1804 Part 1: The Duel in Weehawken

You are listening to one nation under crime, a chronological true crime podcast. Each week, we go through our nation's history and discuss one case from each year, starting in 1800. I'm Kayla and I'm Leah. And this week we are taking a deep dive into Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and ending in a duel in Weehawken because everything is legal in New Jersey, which we'll get to that. Trust me. So yeah, there might be a lot of quotes from the music during this. I'm just alert out there. We'll try it. So yeah, our sources for this widely, I mean Wikipedia then biography.com Britannica encyclopedia. 

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00:00:47

And then of course the book by Ron chair now, Alexander Hamilton. So we're in 1804. So this is kind of a few of the things that were going on. Then February 15th, New Jersey becomes the last Northern state to abolish slavery, February 16th and the first Barbary war, Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate held ship USS Philadelphia, which we discussed Philadelphia in episode three, February 18th, Ohio university is declared by the Ohio general assembly. March 26. Orleans territory is created, which turns into new Orleans later on May 14th, the Lewis and Clark expedition departs from camp Dubois and begins their historic journey by traveling up the Missouri river. 

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And then December 3rd, Thomas Jefferson defeats Charles C Pickney in the U S presidential election. So I go ahead and say it here, there will be quotes in this episode that do have some adult language. Yeah. I'm going to go ahead and say it now. And there's not going to be a trigger warning level on this episode, but there is plenty of scandal. Yes. To go around. If you seen a musical, you already know something. So like I said, there is some language in some quotes can't really get around them too much is what it is. 

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00:02:24

That's what was said. So yeah, you got kiddos it's you don't want them to hear certain words, just FYI and not inherently. Just terrible words. It's just, it's one word that is repeated that apparently a lot of people loved back then. So, so yeah, this one could be a doozy because we got a lot of ground to cover to truly do this justice. We have no choice. And this is our first two part episode. 

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00:03:05

So excited. It's our first two part only, only five episodes in we got to a two-parter, but there really is. There's so much information on both, both men in these cases. And you know, it's a lot to go around. I will try to keep the Hamilton references to a minimum, but I'm not making any promises because sometimes you just got to move when the spirit and I might have put some Easter eggs throughout the notes. So that's exciting. Yes. And there is one part where I am going to directly quote for a bit straight from the show because it was the best way to describe something that was going on and why reinvent the wheel. 

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00:03:52

And so, yeah, I'll, I'll get to that part. So if it's it's great, anyways, I am very aware that the man Alexander Hamilton is problematic in a couple of ways, and I'm not going to shy away from discussing them. I can separate Lin. Manuel Miranda is Hamilton from Alexander Hamilton, but there's no denying that he absolutely was a genius and he was a genius. We will go over it. Like I said, in a few different ways that he's, he is very, very talented. There's a lot of things that, that we have to thank him. 

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00:04:32

He's a polymath and okay. I was about to finish that. And then I realized language doesn't need to come in that soon. So yeah, this week we will specifically discuss the life military career accomplishments and downfalls of Alexander Hamilton. Yep. Next week we will move on to Aaron Burr and the infamous dual in Weehawken. And there is also a little bonus section at the end of the next episode that I could not leave out. So we will discuss it as we can't wait to see you will you'll you'll like it. 

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00:05:14

I know you will. So these men have a lot of history between them and it's accumulation of events that led to the dual, like the end. And so that's why it is important to go through both of their lives because there, there are places where they do cross paths. You can kind of see along the lines of Hamilton's life while they did have similar ish childhoods, not completely the same. Right. And they had some common threads, but not exactly. Yes. And so, and I'll go ahead and tell you, you know, if you are a fan of the musical Hamilton, like we are keep in mind that the musical is written from Hamilton's perspective. 

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00:06:08

It is for 

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Entertainment and therefore for is the villain. Sure. We will go through in the next episode, Bert. And he does have his share of extremely impressive accomplishments that are not gone over, but he also kind of trash. So we'll discuss that as well, because I mean, you know, 

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00:06:34

They both had their shortcomings. They 

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Both do have their shortcomings, arguably for would have more, more involved shortcomings. I'll say just very, just, just wide, widespread. But yeah, so we'll go through both of them and if you are a fan of the musical and you have watched it, you've listened to it, you know, you're a huge fan of it. You'll also see how some artistic liberties 

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Were taken. Yes, 

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Yes. Which were disappointing. Cause I don't want it to be just, 

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But I mean, you know, when you're trying to fit it into a show, which was masterfully done, by the way, you know, some things have to be paired down and have to, you know, be changed a little just like with no, they're totally not the same thing, but the Goldbergs, I love that show and it is very loosely based on Adam Goldberg's life, but there are actually three sons and in the show, there's an older sister and two brothers and they did that just to, you know, reach more audiences and have a daughter in there. So there are, you know, artistic liberties taken, but it is kept as true as possible, you know, but there's no way to just keep it exactly true. 

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And it still be entertaining. 

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00:07:56

Right. And which we know one of the biggest, cause again, I'm really gonna try and hold it back with Hamilton references and information. But in Hamilton he actually Lin Manuel Miranda actually went back and forth with Ron chair now who wrote the biography of Alexander Hamilton to make sure that things were kind of as accurate as they could. Right. And, and the main points lined up. Right. And one of the things that actually is extremely false comes in satisfied. Yeah. The song's satisfied Angelica specifically says, my father has no sons and they definitely didn't. 

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00:08:43

And she was already married when Hamilton came on the scene as well. And in the play, she's not, 

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00:08:48

We'll get into that. And we'll also talk about more of their relationships. So yeah, we will and she is a little bit more involved and I'm not sure if she was married, I'll have to, when we get to that part, I'll have to see, because I do talk about her and when she does get married. So we'll have to see exactly when, what that timeline is. What I recall from reading and such that I've done. She was already married, but I could be wrong. I'm not sure. I don't remember. I know there's a section of it in this episode, so we'll, we'll, we'll get to it. Okay. Ali proven, correct. In 2016, a survey done by Washington college found that 71% of Americans were quote, fairly certain Alexander Hamilton was a past president. 

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00:09:39

I think that that is way too high of a number, but it's not super difficult to see how people could mistake him for one Alexander Hamilton was one of the founding fathers of the United States. So I think that's where a lot of the confusion comes in and he is on money. Yes. There's a reason. And we'll get to, we will think that so Britannica states, the founding fathers were quote the most prominent statesman of the American revolutionary generation responsible for the successful war for colonial independence, from great Britain. The liberal ideas celebrated in the declaration of independence and the Republican form of governmental defined in the United States constitution. 

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00:10:28

So given all of that, there is not a set list of requirements to be a founding father. And if there were a checklist that you had to go off of, let me guess you've made one up. No, I mean, there are, there are people who have made up, you know, they have their own, they've come up with lists of, of what they are, but they would be that they have to have a major contribution to the American revolution or when independence was one. So it had to be either during the war or right as it was one setting up the nation or a part of the constitutional convention. 

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00:11:14

So the ones that are more widely known are ones that took place. They had a part in all of it together. So the list changes based on which historians you ask, you know, like I said, there's no set rule standard on how to decide who's who, but there are 10 that most, all historians will agree with. And based on my knowledge of the revolution, which is vast because it is my favorite time period, these would also be the same ones that I would, that I would call founding fathers. 

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00:12:00

Okay. First up we have George Washington shocker, the original OJI he founded. I mean, you could say he founded the founding fathers. Yeah. So then after him, and I think this might be an alphabetical order. So not based on importance, but there was John Adams, Samuel Adams. Yes. Sam, Sam Adams, the beer, if you're, if you're from the U S and you do know about, about widely known beers then yes. That Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry James Madison, John Marshall and George Mason. 

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00:12:48

But whether you call him a founding father, politician, military commander, American statesman, legal scholar, banker, economist, lawyer, or a bastard orphan son of a whore and a Scotsman Alexander Hamilton left a legacy for better, for worse. Yes. This is the word that will come up a lot. I thought maybe that was it. So I figured it might as well just go ahead and put it in the beginning. That's the way you get the word that's going to pop up. And that was used a lot. I mean, now it, yes, it, now it is considered, you know, a quote swear word. 

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00:13:33

Right. But in that time, it, it was a, a actual term to describe someone who was an illegitimate child. Yes. Someone born out of wedlock, out of wedlock. Yes. So January 11th, 1755 or 1757, Alexander Hamilton was born in the British west Indies on the island of novice to a Rachel fall set. And James A. Hamilton, July 12th, 1804, Alexander Hamilton dies due to injuries sustained 31 hours earlier from being shot in a duel against Aaron Burr in Weehawken, New Jersey. 

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00:14:20

So as you might've noticed, when I discussed his birth year, there's two different things. So it's either 1755 or 1757. There's a reason. So in Hamilton's writings himself, he states 1757 later historians found documentation that stated at the time of his mother's death, he was 13, which would make his date of birth 1755. Interesting. But because at this time, Hamilton was now an orphan and he was on his own. 

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00:15:01

He might've lied about his age to be able to get a job. Yeah. So he might have actually been 11 at the time, said he was 13, so he could get a job. And we'll, we'll just cause he was smart. Right. And we'll discuss that more as well. At the time of Hamilton's birth, Rachel, his mother was married to a man named John. I believe the last name is pronounced Lee. Lavian lobbying, lobbying. He was very problematic. Oh, Rachel was forced to marry John when she was a teenager and they had a son together named Peter when Rachel's father died in 1745, she inherited a very large sum of money. 

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00:15:47

And John took it upon himself to spend almost all of it. Oh, how come John was very abusive and even had Rachel imprisoned for several months when he accused her of adultery. Oh, maybe it wasn't unfounded at this time. It was just saying yes. It, it was very the couple. So the couple lived in St. Croix in the Virgin islands. And at the time the islands were owned by Denmark and then they were under Denmark laws. Okay. So under these laws, if you accused your wife, not your husband, if you accused your wife of adultery, she could be placed in prison for an unknown amount of time. 

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00:16:35

Awesome. So it said that possibly, he said that to kind of as another alternate form of punishment for her and to get her out of the way so he could spend some money. Well, at this time, most of it was gone. He had spent so much of it that most of it was gone. So he was tired of hearing about how he was spending the money when Rachel was released from prison, instead of going home to John and her son, Peter, she ran what I mean? Yeah. And she ended up in St. Kitts where she met James A. Hamilton. They moved in together and eventually moved to novice, which was Rachel's birth place. 

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00:17:17

Rachel had inherited a plot of land after her father's death. That was in novice, but she was living in St. Croix at the time. So she couldn't get the land cause she wasn't living there at the time. So that was why she went back. The couple had a son named John Jr. In 1753 and in 1757, maybe that Alexander was born. But the new family did not last long after Alexander was born and Sr abandoned the family when Alexander was a child. It doesn't say how old exactly he was when he left. A lot of sources just kept calling him a boy. 

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00:17:58

Yeah. So it's safe to say, probably was younger. He did have an older brother. So child is, that's what we're going to go with. John senior's reason for leaving his family was to spare Rachel a charge of bigamy because she was still married to John other John, John Lavien because she was still married to John lady. And he intended on divorcing Rachel under Danish law, which just apparently at the time was fantastic. And he was going to divorce her on grounds of desertion does like she left, she left and adultery. 

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00:18:39

Rachel would have been put in prison because of these accusations. And like we said, for an unknown amount of time, she could have even been killed because of these accusations. Right? So there was no, John senior Hamilton is what I'm going to call him. You know, he left saying that he didn't want that, but there's really no evidence as to what happened. But also on the other hand, Hamilton Alexander Hamilton does write his dad and his dad will sign his letters like your loving father, John Hamilton. So it's not said that they necessarily had a bad relationship. 

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00:19:22

They just didn't have much of a relationship because dad wasn't there. So Rachel had no choice, but to take her two sons and move back to St. Croix, she ran a small shop to make ends meet. And February 18th, 1768 at 1:02 AM very specific at the age of 38, Rachel succumbs to yellow fever and young Hamilton was an orphan. It was at a mercantile in town that Hamilton was exposed to the world of international commerce. 

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00:20:02

James Jr. You know, his older brother and Hamilton moved in with a cousin, Peter Lytton. I believe again, that might be how you pronounce it. It's it, doesn't it you're doing your best. I am. It could be light. It could be Latin. But after a short period of time, Peter took his own life in July of 1769. So they were only there less than a year. Yeah. Or a little bit over a year. He left his property. The, the cousin left his property to his mistress and his son. And so this is when Alexander was separated from his brother, James Jr. 

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00:20:46

James went to be a carpenter's apprentice. And Alexander still working for the mercantile in town was given a home by Thomas Stevens who was a local merchant. So that's where he's learning his trade. So, but so Thomas Stevens was not the owner of the mercantile. Cause I kinda got that confused. He was not the owner of the mercantile, but he was a merchant who did frequently work with that mercantile for bringing in goods from other places. So that's probably how they met. 

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00:21:27

There's also some speculation that, which it's not true. If you look at things from back then there was some speculation that Thomas Stevens might've actually been Alexander's dad. But anyway, so if you, if you even look at the timeline, there's no way because he was in St. Croix when they were in Nimbus where he was born. So there's no way he could be the dad, but they said that they carried on a lot of the same mannerisms and things like that. So anyways, probably modeled himself after him because he didn't have a dad. So then a hurricane came and the events on August 30th, 1772 changed Hamilton's life forever, all because of a letter. 

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00:22:19

And this is just, there's ever a way for your life to change. This is the crazy way. Yeah. Hamilton was still in contact with his biological father and wrote to him often one of these letters detailed the events that devastated the island. So Reverend Hugh Knox was a tutor to Hamilton and he, you know, taught him how to ride and you know, all the flowery language. Well, he read the letter and submitted the letter to be published as an essay in the Royal Danish American Gazette. So took this letter. This is not, this is an essay. Now send it to them. And once the leaders in the community read the essay, they then created a fund for Hamilton's education in October of the same year. 

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00:23:04

So this hurricane was in August. So just in October of that year, Hamilton stepped off of a ship and Boston and made his way to New York city. He lodged for a little bit of time with an Irishman named Hercules Mulligan. Catherine Mulligan had a brother who traded with the same men who paid for Hamilton to go to the colonies. So yeah, so Hercules brother worked with the same merchants in St. Croix. So that's how he does kind of the hook. 

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00:23:47

A Mulligan helped Hamilton sell cargo to help pay for Hamilton's education and to basically help him keep a roof over his head. In the meantime, in the fall of 1773, Hamilton started as a private student at Kings college. And, and there is a difference between apparently in that time, between starting as a private student and starting as an actual student, I didn't go into it because there's too much. Even though he went to the colonies for his education, his main interest became the revolution. Robert troop was Hamilton's roommate in college and Truett frequently commented on Hamilton's ability to consciously explain the Patriot's position against the British. 

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00:24:36

So he's basically saying this guy can break it down as to why we're doing what we're doing. He can lay it out so that everybody can understand what's going on. Right? Unfortunately, Hamilton's education was cut short when the British occupied New York city and Kings college had to close their doors. So then Hamilton and a group of friends from Kings college joined a volunteer militia called the Corsicans in 1775 after the battle at Lexington and Concord, which if you learned about American history, that is the shot heard around the world. That's that battle. And if you're, since we have international listeners, apparently if you, if you aren't very aware of the battle of Lexington and Concord, it was initially where the Patriots or Americans and the British, they kind of had a standoff and no one was doing anything and someone shot and they call it the shot heard round the world because it was the shot that started the American revolution and set off the chain of events. 

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00:25:48

So the Americans say that it came from the British and the British say that it came from the Americans either way, whoever fired that gun started the entire American revolution. So that's why it's called the shot, heard around the world. I mean, everybody was kind of primed for it that nobody was ready to take the first step. It's like, we're not going to be held liable for starting this, but if you won't start it. So what I love to think of in this at some point is that this was just like some, some like 17 year old. That was like, no, like I was at me didn't mean that. 

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00:26:29

So Hamilton ended up becoming a captain and fought alongside George Washington. It was the battle of Princeton where Hamilton really proved himself. So January 3rd, 1777 Washington rallied his troops to charge against the British forces. The British fell back with some just running to Nassau hall, which was nearby and others just running away from Princeton altogether. They just took off and Hamilton showed up with three cannons and fired on the building while other Patriots were storming the front door. So they kind of trapped them in there. It wasn't long before a white flag appeared outside of one of the windows and the British surrendered. 

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00:27:15

The Americans won the battle and 194 British soldiers walked out and laid down their weapons. Alexander's started getting offers to be the aid to several generals like left and right. Everybody wanted him and these William Alexander was one of them, Nathaniel green, Henry Knox, Alexander McDougle and Lord Sterling were all generals that came to Hamilton, wanting, wanting him to help them. He declined all of them and he thought that fighting would pay off best for him in the long run. 

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00:27:54

But the golden ticket arrived. Yes. 

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And I want you to be proud of me that I have not spent it off 

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00:28:01

Single. I know it's been hard. I've been 

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00:28:04

Pinching my lips together. 

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00:28:07

I think he'll cream. It Henry Knox wanted to hire you to be their secretary. I don't think so. Yeah, I, yeah, it was hard. So anyways, the golden ticket arrived and George Washington needed a right-hand man here comes the general and he requested Hamilton as an aid and offered him the position of Lieutenant Colonel. And you can't tell George Washington. No, no. I mean, no, no, you can't. You can't tell him no. Washington was quoted saying aid to camps, which aid camps just mean kind of like an assistant in the military 

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00:28:50

A right hand, man. I mean, really it 

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Is quote aid to camps are persons in whom entire confidence must be placed. And it requires men of abilities to execute the duties with propriety and dispatch. It would be four years of writing letters to Congress, drafting Washington's orders and directing them diplomacy, then negotiations and issuing orders. And Hamilton actually signed his name to a lot of these orders. Like that's how high up he got Washington didn't have to sign any general orders. They knew who he was, it was coming straight from Hamilton. And so he was signing a lot of them. I, it was around this time that Hamilton was also riding to his friends. 

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00:29:37

Markita Lafayette and John Lawrence, who were also fighting in the war. And a quick side note on these letters, you will look into this and you might see some speculation. There is an American historian of human sexuality, whose name is Jonathan Ned Katz, who has reviewed these letters written between the men and given the writing style and the references to Greek mythology and history Katz thinks there might have been a homosexual relationship between the men, but more leaning towards the letters between Hamilton and Lawrence, but biographer Gregory D. Massey has dismissed these claims entirely and said, it's nothing more than the writing style of time. 

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00:30:30

And with these men being educated, it's not a shock that they have more advanced writing style. Also, I'm going to go ahead. I'm going to get off my soap box for two seconds. I'll put it back. It's going to go back up. I promise, but let's just go ahead and get out of the way that one, if they did have some kind of extracurricular sexual relationship. So what like, okay, okay. Fine. Why, why bring it up now? So what, we also don't know that. So you're just engaging in speculation too. Just like the stigma around mental health and how much that stigma needs to go away. 

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00:31:16

So does the idea that two men can't have a close relationship with one another and discuss intimate details of their lives without something sexual going on? Let's go ahead. And just people joke and they'll be like, oh, they've got a bromance going and stuff like that. And like, yeah, that's fine. You can say that, but let's not just sit there and say, oh, these two men were way too close. So clearly something was going on. That's not okay. You know, like men need to have somebody to talk to you is two women were talking to each other about their feelings and they were going in depth with them. You wouldn't say, oh, those women clearly something's going on. They're having a conversation. 

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00:31:55

<em></em> buddies grow up. People like just, just grow up just because, you know, it's just aggravating because you were out on a battlefield, no one is around you. You you're riding orders all day. And you only have these couple of friends that you can discuss your life with. And you've got a lot of emotions going on and you need an outlet for that. And so I just think that it's very reckless for someone to speculate. They had a relationship when there's no concrete proof. If they did great, happy for them. 

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00:32:36

Good for you. You go blink Coco, just like I said in the last upset. But, but, but you know, also two things can exist. Right? 

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00:32:45

And it doesn't change the good and the impact that they've had on our country, just on our history. It doesn't, it doesn't change. 

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00:32:52

And two things can exist at the same time. Yeah. Men can be very, very close with another man and discuss intimate details of their lives and they can also just be friends. Yeah. So I've, I've stepped down. I've put the soap box away. I'm off of it now, moving forward, moving forward. I have to say that it, it just bothers me a lot when people do that. And it's just like, it's just speculation point. Are you trying to say that? Because at that time that was very taboo. So were you trying to say, are you trying to just like besmirch their legacy or what's, what's your end game here? 

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00:33:34

And it doesn't seem that there is one to me. So from December of 17, 79 to March of 1780 Hamilton was stationed in Morristown, New Jersey where he met Elizabeth Eliza, Schuyler, who was the daughter of a well-known general in the war. Phillip Schuyler, December 14th, Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler were married. I will refer to her as Liza other people called her Betsy. I don't see it. It's 

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00:34:11

A nickname 

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00:34:12

For Elizabeth, Phillip assu. It's Eliza. Okay. Let's use refuse. So anyways, December 14th, 1980, Alexander Hamilton analyze the Skyler were married. The couple had eight children. Again, as I said in episode two, too many. Yes. I 

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00:34:39

May not have zero. So 

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00:34:41

Have one. I love children, 

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00:34:43

But it's really fun to be able to love on them, spoil them, spoil them, and then send them home. 

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00:34:51

I'll go ahead and say, some sources will say there were only seven, but these sources are false and they did not do their research. Boom, because two of the children were named Philip. Yup. There's a reason. Yep. The children in order of birth, starting with the oldest were Phillip Angelica Alexander Jr. John Church, William Steven, Eliza, and Phillip, who went by little Phil. There were 20 years between the oldest and the youngest. We will discuss the death of Philip later, but little Phil was born the year after Phillip's death. 

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00:35:37

And he was named after his big brother that he would never meet. Yes. So sad Hamilton had a close relationship with Eliza's family and frequently wrote back and forth to Eliza's sisters, Angelica and margarita, who went, I Peggy, how do you get Peggy out of more? 

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00:36:02

Apparently Peggy is a nickname from Margaret. I don't know 

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00:36:07

Why, but it's margarita, 

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00:36:09

Margaret. 

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00:36:10

I'm hanging out. Do you know? Peggy is one from our, my, my Greenie's name was Margaret. Yeah. 

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00:36:15

So, I mean, I would think that it just kind of followed that 

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00:36:18

When people that are named Richard go by Dick and I'm like, it has, 

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00:36:22

It's not even close, but you know, my, my hedgehog's name was sir Henry prickles worth. And we called him, Hey. 

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00:36:28

Yeah. I mean, it's like, there's just so many names. There's like the nickname, the nickname is this. And it's like, don't, what's not, 

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00:36:35

Well, I'm just saying that's wild. That's where it came from. It was coming like, well with Charlotte, you understand calling them Letty. I mean, yeah, you can say that, but anyway, that 

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00:36:47

It's, anyways, it's crazy. I thought I had something in here about when she got married, but I'm not sure. Apparently I didn't think it was that important. 

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00:36:57

So let's just say Leah was right. So sure. 

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00:37:01

But the letters between Hamilton and Angelica were very flirtatious, but there's never been any indication that they were more than friends. Nothing ever happened between the two of them. The 

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00:37:14

Letters are common. The middle of prey. 

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00:37:17

Look, I don't know. I actually do think that that is true, but I think I read that in the Hamilton revolution, but, but yeah, they, they were very flirtatious with one another and were very affectionate, but there is no indication they ever crossed that line with one another. 

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00:37:36

So there was mutual admiration 

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00:37:38

For sure. Yes, there was so, 

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00:37:41

And she was very bright in her own right too. So I mean, they, they very much enjoyed sparring. 

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00:37:47

She'll pop up a little bit more, just kind of briefly at different times that I didn't think she was still here, but she was pissed. So Hamilton was finally given command of three battalions in July of 1781 after Washington animals and turned around and he gave Washington and ultimatum yeah. And said, Oh, it 

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00:38:14

Did 

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00:38:17

Hamilton said quote and thus tactically threatening to resign. If I do not get my desired command under Hamilton's command at the battle of Yorktown, his soldiers attacked at night and took over it's of a type of fortress it's too much. It was too much to actually go into and try and describe. But it was basically a fortress that the British built I'm a Colonel for the British was heard saying, quote, push on my brave boys and skin, the bastards unquote, this attack forced the British to surrender an entire army. 

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00:38:59

Wow. And it marked the unofficial end of the revolutionary war. A few battles were fought here and there until the treaty of Paris was signed two years later. But Yorktown marked the defacto end of the war, which de facto just means it was recognized by everyone to be the end. But by law it was not the end. It wasn't officially, but that was the one that, that ended at all for him. Once back in New York city, Hamilton took the bar exam in July of 1782, after teaching himself the law for six months, just six months. At the same time, he was appointed to the Congress of the Confederation, but only served for a year when he was nominated by his father-in-law Phillip Schuyler. 

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00:39:49

He was serving as an assemblyman for the New York state legislature. Thankfully some of his ideas were shot down because he was a radical thinker. Well, try to call, as you would think. So at the constitutional convention, he proposed the president and senators be elected for life. I 

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00:40:19

Mean, for the senators right now, 

0  

00:40:25

Sorry, they could be removed for corruption or abuse and it would just be contingent on quote, good behavior. He wanted to take self-government out of the constitution. What she, you know, and said that the power should go to the rich and well born, which is funny. Cause he was neither well, John Adams referred to Hamilton as quote, the bastard brat of a Scottish peddler. 

0  

00:41:08

There you go. I think that's the last one. So maybe there were some kind of thoughts behind these, you know, there might've been, you know, some thought behind 

1  

00:41:23

Because they will be the ones that would have more of an education back then. I mean, I, I'm not saying I agree with, I'm just saying, I'm trying to understand. He would say that. And that mean that would make sense because to be educated, you know, you kind of know more about how things should work, 

0  

00:41:41

Right? So there was some kind of thought behind these monarchy, like ideas, which Hamilton defended saying quote, and let me observe that an executive is less dangerous to the liberties of the people when an office, during life than for seven years, it may be said this constitutes as an elective monarchy, but by making the executive subject to impeachment, the term monarchy cannot apply. So I see the justification behind it because what he's saying is that it's less dangerous to have someone in power for life than for seven years because that president could push to get everything done during his presidency. 

0  

00:42:34

Right. Which could be more dangerous to the country as a whole get that still sounds like monarchy. Yeah. Yeah. At the end of the convention, Hamilton, wasn't completely happy with the outcome, but he signed anyway. And then he also urged the other delegates to sign as well, because it was much better than the articles of Confederation, which were currently in place. Right. Even though he didn't like it and they didn't take his ideas, he still supported. 

1  

00:43:05

Yeah. I mean, and I think from what I have seen a bread and such, you know, he was very much for debate and he knew that that was going to be best meaning we had to have something in place to move forward. So, and it was discussed in the majority ruled, 

0  

00:43:25

You know, and given that his original position on the constitution was that he was not for it. You know, he, you know, he had his own ideas and he wasn't a part of it been like, it still sounded anyways, given all that, it's a little shocking that he wrote a majority of the Federalist papers, which defended the constitution 51 

1  

00:43:50

To be precise, 

0  

00:43:53

Quote, Alexander joins forces with James Madison and John Jay to write a series of essays defending the new United States constitution entitled the Federalist papers. The plan was to write a total of 25 essays. The work divided evenly among the three men in the end, they wrote 85 essays in a span of six months. John Jay got sick after writing five, James Madison wrote 29 and Hamilton wrote the other 51. If you don't know, that has a direct quote from Hamilton, the musical, but it's the best way I couldn't so concisely done. I couldn't pair it down any, any more to try and like somehow love Lynn and we want to use his words. 

0  

00:44:42

And I mean, man, if there's nothing that gets you hyped up, listen to that song and listen to him saying Hamilton wrote the other 51. And like, you will get chills because it's just, it's so impactful. But I may text Kayla just about every time I hear it, just because it's like her favorite part of the show. Well, and Leah got me the sticker that's under my desk at my office. And it says if Alexander Hamilton could write 51 essays in six months, then you can handle this right. That's right. So Washington appointed Hamilton as the first secretary of the treasury and 1789 and Hamilton had a laundry list of accomplishments in this position. 

0  

00:45:28

Some of these are the first report on public credit, establishing a national bank and the U S mint, the start of the us coast guard, the formation of the first political party, the Federalists he established the New York evening post. He helped reopen Kings college under the name Columbia college and the unfortunate whiskey tax that led to the whiskey rebellion. We can't be perfect. So December 17th, 1794, Hamilton gave his resignation to Washington and returned to his law office. 

0  

00:46:09

So he could be closer to his family. That was when Ms. Mariah Reynolds walked into his life retroed America's first wearing a red dress. Yes. To which Emily goes, why is Peggy wearing a red dress? So America's first sex scandal happened in 1797. When Hamilton was confronted about his sexual relationship with Mariah Reynolds, James Reynolds, her husband was well aware of the affair and extorted a thousand dollars out of Hamilton to keep quiet over the course of a year, including the initial bribe Hamilton paid James Reynolds, $1,300 to continue sleeping with Mariah. 

0  

00:47:04

Yikes. Want to take a wild guess at how much $1,300 is today? That's always your guess. I'm not good with numbers was all righty. And $36,933 mercy. This would all come out in 17 seven when Hamilton was accused of colluding with James Reynolds during the revolutionary war three Congressman had known of the affair for a few years and the man agreed to keep it a secret. But one of those men, James Monroe was friends with Thomas Jefferson and Monroe gave the documents, supporting the affair to Jefferson. 

0  

00:47:53

Then Jefferson sat on the documents for a good five years, 

1  

00:48:00

Biding his time until 

0  

00:48:02

It was beneficial to leak them to the press. And that is exactly what happened. You copies of the letters between Reynolds and Hamilton were published in pamphlets and news was spreading that Hamilton was untrustworthy. This is when Hamilton released a retort called observations on certain documents or more commonly known as the Reynolds pamphlet, a one, a 100 page booklet, booklet, not a pamphlet booklet. 

0  

00:48:43

And it described the affair in very specific detail. Hamilton's reputation did take a large hit and the affair did support the claim from Jefferson in regards to how trustworthy Hamilton was. Thankfully for Hamilton, Washington was on his side and held him in quote high self-esteem for the rest of his life. So even though it happened, George Washington was like, nah, we're cool. Yeah. Now he's cool. Wait, we all mess up a Sombra. Well, I mean, 

1  

00:49:20

I was going to say it doesn't even, I mean, we all all make mistakes. Absolutely. Because, you know, Hey, we're human. Just because somebody makes a mistake and makes a bad decision, bad judgment, or a series of bad decisions, doesn't negate the good that they have done as well. And I think so many people have, have trouble separating from that. And seeing that, you know, you can not like some things that somebody does, but still like other things 

0  

00:49:50

Exactly Washington and Hamilton were called back to military service for the quasi war and Washington flat-out refused to actually go to battle unless there was a French invasion. So Hamilton served as essentially the head of the army. Well, they in 

1  

00:50:10

Washington and kind of put in his time. 

0  

00:50:12

Yeah. And soon after that, you know, Washington died on December 14th, 1799. And Hamilton became the senior officer of the United States army. This was three months before Hamilton would join Aaron Burr as co-counsel and the Manhattan well murder trial on March 31st, 1800 episode one, if you're wondering with an interesting piece of clothes, little did Hamilton know the election of 1800 would be the breaking point between himself and Aaron Burr, John Adams and Hamilton had a very sorted past themselves with Adam's running for reelection. 

0  

00:51:00

Hamilton was determined for anyone else, but Adams to represent the Federalist party, Hamilton sent out a pamphlet to 200 of his fellow Federalists entitled letter from Alexander Hamilton concerning the public conduct and character of John Adams, Esquire president of the United States. A copy of this ended up in the hands of a democratic Republican, and it was published in the paper. It did hurt Adam's prospects considerably and ensured that the Federalist would not win the election at all. 

0  

00:51:39

Jeff Thomas Jefferson, B Adams, but Jefferson and Burr had the same number of votes at 73, given that Hamilton was so influential and ruining Adam's chances. Some Federalists in the house of representatives looked to him for guidance. 35 ballots had already been cast. And the Jefferson Burr runoff when Hamilton said Jefferson was quote by far not so a dangerous man. And that Burr was quote a mischievous enemy to the principal measure of the past administration admit administration hardwired. 

0  

00:52:23

Sometimes Jefferson one at the time the runner up became vice president, but after Hamilton's comment about Berg, Jefferson started to have his own concerns with BARR. And that was when he started to change that, that the, you know, he couldn't be vice-president and Jefferson actually like shut him out of a lot and we'll, we'll go more into it in the next episode. So this leads us to the last and arguably most significant event in Hamilton's life before his death, we will talk about kind of, you know, more about what led to the duel in the next one. 

0  

00:53:05

But this is kind of the most last most significant event at this time. The oldest child of the Hamilton's was Philip Hamilton, which Google him, Phillip Google. He is hot. It, he is very attractive. So anyways, he was born January 2nd, 1782, Phillip graduated from Columbia college, which was what was formerly King's college in 1800 and studied law under his father's supervision. 

0  

00:53:46

It was said that Phillips studied from the time he dressed in the morning until nine at night, and even had to wake up at 6:00 AM to study. I don't like after 6:00 AM for anything ever really then on July 4th, 1801, George Eaker gave an independence day speech. Phillip became enraged. When Eaker said that Alexander Hamilton would not be opposed to overthrowing Thomas Jefferson's presidency by force on November 20th, 1801, Phillip and a friend Brandon two Eaker at the park theater and verbal sparring ensued Philip challenged Eaker to a duel and Alexander Hamilton told his sons specifically to delay, which means you don't, you kind of like shoot at the ground or you shoot in the sky. 

0  

00:54:39

That's what developing is. You're not going to, you're actually going to aim at the other person. So November 23rd Eaker and Phillips took off two. We Hawkin the same spot. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr would be in three years. And the two counted off 10 paces Eaker shot Phillip above his right hip. And the bullet went through his body and lodged in his left arm. A fire from Phillips pistol, a shot was fired from Phillips pistol, but it was when he hit the ground. So it could have been an involuntary spasm from, from being shot. Yeah, I'm not really sure. 

0  

00:55:21

Phillip was rushed to his aunt Angelica's house and Manhattan Alexander ran to Dr. Host's six home and he'll come back a lot more to, so Alexander ran to Dr. Ho's six home to get Dr. Hosek and take him to fill up, which is the same doctor that would later treat Alexander. And it is said that when Alexander reached the hosts at home, he was quote so much overcome by his anxiety that he fainted and remained sometime in my family before he was sufficiently recovered to proceed. Alexander finally reached Philip and according to Dr. 

0  

00:56:02

Hosek quote, he initially turned from the bed and taking me by the hand, which he grasped with all the agony of grief. He exclaimed in a tone and manner that I, that can never be a face from my memory. And he said, doctor I despair, Phillip died at 5:00 AM on November 24th, 1801 14 hours. After the Dole Alexander Hamilton had to be held up by friends and family at the funeral of his son, Phillip is buried at Trinity church in an unmarked grave near his parents and his aunt. 

1  

00:56:40

Why? And mark, because it was a dual, 

0  

00:56:42

It doesn't say they never say why it's unmarked. I don't think it was because of the dual because Alexander has had hacker. I'm not sure it could be that at the time they were only bearing like prominent members of society in there. So I'm not sure, but it's to this day is it's supposedly still unmarked. I don't remember seeing it. So, but I wasn't looking either. So Phillip's 17 year old sister, Angelica Hamilton suffered a mental breakdown from which she never recovered her mental state deteriorated until she became only intermittently lucid. 

0  

00:57:24

And she sometimes couldn't even remember her who her family members were. She spent the rest of her life in a state, which was only described as a quote eternal childhood, often talking to her brother as if he were still alive. That's very sad on June 2nd, 1802 Elizabeth gave birth to their youngest child with whom she was pregnant at the time of Phillip's death. They named the baby Phillip Hamilton in memory of his older brother. 

1  

00:57:56

So that's why there are two Phillips 

0  

00:58:00

We're going to stop there because this is right up before the dual. And then I'll cover the aftermath of the dual for Hamilton's family after the dual occurs. So that wraps up part one for us. No, it was kind of long and believe it or not, actually we're not doing too bad on time, but believe it or not at cutout, a lot of stuff that I really wanted to include, but I just, I love the story so much for a lot of reasons. And it's not just because of the musical it's, there's, we'll get into it. Like I said, there's a little bonus section at the end of the next episode and we'll, we'll get into more of it, but it really is just a good story. And so many things were going on at that time. 

0  

00:58:42

It's just, you know, 

1  

00:58:44

Getting a better picture of the lives of these people that you've heard about in your history books, like getting to know more about them and kind of what made them, how they were, who they were. It's interesting to me, that's what I love to learn about is, you know, what 

0  

00:59:01

Formed 

1  

00:59:03

Them. 

0  

00:59:05

So sorry if these two episodes are a little long, sad, actually wasn't too bad. So, so good thing there next week we will have part two and we will go through the life of Aaron Burr and finally the dual Weehawken and the death of Alexander Hamilton. Yeah. It's M more, we'll go into that. In that episode. They'll, we'll kind of talk a lot more about kind of the gasoline that was poured on the fire that caused everything after the election of 1800 to really explode. We'll go into that some more. We'll talk about Ehrenberg. 

0  

00:59:46

Like I said, we got a little bonus section at the end that I had to put in. You'll also find out some pretty interesting things about Aaron Bird that you probably did not know. And one part that especially delights me. So we'll have to discuss that. Okay. I'm ready. I know. So we're going to be doing that next week. So come back and please join us for part two. And that does it for us this week, different times. Same. So follow us on Instagram at one nation under crime and on Twitter at oh, in UC pod. If you love our podcast, as much as we do, please follow us on your preferred podcast platform as we are now on all of them and recommend us to your friends, family, coworkers, strangers on the street, fast food drive-through attendant. 

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01:00:39

Just if you need to make conversation out of your pocket. Yeah. Yeah. Conversation's dead here. Hey, let me, let me see your phone and let me, let me do something for you. Just keep that in your back pocket to bring out at any time. And if you feel like it, please leave us a five star review on apple podcasts. And if you do leave a comment in there for some weird reason, it actually counts more. So if you want to do that, we'd appreciate it. We do have a Patrion. If you would like to help with the cost of making and hosting the show, you can donate there, just go to patrion.com and search for one nation under crime. If you have a question for us comment, glowing review, we prefer that. Yeah. Or a really, really good family story. 

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01:01:20

Really good one. You can email us@onenationundercrimeatgmail.com. We would love to read them and we will answer. I promise. Yep. So thank you guys for listening to this week's episode of one nation under crime. We will see you here. Same time, same crime next week. And remember that there isn't always Liberty and justice for all. We'll see you next week. Bye guys.