- John Laurens was probably gay. In a letter his father, Henry Laurens, wrote to James Grant, he states that Master Jack (Laurens) is “too closely wedded to his studies to think about any of Miss Nanny’s.” In 2016 terms, daddy Laurens is saying my son has shown zero interests towards girls. On top of that, in a letter to his uncle, Laurens writes that he married the woman he got pregnant out of pity and to preserve her honor. Laurens left his pregnant wife before the birth of his daughter in France to fight for his country.
- Alexander Hamilton was totally bisexual. Now our Hammy loved women, but his closest most, most intimate relationships were with men, more specifically Laurens, and after Laurens died, Morris.
- Hamilton’s letters to Laurens were chock full of sexual innuendos and dick jokes. No seriously, read them. While historically, correspondence between men were more affectionate than they are now, inviting your totally straight friend to a threesome with your wife on your wedding night isn’t something straight friends do. Especially if the only thing stopping you was distance and the fact that your wife doesn’t like Laurens like that. Or maybe they were just being 20-something-year-old boys.
- Laurens called his wife “dear girl” in his letters to her and calls Hamilton “dear boy” in letters to him. Tell me that’s not cute as heck. Additionally, Laurens does not call his any of his other male companions that in his other letters.
- Laurens never told Hamilton about his wife and child. Our homeboy A. Ham didn’t actually find out until a year and a half after meeting Laurens. Furthermore, Laurens never told him, he found out reading a letter from Martha (Laurens sister) to Laurens. Nosy nosy Alex, you just don’t read other people’s letters. It’s a federal crime you know.
- While going through letters between Laurens and Hamilton, Hamilton’s grandson JC Hamilton deliberately chose not to publish a particularly suggestive letter from Hamilton to Laurens. Said letter that I will now paraphrase: “Despite Eliza (his wife to be) black eyes, I save a part of myself for the public and a part of myself for you. Your impatience to have me married, a strange cure by the way, as if being married would make me less devoted.” OK, no homo right, because this is just straight boys doing straight boy things.
I would like to close this list by crediting publius-esquire and john-laurens on Tumblr for awesome reading and great facts and insights. You guys should totally check them out to learn more about the Founding Fathers and their shenanigans. Both blogs make history very accessible and very entertaining. If you like this article and would like to learn more, I recommend reading the biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. While the man is super long winded and probably couldn’t write a grocery list without reaching 5,000 words, Alexander Hamilton is very worth the read.
See you next week.
