To James Madison from Alexander Hamilton Jr., 5 August 1815
From Alexander Hamilton Jr.
N. York 5th. Augt. 1815.
The undersigned takes the liberty to request, that the Consulate at Cuba, may be entrusted to his charge. He regrets he cannot urge any exclusive merit, to entitle him to a situation, so important & respectable. Should however a successful application justify this intrusion, the Government shall not be disappointed in its confidence. I am sir with much respect Your Ob. Hum Sert.
A. Hamilton1
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1809–17, filed under “Hamilton”).
1. Alexander Hamilton Jr. (1786–1875), the son of JM’s late fellow statesman Alexander Hamilton, graduated from Columbia College in 1804 and was admitted to the bar. He spent time in Europe, witnessing part of Wellington’s Peninsular campaigns, and served in the War of 1812 as an infantry captain and an aide-de-camp to Maj. Gen. Morgan Lewis. Appointed district attorney for the territory of East Florida in 1822, he resigned that position to become a Florida land commissioner in 1823. His primary residence thereafter was New York City, where he practiced real estate law (Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, s.v. “Hamilton, Alexander”; , 3:295, 297, 343, 349; Baltimore Sun, 4 Aug. 1875).