Summary

In Prologue: The Oldest Revolutionary War Widow, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, in her early nineties, widow of Alexander Hamilton, lives a quiet life in Washington, D.C., in the early 1850s. Hamilton, dead from a duel at the hands of Aaron Burr, who considered Hamilton the primary obstacle to his political future. Now, Elizabeth keeps close mementos of her previous life, including a bust of Hamilton by Giuseppe Caracchi, and has devoted her present time to defending the reputation of her dead husband against attacks from John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and other political opponents. Hamilton, for his support of banks, factories, funded debts, tax systems, stock exchanges, and so on, has been labeled an aristocrat, a closet monarchist, and an evil genius among other things. However, Hamilton is also noted by others for his brilliance and his ability to get things done, and is...