The Hamilton soundtrack was awesome in the way that it made very early American history feel like it was happening today for me. I was interested in the plot of the story the entire time, and was especially interested in why Hamilton did not get the authoritative opportunities he wanted so badly from Washington. There were 6 or 7 songs that brought back a common theme for Hamilton not to “Waste his shot”, and I began to wonder why this was. The more I listened, the more his background and heritage was brought up. Being an immigrant from Nevis, brought to New York as an orphan to continue his studies, Hamilton was not viewed as entirely equal to the rest of the “American” people. Because of this his genius was somewhat restricted to writing and drafting of papers. While he was extremely successful in doing so (he drafted 51 of the of Federalist Papers), it seemed to me that he always wanted more, almost demanding Washington to raise his position as he pleaded to not be called “son”.
One interesting point in the soundtrack to me was back to back songs “Yorktown” and “What comes next”. Here, America wins the revolutionary war, but then has to begin setting the foundation for what is to come next. It was interesting to think and hear the early debates between Hamilton and Jefferson, and I especially liked the song “What’d I miss”. I thought it made irony of the fact that Jefferson was so vocal about the formation about the United States, but wasn’t here to be a part of the revolution.
Another thing I thought about here was that today if a woman had been cheated on, I would expect to see her divorce her husband, but I had to remember that women were not seen as equal at this time, so she continued to stay with him, even on the morning of Hamilton’s duel with Burr. Then, in getting into Hamilton’s life, I wonder if he would have had won the presidency if he had not cheated on his wife and been caught. Would his election have substantially shifted American life today? It is interesting to ponder how much seemingly small events in this time period have led to such significant movements and institutions over the last 200 years.
I would most definitely agree that the Hamilton soundtrack was a fun and creative way to keep us engaged in the history of our country. The more intently you listen, the more information you will gather and therefore the more you will learn.