Hamilton–Reynolds sex scandal

The Hamilton–Reynolds sex scandal was a political scandal around the time of Presidencies of George Washington and John Adams. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton had a three-year affair with Maria Reynolds while paying her husband James Reynolds blackmail money to maintain secrecy. Hamilton was forced to admit the affair after James Reynolds threatened to implicate him in Reynolds' own scheme involving speculation on unpaid back wages intended for Revolutionary War veterans. The affair was one of the first sex scandals in American political history.

Affair

In 1791, 23-year-old Maria Reynolds approached the married 36-year-old Alexander Hamilton in Philadelphia, requesting his help. Claiming that her husband James had abandoned her and her daughter, Maria asked him for enough money to transport them back to New York City, where her family lived. Hamilton consented, and delivered the money in person to Maria later that night. As Hamilton himself later confessed, "I took the bill out of my pocket and gave it to her – Some conversation ensued from which it was quickly apparent that other than pecuniary consolation would be acceptable." The two began an illicit affair that would last at least three years.