“Hamilton” is a popular musical created by Lin-Manuel Marinda, based on the political career of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States, but is not completely and truly told leaving misconceptions about some things to be left floating around. Regardless of its praise and success, some viewers of the musical could experience misconceptions and confusion about the events that led to the famous duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Although the musical accurately presents many historical facts and personal characteristics of the characters, the portrayal of events and characters’ personalities could lead to a misrepresentation of the events that affected the outcome of the duel. The portrayal of Burr could also cause confusion and misconceptions about his true intentions, …show more content…
The Musical depicts Burr as a villain and an opportunistic character whose ambitions ultimately lead to the death of Hamilton. For example, in the song “Aaron Burr, Sir,” Hamilton and Burr first meet, and Hamilton sings, “Talk less / Smile more / Don’t let them know what you’re against or what you’re for,” This passage suggests that Burr is mocking Hamilton’s idealism and locks Hamilton’s convictions. The misconceptions in the musical can provide a misleading experience, leading them to misinterpret Burr’s true intentions when it came to the duel with Hamilton. The lyrics of the musical can still be foreshadowing and backing up why Burr had a duel with Hamilton, according to the text “Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead.” Since Burr felt this way about people who ran their mouths, Hamilton, it could explain and foreshadow the events and lead up to the duel between Burr and Hamilton. Without further explanation the audience of the musical would have had details left out on why Burr and Hamilton had their duel and why the outcome was how it
Paragraph 3: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr are similar people but both live different lives. They both became orphans at a very young age. Alex was born on January 11, 1755 in Nevis. He was always energetic. Early on when Alex was young, James Hamilton Sr. left them.
This even took place in the year 1790 which occurred before the duel between Hamilton and Burr, which occurred in 1804. Ellis continues his methodology of investigating unique personalities to discover the historical truth throughout this chapter. His research reveals that three separate meetings had been held between Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton previously to address the issue, but Ellis believes Jefferson was keeping these meetings a secret in order to emphasize his own role. Ellis later suggests that Jefferson did more than just strive to be viewed as important. He also states that the ideas of Hamilton and Madison, without a mediator, had grown to far apart to reach compromise.
“Burr was the second-ranking official in the federal government”(13%). Hamilton, following George Washington, was the most powerful person in the Federalist party. Hamilton’s proponents would have also stated that he was the “intellectual wellspring for all the political energy that Washington merely symbolized”(13%). Ellis states, “Their fatal encounter represented a momentary breakdown in the dominant pattern of nonviolent conflict within the American revolutionary
Hoffer’s presentations of the characters are not as perfect. His portrayal of Burr is one of very high moral standards and that of a perfect gentleman leading reader’s to believe that Hoffer is quite biased on his opinion of Burr’s character. He seems to think that Burr was not capable of any type of treason, even though we still do not know what Burr’s dealings were on Blennerhassett Island to this day. He, however, is not the first to take such a stand as the same view can be seen in some of the more sympathetic biographies of
Hamilton, K. M. (1999). White wealth and black repression in harrison county, texas: 1865-1868. The Journal of Negro History, 340-359. doi:10.2307/2649036This article by Hamilton is a case study in Hairston County, Texas between 1865-68 (Hamilton, 1999). The Reconstruction era happened after the civil war which gave opportunity to obstreperous southern states to enter the Union.
The Election of 1800 was a cacophony of compromisation, harsh rivals and vigorous demanding from politicians scattered all across the country. Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson constantly threw the States' majority vote back and forth from each other like a game of tennis- while John Adams was practically shoved out of voters' options, desperate to prevail the other candidates. When push came to shove, it was the supportive positions of Alexander Hamilton and James Bayard that had the most magnitude. Hamilton, the man Burr would later shoot and kill in a duel, sided with Jefferson due to providing a valid argument that Burr was "without scruple," and an "unprincipled...voluptuary" that would wreck havoc across the states, had he win the election.
Since the beginning of their political business, they have always shown animosity towards one another secretly and publicly, but what led to Hamilton’s death is the mere fact that Burr took it to a personal level.
This also goes to show how Hamilton wanted to make peace with burr and stop fighting to solve the problems between them and make peace. These are two different ways of characterization but it will be explained how these two can be put together in the next
Lin Miranda’s choices influence the audience’s understanding of upcoming events leading up to the duel and the duel itself. Leading up to the duel Miranda builds the suspense and tension between Burr and Hamilton in multiple poems. The first occurrence is in the poem “Arron Burr, Sir” when Burr told Hamilton “While we're talking Let me offer you some free advice Talk less [Burr] What? [Burr] Smile more Ha Don't let them know what you're against or what you're for [Hamilton] You can't be serious [Burr] You wanna get ahead?
In order to understand why and how the feud took place between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr we must walk behind the footsteps of each man before they pulled the trigger on July
Recently a Broadway show has made millions of dollars. And the cost of tickets are going into five digits now. Every Tuesday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday thousands of people stand outside of the Richard Rodgers Theatre just to see the cast walk out of the back door. They are excited for the actor Leslie Odom Jr., who plays Aaron Burr. But they are more excited for Lin-Manuel Miranda, he is the actor who plays Hamilton.
He takes advantage of every opportunity that comes his way, including meeting influential figures like Aaron Burr and impressing George Washington with his military tactics. Burr, who advises Hamilton to "talk less, smile more," is astounded by Hamilton's rapid ascent to success. In the song "Non-Stop," Burr wonders, "Even though we started at the very same time, Alexander Hamilton began to climb. How to account for his rise to the top? " Burr recognizes that Hamilton's relentless work ethic and his unwillingness to give up on his dreams are the driving forces behind his success.
After a series of “paper wars” between the political opponents, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, which Hamilton accepted. According to Freeman, Hamilton accepted Burr’s challenge for a number of reasons. “In his mind, the duel; was a praiseworthy attempt to serve the common good... yet it was also an intensely personal attempt to preserve his public career. To prove to the world, and to himself, that he was a man of his word, a man of courage and principle, a leader.”
This is conveyed by Washington’s correspondence with Hamilton. Hamilton began his decline when Washington died. Freed of the tempered restraining influence of Washington, Hamilton’s judgment faltered. At this point, the book became almost unbearably sad. Hamilton engaged in a number of political feuds with Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and others that clouded his perspective.
Because of many of his radical views, he gained a lot of opposition in both the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties, and was forced to resign, yet still remained popular, with a greatly valued opinion (Brookhiser). Hamilton then lost his firstborn son (Phillip) in a duel when Phillip challenged George Eacker to uphold his father’s honor. And yet Hamilton refused to remain quiet and openly opposed Aaron Burr in the election of 1800, and worked against Burr again when the Vice President ran for New York governorship. In an attempt to heal his wounded pride, Aaron Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, and the discredited Alexander Hamilton died the day after. (Foner).