In the song "The Schuyler Sisters" one of the lyrics sung is "In the greatest city in the world" in which they they are referring to New York City which at this time is the second largest city in the colonies. To most American's this is probably true as to us it is the greatest city in the world or one of the greatest cities in the world. It has the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and has been featured in hundreds of movies. However this is only looking at it from an American view and is also very nationalistic which is to be expected. Now if we look at how say Great Britain saw the city at the time then maybe we can see an outsider's view of the city. In 1776 after being defeated at Boston the British attacked the Colonial Army at New York City, the total conquest of New York City would take around 3 months culminating in 5 separate  battles as we can see in "Right hand man". This shows that the city was important enough for the British to fight for and capture. The later song also mentions that the British brought thirty-two thousand troops which was one of their largest armies of the war. So as we can see even if the city is not not the "greatest city in the world" it is still a very important city to both a Americans and outsiders. What do you think though? Why do you think Miranda uses the lyrics "In the greatest city in the world" to describe New York City?

King George's speaking

In the three songs that King George appears in: I know him, What come Next, and You'll be back one of the few things in the lyrics that connects the songs is, "They say, and
Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da
Da da da dat dat da ya daaaaa!
Hahahahahahahahaha" The first part is a little unusual since even though he is singing he is using other peoples opinions to start his song and since he is a king you wouldn't expect him to use others opinions. It's also interesting that in You'll be back he uses You say unlike the other two, part of the reason is due to the colonies not being part of Britain anymore. Now as for the part that is him saying random words this part is used to portray his emotions in each song. In You'll be back he is very happy when he is singing signifying that he is confident in his victory, so why should he worry about losing the colonies. In what comes next this is reversed as he now has lost the colonies, the song also shows how he feels betrayed that they have left him for France. It is also used to foreshadow the coming events for America as we later see in the musical. Then in the final one I know him he is still sad at the beginning which shows he is still sad while also showing his confusion with the concept of stepping down and giving up your power. Then in the second half of the song he is back to his happy self as he realizes that this will cause trouble for America as he knows that Adams doesn't have as much backbone as Washington does. For me these choices show how much America meant to King George the III, it also gives us an outside reaction to key events that take place. What do you think? Why do you think Miranda had the lyrics be so similar, is it similar to how he does it for Hamilton and Burr or is it different?

[WASHINGTON]
I was younger than you are now
When I was given my first command
I led my men straight into a massacre
I witnessed their deaths firsthand
I made every mistake
And felt the shame rise in me
And even now I lie awake
These are the first lyrics sang in the song History Has it's eyes on you however the lyrics are a bit misleading. Most people think that when he says "I led my men straight into a massacre, I witnessed their deaths firsthand" he is referring to how his men where massacred and that he witnessed their deaths. I however feel that after researching into this he is referring to the massacre his men committed and that he witnessed his men kill those people. The lyrics refer to a skirmish in 1754 between Washington's men who included around a dozen Iroquois men, the skirmish started with an ambush where 12 French men and 1 colonial. They also took 20 French prisoners who were later massacred by the Iroquois, this is what I believe the line  "I led my men straight into a massacre
I witnessed their deaths firsthand"  refers to. The next line refers to how he made the mistake of allowing this to happen. The word shame in the next line is referring to how this started the 7 years war causing the British to come save the colonists. Finally when he sings "You have no control: Who lives ,who dies ,who tells your story" this refers to how he is painted as a great American hero which he is, but he also is one of the primary reasons for a war that is technically listed as a form of a world war and not many know this. What do you think though? Why do you think the lyrics are structured this way? I feel that it is so that people can see that Washington is more Human than we give him credit for whether or not you look in between the lines.

http://www.shmoop.com/george-washington/french-indian-war.html

Hercules Mulligan

In the song "the Battle of Yorktown" a man named Hercules Mulligan is mentioned as being the spy that allowed them to trap the British in Yorktown. However, this is the only time we hear about him especially since this is Hamilton's story and he has a big impact on it. As I mentioned he was a spy, but he was also a tailor in New York who tailored for some high ranking British Officers and this is how he could get information from them as they trusted him. Through my research, I found that Hamilton stayed with the Mulligans while he was going to school and that he was pro-British. It was only through Mulligan's convincing that Hamilton saw the colonists cause as just. It is interesting that someone who was one of the primary reasons for Hamilton's joining of the colonists is so obscure in Miranda's play about him. I personally feel that Miranda didn’t include him because the play is more about Hamilton in the war and directly after instead of what happened before it. It is also interesting to wonder what would have happened if Hamilton remained pro-British, his financial plan would have never come to be as he would have been deported just like all the other loyalists or maybe the colonists would have lost the revolution (though this is highly unlikely). What do you think though? Why do you think Miranda left Mulligan out of the story except the little mention in the Battle of Yorktown? Also, what do you think would be the effects of Hamilton remaining pro-British and possibly even joining the British?  

Winning was easy young man Governing is harder.

Throughout the musical most notably in What comes next? and in the first cabinet battle Washington and King George the third tell both Alexander and America that winning the war was easy, but governing the new nation would be much harder. I feel that this is a fair representation as it shows that after the war the colonies did not get along as they did not have the revolution to unite them. This is largely shown in the first cabinet battle when Thomas Jefferson fights against Hamilton's plan to assume state debts and asks why Virginia should share about New York's debts. Hamilton shoots back that it would help the Government and union by creating a new line of credit for all the colonies. In what comes next King George taunt the new nation now that is on its own and tells it now to come crawling back to him when the nations citizens begin to hate the government. This is a call back to what happened after the revolution in real life as people were not happy with the government as the nation was now in debt. The government also didn’t really know how to run itself as a nation give the fact that they had been under British rule for almost all their lives and had relied a great deal on them. Another issue is that the colonies saw themselves as each of them being a country and given their size some of them were big enough to be just that, but on their own they were also weak. Later in the musical we see that they do get a unifying form of government in the U.S constitution. But what do you think? Do you feel that winning the war was easy as compared to running the new nation and can this concept be brought into everyday life?  

Throughout the play Hamilton mentions a Hurricane that he witnessed and wrote about in the Caribbean, but it is never revealed what Hurricane this was or when this happened. After doing some research I found that the Hurricane he mentions is the Great Hurricane of 1772. The Hurricane was very large and is reported have hit Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Mobile, Alabama, New Orleans and Louisiana between the August 28th and September 5. The Hurricane was also very power as he references during some of the songs with it destroying crops and causing mass devastation destroying wharves in Pensacola and cutting new channels in Grand-Gosier, Haiti and Brenton Isles. As for the writing his way out I was able to find a quote from one of his letters to his father when he was 15 though the play says he is 17,
"... It began about dusk, at north, and raged very violently till ten o'clock. Then ensued a sudden and unexpected interval which lasted about an hour. Meanwhile the wind was shifting round to the south west point , from whence it returned with redoubled fury and continued till nearly three in the morning. Good God! what horror and destruction - it's impossible for me to describe - or you to form any idea of it. It seemed as if a total dissolution of nature was taking place. The roaring of the sea and wind - fiery meteors flying about in the air - the prodigious glare of almost perpetual lightning - the crash of falling houses - and the ear-piercing shrieks of the distressed were sufficient to strike astonishment into Angels. A great part of the buildings throughout the island are leveled to the ground - almost all the rest very much shattered - several persons killed and numbers utterly ruined - whole families wandering about the streets, unknowing where to find a place of shelter - the sick exposed to the keenness of water and air - without a bed to lie upon - or a dry covering to their bodies - and our harbors entirely bare. In a word, misery, in its most hideous shapes, spread over the whole face of the country ...". This letter describes the sheer destruction of the storm especially from the eyes of someone who lived in that time where there were no warnings or protection. I feel that Miranda should have inserted one of these letters into the play as it would shows just how bad his situation was, but what about you guys do you think he should have or do you think it would have negatively affected the play? 





http://www.poetpatriot.com/timeline/tmlndishurricanes-bc-1800.htm

The song "The Ten Duel Commandments" is about the duel between Lee and Lauren shortly after Lee insults Washington. The song is very hip-hop themed and uses background noise to increase the impact of the situation. The song also gives us a rundown of what happens in a duel and how most of them are stopped before anyone fires their gun. It uses rhyming throughout the song especially right after the number count or when it is talking about dueling itself. Here are a few examples of this "If they can't reach a peace ,that's alright time to get some pistols and a doctor on sight." "Your last chance to negotiate, Send in your seconds, see if they can set the record straight…" These rhymes show us that dueling is very serious since they need a doctor on sight. Another example of rhyming is when Burr and Hamilton are talking,

"Alexander

Aaron Burr, sir

Can we agree that duels are dumb and immature?

Sure

But your man has to answer for his words, Burr

With his life? We both know that’s absurd, sir

Hang on, how many men died because Lee was inexperienced and ruinous?

Okay, so we’re doing’ this" This adds a bit of comedy to the tense scene, but is also used as a foreshadowing to their future duel in which Burr abandons his view that duels are dumb and immature. There is also ticking in the background of the song like that of a clock which along with the countdown at the beginning, end and middle of the song is used to show the seriousness of the situation. Eventually Lee only is wounded, but the clicking of clocks brings up the idea that life is like a clock and when that clock stops so does your life. It can also be inferred that the clicking of the clock is not about Lee being shot, but about Hamilton and his son since one the clock stopped they both died in their duels. Why do you think Miranda decided to use hip-hop in this song which has some very serious themes in it?