“Does the fact that Hamilton’s widow lived fifty years after his death make the tragedy worse?”
Chernow: “Yes, and with the added poignancy that at the time of Hamilton’s death, seven of their eight children were also still alive, the eighth having died in a duel three years earlier. One of the things that I was most at pains to do was to edit Eliza Hamilton back into the story, because she tried so hard to edit herself out. She ran the New York Orphan Asylum Society for several decades. I dug out all the records, and she wasn’t just lending her name to it — she was really running it — dealing with the finance committee, arbitrating disputes — and it frustrated me that there was this missing founding mother. She is usually mentioned as a weak, religious, weepy, neurasthenic woman — as if she hadn’t done anything. In fact, she was a strong, gutsy lady who was still mentally sharp and active until the end of her life.”
(via publius-esquire)