My Dear Hamilton

Eliza tries to turn to her faith after Phillip’s death, but she blames politics. Their only solace is that Phillip kept his honor and did not kill someone. The Hamiltons and Angelica go to Albany, where Ana, who has been chronically ill, is unable to process that Phillip is dead. Eliza wants to send for a doctor, but Hamilton fears they will place her in a psychiatric hospital. Eliza gives birth to a son whom they name Phillip, and Hamilton begins to become religious and see to the children’s religious education. Hamilton believes that Phillip’s death was divine punishment as he died defending his name, but Eliza tries to dissuade him from this belief.

Angelica shows Eliza a newspaper report that Jefferson kept an enslaved woman as a “mistress.” The report, written by Callender, the man who exposed the Maria Reynolds scandal, also details how Jefferson paid him to investigate Hamilton and defame him. Hamilton’s response is not as fiery as Eliza expected, and she feels he is withdrawing from life now that he is not in office. Eliza tries to convince him to defend Callender, who is now reporting on Jefferson because the president refuses to pay the money he owes him and threatens him with imprisonment. Hamilton plans to defend Callender in court, but before he can, Callender is found dead.

Eliza believes Hamilton is returning to his old self but does not know whether it is because of the trial or because Burr is running for governor of New York and advocating secession. The Hamiltons try to recruit a Federalist to run against Burr, but no one wants to run so Hamilton campaigns for a Republican candidate who vows to save the Union. Burr loses the election, and the Hamiltons celebrate. Eliza sees Hamilton become more peaceful, and they have a grand ball at The Grange.

On July 11, 1804, a man comes to tell Eliza that Hamilton isn’t well. She assumes it is his kidneys, which have never fully recovered after his yellow fever. He takes Eliza to Hamilton but doesn’t tell her what happened. As they enter the city, Eliza sees crowds of people who cry after seeing her and seem to pity her. Eliza understands that Hamilton has been shot in a duel with Burr. Hamilton shot in the air just as Phillip had. On his deathbed, Hamilton forgives Burr and tries to get Eliza to do so too. She says she does, but she flees from the room knowing she lied to him. She tells her children that they must say goodbye to him, and she has Angelica take the children from the room as he dies. The last thing he tells her is, “If they break this Union, they will break my heart” (462).

Eliza is furious at Hamilton’s funeral, knowing both he and Phillip died because of politics. She blames herself as she insisted he return to the public eye, yet even more so she blames Burr and believes he killed Hamilton to return to the good graces of the Jeffersonians. Eliza wants to have Burr prosecuted and goes on a campaign to convince others that he is a murderer, noting that Burr practiced his marksmanship for three months prior to the duel. A month before the duel, Burr came to Hamilton and asked for assistance with his debts, which Hamilton gave. Less than a week after the duel, Burr flees from the city and is shortly after found guilty of Hamilton’s murder. Eliza vows to bring him to trial as soon as he steps foot in New York again and compiles evidence against him.

The executors of Hamilton’s will attempt to go through his things, but Eliza refuses to let anyone touch his writing before there is a full inventory of every scrap he wrote. She learns that Hamilton was heavily in debt, but the Federalists would be shamed if this became public so they pay his debts and buy her The Grange. Eliza hates being dependent upon the mercies of others like her brother-in-law, the Federalists, and her sons. She makes plans for a biography of Hamilton and to take his place serving their country.

Angelica convinces Eliza to go to Albany to see their father, but she only sees her past with Hamilton in their house. Schuyler is ill but is determined to do what he can for Eliza. Schuyler dies shortly after their visit, and Angelica offers to give Eliza part of her inheritance. Eliza’s attempt to hire a biographer to go through Hamilton’s thousands of letters is fruitless. One day, she finds Ana attempting to smother her youngest brother, Phillip. She finally realizes the extent of Ana’s mental health condition when she tells Eliza that killing the younger Phillip could bring the older Phillip back. She allows Angelica to make the arrangements to bring her namesake to a private psychiatric hospital.

Jefferson fires Burr as vice president, and Eliza is enraged that people cry at his farewell speech. Eliza continues her work with the Society for the Protection of Poor Widows with Small Children. She meets a woman who asks what would happen to her children if she dies, something the Society didn’t consider. Thinking of Hamilton’s early life, Eliza establishes the Orphan Asylum Society.

Three years after Hamilton’s death, Eliza finally finds someone, a man named Reverend Mason, to write Hamilton’s biography and helps him to find even more of Hamilton’s letters. Burr is arrested for treason. Eliza goes to “Washington City” to petition to get her husband’s pension, which he forfeited during his life. Madison is now the president, so Eliza has some hope as she travels to the new capital with an old friend named James McHenry. He asks if she plans to remarry, knowing it would ease her financial burdens, but Eliza says she never will.

In Washington, Eliza searches for a monument to the city’s namesake but is told that there were no funds for it or for a monument to Hamilton. McHenry tells Eliza that the Federalists believe her efforts to memorialize Hamilton will come at the expense of Washington. Her son Alex, seeing she is getting nowhere with her cause, asks her to come home. Eliza enlists the help of President Madison, who agrees to find Hamilton’s letters to him and introduces Alex to important men of the town. Eliza tries to win over Dolley, appealing to how she helped her when Dolley was a widow. One day, Eliza finds herself face-to-face with the new Secretary of State, Monroe. Eliza says nothing and leaves. Years later, Hamilton’s pension is reinstated, and Eliza knows it is because of Madison.