Gayness In The 1700s

John Laurens Dies in South Carolina, August 1782 (Hamilton 42)

In July 1782, Alexander Hamilton passed the bar in New York State, became the state’s tax receiver, and was appointed a delegate for New York State to the Continental Congress, in the session that would meet in November 1782. His first-born son Philip was six months old. Meanwhile, Hamilton kept up his correspondence, including letters to Lt.-Col. John Laurens, with whom he’d become friends when they served together on Washington’s staff. (More on Laurens in this post, the fourth in my Hamilton Musical series.)

After a trip to France as envoy extraordinary in early 1781, John Laurens had returned to the United States in time for the Siege of Yorktown. There he helped set the terms of capitulation for Cornwallis and his men. (See here.) In early 1782, Laurens briefly served on the South Carolina legislature, then rejoined the army under General Nathanael Greene near Charleston, South Carolina. In early August, he wrote to his long-time friend:

I am indebted to you, my dear Hamilton, for two letters; the first from Albany, as masterly a piece of cynicism as ever was penned, the other from Philadelphia, dated the 2d March [NOTE: neither of these letters survives]; in both, you mention a design of retiring, which makes me exceedingly unhappy. I would not wish to have you for a moment withdrawn from the public service; at the same time, my friendship for you, and knowlege of your value to the United States, make me most ardently desire, that you should fill only the first offices of the Republic. I was flattered with an account of your being elected a delegate from N. York, and am much mortified not to hear it confirmed by yourself. I must confess to you, that, at the present state of the War, I shd. prefer your going into Congress, and from thence, becoming a Minister plenipotentiary for peace, to your remaining in the Army, where the dull System of seniority and the Tableau would prevent you from having the important commands to which you are entitled; but at any rate I wd. not have you renounce your rank in the Army, unless you entered the career above-mentioned. Your private affairs cannot require such immediate and close attention; you speak like a pater familias surrounded with a numerous progeny.

I had, in fact, resumed the black project, as you were informed, and urged the matter very strenuously, both to our privy council and legislative body; but I was out-voted, having only reason on my side, and being opposed by a triple-headed monster that shed the baneful influence of Avarice, prejudice, and pusillanimity in all our Assemblies. It was some consolation to me, however, to find that philosophy and truth had made some little progress since my last effort, as I obtained twice as many suffrages as before. (More here; the end of the letter is missing, but might have included the paragraph quoted by John C. Hamilton, here)

The “black project” is Laurens’s proposal to grant slaves in South Carolina freedom if they volunteered to serve in the American army (more here).

Hamilton replied to Laurens from Albany on August 15, 1782:

I received with great Pleasure, My Dear Laurens, the letter which you wrote me in ___ [blank in manuscript] last.

Your wishes in one respect are gratified; this state has pretty unanimously delegated me to Congress. My time of service commences in November. It is not probable it will result in what you mention [i.e., an appointment as a minister plenipotentiary]. I hope it is too late. We have great reason to flatter ourselves peace on our own terms is upon the carpet. The making it is in good hands. It is said your father is exchanged for Cornwallis and gone to Paris to meet the other commissioners and that Grenville on the part of England has made a second trip there, in the last instance, vested with Plenipotentiary powers. [See the Founders Archive notes on the actual peace commissioners.]

I fear there may be obstacles but I hope they may be surmounted.

Peace made, My Dear friend, a new scene opens. The object then will be to make our independence a blessing. To do this we must secure our union on solid foundations; an herculean task and to effect which mountains of prejudice must be levelled!