A Love Letter from Alexander Hamilton to His "Nut-Brown Maid"Author(s): Richard BrookhiserSource: Magazine of History, Vol. 18, No. 4, Sex, Courtship, and Dating (Jul., 2004), pp. 49-52Published by: Organization of American HistoriansStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25163703Accessed: 17/04/2010 16:21

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Teaching American History With Documents From the Gilder Lehrman Collection

A Love Letter from Alexander Hamilton

to His "Nut-Brown Maid"

Richard Brookhiser

Tlhis letter from Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, written October 6, 1780, reflects a courtship heading down its

homestretch?author and recipient would be married in two

months. They were a well-suited, yet asymmetrical pair. Elizabeth

Schuyler, the "nut-brown maid," was fortune's favorite. She was the

second-eldest daughter of Philip Schuyler, general, congressman,

wealthy landowner. Elizabeth, also known as Eliza and Betsey, was a

spirited girl, and the charitable work of her later life would show her to be principled and competent. Colonel Alexander Hamilton was in

some respects even more favored?at the young age of 23, he was

already showing that he was one of the most talented members of

America's greatest generation. George Washington, on whose staff he

had worked since 1777, had spotted him as a comer. His looks, his

manner and his uniform added charm and dash. His station in life,

however, was much more problematic than his fiance's. Only a few

years earlier, he had been an illegitimate orphan living in the West

Indies. Everything he had achieved in his adopted American home land had come by work, brilliance, and luck.

The letter, and their courtship, enacts an old American story?

upward mobility, and assimilation by marriage. Though Hamilton

speaks of a "secret wedding," this was some passing whim. The

Schuylers welcomed him as a son-in-law, and showered him with

praise. To his place on the "family" of Washington's staff, he would

add a place in one of the United States's first families.

The letter also offers an interesting sidelight on mores. The end of

the second paragraph, without being at all obscene, is saturated with

sex. It also implies that the young lovers have already enjoyed it. Many of Hamilton's acquaintances and peers, from Martha Washington to

John Adams, would comment on his libido. Miss Schuyler did not seem to mind it.

The last paragraph before the signature foreshadows future

troubles. "Your business now," Hamilton jokes, "is to study 'the way to keep him'"?i.e., himself. Mrs. Hamilton would keep her husband

till the premature end of his life, and keep his memory bright for the

fifty years that she survived him. But Hamilton would stray?and his

most grievous infidelity would be given spectacular publicity in a 1797

pamphlet in which, in order to refute a charge of corruption, Hamilton

would admit to adultery and to paying blackmail. The ardent letter

reprinted here and that astonishing pamphlet will both be on display in Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America, an

exhibition at the New-York Historical Society (September 10, 2004 -

February 28, 2005). Public life intrudes in the postscript, as Hamilton promises an

account of the flight of Benedict Arnold and the hanging of his British

handler, Major John Andre, both of which he witnessed firsthand. The

shared life of these two young people would be spent in the public arena.

Document: A letter from Col. Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, written from the Continental Army's headquarters in New Jersey, Octo

ber 6, 1780. This letter and other important historical documents

relating to Alexander Hamilton and the founding of the United States

will be on display at the New-York Historical Society, September 10,

2004 -

February 28, 2005. (From the Gilder Lehrman Collection, on

deposit at The New-York Historical Society in New York City, GLC 773)

Richard Brookhiser is author of Alexander Hamilton, American (1999) and historian curator of the exhibition Alexander Hamilton: The Man

Who Made Modern America at the New-York Historical Society (Sep tember 10, 2004-February 28, 2005)

The Gilder Lehrman Collection, on deposit at the New-York Histori

cal Society in New York City, holds more than 60,000 documents

detailing the political and social history of the United States. For

information on the collection and the educational programs and

publications of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, check us out online at <http://www.gilderlehrman.org/>, call 646

366-9666, or write to 19 W. 44th St., Ste. 500, New York, NY10036.

OAH Magazine of History July 2004 49

Using This Document in the Classroom

Goal

The goal of this lesson plan is for students to add to their

knowledge of Hamilton's accomplishments by learning more

about Hamilton the man.

Procedure

The teacher will begin the lesson by drawing a Semantic Map on

the board in which students are asked to list reasons why Hamilton is remembered today, using categories such as Politi

cal, Military, Economic, and Author. The teacher will then add

another category entitled Personal and ask students for infor

mation regarding Hamilton's personal life. The teacher will

then distribute the letter and direct students to find sentences that illustrate Hamilton's feelings toward Elizabeth Schuyler.

Based on this, students will add information to the Personal

category. There are many recent biographies of Alexander

Hamilton that teachers can consult for more information, in

cluding Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton (2004) and Richard Brookhiser's Alexander Hamilton, American (1999).

Conclusion

Students will share information and discuss the ways the ten

derness expressed in Hamilton's letter exemplifies seemingly timeless representations of love and passion. Teachers should

ask students about the ways in which this love letter provides

insights into the private life of a man held up to be a genius and hero. How might similar personal letters written by other major historical figures enhance our understanding of their lives?

Transcription of a letter from Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, October 6,1780_

I have told you, and I told you truly that I love you too much. You engross my thoughts too intirely to allow me to think of any thing else.

You not only employ my mind all day; but you intrude upon my sleep. I meet you in every dream?and when I wake I cannot close my eyes again for ruminating on your sweetnesses. 'Tis a pretty story indeed that I am to be thus monopolized, by a little nut-brown maid like you?and from

a statesman and a soldier metamorphosed into a puny lover. I believe in my soul you are an inchantress; but I have tried in vain, if not to break,

at least, to weaken the charms?you maintain your empire in spite of all my efforts?and after every new one, I make to withdraw myself from

my allegiance my partial heart still returns and clings to you with increased attachment.

To drop figure my lovely girl you become dearer to me every moment. I am more and more unhappy and impatient under the hard necessity that keeps me from you, and yet the prospect lengthens as I advance. Harrison has just received an account of the death of his father and will

be obliged to go to Virginia. Meade's affairs (as well as his love) compel him to go there also in a little time. There will then remain too few in the family to make it possible for me to leave it 'till Harrisons return?but I have told him that I will not be delayed beyond November. I had

hoped the middle would have given us to each other; but I now fear it will be the latter end. Though the period of our reunion in reality approaches it seems further off. Among other causes of uneasiness, I dread lest you should imagine, I yield too easily to the barrs, that keep us asunder;

but if you have such an idea you ought to banish it and reproach yourself with injustice. A spirit entering into bliss, heaven opening upon all its faculties, cannot long more ardently for the enjoyment, than I do my darling Betsey, to taste the heaven that awaits me in your bosom. Is my

language too strong? it is a feeble picture of my feeling:?no words can tell you how much I love and how much I long ?

you will only know

it when wrapt in each others arms we give and take those delicious caresses which love inspires and marriage sanctifies.

Indeed my Dear Betsey you do not write to me often enough. I ought at least to hear from you by every post and your last letter is as old as

the middle of Sept. I have written you twice since my return from Hartford.

You will laugh at me for consulting you about such a trifle; but I want to know, whether you would prefer my receiving the nuptial benediction

in my uniform or in a different habit. It will be just as you please; so consult your whim and what you think most consistent with propriety. If you mean to follow our plan of being secretly married, the scruple ought to appear intirely your own and you should begin to give

hints of it.

Tell my peggy I will shortly open a correspondence with her. I am composing a piece, of which, from the opinion I have of her qualifications, I shall endeavour to prevail upon her to act the principal character. The title is "the way to get him, for the benefit of all single ladies who desire to be married." You will ask her, if she has any objection to taking a part in this piece; and tell her that, if I am not much mistaken in her, I am

sure she will have none. For your own part, your business now is to study "the way to keep him"?which is said to be much the most difficult

task of the two; though in your case I verily believe it will be an easy one, and that to succeed effectually you will only have to wish it sincerely.

May I only be as successful in pleasing you, and may you be as happy as I shall ever wish to make you!

A. Hamilton

October 6th. 80

I promised you a particular account of Andre, I am writing one of the whole affair of which I will send you a copy?.

50 OAH Magazine of History July 2004

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Alexander Hamilton, oil painting by John Trumbull (1792).

OAH Magazine of History July 2004 51

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1-' Portrait of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (Image Donated by Corbis-Bettmann.)

52 OAH Magazine of History July 2004