Excerpt from Scandalmonger by William Safire, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

As Hamilton was to recount it, he sensed something odd in the application; a New York background in common was more excuse than good reason for soliciting his help. Yet the simplicity and modesty in her manner of relating the story impressed him with its truth, and her beauty was undeniably affecting. Hamilton was eager to comply. He had thirty dollars in the house, the kind of substantial sum that would take her home to her relatives in New York, but he did not want to dismiss her so quickly. And his family was in a nearby room. "The moment is not convenient to me, but if you will tell me the place of your residence, I will bring or send a small supply of money tonight."

"I live at 154 South Fourth Street." That was a short walk away from Hamilton's home at Walnut and South Third. "Not five minutes from here. You are so kind."

After dinner with his wife and children, Hamilton announced he had an appointment at the George, a nearby tavern, and put a $30 bank bill in his pocket. He envisioned the day when banknotes would be issued throughout the nation by the United States Bank, backed by the full faith and credit of the Federal government, and not issued pell-mell by local banks that were all too often on the brink of insolvency.

Keeping his mind on his banking, Hamilton recalled how Congress had passed his bank bill over the objections of James Madison and the Jeffersonians, who argued that its powers could not be found in the Constitution. These believers in a rural society of yeomen and farmers had almost persuaded Washington to veto the banking legislation designed to finance an empire based on urban manufactures, but the President asked Hamilton to present the reasons for the validity and propriety of the law. Writing a memorial day and night for a week, Hamilton devised a new theory: he persuaded the President that the Constitution contained "implied powers" to carry out functions not expressly forbidden, and that Madison's strict construction of the document would strangle the infant nation in its crib. Washington signed the bill and, perhaps without fully realizing the strength he was gathering to the Executive, laid the foundation for financing a continental empire. That was a good week's work.

He walked quickly down Walnut Street, slapping his thigh nervously with one hand, fingering the bank bill in his pocket with the other, focusing his mind on his victory over Madison about implied powers to keep his expectations down about his meeting with the young woman from New York. Was he hoping too hard for an assignation? Did he overstep in suggesting he come to her house? Her assent was so quick -- was he stepping into a trap of some sort? If her brother-in-law was Gilbert Livingston, and her half-brother was a former sheriff of Dutchess County, why hadn't she written to them for a small loan? Would he be played the fool?

Hamilton stopped in his tracks and composed himself. He was a Good Samaritan doing a good deed for a lovely woman in distress. If his fellow New Yorker responded to his gift with a cup of tea and a handshake of gratitude, he would wish her well and return home with dignity intact.

He suddenly found himself at the address the Reynolds woman had given him. A pretty child, not more than five or six, opened the door to the modest Fourth Street home, silently pointed to the stairway, and disappeared into the kitchen behind it. His eyes swept up the stairs to see Maria Reynolds standing at the top, in a black dress that accentuated her slim waist and full bosom, beckoning him to come up. He bounded up the stairs and followed her into the master bedroom. More awkwardly than he would have liked, he took the bill out of his pocket and laid it on the dresser. She ignored it, stepping close to him with a look of excited expectancy that he was sure no gentleman could fail to fulfill.

"I am glad you turned to me," he said.

Copyright William Safire February 2000. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the publisher, Simon & Schuster