Tiger Woods Could Benefit From A Wife Like Alexander Hamilton’s December 22, 2009

There May Be a Good Reason Alexander Hamilton Got in So Many Duels

Hamilton: A Philandering Father?

On This Date in History: If  Tiger Woods could have had the skill of Alexander Hamilton, he might not be in the situation that he finds himself in now.  But, not only would he need the skills of one of our founding fathers, he also need someone like Hamilton’s accomodating wife.

  Alexander Hamilton’s face is on the $10 dollar bill. He was a confidant of General Washington and served as the first Secretary of the Treasury. He had a strong political disagreement with Thomas Jefferson as Jefferson favored a weak central government and Hamilton wanted a strong central government in relation to the power of the states. But, Hamilton had a way of rubbing people the wrong way beyond politics. He was known to duel to end disputes and was eventually gunned down in a duel by Aaron Burr, who was the sitting Vice-President at the time. What caused Hamilton to get in so many scrapes and raise the ire of so many people? This little tale may shed some light and make one ponder how he got to have his face on our money.

Hamilton apparently had flowing red hair and deep blue eyes and ladies found him quite aluring. He was married with children but his reputation as a ladies man persisted. In 1791, a woman came to his door asking for money, claiming that her husband had left she and her child destitute. Maria Reynolds did not receive money during that visit. Instead, Hamilton went to her boardinghouse room with $30 and then proceeded to take advantage of the situation. That was the beginning of a long affair. Eventually, she even visited him at his home when his family was away. All was fine until Mr. Reynolds showed up again.

Enquiring Minds Wanted To Know About Hamilton

Reynolds demanded financial satisfaction for his wife’s favors.   On this date in 1791,  Alexander Hamilton paid Reynolds $1000 to keep quiet. This did not end the affair though as Reynolds even encouraged Hamiton to continue as he wrote, “I find when ever you have been with her she is Chearful and kind. but when you have not in some time she is Quite the Reverse.” (note the grammatical errors) All was still fine until Reynolds got arrested for his involvement in a scam involving phony veterans claims. In an effort to gain his freedom, he hinted that the Secretary of the Treasury had been involved. Three Congressmen, including James Monroe, confronted Hamilton who produced 20 blackmail notes as a way of showing his innocence, claiming that he had but one mistaken dalliance. Hamilton must have had some pretty good bull because they bought it and the matter was dropped…until a drunken publisher who was not fond of Hamilton, James Callender, printed a widely circulated pamphlet detailing the sordid affair.

Curiously, Hamilton did not have a duel with Callender but instead published all of the blackmail letters. That did nothing but elevate suspicions that extend to this day. While the letters did have some grammatical and spelling errors, the vocabulary used was of a very educated indivicual which Mr. Reynolds was not. Speculation is that Hamilton may have forged the letters in an attempt to cover up his own corruption. Nevertheless, I suppose that all went away with the gunshot from Aaron Burr. All was forgotten and Hamilton ended up on the $10 bill. It is quite interesting what scandals are remembered by history and which are forgotten.  One who seemed to forget was Hamilton’s wife, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton.  

Probably Not Following Elizabeth Hamilton's Lead

On this date in 1780, the Hamilton’s were newlyweds, having married just 8 days before.  But, Alex’s eye for the ladies was not blinded.   Nevertheless, Elizabeth not only seemed to look the other way, she publically defended her husband against charges of philandering.  She also demanded for years that James Monroe apologize for his charges of Hamilton’s malfeasance in the Reynolds affair.  Somehow, I don’t think that Tiger’s wife is taking the same route as Elizabeth Hamilton and that may not be too bad.  See, Elizabeth outlived her gunned-down husband by 50  years.

Christmas Morning...That's Rain According to the NAM

Weather Bottom Line:  Get your Christmas shopping done today when we see some sunshine and moderating temperatures.  That’s because it all goes down from here.  Rain chances increase as a storm system comes around the bend out of the southwest and ejects northeast.  It will pass us to the west and we stay in the warm sector….which means rain.  It’s a deep low that will probably bring blizzard conditions to the plains.  Our rain chances go up with the temperatures on Wednesday and Christmas Eve looks to be especially wet and dreary.  Christmas morning we’ll see wet streets, not white lawns.  Now,this guy looks to become occluded and sluggish so we may see some snow for Friday, Saturday and Sunday as the GFS advertises a lot of wrap around moisture broadly spread through the Ohio Valley.  Most likely it would be extremely light and largely insignificant except that it indicates that we return to colder than average temperatures after the brief, milder and wetter holiday from the chilly conditions we’ve seen.

A Winner Who’s a Loser; Cold Still Ahead February 17, 2009

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Houdini Knew What To Do When It Was All Tied Up

 On This Date In History: How would you like to run for President, come in first place in the electoral college and be told that you would be the Vice-President.  This was the fate of Aaron Burr who went on to greater infamy

Jefferson Arrives Just In Time

At the outset of the nation, there really were no political parties.  General Washington was of the opinion that parties would do more harm than good and was against them.  Because he was so generally popular, there was no issue with parties since his election was unanimous in the electoral college both times.  Things began to unravel after that.  Even though the founding fathers were all still alive, there was this little issue of how the nation should function.  Thomas Jefferson felt that the idea was for there to be a weak federal government and have most of the power rest with the states.  Then, there were those like Alexander Hamilton who felt like it was necessary for there to be a strong executive and weaker state governments.  This fractional ideals, known as Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian eventually became the Democrat-Republican Party and the Federalist Party.  John Adams, who was Washington’s Vice-President, ascended to the presidency as a Federalist.  He took some pretty strong policy measures such as the Alien and Sedition Acts as well as undeclared naval engagements against the French.  He also had a rather nasty disposition.

Electoral Votes 1800 Election

So, that sets up the election in 1800.  Each party had two guys on the ballot.  The Democrat-Republicans intended for Thomas Jefferson to be the lead man and Aaron Burr to be his second.  The  electors were all set up to cast their ballots with 73 Republican electors and 65 Federalist.  At that time, all candidates were listed and each elector got two votes.  Whomever was first became President and whomever had the second greatest number of votes became Vice-President.  At the Electoral College,  65 Federalist electors voted for Adams with 64 of the remaining Federalist votes going for Charles Pickney and one for John Jay.  The Democrat-Republicans cast all their votes for Jefferson and Burr.  That gave each of them 73.    Burr declared that he was not in competition with Jefferson but never renounced the presidency. So, he was out but he was in.

Electoral Map 1800

This kicked the election to the House of Representatives. Balloting began on February 11, 1801.  Now, remember at that time, Inauguration Day was March 4 and many people became fearful that anarchy would break out because the votes kept coming up inconclusive.  There were 16 states so one candidate had to get 9 votes.  First vote had 8 for Tom, 6 for Aaron and two states couldn’t make up their mind.   They voted 18 more times and the votes hadn’t changed.  Those two states remained on the fence.  For 6 more days the voting continued.  Now, Jefferson and Hamilton hated each other.  But, it seems that Hamilton hated Burr even more.  He urged the Federalists to vote for Jefferson because he reasoned that while Jefferson was “a contemptible hypcrite”  his rival did have some “pretensions to character.”    But, Hamilton explained, Burr’s “public principles have no other spring or aim than his own aggrandisement.  His elevation can only promote the purposes of the desperate and profilgate.”

Promotional Woodcarving Did Adams No Good

Well, most Federalists thought of Jefferson as a dangerous radical and so they ignored Hamilton’s urgings.  But, time was running out.  There was talk of Civil War, that the Federalists might just take the presidency or that the Virginia Militia might march on Washington.  Suddenly, Delaware decided that Burr could never be elected and that the only reason to support him was “to exclude Jefferson at the expense of the Constitution.”  I guess that  means that Delaware really didn’t think much of Burr.  So, finally, on this date in 1801, after 36 ballots, Thomas Jefferson was elected by the Electoral College as the third President of the United States.  By the next election, the Twelth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified that split the votes so that each elector voted once for President and once for a different set of candidates for Vice-President.

Hamilton was quite the ladies man and had a rift with the husband of an acquaintance.  He also continued to feud with Jefferson and Burr, but

You Can Read All About "The 2nd Revolution"

not for long.  See, Burr and Hamilton had been friends during the Revolution but their opposite political views led to a fierce rivalry that ended on July 11, 1804 when Burr ultimately won when he shot Hamilton to death in a duel.   He was the sitting Vice-President at the time!  Once again, even though Burr had won, just like he won the presidential election of 1800, he lost.  A murder warrant was put out on him in New York and New Jersey.  He fled to

Pennsylvania and eventually finished his term in Washington before departing to the Mississippi Valley where he got involved in an unseemly scheme and Burr stood trial for treason, which put him at odds with…President Thomas Jefferson.  Quite a crew, those founding fathers!  Ever wonder how Hamilton got to be on at $10 bill?

NAM Not too Enthused About Snow Thursday

Weather Bottom Line:  I’m tellin’ ya…I really think I am going to prepare for temperatures below freezing the entire time from Thursday morning through mid-morning on Monday.  I know most of the stuff on TV isn’t that cold but I suspect that you will seem them come around.  We will warm up on Monday afternoon.  The GFS is more gradual with Tuesday being much more moderate and the European model wants to jerk us to the 50′s my Monday afternoon.   We’ll see.  Now, the NAM is not enthused about snow at all on Thursday with just perhaps some flurry activity with no real measureable amounts.  The GFS, as usual, is a little more bullish with wrap around snow of a half to three quarters of an inch.  Prior to all of that, we have relatively mild conditions with rain chances increasing on Tuesday night and carrying it through Wednesday.  Because of that, any snow we get on Thursday will be inconsequential because even though we’ll be below freezing for much of Thursday, the ground will still be too warm to make a difference.

Now, a second system comes through the flow on Friday and as it approaches from the Northwest, our temperatures

GFS Is Pretty Excited About Snow Thurs and Saturday...Maybe too Excited

should rise a bit but, I really doubt we’ll get much beyond freezing for any time of consequence.  Maybe an hour or two at best but the air to the south will be cold so all we’ll do is draw up some slightly modified cold air.  So, big deal…maybe 33 or 34 for an hour or two.  That doesn’t count.  When this guy comes down, the GFS wants to throw out a couple of inches of snow for Saturday morning.  The Canadian model also has a pretty decent amount of accumulation with the European not so bullish.  I would bet we end  up with 1-2 inches tops because its pretty tough to get more than that in such a situation as there isn’t much moisture to work with when these guys come racing through the flow from the Northwest.  But we should get something.  Again, aside from maybe a slightly warmer burp on Friday, prepare for below freezing conditions from Thursday morning through mid morning on Monday.

A Not So Secret Washington Sex Scandal; It’s Cold! December 22, 2008

There May Be a Good Reason Alexander Hamilton Got in So Many Duels

I Told You To Expect Single Digits!

Told you it would be cold.  And I also told you that we’d get to the single digits but it was even

Monday Morning Forecast Lows

colder than I expected.  It’s gonna be tough to get above 20 on Monday.  Tuesday will be cold but a warm front will lift up and bring showers in the afternoon.  The concern would be that the low layer air and freezing ground will result in icy conditions.  However, both the GFS and NAM do not want to start putting out precipitation until Tuesday evening when the mercury has already moved above freezing.  Should this pan out then one would think that icy spots would be minimal though I suppose that some roads may be a bit slow to get above freezing so there may be a slight risk of a few isolated icy spots.  After that, temperatures will be at or above seasonal averages for the following several days.  Sorry..no White Christmas here.

Hamilton: A Philandering Father?

On This Date in History:  Alexander Hamilton’s face is on the $10 dollar bill.  He was a confidant of General Washington and served as the first Secretary of the Treasury.  He had a strong political disagreement with Thomas Jefferson as Jefferson favored a weak central government and Hamilton wanted a strong central government in relation to the power of the states.  But, Hamilton had a way of rubbing people the wrong way beyond politics.  He was known to duel to end disputes and was eventually gunned down in a duel  by Aaron Burr, who was the sitting Vice-President at the time.    What caused Hamilton to get in so many scrapes and raise the ire of so many people?  This little tale may shed some light and make one ponder how he got to have his face on our money.

Hamilton apparently had flowing red hair and deep blue eyes and ladies found him quite aluring.  He was married with children but his reputation as a ladies man persisted.  In 1791, a woman came to his door asking for money, claiming that her husband had left she and her child destitute.  Maria Reynolds did not receive money during that visit.  Instead, Hamilton went to her boardinghouse room with $30 and then proceeded to take advantage of the situation.  That was the beginning of a long affair.  Eventually, she even visited him at his home when his family was away.  All was fine until Mr. Reynolds showed up again.

Reynolds demanded financial satisfaction for his wife’s favors.  On this date in 1791, Alexander Hamilton paid

Enquiring Minds Wanted To Know About Hamilton

Reynolds $1000 to keep quiet.  This did not end the affair though as Reynolds even encouraged Hamiton to continue as he wrote, “I find when ever you have been with her she is Chearful and kind.  but when you have not in some time she is Quite the Reverse.” (note the grammatical errors)  All was still fine until Reynolds got arrested for his involvement in a scam involving phony veterans claims.  In an effort to gain his freedom, he hinted that the Secretary of the Treasury had been involved.  Three Congressmen, including James Monroe, confronted Hamilton who produced 20 blackmail notes as a way of showing his innocence, claiming that he had but one mistaken dalliance.  Hamilton must have had some pretty good bull because they bought it and the matter was dropped…until a drunken publisher who was not fond of Hamilton, James Callender, printed a widely circulated pamphlet detailing the sordid affair. 

Curiously, Hamilton did not have a duel with Callender but instead published all of the blackmail letters.  That did nothing but elevate suspicions that extend to this day.  While the letters did have some grammatical and spelling errors, the vocabulary used was of a very educated indivicual which Mr. Reynolds was not.  Speculation is that Hamilton may have forged the letters in an attempt to cover up his own corruption.  Nevertheless, I suppose that all went away with the gunshot from Aaron Burr.  All was forgotten and Hamilton ended up on the $10 bill.  It is quite interesting what scandals are remembered by history and which are forgotten.