Disclaimer: The proshot of this musical can be found on Disney+ and is rated PG-13 due to language and some suggestive material.
Hamilton, the hit musical about America’s founding fathers composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, broke Broadway records when it grossed $4 million dollars after 8 shows. It has won many awards, gained international fame, and even been entirely translated into German. While I wish I could make a ‘Non-Stop’ pun here, the show’s run did go on a seven-month pause in 2020 due to the pandemic when Broadway shut down. It made its comeback in September 2021 and is now touring all over North America and the UK. Despite the high praise received from critics, ticket sales that speak for themselves, and general hype surrounding the production, many historians disparage the musical due to an inaccurate portrayal of titular character Alexander Hamilton and other historical details.
The biggest issue people have with Hamilton is that it paints a picture of Hamilton as being a “revolutionary manumission abolitionist,” when in reality Hamilton was much more complex. His views on enslavement are depicted differently in all his biographies, and even historians are not all in agreement with each other, making it difficult to give a hard yes or no on whether he actually owned slaves. However, evidence strongly suggests that while he may have been morally opposed to the practice, he often did not act upon these beliefs in the name of political expediency. While the true extent of his opinions and actions are difficult to establish without considerable research, he was almost certainly not the activist figure the musical portrays him as.
Secondly, in the song “Aaron Burr, Sir,” the setting is said to be 1776, New York City. Unfortunately, the catchy rapped introductions to four main Act I characters—Aaron Burr, John Laurens, Marquis de Lafayette, and Hercules Mulligan—could not have all happened in 1776 with Zoom not having been invented yet. Laurens did not meet Hamilton until 1777, after the war had already started, and Lafayette didn’t arrive in America until the same year. Mulligan likely was acquainted with Hamilton in New York, but in 1773, thanks to Mulligan’s brother. And with New York being taken over by the British almost immediately after the start of the war, Hamilton did not return to Manhattan until after America’s victory, therefore rendering it impossible for him to have met Laurens and Lafayette there. Also, Hamilton never actually punched the bursar of Princeton, although it makes for a great lyric.
In Act II, Daveed Diggs’ iconic portrayal of Thomas Jefferson characterizes him as eccentric, confrontational, flamboyant, and aggressive. In reality, by most accounts, Jefferson’s personality was much more even-tempered and sensitive, and he was known for making well thought-out political decisions. His rivalry with Hamilton was much less prominent than the musical made it out to be. Despite the “The Election of 1800” lyric sung by Hamilton “I have never agreed with Jefferson once / we have fought on like seventy-five different fronts,” there are actually several instances in which the two did agree on important issues. Jefferson even supported Hamilton’s nomination for the American Philosophical Society, a prestigious organization of scholars that still exists today. The two certainly had their conflicts, but it is an aspect of history that the musical greatly exaggerated for the sake of drama.
A similar process was followed for another surprising character—wait for it—King George III, played by Jonathan Groff. His three songs; “You’ll Be Back,” “What Comes Next,” and “I Know Him,” provide much of the Shakespearian comedy relief in the show. But according to documents from the Royal Archives, the monarch wasn’t actually as ‘bloodthirsty’ as his character suggests. One of such documents, titled America Is Lost!, was originally written by British agriculturist Arthur Young, then edited by the king. King George omitted the parts where Young described America as unable to sustain itself without Britain and highlighted the importance of preserving the new country even at the cost of his own territories. Additionally, after the British defeat in the Battle of Yorktown, the king lost the support of Parliament and went as far as to draft an abdication of the throne that never got delivered, contradicting the lyric in “I Know Him” that says “George Washington’s yielding his power and stepping away / Is that true? / I wasn’t aware that was something a person could do / I’m perplexed.” Obviously, King George was not always an avid supporter of American independence, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a Revolutionary War. However, he did come around eventually and maintained a good relationship with the young nation.
This article is a non-comprehensive list of inconsistencies, because it would be impossible to include every little detail while staying within clay’s length limits. However, the main points are covered, and hopefully it will now be easier to enjoy the musical and awesome soundtrack while knowing not to accept all of it as solid historical fact. Telling the story of the United States’ birth through the eyes of a less famous founding father isn’t easy, let alone doing it entirely in rhymes and following specific time signatures. As Miranda said on Twitter, “All the criticisms are valid…I took 6 years and fit as much as I could in a 2.5 hour musical. Did my best. It’s all fair game.”
Works Cited
“First Broadway play opens in NY since lengthy pandemic shutdown.” Reuters, August 5th 2021. www.reuters.com/world/us/first-broadway-play-opens-ny-since-lengthy-pandemic-shutdown-2021-08-05/
Krajnyak, Zack. “Everything Hamilton Gets Wrong About Real Life History.” ScreenRant, August 10th 2020. screenrant.com/hamilton-historical-inaccuracies-wrong-true-story/
Krajnyak, Zack. “Hamilton: How King George Really Reacted To America Winning Independence.” ScreenRant, August 7th 2020. screenrant.com/hamilton-musical-king-george-3-us-independence-reaction/
@Lin_Manuel “Appreciate you so much, @brokeymcpoverty. All the criticisms are valid. The sheer tonnage of complexities & failings of these people I couldn’t get. Or wrestled with but cut. I took 6 years and fit as much as I could in a 2.5 hour musical. Did my best. It’s all fair game.” Twitter. July 6th 2020, 2:44 PM.
McCarthy, Bill. “Fact-checking ‘Hamilton’ the musical.” PolitiFact, July 1st 2020. www.politifact.com/article/2020/jul/01/fact-checking-hamilton-musical/
Miranda, Lin-Manuel. (2015). Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) [Album]. Atlantic Records Soundtracks.
Moore, Deanna. “‘Hamilton’ Broke All-Time Broadway Box Office Record.” iHeartRadio Broadway, January 3rd 2019. www.iheartradiobroadway.com/content/2019-01-03-hamilton-broke-all-time-broadway-box-office-record/#:~:text=Lin%2DManuel%20Miranda’s%20Tony%20Award,shows%20in%20recorded%20Broadway%20history
Richardson, Kaysey A. “Hamilton the Musical: Five Truths and Five Lies.” Museum of World Treasures, February 14th 2022. worldtreasures.org/blog/hamilton-the-musical-five-truths-and-five-lies