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To: GOPcapitalist
As I said for the period when H was W's aide there was daily contact for five years for the period during the presidency and H's six years in office there was again extremely frequent if not daily contact. Visitors at Mount Vernon were frequently in packs without one to one contact as with the above. I am unaware of any visit by Hamilton to Mt.Vernon.

Certainly Washinton had numerous friends and admirers but he had a unique relationship with Hamilton only matched, in terms of affection, by Lafayette. They were more like sons than friends. It is believable that his friendship with Fairfax being much longer could have produced a few more letters than with Hamilton but not many more.

It is curious that you feel obliged to attempt to disparage Hamilton's friendship with Washington particularly when it is not disputed by any authority in of that era. Washington was his friend even when it brought him no good and when H acted immaturely. But he recognized the genius of the younger man, his love of his country and his willingness to devote all to its success. Washington had a keen eye for and great affection for Patriots of whom there was no greater than Alexander Hamilton.
788 posted on 09/08/2003 10:53:53 AM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (America's Enemies foreign and domestic agree. Bush must be destroyed.)
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To: justshutupandtakeit
As I said for the period when H was W's aide there was daily contact for five years for the period during the presidency and H's six years in office there was again extremely frequent if not daily contact.

Yeah. And George Mason lived next door to George Washington on the south for about a quarter century if not more. Bryan Fairfax lived next door to him in the north for the entire 45 years that he lived there and had known the family for even longer than that. So in other words, you are trying to allege that Washington's relationship was closer to his 5-year errand boy and 6-year cabinet secretary, with whom he had a professional relationship, than his 45-year next door neighbor and friend. That is simply absurd.

Visitors at Mount Vernon were frequently in packs without one to one contact as with the above.

Washington and Mason frequently dined together at their respective nearby homes before the latter died in the early 1790's. Fairfax and Washington frequently dined together at their respective homes up until Washington's death in 1799, at which time they had been corresponding regularly since 1754. That is hardly a "group visit" without contact.

Certainly Washinton had numerous friends and admirers but he had a unique relationship with Hamilton

Well, I suppose that, aside from their military actions together in the early 1760's, Fairfax was never Washington's errand boy. So yes. Hamilton's relationship was at least unique in its own way.

It is believable that his friendship with Fairfax being much longer could have produced a few more letters than with Hamilton but not many more.

Indeed, yet Fairfax's letters were almost all personal correspondences. I'd estimate that probably half if not more of Hamilton's are professional memos and dispatches from when he was working under washington in the army and cabinet.

It is curious that you feel obliged to attempt to disparage Hamilton's friendship with Washington

There is no need to disparage it, nor do I. I am simply noting for the record that you severely overstate its relevance and strength when it is a matter of historical fact that Washington had other friendships of significantly longer duration and closeness than that with Hamilton. If you should desire that I not make these facts known, abstain from overstating the nature of Hamilton's relationship and simply note that they were close friends, but by no means Washington's closest.

792 posted on 09/08/2003 12:38:33 PM PDT by GOPcapitalist
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