Scene-stealing character in Hamilton Angelica Schuyler Church once wrote to her "affectionate friend" Thomas Jefferson: "When my friends require my assistance few are more willing than myself." Through the American Revolution, Angelica's contributions were acts of friendship: hosting Indigenous leaders at her Dutch family home in Albany; traveling to Yorktown to safeguard the critical Franco-American alliance; celebrating George Washington's inauguration as the first president. At the pinnacle of her mature influence, this complex, well-connected woman-fond of luxuries and inclined to "excessive sauciness"-bridged the leadership of three countries.

An enthralling and revealing telling of the birth of the United States, this portrait of Angelica is woven from her letters and other primary sources. In telling her story, Molly Beer illuminates how American women have always plied influence and networks for political ends, including the making of the nation.

Born in Angelica Schuyler's namesake town of Angelica, New York, Molly Beer is an award-winning writer of essays, longform narrative, and oral history. She leads the University of Michigan's Great Lakes Writers Corps and lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.