Monday, October 17th, 1796

My Dearest, Theodosia,

                                                The strangest thing happened to me just the other day. I was reading the 'Gazette of the United States', a publication I do not often find myself reading. It was Alexander who directed it to me. You see, dear Theo, he stumbled across a series of essays whereby the author, known as Phocion, heavily endorsed John Adams whilst simultaneously disregarding Thomas Jefferson.

There has been much debate about who this mysterious author is and why he is saying what he is. Alexander and I feel, as do many others, that they know the creator of these essay and I am inclined to agree with them. It is evident from the style of writing, and indeed its content, that inspires the idea that it was Father who put quill to parchment and created the essays that promote John Adams for our newest President.

So far, only a few essays have been written and published, but it is more than likely more are to come. As we both know, Father is not known for backing down from a fight and this is one such instance. I know he has never liked Jefferson, he has said so on more than one occasion, but to publicly disregard him is something I never thought he would do. Then again, Father does a lot of things I never thought he would do. He is not exactly known for his subtlety.

Have you seen any of these letters? If so, what do you make of them? What does your father make of them? I fear Father may be presenting himself in a negative light. As your father is still in the government, he may know how they are taking it and whether or not they are aware of these letters.

Love Always,

Philip Hamilton.

~~~

My Dearest, Philip,

                                       I brought this up with my father, as I know little of these letters myself, and he has informed me that it was James Madison who alerted John Adams as to the publication of these letters. Apparently, the only reason they believe it to be your father is the content of the letters. John Adams and your father are both Federalists and it appears only right for your father to have been the one to write these letters. That and his constant disregard for Jefferson. As you say, they have never agreed.

Pardon my next comment, Philip, I do not wish for it to offend you in any way, but I feel like I need to ask a favor of you. You see, through reading through our previous letters, I have noticed that talk often turns to your father as well as the current political climate. I feel as though we have strongly betrayed the points of our letters. Our intention was in able to talk without our father's finding out, not to discuss what is currently happening with our fathers.

I must ask, dear Philip, that we refrain from discussing our father's political movement as well as that of the government. Unless, of course, you feel it is a matter of importance. I wish for us to be able to get to each other, to talk about anything and everything. I hear enough politics from the father and I wish to be separated from that with you.

That is all I ask, Philip. I ask no more.

Love Always,

Theodosia Burr.

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Notes;

It is known that on October 14th, 1797, James Madison alerted John Adams to a series of letters being published by an unknown author by the name of 'Phocian'. Many assumed the author of these letters to be Alexander Hamilton due to the mocking and bombastic tone, something Hamilton was known for. Even Adams assumed this to be the case. However, modern Historians know that there was never such evidence of these letters in Hamilton's works so there is no way to confirm the speculation.

Through reading these letters, we have noticed that the topic of conversation often falls to either the elder Hamilton and Burr or the political climate at the time. From this, it is clear to us that the young Burr is beginning to find this correspondence tedious and wishes to refrain from the topics and focus more on the emotions.