Alexander Hamilton

New York’s Uncertainty Over The Declaration of Independence

July 2, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

At the outset of the emerging American Revolution there was no intent to overthrow the established social order, nor to subvert the government of the British Empire.

Most colonists wanted self-government, self taxation and direct representation within the empire, and professed to stand for their old and recognized rights as men and as Englishmen under the British constitution, which they believed a blind parliament and an obstinate ministry were violating. [Read more…] about New York’s Uncertainty Over The Declaration of Independence

Revolutionary, Military & Political Leader Nicholas Fish Focus of New Exhibit

April 27, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In April 1775, when news of the Battle of Lexington and Concord reached New York, Nicholas Fish, born in Newtown, Long Island, was a 17-year old law student at King’s College (now Columbia University).

Together with his close friend, Alexander Hamilton, and other law colleagues who were members of the Sons of Liberty, Fish without hesitation joined a volunteer militia called the “Corsicans” – later named the “Hearts of Oak.”

The Hearts of Oak carried out one of the early actions of the war in August 1775 when they seized 21 royal cannons from New York’s Battery under fire from the British warship HMS Asia. [Read more…] about Revolutionary, Military & Political Leader Nicholas Fish Focus of New Exhibit

Alexander Hamilton, Industrial Spies & Rogue Nations

February 10, 2026 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

At present, politicians London and Washington are alert to Beijing’s attempts to exploit Anglo-American technology. They are weary of China stealing trade secrets, copying methodologies, or obtaining sensitive business data, whilst Western companies continue to seek admission to the Chinese market.

Over time, Britain and America themselves have been involved in acts of intellectual property theft. In fact, the United States accuses China of similar illicit practices that helped its nascent industry leapfrog that of European rivals and come out as an industrial giant. The means used today may be more sophisticated, but the purpose of gaining a competitive edge remains the same. [Read more…] about Alexander Hamilton, Industrial Spies & Rogue Nations

Angelica Schuyler Church: A Woman at the Center of Revolution

September 25, 2025 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Angelica: For Love and Country in a Time of Revolution (W. W. Norton & Company, 2025) by Molly Beer is a women-centric view of revolution through the life of Angelica Schuyler Church (1756-1814), the eldest daughter of General Philip Schuyler and Catherine Van Rensselaer.

The Van Rensselaers of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck were one of the wealthiest and most politically influential families in what was then the still heavily Dutch-influenced Province of New York. [Read more…] about Angelica Schuyler Church: A Woman at the Center of Revolution

NY’s Sixth Attorney General Josiah Ogden Hoffman

June 10, 2025 by Historical Society of the New York Courts Leave a Comment

Born on April 14, 1766, in Newark, New Jersey, Josiah Ogden Hoffman was destined for a life that intertwined law, politics, and a significant legacy.

After receiving his legal education in his uncle’s law office, Hoffman rose to prominence as a skilled litigator, often crossing paths with notable figures like Alexander Hamilton and steamboat pioneer and one-time Chancellor of New York James Kent. [Read more…] about NY’s Sixth Attorney General Josiah Ogden Hoffman

The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History

October 26, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In March 1791 Treasury Secretary and Federalist Party leader Alexander Hamilton shocked the western frontier when he proposed a domestic excise tax on whiskey to balance America’s national debt.

The law, known colloquially as the “Whiskey Act,” disproportionately penalized farmers in the backcountry, while offering favorable tax incentives designed to protect larger distillers. [Read more…] about The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History

General Horatio Gates in New York City: A Political Legacy

October 8, 2023 by James S. Kaplan 3 Comments

For many years New York City has not been known for its patriotic ceremonies recognizing important Revolutionary War heroes or sites.

Recently this has begun to change, beginning with the rediscovery of the grave of General Horatio Gates, who many consider the second most important American general of the American Revolution. Until about ten years ago his grave located in Trinity Churchyard in Manhattan was completely unmarked.

Gates was the commanding general at the Battle of Saratoga in October of 1777, which most historians agree was the most important battle of the American Revolution and the turning point of the Revolutionary War. He played another important role in early American politics in the city of New York after the war. [Read more…] about General Horatio Gates in New York City: A Political Legacy

A Stroll in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1854

May 22, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

The following text is an except from Fifteen Minutes around New York by George G. Foster (New York: DeWitt & Davenport 1854) and was transcribed by George A. Thompson of the Hudson River Maritime Museum.

It was very warm — a sort of sultry, sticky day, which makes you feel as if you had washed yourself in molasses and water, and had found that the chambermaid had forgotten to give you a towel. The very rust on the hinges of the Park gate has melted and run down into the sockets, making them creak with a sort of ferruginous lubricity, as you feebly push them open. The hands on the [New York] City Hall clock droop, and look as if they would knock off work if they only had sufficient energy to get up a strike. The omnibus horses creep languidly along, and yet can’t stand still when they are pulled up to take in or let out passengers — the flies are so persevering, so bitter, so hungry. [Read more…] about A Stroll in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1854

US, NYS Continues To Honor Slavers, Racists, Traitors and Scoundrels

January 10, 2023 by Alan J. Singer Leave a Comment

In 2023, the United States Military Academy will remove 13 Confederate symbols on its West Point campus. They include a portrait of Robert E. Lee dressed in a Confederate uniform, a stone bust of Lee, who was superintendent of West Point before the Civil War, and a bronze plaque with an image of a hooded figure and the words “Ku Klux Klan.”

Art displayed in the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC, still includes images of 141 enslavers and 13 Confederates who went to war against the country. A study by the Washington Post found that more than one-third of the statues and portraits in the Capitol building honor enslavers or Confederates and at least six more honor possible enslavers where evidence is disputed. [Read more…] about US, NYS Continues To Honor Slavers, Racists, Traitors and Scoundrels

August 23, 1775: The British Bombard the City of New York

August 22, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On the night of August 23, 1775, during what is now remembered as the Raid on the Battery, the HMS Asia, a 64-gun British battleship, bombarded the city of New York’s shoreline with cannonballs and grapeshot.

The melee was started by Captain John Lamb’s company of Patriots, who attempted to steal British cannons from The Battery, at the tip of Manhattan Island. [Read more…] about August 23, 1775: The British Bombard the City of New York

Scandalous Hamiltons: A Gilded Age Grift

August 17, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The new book The Scandalous Hamiltons: A Gilded Age Grifter, a Founding Fathers Disgraced Descendant, and a Trial at the Dawn of Tabloid Journalism (Citadel Press, 2022) by Bill Shaffer takes a look one of the greatest scandals of the Gilded Age, and the story that helped give rise to the sensational tabloid journalism still driving so much of the news cycle in the 21st century. [Read more…] about Scandalous Hamiltons: A Gilded Age Grift

The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton

August 10, 2022 by Dr. Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Andrew Porwancher, the Wick Cary Associate Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma and the Ernest May Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, joins Liz Covart to investigate the Jewish world and upbringing of Alexander Hamilton using details from his book, The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton (Princeton, 2021). [Read more…] about The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton

The Sewing Girl’s Tale: The 1793 Rape of Lanah Sawyer

July 8, 2022 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

This week on The Historians Podcast, John Sweet is author of The Sewing Girl’s Tale, the story of the first published rape trial in American history. In 1793, Lanah Sawyer, a 17-year-old seamstress, charged she had been raped. The defendant was “a very great rake,” the scion of two wealthy Dutch families who lied about his identity and took her to a brothel and sexually assaulted her. Alexander Hamilton was among the many well-connected lawyers who represented the defendant in various aspects of the case.

Sweet researched Sawyer’s decision to charge Henry Bedlow with rape, leading to a raw courtroom drama in the city of New York, riots in the streets, and public debate over class privilege and double standards. [Read more…] about The Sewing Girl’s Tale: The 1793 Rape of Lanah Sawyer

Wall Street History: The Politics of New York’s First Banks

January 10, 2022 by James S. Kaplan 1 Comment

Prior to the American Revolution, there were virtually no banks in the United States. However, Alexander Hamilton, who was George Washington’s key advisor on financial matters, was familiar with the central banks of England and the Netherlands which had been key factors in the growth of the economy of those countries.

Unlike some agrarian Virginian politicians such as Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton believed that banking and credit was the key to the nation’s future. In 1781 he encouraged Robert Morris, the recently appointed Superintendent of Finance for the Continental government, to form the Bank of North America in Philadelphia. For a time up, until the British surrender of New York, this was the only Bank in the colonies. [Read more…] about Wall Street History: The Politics of New York’s First Banks

Trump Impeachment Recalls Aaron Burr’s Treason

February 23, 2021 by James S. Kaplan 6 Comments

Donald Trump’s recent impeachment trial in which the President was accused of incitement of insurrection against the United States recalls to mind a case from more than 200 years ago.

In that case another New York politician, former Vice President Aaron Burr, whose personality was arguably not dissimilar from Donald Trump, was tried and acquitted of treason in 1807. [Read more…] about Trump Impeachment Recalls Aaron Burr’s Treason

Reconsidering the Legacy of Alexander Hamilton

November 10, 2020 by Alan J. Singer 6 Comments

A new study by Jessie Serfilippi, a historical interpreter at the Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site in Albany, New York, details Alexander Hamilton’s “Hidden History as an Enslaver.”

Philip Schuyler was the father of Eliza Hamilton, Hamilton’s wife, and one of the largest slaveholders in New York State when the new nation was founded. [Read more…] about Reconsidering the Legacy of Alexander Hamilton

The Hamilton Musical And History’s Unsung

July 8, 2020 by Suzanne Clary 5 Comments

Like millions this past 4th of July weekend, my family tuned in to Disney’s streaming of Lin Manuel-Miranda’s epic Hamilton.

The performances indeed blew us all away. Our toes tapped under our tray tables to Daveed Diggs’ electric portrayal of Thomas Jefferson and “What Did I Miss?” Our hearts pained over Phillipa Soo’s gorgeously rendered entreaties “Look Around” and “That Would Be Enough.” [Read more…] about The Hamilton Musical And History’s Unsung

New Historical Novel: Hamilton’s Choice by Jack Casey

May 5, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Since graduating from Yale Jack Casey has followed his love of American history to write historical novels with strong political themes.

In his new novel Hamilton’s Choice (Kindle Direct Publishing, 2020), author he offers a new answer to the 215-year-old question about why Alexander Hamilton met Aaron Burr in his fatal duel. [Read more…] about New Historical Novel: Hamilton’s Choice by Jack Casey

Hamilton Descendant Lends Objects to Schuyler Sisters Exhibition

November 3, 2019 by Editorial Staff 3 Comments

Douglas Hamilton, a fifth great-grandson of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, has lent objects to be shown in The Schuyler Sisters & Their Circle exhibition at the Albany Institute of History & Art.

The objects, recently on view at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia as part of their “Year of Hamilton” display, include a Society of the Cincinnati Eagle insignia owned by Alexander Hamilton and a gold mourning ring belonging to Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton. [Read more…] about Hamilton Descendant Lends Objects to Schuyler Sisters Exhibition

Alexander Hamilton’s Birth, Wedding, and Newburgh Conspiracy

July 14, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Fort Plain Museum is set to welcome back Hamilton Historian Michael E. Newton on Wednesday, July 17, to discuss three of the most interesting topics from his new book Discovering Hamilton (Eleftheria Publishing, 2019).

Based on newly discovered legal testimonies from St. Croix, Newton presents new evidence and conclusions regarding Alexander Hamilton’s birthdate, places of residence, religion, parents, and more. He will also scrutinize a well-known “fact” regarding Hamilton’s wedding to Elizabeth Schuyler (which took place at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany) and will reexamine Hamilton’s involvement in the Newburgh Conspiracy. [Read more…] about Alexander Hamilton’s Birth, Wedding, and Newburgh Conspiracy

Alexander Hamilton

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