Hamilton is an amazing musical that brings American history to life. It’s fascinating to see how the playwrights and actors are able to recreate key moments in history and allow people today to visualize what life was like in the 18th century. My favorite part of the musical was the song “Non-Stop”. Not only does this song describe Hamilton’s role in shaping the United States, it also allowed us to understand women’s role in society through the voices of Angelica and Eliza. From their lines, it can be understood that societal norms limited their freedom, forcing them to marry for wealth and tend to domestic matters.

This was my favorite section of the song:
Alexander joins forces with James Madison and John Jay to write a series of essays Defending the new United States Constitution, entitled The Federalist Papers
The plan was to write a total of twenty-five essays
The work divided evenly among the three men
In the end, they wrote eighty-five essays in the span of six months
John Jay got sick after writing five
James Madison wrote twenty-nine
Hamilton wrote the other FIFTY-ONE!

The tone of this part started off calm, but builds in intensity that leads to the powerful final line, which really popped out to me. It emphasizes the effort these men put into shaping America and establishing the foundation of the US constitution. In Chapter 1, Stuart defines representation as “the link between concepts and language which enables us to refer to the ‘real world’ or objects, people, or events” (17). I completely agree with him. Even though we weren’t present for these historical events, we can still connect to the history through the use of modern language and storytelling to bring history to life. In this sense, language goes beyond just words. It includes acting, singing, and much more. This idea applies not only to Hamilton but also to any culture that seeks to represent their history through a shared form of expression.