1From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, 25 February 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
Your Sister Peggy has gradually grown worse & is now in a situation that her dissolution in the opinion of the Doctor is not likely to be long delayed. The Lt Governor sends the bearer to bring home his Child. I have not time to add more. Adieu My Eliza ALS , Mr. Andrew Joyner, Greensboro, North Carolina. H was in Albany attending the New York Court of Errors. See H to Elizabeth Hamilton,...
2From Alexander Hamilton to James A. Bayard, 22 February 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
After my ill success hitherto, I ought perhaps in prudence to say nothing further on the subject. But situated as things now are I certainly have no advice to give. Yet I may without impropriety communicate a fact. It is this—Colonel Burr is taking an active personal part in favour of Mr Clinton against Mr Rensselaer as Governor of this State. I have upon my honor direct & indubitable evidence...
3From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, 21 February 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Albany, February 21, 1801. “I wrote to you my beloved from Poughkeepsie by post yesterday immediately on my arrival by Mr. Ephraim Hart of the tribe of Benjamin or Judah.… Mr. Burr, as a proof of his conversion to Federalism, has within a fortnight taken a very active and officious part against Renssalaer in favour of Clinton. Tell this to Mr. Church. And let me tell you what is of much more...
4From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, 20 February [1801] (Hamilton Papers)
We have reached this place for the night, after a very tolerable journey. I am in much better health than Spirits. The swiss-malady grows upon me very fast—in other words I am more and more homesick. This added to some other circumstances that do not give me pleasure at the present moment makes me rather heavy hearted. But we must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided. The...
5From Alexander Hamilton to Edward Tilghman, 11 February 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, February 11, 1801. On February 12, 1801, Tilghman wrote to Hamilton : “Your Favor of Yesterday is before me.” Letter not found. ] Tilghman was a lawyer in Philadelphia.
6From Alexander Hamilton to Theodore Sedgwick, 21 January 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
Being in a hurry to leave New York for this place, I comprised in a letter to Bayard some observations which had I had time I should have put in a reply to your last. I requested him to communicate it to you & I beg you as you love your country, your friends and yourself to reconsider dispassionately the opinion you have expressed in favour of Burr. I never was so much mistaken as I shall be...
7From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [18 January 1801] (Hamilton Papers)
I intended to have reached Croton this Evening and would have done it without difficulty had not a very violent shower of Rain obliged me to stop at this place. If the storm subsides I hope to be at Albany on Wednesday. The roads are too bad for you to venture this part of the road in your carriage if you can possibly avoid it. The plan of going to Poughkepsie is best. Dont forget to visit the...
8From Alexander Hamilton to James A. Bayard, 16 January 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
I was glad to find my dear sir, by your letter, that you had not yet determined to go with the current of the Fœderal Party in the support of Mr Burr & that you were resolved to hold yourself disengaged till the moment of final decision. Your resolution to separate yourself, in this instance, from the Fœderal Party if your conviction shall be strong of the unfitness of Mr Burr, is certainly...
9Receipt to Louis Le Guen, [15 January 1801] (Hamilton Papers)
I acknowledge to have received of Louis Le Guen in deposit for the purposes of his marriage contract and the surplus for his particular use Eighteen thousand Dollars in Cash a Bond of Aaron Burr conditioned for the payment of Six thousand seven hundred and thirty Dollars and thirteen Cents secured by the assignment of five leases and one mortgage in Fee also two notes of the said Aaron Burr...
10From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, [13] January 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
I hasten to give you some information which may be useful. I know as a fact that overtures have been made by leading individuals of the Fœderal party to Mr. Burr, who declines to give any assurances respecting his future intentions and conduct saying that to do it might injure him with his friends and prevent their cooperation—that all ought to be inferred from the necessity of his future...
11From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, 10 January 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
I thank you, My Dear Sir, for your letter of the 5 instant. The scruples you express about the ratification of the Convention are very respectable. No well informed man can doubt that it is an exceptionable instrument; but I continue of the opinion that it is best upon the whole to ratify it unconditionally. It does not appear to me that on fair construction the existence of the old treaties...
12From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, 9 January 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
I have lately, My Dear Sir, written to you two letters. As they contained some delicate topics, I shall be glad to know that they got to hand. It has occurred to me that perhaps the Fœderalists may be disposed to play the game of preventing an election & leaving the Executive power in the hands of a future President of the Senate. This, if it could succeed, would be for obvious reasons a most...
13From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 4 January 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
By yesterday’s post I received your letter of the 31 of December. I was just about to write to you on the principal subject of it. Nothing has given me so much chagrin as the Intelligence that the Fœderal party were thinking seriously of supporting Mr. Burr for President. I should consider the execution of the plan as devoting the country and signing their own death warrant. Mr. Burr will...
14From Alexander Hamilton to John Rutledge, Junior, 4 January 1801 (Hamilton Papers)
My extreme anxiety about the ensuing election of President by the House of Representatives will excuse to you the liberty I take in addressing you concerning it without being consulted by you. Did you know Mr. Burr as well as I do, I should think it unnecessary. With your honest attachment to the Country and correctness of views, it would not then be possible for you to hesitate, if you now do...
15Rules for Philip Hamilton, [1800] (Hamilton Papers)
Rules for Mr Philip Hamilton from the first of April to the first of October he is to rise not later than Six Oclock—The rest of the year not later than Seven. If Earlier he will deserve commendation. Ten will be his hour of going to bed throughout the year. From the time he is dressed in the morning till nine o clock (the time for breakfast Excepted) he is to read Law. At nine he goes to the...
16From Alexander Hamilton to Louis Le Guen, [1800] (Hamilton Papers)
In announcing to you Mrs. Hamilton’s acceptance of your obliging present and conveying to you the acknowlegements which she charges me to make to you I abandon the reluctance which I might otherwise feel to my sensibility at a mark of your attention so delicately conveyed. The discharge of my professional duty towards you with all the zeal which the nature of the case demands has no ⟨claim...
17From Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott, Junior, [December 1800] (Hamilton Papers)
Your last letter, My Dear Sir, has given me great pain; not only because it informed me that the opinion in favour of Mr. Burr was increasing among the Fœderalists, but because it also told me that Mr. Sedgwick was one of its partizans. I have a letter from this Gentleman in which he expresses decidedly his preference of Mr. Jefferson. I hope you have been mistaken and that it is not possible...
18From Alexander Hamilton to James Ross, 29 December 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
Letters which myself and others have received from Washington give me much alarm at the prospect that Mr. Burr may be supported by the Fœderalists in preference to Mr. Jefferson. Be assured, my Dear Sir, that this would be a fatal mistake. From a thorough knowlege of the character I can pronounce with confidence that Mr. Burr is the last man in the UStates to be supported by the Fœderalists. 1...
19From Alexander Hamilton to James A. Bayard, 27 December 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
Several letters to myself & others from the City of Washington, excite in my mind extreme alarm on the subject of the future President. It seems nearly ascertained that Jefferson & Burr will come into the house of Rs. with equal votes, and those letters express the probability that the Fœderal Party may prefer the latter. In my opinion a circumstance more ruinous to them, or more disastrous to...
20From Alexander Hamilton to John Marshall, 26 December 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, December 26, 1800. On January 1, 1801, Marshall wrote to Hamilton : “I receivd this morning your letter of the 26th of Decr.” Letter not found. ]
21From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, 26 December 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
The post of yesterday gave me the pleasure of a letter from you. I thank you for the communication. I trust that a letter which I wrote you the day before the receipt of yours will have duly reached you as it contains some very free & confidential observations ending in two results—1 That The Convention with France ought to be ratified as the least of two evils 2 That on the same ground...
22From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, 24 December 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
I will run the risk with you of giving countenance to a charge lately brought against me, though it has certainly had a very false direction—I mean that of being fond of giving advice. Several friends at Washington inform me, that there is likely to be much hesitation in the Senate about ratifying the Convention with France. I do not wonder at it, and yet I should be sorry that it should...
23From Alexander Hamilton to James Gunn, 24 December 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, December 24, 1800. On January 9, 1801, Gunn wrote to Hamilton : “I have received your favor of the 24th. Ult. Letter not found. ]
24From Alexander Hamilton to Harrison Gray Otis, [23 December 1800] (Hamilton Papers)
Burr loves nothing but himself; thinks of nothing but his own aggrandizement, and will be content with nothing, short of permanent power in his own hands. No compact that he should make with any passion in his breast, except ambition, could be relied upon by himself. How then should we be able to rely upon any agreement with him. Jefferson, I suspect, will not dare much. Burr will dare every...
25From Alexander Hamilton to Theodore Sedgwick, 22 December 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
I intirely agree with you, My Dear Sir, that in the event of Jefferson and Burr coming to the House of Represnetatives the former is to be preferred. The appointment of Burr, as President would disgrace our Country abroad. No agreement with him could be relied upon. His private circumstances render disorder a necessary resource. His public principles offer no obstacle. His ambition aims at...
26From Alexander Hamilton to James Ross, 18 December 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
I have heared with much regret that the Senate have hesitated to confirm the appointment of Col Smith as Surveyor of this Port on the suggestion of some malconduct in his pecuniary affairs. The suggestion has come to me in various shapes. The truth is Col Smith has been engaged in large and various pecuniary transactions and the consequence was that his affairs became extremely embarrassed. In...
27From Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott, Junior, 17 December 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, December 17, 1800. On December 25, 1800, Wolcott wrote to Hamilton : “I have recd. your favours of the 16th. & 17th.” Letter of December 17 not found. ]
28From Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott, Junior, 16 December 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
It is now, my Dear Sir, ascertained that Jefferson or Burr will be President and it seems probable that they will come with equal votes to the House of Representatives. It is also circulated here that in this event the Fœderalists in Congress or some of them talk of preferring Burr. I trust New England at least will not so far lose its head as to fall into this snare. There is no doubt but...
29From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 22 November 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
I am sorry that you were not pleased with my not having consulted you before I used your name in my publication. It was my intention to have done it—but finding my self pressed in point of time I concluded to wave it and on this reasoning— “The nature of the transaction is such as dispensed Mr. Mc. Henry from any obligation of delicacy to conceal any part of it. No blame can therefore attach...
30From Alexander Hamilton to Henry Cheriot, 18 November 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
I am sorry that my departure from Albany prevented my receiving there your communication on the subject of Mr. Le Couteux. The facts which you state respecting him correspond with what I have always understood. This Gentleman having emigrated from France to the UStates in a time of peace between that country and Great Britain and having been fourteen years a naturalized citizen of this...
31Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Cooper, and David A. Ogden to Thomas FitzSimons, Herman LeRoy, William Tilghman and Matthew … (Hamilton Papers)
As we have not been favored with an Answer to our Letter of 17. October last, we have Reason to conclude that you do not propose cooperating with us on the subject of that Letter. Under this Impression we beg leave to state, that we shall not make a final Decision on this Business till Monday the 24. Inst. If you will appoint an Agent to meet us on Saturday the 22. Int. we shall be happy to...
32From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 13 November 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
You have seen my letter. You would think the close of it temporising. But the Fœderal Stomach would not bear a stronger dose. I regret that my early opinion was not pursued. All would then have stood better. The press teems with answers to my pamphlet. I may have to reply. If I do I shall reinforce my position by new facts. Assist me with such as you may possess. Did you yourself see the...
33From Alexander Hamilton to Timothy Pickering, 13 November 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
You no doubt have seen my pamphlet respecting the conduct and character of President Adams. The press teems with replies, and I may finally think it expedient to publish a second time. In this case I shall reinforce my charges by new anecdotes. My friends will no doubt be disposed to aid me. You probably possess some which are unknown to me. Pray let me have them without delay. You will...
34Enclosure: France and America, [2 October 1800] (Hamilton Papers)
We have seen in the Gazette on Monday last, the result, as given under the Paris head of August the 8th, of the negociation between our Commissioners and the French Government. It seems, it has failed, and is for the present, suspended, the reasons of which are assigned. This account of the matter, tho without an official stamp, has strong marks of being an enunciation by authority of the...
35From Alexander Hamilton to John Jay, [30–31 October 1800] (Hamilton Papers)
It is an awkward thing now to tell you that it was early my intention to send you the inclosed. But it is nevertheless true that the idea was repeatedly in my mind with the design of executing it & was as often driven out by the distractions of business &c. Always very truly Dr Sir yr Obed ser ALS , sold by Forest H. Sweet, Battle Creek, Michigan, January, 1958, Lot No. 141. Jay endorsed...
36Account with John McComb, Junior, [25 October 1800] (Hamilton Papers)
1800 To John MComb Junr Dr. Sepr. Repairing Farm House &ca 2 Paid Thos Bloomfield 2000 brick as pr bill £ 5 4 6 " Abm. V Gelder 3 Casks Lime & Cartg. 2 4 " 9 days Mason work @13/ 5 17 13¾ do Labour
37Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq. President of the United … (Hamilton Papers)
Some of the warm personal friends of Mr. Adams are taking unwearied pains to disparage the motives of those Federalists, who advocate the equal support of Gen. Pinckney , at the approaching election of President and Vice-President. They are exhibited under a variety of aspects equally derogatory. Sometimes they are versatile, factious spirits, who cannot be long satisfied with any chief,...
38From Alexander Hamilton to Ebenezer Stevens, [21 October 1800] (Hamilton Papers)
General Stevens will please to deliver to Capt Huger the papers of the Adjutant Generals Office to be forwarded to B General Wilkinson AL , New-York Historical Society, New York City. For an explanation of the contents of this letter, see James Wilkinson to H, October 13, 1800 . Stevens endorsed this letter: “Genl Hamilton order for delivery of Ajt Genl Papers to Capt Huger for Genl Wilkinson....
39Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Cooper, and David A. Ogden to Thomas FitzSimons, Herman LeRoy, William Tilghman and Matthew … (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, October 17, 1800. The description of this letter in the dealer’s catalogue reads: “Concerning the conveyance of 175,000 acres of land, probably in N. Y. state.” Letter not found. ] LS , American Book-Prices Current 1966 , Vol. 72 [New York and London, 1969], 984. This letter, which H, Cooper, and Ogden wrote as attorneys for the Holland Land Company, concerns the settlement of the...
40From Alexander Hamilton to William Lewis, 10 October 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, October 10, 1800. On October 11, 1800, Lewis wrote to Hamilton : “Your letter of yesterday I received this morning.” Letter not found. ]
41From Alexander Hamilton to Philip Schuyler, 9 October 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, October 9, 1800. Advises Schuyler on the settlement of the estate of his brother Courtlandt Schuyler and states that he plans to go to Albany. ALS , MS Division, New York Public Library. Schuyler to H, July 17, 1800 . See H to Aaron Ogden, October 2, 1800, note 2 .
42From Alexander Hamilton to James Wilkinson, 8 October 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, October 8, 1800. On October 13, 1800, Wilkinson wrote to Hamilton : “I have this Day recd. your Letter of the 8th. Inst.” Letter not found. ]
43From Alexander Hamilton to George Cabot, 2 October 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, October 2, 1800. On October 11, 1800, Cabot wrote to H : “Your letter of the 2d did not reach me until last evening.” Letter not found. ]
44From Alexander Hamilton to John Marshall, 2 October 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
Before this reaches you, you will no doubt have seen under the Paris head an account of the suspension of the negotiation which has strong marks of being genuine. Inclosed is a comment which I have thought it expedient rather hastily to make upon it, with an eye particularly to some elections in our neighbourhood. If you agree with me in the concluding sentiments you will seriously consider...
45From Alexander Hamilton to Aaron Ogden, 2 October 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
Will you do me the favour to inquire & inform me how soon we may depend on our carriage. I propose shortly to make a journey to Albany & to take Mrs. H with me, which is the cause of my now troubling you. Pray what are you going to do in New Jersey. We are all-apprehension about you. Yrs. truly ALS , George N. Meissner Collection, Rare Book Department, Washington University, St. Louis,...
46To John Adams from Alexander Hamilton, 1 October 1800 (Adams Papers)
The time which has elapsed since my letter of the first of August last was delivered to you precludes the further expectation of an answer. From this silence, I will draw no inference; nor will I presume to judge of the fitness of silence on such an occasion, on the part of the Chief Magistrate of a Republic, towards a citizen, who without a stain has discharged so many important public...
47From Alexander Hamilton to ———, 1 October 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
I send you my account against this State. As I am building I want mony much. You will therefore oblige me by receiving & forwarding it without delay. I authorise you to give a receipt in full. You will observe that the causes have been decided in our favour. Wit great regard I am Dr. Sir Your Obed ser ALS , Columbia University Libraries. This letter was apparently addressed to John V....
48From Alexander Hamilton to John Adams, 1 October 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
The time which has elapsed since my letter of the first of August was delivered to you precludes the further expectation of an answer. From this silence, I will draw no inference; nor will I presume to judge of the fitness of silence on such an occasion, on the part of The Chief Magistrate of a Republic, towards a citizen, who without a stain has discharged so many important public trusts. But...
49From Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott, Junior, 26 September 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
As I hinted to you some time since, I have drafted a letter which it is my wish to send to influential individuals in the New England States. I hope from it two advantages the promoting of Mr. Pinckney’s election and the vindication of ourselves. You may depend upon it a very serious impression has been made on the public mind by the partisans of Mr. Adams to our disadvantage; that the facts...
50From Alexander Hamilton to John Jay, 3 September 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
I thank you for your three letters in compliance with my request. They contain what I desired. But as they mingle the fact, respecting the communication of my letter to you to Lord Grenville, which I always understood to be confidential, I will thank you to send me a certificate of the sentiment which you recollect to have been given by me, and I will beg you to let it be as full and as...