JOSH@RED.RUTGERS.EDU (09/21/85)
From: JoSH <JoSH@RED.RUTGERS.EDU> Not too long ago, there was a message about a new L Neil Smith book. The title is actually "The Gallatin Divergence", not "... Connection". More interestingly, there was a comment about Smith's portrayal of historical characters, which one assumes referred to the sexual hi-jinks ascribed to Hamilton in the book. It turns out that the real Alexander Hamilton was actually involved in a sex scandal. We do not know the physical details of his dalliances, so it is impossible to confirm (or discredit!) Smith's conjectures. However, there was quite a row about it at the time. The implication by Smith that Hamilton's sexual and political proclivities went hand in hand is *not* unhistorical: There is a surviving letter by John Adams claiming that Hamilton's excessive ambitions were due to "a superabundance of secretions." --JoSH -------