My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie #elizahamilton #alexanderhamilton #americanhistory #bravery @ stephaniehdray @laurakamoieauthor @absltmom

                     Five star studded stars for you Mrs Eliza Hamilton were truly a star.

Alexander and Eliza met at George Washington’s headquarters in the year 1780. From all accounts Alexander was quite taken with Elizabeth (Betsy and later Eliza) and she with him. Their backgrounds could not have been more varied, she the second daughter of the wealthy and well known Schuyler family of upstate New York, while he was the illegitimate son of a mother who was jailed for adultery and being a whore. The heritage that Alexander carried would never leave him and though he was brilliant, he carried around this blight on his character like a second skin.

The couple fell in love, married and went on to have seven children while they also for ten years raised the orphan daughter of a friend.

Alexander was brilliant, a revolutionary, a man who believed wholeheartedly with the idea of a central government, a man whose very ideas put him in direct opposition to those often in power. Friend to Washington until they had a falling out, he went up against the names we so know today, Jefferson, Monroe, Madison. He was a man of many appetites including those that involve the first sex scandal in politics (Oh the things they don’t tell you in school!) However, Eliza loved him. She loved him with a passion that made her revere him even after learning of his dalliance(s) (perhaps even with her very own sister), but she forgave him and carried on his legacy. She saw in him the man he was, perhaps flawed as we all are, but a man she loved and admired.

Eliza had been brought up with the idea of gentility, wealth, and a definite spirit of fighting for what she believed in. What she believed in was her new formed nation and along with her husband they fought not only the war but its aftermath as people jockeyed for position and what they wanted for our young nation. Life was not easy for Eliza, being the mother to eight children, coping with the demands of her husband’s position and dedication to what he believed and living with a man who was never known for staying quiet even when his thoughts and his words inflamed others. She never seemed to lose direction, although she faltered at times being devastated by Alexander’s infidelity, she eventually forgave him and their marriage seemed to go on stronger than ever. She loved him with a brilliance that though at times dimmed was ever burning inside her heart and mind. She was a woman who embraced a strong belief in her husband, country, and family. Although often beset by tragedy, Eliza found the strength to continue on and become a strong vibrant advocate for Alexander and the country they helped to found.

Eliza lost her dear Hamilton to the bullet fired by Aaron Burr in a duel but she in the many years she lived after his death, held that concept that her husband should be remembered. He was, although never President, a rock on which our nation was founded. She never wanted this country to forget that.

Reading this wonderful novel made me once again realize what utter strength, courage, and determination, not only the men who founded our nation had, but also the women who stood next to them as each day passed. For Eliza, her dream that her Alexander would be remembered has become a reality. He and she have both lived on right next to those of the others who founded this nation and gave us the start to becoming the world leader we are today. A thank you seems so small a thing for when you realize what they did for the future, for our future, for what they envisioned us to be those simple words become meaningless words for to them we owe our liberty, our strength, and our great nation 

We owe them our life.  There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism. (Alexander Hamilton)