My Dear Hamilton

Later in the year, the Hamiltons take a grander house in Philadelphia to keep up appearances. Hamilton warns Eliza against opening the door to strangers when he is not at home as he continues to gain enemies. A year later, a young woman comes to the house in the middle of the night. After meeting with the woman, Hamilton tells Eliza that there was fraud in the Treasury Department and Jefferson’s men have been investigating him. Hamilton falls to his knees and admits that he has done wrong. Eliza thinks he is about to admit he stole from the Treasury, but he instead confesses that he had an affair the previous summer.

Hamilton tells her that a young woman named Maria Reynolds asked for money so she and her daughter could flee her abusive husband and could return to her family, the Livingstons. Hamilton helped her, but when she invited him into her bedroom, he followed. Maria’s husband, James, found out and blackmailed Hamilton, claiming he would tell Eliza if he did not pay. Hamilton believes it was all a trap laid by his political enemies. Eliza remains silent and then goes back to bed, locking the door to keep him out. The following morning, Hamilton insists that he still loves her. Eliza tells him that the only way to be free of the blackmailers is to tell the truth.

Three men investigating the Treasury fraud come to the Hamltons’ home, one of whom is Monroe. He pities Eliza, and she asks for his discretion, which he promises. The French Revolution begins, and Washington decides the United States will stay neutral in the conflict. Eliza goes to confront Maria Reynolds, but she decides against it when she thinks about Maria’s daughter. She runs into Jefferson and Madison, and they argue about the French Revolution. People are angry that Washington won’t support the revolutionaries, and Eliza fears Washington and Hamilton will have the same fate as the late French king. Though she is not seriously considering it, Eliza threatens Hamilton with divorce, knowing that he lied in saying that Maria Reynolds lured him to her bed. She understands that his ambitions are greater than his love for her.

Yellow fever comes to Philadelphia. Hamilton refuses to leave, believing he must continue to work. Hamilton catches the fever, and a doctor tells Eliza to send the children to Albany. Eliza begins to feel the effects of the fever as well. Believing they are about to die, Eliza forgives Hamilton and asks him to forgive her for not being the wife he needs.

Hamilton and Eliza survive their illness and fall in love again. Hamilton resigns from Washington’s cabinet and goes back to practicing law. Eliza’s recently widowed friend Dolley Todd falls in love with Madison. Dolley runs a boarding house where Burr resides since his wife died. Eliza finds him and tells him how sorry she is for his loss of Theodosia. Burr reveals that he knows of Hamilton’s infidelity as he is Maria Reynolds’ lawyer. But he asked Maria to keep quiet.

Hamilton is summoned to western Pennsylvania to help quell an insurrection. Eliza is pregnant and while out one day experiences sudden pains. Dolley, who has since married Madison, offers to take her home, despite their husbands’ animosity. Eliza miscarries, and she blames herself and worries it is a bad omen.

Hamilton does everything he can to assuage Eliza’s sadness after the loss of her pregnancy. They run into Burr, who assumes that Hamilton, like Jefferson, is only taking a brief retirement before running for president. Eliza is vexed as Hamilton seems to be as politically inclined as ever. They meet another mob. Hamilton is attacked, and their son Phillip tries to defend him.

Kitty Livingston visits Eliza and tells her that Hamilton plans to duel with her cousins, relatives of Maria Reynolds. When Eliza confronts him, Hamilton says that he has been involved in many affairs of honor. Eliza feels he doesn’t know who he is now that he is no longer in government. She tells him she knows he is writing under pseudonyms praising himself. Hamilton admits his grief over losing their child, and Eliza promises to help him heal as he helped her.

Maria Reynolds returns to New York, and Eliza goes to visit her thinking she knows her address from a letter to Hamilton. She is surprised to find instead Lafayette’s son, Georges, who was sent to New York to protect him from the violence of the French Revolution. Eliza takes Georges home, but he and Hamilton fear that he will be found and taken back to France. They take care of Georges for six months before sending him to Washington, who tells Hamilton that he will not run for a third term. Washington charges Hamilton with writing his farewell address, as other great writers like Madison and Jefferson are now solidly Republicans, having formed a political party against Federalists like Hamilton and Washington. Eliza helps Hamilton pen the address.

Angelica and her family move to New York. Angelica blames Eliza for Hamilton’s leaving government, which she thinks caused the country to become unstable. Hamilton tells Eliza that his affair with Maria Reynolds is about to become public. The writer, James Callender, has copies of Maria and Hamilton’s letters, given to him by Monroe. In retaliation, John Adams, the new president, revoked Monroe’s ambassadorship to France. Hamilton believes he must confess to the affair. Eliza believes she can do something about the situation.

Eliza goes to see Monroe without telling Hamilton. Monroe tells her that he did not leak the letters. He suspects his clerk sold them. She asks Monroe to make a sworn statement of Hamilton’s innocence in the Treasury fraud, but Monroe refuses, calling Hamilton a “scoundrel.” Monroe also says he does not want to offend Jefferson, revealing his partisan motivations. Eliza accuses him of being a coward and severs their friendship.

Angelica is angry that Eliza never told her about Hamilton’s affair despite having told Eliza her marital troubles. Eliza still thinks Hamilton does not need to publicly confess, but he fears that his silence will soil his reputation. He sends Eliza and Phillip to Albany. The Schuylers don’t believe the rumors about Hamilton, but Eliza tells them they are true and she forgives him. Her father blames himself for blessing her marriage, yet he tells Eliza that there was once gossip about his wife’s infidelity, so he understands her situation. She presses her father to forgive Hamilton.

Hamilton writes what comes to be called “The Reynolds Pamphlet,” a detailed confession of his infidelity running to over 90 pages. Eliza refuses to read it and regrets letting him say so much about his affair. Angelica takes Eliza’s side, but many other Federalist women shun her. Fanny’s relations take her back, and Ana becomes sick once her adopted sister is taken away. The Secretary of War comes to recruit Hamilton back into the army, but Hamilton refuses.

Eliza begins to work with the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children, where she uses Hamilton’s political tactics to raise money. Eliza also talks with Angelica about her ownership of Sarah, an enslaved woman. She tries to convince her of the inhumanity of enslavement even if they treat enslaved people with kindness. Angelica thinks Hamilton sent her, but Eliza tells her that “slavery violates the rights endowed to us by our creator” (407). Angelica tells Eliza that she is becoming like Hamilton.

Church duels Burr, despite Hamilton’s efforts to have the practice outlawed. Church wins without anyone being hurt. Angelica didn’t know about the duel until after the fact, making her sick and angry. Washington dies suddenly. The Hamiltons campaign for Adams’s reelection, while Burr campaigns for Jefferson, who ultimately wins New York’s Electoral College votes. Adams accuses Hamilton of intentionally causing him to lose New York. The Hamiltons fear they will be targeted because of this and will have to leave the country, but the Federalists withdraw their support of Adams.

The election comes down to a tie between Jefferson and Burr, leaving the decision to the House of Representatives. To Eliza’s and Phillip’s surprise, Hamilton prefers Jefferson. Though he is more radical, Jefferson is a known evil while Burr has no principles and can be bought by anyone. Phillip argues against this, but Hamilton is undeterred, knowing that Burr is even more cold-blooded than Jefferson.