Thanks to a critically-acclaimed and phenomenally popular Broadway musical,

Alexander Hamilton has, quite literally, returned to the spotlight. The success of Lin-
Manuel Miranda’s  Hamilton, a show inspired by Ron Chernow’s best-selling 2004
biography Alexander Hamilton, has helped to rekindle interest in a man who, even
when judged by the exceptional standards of the Founding Fathers, led a remarkable
life.

Hamilton’s career, both as an invaluable Revolutionary War aide-de-camp to Gen.

George Washington, and as a leading Federalist politician destined to become his
country’s first secretary of the treasury, has been chronicled in minute detail, not
simply in biographies, but through meticulous scholarly editions of his extensive
writings.[1]

As these collections testify, Hamilton was a gifted, versatile and prolific writer, keen
to communicate his ideas through personal letters, official reports and political essays.
Given their importance in promoting the ratification of the US Constitution, particular
attention has focused on Hamilton’s prominent role in producing the series of articles,
collectively known as The Federalist Papers, first published in 1787-88 in three New
York newspapers: The Independent Journal, The New-York Packet, and The Daily
Advertiser.

Following a convention long since adopted by political essayists in Britain and her
former American colonies alike, Hamilton and his fellow authors James Madison and
John Jay wrote anonymously, using pseudonyms borrowed from the ancient world.
Hamilton, who penned the majority of the eighty-five Federalist essays, chose
the nom-de-plume “Publius,” after one of the founders of the Roman Republic, Publius
Valerius.[2]

This was not the first time that Alexander Hamilton had adopted the persona of
“Publius.” He’d also used it in October and November 1778, when he wrote three
newspaper articles, all published in The New-York Journal, and the General
Advertiser, attacking Maryland Congressman Samuel Chase for allegedly deploying
insider knowledge in an unfair – and unpatriotic – bid to monopolize the flour market.
[3]

Existing scholarship maintains that it would be another nine years before Hamilton
once more assumed the mantle of “Publius,” yet there’s compelling evidence that he
resumed that identity just two years later in 1780, in the wake of one of the most
dramatic episodes of the entire Revolutionary War, Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold’s failed
attempt to betray the Hudson Valley fortress of West Point to the British.

Arnold’s notorious treason was fully exposed on September 25, 1780, when he fled
to New York after learning that his contact, British Army adjutant-general Maj. John
André, had been captured in possession of incriminating documents. In following
weeks American newspaper editors devoted many column inches to keeping their
readers abreast of every twist and turn in the scarcely-credible saga, including
André’s trial and execution as a spy, and the public demonstrations in Philadelphia
and elsewhere that culminated in ritual burnings of the hated Arnold’s effigy. Besides
such rolling coverage of developments, newspapers also printed letters from key
players and anonymous eyewitnesses to events, along with opinion-pieces from
commentators.

This proliferation of Arnold-inspired journalism included a long article that first

appeared on Thursday October 12 in  The New-York Packet, and the American Advertiser .
That newspaper was an earlier incarnation of one of the trio of titles that carried the
famous Federalist essays in 1787-88. Originally published in New York City, following
the British occupation in the summer of 1776 its editor Samuel Loudon shifted his
press up-state to Fishkill, a small town about ten miles northeast of the future
location of West Point. It was published there between January 1777 and August
1783.[4]

The essay of October 12, 1780, which sought to exploit the widespread anger over
Arnold’s treason to revitalize the flagging and divided Patriot war-effort, was
anonymous, but carried the bold, capitalized pseudonym “PUBLIUS.”[5] Typical for
that era, the same piece was swiftly re-published by other newspapers, making the
front page of The Pennsylvania Gazette of October 18, 1780 (“From the New York
Packet, Fishkill, October 12”) and later surfacing in The Norwich Packet, and the
Weekly Advertiser on Tuesday October 24 (“From the Fish Kill Papers”).

hanks to a critically-acclaimed and phenomenally popular Broadway musical,

Alexander Hamilton has, quite literally, returned to the spotlight. The success of Lin-
Manuel Miranda’s  Hamilton, a show inspired by Ron Chernow’s best-selling 2004
biography Alexander Hamilton, has helped to rekindle interest in a man who, even
when judged by the exceptional standards of the Founding Fathers, led a remarkable
life.
Hamilton’s career, both as an invaluable Revolutionary War aide-de-camp to Gen.
George Washington, and as a leading Federalist politician destined to become his
country’s first secretary of the treasury, has been chronicled in minute detail, not
simply in biographies, but through meticulous scholarly editions of his extensive
writings.[1]

As these collections testify, Hamilton was a gifted, versatile and prolific writer, keen
to communicate his ideas through personal letters, official reports and political essays.
Given their importance in promoting the ratification of the US Constitution, particular
attention has focused on Hamilton’s prominent role in producing the series of articles,
collectively known as The Federalist Papers, first published in 1787-88 in three New
York newspapers: The Independent Journal, The New-York Packet, and The Daily
Advertiser.

Following a convention long since adopted by political essayists in Britain and her
former American colonies alike, Hamilton and his fellow authors James Madison and
John Jay wrote anonymously, using pseudonyms borrowed from the ancient world.
Hamilton, who penned the majority of the eighty-five Federalist essays, chose
the nom-de-plume “Publius,” after one of the founders of the Roman Republic, Publius
Valerius.[2]

This was not the first time that Alexander Hamilton had adopted the persona of
“Publius.” He’d also used it in October and November 1778, when he wrote three
newspaper articles, all published in The New-York Journal, and the General
Advertiser, attacking Maryland Congressman Samuel Chase for allegedly deploying
insider knowledge in an unfair – and unpatriotic – bid to monopolize the flour market.
[3]

Existing scholarship maintains that it would be another nine years before Hamilton
once more assumed the mantle of “Publius,” yet there’s compelling evidence that he
resumed that identity just two years later in 1780, in the wake of one of the most
dramatic episodes of the entire Revolutionary War, Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold’s failed
attempt to betray the Hudson Valley fortress of West Point to the British.

Arnold’s notorious treason was fully exposed on September 25, 1780, when he fled
to New York after learning that his contact, British Army adjutant-general Maj. John
André, had been captured in possession of incriminating documents. In following
weeks American newspaper editors devoted many column inches to keeping their
readers abreast of every twist and turn in the scarcely-credible saga, including
André’s trial and execution as a spy, and the public demonstrations in Philadelphia
and elsewhere that culminated in ritual burnings of the hated Arnold’s effigy. Besides
such rolling coverage of developments, newspapers also printed letters from key
players and anonymous eyewitnesses to events, along with opinion-pieces from
commentators.

This proliferation of Arnold-inspired journalism included a long article that first

appeared on Thursday October 12 in  The New-York Packet, and the American Advertiser .
That newspaper was an earlier incarnation of one of the trio of titles that carried the
famous Federalist essays in 1787-88. Originally published in New York City, following
the British occupation in the summer of 1776 its editor Samuel Loudon shifted his
press up-state to Fishkill, a small town about ten miles northeast of the future
location of West Point. It was published there between January 1777 and August
1783.[4]

The essay of October 12, 1780, which sought to exploit the widespread anger over
Arnold’s treason to revitalize the flagging and divided Patriot war-effort, was
anonymous, but carried the bold, capitalized pseudonym “PUBLIUS.”[5] Typical for
that era, the same piece was swiftly re-published by other newspapers, making the
front page of The Pennsylvania Gazette of October 18, 1780 (“From the New York
Packet, Fishkill, October 12”) and later surfacing in The Norwich Packet, and the
Weekly Advertiser on Tuesday October 24 (“From the Fish Kill Papers”).

hanks to a critically-acclaimed and phenomenally popular Broadway musical,

Alexander Hamilton has, quite literally, returned to the spotlight. The success of Lin-
Manuel Miranda’s  Hamilton, a show inspired by Ron Chernow’s best-selling 2004
biography Alexander Hamilton, has helped to rekindle interest in a man who, even
when judged by the exceptional standards of the Founding Fathers, led a remarkable
life.

Hamilton’s career, both as an invaluable Revolutionary War aide-de-camp to Gen.

George Washington, and as a leading Federalist politician destined to become his
country’s first secretary of the treasury, has been chronicled in minute detail, not
simply in biographies, but through meticulous scholarly editions of his extensive
writings.[1]
As these collections testify, Hamilton was a gifted, versatile and prolific writer, keen
to communicate his ideas through personal letters, official reports and political essays.
Given their importance in promoting the ratification of the US Constitution, particular
attention has focused on Hamilton’s prominent role in producing the series of articles,
collectively known as The Federalist Papers, first published in 1787-88 in three New
York newspapers: The Independent Journal, The New-York Packet, and The Daily
Advertiser.

Following a convention long since adopted by political essayists in Britain and her
former American colonies alike, Hamilton and his fellow authors James Madison and
John Jay wrote anonymously, using pseudonyms borrowed from the ancient world.
Hamilton, who penned the majority of the eighty-five Federalist essays, chose
the nom-de-plume “Publius,” after one of the founders of the Roman Republic, Publius
Valerius.[2]

This was not the first time that Alexander Hamilton had adopted the persona of
“Publius.” He’d also used it in October and November 1778, when he wrote three
newspaper articles, all published in The New-York Journal, and the General
Advertiser, attacking Maryland Congressman Samuel Chase for allegedly deploying
insider knowledge in an unfair – and unpatriotic – bid to monopolize the flour market.
[3]

Existing scholarship maintains that it would be another nine years before Hamilton
once more assumed the mantle of “Publius,” yet there’s compelling evidence that he
resumed that identity just two years later in 1780, in the wake of one of the most
dramatic episodes of the entire Revolutionary War, Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold’s failed
attempt to betray the Hudson Valley fortress of West Point to the British.

Arnold’s notorious treason was fully exposed on September 25, 1780, when he fled
to New York after learning that his contact, British Army adjutant-general Maj. John
André, had been captured in possession of incriminating documents. In following
weeks American newspaper editors devoted many column inches to keeping their
readers abreast of every twist and turn in the scarcely-credible saga, including
André’s trial and execution as a spy, and the public demonstrations in Philadelphia
and elsewhere that culminated in ritual burnings of the hated Arnold’s effigy. Besides
such rolling coverage of developments, newspapers also printed letters from key
players and anonymous eyewitnesses to events, along with opinion-pieces from
commentators.

This proliferation of Arnold-inspired journalism included a long article that first

appeared on Thursday October 12 in  The New-York Packet, and the American Advertiser .
That newspaper was an earlier incarnation of one of the trio of titles that carried the
famous Federalist essays in 1787-88. Originally published in New York City, following
the British occupation in the summer of 1776 its editor Samuel Loudon shifted his
press up-state to Fishkill, a small town about ten miles northeast of the future
location of West Point. It was published there between January 1777 and August
1783.[4]

The essay of October 12, 1780, which sought to exploit the widespread anger over
Arnold’s treason to revitalize the flagging and divided Patriot war-effort, was
anonymous, but carried the bold, capitalized pseudonym “PUBLIUS.”[5] Typical for
that era, the same piece was swiftly re-published by other newspapers, making the
front page of The Pennsylvania Gazette of October 18, 1780 (“From the New York
Packet, Fishkill, October 12”) and later surfacing in The Norwich Packet, and the
Weekly Advertiser on Tuesday October 24 (“From the Fish Kill Papers”).