26761From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, 21 February 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
I duly received my dear Sir your letter of the 27th: of January and I would have sooner told you how much pleasure it gave me, if I had had time; but legislative folly has afforded so plentiful a harvest to us lawyers that we have scarcely a moment to spare from the substantial business of reaping. Today being sunday I have resolved to give an hour to friendship and to you. Good people would...
26762Constitution of the Bank of New York, [23 February–15 March 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
Constitution Article 1st. That the Bank shall be called by the Name and Title of the Bank of New York. –2– That the Capital Stock consist of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars in Gold or Silver, divided into One Thousand Shares of Five Hundred Dollars each Share and that a Majority of all the Directors may at their discretion open new Subscriptions for encreasing the Capital Stock, when they shall...
26763Outline of a Charter for the Bank of New York, [23 February–15 March 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
Plan for the Incorporation of a Bank 1st: The Stile of the Bank to be “The Bank of New-York.” 2. The Capital Stock not to Exceed 1,000,000 Dollars; each Share consisting of 500 Dollars. 3. The Subscribers to Elect on the 2d. Monday of May, in each year thirteen Directors to Conduct the Affairs of the Bank, who shall be authorised to Chuse a President; the Mode of Election to be determined by a...
26764From Alexander Hamilton to Robert Bayard, 6 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, March 6, 1784. “Mrs. Naomi Dunbar widow of Daniel Dunbar has retained me as Council in a suit which she expects will shortly be brought in behalf of the state for a house and lot in this city sold by you to her husband.… Mrs. Dunbar therefore wishes … that you would procure and send over to her a proper conveyance for the house and lot.” ALS , Mr. Justin G. Turner, Los Angeles,...
26765From Alexander Hamilton to John B. Church, 6 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, March 6, 1784. On May 2, 1784, Church wrote to Hamilton : “I have within a few Days Received your Favors of the 7th and 18th Feby. and 6th March.” Letter of March 6 not found. ]
26766From Alexander Hamilton to John B. Church, 10 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
In my last to you I informed you that a project for a land bank had been set on foot by Mr. Sayre as the ostensible Parent; but that I had reason to suspect the Chancellor was the true father. The fact has turned out as I supposed; and the Chancellor with a number of others have since petitioned the Legislature for an exclusive charter for the proposed bank. I thought it necessary not only...
26767To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 16 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Herewith you have a letter from Mr Church which came to hand by the last Post. Yesterday at a meeting of the Stockholders of the New Bank they agreed to withdraw their Petition for a Charter & that Institution does not go on. You will please therefore to give order respectg the monies I subscribed on acct of Mr Church for that Purpose. I am with great respect Sir Your LC , Historical Society...
26768From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, [21 March 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
Permit me to introduce to Your acquaintance and attention Mr Seaton Cashier of the Bank of New York. He is just setting out for Philadelphia to procure materials, and information in the forms of business. I recommend him to you, because I am persuaded you will with pleasure facilitate his object. Personally I dare say you will be pleased with him. He will tell you of our embarrassments and...
26769From Alexander Hamilton to John Chaloner, 22 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, March 22, 1784. On March 25, 1784, Chaloner wrote to Hamilton : “Yours of the 22d Instant I have just now reced.” Letter not found. ]
26770To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 25 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Yours of the 22nd Instant I have just now reced and shall attend to your directions. I never charge Mr Church Commissions on receiving Cash because the charge of Commissions on his property in my hands is considerable large but if this transaction is not for him, I ought to have a small Comm[issio]n. I have reced the Package for Mrs Hamilton, & will forward it by the first Vessell to New York....
26771To Alexander Hamilton from William Seton, 27 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
You will have seen by my Letters to the Direction how I have proceeded since my coming here. Allow me now particularly to thank you for your kind Letter to Mr: Fitzsimmons, as from him I have already received every assistance and shall derive every necessary Information: I find he is the Leading Man in the Direction of the Bank of North America abstracted from its connection with the State,...
26772To Alexander Hamilton from Hugh Seton, 30 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
[ England, March 30, 1784. On June 18, 1784, Hamilton wrote to Seton : “I have been duely honored with your letter of the 30th. of March.” Letter not found. ] Hugh Seton of Leicester Fields, County of Middlesex, England, was the partner of John Ballantyne of Bologne, France, in the firm of Charles and Hugh Smith and Company. Seton asked H to collect a debt for him. See H to Seton, June 18, 1784 .
26773From Alexander Hamilton to ———, 31 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, March 31, 1784. “I have considered the Patent to Mr. Woolley and am in doubt whether it is valid or not so far as it gives an exclusive right of ferriage; as this may be construed into a monopoly.” ALS , Bank of New York, New York City.
26774To Alexander Hamilton from Jacob Le Roy, March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Greenwich [ Connecticut ] March, 1784 . Instructs Hamilton to collect interest on money owed to Le Roy by John Reade. ALS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. Le Roy was a member of the New York merchant firm of Jacob Le Roy and Sons.
26775Promissory Note from John Campbell to Stephen Rapalje, [1 April 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, April 1, 1784. ] Hamilton engages to pay promissory note from John Campbell to Stephen Rapalje if Campbell defaults. D , in writing of H, signed by John Campbell and H, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. Campbell was a merchant who lived at 31 Hanover Square, New York City. Rapalje was a New York merchant.
26776From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, [7 April 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
Pardon me My Dr. Sir for not sooner having obeyed your orders with respect to the inclosed. I part with it reluctantly; for that is so rare an article, that when we get so much of it in so small a compass we can not easily consent to be dispossessed of it. I am very happy to hear of the union of your two banks; for you will believe me when I tell you, that on more deliberate consideration, I...
26777Second Letter from Phocion, [April 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
The little hasty production, under the signature of Phocion , has met with a more favourable reception from the public, than was expected. The force of plain truth has carried it along against the stream of prejudice; and the principles, it holds out, have gained ground, in spite of the opposition of those, who were either too angry, or too much interested to be convinced. Men of this...
26778To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 1 May 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Inclosed you have Captn Wades recet for the Box I reced of the Consul of france which I hope will come safe to hand. I shall write you on the Subject of the Bank as soon as I am well informd of the business transacted Yesterday at a meeting of the Stockholders. I have not a doubt but that the money can be better employed & with equal security. I am Sir Your most Obdt Servt LC , Historical...
26779To Alexander Hamilton from John B. Church, 2 May 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
I have within a few Days Received your Favors of the 7th & 18th Feby. and 6th March. I am sorry to see the Proprietors of the old Bank at Philada. have acted so weak a Part as to cause an unnecessary Opposition; I fear they will by the Conduct they have pursued decrease their future Dividends, and I really believe the new Bank will be more beneficial than the old. The Establishment of the New...
26780To Alexander Hamilton from John Campbell, 10 May 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
I am happy to have the Satisfaction to Inform you that If I could by any means find a Safe Opportunity at Present I have in my power to remit you the Cash to pay those people that you was my Security too. As I only arrived here the 29th. of last Month, I beg you may not think it Strange you not Recd. the mony by this. I hope you’ll rest assured that when ever I can with any Safety Send it to...
26781From Alexander Hamilton to John B. Church, 16 May 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, May 16, 1784. On the envelope of a letter that Church wrote to Hamilton on February 7, 1784 , Hamilton wrote: “From & to Mr. Carter May 16, 1784.” Letter not found. ]
26782From Alexander Hamilton to Hugh Knox, 17 May 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, May 17, 1784. On July 28, 1784, Knox wrote to Hamilton : “After a long long Chasm in Our Epistolary Intercourse, I received your favour of the 17th. of May last.” Letter not found. ]
26783From Alexander Hamilton to John Chaloner, [17–]18 May 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
By this post will come to you a letter from General Schuyler, in which you will perceive he has desired me to draw upon you for a sum of money. The object is to pay for a lot purchased for Mr Carter. The amount of the sum wanted is £2800 this Currency. A bill upon Philadelphia cannot be sold here ⟨without⟩ considerable discount. I am therefore to request you will forward it by trusty persons...
26784To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 26 May 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Yours of the 18 Inst came duly to hand I have expectation of a bill on your City for the amt of your first payment or thereabouts. I shall certainly receive it in a day or two & will forward it immediately. The Present situation of the Bank is unknown to any but the directors thereof. What has occasioned the late embarrassments is also unknown. They are so far surmounted as to enable them to...
26785To Alexander Hamilton from Matthew Visscher, 27 May 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
May 27, 1784. Lists persons against whom judgments have been entered under the Confiscation Law. ALS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. Visscher was an Albany lawyer who was clerk of the city and county of Albany.
26786To Alexander Hamilton from Egbert Benson, 28 May 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
May 28, 1784. “There is an Ejectment depending in the Supreme Court for Lands in this County for the Family of the Rooseboom’s agt: Pearsall Brown, in which the Lessors of the Plf: request You will consider Yourself retained as Council on their Behalf.… I have a similar Request to you from the Devisees of Catharine Brett, who claim a considerable Tract in the Rumbout Precinct in this County...
26787To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 31 May 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Inclosed you have a list of sundry bills Exchd herewith. Should any of the Persons on whom Mr Macarty has drawn decline acceptance because of the time: You have his consent to grant them any indulgence on this head. I have forwarded them to you because he has confidence that they will be paid & if so will prevent my sending on Money and also because he is a particular acquaintance of our...
26788From Alexander Hamilton to Egbert Benson, 8 June 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, June 8, 1784. The catalogue description of a letter to Benson from Hamilton reads: “Mainly on legal business, concluding: ‘No thing new here except that the Whigs by way of eminence (as they distinguish themselves) are degenerating fast into a very peaceable set of people.’” Letter not found. ] ALS , sold at Anderson Galleries, May 9, 1912, Lot 65.
26789From Alexander Hamilton to Marquis de Chastellux, [14 June 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
Colonel Clarkeson, who will have the honor of delivering you this, being already known to you, I give him this letter more for the sake of renewing to you the assurances of my attachment and esteem, than from a supposition that he will stand in need of any new title to your attention. I will therefore only say of him that his excellent qualities cannot be known without interesting those to...
26790To Alexander Hamilton from John B. Church, 15 June 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
I arrived here three Days since, and cannot let slip the Opportunity which the Departure of the Marquis de la Fayette offers me to drop you a Line. I cannot say how long I shall remain here, but I shall not exceed next week, unless a Treaty that Wadsworth and myself are about entering on with the Farmers General to supply them with Tobacco should take Place in which Case I may be detained here...
26791From Alexander Hamilton to James Bowne, 17 June 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, June 17, 1784. Requests that Bowne “Let me know if you please Whether Philip Palmer and Joseph Palmer are both alive or not, and whether Mr. Leonard Lawrence is Executor or Administrator to his father.” Letter not found. ] ALS , sold at American Art Association Galleries, November 24, 1924, Lot 329. Bowne was a member of the firm of Bowne and Company of New York City, stationers...
26792From Alexander Hamilton to John B. Church, 18 June 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, June 18, 1784. On July 24, 1784, Church wrote to Hamilton : “Two Days since Coll Clarkson arrived and brought me your Favor of the 18th June.” Letter not found. ]
26793From Alexander Hamilton to Hugh Seton, 18 June 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
I have been duely honored with your letter of the 30th of March; and am much flattered by the confidence you have reposed in me. I should with pleasure have undertaken to execute your wishes had I been in a situation that left me at liberty to do it; but it has happened that Mr. Wilkes sometime since applied to me on the same subject; and though I was not absolutely retained by him, yet as I...
26794To Alexander Hamilton from Clement Richard, 24 June 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, June 24, 1784. Discusses a legal controversy between Richard and Gommes. Agrees to give half of any damages received from Gommes to the New York City poorhouse. ALS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. This letter is in French. Richard was a merchant of Santo Domingo. This could be either Isaac Gomez or Moses Gomez, both of whom were New York City merchants.
26795To Alexander Hamilton from Matthew Visscher, 29 June 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
June 29, 1784. Sends information on judgments entered against Joshua de St. Croix and James Leonard. ALS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
26796To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, 30 June 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
This is rather a late Period to acknowlege yours of the seventh of April. I have lived in the constant Intention to answer it & I now execute my Purpose. But why not sooner? Procrastination is the Thief of Time says Doctor Young. I meant to have written fully on the Subject of the Gold. But I waited some Informations from Annapolis on the Probability of a Mint. I afterwards intended a long...
26797To Alexander Hamilton from Ezekiel Forman, 4 July 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Philadelphia, July 4, 1784. Asks for information concerning an act of the New York legislature “relative to debts due to persons who were Residents of Your State, and whose Estates have been forfeited.” ALS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. Forman had been a New Jersey Loyalist who joined the British army. He was taken prisoner and later released in Pennsylvania. When this letter was...
26798To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 14 July 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Inclosed you have Mr Peter Whiteside’s draft on Messrs. James Buckannan & Co. for One thousand Dollars at six days Sight, Mr Thomas Irwin on Captn Geo Geddes at 5 days sight for twenty three pounds 9/2, & James Bowne on William Bowne at twenty days for seventy five dollars, making on the whole four hundred twenty six pounds 11/8 which I doubt not will meet due honour. This I have charg’d to Mr...
26799From Alexander Hamilton to Richard Varick, 23 July 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York ] July 23, 1784 . “Mr. Laurance & myself who have been retained by Mr. R. Smith being about to leave Town, I have recommended Mr. Smith to you in our absence.” ALS , Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas. Varick was recorder for New York City. John Laurance, a New York lawyer.
26800To Alexander Hamilton from John B. Church, 24 July 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
I wrote you last from France by M de la Fayette two Days since Coll Clarkson arrived and brought me your Favor of the 18th June. I am glad to find by him that your violent Party in New York begins to moderate. I hope shortly that Humanity and good Policy will replace Violence and Folly. If the Bank is not solidly established I do not wish to be concerned in it. Wadsworth is gone to Ireland...
26801From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [28–31 July 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
I arrived here My beloved Betsey the fifth day after we set out, the three first days with every favourable circumstance but the two last through very bad weather. I am however as well as I can be absent from you and my darling boy —nor was I ever more impatient to be at home. I can have little pleasure elsewhere. I hope and persuade myself My Betsey is not less desirous for my return....
26802To Alexander Hamilton from Hugh Knox, 28 July 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
After a long long Chasm in Our Epistolary Intercourse, I received your favour of the 17th. of May last by the hands of Mr. Beekman. That Gentleman’s General Account of you has given me, & your other friends here, a vast deal of pleasure. For, believe me, I have always had a just & secret pride in having Advised you to go to America, & in having recommended you to Some of my old friends there;...
26803To Alexander Hamilton from Hugh Seton, 1 August 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
[ England, August 1, 1784. On February 2, 1785, Seton wrote to Hamilton : “I only trouble you with these few Lines to mention the Earnest Wish I have to hear of your Receipt of Mine of 1st. August.” Letter not found. ]
26804To Alexander Hamilton from Marquis de Fleury, [4 August 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
Colonel fleury’s Complimens, to his former friend Colonel hamilton; he has written several Letters to him from the west indias, & france, but Received no answer. & he tis now going to take the Command of a Regiment at the island of france, & does not expect to hear from him, but he shall for ever remember with pleasure, that Col. hamilton was a friend of his in america, & wish him all kinds of...
26805From Alexander Hamilton to Ezekiel Forman, 4 August 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, August 4, 1784. On October 18, 1784, Forman wrote to Hamilton : “I am favored with your Letter of the 20th past and … one written the 4th. August.” Letter of August 4 not found. ]
26806From Alexander Hamilton to Samuel Blachley Webb, [7 August 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
Mr. Hamilton requests the pleasure of General Webbes Company at dinner on Monday at four oClock. AL , Yale University Library. Webb was a native of Connecticut who before his retirement from the Army in 1783 had been made a brigadier general. Webb settled in New York City after the war. This letter is undated but the endorsement reads: “7th. August 1784.”
26807From Alexander Hamilton to John Chaloner, [14 August 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
I received in due time your letter of 14 of July. The bills sent by you which have been paid and will be paid are on James & Alex Stewart £ 600 ditto 300 on Delafield 149. 4 James Buchanan & Co 400 on Cap G. Geddes 23. 9.2 William Bowne 30 1502.13.2 The Drafts on Lowe and Woodward I return by Mr. Mc.Cartys desire who will have explained to you. The ballance due on the lot will...
26808To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 27 August 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter of the 14th Inst was deliverd to me late last evening, incloseing Messrs Traceys obligation. I shall inform their agent and get the Shares transferd immediately. I will forward the money you request in the course of next week. Mr Church wrote me sometime in Feby last that I should receive by the Dauphin three boxes, two marked JBC—and one marked PS—which is a box of garden seeds...
26809From Alexander Hamilton to Samuel Blachley Webb, [30 August 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
Col Hamilton will do himself the pleasure to dine with General Web tomorrow AL , Yale University Library.
26810To Alexander Hamilton from John Trumbull, 4 September 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Hartford, September 4, 1784. “On receiving your letter I was sorry to find, that you had not mentioned the names of those Merchants, who compose the firm of Turnbull, Marmie & Co.—without which, you are sensible, that any Writ I could draw must abate. I have not been able to discover them by my enquiries in this place; but fearing least the Property mentioned in Mr. Duer’s letter might be...