Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (Hamilton 11)

The pamphlet Common Sense, which Angelica mentions in "The Schuyler Sisters," was published anonymously in Philadelphia, on January 10, 1776. Within a few months, British expatriate Thomas Paine was known to be…

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Wait! (Hamilton 10)

Dear Alexander, I'm having a torrid marriage with a man much, much younger than you, and our 30th anniversary is almost here. I need to take a week off to…

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Hamilton’s Death Wish, revisited (Hamilton 9)

Last week I expressed my profound dissatisfaction at not being able to read in full a letter published in early 1776 in the Royal Danish American Gazette, which Chernow (p. 72) uses to…

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My Shot (Hamilton 8)

Have you stopped to think about the way "My Shot" builds on the opening number of Hamilton: An American Musical?  It sets him up as a young hero eager to change the…

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John Laurens (Hamilton 4)

John Laurens didn't live to see the end of the American Revolution. He died at age 27, killed by the British ten months after Yorktown - which was only recognized in…

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The Hurricane Letter (Hamilton 2)

The opening number of Hamilton: An American Musical, "Alexander Hamilton," has brief references to every important aspect of Hamilton's life and character: his being illegitimate and an orphan, his ambition, his constant rushing, his…

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