Dr. Alexander Hamilton (September 26, 1712 – May 11, 1756) was a Scottish-born doctor and writer who lived and worked in

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

in 18th-century

colonial Maryland The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland ...

. Historian

Leo Lemay J. A. Leo Lemay (January 17, 1935 – October 15, 2008) was du Pont Winterthur Professor of English at the University of Delaware. He was most renowned for his lifelong fascination with Benjamin Franklin, although he wrote on many topics, including ...

says his 1744 travel diary ''Gentleman's Progress: The Itinerarium of Dr. Alexander Hamilton'' is "the best single portrait of men and manners, of rural and urban life, of the wide range of society and scenery in colonial America." His diary covered Maryland to Maine; and biographer Elaine Breslaw says he encountered: "the relatively primitive social milieu of the New World. He faced unfamiliar and challenging social institutions: the labor system that relied on black slaves, extraordinarily fluid social statuses, distasteful business methods, unpleasant conversational quirks, as well as variant habits of dress, food, and drink."

Early life

Hamilton was born in or near

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. His father was Dr. William Hamilton, professor of divinity and principal of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

. He was raised and educated as a member of the Scottish gentry.Bridenbaugh, 1948. He emigrated to Maryland in 1738 and quickly set up his medical practice in Annapolis.

Career

Hamilton is known for his travel journal, ''Itinerareum'', recording his journey in 1744 from Maryland, to

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...

. The work has been widely cited by scholars of colonial America. Richard Bushman, for example, uses an incident of Hamilton observing and critiquing a fellow travelers behavior in an inn in order to demonstrate ideas surrounding gentility in colonial America. Hamilton also founded The Tuesday Club in 1745. This Annapolis-based social club included prominent men of the colonial Maryland community as both members and guests. Hamilton wrote a humorous account of the club's history in 1755, in which he gave its members comical pseudonyms and included caricatures and illustrations of memorable events; Hamilton even christened himself as Loquacious Scribble. Called ''The History of the Ancient and Honorable Tuesday Club: From the Earliest Ages Down to This Present Year,'' it was not published during Hamilton's lifetime. The original manuscript is housed at the John Work Garrett Library of the Johns Hopkins University. Hamilton is known for his engaging and humorous writing style, regularly describing candidly his encounters with those he believed to be his social inferiors. His use of humor in these situations was a device common among the gentry of the time for describing impertinent, ill-judged manners.

Later life

In later life, Hamilton continued to build up his medical practice in Annapolis, Maryland while broadening the scope of his writing to include articles for the ''

Maryland Gazette ''The Gazette'', founded in 1727 as ''The Maryland Gazette'', is one of the oldest newspapers in America. Its modern-day descendant, ''The Capital,'' was acquired by The Baltimore Sun Media Group in 2014. Previously, it was owned by the Capita ...

'' and the satirical, ''History of the Ancient and Noble Tuesday Club'', the ''finest humorous work of colonial America''. He married Miss Margaret Dulany (daughter of

Daniel Dulany the Elder Daniel Dulany the Elder (1685–1753) was a prominent lawyer and land-developer in colonial Maryland, who held a number of colonial offices. In 1722 Dulany wrote a pamphlet entitled ''The Right of the Inhabitants of Maryland, to the Benefit of t ...

) in May 1747, thereby joining one of Maryland's most powerful families. As a result of this new found social influence Hamilton successfully ran for a seat on the Annapolis Assembly, occupying it from 1753 to 1754. Hamilton died on May 11, 1756, childless, at the age of 43, leaving all his possessions to his widow, Margaret Dulany Hamilton. Upon his death, a friend wrote in the ''Maryland Gazette'', ''The death of this valuable and worthy gentleman is justly lamented...No man in his sphere, has left fewer enemies or more friends''.

Influence

Hamilton represents a typical member of the pre-revolution, colonial American gentry, "a paradigm of eighteenth century urbanity, sophistication and wit", and as such his ''Itinerareum'' is now seen as a very valuable tool for the study of Eighteenth century colonial history."Needler, 'Linguistic Evidence'."

References

Bibliography

* Breslaw, Elaine G. ''Dr. Alexander Hamilton and Provincial America: Expanding the Orbit of Scottish Culture'' (2008), a standard scholarly biograph
excerpt
* Breslaw, Elaine G. "'Scotch drollery' in the marketplace: Dr. Alexander Hamilton's amusing instruction in the Maryland Gazette." ''Early American Literature'' 42.2 (2007): 217-233
online
* Breslaw, Elaine G. "Marriage, money, and sex: Dr. Hamilton finds a wife." ''Journal of Social History 36.3 (2003): 657-673
online
*Bushman, Richard. "Bodies and Minds" in Bushman, ''The Refinement of America: persons, houses, cities'' (New York, 1993). * Micklus, Robert. "The Delightful Instruction of Dr. Alexander Hamilton's Itinerarium." ''American literature'' 60#3 (1988): 359-384
in JSTOR
* Micklus, Robert. ''The Comic Genius of Dr. Alexander Hamilton'' (Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1990). * Needler, Geoffrey D. "Linguistic Evidence from Alexander Hamilton's Itinerarium." ''American Speech'' 42.3 (1967): 211-218
in JSTOR

Primary sources

* Hamilton, Alexander. ''Gentleman's Progress: The Itinerarium of Dr. Alexander Hamilton, 1744'' (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1948) edited by

Carl Bridenbaugh Carl Bridenbaugh (August 10, 1903 – January 6, 1992) was an American historian of Colonial America. He had an illustrious career, writing fourteen books and editing or co-editing five more, and he was acclaimed as a historian and teacher. Caree ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Alexander 1712 births 1756 deaths 18th-century American physicians 18th-century American writers 18th-century American politicians 18th-century Scottish medical doctors 18th-century Scottish writers Writers from the Thirteen Colonies Slave owners from the Thirteen Colonies Colonial politicians from Maryland Scottish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Physicians from Maryland Politicians from Annapolis, Maryland Scottish male writers Scottish travel writers Writers from Annapolis, Maryland Writers from Edinburgh