Alexander Hamilton PROJECT AND LESSON Hamilton Project Just

Alexander Hamilton PROJECT AND LESSON

Hamilton Project Just in case you have missed it, there is a Broadway Musical about Alexander Hamilton, one of our Founding Fathers. It came out in 2015 and has been a gigantic hit ever since. There are 46 songs in the musical about Hamilton’s life and experiences as a founding father of our nation.

Hamilton project You and a partner are tasked with analyzing one song from the musical Hamilton. Each song contains references to key events or ideas from the Revolutionary-Federalist periods. You may choose from songs 2 -46 EXCEPT 27. Some of the songs have a little cursing. Please refrain from using those words in class. NO TWO GROUPS CAN DO THE SAME SONG. Your job is to explain the song to us in two different ways

“Alexander Hamilton” song #1 How does a bastard, orphan son of a whore Hamilton’s mom and dad weren’t married because she fled an abusive husband couldn’t divorce him because of most marriage laws at the time gave the men all the rights. And a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean She left her home on a Danish Caribbean Island went to another island where she met his father, James Hamilton, a Scot who was from a noble family but was the fourth son and was a problem child as a teen. By providence, impoverished, in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar? Rachel was from St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. She moved to Saint Kitts where she met Hamilton’s father and then they moved to Nevis, where her father had left her some property and money.

“Alexander Hamilton” song #1 The 10 dollar Founding father without a father Got a lot farther by working a lot harder, by being a lot smarter By being a self-starter, by 14 they placed him in charge of a trading charter And everyday while slaves were being slaughtered and carted away Across the waves, he struggled and kept his guard up Inside he was longing for something to be a part of The brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow or barter Then a hurricane came , and devastation reigned Ø A hurricane devastated their island in 1772

“Alexander Hamilton” song #1 Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain Well the word got around, they said "This kid is insane, man!" Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland "Get your education, don't forget from whence you came And the world's gonna know your name. What's your name man? " Alexander Hamilton His boss, Nicolas Cruger and a few of Cruger’s friends took up a collection to send him to the mainland (America) to get an education- James and Alexander weren’t allowed to go to the Christian school on the island because they were illegitimate. Alexander was tutored by a Jewish teacher at a school for Jewish children, but was mostly self-educated at this point.

“Alexander Hamilton” song #1 My name is Alexander Hamilton And there's a million thing I haven't done But just you wait, just you wait When he was 10, his father split, full of it, debt ridden 2 years later, see Alex and his mother bed-ridden Half-dead, sitting in their own sick, the scent thick And Alex got better but his mother went quick Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide Left him with nothing but ruined pride, something new inside They got Yellow Fever, which is transmitted by mosquitoes. 15% of people who get it die, and Rachel is one of those. Her first husband took all of her money, property and goods and gave it to their son, Peter. Hamilton and his brother James had to move in with a cousin. When he killed himself, they were split up and raised by different people.

“Alexander Hamilton” song #1 A voice saying, "Alex you gotta fend for yourself" He started retreating and reading every treatise on the shelf A family friend bought all of the family books back from his mother’s first husband gave them to him. There woulda been nothing left to do for someone less astute He woulda been dead and destitute without a cent of restutition Started working, clerking for his late mother's landlord Trading sugar cane and rum and all the things he can't afford Scanning for every book he can get his hands on Planning for the future, see him now as he stands on The bow of a ship headed for a new land In New York you can be a new man Started working full time at 14 as a clerk, keeping and filing records. They sent him to Elizabethtown, New Jersey first to go to a prep school to shore up his lacking education. Then he entered King’s College in NYC.

Just you wait (In New York you can be a new man) Just you wait In New York you can be a new man In New York (New York) Just you wait! Alexander Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton), we're waiting in the wings for you (waiting in the wings for you) You could never back down, you never learned to take your time Oh, Alexander Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton), when America sings for you Will they know what you overcame? Will they know you rewrote the game? The world will never be same, oh The ship is in the harbor now, see if you can spot him Another immigrant coming up from the bottom His enemies destroyed his rep, America forgot him We fought with him Me? I died for him Me? I trusted him Me? I loved him And me? I'm the damn fool that shot him There's a million thing I haven't done But just you wait What's your name man? Alexander Hamilton!