#frederick hudson

Great question! I love the little glimpses of Hamilton as a teacher we get from his papers! Hamilton was a very highly respected attorney in New York, so to be a clerk in his office was a pretty coveted position. Nothing better illustrates this than the fact that John Adams even placed his second Charles in Hamilton’s office (back before he and Hamilton hated each other). On July 21, 1789, Adams wrote:

Mr Charles Adams, my second son, the Bearer of this Letter, I beg leave to introduce to you. He took his degree at our University of Cambridge this year, and is destined to the Study of the Law. I wish to get him into some office in New York, and should give the Preference to yours.2

Not yet knowing that he would appointed Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton accepted Charles into his office, notating in his cash book, “John Adams. To fee for your son commencing his Clerkship this day.” (Adams to Hamilton, 21 July 1789, note 2).

Law clerks seem to have been omnipresent around Hamilton when he was actively practicing law though not written of or to directly very frequently. In her statement regarding the Farewell Address, Eliza recalled Hamilton seeking out the few hours in his day when he had neither clients nor law clerks in his office to write:

[T]he address was written, principally at such times as his office was seldom frequented by his clients and visitors, and during the absence of his students to avoid interruption; at which times he was in the habit of calling me to sit with him, that he might read to me as he wrote, in order, as he said, to discover how it sounded upon the ear.” (Eliza Hamilton’s Statement, 7 August 1840).

Some of Hamilton’s letters were drafted by his clerks for him; for example, a letter to James McHenry dated 1-2 August 1798 is in the handwriting of Hamilton’s clerk, William LeConte, for whom Hamilton submitted a Certificate of Clerkship on 24 April 1801. His clerks also manned his legal office when he was out on other business; Samuel Dexter, for example, wrote to Hamilton 16 September 1797: “More than two Months ago I handed to a young gentleman in your Office (a student I presume) a letter directed to you1 containing a lengthy detail of my concern in Onondago Land & requesting your opinion as soon as possible.” 

For some students, clerking for Hamilton could lead to bigger and better opportunities in the future. Ethan Brown, for example, was a clerk for Hamilton starting in 1797, and went on the be “appointed assistant secretary to H in his capacity as inspector general. Admitted to the bar of New York in 1802, Brown later had a distinguished career as a Democratic governor of Ohio, United States Senator, and minister to Brazil.” (James McHenry to Hamilton, 4 April 1799, note 8).

A few examples of letters from Hamilton’s clerks do remain, however. Joseph Strong clerked for Hamilton between 1786 and 1789, and Hamilton submitted a Certificate of Clerkship to the Supreme Court of New York on January 20, 1789. Years later, on 11 August 1796, Strong wrote to Hamilton asking for his opinion on a legal matter:

I having been lately imployed by several Defendants in Actions of Trespass recommended by Joshua Mercereau in Tioga County2 for fishing in the Susquehannah River where he owned the Soil on both sides thereof and on argument thereof befor Balthazar De Haert Esqr. (your late partner in business while I were under your Tuition)3 as an umpire, being disappointed in his decision for the plaintiff in Support of the Actions, in private conversation with him afterwards we offered to submit the same to your Opinion—in consequence whereof as well as to satisfy myself & employers I transmit you the foregoing Case4 comprising the whole question.… Permit me Sir to request your Opinion on the Case.…

Evidence that Hamilton was fairly indulgent with the young men studying under him is presented by his relationship with Frederick N. Hudson. Hamilton records lending Hudson money on two occassions, $50 in 1797 and about $100 in 1798. (See Hudson to Hamilton, 4 July 1800, note 2). Hudson’s financial troubles appear to have continued to plague him into a new career as a midshipmen. On 4 July 1800, Hudson wrote plaintively to Hamilton:

I am equally pained at the necessity of my Conduct’s being explained; as I am, fearfull of offending by the many apologies I have made but fear of being thought ungrateful to the Man who has laid me under the most delicate and lasting obligations has been the only stimulus to my taking the liberty of addressing you so frequently As I have during our present Cruise. Apprehensions that you might be pestered by Matthews about the Debt for which you became responsible2 have continually Haunted me. And Notwithstanding the conviction there was upon my mind that he was perfectly satisfied with the Assurances I had given him before I left N.Y. (the particulars of which and my reasons for that conviction I wrote you from Norfolk)3 I should most Certainly have returned immediately from that place had I not really believed as was reported that our Cruise would have been a very short one upon the Coast of America and that in the course of a month or two we should have again been in your part in the United states; Tho’ my return to N. York at that time would have been attended with very Disagreable consequences and Ruined all my prospects in my present profession.

I hope to be in Boston4 nearly as soon as this letter will reach you from whence I shall immediately repair to new York, when I hope to have power of giving a satisfactory explanation, and I felicitate myself with the hope that you will suspend your final opinion of me until I have that opportunity, more from a knowledge of the natural generosity of your Disposition than from any Justification of myself. God knows of what moment this object is to me as a certainty of having intirely lost ⟨your⟩ friendship would imbitter every future Moment of my life. Lieut. Hamilton5 is in perfect health & will I presume write you by this opportunity.

Please to accept the prayers for the future happiness of yourself & family—of your Obliged

Judah Hammond was clerking in Hamilton’s office when Hamilton died in 1804. On December 13, 1843, Hammond wrote the following (clearly somewhat embellished) account to John Church Hamilton:

Albumen silver prints from an album of spirit photographs (1872) by Frederick Hudson.

Frederick Hudson