Mansion Mythbusters: Hamilton and Slavery Part I

by Danielle Funiciello

Last week we introduced our new series on the Schuyler Mansion blog, Mansion Mythbusters where we will be examining some of the popular mythology associated with the 18^th-century in general and with Schuyler Mansion and the people who called it home specifically. Today we will be starting on the topic of Hamilton and Slaves, but due to the intricacies of the topic, it will be a multi-post series.

The Myth: Hamilton was a staunch abolitionist who did not condone the practice of slavery and never had enslaved servants himself.

The Sources: Often, on tours, we encounter this myth in the form of surprise when we discuss Hamilton’s father-in-law and mentor Philip Schuyler’s enslavement of the people working at both of his properties. Hamilton fans ask; “How did Hamilton feel about that since he was such a passionate abolitionist?”

Certainly, this concept is well established in Hamilton biographies. From Forrest McDonald in 1982: "Hamilton was an abolitionist, and on that subject he never wavered", to Ron Chernow in 2005: “Few, if any, other founding fathers opposed slavery more consistently or toiled harder to eradicate it than Hamilton”. The myth is perhaps most commonly brought up in forum debates where arguments use Hamilton’s abolition as the moral opposition to Jefferson’s – saying that Hamilton refused to participate in the system and believed in the equality of all men, while Jefferson enslaved hundreds on his plantation and believed that those of African descent were biologically inferior to those of European descent. In reality, the answer to this myth is far more nuanced.

The Break Down: To cover that nuance, we are going to break this myth down into three questions, to be answered over the course of several articles: Did Hamilton own slaves? Did he participate in the institution of slavery? Was his level of abolition an outlier compared to other founding fathers?

We will start with the easiest: Did Hamilton participate in the institution of slavery? Yes, yes and yes. Even though Hamilton’s mother Rachel Fawcett left her husband David Levine, was accused of adultery, lost her modest fortune in divorce, was abandoned by her common law husband James Hamilton, and lived in relative squalor as she died of an unknown illness, she was still in possession of at least two enslaved servants at her death. In her will, she bequeathed one of these men to each of her sons – a man named Ajax to ten year old Hamilton. There is no contemporary evidence to suggest that young Hamilton was opposed the bequest, but we cannot know because his mother’s property – including Ajax – was seized by her former husband on Levine’s claims of adultery.

Four years later, Alexander Hamilton was hired on as a clerk at the Beekman and Cruger import-export firm. Though only 14, Hamilton seems to have been involved rather heavily in the daily proceedings of the firm, including personally handling the accounts when his employers were away. While Beekman and Cruger traded in just about everything, shipment of human cargo became a profitable staple of their trade. Documents in his hand suggest that Hamilton was responsible for recording the results of the inspections as the enslaved people were brought off of the ships, and later for overseeing the transactions when those people were sold at auction.

Given that Hamilton never himself writes about those experiences, historians can only make assumptions as to what Hamilton learned through this process. The first assumption would be that Hamilton grew distaste for the system of slavery by seeing the way the enslaved men, women, and children were treated. The second is that the way that the slave trade permeated the Caribbean culture, slavery was normalized and even idolized by Hamilton as it was normalized for most other founding fathers that grew up with systemized racism. Just as easily as we can assume that Hamilton’s abolition was born while working for Beekman and Cruger, we can also assume that the respect and admiration for wealth and property rights that littered Hamilton’s later abolition writings was born there. That respect and admiration tainted Hamilton’s slavery writings with hesitations. These assumptions are not exclusive. Both can be true, and likely both were, meaning that Hamilton shared the same complicated feelings that other white men of station did at this time.

It is almost certain that from his arrival in America in 1772 until his marriage in 1780, Hamilton did not keep enslaved workers himself. The certainty comes however, from his economic standing rather than his moral one.

When he married Elizabeth Schuyler on December 14^th, 1780, he married into one of Albany’s largest slave-holding families. No matter what his personal feelings on slavery, Hamilton clearly felt that the social position this put him in was worth the attachment to his bride’s slave-owning family. Hamilton rapidly became a treasured member of the Schuyler family. Not only was he socially close with Philip, Catharine and their children, but he helped manage accounts for members of the family. Particularly, he managed accounts for Margaret (Peggy) Schuyler Van Rensselaer and Angelica Schuyler Church. For both women, financial records and letters show that Hamilton bought and sold enslaved servants for their benefit.

So yes, unfortunately Alexander Hamilton was inextricably linked to slavery and the slave trade. Whether he owned slaves and how his abolition compared with his peers is a bit more complicated. Keep watching the blog as we dig deeper into this myth in coming weeks. 

Additionally, if there is a history myth or story you’ve heard that you would like us to get to the bottom of, post it here or on Facebook and we will add it to our Mansion Mythbusters list.

Mansion Mythbusters: Thanksgiving

by Danielle Funiciello

As a new series on the Schuyler Mansion blog, we will be examining some of the popular mythology associated with the 18^th-century in general and with Schuyler Mansion and the people who called it home specifically. The goal for this series is not necessarily to prove the myths in question right or wrong, but to explore the possibilities - because myths are almost always rooted in fact and large parts of historical interpretation must by necessity be based in speculation. So whether you want to know where the phrase “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite” comes from, or if Alexander Hamilton is really the only founding father untainted by slavery, this is the series for you. Since this first post comes to you the day before Thanksgiving, we’ll start with some more general history- the myth of Thanksgiving!

The Myth: Thanksgiving has been celebrated in this country since the time that America’s first European settlers, the Pilgrims, set aside their differences and broke bread with the Native Americans soon after settling on the continent.

The Breakdown: Was Thanksgiving celebrated by early settlers? Did it originate from a feast with Natives? Where and when did the national holiday originate?

Rather than Thanksgiving with a capital ‘T’, Puritans and other settlers did celebrate days of thanksgiving with some regularity. Days of thanksgiving were religiously organized within certain Christian communities, but in times without a separation of church and state, they might be proclaimed by a minister to his parishioners or by a governmental official to his community. Since most of the first settlements, including the separatist Pilgrims who settled near Plymouth MA, were organized around a single church and denomination, this was sometimes one and the same.

Days of thanksgiving were proclaimed when the community had reason to feel particularly blessed – after a good harvest, a period of good health and fertility, or any occurrence seen as a miracle. They were days of feasting and celebration and were proclaimed on the community and national level routinely continuing into the 18^th and early 19^th centuries and George Washington proclaimed several within his presidency. Throughout the colonial period, they were counterbalanced however, with days of penance, or, as this 18^th-century proclamation from John Hancock reads, days of “fasting, humiliation and prayer”. As you can probably guess, these were reserved for bad times. In long periods of war, poor harvest, bad weather and other unfortunate circumstances, colonists believed they were being punished by God and needed to chastise themselves in order to bring their community back into His good graces. Very rarely was an event special enough to condone a yearly day of thanksgiving or penance.

Now, the story of the Wampanoag people helping the Pilgrims is true. The Pilgrims had not adapted well to the new land when they arrived and suffered near starvation before Tisquantum (Squanto) made contact with them and taught them how and what to hunt, fish, forage and farm. In 1621, the Wampanoag did sit down to a meal with the Pilgrims (of deer, rather than turkey), but it was six months after an agreement was forged between the two groups and nearly two years before the first day of thanksgiving was proclaimed in Plymouth – as thanks for a hard rain after a long draught.

The national holiday that we celebrate today was conceived of by Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godley’s Lady’s Book who connected the “first thanksgiving” to the story of meal shared between the Pilgrims and Wampanoag. Though Hale had begun arguing for the holiday as early as the 1840s, she formally requested it of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and, seeing as tactically advantageous, he made the proclamation official in 1863:

“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. [...] In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict […] Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence[sic], have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. […] They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, […] to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth[sic] in the Heavens […]and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity[sic] and Union.”

Lincoln was sure to disseminate the proclamation to the Confederates, and sent additional rations to the Union soldiers, especially at the front lines where they would be seen by their opposition. He meant to show the Confederates that the Union was thriving even in the midst of war, while on the other side of the line, Confederates were desperate for supplies. The message was clear – if you were on the right side of the war, you would be feasting right now. After the war, this tradition was continued, now with families reunited after the political separation, solidifying the holiday as one of family, forgiveness and thanks.

While the true story of Thanksgiving might not be quite as romantic as the one that many of us learned in elementary school, elements of the story are certainly true. There may also be something in the colonists approach to thanksgiving worth learning – they celebrated any time there was something to be grateful for. We wish you the best this Thanksgiving, and we hope that this history inspires you to celebrate some ‘lowercase’ thanksgivings in the year to come!

An "Inside Look" at Schuyler's Chairs

by Danielle Funiciello

After being displayed in the home as part of the Art of Seating Exhibit PaSTport led by the Albany Institute of History and Art in conjunction with Partners for Albany Stories, our set of Heppelwhite shield-back chairs were once again removed from Schuyler Mansion this week. They make their way back to Peebles Island Resource Center to complete a restoration process that began over a year ago. In recent days, we were lucky enough to have the chairs displayed in a state of partial restoration, which allowed visitors to get an “inside look” at the chairs construction and on the work the Peebles Island team is doing.

             Taken apart, you can see that the chairs are filled with horse hair backed with a burlap material. The blue, floral, colonial-revival fabric currently on the chairs is incorrect for the period and will be replaced with a yellow silk that was woven in England to mimic a fabric swatch found in the arm of the chair (see our article on finding the outer fabric for the chairs here: http://schuylermansion.blogspot.com/2015/09/finding-fabric-for-schuylers.html?_sm_au_=iVV012Tr7qSnRN1Q). The outer fabric is lined with a layer of muslin and batting to contain the horse hair, protect the outer fabric and provide additional padding. In the close up images of the chair’s underpinnings, we can see that the burlap has been stitched in, and that the wooden base of the chair is riddled with tack holes from previous upholstery. When the chairs first returned to the home in the early 1900s, a period-incorrect blue satin had been on them, and one can imagine that these chairs have gone through a variety of colors over the course of more than 200 years.

             The deconstructed chair recently on display has not had wood treatments yet, but we can see from our second chair the intended wood quality. The wood of the chair is elm. The graceful design is embellished with painted leaf and flower designs which are likely original. When cleaning the wood, conservators are very careful to keep the delicate paint while still removing the dirtied varnish layers which create an incorrect patina for the 18^th-century style. The painted designs are Greek and Roman motifs which became popular in Europe with the Neo-Classical style beginning in the 1750s and continuing into the works of later designers like George Heppelwhite (or, some historians argue, his wife Alice) who refined the style to feature the thin, sleek woodwork demonstrated so well in these Schuyler chairs. A book of his furniture designs was published in 1788 after George’s death, which exploded in popularity with woodworkers and consumers alike.

Philip Schuyler, always up on the latest fashions, certainly had the means and motivation to buy these chairs at the peak of their popularity.These chairs are such an important part of Schuyler Mansion’s collection not only because they date to the correct time frame (1790-1800) - matching with some of Philip Schuyler’s purchases and bequests - but parts of the set were donated to Schuyler Mansion by two separate branches of Schuyler descendants, making it very likely that these chairs trace back to Philip Schuyler. Given the high style of the chairs, we believe the chairs belonged in Schuyler’s city home, here in Albany, probably in the formal parlor where they now sit. We look forward to seeing these chairs returned to their former glory and hope that our visitors will too. They will return to the front parlor by the time we reopen in mid-May for our hundredth season!

                

Stabilizing the Stairs

by Ian Mumpton

In 1765, when the Schuyler family’s mansion home was first completed, family and guests could have stood atop a gently sloping hill looking Eastwards across open pastureland all the way to the Hudson itself. Today, the mansion is surrounded by the historic South End community of the city of Albany. The house is still on raised ground, but the gradual slope of the hill has been replaced with a stone retaining wall, and the streets around the house have been cut much deeper. For a long time, from the 19^th century onward, the mansion grounds were accessible from Clinton street via a stone staircase and gate kiddie-corner to the Howe library.

The Clinton street stairs at Schuyler Mansion
when it was an orphanage, circa 1905.
From the Albany Postcard Project

These stairs underwent many different forms over time. When the house was run as an orphanage by the St. Vincent’s Orphan Asylum Society under the supervision of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the appear to have run straight up from the street front, with an elaborate entrance surmounted by a cross. Later images show the stairs after the site had been opened as a museum, with the top portion of the solid stone wall replaced by an iron fence.

For many years, the stairs sat in a dilapidated condition, deteriorated to the point of being unsafe to use. As part of the restoration for the museum’s 100^th anniversary, however, the old Clinton street stairs are being completely restored and will be open again for public use. In addition to restoring an important part of the historical property, it is hoped that this project will promote accessibility and further the relationship between the site and the community as, by this Spring, you will be able to walk out of your local library and right into history!

View of the restoration work being done on the stairs with the Howe Branch of the Albany Public Library across the street.

The Clinton street stairs aren’t the only stairs being restored at Schuyler Mansion. For over two hundred years, visitors have entered the house by climbing a set of brown sandstone stairs with iron railings into the hexagonal brick vestibule added to the home in about 1815. The earliest mention of these stairs comes from Philip Hooker’s evaluation of the home in 1818, created as an advertisement for his client, John Bryan, then the owner of the estate. According to Hooker, “Mr. Bryan has…added an hexagonal vestibule to the front, of singular beauty, with an elegant flight of stone steps & ornamental iron railing to the entrance.”

1818 image of Schuyler Mansion by Philip Hooker, showing vestibule and front stairs.
Original in the New-York Historical Society

Since then, thousands of feet and two hundred years’ worth of weather have worn the old stones to the point of needing serious restoration. Given the historical nature of the surviving stonework, this is a delicate process. The first step is disassembly. Currently each stone block in the staircase has been marked with a number so that they can eventually be returned to their exact original position. Next they will be removed, stabilized, and eventually reassembled to offer access to the home once more, hopefully for another two hundred years!

Schuyler Mansion is currently closed for the Winter, but special hours of availability are listed on our Facebook page as well as the Friends of Schuyler Mansion and the site’s NYS Parks pages. Get in touch to arrange a visit this Winter to see our restoration work in progress! 

Front Stair restoration at Schuyler Mansion.

Up On the Rooftop

by Danielle Funiciello

Visitors to Schuyler Mansion throughout November cannot help but notice the ongoing restoration work outside the mansion. If you were reading our blog last season, you know that Schuyler Mansion is working its way through a number of very exciting projects, gearing up for our 100^th anniversary as a state historic site.

As our open season came to an end, with our regular tour schedule halting on October 30^th, New York State Parks workers set up for some of the more significant projects to be completed by next year. Scaffolding has been set up on all four sides of the building and “what’s going on outside?” has become the first question from most visitors.

At the moment, “what’s going on” is the restoration of the double hip roof. The old roofing has been removed and new cedar shakes are being installed. The roof structure itself appears to be original to the house, though it has been re-shingled several times. The “List of real property belonging to Philip Schuyler” shows that the house was shingled in 1798, though the structure report prepared by New York State’s Division for Historic Preservation guesses that those shingles were white pine which was most common in Albany at the time as “such a roof is said to last forty years” according to 18^th Century Albany visitor Peter Kalm. We are not sure which of the laborers that Philip Schuyler hired were responsible for the original shingling, but some of the hired carpenters included John Brown, Andrew Gautier, and Wert Banta, a freeman. John Brown may be the best guess, as Gautier seems to be a “joyner”, likely framing the house, and Wert Banta’s receipts show supplies and work related to the doors.

Once the roof is re-shingled, the homes’ balustrade - a Chinese style latticework - will be reinstalled. This latticework was removed at the beginning of the season for its own repairs and to be repainted. The balustrade for this home was almost certainly not part of the initial 1760s construction of the home, as no such architectural features have been dated before 1790 – that one at the historic home now known as the Morris-Jumel mansion then resided in by John Adams. It may have been added late in Schuyler’s lifetime, or perhaps by the first owner after the Schuyler family. Images from 1818 show the balustrade in place, though this was prepared by an architect who worked on the home and may have been a rendering of the house’s intended appearance. The importation of Chinese and other Asian styles was certainly underway during Schuyler's lifetime due to expanded trade with Asia, and this could have been a very fashionable addition to his very fashionable home.

The shingling is almost complete and we look forward to the many projects yet to come for Schuyler Mansion this next year. Stop by during one of our winter events or preregistered group tours – you can find information on our Facebook page – to see the works in progress. Stay tuned here on our blog for photos of the exciting work yet to come.

A Place by the Fire

by Ian Mumpton

It’s getting colder here in Albany; time to stoke up the fire! In the 18^th century, the Schuyler family used a variety of methods to keep warm throughout the long winter months. Brussels carpeting, foot warmers, woolen clothing, bed warmers, fire-screens, and many other objects would have been used to control the temperature of the home, but the primary source of heat came from wood-burning fireplaces in every chamber of the house.

The library fireplace with andirons, shovel, and tongs.

Today, the fireplaces of the restored home are furnished with andirons, fire shovels, and tongs. Most of these are period pieces, and some of the andirons are believed to be 19^th century family pieces, descended from the children of Philip and Catharine Schuyler. One particularly fine example of a period shovel and tong set is on display in the library in the south west corner of the house. Made of iron with ball-headed brass handles, these tools were both decorative and practical. While it is unclear if they are original to the household, they date to approximately 1790, and are appropriate to the style Schuyler would have purchased.

Brass-handled shovel and tongs, circa 1790, maker unknown.

Family records specifically mention tools of this sort on several occasions. For example, in 1803, Philip Schuyler paid a total of fourteen shillings to a Peter Furlong for repairing a fire shovel , tongs, and a pair of andirons. In the same year, Furlong also altered iron curtain rods and hooks for the family. 

An image of an 18th century tavern fireplace with shovel and tongs.
Detail from "Tavern Interior", 1762, by John S.C. Schaak.

While curtains were reserved for decoration in the best rooms of the house, each chamber featured double-hung shutters on the windows. These shutters could be folded back into the walls to let in the maximum amount of daylight, but in colder months could be fully or partially closed as needed to keep in warmth. Furlong is also listed as having repaired a coffee mill for the family. Fire, curtains, and coffee? It sounds like Peter Furlong was the guy to have around during a long New York winter.

The regular tour season may be over at Schuyler Mansion, but our staff will be posting regular articles on a variety of topics over the coming months. Restoration efforts have redoubled as well, so check back often for images and articles on that topic, as well our other series. Lastly, while our regularly scheduled tours may be over until Spring, the site is offering tours by pre-registration on Thursdays and Saturdays over the Winter. Visit the Friends of Schuyler Mansion website or check us out on Facebook for details about tour times and other exciting events.