can you hear me ok? thank you so much for being here today. we are really excited to have this book. michael and i go back a few years now. i have been a big cheerleader of his for several years. it is exciting to have this conversation with you to learn more about this book. first, michael, why did you decide to write this book? i think that is the biggest question. michael: first, i want to thank the museum of american finance for hosting this and organizing this. hamilton, alexander hamilton, is the most fascinating and remarkable founding father. yet there is so much of his life that is uncertain, controversial. i started by just reading about hamilton, and i learned about all this controversy. what year was he born? what battle did he fight him? all the stuff we did not know. i basically read every book there is. i went to all the primary sources to determine what the truth is, and wrote it down. when you learn the truth, his story is even more remarkable than what you read in the shorter biographies which assume facts, or repeat previous comments. nicole: thank you. why do you think it is so important for readers to learn about the formative years? you mentioned that this book covers his truck could does childhood in the caribbean as well as his service during the revolutionary war. why is this so important to understand about alexander hamilton? michael: hamilton is one of the most important founding fathers, key writer of the constitution, developer of the mental system, washington's chief aide during his presidency, acting secretary of state for a while, leader in favor of a strong military, the most defense of peace. he did not just start in 1789 or 1987. he developed a political philosophy starting even in the west indies as a youth, when he was working for a mercantile company. and then of course during the war, his political and military philosophy continued to develop. there is no way to understand alexander hamilton post-constitution or in writing the constitution if you don't understand where he grew up, how his life developed, how he entered the political sphere. those things occurred during the war and during his youth. the book ends in 1782. nicole: you have mentioned so far -- you also mention it in your preface -- that alexander hamilton is the most workable founding father. what does that title mean to you? michael: we all know hamilton is one of the most important founding fathers, if not the most important founding father. beyond that, to be the most remarkable is something different. george washington in 1789, everybody knew he was going to be president. benjamin franklin was already famous. thomas jefferson had written the declaration of independence. yet here we have this kid in the 1772 coming to the united states, the american colonies. he is a nobody. he had very few friends. he had a cousin in the u.s., no family, no wealth. yet within a few years he is washington's chief aide. he is one of the leading politicians in the country. nobody else came from nowhere in such a short time to become a rounding father. that is only one half of why he is the most workable. the other half is, nobody contributed as much in such a wide array of areas. hamilton -- you know he is secretary of the treasury. he was also aide to washington during the war, military experience. he became major-general of the army. he was acting secretary of state for a while. he negotiated with the british. he was largely responsible, along with john jay, for the jay treated. a writer of the constitution. a leader in getting it ratified through the federalist papers, the new york convention. nobody else did so much in so many different areas. between the breath of his work and coming out of nowhere, being so unknown -- there is no contest that he is the most remarkable founding father. nicole: instead of a chronological timeline, you did something different. you did follow a general chronological timeline but structure it around them's and topics. can you tell us why you chose this approach and how you utilize it? michael: there are too many reasons i decided to look at topics and teams rather than strict chronology. one is it allows more depth to the topics. during the war, when hamilton is serving as washington's aide, hamilton was involved in many different things. obviously, his chief task was writing letters helping with military strategy. but there were other areas. i write three separate chapters on three of those areas. there is his work on prisoner exchange negotiation. there is his work on helping washington with his espionage operation. there is his help with the french, coordinating military activity with the french army and navy. if you had put each of those activities in the chronology, so you would have something here on page 200 on prisoner negotiations, then something else on page 300, you lose the theme and will not notice that hamilton was so active in those areas. by putting it all together, not only is it all in one place, you can give more depth to it, more analysis. that is one reason. the second reason is the historiography. one of the purposes of the book is to clarify certain things that are unknown, unknowable, or matters of debate concerning hamilton's life. did he do this? did he do that? if you look at things chronologically, it will be more difficult than looking at that topic. i can spend maybe 10 pages on his year of birth. which is not just one event that occurred in 1755. or much more likely 1757. you have to bring in the evidence of other years. why on earth would you be writing about something that happened in 1768, if it is related to 1767, if you are in a chronological book? cause it is by theme, you can bring you an information that is not strictly chronological. nicole: speaking to the historiography approach to this book, one thing that struck me is there was this book that not only did you use a great deal of primary sources that was documents from the time to tell the story and actual narrative with their own words, but you also examined the validity of people who had written not only at that time, but also in the subsequent centuries and years. what was this aspect of analyzing and researching so many different sources like? michael: it was both very enjoyable and very frustrating. it is really good to be able to read basically all the alexander hamilton biographies, get every single author's perspective and analysis. it adds so much more depth. but you read so many errors, false assumptions. mentioned in introductory remarks, one author says one thing, the next says the opposite. which are you going to believe? it is frustrating. a lot of times, there is no evidence for either side and it is all speculation on both sides. in those cases, that is what i conclude, that we really just do not know, and it is possible this is more likely. even though it is frustrating at times, it is so enjoyable to be able to see all the different perspectives. it is the benefit of hamilton being so complicated. everybody has something to say. almost everybody also has valid points to make. it is great to see all the different perspectives. nicole: thank you. obviously, this book is very ideal for researchers, myself included. it is already my go to source when i want to look up and confirm with the endnotes. for somebody who is just starting to learn about alexander hamilton or has not yet read a biography, why would they want to start with your book, "alexander hamilton, the formative years"? michael: one reason is it starts at the beginning, with his origins, his grandparents, and works forward. a finance book starts in 1789. it starts at the beginning. also, because it builds on all the previous works, it includes what has been written before, adds increased accuracy. it is more comprehensive, being 500 pages on just that first half of his life. also, there were many discoveries made in researching the book, which are included. none of which are in the previous books. in my opinion, and as some of the reviews have said, it is something of a page turner. others said it is a must read. a well-written book that is a must-read on hamilton's life, starting from the beginning, working its way forward -- it is definitely a good buy. i'm a little biased. nicole: [laughter] nicole: talking about hamilton's caribbean origins, obviously very little is known about that, although much has been written. you tackled a lot of controversies, debates. specifically, what did you find about the debate on when alexander hamilton was born, 1755 and 1757? for people who might not know, can you give a brief introduction to why there is that controversy? michael: i will start at the beginning, getting into the historiography. hamilton said he was born in 1757. his children had written in their books he was born in 1757. his grand children wrote that. that is what everybody believed. in the 1930's, i believe, they discovered a probate record when hamilton's mother had passed away, saying that alexander hamilton is 13 years old. that would make him born in 1755 rather than 1757. then everybody started that historians started looking for other evidence that hamilton maybe was born in 1755 instead of 1757. they found a piece of poetry which might have been written by hamilton which suggested he had been born earlier than 1757. the problem with that poetry is that the author could have fibbed about his age, and it implies he had been born in 1754 and there is no evidence that hamilton actually wrote it. the only primary evidence that hamilton was born in 1755 is that probate document. the evidence he was born in 1757 is that hamilton said he was born in 1757. people in this country do not know. how is a robert troop, hercules mulligan, or john jay -- how would they know how old he was? the problem is, there were people already in this country that new hamilton from the west indies, his cousin, his old friend ned stevens at king's college, his bosses, the ship captains. i think i list 11 people that knew him from the west indies that also knew him in this country. how could hamilton come here and say i am born in 1757, and then edward stevens would not say, no you were not. all these people had to have conspired or acquiesced in the lie in order for hamilton to have said and people to have believed he was born in 1757. the question is, which one is more believable? that hamilton lied about his age from 1772-1804, and all his friends kept quiet, nobody said anything, not even political enemies who had contact in the west indies? or that a probate clerk or his uncle who provided the information made a mistake and gave his wrong age? i believe it is more likely that somebody just made a mistake in the west indies than he lied for 32 years and nobody said anything about it. most likely, almost definitely, he was born in 1757. nicole: one of the most surprising things while i read this book is that although it is about alexander hamilton, you spend a lot of time, especially during the revolutionary war, discussing george washington and general gates, baron von steuben. this told a news story about the revolutionary war. why did you think that was important to include in a book about alexander hamilton? michael: alexander hamilton was a great man. there were other great men that worked with him. and there were great men who worked against him. his partnership team with george washington is probably the most important in the history of the world. i don't think you can look at washington without looking at hamilton. and you can't look at hamilton without looking at washington. they are a political combination from 1777-1799. it's remarkable. you cannot think of anything washington did without hamilton support, and anything hamilton did without washington's support during that time. his relationship with philip schuyler, who was a major general in the army and later his father-in-law, and later they were in politics together. and his rivalry with horatio gates. but it is not just because of hamilton during this period of work with these people. the relationships continued, so hamilton had a rivalry with dates which continued into 1783, with the newburgh conspiracy, his relationship with washington continued through the constitution and its administration. his relationship with philip schuyler continued until hamilton's death. his were not just relationships during this one time. these were lifelong relationships that started during this period. if we are going to understand washington's relationship with hamilton during the first in ministration, we have to understand his relationship with hamilton during this period, beyond the story of the history. you also get a better glimpse at the people themselves. the book is about his accompaniments, but also about his character and about washington's character and all these people's characters. and hamilton on the battlefield or writing letters might not display so much about his character. it might show bravery and intelligence, but it does not show his friendship, his support for his friends, and how he treated his rivals, which is also remarkable. i do not think you could look at the life of hamilton or the life of any founding father without looking at the relationship with the others. nicole: thank you. last year you did speak here at the museum of american finance, and the theme of your talk was about some of the new discoveries you had made about alexander hamilton's life, which you include in your book. can you share maybe one or two of those discoveries that you either had made then, or have made since then? michael: there is quite a number. i will start with the one that is probably the most emotional for me, maybe because it was one of my first. you always are over your first. we all know hamilton's writing about the hurricane in the west indies. a hurricane hit at the end of august 1772. he wrote this hurricane account in september 1772, september 6, which was written to his father. it was then published in the st. croix newspaper in october, october 3. then it was lost to history. john c hamilton wrote about it in his biography of hamilton. he could not find a copy. did not have a copy. it was not until 1902 that somebody found a copy of it in the royal danish american gazette. what was interesting -- i wish i could remember exactly how i found it. i was browsing through -- oh yeah. i was browsing through old copies of boston newspapers looking for when hamilton might have arrived in boston, because before he went to new york, he stopped over in boston. and i found his account in a boston newspaper, "the massachusetts spy." nobody had seen it in 130 years, 140 years. i couldn't believe it. i was very -- very happy. of course, that is not really that important to hamilton's biography, but it was very cool. more important to hamilton's biography -- this actually was not in my -- i do not think this was in my speech last year, because i do not think i found it yet. in november 1777, hamilton was the aide for washington for eight months, nine months. he was 20 years old, at the time not even old enough to vote. timothy pickert and wanted to resign as adjutant general of the army, one of the most important positions in the army. he writes to eldridge gerry that he wants to retire and wants alexander hamilton to replace him. he says he is surprised that hamilton had not already been given the position. and then he had these glowing words about hamilton. calls him a great character. had nothing but praise for hamilton. suggested he replace him. and said that if hamilton -- hamilton at the time was sick, deathly ill. up in fishkill. he said that hamilton was not sick, he would have resigned and let hamilton do it right away. hamilton would have been acting adjutant general, waiting for congress to approve him. in the end, hamilton was sick. this was right in the way of the conway cabal, and washington had rivals in congress, so hamilton was not chosen. it was quite the letter, and no historian anywhere has cited this letter. so i was lucky to find it. a lot of this, i guess you can say, is luck. but the way you happen upon it is by looking everywhere. you turn over a rock and you are going to find some stuff. i found quite a number of things. these are the most emotional and perhaps the most emotional being the hurricane letter, and the most important being pickering's letter. the most important and emotional discoveries i have made. nicole: the last question i would like to ask before we open up to audience questions -- so start thinking what you might like to ask -- what do you wish for readers to take away from your book? michael: that's a great question. well, obviously the book is about hamilton's accomplishments during the american revolution. obviously i want them to take that away. hamilton being an aide, we think, he wrote some letters. but his contributions were much greater. espionage activities, prisoner exchange negotiations, working with the french. at one point, the french commander-in-chief said, only confide this with hamilton -- one of the few who spoke french. hamilton's contributions -- if they were not indispensable, they were very close to being indispensable. nobody else at headquarters -- washington did not know french. nobody else at headquarters could do what hamilton did. it really does impact the relationships, the relationships hamilton made that would be so important during the drive for the constitution and founding the first government. all those things happened in this book, in this time. if you read it and then think about the later things that hamilton did, the later founding of the country, it has its origin formation in this time. even though it is a book about hamilton's first half of his life, it is really a book about his entire life and the entire founding of the country. nicole: now we are going to have marci, our chapter president, come pass around the microphone. if you have a question, raise your hand and we will get to you. i ask that you restrict your comments to questions, and that way we can get to a lot of people at once. michael: again, the book is about hamilton through 1782. obviously i know a lot about hamilton other periods, but if we can focus on that period. nicole: absolutely. right here. right there. yes, right back. >> i will begin with the end. why cut off at 1782, as opposed to the end of the war at '83 or '87 or '89? mr. newton: because the book is long enough already. that is the logical place to end off. the siege of yorktown ends in 1781. hamilton rushes back. his wife is pregnant. first son is born in march 1782, he resigns from the army with the promise that if the war keeps up he will return. that is the logical place to break. the next section of his life would eat the drive toward the constitution. so, it was the right place to stop. host: right here in the white shirt. >> yes, we often hear about the relationship between washington and lafayette. lafayette and hamilton were close to the same age, both orphans fairly young, both on washington's staff. many times we hear that washington treated lafayette almost like a son. there was a strong relationship between washington and lafayette. don't hear as much about washington's relationship with hamilton. could you comment on that? and also by extension the relationship between hamilton and lafayette. mr. newton: washington and lafayette had a father-son relationship. washington said that a number of times. lafayette went to france and when he came back, witnessed the reunion. it was like a father-son relationship. much more of the relationship of hamilton and washington during this period. washington and hamilton's relationship during the war was much more businesslike. later, they became very good friends. during the 1790's when they were both in the administration. their families hung out together. martha washington would take her own grandkids, and take the hamilton girls. so they spent a lot of time together in the 1790's. the families were good friends. in the 1770's, early 1780's, there were friends but there was not what the father-son relationship. there was no familial relationship. washington was the father of all the soldiers. in that respect he was hamilton's father just like he was every other soldier's father. but there wasn't that special relationship that he had later. oh, and then hamilton and lafayette. they had like a brotherly relationship. if i remember, lafayette i think had no brothers. i'm not sure about that, but i think that is the case. hamilton had only one brother. who was not in this country. so, hamilton was very much like a brother and later in life, elizabeth hamilton said they love each other like brothers. but it should be pointed out that there are other -- aides in washington staff there were also like brothers. they all became like brothers. relationship between hamilton and john lawrence is well-known. hamilton was good friends with james mchenry. so, there was like -- these people, they live together, they slept in the same rooms. sometimes they had to share beds. sometimes they had -- they slept on the ground. they live together. there were living together. and washington lived with them or they lived with washington. there was a family relationship there. so, but, yeah, washington-- hamilton and lafayette were close. according to all accounts they were like brothers. as you mentioned, they were very close in age. hamilton was a few months older than lafayette. lafayette comes to america, he's french. he knows english, but his french is better than his english. but many of the washington -- and many aides did not know french. here is hamilton fluent in french. so they became very good friends much more so than probably any other aide. host: i think we had right behind -- thank you. >> congratulations on the book. i just finished reading it. in addition to the most remarkable, most heroic founding father with more character -- his moral character, has overcome the obstacles and incredible ability. so my question is, actually, you cover the revolutionary war in great detail. one of my favorite scenes -- when he talks about is a flashback scene when hamilton had written a report on manufacturers and he wants paterson, new jersey, to become the birthplace of the american revolution pair he goes back to the scene where hamilton and lafayette in washington are at the great falls. you can envision hamilton saying that once we win this war, we book. you have anything to comment on why it is not there? mr. newton: that happened during the war. again, the book is not chronological. it is based on themes or topics, depending on how you want to look at it. industrialization is not covered in the book. it's mentioned very briefly and hamilton's essays in 1774, 1775, because he does talk about how america will industrialize when they separate from britain. or if britain forces the separation. it is not covered because industrialization is not covered. god willing it will be in a future book. but, thank you. yeah, that is a great theme, and a great location. and, uh -- i -- [chuckles] >> mike, hi. where do you come down on that monument to evening of december 24, 1776. did he cross at that time with the -- artillery? was he at trenton? have you feel now? mr. newton: the short answer is we do not know for sure. so, on december, christmas, they crossed the delaware. the hessians in trenton. the hetians in trenton. so, there's no record of hamilton going over. there are records of how any people went over. there are records of how much artillery went over. and there are records of who try to go over but were, at a different part of the delaware river but were stopped. so, we don't know for sure if hamilton went. however, because we know courtney -- quantities -- we can give the probability of hamilton going over, since if i remember correctly, six to -- 60% of the army went over. a larger percentage of the artillery went over -- 60% of the army went over. i would ad also add that just after trenton-princeton, less than two weeks later, washington invites hamilton to join the staff. if hamilton had knocked as a paid in the battles, there would -- if hamilton had not participated in these battles there would be no way that , washington would have invited him. he was -- he admired how hamilton held himself in battle. and he invited him to join the staff. we do not know for sure for that one battle. host: yes, bring it over to the front here. >> now that you have come up the conclusion that hamilton was born in 1757, can you reflect on the cut -- on the conclusions of an 18-year-old college student in february writing the farmer refute or which was an intellectual foundation for the declaration of independence the year and a half later. mr. newton: well, did the date between 1755 and 1757 is very interesting. it is important from a history standpoint but it is not as important from hamilton's accomplishments. hamilton wrote those essays when he started -- his full education at 17. depends on what year he is born. does it make a difference if he wrote when he was 18 or 20? how old was jefferson when he wrote the declaration of independence? how old was gouverneur morris when he wrote the constitution? how old was gibbon when he wrote "the decline and fall of the roman empire"? it is a great work. it does not matter how old he was. of course, it is more remarkable that hamilton wrote those at again age, but we should look at what hamilton did before he wrote those. what we know he did. he worked for a company in the west indies. he managed that company for five months. this is in 1772, 1771-1772. if he was born in 1757, he is 15 years old. that is remarkable. whether it is 18 or 20, he is the most remarkable founding father to be able to be doing these things at such a young age regardless of whether it is 18 or 20 years old. it's just more remarkable that he did it at 18. >> bob white from st. croix. a friend would prefer that when you say the west indies, you say st. croix. mr. newton: i do in the book. >> i know you did. hamilton having been raised bicycle mother, like myself and like washington, napoleon,-- by a single mother. the influence of women on hamilton, his mother, his wife, his lover, dolley, abigail, and washington's wife. those women must've have an influence on that man. mr. newton: well, it's john c. hamilton wrote that hamilton got his genius, intelligence from his mother. so, hamilton, whether he inherited it he learned it from his mother, his mother was a major influence on his life. john c. hamilton said that he always recollected his mother with fondness. elizabeth schuyler was a huge influence on hamilton's life starting in 1780. these, during the war, hamilton was mostly with men, except during winter encampments where the women would join. so, the period covered in the book, the influence of women is not that great. hamilton's mother died in 1768, taken in by his friend, might be relative. first, his relatives and then by the stevens who were his friends. there was no mother figure during that period. as far as we know, he did not have a girlfriend, maybe. so, i do not know the extent of those female relationships during the war. but he gained, he gained his intelligence, hard work, amiability, from his mother. and of course, then elizabeth skyler. host: thank you. we are going to take one puase. we -- one pause. we got some issues from twitter. -- we got some sub missions from twitter. this is from john clark. he asks what details can you give us about his time in elizabethtown, new jersey? mr. newton: that is a great question because there was some debate over when he came to the united states and then he went over to new york from elizabethtown? he came to the united states in october, 1772. so he must've enrolled at elizabethtown in november. as his son wrote, he then spent a winter in the summer at elizabethtown. during the winter, he would stay after -- to midnight studying. during the summer he would get up early in the morning and go to a cemetery next to the school and the church and would resume his studies there. before class started. after less than a year, hamilton was ready for college. he applied for princeton, and princeton school year started in september. he applied for princeton in september. they, the president of princeton said ok. then hamilton requested, demanded that he be allowed to study at his own pace. and the president says, i cannot do that. i have to check with the board of trustees. the board of trustees said no. so hamilton did not go to princeton. so, his next choice was king's college, columbia. but the problem is king's college, their commencement was inmate rates of the school year had already started. hamilton could not jump into the school year in the middle. so he became a private student at king's college around september 1773. and which means he was taught by the same teachers but he paid the teachers instead of paying tuition. and then he officially enrolled or was admitted the next year, in may 1774. so, if you check the kings college particular -- matricula, there is hamilton enrolling in 1774. that is just the timeline. to go back to what he did at elizabethtown. first, he boarded, lived with the livingstons. he reportedly spent a lot of time with -- he later wrote when the budanose infant daughter died at two, hamilton wrote a poem. so they're very close. he is close to the livingstons. at elizabethtown, we know what he learned basically from two sources. there were elizabethtown academy advertise itself in the newspaper. it set with the students learned. so,-- it said what the students learned. they learned how to write, arithmetic. they did not talk about languages but we know, because hamilton was admitted to college and in order to get ecology has no languages. so we know they must have taught greek and latin. so, hamiltons teachers there were frances barber. then william caldwell? james caldwell, thank you. the pastor of the church at elizabethtown also taught at the school one hour every day. so, he got a very good education, good enough to get into king's college even though most of the students did go to princeton. which is probably why hamilton applied to princeton, being more republican. elizabethtown academy was a very republican school. dean caldwell was the head of the church. the school was attached to the church for the church is a very republican church, small republican-- small r republican. the school was very republican. the master of the school later served u nder alexander hamilton. host: thank you. yes in the front here? , >> i wish there was a war. i wish there was a war. i want to start about the subject of hamiltons ambition. that was not necessarily complement to return. -- complimentary term. i think i overdo a spring board. -- i think i offered you a springboard. mr. newton: do we have another hour? it's remarkable because of you read some of washington's youthful letters, he makes almost the same comments. "i wish there was a war." in a society that is moving from an aristocratic society to a more meritocratic society, the way to prove yourself was in battle. especially if he did not come from wealth. regarding hamiltons ambition, it's interesting because francois -- one of the french delegates to the united states makes a comment in 1779, 1780 that hamilton had a trace of ambition. so, everybody then was ambitious. the question is what with a ambitious for? and i think it was washington who said, yes, hamilton was ambition but he was ambitious to do good things. he was not ambitious to gain power. he was not like a napoleonic ambition. he did not want to become emperor. though his critics would accuse him of that. he wanted to a call push as much as possible. and that is what he means by a wish there was a war. he wants to do as much as he can on the battlefield. at yorktown, he, the command of the assault was about to be given to someone else and hamilton felt it was his turn to receive that prestigious command. washington ended up agreeing with hamilton and gave it to him. that was his ambition. he wanted to prove himself. he did not gain power. he gained a little bit of fame, but he wanted to prove himself. and that is what he was ambitious for, to prove himself and do good things. host: thank you. i think we have one more question over here. >> like you, i'm very intrigued by his birth and upbringing. so i traveled to thank roy. i would like to know as much as possible about the jewish school where he studied. how much material is there on that? mr. newton: the information that alexander hamilton went to a jewish school is from john c. hamilton. he wrote that alexander hamilton was taught the decalogue in hebrew while standing on a table the school of a jewess. the thing about the table means he was very young. five years old. at the school of a jewess. that is all he wrote. presumably, it means that there were synagogues. when he was 5 -- if you are small enough to stand on a table to recite the decalogue, the 10 commandments, this must have been, a jewish community. the jewish cemetery. so, normally the churches and the synagogues would have schools attached. the same with elizabethtown. a cemetery there as well. so, hamilton probably went to that school. schools then in small communities, probably people varying ages. i would say three to 12 or whatever. they all learned in one room. they went after own pace. what we do not know is we do not know how long hamilton went there. was he there for a day, five years? it is not said. so, we really have no idea how much he learned there, how much time he spent there. if he was not there for his entire childhood, where else did he go to school or did he not go to school? that is why hamilton is so fascinating. there is still so much we do not know about him. and hopefully more we will learn about him. i'm -- if somebody is able to find more information, that would be fabulous, but we really do not know much about his education on st. croix. host: thank you. let's do one last audience question. oh. i see someone really excited in the back. >> good afternoon. i'm from st. croix as well. and -- i don't know whether it is one of your themes in the book since i haven't read it yet. what role do you think his work with kruger, who not only was a mercantile but was a slave trader, how did that impact alexander hamilton and his role as an abolitionist? in, once he came to what's now the united states? mr. newton: firstly, i don't discuss slavery in this book, because it is not one of the themes of this book. hopefully i will address it in a later book. but slavery does appear numerous times. we know that when hamilton was working for kruger, they would receive and sell slaves. hamilton, of course, would of seen that both on the paper in his accounts and looking out the window and seeing a slave auction. he never wrote his opinion of seeing that. but, of course, we do know he became an abolitionist. so, he definitely remembered it when he decided to oppose slavery. another interesting thing about slavery in st. croix is when hamilton's mother died, she owned slaves. and so, those slaves were auctioned off. according to hamiltons uncle, one of those slaves was supposed to go to alexander hamilton. but because he did not inherit his mother, he did not receive that slave. so, it begs the question of what it hamilton think at the time. what would things have been different if hamilton had received that slave? what did hamilton think about that slave? it was a young boy, probably around the same age as hamilton. being taken away from him and given basically to a total stranger. so, hamilton, if hamilton grew up with a slave, it wasn't, that slave wasn't just a servant but also a friend. his friend went only -- not only was being separated from him and separated from his family. so hamilton could not have been happy about it. in my speculation, that might have been the origin of hamilton's anti-slavery, which would have been possibly before he started working for kruger, the debate over when he started working, in 1768, around the time hamilton started working for kruger, in 1766. there are many things going on at once. so, hamilton seeing the brutality of the slaves being taken across the ocean. many of them, of course, returning malnourished or dead. seeing how slaves could be taken away even though they had families. unfortunately, as far as i know, hamilton never wrote about that. there's no evidence, but we do know he opposed slavery and when did that start? one would assume, even if he was not an abolitionist in 1768, when he was 11 years old or 13, then in 1772, he leaves st. croix, he's 15 years old. it probably started at that time. host: thank you. i'd like to close this out with one more question for you have given some hints. this book is on the first half of hamilton's life. what are your plans potentially to cover not just the second half of hamilton's life at some of the other themes you have thought about or would like to possibly write depending on how this book goes? mr. newton: well, obviously, i would love to continue writing and writing about alexander hamilton. i only covered half his life, but i promise that would not be only half the number of books. there's so much more. there are so much we do not know about hamilton's early life. what we cover in 25 years, can fit in one book. the remainder of his life will take much more. if one were to read the papers of alexander hamilton -- the period to 1781 is two volumes. the remainder of his life is 24 volumes. i promise i will not write that many. there is still so much to cover. continuing in 1782, with the confederation and moving to the constitution and then the financial system. his philosophy on the fed. it would be great to be able to write more on his character. his opinions on slavery and his work opposing slavery, his charitable work. there's just so made different aspects of hamilton's life that need covering that in a, even in a thick volume, that covers his entire life, only a page or two really deserves an entire chapter or an entire section of a book. so, hopefully i will be able to continue working on hamilton. in a few more years i guess i will be back here. what do you think about that? [applause] >> first lady helen taft made several notable changes to the white house. the most obvious is replacing the white male ushers with african-american staff. also while in washington she raised funds to create a memorial for victims of the titanic.

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