#lucy knox

[46ten]

Elizabeth S. Hamilton at the Constitutional Convention, June 1797

Elizabeth Schuyler attended a diplomatic meeting at the age of 6; as a teenager, she hosted politicians solo; her relationship with George Washington predates Alexander Hamilton's. As a married adult, she stood in for Martha Washington, she led the Republican Court in NYC, she led charitable endeavors, and she hosted any number of national and international figures, from bankers to politicians, etc. U.S. presidents through the 1840s paid homage to her. But as so many women of the early Republic were, she was pretty deliberately erased. Particularly excised were the contributions and political activism of the Federalist wives - the amount of influence these women had could not be discussed.

And so by the late 20th century, we have historians writing that ESH didn't like politics and was sickly, usually pregnant, and often absent from her husband, but at least she tried to make a nice cozy environment for the Great Alexander Hamilton to go home and snuggle in, or something like that, as though it didn't occur to these historians that Elizabeth Schuyler likely could have married any number of wealthy, accomplished (and distant relative) men and lived a very comfortable life of luxury in Albany. And yet she looked at the super-charismatic guy who everyone said was brilliant, but with no steady income, not even a lawyer yet and with no ties to Albany, but noted as highly ambitious and said, "yep, he's the one!" Spoiler: she did it because she was ambitious herself and recognized that theirs could be a strong strategic/political partnership, in addition to a strong marriage. (I'm sure it was also good for her ego that he declared himself her best friend after only a few weeks and was so far gone he couldn't remember a military password after an evening with her.)

This erasure led to the common assumption that Elizabeth was not in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention in summer 1787. However, statutesandstories.com has posted about new evidence - really, a more careful examination and reading of old documents - that ESH was in Philadelphia in June 1797, and was likely in the city at the time of AH's June 18th speech to the convention. The theory is that she traveled with the Knoxes from NYC to Philadelphia, as she's mentioned in a letter from Knox that she is traveling with them, and she's definitely with AH on June 19th, as they are recorded in a journal/diary at a social engagement also attended by George Washington. Additional conjecture that this letter from AH can be more tightly dated to this period, considering these lines:

I cannot yet determine what will be our stay here and consequently I can make no determinations about my love; but I feel that it will be impossible for me to submit to a long separation however inconvenient it may be to incur the expence which will attend her coming here. 

Which may align with EH borrowing money for this travel from her brother-in-law, Stephen van Rensselaer, also possibly more tightly dated to this period.

Please check out the well-cited posts (3 parts): 1, 2, and 3

Although no Hamilton biographers have discussed Eliza’s trip to the Convention in June, historians from Independence National Historic Park (INHP) concluded in the 1980s that Eliza was one of as many as nine wives who likely “attended” the Convention.  Part 4 (pending) will discuss Eliza Hamilton’s relationship with the other eight wives who likely were in Philadelphia during the Convention, including Rufus King’s wife, Mary Alsop King, who was a native New Yorker. 

This makes total sense to me - not just the documentation presented, but that she would have shown up to perform soft politicking/diplomacy around her husband's activities, in addition to a possible role assisting him in the drafting and editing of his speech. The daughter of Philip Schuyler and Catharine Van Rensselaer wasn't going to sit in NYC on the sidelines for this - she bolstered Hamilton not only in the ways she was personally helpful to him (emotionally, but also going over his writings and speeches with him), but through her representation of the wealthy Dutch-American interests, showing that Hamilton was a junior delegate from NY with a lot of political and financial power backing him.

As the blog states:

Yet it remains possible that Eliza may have helped her husband prepare for his one-of-a-kind speech on June 18. Moreover, it is felt that the possibility of informal, behind-the-scenes contributions by Eliza cries out for further examination.

Cause ya know, she's not discussing new threads for her needlework and thoughts on child-weaning at all these social gatherings or standing in for Martha Washington and chatting with Martha's husband about the best ways to make pastry.

And I just love if she helped advise him on a speech that only the "rich and well-born" can make a strong government. I'm sure they felt quite haughty and proud and said, "let's make another baby!" (James Alexander Hamilton was born around 9 months later.)

[denastudio]

An Act of Love (2018), short film directed by Lucy Knox

[productiondesign]

An Act of Love • 2018 • short film by Lucy Knox

[onefail-at-atime]

AMC's Turn robbed us of scenes with iconic Revolutionary War women like Lucy Knox or Molly Pitcher.

[amrev-sloot]

Martha Washington and Life at Valley Forge

Among the women in camp attracted to this good-humored woman were the ravishing Catharine "Caty" Greene, a dozen years her husband Nathanael's junior and a notorious flirt;

the cosmopolitan Sarah Stirling and her 22-year-old daughter Lady Kitty;

and the down-home Lucy Knox, as round as one of her husband Henry's cannonballs.

The women were often at each other's throats- the swaggering Gen. Wayne's conspicuous attraction to Caty Greene caused his wife, Polly, to banish him from their home.

Lucy Knox's catty remarks about the Greenes' marriage sparked a lifelong feud between the two;

and the Stirling women's proclivity for putting on airs of Scottish nobility in the midst of a war fought to attain equality hardly endeared them to the proletariat.

They nonetheless coalesced into Martha's inner circle.

Valley Forge by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin (2018). Simon & Schuster.

[coffeecakecafe]

more lil guys! MY lil guys!

also the beginning of the color holding era I’m in

[banksreads]

damn right it gon' be fun

[efexbe]

things we never got over by lucy score

[mystcldydrms]

just finished reading ‘things we left behind’ and I can’t believe the knockemout series is over. I loved every single word in these books. lucy score knows how to write an incredible story.

[emstilley]

“When you trust someone to see you for who you really are, the betrayal is a thousand times worse than if you hadn’t handed them the weapons in the first place.”

-Lucy Score, “Things We Never Got Over”

🌟🌟🌟🌟

[bubbles-for-all-of-us]

Knox Morgan is making me question things about myself……………… *sus*

[productiondesign]

An Act of Love • 2018 • short film by Lucy Knox

[onefail-at-atime]

So many American Revolutionary War adaptions portray Henry Knox as an older, weathered man when, in reality, the man wasn't even thirty when the war began!!

[bluebirdcrossing]

i’m very excited to welcome you all to dewdrop!

i’ve been missing acnl a lot, so i picked it back up and restarted one of my towns! 🌟 super happy to be bringing you new acnl and hhd content along with the the usual acnh again! 🌿

[highladyofterrasen7]

The funniest thing Lucy score did was have Nash be able to get Lina off without him even moving.

Man was asleep.