Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton’s husband, Alexander, was one of the most controversial of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. Controversies surrounding him go all the way back to his date of birth. We know he was born on January 11, but we don’t know whether he was born in 1755 or 1757.
Alexander Hamilton often reported his age as if he was born in 1757, especially after he arrived in New York, but third party records from St. Croix indicate that he was born in 1755.
Ron Chernow, who wrote the biography Alexander Hamilton, which formed the basis for the hit musical, Hamilton, favored the 1755 birth year.
Astrology is a great tool for solving these types of mysteries, so let us see if we can work it out. As we do not even have the year of his birth, we certainly do not have his birth time. Because of this, we will have to settle for an approximate chart for each of these years. I will be casting the charts as if he were born at noon.
1755 Chart
Below is the noon chart for January 11, 1755:
In this chart, five out of seven of the Traditional Planets are in Capricorn. This seems right. If one were to pick a stereotypical example to illustrate Capricorn, Alexander Hamilton would be that example.
He rose from a very humble background largely by his own efforts. His role in George Washington’s cabinet, Secretary of the Treasury, is a job that is very suited to a Capricorn native.
Despite Alexander Hamilton’s origins, he was quite conservative and distrusted the common people. When participating in the Constitutional Convention, he proposed that the newly formed United States become a monarchy.
All of this is textbook Capricorn.
For more information about Capricorn, see the article below:
The final dispositor of this chart is Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, which also seems fitting.
For more information about the planet Saturn, see the article below:
Yet, despite his conservative nature, Alexander Hamilton had a reputation for getting into difficulties with other people. In the United States, he is best known for having died in a duel. In this chart, Mars is in the final degree of Sagittarius.
As one of the malefics, Mars does better in cooler signs that can moderate its hot and fiery nature. Sagittarius is a very hot sign and does nothing to slow Mars down. A person with Mars in Sagittarius tends to speak his mind without considering the consequences. Furthermore, Mars is in the 29th degree of this sign, and when planets are in the last degree of a sign, it tends to exaggerate the nature of this sign.
The one thing that gives me pause about this chart is that the Moon is at the very end of the 3rd Quarter Phase, sometimes called the Balsamic Moon. People born during this Moon Phase tend to lack initiative…and Alexander Hamilton certainly did not lack initiative. Still, 5 planets in Capricorn is probably enough to override the influence of being born during a Balsamic Moon.
1757 Chart
Now that we have looked at the 1755 chart, let’s see how the chart for 1757 compares.
This chart does not have such a heavy concentration of Capricorn planets. There are three rather than five. This is still a lot, though. The three planets in Capricorn in this chart are the Sun, Mercury, and Mars.
In 1755, Saturn was in Capricorn, and this planet moved to Aquarius by 1757. In the 1757 chart, Venus is in Sagittarius, Jupiter is in Scorpio, and the Moon is either in Virgo or Libra, depending on whether he was born before or after noon.
Saturn is the final dispositor for this chart as well.
It is certainly plausible that Saturn would be in Aquarius in Alexander Hamilton’s chart. He was a major figure in the American Revolution. Popular astrology tends to characterize Aquarius as progressive, but really this sign is just eccentric and outside of the mainstream. Aquarius is just as likely to be reactionary as to be progressive.
For more information about Aquarius, see the article below:
On the other hand, there are other features of this chart that do not make sense at all. To begin with, there is no way that his Moon was in Libra. Libra is the sign of diplomacy, and despite his success with the Compromise of 1790, Mr. Hamilton was not known for his social skills or grace.
On the other hand, because of the speed of the Moon, it is possible that he would have been born with the Moon still in Virgo…which is much more plausible.
Even so, I think that the positions of Venus and Mars in this chart as compared to the 1755 chart make the 1755 chart far more likely.
In this chart, Venus is in Sagittarius and Mars is in Capricorn. In the 1755 chart, there positions are reversed, and Venus is in Capricorn, with Mars in Sagittarius.
Sagittarius is a free-spirited, unfettered sign, and Capricorn is a conservative sign that follows the rules. Venus, among other things, governs love and relationships.
Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, a woman far above his station. Even though by all accounts, this was a true love match, he was clearly motivated by status concerns. Also, he approached the courtship in a very conventional way. Indeed, Elizabeth was the only Schuyler sister to obtain her father’s consent for her marriage. This is much more consistent with Venus in Capricorn than Venus in Sagittarius.
Mars is the planet that, among other things, governs how we control and express our anger. In the 1757 chart, Mars is in Capricorn, close to the Sun. This would indicate a very controlled personality when it comes to expressing anger. Mars is exalted in Capricorn, but this is in part because Capricorn cools Mars down. In Capricorn, Mars would be cool and considered, fighting strategically and methodically.
Not only did Alexander Hamilton die in a duel, but he was involved in almost a dozen situations involved duel challenges, including one with future President James Monroe. This fits much better with Mars in Sagittarius than Mars in Capricorn.
All in all, I think that the astrology favors the 1755 birth date.
Rectification by Edith Hathaway
My analysis is far from a full rectification of Alexander Hamilton’s chart, but another astrologer, Edith Hathaway did one a few years ago using Jyotish, which is also known as Indian (Vedic) Astrology. She also came to the conclusion that 1755 was probably the correct year that Alexander Hamilton was born.
You can see her article on the Kepler College website, with the link below:
Bringing Alexander Hamilton to Life
Jyotish is a different astrological language from the Western branches of astrology, but it has a valid Living Tradition and it has very good tools for chart rectification. As such, I will be using Edith Hathaway’s rectified chart for the purposes of this site.
In her rectification, she proposes a birth time of 10:00 pm for Alexander Hamilton. Below is the Western version of Alexander Hamilton’s chart for that time.
