Who lives, who dies - Who tells your story?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
By the time Eliza Hamilton died, the generation of people who had started, fought, and ended the American Revolution, cleaning up its pieces and stringing together a country, were gone. All that was left of it was their stories and the stories told about them. The way those stories were talked about - even before Eliza’s death - were already changing.
That lofty pedestal that the ‘Founding Fathers’ were put upon, that in some regards we are no stranger to today, was being built. Who was mentioned, and when, was all based on what those telling the story wanted because those who lived it or those that personally knew them, could no longer speak for themselves. It is from this that the way we speak about Hamilton was born.
Eliza had ensured that there was a biography of Hamilton, a multi-volume collection that covered his life, but this did not mean that this was always to be the point of view from which the world saw Hamilton. Even during Eliza’s lifetime, Hamilton’s reputation was up for debate - something she tried to quell. This debate continued after her death and continues, in some form, to today. When we talk about Hamilton we are influenced by this past and current debate, and no writer, me included, is an exception from that. My viewpoint on Hamilton is biased, as are all historian’s viewpoints on any subject or topic or idea that they write and research on. The way I view history, through a feminist lens and my Jewish heritage, means that when I see history I see it in a certain way. All historians, however much they might try to distance themselves from the past, are this way. Every story that has been told about Hamilton is biased - presented from a different point of view.
After the biography of Hamilton Eliza requested and Thomas Pickering wrote, there were other biographies of Hamilton, such as the ones that I used to write this blog. The study of the historiography of Hamilton (the writing of history of Hamilton) is a broad one. Try, for instance, to search “biographies of Hamilton” in any search engine. In doing so, you will find a plethora of books written about him. Some of these are for children, some the public, and some for those who study history. These are how we tell the story of Hamilton - these books show Eliza’s success in ensuring that Hamilton’s story is told.
Whether the story we tell about Hamilton is the one Eliza wanted or not is, in some ways, irrelevant. Like many other people who were family members and friends of the ‘Founding Fathers,’ Eliza censored his letters and papers to try to ensure that the only story that could be told is the one she wanted told - this is not unique nor is it surprising. And, yet, despite her best efforts to make it so that we could only see the good Hamilton did, there have been numerous occasions where historians point out his flaws and faults. This is all part of telling Hamilton’s story. As historians and as individuals wanting to understand the past so that we can understand the most reasonable and possible way to build a future, we have to look at both successes and mistakes. This is also part of telling the story - Hamilton’s story.
This musical, Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is yet another telling of Hamilton’s story. And, like many tellings of historical events and people, perhaps it is more telling of today that it is of the yesteryear it presents. This is not to say that it does not tell Hamilton’s story - it does, albeit with historical inaccuracies - but it also tells the story of today. It tells of an America that has so long neglected, when it has told its story of the downtrodden and unmentioned, the people who also built the country but are so frequently left out when the story is told. It is a retelling of that story, Hamilton’s story, but also today’s, which reflects the country that part is and part wants to be.
This blog is an addition to that, it is yet another telling of Hamilton’s story. I hope that in this blog, though, I have brought to light some left out and interesting parts of his story that do not always make it into others and were not in Miranda’s telling. My goal in this was in no part to break apart what he did, but to add to it, for it is just as legitimate a telling as any other because it tells the story of now along with Hamilton’s. In writing this I have continued what Eliza wants, both in this song and in real life: telling Hamilton’s story. I am sure, however, that I have not presented everything as she wished it to be seen. The way I presented Hamilton and Reynolds would be one such example. But I also brought in ideas and people who perhaps would not have traditionally have been thought to be as important to Hamilton’s story. In making Eliza and the other women in his life more prominent, I have tried to also tell their story, because his story and theirs, would be incomplete without each other.
These people were once living - and while they lived, they told their own stories, controlling much of the narrative. Once they died, their family controlled the story that was told as much as they could, but slowly, that grip unraveled. Historians were able to gather evidence and tell the story. Now, each of us who knows the story, who talks about it, who sees Hamilton An American Musical, listens to its songs, and learns about Hamilton the person, the people around him, and the systems he created - we tell his story.
Sources: the following sources were used - the collected letters/writings of Alexander Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton the Revolution, Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton, The Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton by Allan McLane Hamilton, Hamilton by Richard Syllia, and Charles Cerami’s book called Young Patriots. In addition, War of Two by John Sedgwick and Washington and Hamilton by Tony Williams were used throughout. Tilar J. Mazzeo’s Eliza Hamilton was also used.
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