Angelica Schuyler, Truly Revolutionary

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A woman without a rank helped a country find its balance. We sit down with Professor Molly Beer to explore Angelica Schuyler—born Engeltia into Dutch New York, educated at a royal governor’s table, and fluent in the quiet arts that hold a republic together. Her new book, Angelica: For Love and Country in Time of Revolution, uncovers a life lived at the center of events we think we know: Saratoga and Yorktown, the emergence of parties, and the uneasy peace that follows victory.

Across these pages and letters, we follow Angelica from Albany’s river-crossroads to London drawing rooms and the salons of Paris. She befriends Hamilton and Jefferson at once, attends Burgoyne’s Cambridge gatherings after Saratoga to enact peace in public, and navigates a marriage that gave her unusual latitude to move, write, and influence. Sixteen years in England offered a crucial vantage on the French Revolution—first the promise, then the terror—which sharpened her warning against faction at home. The themes feel urgent now: amiability as an active civic practice, soft power as statecraft, and the daily work of keeping rivals talking.

We also face the contradictions. Raised in a northern household that practiced domestic slavery, Angelica’s views evolved under French antislavery currents and through ties to figures like Pierre Toussaint. The record doesn’t flatter or flatten her; it traces change over time, showing how ideals and habits collide. Molly’s research—letters preserved by Jefferson, Hamilton, Lafayette, and the Schuyler family; archives across the Atlantic; houses that still stand—lets the story read with the pulse of a novel while staying anchored in evidence.

If you’re drawn to Revolutionary history, women’s leadership, and the subtle forces that shape public life, this conversation reframes the founding through a different lens. Listen to learn how a gifted hostess became a strategic peacemaker, how letters steered alliances, and why the most underrated builders of the United States may be the ones who put down the pistol case and set a longer table. Enjoyed this conversation? Follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help others discover it.