{"id":24695,"date":"2021-03-16T01:23:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T01:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=24695"},"modified":"2021-03-18T03:06:44","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T03:06:44","slug":"what-alexander-hamiltons-deep-connections-to-slavery-reveal-about-the-need-for-reparations-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/what-alexander-hamiltons-deep-connections-to-slavery-reveal-about-the-need-for-reparations-today\/","title":{"rendered":"What Alexander Hamilton’s deep connections to slavery reveal about the need for reparations today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nicole S. Maskiell<\/a>, University of South Carolina<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander Hamilton has received a resurgence of interest in recent years on the back of the smash Broadway musical<\/a> bearing his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But alongside tales of his role in the Revolutionary War and in forging the early United States, the spotlight has also fallen on a less savory aspect of his life: his apparent complicity in the institution of slavery. Despite being a founding member of the New York Manumission Society, which sought gradual emancipation of New York\u2019s enslaved population, Hamilton benefited from slavery \u2013 both personally and by association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
Anti-slavery, but not anti-wealth from slavery. Joe Sohm\/Visions of America\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a historian of early America and Northern slavery<\/a>, I study how Colonial-era figures like Hamilton fit into America\u2019s long history of enslavement, and how slavery fueled networks of power<\/a> that have lasted through the ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A life entwined with slavery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Hamilton\u2019s time in pre-revolutionary America, wealthy Northerners like him not only benefited from and propagated slavery, but enjoyed centuries of generational wealth built on the labor and lives of enslaved people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamilton\u2019s father-in-law had among the largest slaveholdings in the North<\/a>. His mother-in-law<\/a> was the daughter of Johannes Van Rensselaer<\/a> and Angelica Livingston<\/a>, both members of two of the largest slaveholding families in the North.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamilton\u2019s early years in the Caribbean were also marked by slavery. He was born on the British West Indies island of Nevis in the 1750s into a household that held slaves<\/a>. By age 11, he was working as a clerk<\/a> for Beekman & Cruger, a firm based in New York that traded enslaved people and other commodities \u2013 like food products and wood for shipbuilding \u2013 that fed the slave economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Hamilton moved to New York in 1773, he remained closely tied to slaveholding elites. His sister-in-law\u2019s house, where he was married<\/a>, was served and maintained by enslaved people. The house where he died<\/a>, belonging to his close friend William Bayard Jr., was also staffed by enslaved people<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Views on reparations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s debate about reparations for slavery<\/a> dates back to Hamilton\u2019s era. Except in the past, reparations were actively sought out<\/a> by the owners of enslaved people<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Loyalists \u2013 those who opposed the American Revolution \u2013 received compensation from England<\/a> for losses during the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cBook of Negroes\u201d<\/a> was a register of over 3,000 escaped enslaved people who were evacuated from New York by the British as part of wartime commitments of freedom for service. It was compiled by British Commander Sir Guy Carleton as a safeguard against compensation claims by former slaveholders for the loss of what they considered their property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northern elite slaveholders sought and sometimes received reparations for losses they experienced during the Revolutionary War<\/a>. Reparations ranged from restitution for the loss of enslaved people who escaped and gained freedom behind British lines to compensation for the expense of maintaining property (which included enslaved people) that were commandeered by Revolutionary forces<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamilton himself represented<\/a> at least 44 Loyalists in lawsuits related to seizure or use of property, which sometimes included enslaved people<\/a>, during the war. However, he objected to the return of runaways to their former enslavers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those on the Patriot side \u2013 who supported the Revolution \u2013 also received restitution for enslaved people they lost during the war. The Rhode Island General Assembly passed an act<\/a> in 1778 that said since enslaved people were \u201cdeemed the Property of their Owners \u2026 Compensation ought to be made to the Owners for the Loss of their Service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is owed?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But what of compensation to the descendants of formerly enslaved people for their ancestors\u2019 free labor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the mid-20th century, in Western Europe and the U.S., reparations to oppressed people have taken several forms<\/a>: on an individual basis, within an institution or across an entire country. They\u2019ve taken monetary and nonmonetary approaches, and pertained either to slavery alone or to slavery and its aftereffects.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of these modern reparations have historical precedent as well, such as when Britain compensated some Black Loyalists in the 1780s<\/a> for unpaid labor provided during the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also the American Civil War\u2019s Field Order No. 15 issued by Union Gen. William Sherman in 1865. It is popularly remembered as promising \u201c40 acres and a mule<\/a>\u201d to formerly enslaved people freed along the coast of Georgia \u2013 though it was quickly overturned and did not originally include a mule<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Protesters<\/a>
Georgetown University students demand a reparations fund in 2019 to atone for the school\u2019s ties to slavery. Michael Robinson Chavez\/The Washington Post via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, universities and other institutions with ties to slavery have undertaken initiatives<\/a> to uncover past atrocities, or established scholarships<\/a> for descendants of enslaved people and other underrepresented groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some cities, including Evanston, Illinois<\/a>, and Asheville<\/a> and Durham<\/a> in North Carolina, are establishing their own approaches to reparations, and are working to define guidelines for the use and distribution of funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reparations through representation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While numerous organizations and government bodies<\/a> debate how reparations should take place in the modern era, \u201cHamilton\u201d the musical provided real opportunities for actors of color<\/a> to advance in a historically underrepresented field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the show is not without its critics, specifically as it relates to the exclusion of historical people of color<\/a> who populated the world of Alexander Hamilton. These include noted spies Cato<\/a> and James Fayette<\/a>, Black brigade fighter Col. Tye<\/a> and antislavery activist William Hamilton, purported to have been Alexander\u2019s son<\/a> with a free Black woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation\u2019s newsletter to understand the world.<\/em> Sign up today<\/a>.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historical and contemporary representation in popular tales like \u201cHamilton\u201d is increasingly being used as a step toward correcting the imbalances from slavery\u2019s legacy. And the key questions posed within the musical\u2019s \u201cWho Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story<\/a>\u201d number are some of the same questions being asked within the reparations movement today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was updated to clarify the nature of compensation sought and received by Loyalists and to ensure James Fayette is noted by his chosen name.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicole S. Maskiell<\/a>, Assistant Professor of History Peter and Bonnie McCausland Fellow of History, University of South Carolina<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nicole S. Maskiell, University of South Carolina Alexander Hamilton has received a resurgence of interest in recent years on the back of the smash Broadway musical bearing his name. But alongside tales of his role in the Revolutionary War and in forging the early United States, the spotlight has also fallen on a less savory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":24696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2450],"tags":[7578,9607,9480,7051,6253,9608,420,9481],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24695"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24695"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24709,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24695\/revisions\/24709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}