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Alexander Hamilton, before becoming a musical sensation, was simply known as the man on the ten dollar bill. He was someone students learned about in history class and then forgot once the semester ended. I argue that Hamilton was able to become such a success on Broadway because Lin Manuel Miranda was able to bring to life a relatively dull topic and reteach the subject in a fun way.
According to “Alexander Hamilton’s Biography”, published by Biography, a reputable source of the biographies of hundreds of people, states that Hamilton was born in the British West Indies; his father left him and his mother passed away. Hamilton was able to travel to America and make a name for himself by becoming a lawyer in New York City. He fought in the American Revolution and became George Washington’s Right-hand man. When Washington was elected president, Hamilton was appointed Secretary of Treasury.
Hamilton was a federalist who believed in a more loose view of the constitution while his biggest political rival, Thomas Jefferson, was a Democratic-Republican who believed in a strict interpretation of the constitution. As time progress and George Washington stepped down from Office, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton’s political differences created the first two party system in America. George Washington had warned about having different political parties in his farewell address, but the split was inevitable.
After John Adams became the second President and left Office, the election of 1800 became a huge debate. The two candidates were Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Even though the Federalists were losing power and Hamilton was no longer Secretary of Treasury, he still had great control on who would win the election. Hamilton was able to persuade people to vote for Jefferson over Burr because in Hamilton’s eyes Burr had no strong morals. This resulted in Jefferson becoming President and Aaron Burr becoming Vice President. Aaron Burr was extremely upset with the outcome of the election, and, after a couple of years, asked Hamilton to duel, shot, and killed him.
Hamilton was able to encompass this story and make it enjoyable for the audience to relearn about their founding fathers. Lin Manuel Miranda is not just casting a positive light on Hamilton, though. Hamilton also focuses on Alexander’s affair on his wife, Eliza, the Reynolds Pamphlet, and the many downfalls Hamilton faced like losing his son.
I know that when learning about this Era in APUSH Hamilton made it a lot easier to learn the material and actually enjoy it. Hamilton has been able to stay so popular because there are many people like myself who have used this genius musical to advance their own knowledge.
