Beyond the play: “Hamilton”

By AUTUMN WITTBROD

Sheridan High School Student

Editor’s Note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.

Alexander Hamilton. You probably know he was one of our founding fathers. Or at least you should.

Recently, I went to see the musical, Hamilton. This musical explained his entire life in song and dance. I was amazed and completely baffled at the same time. Until earlier this year, I didn’t even know he was a real person. I thought he was a fictional character, made up like Albus Dumbledore or Ron Weasley.

It took me even longer to realize that not only was he a real person, but he was also one of our founding fathers. How in the world did someone as important as Alexander Hamilton just slip out of our history lessons? I’m a sophomore in high school for crying out loud. Shouldn’t I have heard about this a long time ago? While I was learning about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton was just floating around, unseen and entirely ignored.

It wasn’t until Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019, that I finally learned what I should have so many years ago when I sat and watched his life unfold. Alexander Hamilton was a pretty interesting guy. He always wanted to fight for his people instead of being the man behind the action. For most of his childhood, he was an orphan, fighting to survive with close to no money to help him along. So, he used his brain. He climbed to the top purely by using his intelligence. This caused him to meet George Washington (not only meet but also work as his right-hand man), Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr and more. He’s the person who wanted to change the Constitution and add amendments after the Revolution. Our country is as it is today, in most part, because of Alexander Hamilton. We owe so much more to him than we could ever realize.

Honestly, the musical was amazing. It started with the “present” time (“present” meaning the 1800s) before jumping back to 1776 when Alexander first met Aaron Burr. The play continues with Hamilton’s desire to free America. There was actually a lot of reference to Hamilton’s climb to the top and the competition between Alexander and Aaron because of this. Aaron was used to being the best, and when he wasn’t anymore, there was a lot of tension between the two, even with their claimed friendship.

Skip a little while and Hamilton meets Eliza Schuyler in 1780 at a ball that Eliza’s father hosted. Fast forward a bit, and Eliza gave birth to Philip Hamilton. A few years after Philip was born, in 1782, America won the Revolutionary War with Alexander by George Washington’s side. As we know, Hamilton was the main person behind the Constitution and this was what took up all of his free time. It is believed that out of 85 essays written for the Constitution, Hamilton wrote 51 of them, easily taking the lead.

The musical basically ends with both Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr running for president. Hamilton caused quite a stir when he voted for Jefferson, whom he openly disliked, just so Burr wouldn’t become president. This is what eventually caused the duel between Alexander and Aaron and, sadly, led to Hamilton’s death in 1804.

All in all, Hamilton is an amazing musical that definitely deserves all the hype that it gets.