Michael E. Newton's Blog

Discovering the oldest known Alexander Hamilton document

My new blog, Discovering Hamilton: New Discoveries in the Life of Alexander Hamilton, His Family, Friends, and Colleagues is now up and running. Yesterday, I posted the first new discovery: the oldest known Alexander Hamilton document. After checking it out (and sharing it with friends on facebook, twitter, etc.), be sure to subscribe to the new blog to receive all the new Alexander Hamilton discoveries in your mailbox.

New Alexander Hamilton coming soon

I’ve set up a new blog. Discovering Hamilton: New Discoveries in the Life of Alexander Hamilton, His Family, Friends, and Colleagues. I should start blogging real soon.

Visit http://discoveringhamilton.com/ and subscribe to ensure that you are to first to learn about these exciting new Alexander Hamilton discoveries.

“Medicare For All” is more appealing when you hide the enormous tax increase

According to the Washington Post, the “dam is breaking on Democrats’ embrace of single-payer” for healthcare as a fourth member of Congress co-sponsored Bernie Sanders’s “Medicare for all” bill. But the Post makes no mention of the cost for this bill.

Why, you ask, would they only discuss the benefits to be received without mentioning the cost? Hmm…

Heading over to Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All website, one finds that the cost is estimated to be $1,380,000,000,000. That’s $1.38 trillion.

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Michael E. Newton on “Discovering the Earliest Known Records of Alexander Hamilton” and “A “Jest” Gone Wrong: Nicholas Cruger’s “Supposed Duel” on St. Croix”

My talk today at Liberty Hall Museum about about Discovering the Earliest Known Records of Alexander Hamilton and A “Jest” Gone Wrong: Nicholas Cruger’s “Supposed Duel” on St. Croix.

New Hamilton Discoveries to be Revealed on July 6

On Thursday, July 6, at 1:00 p.m. (to be repeated at 3:00 p.m.), I will share my recent discovery of the earliest known records of Alexander Hamilton and their implications to Hamilton’s biography. I’ll also be sharing a previously unknown story about Nicholas Cruger, Hamilton’s boss on St. Croix, and his “supposed duel,” which caused a “sensation” and much “disorder” on the island.

The event will take place at Liberty Hall Museum at 1003 Morris Avenue, Union, NJ 07083. A similar event last y...

Doctoring Newspapers for PBS’s “Hamilton’s America” Documentary

Like every other fan of Alexander Hamilton the man andHamilton: An American Musical, I was eager to watchthe PBS documentaryabout the making of the musical, titled Hamilton’s America, which aired on October 21, 2016. I knew that this documentary would be a mix of Alexander Hamilton history and behind-the-scenes footage ofthe development, production, and staging of the musical. And while I enjoyed most of the documentary, I was sorely disappointed in some of the historical inaccuracies.

Now, w...

Angelica Schuyler Church’s portrait of Thomas Jefferson by John Trumbull (with a Cruger twist)

In the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, amid much larger and more famous paintings, hangs a small portrait of Thomas Jefferson with a most interesting history for any fan of Alexander Hamilton or the Hamilton musical. In 1786 and 1787, John Trumbull visited Thomas Jefferson in Paris. With Jefferson’s “assistance,” Trumbull began painting The Declaration of Independence on a small 21-inch by 31-inch canvas.This small painting became the basis for the huge 12-foot by 18-foot pai...

Treasures Hidden in Plain Sight: Two Alexander Hamilton Clocks

Alexander Hamilton is everywhere! He’s in books. He’s on our currency. He’s even on Broadway. Of course, Hamilton can also be found in the numerous museums that display his portrait and curate exhibitions about him (for examples, see here, here, here, and here).

Perhaps you even saw some pieces of Hamiltonia in these museums without noticing them. For example, how many you saw the recent Battle of Brooklyn (Long Island) exhibitionat the New-York Historical Society? Did you see the copy of Riv...

Inspiration: Thomas Cole’s The Consummation of Empire and Carle Vernet’s The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus

During my recent trip to New York City, I had the great pleasure of visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New-York Historical Society. I try to visit the Met every time I’m in New York to see the special exhibits and some of my favorites (Vermeer, Van Gogh, Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware).As the Met is so large, I never have time to see everything and am able to see different things each time.

When I’m in New York, I occasionally visit the New-York Historical Soci...

Alexander Hamilton’s Participation in the Newburgh Conspiracy Reexamined

The following essay is based on a speech, my first public speech about Alexander Hamilton, given on July 28, 2013, at the New Windsor Cantonment in conjunction with the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society.Itis reproduced below aftersomeediting and links added to the relevant sources. An inquiry by Dianne Durante, who is writing a series of blog posts linking primary sources to lyrics in Hamilton: An American Musical, reminded me of this speech and I was prevailed upon to make it available to...