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"It is a general principle of human nature, that a man will be interested in whatever he possesses, in proportion to the firmness or precariousness of the tenure by which he holds it; will be less attached to what he holds by a momentary or uncertain title, than to what he enjoys by a durable or certain title; and, of course, will be willing to risk more for the sake of the one, than for the sake of the other. This remark is not less applicable to a political privilege, or honor, or trust, than to any article of ordinary property."
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #71
The Alexander Hamilton Inn, Clinton, New York
The Alexander Hamilton Institute resides in a historic colonial-style mansion located at 21 West Park Row in the village square of Clinton, New York, about one mile from the Hamilton College campus and about twenty miles from Colgate University. Othniel Williams (1787-1832), a graduate of Yale University and a lawyer, purchased the site in 1824. He completed the brick part of the building in 1832, the year of his death.
The property passed to his son Othoniel S. Williams, a graduate of Hamilton College, who served as the Town of Kirkland's first supervisor. Extensive gardens once surrounded the property, and it remained within the Williams family for more than a century until it was sold to William H. Newton, a lawyer from Utica, in 1938. Subsequent owners transformed the property into the Alexander Hamilton Inn, well known over the years for its hospitality to the alumni of Hamilton College and Colgate University and their families.