alexander hamilton the essential hamilton letters & other writings

“These documents … make it evident that Alexander Hamilton was an enslaver.” “It is vital that the myth of Hamilton as the ‘Abolitionist Founding Father’ end,” Serfilippi wrote. She said they were referred to in Hamilton’s accounts as “servants” but were, in fact, slaves. “Primary sources prove Hamilton purchased enslaved people for himself.” “ make it evident that the enslavement of men, women, and children of African descent was part of both Hamilton’s professional and personal life,” she wrote.

Serfilippi studied Hamilton’s “cash books”, his personal accounts, along with letters and other documents. But whether he personally owned slaves has been a matter of scholarly debate. That Hamilton worked as a middleman in the buying and selling of slaves for family and friends has been acknowledged by historians. However, she said: “Not only did Alexander Hamilton enslave people, but his involvement in the institution of slavery was essential to his identity, both personally and professionally.” Alexander Hamilton fought in the Revolutionary War and he became one of six aides-de-camp, secretaries, in 1777 and became the first secretary of the Treasury in 1789 In the paper entitled, As Odious and Immoral a Thing: Alexander Hamilton’s Hidden History as an Enslaver, Serfilippi wrote that “there is little room in modern discourse for questioning the founder’s thoughts and feelings on slavery.” But now, a paper by Jessie Serfilippi of the Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site in Albany, New York, has provided the most definitive answer yet. The question has persistently attracted biographers and historians and incited a great deal of debate.

Was Alexander Hamilton – a founding father of the United States celebrated as an abolitionist in the eponymous hit Broadway musical – a slaveowner? The answer is yes, according to new research paper.

Alexander hamilton the essential hamilton letters & other writings