(no subject)

[iniquiticity]

howdoyouwritenonnnstop asked:
Also curious: Was divorce always off the table because he would be absolutely destitute and unable to publish anything at all, etc, if "rejected" by Washington (aside from the developing #feelings)? He's distinguished by extreme behaviors to express his independence and self confidence, and disdainful of a lot societal convention, so I wonder why he did not take some extreme road like that when faced with the marriage.

here’s the long washington answer about why divorce is out of the question.

short answer: washington won’t divorce him because a) it looks bad for washington because he failed at marriage and that’s a bad look b) it looks bad for phillip schuyler becuase his damn adopted kid couldn’t even be married to george fuckin washington and c) it looks bad for alex because even if alex did divorce no one would ever want to be associated with him - george’s allies would scorn him and george’s enemies would laugh in his face.

here’s some new alex insights:

i think it’s possible that alex considered filing for divorce himself, but the society would be working pretty hard against him. even if washington DIDN’T actively say to people ‘hey, make sure it’s not a big deal my husband wants to divorce me’ (hint: he probably would), a lot of effort by washington’s allies would go into covering it up. i just think that alex’s complete understanding of how terrible it is to be poor and starving means he would say ‘i could file a divorce and go back to being a nobody orphan with the whole world against me’ (philip schuyler would make a big effort to stop his daughters from seeing alex, although i’m sure they would at least sometimes - same for john/henry laurens) – ‘or i can make this asshole MISERABLE, all while reading his books, drinking his good coffee, eating his tasty dinner, and wearing his nice clothes.’ plus, being a washington IS a big political deal and maybe he can use it to forward some his political ideas and stuff.