51From Alexander Hamilton to John Fenno, [17–22 July 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
It has been a general maxim with me, to leave the evidence of my conduct and character to answer the calumnies which party spirit is so incessantly busied in heaping upon me; nor should I have deviated from this course in the present instance, had it not been, that the names of three citizens of political and personal importance in the community appeared to give sanction to the slander. But...
52From Alexander Hamilton to James Monroe and Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg, [17 July 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
I have your letter of this date. It gives me pleasure to receive your explanation of the ambiguous phraze in the paper No V., published with your signatures and that of Mr Venable, and your confirmation of the fact, that my explanation had been satisfactory to you. You express your surprise at the contents of a paper in the Gazette of the U. States of the 8 instant. If you will review that...
53From Alexander Hamilton to James Monroe, [17 July 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
I send herewith an answer to the joint letter of Mr. Mughlenberg and yourself. It appears to me on reflection requisite to have some explanation on the note of January 2. 1793 with your signature and It may be inferred, from the attention to record the information of Clingman therein stated after what had passed between us, that you meant to give credit and sanction to the suggestion that the...
54From Alexander Hamilton to James Monroe, [18 July 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter of yesterday in answer to mine of the same date was received last night. I am sorry to say, that as I understand it, it is unsatisfactory. It appears to me liable to this inference, that the information of Clingman had revived the suspicions which my explanation had removed. This would include the very derogatory suspicion, that I had concerted with Reynolds not only the...
55From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [19 July 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
The affair, My Dearest Eliza, upon which I came here has come to a close. But unavoidable delays in bringing it to this point & the necessity of communicating the result must very much against my will keep me here till the departure of the mail stage tomorrow, which will restore me to my Betsey on the day following. I need not tell her how very happy I shall be to return to her embrace and to...
56From Alexander Hamilton to James Monroe, 20 July 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
In my last letter to you I proposed a simple and direct question, to which I had hoped an answer equally simple and direct. That which I have received, though amounting, if I understand it, to an answer in the negative, is conceived in such circuitous terms as may leave an obscurity upon the point which ought not to have remained. In this situation, I feel it proper to tell you frankly my...
57From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [21 July 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
My avocation here my darling Eliza must detain me beyond the departure of the Mail stage but I expect certainly to leave town in the stage of tomorrow morning and still expect to reach New York tomorrow. Love to Angelica & Church. I shall return full freighted with it for My dear Brunettes Adieu ALS , Columbia University Libraries. See H to Elizabeth Hamilton, July 19, 1797 .
58From Alexander Hamilton to James Monroe, [22 July 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
I have maturely considered your letter of yesterday delivered to me at about Nine last and cannot find in it cause of satisfaction. There appears to me in the first place an attempt to prop the veracity of Clingman by an assertion which is not correct, namely that I had acknowleged all his previous information to be true. This was not & could not be the fact. I acknowleged parts of it to be...
59From Alexander Hamilton to James Monroe, 28 July 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter of the 25 instant reached me yesterday. Without attempting to analize the precise import of your expressions, in that particular, and really at a loss for your meaning when you appeal to my knowlege of a determination to which you say you should firmly adhere, I shall observe, in relation of the idea of my desiring to make the affair personal between us, that it would be no less...
60From Alexander Hamilton to Jeremiah Wadsworth, [28 July 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
I regretted much, that I did not find you here. I know you have seen the late publications, in which the affair of Reynold’s is revived. I should have taken no notice of them had not the names of Mughlenberg Monroe & Venable given them an artificial importance. But I thought under this circumstance, I could not but attend to them. The affair has so turned that I am obliged to publish every...
61To Alexander Hamilton from Alexander Hamilton, 4 August 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
I am about to introduce to your acquaintance a cousin & a namesake, by the desire of my father, Mr. William Hamilton; who received the honor of your letter of the 2d. May, & being little in the habits of writing has given it to me to answer, by returning our United thanks for the information it conveyed relative to a person, whose conduct & character have acquired him a degree of reputation,...
62From Alexander Hamilton to James Monroe, 4 August 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
In my opinion the idea of a personal affair between us ought not to have found a place in your letters or it ought to have assumed a more positive shape. In the state to which our correspondence had brought the question, it lay with you to make the option whether such an issue should take place. If what you have said be intended as an advance towards it, it is incumbent upon me not to decline...
63From Alexander Hamilton to James Monroe, 9 August 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
The intention of my letter of the 4th instant, as itself imports, was to meet and close with an advance towards a personal interview, which it appeared to me had been made by you. From the tenor of your reply of the 6th, which disavows the inference I had drawn, any further step on my part, as being inconsistent with the ground I have heretofore taken, would be improper. I am Sir Your humble...
64From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, [17 August 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
Inclosed are some papers, which were sent me shortly after my return to this City from Philadelphia but which from Mrs. Hamilton’s situation hurry of business &c have been forgotten. If there is any thing to be said to my correspondent you will enable me as speedily as possible to say it. I send you the 100 Dollars you sent me and a further sum to reimburse some money paid for me by Lewis ....
65Draft of the “Reynolds Pamphlet”, [25 August 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
The spirit of Jacobism, ⟨– – –⟩ if not intirely a new spirit in the world, has at least acquired an organisation which it had not before—has been reduced to a more regular system, and bears armed with more powerful weapons than it has formerly possessed: And it is not too much to say of it, that it threatens gre more numerous complicated and extensive evils to mankind than have been...
66From Alexander Hamilton to Timothy Pickering, [27 August 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
Sometime since I received the inclosed being directions concerning measures requisite to be pursued to obtain indemnification in cases of Captures by British Cruisers. I laid it by in haste & have since overlooked it. I do not recollect to have seen it in the news papers & yet it appeared to me necessary that it should be so. As it came to me from some one of our public characters in London, I...
67From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, 28 August 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
The receipt two days since of your letter of the 21 instant gave me sincere pleasure. The token of your regard, which it announces, is very precious to me, and will always be rememberd as it ought to be. Mrs. Hamilton has lately added another boy to our Stock. She and the Child are both well. She desires to be affectionately remembered to Mrs. Washington & yourself. We have nothing new here...
68From Alexander Hamilton to Robert Morris, 29 August 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, August 29, 1797. On September 9, 1797, Morris wrote to Hamilton : “I have received your favour of the 29th.” Letter not found. ]
69[“Reynolds Pamphlet”], [31 August 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
Observations on Certain Documents Contained in No. V & VI of “The History of the United States for the Year 1796,” In Which the Charge of Speculation against Alexander Hamilton, Late Secretary of the Treasury, is Fully Refuted. Written by Himself (Philadelphia: Printed for John Fenno, by John Bioren, 1797). In Volumes X–XIV of The Papers of Alexander Hamilton the “Reynolds Pamphlet” Alexander...
70From Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott, Junior, [8 September 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
I have received the inclosed letter which I send to you with only this remark that I have a good opinion of the writer . I know that the pretensions of the person recommended will be weighed in an equal scale & will have all the attention to which they are intitled. Yrs. truly ALS , RG 59, General Records of the State Department, Applications and Recommendations, 1792–1801, National Archives....
71From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [12 September 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
I am arrived here My Dear Eliza in good health but very anxious about my Dear Philip. I pray heaven to restore him and in every event to support you. If his fever should appear likely to prove obstinate, urge the Physician to consider well the propriety of trying the cold bath—I expect it will, if it continues assume a nervous type and in this case I believe the cold bath will be the most...
72From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [18–19 September 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
I have received only one letter from my beloved Eliza since I left the city. I am very anxious to hear further and especially to know that my beloved Philip is recovered. My health continues pretty good—but I am excessively engaged with our cause. I impatiently wish it at an end that I may return to the fond bosom of my Eliza. If our Dear Angelica is returned remember me affectionately to her....
73From Alexander Hamilton to Robert Morris, 5 October 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, October 5, 1797. On October 27, 1797, Morris wrote to Hamilton and referred to “your last letter dated the 5th inst.” Letter not found. ]
74From Alexander Hamilton to Théophile Cazenove, 14 October 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, October 14, 1797. States: “The question of interest on the contract with Mr Morris of the 24th of December 1792 is not free from difficulty and doubt. I however think it the better opinion that interest is payable until the 24th of December 1795 and no longer .” Gives reasons for this opinion. ALS , Gemeentearchief Amsterdam, Holland Land Company. These documents were transferred in...
75From Alexander Hamilton to Théophile Cazenove, [14 October 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, October 14, 1797 .] Answers Cazenove’s letters of May 29 and July 5, 1797, concerning ownership of lands in New York State by aliens. ADf , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress; two copies, Gemeentearchief Amsterdam, Holland Land Company. The Holland Land Company documents were transferred in 1964 from the Nederlandsch Economisch-Historisch Archief, Amsterdam. H wrote this letter...
76Conversation with Robert Liston, [28 October 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
“It remains to be considered whether His Majesty’s Service might not reap considerable advantage from a general stipulation for the restitution of deserters in nearly the same terms with those employed in the French Treaty. Our friends in this Country think it would, and they strongly advise that an article of that tenour should be concluded. Among the number of these is Colonel Hamilton of...
77From Alexander Hamilton to Robert Morris, 20 November 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, November 20, 1797. On November 23, 1797, Morris wrote to Hamilton : “I have this minute received your favour of the 20th inst.” Letter not found. ]
78From Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott, Junior, [20 November 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
Give me leave to remind you of your promise to send me the documents and information which authenticate the situation of Mr. Beaumarchais as to the unaccounted for Million . Allow me also to mention to you another point. I hear there is a plan among the Directors of the Bank to transfer the management of their concerns from the House of Cazenove to that of Baring. When the arrangement was...
79From Alexander Hamilton to Jeremiah Condy, 22 November 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, November 22, 1797. Hamilton endorsed the letter Condy wrote to him on November 21, 1797 : “Ans 22 Nov.” Letter not found. ]
80From Alexander Hamilton to Robert Morris, 26 December 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, December 26, 1797. On January 17, 1798, Morris wrote to Hamilton : “I have been a long time possessed of your letter of the 26 Decemr.” Letter not found. ]
81From Alexander Hamilton to Theodore Sedgwick, 26 December 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, December 26, 1797. “I beg your pardon for not having written to you sooner. Blame my excessive avocations & particularly my engagements with the Court of Chancery.… The declaration sent us by Van Shack has been examined and returned. We do not find, that our statute contains any provision.” Letter not found. ] ALS , sold by American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, March 3,...
82From Alexander Hamilton to Timothy Pickering, [1 January 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
By some unaccountable delay the inclosed which came in a letter to me has been extremely postponed. I hope not injuriously for the interest of the party concerned. Do me the favour to acknowlege its receipt. Yrs. with esteem & regard ALS , Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. For background to this letter, see the Marquis de Fleury to H, May 28, 1796 ; Oliver Wolcott, Jr., to H, September...
83From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [14 January 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
This moment my Dear Eliza, we descended from the carriage—after a journey, so far, much more comfortable than we could possibly have anticipated. It makes me repent that we had not pursued our original plan. But we must console ourselves with the hope of a speedy reunion which you may be assured I do every thing in my power to accelerate—For I give up too much of my happiness by my absence not...
84From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, [27 January–11 February] 1798 (Hamilton Papers)
It may serve to prepare the way for a direct answer to the questions stated by the President to make some preliminary observations. 1 It is an undoubted fact that there is a very general and strong aversion to War in the minds of the people of this Country—and a considerable part of the community (though even this part has been greatly alienated from France by her late violent conduct...
85From Alexander Hamilton to James Monroe, [January 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
A resolution long formed to act with deliberation in any case which should involve the extremity, to which I am now driven, has occasionned me to defer my reply to your letter of the first instant. Though I have it in my power completely to satisfy any candid mind, that I never give a shadow of cause for the resentment you avow; yet the indelicate doubt of the veracity of my representation to...
86From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, [13 February 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
Yours of yesterday with its inclosure are come to hand & will be attended to as speedily as possible. I take the liberty to trouble you with the inclosed to receive the amount (which though the accumulated interest on all my Stock from the beginning of the funding system will be short of 200 Dollars). When received, pay yourself one hundred, our friend Lewis seven, & deliver the rest to...
87From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, [20 February 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
I regret that my occupations have not permitted me to give your report more than a cursory reading, before my being obliged to leave the city for Albany. I have put it under a cover addressed to you. If it cannot conveniently wait my return, which will be in a fortnight, it will be sent you upon a line directed to Mr. “James Inglis at Col Hamilton’s No. 26 Broad Way N York.” desiring him to...
88From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [1 March 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
This, My beloved Eliza, is the third letter I have written to you since I left—but I am still without a line from you. I hope the Post of today will bring me one, or I shall be uneasy. We are getting on in our cause so that I expect to leave this place on Sunday or Monday. Your father is better again. All the rest of your family are well. They speak of you with tenderness and this you know...
89From Alexander Hamilton to Theodore Sedgwick, [1–15 March 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
In my opinion these things— The President ought to make a solemn and manly communication to Congress the language grave and firm but without invective—in which after briefly recapitulating the progress of our controversy with France the measures taken toward accommodation & stating their degrading result—he ought to advert to the extremely critical posture of Europe the excessive pretensions...
90From Alexander Hamilton to Timothy Pickering, 17 March 1798 (Hamilton Papers)
I make no apology for offering you my opinion on the present state of our affairs. I look upon the Question before the Public as nothing less than whether we shall maintain our Independence and I am prepared to do it in every event and at every hazard. I am therefore of opinion that our Executive should come forth on this basis. I wish to see a temperate , but grave solemn and firm...
91From Alexander Hamilton to Pierre Charles L’Enfant, [20 March 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
On my return from Albany, I received a letter referring to one I sometime since received from you. I am ashamed to tell you that the extreme pressure of my engagements has hindered my attending hitherto to your wish. I shall in the course of this week pay such attention to it as my relative situation permits, guided by a real desire to be useful to you. Yrs. with regard ALS , Digges-L’Enfant...
92From Alexander Hamilton to Timothy Pickering, [23 March 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
I understand that the Senate have called upon the President for papers. Nothing certainly can be more proper; and such is the universal opinion here. And it appears to me essential that so much, as possibly can, be communicated. Confidence will otherwise be wanting—and criticism will ensue which it will be difficult to repel. The observation is that Congress are called upon to discharge the...
93From Alexander Hamilton to Timothy Pickering, 27 March 1798 (Hamilton Papers)
I have this moment received your two favours of the 25th. I am delighted with their contents; but it is impossible for me to reply particularly to them so as to reach you tomorrow as you desire. I will therefore confine myself to one point. I am against going immediately into alliance with Great Britain. It is my opinion that her interest will ensure us her cooperation, to the extent of her...
94Account with Robert H. Dunkin, [30 March 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
Upon an Order of R H Dunkin & Wife dated the 14 of March for £384.10 NYC—I have paid Mrs. Watkins 936 Dollars & 25 Cents this being the sum actually received by me on her account. ADS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. Dunkin (or Duncan) was a Philadelphia attorney and notary public. This is a reference to the case of Elisha Lamoreux v Robert Henry Duncan and Elizabeth his wife . On...
95The Stand No. I, [30 March 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
The enlightened friend of America never saw greater occasion of disquietude than at the present juncture. Our nation, thro its official organs, has been treated with studied contempt and systematic insult; essential rights of the country are perseveringly violated, and its independence and liberty eventually threatened, by the most flagitious, despotic and vindictive government that ever...
96[Marcellus No. I and No. II], [31 March 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
Gazette of the United States, and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser , March 31, 1798. On April 5, 1798, Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison: “You will see in Fenno two numbers of a paper signed Marcellus. They promise much mischief, and are ascribed, without any difference of opinion, to Hamilton” ( Ford, Writings of Jefferson Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (New...
97From Alexander Hamilton to Rufus King, [March 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
It is a great while, My Dr. friend, since I have written to you a line. You will not I am sure impute my silence to any cause impeaching my friendship, for that must be always cordial and intire. The truth is that my professional avocations occupy me to the extent of the exertions my health permits, and I have been unwilling to sit down to write you without leisure to say something...
98The Stand No. II, [4 April 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
The description of Vice , by a celebrated poet, may aptly be applied to the Revolutionary government of France. It is, Unfortunately, however, for mankind, a species of moral pestilence has so far disordered the mental eye of a considerable portion of it, as to prevent a distinct view of the deformities of this Prodigy of human wickedness and folly. It is the misfortune of this country in...
99The Stand No. III, [7 April 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
In reviewing the disgusting spectacle of the French revolution, it is difficult to avert the eye entirely from those features of it which betray a plan to disorganize the human mind itself, as well as to undermine the venerable pillars that support the edifice of civilized society. The attempt by the rulers of a nation to destroy all religious opinion, and to pervert a whole people to Atheism,...
100The Stand No. IV, [12 April 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
In the pursuit of her plan of universal empire, the two objects which now seem chiefly to occupy the attention of France, are a new organization of Germany favorable to her influence, and the demolition of Great Britain. The subversion and plunder, first of Portugal, next of Spain, will be merely collateral incidents in the great drama of iniquity. In the new distribution of the territories,...