Clue Watch: Alexander Hamilton and His Letters

There have been a lot of clues and categories related to Alexander Hamilton ever since the musical “Hamilton” became such a sensation. So we’re not keeping an eye on categories about Alexander himself or the musical.

This post is mainly about the “SLAMILTON” category from the Jeopardy! match on Thursday, February 9, 2017, featuring quotes from the letters of Alexander Hamilton. They wanted to know the person he was slamming. This category was in the first round and Kate Reed Hauenstein, a high school history teacher from Cedar Park, TX, zipped through it, gaining an early lead that she held throughout most of the match.

I was very interested to see if the quote sources are online and found them on the National Archives website. Here are the clues with links to the letters that they came from.

($200) This “pen of the revolution” is a “man of profound ambition & violent passions”
A nickname (just the first quote)
May 26, 1792 letter to Edward Carrington (just the last quote)

($400) “I take it he is for or against nothing but as it suits his interest or ambition… I feel it a religious duty to oppose his career”
September 21, 1792 (he does not actually name the person he is talking about)

($600) Hamilton deemed the views of this once “Federalist Papers” pal to be “dangerous to the union”
May 26, 1792 letter to Carrington

($800) “As wicked as he is mad”, this vice president got people “alarmed by appearances of some eccentric tendencies”
June 6 1800 to James McHenry (just the first quote)
October 24 1800 (just the last quote)

($1000) This first N.Y. gov., also a VP with a presidential last name, has “narrow views, a prejudiced and contracted disposition.”
February 20 1789 “H.G.” Letter I (A clue about H.G. being Hamilton would be très cool)

Kate lost her lead when the champion Kirstin Cutts ran the last category. Go to page 2 if you want to see the “OED” clues that Kirstin zipped through. What happened in Final Jeopardy! is on this weekly recap.