By Marina Chernin ’23, Staff Writer 

Instead of doing a boring old normal book review, like you were probably expecting, I’m going to discuss a subject that has everyone talking, the hit musical “Hamilton.” Now, please, don’t groan and say “NOT AGAIN!” because I won’t be endlessly praising the show. Instead, I will be talking about how much of it is actually true, because  Lin-Manuel Miranda tried to stay close to Ron Chernow’s book, also titled Hamilton. However,

Musicals on Broadway do need some drama, so his creative license took over, and some facts were disregarded.

I’m sure you know the song “Satisfied,” where Hamilton meets Angelica and Eliza…well, they are both smitten with him, and the song makes it seem like they are both available, but Angelica was already married! In the song she also says she has no brothers, but that is not true! Her family had 15 children, and many of them were male. Since we’re talking about Angelica, I should probably mention how her relationship with Hamilton was exaggerated in the musical to make it dramatic, she actually fancied Jefferson!

The song “Aaron Burr Sir,” while one of my favorites, is not completely accurate. Hamilton didn’t really punch the bursar, he actually had an argument with Princeton President John Witherspoon, “Burr Sir” and “Bursar” do sound much better though.      “One Last Time” is an excellent song, but not completely true. It makes it seem like Jefferson’s resignation and him running for president happen at the same  time, but in reality, they were three years apart.

The song Ten Duel Commandments isn’t fully accurate either, the song implies that Burr was Charles Lee’s second, but in reality, it was Major Evan Edwards, Burr was probably used in this song to foreshadow his duel with Hamilton, but that’s just my opinion.    In the musical, it makes it seem like Hamilton was completely against slavery, and didn’t own any. In reality, he married into the biggest slave owning household in America. The song Non-stop depicts Hamilton asking Burr to help him write the federalist papers, but while he did ask other people, he never asked Burr. Hamilton was not an angel. Contrary to how the musical tells it, the infamous duel depicted in the song The World Was Wide Enough was not because of the election of 1800, but because Hamilton attacked Burr’s character when Burr ran for the New York Governorship, and refused to apologize. Also, Hamilton supplied the pistols, and his had a secret hair trigger, giving him an unfair advantage, and violating the gentlemanly code of conduct.     Adams Administration is an entertaining song, and I really like the robot voice, but not fully true. When John Adams became president, he didn’t fire Hamilton, because Hamilton had already quit before he even got elected. Notwithstanding the historical inaccuracies, Hamilton is making kids all over the world interested in learning about history. Thanks to the wonderful musical, I started reading all about Washington, Jefferson, Burr, and France’s revolution. Also, without it, the old treasury secretary would have been taken off of the ten dollar bill. And I like my bills just like they are!