Angelica Schuyler Church

Angelica Church (née Schuyler ; February 20, 1756 – March 6, 1814) Many examples of Angelica Church's personal correspondence with eminent figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and the Marquis de Lafayette are preserved in the Library of Congress and other archives. After meeting her, Jefferson reported his opinion of Church to their mutual friend, Maria Cosway: "I find in her all the good the world has given her credit for." Jefferson later described their circle of friends in Paris (which included John Trumbull, the Lafayettes, the Cornys, and others) as "our charming coterie," and he recalled their time together as "those scenes for which alone my heart was made." That winter, Americans everywhere were debating the proposed U.S. Constitution, which had not yet been ratified, but Thomas Jefferson discouraged Angelica Church's political interests, arguing that, "The tender breasts of ladies were not formed for political convulsion; and the French ladies miscalculate much their own happiness when they wander from the true field of their influence into that of politicks." Adept at subtlety, Angelica Church responded by simply sending Thomas Jefferson the copy of the Federalist Papers that she had received from her sister, Elizabeth Hamilton. In a letter to Church, Jefferson ardently wrote, "Think of it, my friend, and let us begin a negotiation on the subject. You shall find in me all the spirit of accommodation with which Yorick began his with the fair Piedmontese."

In a 1794 letter to her sister Eliza, sent from London, Angelica wrote effusively of her affection for "your Husband, for I love him very much and if you were as generous as the old Romans, you would lend him to me for a little while."