The First American Sex Scandal

August 25, 1797. Alexander Hamilton, the former Secretary of the Treasury, has published a new pamphlet. At first, readers assume this is going to be another one of Hamilton’s pro-Federalist, ideological screeds. But soon, the whole country will realize that this is something very different: an admission of guilt. This wasn’t about a crime, but an affair – the first sex scandal in the history of American politics. Why did Alexander Hamilton openly confess to his extramarital activities? And if he hadn’t, how might American History have unfolded differently? 

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