I pointed the Tory thing b/c he was known to have made a few speeches in support of Britain.GannonFan wrote:I thought Chernow, and even the musical, did a good job of showing him to be destructively impulsive. Chernow certainly laid that out in the book (and no one ever really sugarcoats Hamilton's ambitions during the Quasi War) and the musical puts his failings in clear display during the "Hurricane" song as well as the "Adams Administration".Ibanez wrote:
The musical is based off of Ron Chernow's biography (and Ron consulted on the development of the play.) Don't get me wrong, I think the musical is great. But you definitely get a sense that he's an impulsive sometime irrational person.
The play does gloss over things like Hamilton being a Tory before switching sides, or that Hamilton had been in about 10 duels before his last one (at that him and Burr had at least 1 honor dispute before the fatal one).
That and the rivalry/animosity,feud between Hamilton - Burr began way before the election of 1800 and that it wasn't until Hamilton had a hand in denying Burr' the NY governorship that the tension escalated to the point of a duel, not after the election of 1800 as implied in the show.
As for being a Tory before becoming a Patriot, that's a bit harsh - heck, half of the Continental Congress could be labeled as Tories turned Patriots by the same token - the decision to go for Independence was never a neat and tidy one, nor quick. People "evolved" back then even before politicians like Obama "evolved" a couple of centuries later. They just didn't have a term for it yet, with Darwin being many years down the road.
And yes - the play does a good job of showing his failings. Especially when you get to the Reynolds Pamphlet.