Angelica Schuyler Church was Alexander Hamilton’s sister-in-law and the heart of Thomas Jefferson’s “charming coterie” of artists and salonnières in Paris. Her transatlantic network of important friends spanned the political spectrum of her era, and her astute eye and brilliant letters kept them well informed.
A woman of great influence in a time of influential women (Catherine the Great and Marie Antoinette were contemporaries), Angelica witnessed American history at its birth: in Boston, as General Burgoyne surrendered to the revolutionaries; in Newport, receiving French troops under the command of her soon-to-be friend, the Marquis de Lafayette; in Yorktown, just after the decisive battle; and in Paris and London, helping to determine the standing of the new nation on the world stage.
Across nationalities, languages, and cultures, Angelica wove a web of connections that spanned the War of Independence, the postwar years of tenuous peace, and the turbulent politics and rival ideologies that threatened the nascent United States
Writer Molly Beer explores Church’s life and legacy, revealing how American women wielded their influence to shape history and shedding new light on the early political and social fabric of the United States. Beer’s book, Angelica: For Love and Country in a Time of Revolution (W. W. Norton & Company), is available for purchase.
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