philly-osopher

[philly-osopher]

Some dude in 2020: You should not judge a historical figure, a man from the past, by the modern ethics! He was a product of his time. 500 years ago his actions were completely normal! It’s present-ism, we can’t judge… bla-bla-bla…

People from 500 years ago: Oh my, this guy is such a bastard, a genocidal butcher, a total piece of garbage. Let’s keep records of this douche so people from the future shall hate him too. 

[philly-osopher]

america’s favorite fighting frenchman

[philly-osopher]

Valedictions & Salutations

So after noticing how long and loving PS’s valedictions (which were never short) to AH got as time went by, and knowing AH’s increasing warmth in his valedictions in letters to GW, I decided to look into AH’s use of “Yrs”/”Yours,” which he used in the first letter that we have - the one to Edward Stevens from 1769. AH used “Yrs.” and “Yrs. sincerely” quite frequently throughout his life. (His other very common valediction in informal letters is “Adieu.”) 

Laurens got one “Yrs. for ever,” ESH got two (she also got “Ever yrs,” “ever yours,” and “Yrs ever & entirely”), G. Morris, McHenry, Rufus King, and Oliver Wolcott Jr. all got “Yrs ever,” the Marquis de Lafayette got a “Yours ever;” CC Pinckney got an “Ever Yrs.”

William Duer and King got “Yrs. sincerely & Affect,” though both were written on the same day, so maybe he had that in mind. 

“Yrs truly”s went to Jeremiah Wadsworth, Benjamin Walker, King, L’Enfant, and John Jay (King got alot of special valedictions, as did McHenry and Wadsworth as the 1790s progressed - Wadsworth even got a “Yrs always” by 1794.) “Yrs truly” or “Truly yrs” were very popular with AH from 1794 onward and only sparingly used before then.

John B. Church got “Yrs. unalterably,” James Madison got “Affecty Yrs” or “Yrs affy” ALOT in 1788 (though AH seems to be copying Madison’s valedictions - Madison even sent him an “I am yours” that AH never reciprocated.) “Affecty Yrs” also went to Wadsworth and a few others. “Yrs affectionately” went to the Marquis de Lafayette, Laurens, and similar versions went to G. Morris too.   

ESH got the most superlative versions (as she did in salutations also) like,  “most affectionately yrs,” “Yrs my Angel with inviolable affection,”  “Yrs. with unalterable tenderness and fidelity,” “ Yrs. with unbounded Affec,” “Yours tenderly,” “Yours very truly and tenderly.” 

Salutations (well, sometimes a salutation, sometimes within the letter):

Laurens was called “My dear Laurens,” “My Dear J” and “My Dear” (April 1779 and 30March1780), but is usually “My dear Laurens” or “My dear friend” when the ‘dear’ expression is used. 

Others called “My dear Friend” (capitalized and not) are Fish, Meade (who is also “My dear Meade”), Laurance, G. Morris, Angelica S. Church (in several different letters; also “my dear Angelica” and “my dear sister” and “my dear sister-in-law”), JB. Church, Robert Harrison, Henry Lee (also “My Dear Lee”), Duer (also “My Dear Duer”), Catharine Greene, Wadsworth (also “My Dear Wadsworth in the 1790s), King ( also “My Dear King”), McHenry (also My Dear Mc., and “My Dear Mac” by 1800), Lafayette (also frequently “My Dear Marquis”), and Susan Kean. 

Walker is “My Dear Walker,” Robert Troup is “My Dear Troupe,” and William Jackson is “My Dear Jackson.” AH is “My Dear Hamilton” in letters from persons who knew him early in life, like Stevens, Lafayette, Laurens, GW, Harrison, Meade, McHenry; otherwise he’s “My Dear friend” (like in Troup’s letters, a bit oddly) or “Dear Sir” in general. [I think it’s only from a couple of letters between ESH and AS Church that we know that the Schuylers did also refer to him as “Alexander,” though more commonly as “Hamilton.”] 

ESH is often “My dear girl,” “my dear,” “My dear Betsey,” “My dear Eliza,” “My Dear Wife” etc. 

BUT, My dearest is only found in letters to ESH (20Jul1780), (31July1780), (supposedly Aug1780). He also addresses her as “My dearest girl” (17Mar1780), “My Dearest Angel” (22Aug1781 and  May, 1786–April, 1788), “My Dearest Eliza,” and “my dearest life (23Sept1801). I thought this last one might be an incorrect transcription, but no, it really is “my dearest life.” That was a phrase of the time period (Benedict Arnold used it in letters to both his wives), though perhaps made most famous by Charles Dickens (for his own wife) decades later.  

“Adieu my dearest life.” Here’s the link. 

Bonus AH ridiculousness: “I write you this letter on your fidelity. No mortal must see it or know its Contents.” 

[philly-osopher]

Incredibly, a full 70 years before Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels published their Communist Manifesto, John Laurens was advocating that congress enact a luxury tax ‘which would be felt only by the rich’ in order to fund the military pension program. ‘I would wish the burthens of society as equally distributed as possible.’ he wrote to his father on April 11. 'That there may not be one part of the community appropriating to itself the summit of wealth and grandeur while another is reduced to extreme indigene in the common cause.

Valley Forge, by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

John Laurens was truly a gift to the world.

(via revolutionary-demosthenes)

[philly-osopher]

What I think of everytime I listen to Madison say "he dances"

[philly-osopher]

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh

My heart needed cuteness for Burr and little Theo. T^T He’s even wearing a tutu for her!!! 

[philly-osopher]

[philly-osopher]

“You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.” – Paulo Coelho

@ultrahamilham requested snuggly HamLaf so here it is! It was fun to draw this during the convention. >3>

[philly-osopher]

Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale. -Hans Christian Andersen

Look at my son! 

This is a little gift for @ultrahamilham to brighten his day. *lots of hugs* I also had a great excuse to draw Alex and Philip being cute. I cry.

[philly-osopher]

look into your eyes and the sky’s the limit //

I’m helpless

[philly-osopher]

Protestants in France are under intolerable despotism,” Lafayette railed to Washington. “Marriages are not legal amongst them. Their wills have no force by law. Their children are to be bastards. Their parsons to be hanged. I have put it into my head to be a leader in that affair, and to have their situation changed.” Establishing freedom of religion in France, he surmised, would be “a work of time, and of some danger to me… . Don’t answer me,” he told Washington. “But when in the course of the fall or winter you will hear something … I wanted you to know that I had a hand in it.

Harlow Giles Unger, Lafayette, (2002) p.211 (via thephantomofthelibrary)

[philly-osopher]

A Laboratory of Opal and Fog.... I like this. Very steampunk.

[philly-osopher]

Team Lafayette in Prison

Anastasie recorded a conversation between the assistant governor of Olmütz and her parents during their imprisonment. It’s a fairly long excerpt so I’ve put it under the cut, but it gives a good idea of how the Lafayettes acted as a team - their courage, defiance, humour and mutual support. Highlights include Gilbert telling the assistant governor he, Lafayette, is NOT a marquis, copious shade thrown on the Austrian government, and his affirmation that if anyone thinks they can induce Adrienne to lie then they’re even more idiotic than the Austrian court.  

Keep reading

[philly-osopher]

[Child's voiceover]: Sometimes, the person you would take a bullet for... ends up being the person behind the gun.

[philly-osopher]

Do you know what Angelica said?

[philly-osopher]

This is my Angelica Hamilton for you. I drew her after reading your posts about her, thank you for not letting her be forgotten. Sorry for the bad art but I hope you like it.