Editing Alexander Hamilton (section)

==Religion==
===Religious faith===
As a youth in the [[West Indies]], Hamilton was an Orthodox and conventional [[Presbyterian]] of the [[Old and New Lights|New Lights]]; he was mentored there by a former student of [[John Witherspoon]], a moderate of the New School.<ref>McDonald, ''Alexander Hamilton'' p. 11; Adair and Harvey (1974)</ref> He wrote two or three [[hymns]], which were published in the local newspaper.<ref name=chernow38>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n53 p. 38].</ref> [[Robert Troup]], his college roommate, noted that Hamilton was "in the habit of [[praying]] on his knees night and morning".<ref name=jch-life/>{{rp|10}}

During the [[American Revolution]], however, Hamilton became less religious and instead became "a conventional liberal with theistic inclinations who was an irregular churchgoer at best," according to [[Brown University]] historian [[Gordon S. Wood]]. In his final years of life, though, Hamilton returned to his [[Protestant]] faith,<ref>Wood, Gordon. ''Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815'' (2009) pp. 589–590</ref> and was [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]]. Historian [[Ron Chernow]] wrote:

{{blockquote |[H]e was not clearly affiliated with the denomination and did not seem to attend church regularly or take communion. Like Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson, Hamilton had probably fallen under the sway of [[deism]], which sought to substitute reason for revelation and dropped the notion of an active God who intervened in human affairs. At the same time, he never doubted God's existence, embracing Christianity as a system of morality and cosmic justice.<ref name=chernow205>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n224 p. 205].</ref>}}

When the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention]] opened in [[Philadelphia]] in May 1787, stories circulated that Hamilton made two quips about God at the convention. Asked by a Presbyterian minister why God was not referenced in the Constitution, Hamilton responded "Indeed, Doctor, we forgot it." When [[Benjamin Franklin]] asked that each session of the Constitutional Convention be opened with prayer, Hamilton is reported to have replied that there was no need for "foreign aid".<ref name=adair1955>{{cite journal |title=Was Alexander Hamilton a Christian Statesman? |first1=Douglass |last1=Adair |first2=Marvin |last2=Harvey |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=12 |number=2 |date=April 1955 |at=pp. 308–329 at 315 n.8 |jstor=1920511 |quote=The first story alleges [that he was asked] why God had not been suitably recognized in the Constitution. 'Indeed, Doctor,' Hamilton is supposed to have replied, 'we forgot it.' ... The second story [is of a] purported remark on the Convention floor, when Franklin moved that each session in the future be opened with prayer. Hamilton is supposed to have replied that there was no need for calling in 'foreign aid.'}}</ref> During the [[French Revolution]], Hamilton displayed a utilitarian approach to using religion for political ends, including maligning [[Thomas Jefferson]] as "the atheist", and insisting that [[Christianity]] and [[Jeffersonian democracy]] were incompatible.<ref name=adair1955/>{{rp|316}} After 1801, Hamilton expressed his belief in Christianity, proposing a Christian Constitutional Society in 1802 to take hold of "some strong feeling of the mind" to elect "fit men" to office, and advocating "Christian welfare societies" for the poor.

After being shot in his [[Burr–Hamilton duel|duel]] with [[Aaron Burr]] on July 11, 1804, Hamilton spoke of his belief in God's mercy.{{efn|Adair and Harvey, "Christian Statesman?"; Quotes on the Christian Constitutional Society are from Hamilton's letter to James A. Bayard of April 1802, quoted by Adair and Harvey. McDonald, says p. 356, that Hamilton's faith "had not entirely departed" him before the crisis of 1801. |group="note"}} On his deathbed, Hamilton asked the [[Episcopal Bishop of New York]], Benjamin Moore, to give him [[holy communion]].<ref name="papers-v26"/> Moore initially declined to do so, on two grounds: that to participate in a duel was a mortal sin, and that Hamilton, although undoubtedly sincere in his faith, was not a member of the Episcopalian denomination.<ref name=fleming /> After leaving, Moore was persuaded to return that afternoon following urgent pleas of Hamilton's friends. After receiving Hamilton's solemn assurance that he never intended to shoot Burr and repented for his part in the duel, Moore gave him communion.<ref name=fleming/> Bishop Moore returned the next morning, stayed with Hamilton for several hours until his death, and conducted his subsequent funeral service at [[Trinity Church (Manhattan)|Trinity Church]].<ref name="papers-v26">{{cite book |last=Moore |first=Benjamin |orig-year=July 12, 1804 |chapter=Letter to William Coleman (Editor, ''New-York Evening Post'') |title=The Papers of Alexander Hamilton |editor-first=Harold Coffin |editor-last=Syrett |editor-link=Harold Syrett |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-231-08925-8 |pages=314–316, 328 |url={{GBurl|La4WnvtSBzkC |pg=PA316}} |volume=26}}</ref>

===Relationship with Jews and Judaism===
Hamilton's birthplace had a large Jewish community, comprising roughly a quarter of [[Charlestown, Nevis|Charlestown]]'s white population by the 1720s.<ref name=chernow17/> He came into contact with Jews on a regular basis; as a small boy, he was tutored by a Jewish schoolmistress, and had learned to recite the [[Ten Commandments]] in the original [[Biblical Hebrew|Hebrew]].<ref name=jch-life>{{cite book |title=The Life of Alexander Hamilton, Vol. 1 |last=Hamilton |first=John Church |year=1834 |publisher=Halsted & Voorhies |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/lifealexanderha05hamigoog/page/n16 3] |url=https://archive.org/details/lifealexanderha05hamigoog}}</ref>

Hamilton exhibited a respect for Jews, which was described as "a life-long reverence."<ref name=chernow18>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n33 p. 18].</ref> He believed that Jewish achievement was a result of [[divine providence]]:

{{blockquote |The state and progress of the Jews, from their earliest history to the present time, has been so entirely out of the ordinary course of human affairs, is it not then a fair conclusion, that the cause also is an <em>extraordinary</em> one—in other words, that it is the effect of some great providential plan? The man who will draw this conclusion, will look for the solution in the Bible. He who will not draw it ought to give us another fair solution.<ref name=jch-711>{{cite book |title=Life of Alexander Hamilton: A History of the Republic of the United States of America, as Traced in His Writings and in Those of His Contemporaries, Volume VII |first=John Church |last=Hamilton |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton, Osgood and Company |year=1879 |page=711 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7lYSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA711}}</ref>}}

Based primarily on the phonetic similarity of Lavien to a common Jewish surname, it has been suggested that [[Johann Michael Lavien|Johann Lavien]], the first husband of Hamilton's mother, was Jewish or of Jewish descent.<ref name=chernow10-26>Chernow, pp. [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/10 10], [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n41 26].</ref> On this contested foundation, it was rumored that Hamilton himself was born Jewish, a claim that gained some popularity early in the 20th century<ref name=Newton34>Newton (2015),[{{GBurl|9GvpCQAAQBAJ|p=34}} p. 34].</ref> and which was given serious consideration by one present-day historian.<ref name=Porwancher>{{Cite book |last=Porwancher |first=Andrew |date=2021 |title=The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=1 |isbn=978-0-691-21115-2}}</ref> The belief that Lavien was Jewish was popularized by [[Gertrude Atherton]] in her 1902 novel ''The Conqueror'', a fictionalized biography of Hamilton which made the earliest known written assertion that Hamilton was Jewish.<ref>Newton (2015), [{{GBurl|9GvpCQAAQBAJ|p=14}} p. 14]</ref><ref>Newton (2019), [https://books.google.com/books?id=5oOiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 p. 18] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226171807/https://books.google.com/books?id=5oOiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |date=December 26, 2022 }}.</ref> The consensus of mainstream scholars and historians, however, is that Hamilton was not Jewish.<ref name=chernow_10-12_26>Chernow, pp. [{{GBurl|id=4iafgTEhU3QC|p=10}} 10–12], [{{GBurl|id=4iafgTEhU3QC|p=26}} 26].</ref>