![]() As quoted in John Chester Miller’s Alexander Hamilton and the Growth of the New Nation (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2003), 64. The American Portrait Gallery (New York, 1855), p. Untitled plate containing five separate portraits, in Godey’s Lady’s Book 45 (August, 1852), frontispiece.Ībner D. ![]() The American biographical sketch book (New York, 1848), plate opposite p. She worked first in the New York Orphan Asylum Society and later founded orphanages in New York City and Washington, D.C., where she would die at the age of 97. Instead of shrinking into obscurity in the latter half of her life, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton worked in several charitable organizations to help orphans and the homeless. However, her misfortunes did not keep her out of the public eye. She later was able to buy it back with inheritance money that she received, but she lived in a relative poverty during her fifty years of widowhood. Over the course of her marriage, Elizabeth often helped her husband with his work, “counsel him in his affairs and his papers in order for him.” With her husband’s untimely death by duel, which left her to pay his large debts (he had stretched himself thin buying on credit), Elizabeth was forced to sell the Grange. As the wife of one of the nation’s most prominent founding fathers and confidante to the First Lady, Elizabeth Hamilton became a familiar face in both New York and Philadelphia society. Elizabeth (sometimes called “Eliza” or “Betsy”) was, according to Rufus Griswold, one of Martha Washington’s closest friends. Hamilton’s friendship with Washington was bolstered by that of their wives. They raised eight children, and built the Grange, their country house in upper Manhattan, in 1802. During Hamilton’s multifaceted career (he was, among other things, a congressman, secretary of the treasury, a lawyer, and co-author of the Federalist Papers), he and Elizabeth resided primarily in New York City and Philadelphia. Hamilton had served as George Washington’s primary aide during the American Revolution, and he became one of the most important members of the new nation after its founding. Her vivacity, intelligence, and amiability, had rendered her a universal favorite in the polished circles of Albany, at that time one of the most select and cultivated towns in the country.” According to Hamilton’s biographer, writing in 1858, “The bride was beautiful, accomplished, talented, and well-born. Livingston informed me that I was not mistaken in my Conjecture that she was the finest tempered Girl in the World.Īlexander Hamilton (1755-1804) met Elizabeth Schuyler soon thereafter, and the two were wed in December of 1780. A Brunette with the most good natured lively dark eyes that I ever saw, which threw a beam of good temper and benevolence over her whole Countenance. I was prepossessed in favor of the young Lady the moment I saw her. In 1779, Tench Tilghman, met Elizabeth Schuyler and wrote the following description of her: The Schuylers were one of the nation’s wealthiest families, and Elizabeth and her siblings grew up accustomed to finery and elite company. While Hamilton may primarily be about her husband Alexander, the show ends with Eliza Hamilton finally deciding to tell her story.Born in Albany, New York, the daughter of General Philip Schuyler and his wife Catherine Van Rensselaer, Elizabeth Schuyler was raised in Albany’s most elegant mansion. This may also allude to the fact that she did save some of Hamilton’s love letters, so she did not completely remove herself or their relationship from history’s eyes. In response to the question "Who tells your story?" Eliza responds by burning the letters and claiming that she doesn't want to tell her story.īy Hamilton's ending number, Eliza does put herself back in the narrative by detailing how she worked to defend Alexander Hamilton’s political contributions and writings as well put forth as her own philanthropic contributions to the United States of America. ![]() Eliza refutes Alexander Hamilton’s obsession with his legacy by erasing herself from the narrative as she sings in “Burn.” She claims that “ the world has no right to my heart, the world has no place in our bed.” The song claims she feels betrayed that Hamilton would publicize their marriage to protect his legacy rather than work it out with her in private to protect their pride. ![]() He would rather live with the shame of infidelity than be accused of conspiring against the government he helped create. The meaning behind Eliza burning the letters in Hamilton is reflective of the show’s central theme, which is stated in the song: “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?” Throughout Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton is obsessed with how history remembers him, which is why he ruins his life to clear his name.
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