Lin Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical, Hamilton, garnered much attention when it was first released. The musical itself was made up of an incredibly diverse cast, and it ended up winning numerous awards- including Tony’s, Emmy’s, and a Pulitzer. The Broadway show told the fascinating story of Alexander Hamilton and the birth of the United States of America. The story was told through a series of raps, songs, and dancing. By the end of the show, you knew the basics of Hamilton’s life and relationships- and you were destined to be filled with inspiration to do great things. The story being told was full of grandeur and bright shining lights, and characters like Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton were portrayed as fun-loving boys who fought for the rights of everyone.
Musicals like Hamilton are surely an interesting watch and great source of entertainment, but it’s incredibly important to watch them critically. Sure, Miranda told the story with a deeply diverse cast and did mention slavery—but he also painted the main characters as great men who would die to protect others. This portrayal is simply false. The Founding Fathers of America and their friends were slave-owners or complicit in the selling of slaves.
Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote “All men are created equal”, was also a man who owned hundreds of slaves. According to the Monticello website, Jefferson was publicly known to detest slavery, but he was also known to believe that black people were inferior to white people. Hamilton portrays Jefferson as a francophile who fought hard for his beliefs of a strong and beautiful country. Reality shows that Jefferson was a slave owner who held little regard for the black lives he had enslaved. In fact, it is historically known that Jefferson raped and impregnated one of his slaves: Sally Hemmings.
The story of Sally Hemmings is a sad one, and one with not many details. The Monticello website details as much of her life story as possible. She was Jefferson’s daughters’ slave, and at fourteen she accompanied the Jeffersons to France. In Paris, she was considered free, but it was there where Jefferson began advancing onto her. Thomas Jefferson impregnated Sally Hemmings in Paris, France. At sixteen, the Jeffersons were leaving Paris, and Hemmings was forced to negotiate her future children’s freedom. When she arrived back in the United States, she remained Jeffersons sexual slave until his death. This is but one of the examples of Thomas Jefferson’s cruelty towards black and enslaved people in America.
George Washington was also a prominent man who enslaved people and condoned slavery. In Hamilton, he was painted as a strong and fair leader. History.com states that Washington owned more than one-hundred and fifty people by the start of the Revolutionary War. He did not truly believe in the abolition of slavery, and this was because he directly benefited from the institution of slavery. Washington himself even believed in physical punishment towards his slaves, and according to the Mt. Vernon website, he was perfectly fine with an enslaved woman being whipped for refusing to work. One of his slaves, Ona Judge, had escaped from Washington’s grasp. When she was found, she tried to argue for freedom. He did not listen. He did not believe that she deserved to be free. George Washington was not a bystander who disapproved of a slavery, he was an active participant who condoned and believed in slavery.
Alexander Hamilton himself was complicit in the selling and forced labor of black people. The musical brings to attention that Hamilton grew up around the selling of slaves in the Caribbean. His mother even owned slaves at one point, and Hamilton eventually inspected imported slaves for a job. Yes, Hamilton publicly opposed slavery, but publicly opposing something doesn’t make up for what happened behind closed doors. Alexander Hamilton bought and sold slaves for his in-laws with absolutely no hesitation, and his grandson wholeheartedly believes that at one point, Hamilton had bought slaves for himself.
This brings me back to the beginning. Hamilton: The Musical is a wonderful source of entertainment, in fact, I personally love it! I listen to the soundtrack and watch it on DisneyPlus frequently. The musical has a diverse cast and beautiful music. But having fun music and a diverse cast does not mean we can watch it without thinking critically. Critical thinking is incredibly important when it comes to consuming media. And because of the grandeur of the musical, people seem to forget that the Founding Fathers were terrible people. Next time you watch Hamilton, or listen to the soundtrack on Spotify, remember Sally Hemmings. Remember Ona Judge. Remember the black men, women, and children who were forced to work at the feet of these white men. Our Founding Fathers were both bystanders and active participants in the enslavement of human beings. Do not forget this.