Hamilton, William

1773
December 9, 1836

The abolitionist William Hamilton was born in New York sometime in 1773. He was reputed to be the illegitimate son of the American statesman Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first secretary of the treasury, though evidence for the accuracy of this rumor is lacking. He made a living as a carpenter, but he made his name as a powerful orator working to improve the conditions of African Americans. In 1808 he cofounded and became president of the New York African Society for Mutual Relief, which provided funds for the widows and children of its members.

One of the country's earliest black abolitionists, Hamilton delivered an antislavery speech, An Address to the New York African Society for Mutual Relief, on January 2, 1809. The address was published a week later at his listeners' request. In the speech, Hamilton celebrated the recent ending of the American slave trade and promoted the education of African Americans. He expressed confidence that "soon shall that contumelious assertion of the proud be proved false, to wit, that Africans do not possess minds as ingenious as other men."

In 1820 Hamilton was one of the founding members of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) Church in New York City. On July 4, 1827, he gave a major oration at the church to commemorate the New York State emancipation statute. While in his earlier speech he insisted on the equality of the races, in this oration he proclaimed the superiority of blacks, noting that "if there is any difference in the species, that difference is in favour of the people of colour." Arguing that no white American could claim superiority to African Americans as long as he continued to hold slaves, Hamilton asked, "Does he act in conformity to true philosophy?"

Having made clear his contempt for the true motives of white men—"authority and gold"—and having accomplished his expressed goal "to unravel this mystery of superiority," Hamilton proceeded to exhort the young men of his audience to further study and education, and to rouse themselves from "frivolity and lethargy." Giving the lie to the supposed lethargy of African Americans, Hamilton was tireless in his endeavors on their behalf. He helped to organize the first annual Convention for the Improvement of Free People of Color held in Philadelphia on September 20, 1830. As president of the fourth annual convention, held in New York in June, 1834, he gave a well-received speech published as Minutes of the Fourth Annual Convention, for the Improvement of the Free People of Color. As a member of the Phoenix and Philomathean societies he worked towards improving the education of African Americans.

Strongly opposed to the American Colonization Society, Hamilton was a staunch supporter of the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, whom he knew personally. He publicized Garrison's Liberator, and helped in the publication of Garrison's Thoughts on Colonization. Hamilton died in or near New York City in 1836. His sons, Robert and Thomas, established two newspapers The People's Press and The Anglo-African.

See also Abolition; African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; Liberator, The ; Slave Narratives; Varick, James

Bibliography

Boardman, Helen M. "First Families of Manhattan." Phylon (Second Quarter 1944): 138–142.

Ottley, Roi, and William J. Weatherby. The Negro in New York. New York: New York Public Library, 1967.

Porter, Dorothy, ed. Early Negro Writing: 1760–1837. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971. Reprint: Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 1994.

Ripley, C. Peter, ed. The Black Abolitionist Papers. Volume III, The United States, 1830–1846. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.

Walls, William. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church: Reality of the Black Church. Charlotte: A.M.E. Zion Publishing House, 1974.

lydia mcneill (1996)