- Hi, I'm Jen.
- And I'm Niki.
And today we're talking about the untold stories
of queer people throughout history.
- Ooh.
We're gonna look into some rumors and stories
that are already there, they're already floating around.
- Outing is still not okay, folks,
but these people are long dead and we are doing
nobody's life any harm by talking about them.
In fact, we're probably making your life better.
- Today, we're talking about the highly sought after,
very, very popular founding father
Alexander Hamilton.
- Oh, Alexander Hammy-ham-ham.
- As popularized by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
- In his play, Rent.
- Alexander Hamilton, rumored to have had
intimate relationships with men outside of his marriage
to Eliza Schuyler.
- Interesting.
Question, was he president?
- No.
What do you know about him,
other than he was not president?
- I honestly don't know enough, so hit me.
Alexander Hamilton was born January 11th, 1757
in the British West Indies to a father who abandoned him
and a mother who died when he was 11.
Not a great start.
But he was very smart.
So his friends and family were like,
wow, this kid's really smart,
we gotta do something about it.
So they send him to a prep school in New Jersey
and then later he gets to go to King's College in New York,
which is actually now Columbia.
Ivy League.
And then, bam, it's pretty much the Revolutionary War.
Around this time, he marries Elizabeth Schuyler.
- [Jen] Oh beautiful.
- [Niki] Socialite, she's hot, she's cute, and she's rich.
- Oh, she's just like me.
Hot and rich.
- While he's in school in New York,
revolts against Great Britain start,
and he becomes an influential voice
in speaking out for the rebellion.
Cut to February 1777, George Washington invites
Alexander Hamilton to be his aide-de-camp,
which is like a secretary administrative role
in the military.
And then guess who else is also an aide-de-camp
around this time?
John Laurens.
John Laurens born in 1754 has a very different upbringing
than Hamilton.
Grows up rich, gets sent to a fancy prep school
in Switzerland, but how romantic?
He's got everything growing up.
Hamilton's got nothing growing up.
It's like the beginning of a movie.
Some people believe that Hamilton and Laurens
shared more than a close friendship.
Another biographer named Ron
whose biography.
- Named Ron.
- He says at the very least,
we can say that Hamilton developed something like an
adolescent crush on his friend John Laurens,
at the very least.
- We're going more than just the very least.
- We're gonna go a little further than that.
- We're going to the most.
- Also, it's fishy because Hamilton's son,
who was responsible for his father's biography,
purposefully leaves things out
about Hamilton and Laurens.
- To me, it sort of speaks to
trying to preserve this image of his father.
The basis of these rumors
is in the letters that Hamilton and Laurens exchanged.
We need to know that this is wartime.
Emotions are high.
Here we go.
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.
I shall only tell you that 'till you bade us adieu,
I hardly knew the value you had taught,
my heart to set upon you.
- Don't make eye contact with me when you read that.
- I'm gonna skip ahead of it
because he talks a lot.
But he goes on to say, you should not have taken advantage
of my sensibility to steal into my affections
without my consent.
But as you have done it and as we are generally indulgent
to those we love, I shall not scruple
to pardon the fraud you have committed
on condition that for my sake,
if not for your own,
you will always continue to merit the partiality
which you have so artfully instilled into me.
But immediately you feel yawny and uncomfortable.
- Yeah, I am trying to squeeze it up into myself
'cause that is somebody who is in love.
- This is my translation.
Hey, dude, I wish I could show you how much I love you,
not just write you letters.
Look at how you made me like you so much.
I'll forgive you for seducing me because
I kinda like it a lot.
This letter is pretty odd on multiple accounts
because later, Hamilton then asks Laurens
to help him find a wife while he's in South Carolina.
To excite their, their being the honeys,
emulation, it will be necessary for you Laurens
to give an account of the lover, his size, make,
quality of mind, and body,
achievements, expectations, fortune, et cetera.
In drawing my picture,
you will no doubt be civil to your friend.
Mind you, do justice to the length of my nose
and don't forget that I (bleep).
The letter is scratched out after that.
So people believe that he was talking about his dingy
'cause literally he's like, oh, you have to go
talk me up to the ladies and find me a wife.
Don't forget to tell them about my body
and the length of my nose.
- The fact that there is some sexual undertones
makes me think that there was at least
a hand job.
- And in other letters to Laurens,
Hamilton refers to himself and his actions
as those of a jealous lover.
I have still a part for the public
and another for you.
So if you're impatience to have me married is misplaced,
a strange cure by the way,
as if after matrimony
I was to be less devoted than I am now.
Let me tell you
that I intend to restore the empire of Hymen
and that Cupid is to be his prime minister.
I wish you were at liberty to transgress the bounds
of Pennsylvania.
I would invite you after the fall
to Albany to witness the final consummation.
- They were fooking.
Seriously, that to me,
this letter is to me the clearest sign
because Hamilton's basically saying,
you want me to get married
because you think we're going to be stop being in love
once I'm married but you're wrong as hell.
Not language you use to someone you're speaking to
strictly platonically.
- So we have a lot of letters from Hamilton,
fewer from Laurens, but the ones we do have access to,
he writes to Hamilton, shortly before he dies.
Oh, do you want to read this?
You can be Laurens.
- Adieu, my dear friend,
while circumstances place so great a distance between us,
I entreat you not
to withdraw the consolation of your letters.
You know the unalterable sentiments
of your affectionate Laurens.
- Less flowery language
but still clear in intention.
Don't stop sexting me because I kinda like it.
John Laurens unfortunately dies.
He was one of the last casualties of the Revolutionary War.
So back to the biographers.
He also says that after Laurens died,
Hamilton never found a close friend like him again.
There's just like a part of him.
- That died with Laurens.
- That was never the same, yeah.
- What happens to Alexander?
- So the Revolutionary War ends.
Hamilton helps draft up what Congress is gonna look like,
he studies law, helps write most of the Federalist Papers.
Hamilton dies in a duel with Aaron Burr.
- Just to clarify, duel is when you turn around,
you both shoot each other.
So stupid.
- It was a different time.
People were just really fast and loose with duels and words.
- Interesting and fascinating
that there was perhaps a young love between these two men.
- It sounds like a great movie.
So I hope you guys had fun
and learned a little bit of something today
about our founding father Alexander Hamilton.
We'll never know for sure,
but at the very least, we can speculate
and wildly assert that they were for sure in love,
married, and will never forget each other.
- Yeah.
If there's someone that you suspect is queer
throughout history, let us know.
Maybe we'll talk about it.
- Bye everybody.
See you next time.