Philip Schuyler

Philip Schuyler (1733–1804) was a wealthy landowner in New York who served as a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He was descended from one of the wealthiest and most distinguished Dutch families in New York and married Catharine Van Rensselaer, descended from another wealthy Dutch family. In 1768, Schuyler joined the New York Assembly. In 1775, as a patriot, he was elected to the Continental Congress and served briefly before he was appointed as a major general in the Continental Army.

Schuyler welcomed the marriage of his second daughter, Elizabeth, and Alexander Hamilton in 1780, despite Hamilton’s lack of wealth and family background. After the war, Schuyler was a member of the New York senate and the US Congress, and served as the New York State surveyor general. In 1791, Aaron Burr challenged Schuyler for his seat in the US Senate and won. The loss angered Hamilton, then secretary of the treasury. Schuyler regained his place in the Senate in 1797, but the enmity between Burr and Hamilton remained. Schuyler died just four months after Hamilton, leaving the family doubly devastated at their recent losses.