, New York, October 8, 1803. States: “A slight indisposition has prevented an earlier acknowlegement of your favour of .” Gives his opinion concerning the admissibility of evidence in a case in which Otis was acting as counsel for John B. Church. ALS , anonymous donor. Otis, a Boston Federalist and lawyer, was United States attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 1796 to 1797 and...
96From Alexander Hamilton to Theophilus Parsons, 31 December 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, December 31, 1801. Sends depositions to Parsons, who is “of Counsel for the Underwriters in a case of Insurance in which my Brother in law Mr. Church is concerned.” Proposes that “these depositions … be used in evidence in any suit which may be instituted between him and your Clients.” ALS , Boston Public Library. Parsons, a Federalist lawyer from Newburyport, Massachusetts, had an...
97Statement of my Property and Debts July 1, 1804 (Hamilton Papers)
Real Estate My share of Townships No. 9. 10. 15. 17 and 21 in Scribas Patent in connection with J B Church and John Lawrance viz ¹⁄₆ of the first purchase the whole being 31528 acres & ¼ of an acre & one third of the residuary purchase upon the suit in chancery being together nearly 20000 acres which now stand me in about } 33000 My ¼ of purchase in Nobleborough together with J Laurance Robert...
98From Alexander Hamilton to Nathaniel Pendleton, [4 July 1804] (Hamilton Papers)
I thank you My Dear Sir for your friendly offices in this last critical scene, if such it shall be. Excuse me for having inserted your name as Executor. I fear it may not be in your favor to do much good to my family. But I am sure you will do all the good you can. Yrs. truly My most interesting papers in regard to my pecuniary affairs will be found 1 in the upper Apartment of Escrutory or...
99From Alexander Hamilton to Edward Pennington, 6 April 1803 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, April 6, 1803. Letter listed in dealer’s catalogue. Letter not found. ] ALS , sold by M. Thomas & Sons, Philadelphia, February 8, 1859, Item 815. Pennington (Penington) was a sugar refiner in Philadelphia.
100From Alexander Hamilton to Richard Peters, 29 December 1802 (Hamilton Papers)
A disappointed politician you know is very apt to take refuge in a Garden. Accordingly I have purchased about thirty acres nine miles from Town, have built a house, planted a garden, and entered upon some other simple improvements. In this new situation, for which I am as little fitted as Jefferson to guide the helm of the UStates, I come to you as an Adept in rural science for instruction....