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yr-obedt-cicero · 1 year

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Did James and A Junior not get along? What's their whole deal?

There seems to have been strain between the two, heavily on James's side. There aren't many signs of the two starting this sort of rivalry in childhood, but when you consider the way the children were usually grouped into two or three kids when traveling or attending school, and with James and Alexander not being too far from each other in age; it is likely constantly being shoved together may have started some bitter feelings—In 1795 when the family moved back to New York, the boys enrolled in Bishop Moore's school for boys on Staten Island, [x] and later Alexander was then likely transferred to Tod's school in New Utrecht with James, during 1800. [x]

But the only moment one can actually definitely pinpoint when their clashing started was - according to James - when their grandfather, Philip Schuyler, died in the November of 1804. And James claimed to have had to help his mother with their finances by himself since Alexander was “was away from home attending to his commercial affairs”;

It was my good fortune to have almost the entire care and management of [Elizabeth Hamilton's] affairs. The elder son, Alexander, was away from home attending to his commercial affairs. I remained at the Grange with her as long as she remained there, attending to the cultivation and household, and after her father’s death I became useful in collecting her rents and selling such parts of her property as her needs required.

Source — Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton

James was a bit young at the time, only being 16 years old and hadn't even graduated yet. General Schuyler's death was also salt in the wound for the family that was still grieving the death of Hamilton, so it must have been a large amount of responsibility and heartache for James to take up at such a young age. James doesn't describe much as to where Alex was, or what he was doing; but he was likely taking on his lessons and jobs, as he had graduated near Hamilton's death, and letters to and from Eliza showcase his eagerness to leave the nest, and even small implications of misbehavior (Check out @theelizapapers for more information). Eliza evidently being saddened by this as she was finding it hard to let her children go so soon after Hamilton's death. Which may have also played a part in James's resentment towards Alexander for repeatedly only caring about himself when Eliza was in a depressed state of grieving.

James claims Alexander was busy with commerical affairs, which might have been his work in a commercial house—as just a few months prior in August, King mentions to Clarkson; “Mrs. Hamilton having written to Mr. Cabot to endeavour to procure for Alexander a situation in a respectable commercial house, Mr. Higginson has readily consented to take him; and until a suitable family can be found to take Alexander as a boarder, Mr. Higginson will receive him into his own family.” [x]

In fact, James seems to bash Alexander a little more in his memoirs with a petty undertone as these certain details come up unnecessarily;

I was moved to go on this expedition, first, because I felt it was my duty to show a readiness to risk something in support of law and order; second, because I wished to give this public demonstration that I did not concur in the views entertained on this subject by my brother Alexander, who was one of the Vice-Presidents of the Park meeting, and lastly, because I desired to be in a fight to know how men do and how I myself would behave on such an occasion.

Source — Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton

The brothers seemed to have contrasting political opinions that likely fueled their resentment, James was a loyal Jacksonian with a close partnership with Andrew Jackson, and Alexander was a Calhounite who supported and corresponded with John C. Calhoun (Way to disappoint your father, guys). When James was assisting Jackson and Van Buren with work on a speech that preached to get rid of the Bank of the United States, it appears Alexander sent a letter to Biddle warning him that the permanency of the Bank was in danger, who unfortunately, didn't believe him at first;

However, a week later, Nicholas Biddle was warned by Alexander Hamilton, jr., 27 November 1829, that the President would speak against the Bank in his message: “I have long had an anxious solicitude for the permanency of the Bank of the United States,” he wrote, “and it is consequently a source of deep regret that I understood the renewal of its charter is to be unfavourably noticed in the President's message.” Mr Biddle refused to believe the warning. He replied the next day: “The rumor to which you allude,” he said, “I have not heard from any other quarter, and I believe it is entirely without foundation. My reason for thinking so is that during a recent visit to Washington from which I returned on Thursday last, I had much conversation of a very full and frank character with the President about the Bank, in all which he never intimated any such purpose. On the contrary he spoke in terms the most kind and gratifying towards the institution—expressed his thanks for the services it had rendered the Government since his connection with it, and I look to the message with expectations of the most satisfactory kind.”

[...]

Alexander Hamilton, jr., was a supporter of John C. Calhoun—his brother James A. Hamilton, a supporter of Andrew Jackson. But it is a reasonable conjecture that the first brother got from the second the news of which he warned Nicholas Biddle.

[...]

James A. Hamilton says that he was called on to help President Jackson with this message and that in the draft already written the Bank “was attacked at great length in a loose, newspaper, slashing style.” He says he advised that the subject be omitted, but the President declared himself to be “pledged against the Bank.” He says the President told him a little later that in attacking the Bank he disliked to act contrary to the opinion of a majority of his Cabinet but could not shirk his duty. At the same time, Hamilton says he was asked to work out the details of Jackson's “proposed National Bank,” which was to be “attached” to the Treasury and to have the “Customhouse a branch.”

Source — Banks and Politics in America: From the Revolution to the Civil War, by Bray Hammond · 1991

Additionally, according to The Hamiltonian Tradition in the United States, 1804-1912, when James was writing in the newspaper advocating for the use of black regiments against the Confederacy, Alexander offered to volunteer and lead one. Although he was like 77 years old, so of course it didn't actually happen. [x]

In Alexander's defense, he was not as deadbeat as James usually claims him to be. In 1833, Alexander used the funds from the sale of The Grange and purchased a townhouse, and between 1833-1842, he and his wife, Eliza P. Knox, lived with his mother, his sister, Eliza Hamilton Holly, and her husband, Sidney Augustus Holly, in New York City, at 4 St. Mark's Place.

But there did seem to be reappearing family disputes between the two, as in the November of 1859, Holly had died a month earlier, and the surviving brothers (Alex, James, John, Phil II) and their respective families were trying to reach a satisfactory conclusion on how to deal with her will. James was angered by Alexander's and his wife's demands, and Phil seemed to have taken the place as a peace maker;

I hope you have taken measures to prove the will without delay the parton [illegible] by going an address [illegible] will render delay unnecessary. I hope you will sell all the furniture at Auction & Press after distributing the articles bequeathed then, the work is done except so far as refers to your payment to Alex & wife during their Les Interest on $7000 as to that if he should talk to you about security altho he has no right to it tell him I will be security for you or that you will purchase an annuity to him & his wife of $420.

Here is a man who has the audacity to ask his brother who is Executor to give security for the luckful perkmen of [illegible] when he was administrator squandered the Estate leaving a larger debt unpaid and his to be prosecuted. Such impudence be excused. How all much forgive but not yet forget. Let me know if I can be of use to you (...).

Source — James Alexander Hamilton to Philip Hamilton II, [November 1, 1859]

It seems grudges were still being held. To make matters worse, Holly seems to have been the one to hold many of her father's papers after her mother passed, and during this family arrangement Alexander Jr had taken off with some of his father's documents without any explanation. As Phil expressed his annoyance with this when in 1859, Phil created a calendar of letters written by his father that Holly had been holding. Each description is of a letter, but one to Alexander Hamilton from Sarah Alexander, Lady Stirling, dated the 26th of June, 1801, Phil remarks that it had been; “taken by my brother Alexr Hamilton from the house of my sister E H Holly immediately after her death without any colour of right or authority.” [x]

I've made plenty of analysis and theory posts about why Alexander seems to have been so negligent and arrogant towards his siblings, but I'll summarize them by saying that Alexander was likely insecure and felt he wasn't suited for the role of head of the family. Even when it was most traditional for the eldest son to take up the spot, Alexander was nowhere near prepared to take on such a heavy responsibility after his eldest brother died, his sister became mentally impaired, and his father's unfortunate death too. Not to mention, Alexander seems to have felt as though he constantly needed to prove himself worthy of being Hamilton's son, and likely prioritized his career and name over his family's situation due to such. And there is the whole deal about Eliza claiming James was Hamilton's favorite son (While living with Alex Jr too), [x] which would have been considerable if true as Hamilton seemed to have taken preference for James over Alex after Philip's death. An interesting note if Hamilton was truly just valuing the eldest to be prepared to take on the family mantle, but instead found James more promising than Alexander.

Anyway, hope this helps!

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transthadymacdermot · 2 months

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Hey a fellow writer of stories set in the late 18th/early19th century british isles with supernatural elements!🤝 Your WIPS sound so cool. From the character building question list, 1, 14, 17, and 50 for any character(s) you want from Red and Riotous Light?

Answering for various different characters!

1 - What's the lie your character says most often?

Lazarus lies to everyone constantly every day about his family background. He assumes that if he admits that his father is a baronet and he's just larping as a publican who can sympathise with the working class he'll not only become unpopular but also put a target on his back, and he's not necessarily wrong, but he certainly takes it a bit far + also exacerbates any danger coming clean might put him in by lying to everyone for so long about it

14 - How do they put out a candle?

Answering this for several people because it's character relevant for them: Charles instinctively reaches for a candle snuff every time he needs to put out a candle because he lives in such privilege that one is nearly always in reach and sometimes burns himself rlly badly slapping the flame by accident + both Eliza and her neighbour Conley MacDermot put out candles by pinching them and this is seen as somewhat coarse by several characters who, admittedly, already look down on them for being rural & Irish + Whittaker also does this due to her disdain for every emotion including pain + Rearden just blows them out because he's never seen the point in such an object as a candle snuff when he has breath

17 - What do they notice first in the mirror versus what most people first notice looking at them?

For O'Donnell -- the first thing HE notices in a mirror is how handsome he is because he's (not unreasonably) very vain. The first thing most people notice about him, however, is his incredibly casual posture in all situations and his tendency to look at the ground or anywhere else other than people's eyes #autism

50 - What belief / moral / personality trait do they stand by that you (mun) personally don’t agree with?

Ooh okay. obviously there's, like, the various colonialist/racist/sectarian/homophobic/etc beliefs that some of the characters hold that I don't agree with but for something more specific and less obvious I'm going to go with the fact that many of the characters are Jacobites and I just...

Ask game

#c: lazarus mcclure #c: eoin o'donnell #c: eliza durham #etc etc #ask game #wip: rrl #jory.postbox

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