Alexander Hamilton

Hamilton received a letter from William Hamilton, a Scotsman who was one of his father’s younger brothers. They stayed in touch for a year, after which William revealed his true reason for writing: He wanted Hamilton to help him find a job for his brother Robert, who was a sailor. Hamilton took Robert into his home for five months and helped him become a lieutenant in the US Navy.

John and Angelica Church returned to New York, where Hamilton and Angelica resumed their flirtatious relationship.

James Thomson Callender, “an ugly, misshapen little man who had made a career of spewing venom “(634), published a series of pamphlets called History of the United States for 1796. In them, Callender rehashed the Reynolds scandal. Hamilton believed that Jefferson was behind the expose. He responded with a 95-page booklet in defense of himself. In great detail, he outlined his affair with Maria Reynolds, which he knew would expose Eliza to “public humiliation” (641). His friends thought that his decision to make a long, rambling confession was foolish, and that it had done him “inconceivable injury” (641).

Hamilton figured out that Monroe had made the documents exchanged between himself and James Reynolds available to Beckley in 1792. Beckley had then made the copies and leaked them. On July 11, Hamilton met at Monroe’s home, and brought John Church. They argued about the meeting with Muhlenberg and Venable, and whether Monroe had broken their confidentiality agreement by giving Beckley the documents. Hamilton challenged Monroe to a duel, but they calmed down and parted. They wrote to each other over the next year, and Aaron Burr acted as a mediator between them. 

The French retaliated against the Jay Treaty—in which America and Britain improved their mutual interests—by seizing American ships bound for British ports. France had also forced Charles Pinckney, the American ambassador, to leave the country. Adams dispatched a three-man (of which Pinckney was one) delegation to France on a diplomatic mission. The mission was a disaster, producing nothing but “a grand national humiliation” (660). Maurice de Talleyrand, the French foreign minister, refused to meet with them. They met with three French intermediaries instead, saying that they could arrange the meeting with Talleyrand, but the Americans would need to meet several demands first.

The men asked the American envoys for a bribe for Talleyrand, a low-interest loan, and more. In America, Adams read his envoys’ reports and began preparing for what would be called the Quasi War. He publicly released the correspondence, but instead of naming the three French intermediaries sent by Talleyrand, he replaced their names with X, Y, and Z. The entire incident would be known as the XYZ Affair.

Hamilton wrote a series of seven articles calling for the formation of a large army, in case of heightened French aggression. Congress formed the US Naval department to prevent coastal invasions and approved the formation of an army that was smaller than Hamilton would have liked, but still substantial at 12,000 men.

In 1798, people tried to persuade Hamilton to rejoin public life. He declined several offers, hoping instead to gain the post of inspector general in the new Army, which would make him the second-in-command.

Adams nominated Washington as the general of the army, without asking him. Adams sent three men to Mount Vernon to persuade Washington to return to service if war became a reality. Washington agreed, provided that Hamilton, Pinckney, and Henry Knox would be his three major generals, ranked in that order.

On July 18, 1798, Hamilton accepted his nomination as inspector general. Adams tried to give his son-in-law, William Smith, a generalship. Adams also wanted Aaron Burr installed as a brigadier general. Washington refused. 

Adams found the immigration situation in America untenable, and he was personally unable to bear the constant attacks to which the press subjected him. In response, he passed the Alien and Sedition Acts. The Alien Act gave the president the power to deport people for any reason. The Sedition Act made speaking or writing against Congress punishable by fines and prison time.

The number of newspapers doubled at this time, leading to more purely partisan media outlets. The Sedition Acts were potentially able to prosecute any newspaper that criticized government decisions, bringing the entire notion of the freedom of the press into a farcical situation.

Jefferson and Madison began working together and wrote what would be known as the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. The resolutions argued that the Alien and Sedition Acts could not be supported or sustained because they were unconstitutional. The Kentucky Resolution decreed that states had the power to nullify and ignore federal laws when the federal laws were unconstitutional.

In Pennsylvania, a mob of agitators began protesting that they would resist all governmental attempts to assess their property, because they found the property taxes oppressive. Hamilton took a militia and ended their brief rebellion without any loss of life.

Hamilton’s father, James Hamilton, died on June 3, 1799, on the island of St. Vincent. Hamilton did not attend his funeral service.

Hamilton resumed his work with the Manumission Society, working to represent and support freed slaves. In 1799, a vote was cast that approved the “gradual abolition of slavery in New York state” (697). New Jersey followed New York’s example. As Hamilton devoted himself to the Manumission Society, Eliza focused on charity work. She had been harassed and interrogated constantly after the publication of Callender’s pamphlets on the Reynolds affair, and distracted herself by helping orphaned and stray children.

Hamilton was 45 at this point, and his depression was worsening. He rarely exercised, and while he was subject to many demands with his legal practice, he disliked being outside the inner workings of politics.

There was a new outbreak of yellow fever in 1798. During September alone, 45 people a day were dying. Unclean water was blamed for much of the sickness, and Aaron Burr saw an opportunity he could exploit. He organized a private water company called the Manhattan Company, and drafted a bill that would allow the company to provide cleaner water, as needed. But at the last moment, he expanded the future role of the company, with language stating that the government-funded company could use its “surplus capital” (705) to buy stocks. Burr had essentially created a bank that looked like a water company, whose funds he could use for investment. Hamilton had helped him draft the bill, and was furious that Burr had tricked him. 

Hamilton attempted to raise a provisional army, worried that war with France might be inevitable. The French, however, realized that the XYZ Affair had been a mistake and were trying not to antagonize Adams. Adams nominated William Vans Murray to travel to France as an ambassador and restore proper relations. It was an impulsive decision that Adams made without consulting the cabinet, and it “shattered any semblance of unity between many Federalists and the president” (712).

Hamilton had personal money problems, as well as little presidential support for the army. He visited Adams in Trenton to consult with him about the peace mission to France, with which Hamilton had concerns. There had been changes in France, and Hamilton thought their men might be heading into danger. The encounter “effectively ended their relationship” (719). Hamilton had lost all influence with the president, which rattled him. George Washington’s support for the army was also flagging, now that war seemed less likely.

Washington died of a throat infection on December 14, 1799. His will proclaimed that his slaves should be freed. Hamilton was devastated by the loss. He had lost a friend, but he had also lost Washington’s sponsorship of his ideas. 

In February 1800, Napoleon completed his coup in France, and Congress halted the enlistment of new American troops. In the middle of May, Adams disbanded the majority of the army. Hamilton was heartbroken. His dreams of new military glory had ended.