"Don't lecture me about the war

you didn't fight in it"

• Hamilton to Jefferson.

Was there resentment between the founding fathers about who fought in the war? A sense that the ones who served in the Army deserve more?

Burr is depicted in the musical as someone who cannot commit to an ideal. He seems very opportunistic and lacks any real set of beliefs to call his own. Is this accurate? Do Burr's writings reflect someone who just moves with the shifting tide?

EDIT: Clearity (Aka I used "ideal" twice)

What was the cause of the falling-out between Hamilton and Madison? They wrote the Federalist Papers together, so they must have gotten along at some point.

Overt religion is almost completely absent from the musical. ("What are the odds the gods would put us all in one spot") Including when discussing moral-marital failures. I am less interested in debates about the "Founding Fathers", deism, and Christianity in the Constitution; and more in how that would reflect the tenor of public consciousness at the time. Would an affair really not be framed in terms of religion/sin in the late 18th century? In the media as well as in private?

There's a bit of talk in the play about Hamilton's potential presidency. Jefferson says to "pray to God that we never see Hamilton's candidacy." And then during The Reynolds Pamphlet, they repeat the line "never gon' be president now."

Did Hamilton or the Federalist Party ever express interest in a Hamilton presidency? If so, was its viability killed because of the Reynolds Affair, or other reasons?

Why did John Adams hate Alexander Hamilton so severely? Even after Hamilton's death, Adams was committed to defaming him for decades.

"The semi-puritanical Adams family was obsessed with Hamilton’s sex life and held a nativist disdain for immigrants, particularly immigrants who were not from Western Europe." - Knott, S. F. (2015, October 8). The Adams Family’s Revenge Against Alexander Hamilton. Retrieved June 9, 2016, from http://thefederalist.com/2015/10/08/the-adams-familys-revenge-against-alexander-hamilton/

Even with that bias in mind, Adams seemed obsessively devoted to hating Hamilton on a personal level and defaming him at every opportunity. What happened? Can all that hate really be traced to Hamilton's role in Adams 1800 re-election campaign?

Daveed Diggs’ portrayal of Thomas Jefferson was unexpectedly…flamboyant. From his flashy clothes and entrance in “What’d I Miss”, to his pimp walk throughout the second act. Did Jefferson have any personality traits that would validate this kind of portrayal of him on stage?

I'm not much for the musical theater, but in 1993, there was a "Got Milk?" about Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Here's the ad, it is apparently important enough in ad history to merit its own Wikipedia page.

One of the things it shows is a history enthusiast owning "the bullet" that Burr shot Hamilton with. Was the bullet dug out of Hamilton's body, and is it actually in a collection somewhere? In the 19th century, I know weird macabre souvenirs were taken of historical events like lynchings--were souvenirs taken from the Hamilton-Burr duel?

Were Alexander and Angelica as close as the musical portrays? Was it more of an innocent flirtation or were there actual feelings involved? I'm fascinated by his relationship with John Laurens as well. Is it pretty much accepted that he and Laurens had some sort of romantic relationship at some point?

Is his relationship with Angelica and Laurens something Eliza would've known about? Was that common during this era? Thanks for doing this!

As is my usual practice for AMAs in the interest of simplicity, I'm compiling a bibliography of various works that I might be citing, or else provided me with necessary background information which I feel to be worth mentioning here. While I might make note of a specific source at times in an answer, I wont be carefully footnoting every point, but if you would like any further clarification on a source or tidbit, just ask. I've provided links where possible, but in some cases with papers they are behind paywalls, and for a few, they are not available online to my knowledge.

###Hamilton

"Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow: For general background information on Hamilton's life, Chernow has written an absolutely fantastic, and very readable biography of the man, which is quite deserving of the ample praise it gets from all sides. I would absolutely recommend it as the first stop for general reading on Hamilton.

"The Official Page for the Music of the Musical of Hamilton": Atlantic Records provides the complete lyrics for the musical online, and as it is likely people will ask questions drawing on Hamilton's life as presented in the musical, any lyrics cited are those published there.

"War of Two: The Dark Mystery of the Duel Between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, and Its Legacy for America" by John Sedgwick: Frankly, quite an underwhelming book. Less a history of the duel, than two dueling (sorry) biographies, alternating back and forth by chapter until the inevitable clash. While I can say this was somewhat useful in fleshing out a biographical sketch of Burr for me, it is essentially Chernow-lite for Hamilton, and offers a complete lack of insight or analysis of the duel itself, which feels almost rushed over, compared to other works I have read on the topic.

###The Duel

"Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the Future of America" by Thomas J. Fleming: Very lively book and fun to read, it focuses specifically on the relationship between Burr and Hamilton in 1803-1804 as they march towards their "interview". Would certainly recommend to anyone looking for a book-length treatment of the duel.

"Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic" by Joanne B. Freeman: Concerned with a broader look at American politics in the early United States, Freeman devotes part of the book specifically to the Duel and its place within the world of politics at the time. The key chapter on this front can also be found in an earlier version, published as "Dueling as Politics: Reinterpreting the Burr-Hamilton Duel" in The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 2 (Apr., 1996) (See also "Communications" in Vol. 53, No. 4 (Oct., 1996))

"The Political Duel in the Early Republic: Burr v. Hamilton" by W. J. Rorabaugh, Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring, 1995): A good, concise evaluation of the Burr-Hamilton Duel in political context.

"Interview at Weehawken: The Burr-Hamilton Duel as told in the Original Documents" edited by Harold C. Syrett and Jean G. Cooke: This collects together the key documents relating to the challenge, preparation, and aftermath of the Burr-Hamilton Duel. There are other sources which include in whole or in part these communications. I would recommend Lorenzo Sabine's "Notes on Duels and Duelling, Alphabetically Arranged, with a Preliminary Historical Essay" as one good place to find them, although his analysis is quite ham-handed. Similar praise and complaint can be given to Ben C. Truman's "The Field of Honor: Being a complete and comprehensive history of duelling in all countries; including the judicial duel of Europe, the private duel of the civilized world, and specific descriptions of all the noted hostile meetings in Europe and America".

"Pistols shed light on famed duel Pistols shed light on famed duel" by Merrill Lindsay, Smithsonian Magazine November, 1976: I only mention this article because of, well, how terrible it is. It has some sway in pop history conceptions of the duel, namely the idea that Hamilton concealed the existence of the hair trigger, but it is entirely rejected by just about every scholar. The only copy I could find online was hosted by, as you can see, The Aaron Burr Association, which if you read it, I'm sure you can see why.

"Suicide or Murder? The Burr-Hamilton Duel" by Shneidman and Levine-Shneidman, The Journal of Psychohistory, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1980): One of the principal sources on the "duel as Hamilton committing suicide" theory.

"Was Alexander Hamilton a Christian Statesman?" by Douglass Adair and Marvin Harvey, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Apr., 1955): Another source that harps on the suicide angle.

###Dueling in America

None of these works focus specifically on the Burr-Hamilton Duel, but rather relate more generally to dueling and Honor Culture in the United States. For an even broader list of recommended works on the topic, please see here, although that list is woefully unfinished.

"The Code of Honor in Colonial and Revolutionary Times with Special Reference to New England" by Evarts B. Greene, Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 26 (1927): Old but solid, Greene's article remains heavily cited as one of the "go-to" pieces with regards to the origins of dueling in the United States.

"Pistols at Ten Paces: The Story of the Code of Honor in America" by William Oliver Stevens: While a bit dated (1940!), it is an unfortunate fact that solid, book length treatments of dueling in the United States are few and far between. While falling into the common fault of over emphasizing anecdote, it nevertheless is a good read.

"Dueling in the Old South: Vignettes of Social History" by Jack. K. Williams: Primarily used here for copies of the Code Duello and the Code of Honor in the appendix, but a nice, short book.

"A Polite Exchange of Bullets: The Duel and the English Gentleman, 1750-1850 by Stephan Banks: Looking at the British tradition (obviously!) not the US, but any thing I mention with regards to the UK probably comes from here, so would be remiss to omit mentioning it. And also, it simply is one of the best books on dueling I've read,

"The Double Guilt of Dueling: The Stain of Suicide in Anti-Dueling Rhetoric in the Early Republic" by Richard Bell, Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Fall, 2009): A much more nuanced look at the "dueling as suicide" approach, looking not just at Burr-Hamilton, but at the conceptualization of dueling in the period, and the anti-dueling movement.

"To Gain the Whole World and Lose His Own Soul: Nineteenth-Century American Dueling as Public Law and Private Code" by Alison LaCroix, 33 Hofstra Law Review 501 (2004): Overview piece of Dueling in the United States.

"The Deadliest of Games: The Institution of Dueling" by Christopher G. Kingston and Robert E. Wright, Southern Economic Journal 2010, 76(4): An interesting analysis of the rationality of dueling using game theory. Inspired mostly by the social situation of the antebellum American South, and focusing on the use of "honor" as a proxy for creditworthiness in economic dealings, it nevertheless presents a good look at the underlying logic of dueling and Honor Culture.

"The End of the Affair? Anti-Dueling Laws and Social Norms in Antebellum America by C.A. Harwell Wells, Vanderbilt Law Review; May 2001; 54, 4: Focused most specifically on dueling, legally, and its decline in the United States.

"Crime and Punishment: The Impotency of Dueling Laws in the United States" by Matthew Byron: A very useful Ph.D dissertation I came across once, which provides some useful coverage of dueling and the law.

In Cabinet Rap Battle #1 Hamilton says, "Thomas Jefferson, always hesitant with the president, reticent, there isn't a plan he doesn't jettison. Madison, you mad as a hatter, so take your medicine; you're in worse shape than the national debt is in."

Three questions: 1) was Jefferson reticent with Washington, and if so, how? 2) what's the story behind Madison being sick? 3) what was the problem with the national debt at the time?

How has the popularity of the musical shaped people's questions and opinions about this time period?

How accurate is the history in the play? Especially because I think they collapse different events into one act?

In Yorktown, Lafayette says, "I go back to France/I bring freedom to my people if I'm given the chance" and Hamilton responds "We'll be with you when you do". But in Cabinet Battle #2, Hamilton is against helping out France in their fight against England and Jefferson says "Did you forget Lafayette?"

My question is, was there any animosity between Hamilton (and Washington) and Lafayette over their refusal to help France in their time of need?

So it's been bandied about a lot lately that Hamilton "saved" Alexander Hamilton from getting booted off the $10 bill. Why do you think Hamilton has been somewhat forgotten among the historic people of the American Revolution, and why do you think he has been so enthusiastically re-embraced at this moment in the American consciousness?

The musical seems to show that Alexander was pretty certain his son Phillip was not in any real danger of being shot when he would face George Eaker. I've also read historical claims that Alexander collapsed from shock upon hearing the news his son had been shot.

Was Alexander actually dismissive of the duel? If so, why? I've only read a little on duel customs at the time and know that many ended without shooting, but to assume Eaker wouldn't shoot seems cavalier and in hindsight, mortally presumptive. Were Eaker's actions considered dishonorable?

Thank you in advance for any insight.

How often have the narratives around our Founders in general--and Hamilton in particular--undergone revisions? How long did it take for Americans to cease regarding the Founders through partisan lenses and instead deify them?

How plausible is the suggestion in Gore Vidal's novel Burr that Hamilton's supposed slander against Burr was that he was incestuous with his daughter? (Rather, not the plausibility that he was incestuous, although I guess that enters into it, but that Hamilton might have said he was incestuous.) Was this accusation something that was in the air at the time?

Do we know what Burr thought Hamilton might have said? Do we have any better idea what he actually said or is it all still quite vague?

edit: I haven't seen the play, so sorry if this is kind of a random Burr/Hamilton question that isn't addressed in the show!

How common were duels? Did this vary by economic/social class?

As the lyrics say, Most disputes die and no one shoots - was challenging someone to a duel the 18th century equivalent to telling someone you're going to sue? As in, probably not going to happen because who has the time and really you've got no legal leg to stand on, but trying to strike a little fear in whoever you're yelling at?

How popular were anti-slavery sentiments in the late 1700's? And, with regards to Hamilton and Burr specifically, was being anti-slavery a popular position with voters in New York?

First, panelists, thank you so much! I know what I'll be reading all day now.

My question is about divorce and Eliza's options when the Reynolds affair was revealed. After being so publicly humiliated, was leaving her husband an option? She sings that she has kicked him out of her bed and into the office to sleep, but was that all she could do? Was divorce or a separation possible?

Hamilton is also referred to as a philanderer by other posters- are there other affairs he had in addition to Maria Reynolds?

Thank you!

Another dueling question. I understand that dueling wasn't exactly legal in either NY or NJ. Given Hamilton and Burr's status as prominent politicians, how did their contemporaries view their duel? How would they have looked upon this duel had both men survived? Would it be like a politician being caught smoking marijuana or something along those lines?

Was Hamilton religious? There's a set of lines in It's Quiet Uptown (I take the children to church on Sunday // A sign of the cross at the door // And I pray // That never used to happen before) that suggests that he may have turned to prayer after his son died, but not before. What does the historical record say?

"Let's go upstate. We can go stay with my father"

My girlfriend and I recently visited the Schuyler mansion in Albany. Is there evidence that Eliza and Angelica would have stayed there as opposed to his house in Schuylerville near Saratoga?

Is there any belief among historians that Hamilton wanted to die by Burr's pistol? From my paltry reading on the history and the musical as well, there seem to be some hints to that conclusion.

Here is my thought progression: at that time in his life, Hamilton's religion prevented him from killing anyone in a duel, but his staunch belief in honor prevented him from declining Burr altogether. So, his plan was to attend and not shoot. However, Hamilton supposedly wore his glasses and studied the terrain before the duel began. Was his intent to convince Burr that he intended to shoot? Was he egging him on in a way? This information compiled with the belief that Hamilton suffered from depressive episodes throughout his life, and had recently suffered the loss of his son, makes me wonder if he was possibly committing suicide by Burr's hand.

Any insight or corrections would be appreciated.

How did the very public revelation of Hamilton's affair affect Eliza Hamilton's social standing? Were those in the highest stratum of New York society sympathetic towards her or did she become a persona non grata for a while? How did it affect Hamilton himself? Also, James and Maria Reynolds?

Do we have any proof that Eliza "erased herself from the narrative" after Hamilton's sex scandal? I know there's not much information on her, but was this the event that caused it?

What happened to Samuel Seabury and other Loyalists like him after the war? Did they go to England or assimilate in the new country?

In the Acknowledgments for his biography of Hamilton, Ron Chernow mentions an ongoing research project that would genetically test Alexander's descendants to try and determine whether or not he was actually the son of James Alexander (as opposed to Thomas Stevens or someone of African ancestry). Was this project ever completed, and if so, what were the findings? (More broadly, do historians care about this sort of thing, or does it just seem like gossip?)

Is there any citation for Washington claiming he has "only a third of what congress has promised" for his military, I've tried finding some sort of reference in letters and papers but can only find references to the continental army being underfunded by Congress at the time.

I'm mainly familiar with period from Middlekauff's Glorious Cause and Wood's Empire of Liberty. Wood in particular seemed more sympathetic to Jefferson's Republicans than to Hamilton. What further reading on the period do you recommend?

One more! Can someone explain what the rules and reasoning around duels at this time were? Why did it happen the way it did and how?

A big thank you to everyone on the panel for agreeing to do this AMA, lovely Redditors!

1. Alexander Hamilton spoke and wrote fluent French, and personally befriended French individuals, from Lafayette to Talleyrand. During his political career however, he is described as being consistently pro-British (vs the more pro-French Jefferson) and admiring some aspects of the British government. Can you tell us a bit more about his personal and political attitudes toward Britain and France?

2. Could 'Hamilton' have paved the way for other, similar musicals? What are the pros and cons of a historical figure achieving "pop culture" fame?

This is a long setup to a small question, sorry in advance.

One thing that's notable about Hamilton is that its subject isn't just historical events and figures, but the actual practice of discovering and telling history - by showing us Hamilton's courtship an wedding through two different perspectives, by having two entire numbers ("The Room Where It Happened" and the final duel) focus on missing information and conflicting accounts; and by having two major emotionally-charged numbers highlighting the topic of document preservation and who controls narratives via documentation.

Almost all of these storytelling techniques can be seen in another historical musical, Pacific Overtures, written by John Weidman and Stephen Sondheim (who has worked alongside and also sort of mentored Lin-Manuel Miranda). Those two also wrote another historical musical, Assassins, about the ways that the stories of people who in many ways epitomize their society's values can be historically dismissed as individual nuts in order to preserve national narratives.

I was just curious if any of you have had the opportunity to see or hear/read these musicals, and what opinions you have on their contribution to our understandings of how shaky an accepted historical narrative can actually be?

How openly would two sisters joke about something like their sex lives or "forming a harem/sharing a man" as was alluded to in Hamilton?

I did a lot of reading on Lafayette since Hamilton came out and it seems like it could be argued that he was the second most important member of the Revolution after Washington. Why doesn't he get the respect he deserves?

[HAMILTON]

We almost died in a trench

While you were off getting high with the French

A set of interrelated questions about this line here. First of all, I want to say that I understand that Thomas Jefferson did not actually smoke marijuana, but instead grew hemp for its industrial purposes.

Were there any common (or not-so-common) intoxicants other than liquor during the time period referred to in Hamilton?

Secondly, the aforementioned line refers to how Ancien France is associated with hedonism today. How valid is that connection? Were the British nobility and the upper class of the Thirteen Colonies noticeably austere by comparison to those in France, or is just a product of historiography that reflected certain cultural and political attitudes of the upcoming decades? Feel free to tag contributors flared in European history who may better help to answer that!

EDITED: Just formatting and markup stuff.

To what extent was Hamilton

a) Dedicated to restricting political power to a narrow elite

and

b) Interested in implementing an economic program that would benefit east-coast merchants

First, kind OP, if you're still here, I'd love to know something else about the Schuylers, sort of related to a question I asked below, as well as to one I posted here a couple of weeks ago: the Wikipedia article on Elizabeth Hamilton says that as a girl she would have attended the Dutch Reformed Church at Albany. I know her heritage was Dutch, but her family had been in New York for many generations by then, and I've also read that the population of New Netherland/New York was always culturally diverse. So how Dutch was the Dutch Reformed Church at that stage, and would it really have retained the loyalties of people of Dutch heritage after New York became an English royal colony? Would English-speaking Calvinists have worshipped at the same churches even if they weren't Dutch? Or what other features of Dutch culture did the Schuylers retain during Eliza's generation, if going to a Dutch church was an exclusively Dutch thing to do?

Second, for /u/uncovered-history: Did Hamilton really bring up slavery in his conflict with Jefferson over his debt plan? What he says in the play is true, but telling his opponent he's full of shit doesn't seem very judicious in that context.

Were duels actually legal in New Jersey?

To what extent was there an abolitionist movement at the time(s?) of the Revolution (or before) and Congressional Convention and what was its impact?

I've always gotten the sense that Virginia was pandered to or, at least, that Virginians held an advantage in early American politics; is that accurate? If so, why?

What was Hamilton's actual relationship to slavery like? The musical has him supporting the pro abolitionist movement but I've also heard in the past that Adams was the only Founder not to own slaves. Could you please clear this up for me?

Do we have any clues/documentation of how Hamilton squared his burgeoning abolitionism (and Laurens' deep abolitionism, for that matter) with his respect for Washington, a slave owner?

How certain are historians about how the duel between Hamilton and Burr actually went down? I know that the musical portrays Hamilton as deloping in during the duel, but I have heard that there was debate as to whether or not that actually took place.

Was Burr, the former vice president, on the fast-track to becoming president before killing Hamilton? What was the public reaction to his killing Hamilton?

Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury and implemented what are generally seen as good financial reforms. Was he able to use these skills to become personally well off economically? I found it strange that he was not particularly wealthy or well off at the time of his death.

Did Martha really name her cat after hamilton? If so

In the musical, everybody seems to talk about how they're making history. (e.g., "History Has Its Eyes On You") Were the subjects of the musical aware of how big of a deal they would become?

"No one has more resilience or matches my practical tactical brilliance"

-Lafayette about Hamilton

This always felt like major hyperbole, is there any clout to it?

so what is the historical verdict on Charles Lee in relation to the Hamilton play (who also got the villain cut for him in Assassins Creed 3)

It is fascinating to see the completely polar opposite portrayal of Hamilton in the musical and in the John Adams miniseries. I know that John Adams has some problems historically, but which piece of media portrays Hamilton more accurately, and why did the other choose to portray Hamilton in the manner that it did?

Edit: Improved grammar

What effect did John Laurens' death (which isn't covered enough in the musical) have on Hamilton's future? Would we have seen a Federalist equivalent to the Jefferson-Madison duo? Could the Federalist party have survived longer?

1. How accurately is the election of 1800 portrayed in the musical? Was Burr really desperate for votes while Jefferson hung back?

2. Towards the end of the second act, Eliza and Alexander seem to have rekindled their relationship at least slightly since the revealing of The Reynolds Pamphlet ("Alexander come back to sleep...." a few songs after the line "You'll sleep in your office instead..."). How true was this? Was he ever truly forgiven by his wife?

3. It seems almost like the whole Reynolds affair was a set-up by James and Maria, almost as if they were purposely trying to make sure that he could never run for presidency. Am I receiving this the wrong way?

Sorry for asking so much of you!

The ten duel commandments... how accurate are they? What were the exact rules of duels?

Okay so I have two comments: I seem to have read in a history book somewhere that several years after the duel, Burr sorta hinted to someone that he and Hamilton had a thing. This isn't brought up in the musical at all (indeed, Hamilton's own relationship with Laurens is limited too "Laurels I like you a lot) Is there any truth to the possible relationship between Hamilton and Burr or do you think that was Burr attempting to make himself sound more important?

How were the rules regarding Vice President election changed? It seems hard to believe the President could demote the duly elected Vice President from his role while he is in office. Was Jefferson really able to marginalize Burr without any political uproar or consequences?

How would you characterize Hamilton's relationship with the American military and politics? At best it seems Hamilton's relationship is unhealthy, at worse Hamilton's use and views of the military seem contrary to American values of a neutral military that abstains from political conflict.

I have heard that, despite lines to the contrary in the play, Hamilton was never eligible to be president due to the fact he was born in the Caribbean. Furthermore, I have heard that the some of the writers made sure to include that language, in some part, specifically to prevent Hamilton's candidacy.

Is there any truth to that? If so, who would have wanted to make sure that Hamilton would not be President, since Jefferson was in France and Madison seemed to get along with Alexander during the writing of the Constitution

As a Canadian that the only American history I know comes from the musical what historical inaccuracies should I know about in the show?

Would the Schuyler sisters have spoken Dutch?

In the musical it is implied that after the Reynolds Pamphlet, Eliza pretty much kicked Hamilton out of the house. She sings she's burning every letter that would let people know how she fell in love with him. She says she'll leave historians wondering about their story. However, they reconcile after Philip's death.

Did Hamilton really leave his house for a while and is it true that it was Philip's death that brought them back together? I know his political career was pretty much over after the pamphlet, but if his reputation had been restored, how would being separated from his wife impact a politician's life at the time?

Also, did the letters really went missing?

Looking for info on slavery/African Americans. The show depicts ham as an abolitionist....chernow does as well. I've heard there is evidence which contradicts this....what can you tell me about ham perhaps NOT being an abolitionist/his views on African Americans. Thanks.

Why didn't Alexander Hamilton run for President against Thomas Jefferson after George Washington stepped out of office?

Did Hamilton even know/admit that he was illegitimate? Poor immigrant orphan, yes, but there is some complicated stuff going on with his parents' marriage and especially his mother's first marriage, so his legal status is complicated. Could you elaborate on that please? Thank you for this wonderful AMA!

So the musical makes it pretty clear that Hamilton and Jefferson were enemies, but in reality how much was personal and how much was purely political/professional? I've always had the impression that politics were much less personable back then, but don't know how accurate that is.

Thank you so much for doing this AMA :)!

How accurate is the portrayal of Hercules Mulligan? Just from a bit of googling, I found something about how he owned a slave named Cato who was the actual spy? How did this interact with Laurens and Hamilton's status as abolitionists?

Was Maria Reynolds really innocent in approaching Hamilton, or did her husband mastermind it from the start? Or is it a bit of both?

There's been a lot of conversations regarding the ways in which Miranda's musical is revolutionary in terms of gender history and has been described by some as having a feminist ending. However, the women of Hamilton only exist in relation to a main (male) character and their narratives are only told because of the ways their lives intertwined with his. Furthermore, for a musical that discarded ideas of race in casting, Hamilton did not challenge gender. I guess the question is: was the musical really revolutionary? Does it actually force people to think about history in new ways, or even think about history beyond its entertainment value?

I'm reading Hamilton's biography by Chernow, and am realizing that Chernow is biased towards Hamilton. Are there any other biographies of Hamilton that are more balanced? Also are there any good biographies on Burr?

Trenches are referenced twice throughout the musical to refer to warfare, once in Cabinet Battle #1: "we almost died in a trench while you were off getting high with the French" and again in Guns and Ships: "Sir, he knows what to do in the trench ingenuitive and fluent in French, I mean."

Were trenches actually used in war as far back as the Revolutionary War? I remember hearing in my US History class that the first trenches were used in WWI.

Are there statistics or estimates for the overall dangerousness of dueling at the time? i.e. how, what percent of proposed duels actually went all the way through the process (then possibly to the second round) and what percent of duels ended in a death. From Chernow's book, it seems like it was an omnipresent feature of the lives of colonial elites (though he may just be focusing on it to give greater context for Hamilton-Burr).

I am late, I realize, and this may've been asked, but i have to ask. In the play there is the line by Jefferson...

He knows nothing of loyalty Smells like new money, dresses like fake royalty Desperate to rise above his station Everything he does betrays the ideals of our nation

Would this have been a normal "insult" during that time? Because trying to rise above your station seems to be the epitome of the "American dream".

Another one: can you talk about the relationship between New York and other cities (including Boston) at the time? New York plays an important role in the musical, but wasn't Boston much more of a civic/political/military center at the time?

(Apologies if this is a stupid question. I did not go to school in the US, so my understanding is very basic.)

On a personal level, what is your favorite movie of all time?

Here's a VERY basic question (from a non-USAnian): why were there multiple British colonies to begin with? Why wasn't all of British North America one big colony, without inter-colony and later inter-state rivalries over taxes, who gets the capital, etc.?

What political parties would the key characters belong to today? Hamilton, Jefferson, Burr & Washington especially.

Hamilton seems to have espoused views that progressives believe in but I know Conservatives adore the Federalist papers.

Apologies for posting two questions.

What do we know about the meeting between Hamilton, Madison, and Jefferson? Is this dinner really where the location of the capital was exchanged for Hamilton's federalist bank? Did Burr give any indication as to this being his motivation to engage in national politics?

So, my question may have been answered elsewhere, but:

How did a bastard, orphan son of a whore and a Scotsman dropped in a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence in poverty and squalor grow up to be a hero and a scholar?

Would the play be considered Great Man history? I've seen it dismissed as much in some places on the internet. Certainly there's a space between biographical history and great man history?

The musical portrays Hamilton as anti-slavery. From what I've been able to gather he expressed some anti-slavery views and probably never owned slaves in his own right, but he did get involved in slave transactions related to his wife's family. Can someone speak in more detail about his relationship to slavery?

Moving the capitol half way across the country and effectively building an entirely new city from scratch to house it seems like a very significant undertaking. What was the reaction like among politicians and the general populace?

Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison were all members of the Continental Congress and traditionally have been seen having a immense impact on the founding of the nation. Is it possible the members of the Congress and these men thought of themselves as being superiors to others who came along later for example Hamilton? Could this have effected their viewpoint of a young upstart like Hamilton? Washington can be omitted.

I've read that Hamilton paid Maria Reynold's husband James upwards of $1000 in "back then" dollars to keep the affair quiet. Was it really that much? How much would that be today? And was Hamilton really that wealthy (or was it Eliza's money?)

In "We Know" Madison says that Hamilton paid James Reynolds "almost a thousand dollars". How much is that in modern currency?

The musical references Hamilton and Burr working together as defense attorneys for Levi Weeks. What is known about that? Were they friendly prior to that? Did it sow discord between them?

Hi, thanks for doing this!

My question might be a bit of a stretch as far as causality is concerned, but it seems plausible that Hamilton's work establishing the national banking system, and the vehicle for managing the nation's debt may have been extremely influential on the Civil War, and the Union's ability to fund/"afford" it, simply put. Is this at all the case?