All the appearances of violent attachment, and of agonizing distress at the idea of a relinquishment, were played with a most imposing art. Reynolds … continued,” he wrote, “and though various reflections … induced me to wish a cessation of it yet, her conduct made it extremely difficult to disentangle myself. This time Reynolds came to Hamilton’s office to apply (unsuccessfully) for a clerkship in the Treasury Department. During this time he also saw James Reynolds, whom he had already met regarding information Reynolds had about misconduct in the Treasury-misconduct that Hamilton found to be of minor importance. Despite these activities, he found time to meet frequently with Maria Reynolds, generally receiving her in his house at 79 South Third Street, his wife, Elizabeth, having taken the children on a visit to her father in Albany. ![]() And he was preparing his Report on Manufactures, the fourth of the five great Treasury papers that, enacted into law against the bitter opposition of Jefferson’s party, replaced a near-worthless currency, funded a staggering debt of approximately $75 million, restored public credit at home and abroad, created a national banking system, and laid the groundwork for an industrial economy and a powerful centralized government. He was working to drive Thomas Jefferson (an “intriguing incendiary”) out of the Cabinet and was attacking his followers-“the Jacobins”-in scathing articles under various pseudonyms. He was starting up the Bank of the United States. He was administering the Treasury Department and the Customs. Hamilton was extraordinarily busy in the summer and fall of 1791, in the early years of Washington’s first term. Some conversation ensued, from which it was quickly apparent that other than pecuniary consolation would be acceptable.” In short, he rather promptly got into bed with Maria Reynolds. I took the bill out of my pocket and gave it to her. Reynolds,” Hamilton said of his visit to the rooming house, “and was shown up stairs, at the head of which she met me and conducted me into a bedroom. And in 1972 it was revived, reinterpreted, and put to use once again in the old conflict between two irreconcilables: those who worship Thomas Jefferson and those who revere Alexander Hamilton. It produced an important issue in the death struggle between the Federalists and the Antifederalists. It led to a quarrel and a near duel involving three of the country’s leading statesmen. It became the classic story in America of adultery followed by blackmail. That evening he put a thirty-dollar bank note in his pocket, called at the rooming-house address given him, and so started a chain of events that caused a political scandal of stunning proportions. Could he bring or send some money to her at her place of residence? Unfortunately, it was not “convenient” at the moment to provide any assistance. In the original draft of a pamphlet he later wrote on the incident, Hamilton called her “Beauty in distress” and “a pretty woman,” but he did not use the phrases in the published work.Īs she finished her story Hamilton replied that her situation was very interesting and that he was “disposed” to help her. ![]() An acquaintance of Hamilton said that “her innocent Countenance appeared to show an innocent Heart.” Several persons observed that she had a highly emotional temperament and was much given to weeping. ![]() Physical descriptions of Maria Reynolds are sparse. Would Colonel Hamilton assist a woman in despair? She was in so destitute a condition that she had not the means to return to her friends in New York. Her husband, she said, had for a long time treated her very cruelly and now had left her and their young daughter for another woman. He led her into a room apart from the rest of the house, where she introduced herself as Maria Lewis Reynolds of New York -Mrs. ![]() According to Alexander Hamilton, he was with his family in Philadelphia on a certain summer day in 1791 when a young woman called at the door and asked to speak with him in private.
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