“It is very extraordinary, if the head of the money department of a country, being unprincipled enough to sacrifice his trust and his integrity, could not have contrived objects of profit sufficiently large to have engaged the co-operation of men of far greater importance than Reynolds, and with whom there could have been due safety, and should have been driven to the necessity of unkennelling such a reptile to be the instrument of his cupidity.” ― Alexander Hamilton, The Reynolds Pamphlet Alexander Hamilton had an affair with a married woman, Mariah Reynolds, and paid her husband, James Reynolds, to keep it quiet. He later wrote a 90-page pamphlet about the affair titled, “The Reynolds Pamphlet”. Mariah Reynolds arrived at Hamilton’s house in Philadelphia while his wife and children were visiting his father-in-law in Albany, New York. She claimed she had been abandoned by her husband, James Reynolds. Mariah knew Alexander Hamilton was serving as the treasury secretary for the United States government, and she felt he might help her return to New York to move in with friends and relatives. Hamilton was enlightened to help, but as fate would have it, it wasn’t possible for him to at the moment; however, he did promise to visit the Reynolds residence that evening with money she would need. When he arrived that night, he was ushered into an upstairs room by Mariah and so began the affair that would in turn ruin Alexander Hamilton’s career and any chance of his presidency. Alexander Hamilton and Mariah Reynolds then started seeing each other consistently for the remainder of 1791. In the late fall of this year, James Reynolds, Mariah Reynolds’ husband, returned to his homestead and saw the profitable situation completely his to deal with. Soon after, on December 15th, 1791, Hamilton was sent a letter by Mariah Reynolds warning him about the situation at hand.
“Col. Hamilton Dear Sir I have not tim to tell you the cause of my present troubles only that Mr. has rote to you this morning and I know not wether you have got the letter or not and he has swore that If you do not answer It or If he dose not se or hear from you to day he will write Mrs. Hamilton he has just Gone oute and I am a Lone I think you had better come here one moment that you May know the Cause then you will the better know how to act Oh my God I feel more for you than myself and wish I had never been born to give you so mutch unhappisness do not rite to him no not a Line but come here soon do not send or leave any thing in his power Maria” That same day, James Reynolds sent Hamilton a letter of his own. He uses proper language, unlike Mariah, who most likely did not have a proper education. In the following letter, he preys on possibly the only weakness he knows Hamilton has by portraying his wife, Mariah, as a helpless young lady, or rather, a damsel in distress, whose betrayal is Hamilton’s fault only. “Sir I am very sorry to find out that I have been so Cruelly treated by a person that I took to be my best friend instead of that my greatest Enimy. You have deprived me of every thing thats near and dear to me, I discovred whenever I Came into the house. after being out I found Mrs Reynolds weeping I ask’d her the Cause of being so unhappy.
She always told me that she had bin Reding. and she could not help Crying when she Red any thing that was Afecting. but seing her Repeatedly in that Setevation gave me some suspicion to think that was not the Cause, as fortain would have it. before matters was Carred to two great a length. I discovered a letter directed to you which I copied of and put it in the place where I found it. without being discovered by Her. and then the evining after. I was Curious anough to watch her. and see give a letter to a Black man in Markett Street. which I followed Him to your door. after that I Returned home some time in the evening, and I broutched the Matter to her and Red the Coppy to her which she fell upon her knees and asked forgiveness and discovered every thing to me Respecting the matter And ses that she was unhappy. and not knowing what to do without some assistance. She Called on you for the lone of some money. which you toald her you would Call on her the Next Evening. which accordingly you did. and there Sir you took the advantage a poor Broken harted woman. instead of being a Friend. you have acted the part of the most Cruelist man in existance. you have made a whole family miserable. She ses there is no other man that she Care for in this world. now Sir you have bin the Cause of Cooling her affections for me. She was a woman. I should as soon sespect an angiel from heven. and one where all my happiness was depending. and I would Sacrefise almost my life to make her Happy. but now I am determed to have satisfation.
it shant be onely one [f]amily thats miserable. for I am Robbed of all happiness in this world I am determed to leve her. and take my daughter with me that She shant see her poor mother Lot. now Sir if I Cant see you at your house call and see me. for there is no person that Knowes any thing as yet. And I am tiremd to see you, by some Means or other. for you have made me an unhappy man for eve. put it to your own case and Reflect one Moment. that you should know shush a thing of your wife. would not you have satisfaction yes. and so will I before one day passes me more. I am yours James Reynolds.” Two days after, Hamilton was sent another letter from James Reynolds, this one claiming he had corrupted a happy and functional home. Reynolds did, however, put forth a solution. He requested a sum of one thousand dollars (equivalent to $19,453.97 today), said he would leave town with his young daughter and leave Mariah to Hamilton. Instead of actually leaving, Reynolds stayed and allowed the relationship between Hamilton and his wife to continue. He would routinely request money in $30 and $40 increments. In November of 1792, James Reynolds found himself on the wrong side of the law and was tossed in jail for committing forgery. He contacted Hamilton and became furious when he refused to help. Reynolds wrote to Hamilton’s political rivals that he knew a way to bring the Federalist off his high horse. James Monroe, along with Fredrick Muhlenburg and Abraham Venable, visited James in jail and Mariah at home who each told their story of Alexander Hamilton, how he wrecked the “happy” home the couple had had. In December of 1792, Monroe and Muhlenberg approached Hamilton with letters that Mariah Reynolds insisted he had sent to her. Hamilton admitted that he did, in fact, have an affair with Mrs. Reynolds and that it was foolish of him to let it continue.
Monroe and Muhlenberg agreed to keep it quiet. Monroe, however, did send copies of the letter to Thomas Jefferson, a well known Virginian politician who was currently serving as Secretary of State and would go on to be elected as the 3rd president of America. There’s also a chance that the Republican clerk of the House of Representatives, John Beckley, may have copied the letters as well. James Callender, a Republican, had somehow gotten access to a copy of the Reynolds letters. Hamilton believed Monroe and Jefferson were to blame, but it is more likely that John Berkley was the true culprit. The accusations placed on Hamilton by Callender had left him on the very end of a fraying rope. He couldn’t deny the affair for he could be proven a liar with a single show of letters. The affair could ruin his marriage and high social status. Not only that, it could ruin the fate of the Federalist party for good. With very few options left, Hamilton decided to do what he did best. Write. The Reynolds Pamphlet was something nobody expected. Its main purpose was telling his story and decoding the letters from James and Mariah Reynolds. Hamilton claimed to be the victim and that his only real crime was “an amorous connection with his [James Reynolds’] wife.”. Hamilton began with Mariah showing up at his door and the chaos that came from it. The pamphlet had parts sure to name Hamilton a disgrace to his family. From bringing the affair into his home to encouraging his wife, Eliza to stay out of town so he could continue the affair unsuspiciously.
