Eliza Hamilton Family, Life & Death | Who was Alexander Hamilton’s Wife? | Study.com

In early 1780, Schuyler was staying with her aunt in Morristown, New Jersey, when she met Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was a close confidant of George Washington and his personal assistant. Hamilton was stationed with Washington in Morristown for the winter months. Schuyler and Hamilton fell in love very quickly over one month. At 22 years old, the couple became engaged to be married in early April. On December 14, 1780, Schuyler and Hamilton were married at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany. Due to her husband’s military service, the couple moved around a lot in the early years of their marriage but settled in New York City in 1783. The couple had an active social life and were very well-known to the New York Society. Her duties in the high-class society of New York and as her husband’s political aide increased after he was made Secretary of the Treasury in 1789.

Alexander Hamilton

Despite being madly in love, Hamilton had many actual and rumored affairs. His most infamous affair was with Maria Reynolds. Hamilton met Reynolds in 1791 in Philadelphia. She was visiting Hamilton, who was Secretary of the Treasury at the time, to ask for financial support for her downtrodden family. Hamilton visited the boarding house where she was staying to give her the funds and began an affair. Maria Reynold’s husband, James, discovered the affair and began blackmailing Hamilton for more money. After landing in prison for forgery, James Reynolds asked Hamilton for help but was denied. Reynolds took his knowledge of the affair to Hamilton’s political opponents; however, Hamilton insisted that there was no affair. Schuyler also did not believe the rumors of her husband’s alleged affair. Hamilton’s rival, James Monroe, made copies of Hamilton’s letters to Maria and sent them to Hamilton’s enemy, Thomas Jefferson. After Hamilton attacked Jefferson in an essay and hinted at Jefferson’s affair with his slave, Jefferson’s supporters published a pamphlet that accused Hamilton of hiding his own secrets. To clear his name, Hamilton revealed the affair in a pamphlet titled the Reynolds Pamphlet. This scandal cost Hamilton any chance at the presidency. Schuyler was devastated and humiliated at her husband’s infidelity, especially because she was pregnant with their sixth child at the time. This affair put a strain on their marriage, but the once madly in love couple went on to reconcile.