The revolution—and the business of nation building—was, for Eliza Hamilton, a family affair. And Eliza was particularly close to her family. After the loss of Fort Ticonderoga, General Schuyler was certainly held in contempt and, according to contemporary Dr. James Thacher, accused of collecting a bribe from the British in silver bullets shot over the fort’s wall. （Even Schuyler’s future son-in-law, a young Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton, once suspected him of treachery.） But Schuyler’s reputation in Albany was more secure than we have portrayed it; so much so that New Yorkers were trying to send him to Congress before he’d even been vindicated at court-martial.
Our choice to have Eliza overwrought about her father’s reputation lent a nice echo for the constant worries she’d be faced with when it came to her husband’s reputation later in the book. Eliza would not have believed her father guilty of the crimes for which he stood accused, nor would she have likely believed him guilty of wrongs he did commit, and so we have portrayed Schuyler here through the lens of a loving daughter’s eyes. （Note that while Peggy probably did not elope, the fact that three, if not four, of his intelligent and headstrong daughters chose to do so—without real fear of consequence—speaks to him as a more indulgent father than his historical reputation for sternness might otherwise indicate.） Certainly, Eliza Hamilton honored and relied upon her father as a protector and benefactor, and his death likely forced her to contend with the world as a more independent woman than she would’ve liked to have been.
Eliza’s relationship with the daughters of Governor William Livingston is documented. Though it is possible, and maybe even likely, that Kitty Livingston sided with her brother-in-law John Jay in political matters, we used her as a standin for the political rupture between the Schuyler and Livingston families.
We were particularly interested in the relationship she formed with the Burrs and Madisons. The Hamiltons and the Burrs socialized frequently together and so we’ve posited a friendship between Eliza and Theodosia. We moved some of the discrimination Theodosia experienced as the wife of a British officer during the war to after the war as a demonstration of public prejudices. And because Theodosia was forward-thinking in matters of philosophy and women’s rights, we attributed other liberal ideas to her as well.
The partnership between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison was amongst the most fruitful in the history of government. That these two brilliant and hardworking founders could work together in such close harmony, so urgently, and with such success, only to become political enemies, is a great American tragedy. But we were delighted to find some grace notes there—the respect with which Madison treated Hamilton’s family, the assistance he lent them in gathering Hamilton’s papers, and the friendship that his wife Dolley shared with Eliza even after both of their husbands were in the grave.
Long before Dolley Payne Todd married James Madison, she and Eliza Hamilton were neighbors in Philadelphia in the early 1790s, living only a block apart on Walnut Street. Eliza most likely made the acquaintance of Dolley at one of Martha Washington’s receptions, at which Eliza was a fixture and Dolley was a frequent guest. The willingness of these ladies to put aside partisanship so that they could work together raising funds for the Washington Monument, and orphans, suggested to us a long friendship, so we put one in the book.
Another long and heartwarming real friendship existed between Eliza and Lafayette, with whom she exchanged letters long after Hamilton’s death. Lafayette’s triumphant visit to America in 1824 began in New York City on August 16. He then returned to New York again in early September, and it was at this time he took Eliza Hamilton with him in his carriage to inspect West Point, expressing that Hamilton had been as a brother to him. It seems that she was amongst those who left the ball late and chugged off in a steamboat with him into the night. Lafayette returned again to New York at the end of September for another round of celebrations but in our story, we conflated all three visits for brevity and simplification. And we thought it extremely likely that Eliza Hamilton was amongst the escort of ladies associated with the Free School that Lafayette toured because Lafayette’s secretary mentions, in the same breath, intimate details about the founding of Eliza’s Orphan Asylum.
When he was in America, Lafayette spent much time laying cornerstones and visiting memorials of his fallen revolutionary comrades. And we know he visited St. Paul’s, the chapel near Trinity, because his secretary made special note of the Trinity graveyard. It’s difficult to conceive of Lafayette visiting that graveyard without stopping to pay his respects to Hamilton. So we included a graveside scene and combined it with Eliza’s emotional epiphanies.