Alexander Hamilton; American Revolutionary, Founding Father
“Hamilton: An All American Musical” I’m sure most people have heard of this genius musical by Lin Manuel Miranda, especially after last year when it debuted on screen on Disney+. So the name Alexander Hamilton is stranger to none, a founding father, aide de camp to General (later President) George Washington and the first secretary of the treasury of the United States of America. He collaborated with John Jay and James Madison on a series of essays known as the Federalist papers, contributing more than half of the 85 essays. He was also a New York delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
Now, it is quite clearly recorded in history that Hamilton went on to marry Elizabeth (Eliza) Schuyler and had eight children with her, however, this is what leads to the common misconception that he was heterosexual. A quick look at a few of his letters of correspondence with a lieutenant colonel John Laurens- whom he met as a fellow aide de camp to General Washington- makes it evident that he was indeed bisexual- or maybe even a closeted homosexual- letters from which excerpts shall be presented below.
“Cold in my professions – warm in my friendships – I wish, my Dear Laurens, it were in my power, by actions rather than words, to convince you that I love you. I shall only tell you that 'till you bade us Adieu, I hardly knew the value you had taught my heart to set upon you. Indeed, my friend, it was not well done. You know the opinion I entertain of mankind, and how much it is my desire to preserve myself free from particular attachments, and to keep my happiness independent of the caprice of others. You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility, to steal into my affections without my consent. But as you have done it, and as we are generally indulgent to those we love, I shall not scruple to pardon the fraud you have committed, on one condition; that for my sake, if not for your own, you will always continue to merit the partiality, which you have so artfully instilled into me. . . .”
- Alexander Hamilton (April 1779)
Here he quite openly declares his dislike of people in general and his love for Laurens as something he could not help. Hamilton, as many historians have noted, is someone who lived through a tough childhood with an absent father and orphaned at a young age by the early passing of his mother. So, his writing, “how much it is my desire to preserve myself free from particular attachments and to keep my happiness independent of the caprice of others” suggest his careful distrust of people. For him to so openly declare his love in this letter, shows the legitimacy and depth of his feelings, the almost helplessness with which he admits it.
“Do I want a wife? No – I have plagues enough without desiring to add to the number that greatest of all;”
- Alexander Hamilton (April 1779)
Yet again, his outright declaration of distaste regarding marriage conveys his longing for Laurens and suggests the possibility that he was homosexual but was hiding it as he led the public life of a politician and in his time homosexuality was quite the taboo topic. It was probably unthinkable to most of the general public who existed at that time that Hamilton could be anything other than straight (as a major figure in the American Revolution and George Washington’s right hand man) which most likely pressured him into hiding his sexuality.
“I acknowledge but one letter from you, since you left us, of the 14th of July which just arrived in time to appease a violent conflict between my friendship and my pride… But like a jealous lover, when I thought you slighted my caresses, my affection was alarmed and my vanity piqued. I had almost resolved to lavish no more of them upon you and to reject you as an inconstant and an ungrateful —. But you have now disarmed my resentment and by a single mark of attention made up the quarrel.”
- Alexander Hamilton (September 11, 1779)
Yet another example of the founding father expressing his affections (and jealousies) towards Lieutenant Colonel Laurens, which I’m sure is quite self-explanatory.
“I confess my sins. I am guilty. Next fall completes my doom. I give up my liberty to Miss Schuyler.”
- Alexander Hamilton (September 11, 1779)
This, once again suggest the idea of his being a closeted homosexual, marrying only for the public eye. He refers to his engagement to Schuyler as a “sin” of which he is “guilty” of. He even goes on to say, “Next fall completes my doom” and that he is losing his freedom (“give up mu liberty”) to Schuyler. This could suggest that he has now resigned to a fate of living his whole life without acknowledging his sexuality, trapped in the image of a heterosexual man, and that, for the sake of his political career, he shall take up a wife and live the picture perfect life of an ‘‘ideal statesman’’. The fact that Elizabeth Schuyler is the daughter Philip Schuyler, a major general of the revolution and an American senator- who provided ample support to his son-in-law Hamilton- provides further evidence that this marriage was for political gain.
“I say this to you because you know it and will not charge me with vanity. I hate Congress—I hate the army—I hate the world—I hate myself. The whole is a mass of fools and knaves; I could almost except you and Meade. Adieu
A Hamilton
My ravings are for your own bosom.
The General and family send you their love”
- Alexander Hamilton (September 12, 1780)
This excerpt from Hamilton’s letters to Laurens once again ties into the idea of his distrust of people and his dislike for the general populace. He goes on to call the whole world “a mass of fools and knaves” and yet emphasizes that this applies to everyone “except you (Laurens) and Meade” the other mentioned here being Richard Kidder Meade, another aide de camp to General Washington. This excerpt too, is quite self-explanatory as he declares his affections and desires for Laurens.
“In spite of Schuyler’s black eyes, I have still a part for the public and another for you; so your impatience to have me married is misplaced; a strange cure by the way, as if after matrimony I was to be less devoted that I am now. Let me tell you, that I intend to restore the empire of Hymen and that Cupid is to be his prime Minister.”
- Alexander Hamilton (September 16, 1780)
Another extract that raises many questions about the motives behind Hamilton’s
marriage to Schuyler, where he emphasizes on how, although soon to be a married man, he shall always have a part of himself reserved solely for Laurens. His tone also suggests discomfort and a slight hurt at Laurens’ apparent insistence on his marriage- also mentioned in the letter in April, 1779; “And Now my Dear as we are upon the subject of wife…” suggesting Laurens to be the first to bring it up in one of his previous letters. He also calls his impatience misplaced and a “strange cure”, most likely tied to how
homosexuality was seen as a psychological disorder at a point in history, and even goes on to state that his affections for Laurens would not diminish in the slightest. Hamilton’s well-read educated side is also seen as he alludes to mythology in writing “to restore the empire of Hymen and that Cupid is to be his prime Minister” referring to the Greek god Hymen- the god of matrimony- and Cupid (or Eros, his Greek counterpart)- god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. This could be taken to mean that he wishes to make it so that people could marry solely on account of a mutual love and could be considered his longing for the freedom to marry- not for political gain but- who he truly garners affection for, also possibly a desire to live openly without repressing his sexual inclinations.
These, of course, are only the contents of the letters I have had the chance of reading and there may be yet more proof in other letters I have not yet read, or even in various accounts of history. However, the evidence presented above, words written by his own hand, I believe, is enough proof to conclude that Alexander Hamilton was most definitely not the heterosexual diplomat he is, by default, made out to be.
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