Obscurity. Which seems strange knowing his name is on the marquis of the broadway show. I thought he was far and away the most dramatic story of the founding fathers. He was the only one not born in the original 13 colonies, the story of a penniless, orphaned, immigrant kid who comes out of nowhere and sets the world on fire and his achievements were monumental. Charlie before his achievements he came out of nowhere, where is nowhere . He spent his adolescence on st. Croix and he had this ghastly, dickensian childhood. His father left at 11, his mother died when he was 13 and he was farmed out to a first cousin who committed suicide a year later and he was working as an impoverished clerk in st. Croix when the hurricane hit the island. He published a description of it in the local paper that was brilliant. They realized they had a prodigy among the pentagon the collection to go to north america. He came to north america and did not know a soul. He came with a few letters of introduction. Charlie he was very smart . Alexander hamilton was one who radiated genius. It became clear he was one of the most remarkable people you are ever met. So he came to north america and goes to a Preparatory School in new jersey and ends up going to Kings College and he immediately acquires a whole series of powerful patrons. People seemed to instantly recognize the genus in this young man. He had tremendous energy, charm and ambition and immediately begins to soar in this new world but he did not know a soul when he came here. Charlie who did he meet . He met Wade Livingston and when the revolution broke down, alexander mcdougall. These generals immediately try to recruit hamilton to their staff, but hamilton knew that postwar glory would not go to the who had written the most beautiful letters during the war but the person who was a battlefield hero. When washington asked him to be aid de camp, that was an offer he couldnt turn down. Charlie he knew that that could give him battlefield command . Hime knew it could give respect, but hamilton was chafing during the revolutionary war because he would like his own command. Charlie washington needed him . Washington needed someone more to write letters than fight battles. Washington had 14 political masters, he had to answer to the Continental Congress, but also to 13 state governors so he had immense correspondence. Hamilton was completely fluent in french, and he was not only handling the correspondence and in english but also french. Charlie as a biographer he is easy to write about because he wrote so much . He wrote so much and because Alexander Hamilton was a human word machine. He never lived to see the age of 50 but he left behind a 32 volume of books. His editor at Columbia University press shows he wanted to dedicate the volume to aronnberg a burg. Charlie he did not write about his youth . No, this is interesting because he was probably the most verbal person in our history and wrote at length about everything under the sun but he never wrote a single line about his years in the caribbean which constituted the first third of his life. He really tried to slam the door shut on this dickensian childhood and to recreate himself in a new light. But you pay a price when you try do that, try to bury all of this unpleasant stuff from the past. Charlie what price did he pay . I think that for all of his brilliance, he often had terrible judgment. He made some brilliant blunders in his life particularly entering into this completely misguided affair with Mariah Reynolds. He metsummer of 1791 this alluring, 23yearold woman named Mariah Reynolds who spilled out this pathetic story how she had been abandoned by her husband who had taken up with another woman and asked hamilton for money. Hamilton said he would bring money to her that night and i would like to read to you from the pamphlet he later wrote about it what happened. He said in the evening, i put a bank bill my pocket, and inquired for mrs. Reynolds and was shown upstairs. She met me and conducted me into a bedroom. I took the bill from my pocket and gave it to her. Some conversation ensued that was quickly apparent other consolation would be acceptable. They had away with words in the 18th century. That was the start of the infamous reynolds scandal. Not long after, his wife took the children to albany to stay in the schuyler mansion and hamilton started bringing Ryan Reynolds into the house. Mariah reynolds into the house. Philadelphia the town of only 35,000 to 40,000 people. Hamilton was the treasury secretary, the most powerful man in america, and in this little town he was going back and forth between his house and her rooming house, and he was having this affair. It was extraordinarily reckless. Charlie why was he so reckless . I think there had to have been an element of sexual compulsion. Very quickly, who appears other than James Reynolds but far from ending the affair with his wife he starts to blackmail hamilton. And hamilton pays. This goes on for years until he could finally wean himself from relationship. Gradually word got out among the jeffersonians what was going on. They misunderstood it at first because they became aware that hamilton was making payments to mr. James reynolds. They were convinced that hamilton was corrupt, which he was not so they said, he is paying money to James Reynolds who is secretly speculating in treasury securities. Inside information from tunnelton that hamilton, which is why he created this 95 page pamphlet and said, the charge against me is in connection with one James Reynolds for improper speculation. My real crime is an amorous connection with his wife for considerable time with his knowledge. Hamilton must have expected that as soon as James Reynolds appeared and started to blackmail him that he was risking his marriage and his career and everything. The affair was not revealed in the press until five years after the fact. Charlie he knew what he was dealing with. A woman who was a prostitute. A prostitute who must have been extraordinarily alluring. Hamilton made the statement, the variety of shapes this woman could assume apparently she was quite an actress and every time he talked about ending the relationship she would fly into hysterics. Hamilton does say in the reynolds pamphlet that he thought her affection for him to have been genuine, at least one part of her. Charlie so he thought she had become genuinely attracted to him and was not just pecuniary. He admitted this appeal to his vanity so he deceived himself that there might be some love involved and at one point he said that he decided on a gradual discontinuance of the affair. As we all know, anyone who has an addiction, that this becomes a cover story for further indulgence. Charlie was this the only affair of his life . The only one we are certain of. There was a lot of speculation that hamilton may have had an affair with his sisterinlaw angelica skyler who was extremely beautiful, elegant, and sophisticated but we dont have any definite proof and i am somewhat doubtful of it simply because angelico was extremely close with his sister eliza. The entire skyler family adored Alexander Hamilton. If they felt he was having an affair with elizas sister, they would not have. Charlie this is a pamphlet of some 900 pages. Is this a way that people communicated . This is a highly verbal era. If you were a politician you were expected to write essays and pamphlets were almost the preferred form of political warfare. Hamilton would have felt very comfortable publishing this in a pamphlet forum. This was a literate generation of politicians. Charlie its his observations on certain documents contained in the history of the united 1796, inr the year which the charge of speculation against Alexander Hamilton, late secretary to treasury is fully reputed, written by himself. 1797. You know why he put that, written by himself, because most of the writing he did in the press was anonymous. This was a novelty, and i think he knew the impact that would have. He was not hiding behind a roman pseudonym, he was saying i can Alexander Hamilton, am publishing the statement. It added power. Charlie he had an interesting statement in the island because he saw slavery firsthand. Every year they would import 200300 slaves from west africa and slavery was particularly brutal in the caribbean. When slaves arrived on the sugar islands, the Life Expectancy was only three to five years. It turned hamilton into an abolitionist during the revolutionary war. He championed a plan to free any slaves willing to pick up a musket for the continental cause, than after the war he joined the Abolitionist Society in new york and it all goes back to that experience. Charlie but he saw the pirates hanged in the town square . Absolutely. And he saw what happened to slaves that ran away, he would see their hands cut off. It was a terrible experience. Charlie he wrote his way off the island . Absolutely. He wrote his way off the island through this brilliant letter that he published about the hurricane and then he came to north America Armed with a few letters of introduction to powerful people. Hamilton was so impressive. He sparkled in person. He was verbal, charming, he sparkled in print. He was like a Mount Vesuvius of words. He was spouting words all the time. Charlie smart words. Observations on everything. Opinions on everything. He came to north america. He did not have a title, he did not have slaves and had no claim to fame. The one thing he had was this topnotch brain. He had this magical facility with language that he used at every point in his life. Charlie he appreciated the power that he had, the confidence that he had, the brain that he had, the presence that he had, and it gave him confidence, even to the point of taking risks . He had an almost overweening confidence and sometimes took dangerous gambles as was the case with the affair of Mariah Reynolds, but i think this entire life of these monumental achievements was all built on a very fragile psychological base that there was an underlying insecurity about him. He had had such an abnormal childhood. He was also illegitimate. One cannot overstate what the stigma was in the 18th century to being illegitimate. And whenever anyone accused hamilton of being illegitimate, he went berserk. In spite of this great show of confidence, under the surface i think he was a troubled and insecure individual. Charlie you mentioned George Washington, but also aaron buur became a part of his life and Thomas Jefferson as well. Because almost eerie aaron burr and hamilton had these parallel lives. Burr was probably the first friend that hamilton made. Aaron burr tried to get a job in washingtons staff but didnt. Hamilton did. Future. At previewed the they both worked on wall street after the war as lawyers. Charlie same firm . No. There were several cases they worked and argued opposing each other, but they were considered the two bright Young Lawyers in new york. Charlie different in many ways. Hamilton was constantly spouting opinions. He was very principled in politics and policy. Aaron burr was someone who played things close to the vest. He was reluctant to commit to any opinion. He was afraid if he went on record with an opinion that someone would come after him. Charlie sounds like modernday politicians. Very much like modernday politicians. Hamilton was very outspoken and fearless, and burr was extremely discreet. Charlie hamilton sounds like donald trump. [laughter] that is interesting, because hamiltons enemies thought he was this machiavellian character, but when writing the book i thought the opposite. He could never keep his mouth shut he could never keep his , opinions to himself. His life and his thoughts were really an open book. Charlie they could see everything about him. Also what he believed in, he believed these things very deeply and was willing to fight for those things. Charlie did he admire Thomas Jefferson . That is a hard one to say. Certainly he admired jefferson as a political philosopher and thinker. Charlie powerful mind. As the main author of the declaration of independence. Charlie a writer as well. Talent with a pen, great mind. Interested in the world around them. There was Mutual Respect but , they instantly clashed. Jefferson was a very courtly, softspoken virginian. Jefferson did not like confrontation. Hamilton loved confrontation. Hammond had a real hamilton had a zest for political combat with Thomas Jefferson, if you said something that disagreed with his politics, he wouldnt challenge you on it, he would just make a mental note, record it in his diary and get back at you later. Alexander hamilton would immediately confront you. He loved to debate. I think the split between jefferson and hamilton really is on the one hand a political split, a debate we are still having. Jefferson represented weak central government, low taxes, states rights, strict interpretation of the constitution. Hamilton represented strong government and liberal interpretation of the constitution. Charlie and a bit of urban, rural as well. Absolutely. Jefferson foresaw an american that would have traditional agriculture. Hamilton foresaw the country that would have traditional agriculture, but banks, corporations, stock markets, manufacturing a country that looks very much like the country we have today. It was hamilton who was the prophet of americas future rather than jefferson when it came to the economy. Charlie what was washingtons observation of both of them . Washington really saw very quickly that they had opposing views. Washington did not want to have monolithic ideas in his cabinet. He actually favored the interplay of ideas. He had extraordinary admiration for jefferson and hamilton. Charlie thought they were both necessary. Thought they were both necessary and was slow to realize just how deep and bitter the animosity between them came. He was quite startled when he realized. It became almost pathological, the infighting between these two men. He appealed to both men to be civilized in the way they are treating each other, but by that point things had gone beyond. Charlie a snapshot of age. We are talking about people who are, at what age . Washington . Washington was a good 20 years older than hamilton. Jefferson was 12 years older than hamilton. Charlie he was very young. Hamilton was the boy wonder of the american revolution. He was 22 when he became washingtons aide de camp and effectively chief of staff. He was only 34 years old when he became the treasury secretary. And hamiltons Treasury Department with his customs inspectors and revenue departments was much larger than the rest of the government combined. Henry knox started the War Department with a dozen people. Jefferson started the state department with half a dozen people. Hamilton started with hundreds of people. The country was bankrupt and we had to collect revenues. That is why hamilton was more like the Prime Minister than merely a treasury secretary. Charlie was his ambition to be president . I think his ambition was certainly to be president. A lot of people imagine because he was foreignborn that he could not be, but the constitution says you have to be 35 years old, nativeborn, or a citizen of the United States for at least 14 years at the time of the ratification of the constitution. Hamilton, coincidental or not, had been here for 15 years. He could have been president. It was the one prize he did not get. Charlie do you believe these men thought of themselves as immortal . That they thought and understood that they were historic characters . I think absolutely they did. It was very interesting because i wrote a biography of George Washington and washington, when he was complaining to the Continental Congress that he needs more manpower and money, he gets a special appropriation to hire a set of secretaries to create a beautiful addition of his wartime papers. When it is over, at great expense, he buys these large trunks to ship the papers back to mount vernon. He did not let them travel by water. He knew his place in history. They were very aware that they were making history. Charlie at the same time, he had some sense that he should give it up after two terms . Washington, when he became president , he thought he would serve for a year or two than resign. Establish the validity of the new government, and then move on both then there was one crisis after another. Charlie does that mean washington did not have the ambition . He was ambitious, but he felt he had already sacrificed so much of his life to the cause. During the 8. 5 years of the revolutionary war he only saw mount vernon once. Charlie did everybody know about hamiltons affair . Gradually the word got out. It was known in jeffersonian circles, but the risks hamilton took were extraordinary. It happened in philadelphia. The population at the time was 35,000 people. Hamilton was slipping out in the night, going to block or two away to mrs. Reynolds boardinghouse. Very often, the wife and children were at the schuyler mansion, he often brought mrs. Reynolds into his own house. How could he imagine that he would not escape detection . Its not like he was in new york or philadelphia today with millions of people. Charlie you said, it is amazing he would not have been more careful, knowing the enemies he had, and the tenor of the time he lived in where people would eviscerate you if they had an opportunity. We tend to think that the press is rough today, that the style is rough and tumble. Nowhere near where it was then. The reynolds affair was revealed by a jeffersonian hitman in 1797. Five years later when he wanted to get a postmaster job from jefferson, and jefferson rebuffed him, he turned around and revealed jeffersons relationship with sally hemmings. Everything was fair game in those days. There is a certain image that americans have that there was a golden age, the people wore