Alexander Hamilton Papers
Documents filtered by: Recipient="Hamilton, Alexander" AND Period="Adams Presidency"
sorted by: date (ascending)
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-20-02-0349

To Alexander Hamilton from William Laight, 14 March 1797

From William Laight1

[New York] March 14, 1797. “Had there not been frequent Instances in many respectable Offices in this City where Events of a similar kind have been effected, which I am now solicitous of obtaining, I should deem it presumptuous to address you on the Subject: Let this, in addition to the solicitude of a Parent for the Establishment of a Son in the line of his Profession be my Apology. Edward W. Laight, after his matriculation at Columbia College, was instructed in the Rudiments & Principles of Law by Coll: Burr.… He has been admitted to the Bar as an Attorney. Of his qualifications Professional Men are better Judges than myself. The Object I aim at is, to have him patronized by a Person of Merit & Celebrity, more for the purpose of improvement than for present Emolument.… The wish of my heart is that Coll: Hamilton should be such a Patron. If therefore it is not incompatible with Coll. Hamiltons Views to receive as an Attorney in his Office a Young Man, of, at least decent Manners & educated as above mentioned, I should be made happy by his giving me an opportunity of acceeding to such Terms as he himself would prescribe.”2

ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.

1. Laight was a New York City merchant.

2. No evidence has been found that Laight entered H’s law office. David Longworth, American Almanack, New-York Register, and City Directory … (New York, 1798), lists “Laight, Edward W. (& C. D. Colden) masters in chancery, 47 Wall.” See also Goebel, Law Practice description begins Julius Goebel, Jr., ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton: Documents and Commentary (New York and London, 1964– ). description ends , II, 228, 229n, 512, 774.

Index Entries

    You Are Looking At

    Source Project
    Hamilton Papers
    Title
    To Alexander Hamilton from William Laight, 14 March 1797
    Author
    Laight, William
    Recipient
    Hamilton, Alexander
    Date
    14 March 1797

    Reference

    Cite as
    “To Alexander Hamilton from William Laight, 14 March 1797,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-20-02-0349. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 20, January 1796 – March 1797, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974, p. 543.]