Now that Hamilton has reached so many more people around the world, people have been wondering is Hamilton historically accurate? Mostly, but Lin-Manuel Miranda did use some poetic license on some things. Here are a few questions I had when watching Hamilton on Disney Plus, and let’s debunk some Hamilton myths.
Is Hamilton Historically Accurate?
When I said people have been wondering, it’s me. When watching Hamilton for the first time, I thought did this really happen? Just how accurate is the musical Hamilton to Alexander Hamilton’s real life?
Was Hamilton Really That Good of a Person?
You know, aside from that whole adultery thing (check out the Hamilton Parents Guide if you haven’t seen it), they make Alexander Hamilton seem like a great guy who’s an American hero. Some historians are saying that Lin-Manuel Miranda was way too kind.
They say that Hamilton wasn’t progressive at all, that he was a slave owner, and his pro-immigrant Hamilton quote, “Immigrants, we get the job done,” was, in fact, an “anti-immigration elitist.” Miranda said he tried to be historically accurate, but many have criticized Ron Chernow, the author of Hamilton’s biography in which Miranda based his musical.
Did Angelica Really Like Hamilton Like That?
One of my favorite songs in Hamilton is Satisfied. Angelica says she noticed Alexander first, but then her sister claimed him, so she relented, because she’s a good sister. However, Angelica was already married when she met Hamilton.
And Angelica Schuyler had brothers, so when she talks about having to marry well, because she didn’t have any, well that was poetic license I guess.
Did Hamilton Really Publish the Reynolds Pamphlet?
So the affair with Maria Reynold is accurate. In the musical, Hamilton pays money to her husband to keep the affair quiet after he threatens to expose him and does extort him.
However, it wasn’t Jefferson, Aaron Burr and James Madison who confronted Hamilton. It was House Speaker Frederick Muhlenberg, Rep. Abraham Venable of Virginia and future President James Monroe.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Hamilton released the tell-all “Reynolds Pamphlet” years later, after a journalist published details of the affair.
Did the Election of 1800 really cause the duel that ended Hamilton’s life?
In Hamilton the Musical, Aaron Burr was highly upset that Alexander Hamilton’s endorsement is what caused Thomas Jefferson to beat him hugely. Well that wasn’t the main cause.
The Democratic-Republican Party did push Jefferson for president and Burr for vice president in a bid to unseat President John Adams. The voting process was different back then. Electors in the Electoral College got two votes. The recipient of the most votes would become president, and the runner-up would become vice president.
Jefferson and Burr received the same number of votes, resulting in a tie that sent the decision to the House of Representatives. Hamilton lobbied the House Federalists to back Jefferson, but he wasn’t the deciding vote as the musical suggests nor did he have the type of influence that the musical suggests.
According to the National Archives, Burr challenged Hamilton to the duel after Hamilton made disparaging remarks about him in the race to become the Governor of New York in 1804.
Did King George really spit when he talked?
Ok, we’ve all seen Jonathan Groff’s spit as King George in Hamilton. Yes, Jonathan Groff also voices Kristoff in Frozen, and yes he and his spit are a treasure. But I wanted to know if he did it on purpose, because King George was a spitter?
It’s possible, they say King George did suffer from mental illness and talked until the foam ran out of his mouth.
However, Jonathan Groff also admits he’s a spitter.
In an interview with Variety in 2019, he admitted that while he was starring in Little Shop of Horrors off Broadway that performing in a smaller theater has led to him “spitting on everyone.”
“I’ve always been a spitter … I start sweating. I just get wet when I perform onstage. It is just what happens,” he said.
So yes, for a musical, Hamilton does a good job of conveying the history. But also like TV and movies, sometimes all isn’t what it appears to be. Hamilton: An American Musical is now streaming on Disney Plus, and if you like it, enjoy these Hamilton memes.