Alexander Hamilton's Life in New York

[Music] how does a bastard orphan son-of-a-whore and the scotsman dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by Providence impoverished in squalor grow up to be a hero and a scholar in this video we're going to find the answers to that question to see the places in the city that never sleeps that formed his life his career and his demise [Music] growing up Berto Rican in New York City similar to lin-manuel Miranda the composer lyricist and star of the Hamilton musical I can relate a lot to the life story of Alexander Hamilton who also grew up in the Caribbean and moved to this great city of New York where he made a name for himself but let's start at the end across the Hudson River in Weehawken New Jersey the morning of July 11 1804 Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton met face to face here at Weehawken New Jersey there were 20 pieces away from each other Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were colleagues both in forming this new nation of the United States of America but also both as hotshot new york city lawyers but they were also bitter rivals and Byrd was done with Alexander Hamilton when he learned that he was defamed behind his back as he was running for the governor of New York State Aaron Burr wanted a position he can actually have some power and he lost that race due to a huge margin Aaron Burr decided to challenge Alexander Hamilton to a deadly duel however dueling was illegal across the 13 colonies except for New Jersey where they didn't prosecute any duels that happened here but this wasn't the first time Alexander Hamilton was familiar with these dueling grounds November 23rd 1801 Philip Hamilton went face to face with New York City lawyer George eager he wanted to fend the honor of his father and thus challenged this New York City lawyer that was speaking against Alexander Hamilton to a deadly duel they also went across the Hudson to this very spot stood face to face Alexander Hamilton consulted with his son saying you should throw away your shot so you can abort the conflict however George Iker put up his pistol Alexander Hamilton also put up his pistol and Georgie ker shot Phillip Hamilton Phillip Hamilton was rushed across the Hudson and he died by his father's side history was repeating itself Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton stood 20 pieces away from each other Aaron Burr faced the woods while Alexander Hamilton had a beautiful view of the New York City skyline he always loved this city this was the city that allowed him to get a new fresh start on his life so he it couldn't have been a better view for him to face his bitter rival however according to Hamilton's private writings he intended to throw away his shot so burr put up his pistol Hamilton also put up his pistol and burr shots Hamilton shot as well Hamilton's shot was on the tree branch slightly away above burrs head so maybe he actually did throw away his shot however Hamilton's shot hit him directly in the abdomen Hamilton was rushed over across the Hudson he was bleeding for oarsmen rowing as fast as they could with Hamilton's doctor David Howe sack by his side trying to stop the bleeding rushing back to the city that would turn a Caribbean born orphan into the nation's founding father let's venture across Manhattan to retrace his steps [Music] after the death of his son a friend of Hamilton said never have I seen a man so overwhelmed with grief the vibrancy the Hamilton hand was flushed away from him after his son died and thus he decided to escape the bad memories that he saw all around downtown Manhattan and decided to go up town over here to the modern-day neighborhood of Hamilton Heights the musical by liminal Miranda captured this moment is life perfectly in the song it's quiet uptown here's a beautiful cover for my talented friend [Music] feels easier [Music] the Hamiltons move uptown and learn to live with the unimaginable it's one of my favorite songs in the entire musical and absolutely breathtaking and tears your heart apart and it kind of gives you sense into what Hamilton and his family especially his wife Eliza were going through here at the Grange the two-story frame federal-style house was completed in 1802 by architect John McComb jr. this thing was named the Grange after Hamilton's own grandfather's estate in Scotland ultimately this would be the only home he would ever own for many decades the home of the Grange was right here smushed between an apartment building and a church st. Luke's Episcopal Church in front there's still the statue of Alexander Hamilton a wait for it there was another reason why Hamilton chose this then remote area of Manhattan Island it was his clothes socialite friend who lived over at Gracie Mansion Hamilton loved to be in the room where it happens that happening place was the mansion of Archibald Gracey [Music] here Hamilton raised funds in order to start the New York Evening Post it's still surviving to this day as the New York Post it's the oldest newspaper continuously running in the entire United States of America however inside if you get a chance to tour this now office of the mayor you can see a fireplace mantel installed in 1966 inside the Susan B Wagner Room it being the final remains of a mansion that resided in the modern-day neighborhood of Meatpacking District at 82 James Street you can find the plaque that reads site of the William Bayard house where Alexander Hamilton first Secretary of Treasury died after his duel with Aaron Burr July 12th 1804 despite having a plaque the exact location of the william bay yards mansion is still up for the debate many historians believe it was actually located one block over at Horatio Street however this was still within the realms of william bay yards estates after being rode across the Hudson this was the closest place they can get to to his friends house William Bayard word immediately got around the Hamilton was shot many of the finest doctors in the city came to see what they could do a vigil was forming around home Hamilton's wife Eliza and their children were rushed over here by stagecoach many hours later Hamilton surrounded by his loved ones and many a of his loyal colleagues the front of the warmth of the bay yard fireplace at the mere age of 49 years old drew his final breath Hamilton was the only founding father who didn't survive until old age the musical ends with a poignant question who lives who dies who tells your story let's meet the woman who continues to tell Hamilton's story at ending illness I'm Karen King yonas I am the owner of Patriot tours NYC I give walking tours about Revolutionary War in New York City I am also an author I've written a book about aaron burr's gifted daughter Theodosia burr and you can also see me as a reenactor as my 18th century character mrs. Q I'm so excited for this tour truly it's one of the best I've taken so far in New York City [Music] this is Frances tavern one of the oldest extant buildings in lower Manhattan built in 1719 as a residence can you believe this massive building was once a residence it was the home of the Delancey family the delancy's were one of New York's wealthy merchant families and they built this as their residence in 1719 now after a while a man named Sam Frances bought the building from them and he renamed it the Queen's Head Tavern and as the Queen's Head Tavern a young Alexander Hamilton might have been seen here with his friends in the Sons of Liberty as this was one of their prime meeting places during the Revolutionary War it was occupied by British soldiers and then after the war returned to Sam Frances and reopened as the Frances tavern and the room right up over my head the long room General George Washington gave his farewell address as General of the American army and that was in 1783 at the end of the war he gathered here with all of his officers to say goodbye except Alexander Hamilton who said he was so heartbroken that his commander was leaving that he could not attend that he was too overwhelmed with emotion now over the years the building has undergone quite a bit of restoration and changes but if we walk over to the Broad Street side the entire wall is covered with yellow brick and these yellow bricks are the original bricks used by the Delancey family they're imported from Holland they're called Holland brick and Holland brick was not only the most solid or strongest brick available at that time it was also the most expensive so whenever you learn about anything about colonial New York and someone is living in a yellow brick home or a mansion they would be part of the elite class at that time what we might call the super-rich and I bet some of you know that there's still a street here in New York City named for that family not far to the north Delancey Street [Music] but we're walking along pearl Street here and we're coming up on stone street one of the oldest streets in New York City where you see the tables Stone Street was one of the original streets laid by the Dutch in the old village of New Amsterdam and the walk we're taking right now would have been a familiar walk to Hamilton one that he probably took thousands of times himself from here on his way to Wall Street to the Tontine coffee house and the Bank of New York and his law office as well [Music] [Music] fascinating and was Hamilton a very social person I really believe he was probably one of the most charismatic men at this time he certainly had a something about him that attracted people to him even people who didn't like him goes to show that the most charismatic men can make as many good friends as they can make very bitter enemies it's true that's true so we're at the site now of what would have been called the Tontine coffee house it's a coffee house where businessmen met and on the second floor of the Tontine coffee house is where Alexander Hamilton started the Bank of New York in 1784 that Bank is still around today it's called the bank of New York and a little bit of Wall Street is a building the Bank of New York built in 1926 and we can see some of the old cornerstones of the building on the top the cornerstone of the 1797 structure built here and then cornerstone of the newer structure built in 1926 but the Bank of New York has existed since 1784 and is the oldest bank in America still in existence under its original name so this would have been at one time the Bank of New York and I don't know if you know but mr. burr also started a bank that was a bank started by Aaron Burr was called the Manhattan trust company and it built a building in the 1920s just half a block to the north and you can see it here and you can almost see the top of it way up there and when the Manhattan trust company built this skyscraper it was the tallest building in the world for about a month until the Chrysler Building was completed and the Bank of New York no I'm sorry the Manhattan trust company no longer operates under that name but it's a name you all know it's JPMorgan Chase and it is JPMorgan Chase who today owns the pistols from the infamous duel between mr. Hamilton and mr. they often keep them in their executive suite in Midtown but they also do loan them out to various museums for exhibitions I don't know how JPMorgan Chase came to Oakland the pistols I believe at one time they were owned by Bank of New York some transaction took place and now kind of ironically they're owned by the bank started by Aaron Burr the Manhattan Trust Company or JPMorgan Shakey's Wow that is that's crazy to think about that the actual pistols are still available to some days how things work out though yeah fun fact the pistols they found out had a quick release yes so they could shoot a little bit faster they both chose not to use them the day of the duel all interesting person who brought the pistols which in this case was Alexander Hamilton shows second for the weapon so mr. burr got to choose of the two pistols which he wanted to use so he chose the one he wanted to use Hamilton took the less the other one and then their seconds examined the guns thoroughly to make sure they were in working order and once they were the two men then decided whether or not they wanted to use that hair-trigger as it was called and both men declined to do so also burn knew they both knew about it they both declined to use it the seconds then loaded the weapons ensured that they were in proper operating condition and handed them to the duelists this is federal hall National Monument built in 1841 and it replaced the original building on this site the original building would have been our City Hall during the American Revolution and then after the American Revolution became the first Federal Hall and up here you see the statue of George Washington which is placed where the balcony of that original Federal Hall stood because that is the balcony where President Washington took the oath of office as the first president of the United States of America April 30th 1789 and even though that original building was demolished when this building was built we were sure to commemorate that incredible moment in American history which is really the day we became the United States of America when our president and vice president John Adams were sworn in right here at the intersection of Broad Street and Wall Street and he was he depicted in the painting yes there's that beautiful painting and he's taller than everyone he has on that brown suit american-made suit and the streets according to eyewitnesses were packed with so many people that a woman who lived next door was out on her balcony she said it looked like she could step off of her balcony and walk across the heads of the people everyone was acting so tightly oh there is a great story do you know the story of the cadaver riot no I just looked that way and the story popped into my head so that today is the New York Stock Exchange right over there and that's a broad Street at the bottom of Broad Street was our only hospital in New York after the American Revolution the New York City Hospital and of course in that hospital they trained doctors and they trained them in anatomy so they used cadavers well at that time there really wasn't let's say very good laws determining how you acquired the cadavers for use so one night a ladder apparently was against the hospital some boys climbed up and they happened to see the anatomy room and one of the boys claimed that one of the bodies was his recently deceased mother he ran home to tell his father they ran to the cemetery and before you know it a huge riot broke out where the people of the town were trying to break into the hospital and the doctors out well Hamilton the mayor James Duane and you might know general Baron Bunch Toyman all got together and try to protect the the the doctors they determined that the best thing to do with them would to lock them up there was a jail in here at the time was to lock them up and protect them here in the jail well the mob came up here to the jail and in trying to protect them Hamilton Vaughn Steven and Duane were all beaten up in the riot and so that's the famous cadaver riot where Hamilton was nearly beaten to a pulp by an angry mob was his doctor David hoseok involved in it David how sick was one of the most of the doctors fled town but he was one of the few doctors that remained and said he was going to stand against the mob and then after that the common council which would be our City Council today passed our laws determining how you could acquire cadavers for anatomy lessons [Music] Trinity Church and there has been a Trinity Church here at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street since 1697 the original church was built by the Church of England and it burned in a massive fire during the Revolutionary War in 1776 now the church that Hamilton would have been familiar with was the second Church built after that which later collapsed in a snowstorm and this church was built in 1846 it is a Gothic revivalist Cathedral a beautiful example of mid 19th century architecture the right side of the church is the oldest part of the graveyard dating to the 1680s and the left side of the church or the southern side of the church graveyard is where we find the graves of Alexander and Eliza Hamilton [Music] now this Trinity Church when it was built was a waterfront Church and you can see the street go downhill to what was then the shore of the Hudson River and you can see today the Hudson River is many blocks beyond us but would have been behind this church at that time the church has recently been restored you can see they've done a lovely restoration and mr. Hamilton's grave is right here along rector street it's a large white pyramid and why did he choose a pyramid it wasn't him it was his fellow officers in the Society of the Cincinnati that designed the gravesite so sort of a pyramid or an obelisk which was a popular symbol at that time Hamilton's are brothers or officers in the Revolutionary War paid for the gravesite and also for the monuments [Music] Karen thank you so much for taking me on this journey through all of downtown Manhattan you wrote a book recently feodosia burr about Aaron burrs gifted an unusual daughter so if you're a fan of the song dear Theodosia from the Hamilton musical this is the book for you this is all about her life here in New York City in the 1790s and it really is a story about a new nation and a new type of young woman coming into existence a young woman who is educated taught to be independent and who lived a very different life from all of the other young ladies her age wonderful I can't wait to read it myself and you can find the link in the comments and you can find mrs. Q on facebook at patriot tours NYC you can also find mrs. Q on youtube at patriot tours NYC and now let's answer that question why did Hamilton grow up to be a hero and a scholar [Music] as I mentioned in many videos before history is complicated it's because people are complicated however in the final song of the Hamilton musical who lives who dies who tells your story there's a very interesting question as answered why are certain histories of people remembered but not of others it's a question I've been wondering ever since studying history from places all around the world and it's the answer basically is whoever survives you has to decide whether to tell your story or not and it's been a very important reminder as I explored the history of Alexander Hamilton it's better to make more friends than to make enemies I'm Ariel with Urbanists keeping awesome and always keep on exploring [Music] thank you so much for watching this video guide of Alexander Hamilton's New York I hope you enjoyed it I did it in honor of the musical coming on Disney Plus I've listened to the cast album hundreds of times and absolutely loved it huge shout out to my friends shall behave for making the cover of it's fight uptown you can find more of her work down below also I have three book recommendations check out that and quinones Theodosia number is a wonderful insight into the woman who basically inspired the song via Theodosia and also the book that inspired liminal Miranda to write the musical is Ron chernow Hamilton it is a huge massive book and you'll learn everything about Hamilton and it's written like if it's an epic movie absolutely loved it and it was a huge help for this video the other one is Hamilton the revolution those in depth into the making of the musical highly recommend also has all the full lyrics of the songs if you want to have a map with all the addresses to the places mentioned there's another link down below and if you don't see more videos about histories of cities click that subscribe button thank you so much for watching keep being awesome and always keep on exploring [Music]

Channel: Urbanist: Exploring Cities

Views: 85,328

Rating: 4.8846154 out of 5

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Id: LuEJOMxulLo

Length: 25min 32sec (1532 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 03 2020