History they Say Should open the Secret Springs of Action and devellope the concealed motives of the Actors. Do you believe there ever was Such a History? I wish you would try your hand at it. Draw the Characters, write the lives of Jay, Clinton, Hamilton and Burr, trace their motives and describe their Intrigues. Jay who is no Intriguer, has been the constant object of the Jealousy Envy and intrigues of the other three. Hamilton, supported by Englishmen, Scotchmen old Tories, and by Washington and his Army of friends as well as Soldiers, was the most operative Character, And Burr had subtlety enough to wriggle himself up, between them, sometimes Sympathizing with one and sometimes with another of them. The Intrigues of New York have decided the Politicks of the Continent, and Alexander Hamilton was at the bottom of it all.
John Adams, letter to Francois Adriaan van der Kemp, August 23, 1806