Was one of the Founding Fathers gay? July the 4th, 2014. By Nick Duffy Source: Pinknews.co.uk One of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America could have been gay. Alexander Hamilton is most famous for being the face on the back of the $10 note, and chief of staff to George Washington. However, according to some historians he could also be one of the most influential gay men in American history. Hamilton shared a close relationship with statesman John Laurens, while both were soldiers during the revolutionary war. In a letter to Laurens, dated April 1779, he wrote: “Cold in my professions, warm in my friendships, I wish, my Dear Laurens, it might be in my power, by action rather than words to convince you that I love you… You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent.” In a letter to Laurens dated September 1779 – after he had become engaged to wife Elizabeth Schuyler – he wrote: “Like a jealous lover, when I thought you slighted my caresses, my affection was alarmed and my vanity piqued. I had almost resolved to lavish no more of them upon you and to reject you as an inconstant and an ungrateful. I give up my liberty to Miss Schuyler. She is a good hearted girl who I am sure will never play the termagant; though not a genius she has good sense enough to be agreeable, and though not a beauty, she has fine black eyes.” In a letter dated 1780, he seems to imply that the marriage was a fabrication, writing: “In spite of Schuyler’s black eyes, I have still a part for the public and another for you; so your impatience to have me married is misplaced; a strange cure by the way, as if after matrimony I was to be less devoted that I am now. Adieu, be happy, and let friendship between us be more than a name.” At the time of the letters, sodomy was still a crime in all of the colonies. Laurens was killed in battle in 1782, while Hamilton was shot dead by Vice President Aaron Burr in a duel in 1804.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 09:28:53 +0000
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