I’ve actually thought about this a lot and my leaning is toward the second.
John was characteristically more blunt about things when he was sure of what he was saying. His actions on the battlefield, his statements during Lee’s court-martial, his behavior as a minister in France and his persistence on the black battalion- pretty much everything he does during the revolution is very straightforward, especially when his feelings or his resolve are called into question.
John also wrote considerably less in quantity than Alex did- which Alexander complained about (though he did that with everyone). But, Alex never implied that John’s letters failed to convey his feelings, and besides feeling neglected in quantity, Alex- characteristically a guarded person who did not trust (much less love) easily, was satisfied with the message John got across.Alex was comparatively self-preserving. Even when he extended vulnerability as he did with Kitty Livingston, he was logical about the timing and his objectives. In accounts from his friends, describing him before he met Laurens, he never comes across as vain-glorious or belligerent (wouldn’t help him to be). Laurens comes across as the louder personality in that regard, and could afford to be. Hamilton was, by necessity, more diplomatic.
Alex was also very talented with conveying meaning with innuendo. It’s one thing to use words well, but another to use them in a way that specific people will understand. This was part of his usefulness to Washington.So, I don’t think it would make sense for John’s letters not to be just as- if not more- overtly affectionate. John wouldn’t have liked to write without feeling, and Alex would have felt worried or insecure if John’s writings came across cold. Even if John wasn’t as talented with words, I’m sure he was using his own bawdy innuendo to get across his own feelings- probably in a characteristically blunt way.
And, keep in mind we’re missing many of their letters- I think it’s telling which ones remain. I think Alex definitely destroyed most of John’s letters and I think John gave him very good reason to.tldr; between the two of them- as far as recklessness goes- Alex might’ve dared to write the April ‘79 letter, but John dared to keep it.
He would probably do a lot worse himself.I also have a post here that discusses some of the problems with directly comparing the volume of letters written by Hamilton or Laurens or comparing the language contained within those surviving letters. We don’t have all the letters that existed between those two, so we shouldn’t assume that lack of evidence is evidence of a lack (of affection, of love, of commitment, etc.). @ciceroprofacto raises a good point in stating that we don’t have many of the letters that Laurens sent to Hamilton – and it certainly seems possible (if not likely) that those lost letters contained some of Laurens’s more sexual or bawdy writings.
Tag: us history
Hi mom I’m intoxicated (I’m Of Legal Age i promise) and i want you to know i love you ajd i hope school and work is going well and i love Alexander Hamilton even though he was a dumbass and Eliza hamtilm was the true hero of the story anyway i love being gay do you have any facts about gay historical figures thanks ily
Omg this made me giggle and smile!!! Eliza is the true hero, I 1000000% agree!!! I have one person I want to tell you about! I’m an expert on her life, but I never get to talk about her. I’ll start out by saying that nobody is certain she was gay, but there is evidence that she was gay or bi….. I’ll tell you the facts and let you decide 😉
(Read Eliza Schuyler Facts Part One) (Read Eliza Schuyler Facts Part Two)
(Read Peggy Schuyler Facts) (Read Cornelia Schuyler Facts)
(Read Lafayette Facts Part One) (Read Lafayette Facts Part Two) (Read Lafayette Facts Part Three)
(Read Lams Facts) (Read Hercules Mulligan Facts)
Deborah Sampson: was she sapphic?
- Deborah Sampson is one of the most badass people to ever live!
- I’m focusing only on her love life here, but this girl seriously survived a lot of turmoil and hardship
- She disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Continental Army in 1782
- She served for 17 months before being found out
- This episode finds us in what is now Westchester County, New York, then known as “neutral ground”
- It was a lawless land, where raiders by both sides terrorized the citizens
- Deborah, and the sick soldier she was caring for, was staying at the home of a man who’d said he was a patriot
- Surprise: he was a loyalist raider!!!
- He treated Deborah and the other soldier horribly
- He stuffed them in the attic and left Deborah to watch her friend die
- But his daughter, Mary Van Tassel, cared about them
- She was sneaky and brought Deborah and the sick soldier food and water
- Sadly the sick soldier died 😦
- Deborah then had to go rejoin her light infantry troops, but first she had to say goodbye to Mary
- According to Deborah and her biographer, Herman Mann, Deborah and Mary were alone in a room at the Van Tassel house, sipping some wine, when they kissed
- Now did Mary know about Deborah??? Probably not…
- But, by kissing her, Deborah clearly felt something for Mary……
- She also asked Mary to help her take down her father but that’s a whole other story
- This isn’t Deborah’s only sapphic encounter
- There’s this pretty unbelievable story that she dated some girl while she was in Philadelphia
- And then there’s the more believable fact that, when she returned to civilian life, she didn’t stop chasing girls
- Deborah returned to her uncle’s property and took on her brother’s name for some time
- Her uncle supposedly reprimanded her for being too “free” with the girls in the village
- Deborah eventually married a man, but the engagement period was super long, and she may have done it because she got pregnant
- It was not a loving marriage
- Here’s the thing: we know about Deborah’s sapphic encounters because she told these stories
- If she didn’t want them to be known, they would have died with her
- Now there is always a chance that these encounters were embellished by her biographer, Herman Mann
- But I believe they are based in truth
- I believe Deborah Sampson liked girls, and that she acted on that feeling while she could
- Either way, she’s badass and amazing and I love her so I hope you enjoyed this!!!
Ternant will relate to you how many violent struggles I have had between duty and inclination_ how much my heart was with you, while I appeared to be most actively employed here_
-John Laurens to Alexander Hamilton, July 14, 1779
sometimes when I think about stories and representation lately
I think about Alexander Hamilton, 23, in camp at Valley Forge, copying down into his paybook between the notes he was taking on economics and politics, those lines from Plutarch on how Spartan soldiers were sometimes lovers too
the depth of history, and circles and circles
“Like Ben Franklin with the key and the kite; You see it right?”
THIS HAS MORE MEANING Some historical background: before Franklin published an article in the Pennsylvania Gazette regarding lightning and electricity’s relation to the key and the kite, lightning had already been proven to be electricity due to an experiment done by a French scientist using a metal rod. In this article Franklin didn’t even say that he performed the experiment, he just explained that it could happen. So Benjamin didn’t even discover electricity, he just wrote an article about it and people accredited the find to him
So where does Hamilton come in? When Angelica met Hamilton, she was already married to her husband, John Church. So while she met Hamilton and is reflecting on the connection forged between her and him, she had already discovered romance elsewhere with Church. Therefore, much like Franklin, the discovery had already been made. When she met Hamilton, it was like the key and the kite. No action was taken by her to advance this discovery of romance with Hamilton, like Franklin, she was simply saying that the connection had been forged, but history remembers it differently.
CONCLUSION: Lin-Manuel Miranda is an actual genius. Chick-boom.
Of all the youthful soldiers of the revolution, there is not one upon whose story the recollections of his contemporaries have more fondly dwelt. His distinguished place in the affections of Washington, and the repeated public honours proffered to him by congress, his numerous and varied services, his address in negotiation, his gallantry in battle, his exalted zeal, and his lofty spirit, elevated him so far above his fellow-soldiers, that at his name every youthful aspiration of ambition was kindled.
But Laurens was not alone a gallant soldier, a distinguished patriot, a skilful diplomatist. To these he added all the endearing and social affections, all the attractions of a noble nature, all the graces of a refined and cultivated intellect, and an address which possessed an irresistable, an endless charm.
Qualities which in other men might have offended by their contrast, in him only served to give richness of character, and create variety of interest. His intrepid spirit was coupled with a self-distrust, a confiding weakness of temper, which awakened in his friends surprise and love. While to others his heart was all kindness and benevolence, he was unjust only to himself; and while the world saw him graced with every virtue, he was still aspiring to some higher excellence, — an ideal perfection, which is denied to our nature, and exists only in the warm conceptions of a mind deeply tinged with romance.
i just saw an ad about how the founding fathers wouldn’t foster safe spaces or trigger warnings and all i can think about is when john adams made it illegal to make fun of him
me: is sad
me: remembers that george washington’s doctor recommended that he take some time and relax for his health so naturally the most relaxing thing he could think of doing was taking alexander hamilton and thomas jefferson fishing with him which went about as well as you’d expect
me: still sad but now i’m laughing through the pain
More Top Moments in Early American History
– James Madison “accidentally” buys prostitutes for foreign ambassadors
– Jefferson eating a tomato like an apple at a dinner and everyone rushing off to find a doctor because Americans thought tomatoes were poisonous
– Washington and Lafayette falling asleep under a tree after Monmouth
– Washington cursing out Charles Lee after his retreat
– James Armistead Lafayette, who was a badass spy during the revolution and gave Lafayette vital information which led to the victory at Yorktown. Lafayette freed him and James was so grateful he took Lafayette’s last name
– Lafayette being given an alligator as a gift and, not knowing what to do with it, regifting it to John Quincy Adams
– the Constitutional Convention going out and getting turnt two days before the signing of the Constitution, and some of the additional charges being a broken chair, cups, and chamber pots
– John Hancock being smol
– Alexander Hamilton’s argument against hanging John Andrè basically being “he’s too pretty”
– Aaron Burr sleeping through Valentine’s Day
– Lafayette naming his ONLY son after George Washington
– Ben Franklin and John Adams once having to share a room with one bed and falling asleep arguing whether or not they should sleep with the window open or closed
– Ben Franklin taking “air baths” which consisted of him sitting naked in a bathtub for hours a day
– Aaron Burr having a knife hidden in the handle of his umbrella, and then LOSING said umbrella
– John Adams’ kid Charles once ran naked across Harvard Yard
– Alexander Hamilton losing his check book and having to write the bank of New York for a new one, while also requesting his account balance which he didn’t know, which he wrote in the check book, which he lost
– Aaron Burr hitting his head on the same pipe twice jfc he’s such a mess
– Thomas Jefferson getting a terrible headache for two days after behaving awkwardly in front of a girl
– John Adams naming his dog Satan
– Alexander Hamilton’s letters to his totally hetero bro™ John Laurens being censored by his descendants
– George Washington running for the House of Burgesses and getting his constituents totally smashed so they would vote for him
Okay who did this