ABSTRACT

 

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SONS: THE ANTISLAVERY LEGACY

OF WILLIAM HAMILTON

 

By

 

Dr. Bernell E. Tripp

University of Florida

 

 

     William Hamilton, the reputed son of Federalist statesman Alexander Hamilton, was a carpenter by trade. However, during the early 1830s, he had become a local leader among blacks in New York City as the abolitionist movement struggled to gain supporters and look for answers in ways other than moral suasion to improve the condition of the race.

     Although formally educated in the city’s African Free Schools and the AME Zion Church, Thomas and his brothers learned much from the abolitionists, journalists, and educators who frequented their home. William Hamilton was an active participant in the yearly conventions of black men, where discussions focused on opposition to the American Colonization Society, support for black immigration to Canada, promotion of self-help through a black manual labor college, and encouragement of temperance among members of the race. These were all issues that found their way not only into the columns of the abolitionist and black newspapers of the late 1820s and early 1830s, and eventually into the pages of Hamilton’s sons’ newspapers and magazine.

     This study examines the life of William Hamilton and the influence of his philosophies on the values and beliefs of his sons, who would later launch two of the most influential black publications of the Civil War era. The study also looks at how the concerns of the father became the concerns of the sons, who continued his quests, especially those regarding the issue of colonization, through the columns of their publications. The brothers’ opposition to colonization would eventually lead to a public newspaper debate against the primary agent for the Haitian Bureau of Emigration, James Redpath, and contribute to the resulting upsurge of black nationalism in the latter part of the century.