I would like to see what the hype's about. I worked in banking and I had an interview about five years ago at BNY Mellon. Hamilton founded Bank of New York so my interest was peaked for that reason. All the founding fathers are important but we generally only think Washington Jefferson and Adams.
There are so many people who helped shape this country, black, white, Mexican - it's unfortunate we focus only on those few. But Hamilton is definitely worth learning about and I saw the play and it was excellent
Oh, **** the **** off NY Post. And you're the guy that thought it's "fit to print". Huh. "Hamilton" is fantastic theatre. It is not history. I'm assuming you've never seen it. Or ever seen any theatre in general?
Hot take there Os. Hamilton came out in 2015. If you saw Hamilton, you’d know it’s not getting cancelled. What a fantastic musical.
Strawman after Strawman. I say that not being a fan of censorship or the extremes of cancel culture. But most people, even liberals, know that a narrative musical which has context built in to the program. The problem I have with censoring this stuff is that there people are judging others as if they had the same access to information we have today. Society wasn't anywhere near as advanced on the path to enlightenment as we are today. So holding historical figures to our standards is ignorant. That being said those that are most zealously opposed to removing any of it seem to also be ignorant. They don't want to acknowledge that we have progressed and that honor once bestowed on thses people should no longer be bestowed. It is better to recognize what good and forward progress the folks contributed, but there is no need to continue honoring the people in today's more enlightened society. Entertainment isn't the same thing. It has built in context. Hamilton would absolutely be produced today. Those crying about these red herrings and straw men are snowflakes without a doubt.
This essay describes the left critique of Hamilton on Vox: https://www.vox.com/culture/21305967/hamilton-debate-controversy-historical-accuracy-explained It is interesting how the article frames the issue from a left/progressive perspective: “Myopic reverence” would be “contemptible” while a “repudiation of everything they represented” would be “powerful”. The essay casts Miranda as having slightly left of center views, in the Obama mold, and not especially interested in progressive values when creating Hamilton — hence the problematic themes.
"Hamilton already feels outdated": https://theweek.com/articles/923326/hamilton-already-feels-outdated excerpt: Hamilton feels, anyway, like a relic from a different era. In a sense, it is: Lin-Manuel Miranda's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical emerged during the sunny optimism of the late Obama era, when empowering applause-lines like "immigrants, we get the job done!" were as much a part of the cultural zeitgeist as "I'm With Her" stickers and the push to get Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Half a decade on, we now live in a world where Hamilton has failed to age along with it, having idealistically put its full-throated faith into pre-packaged American values and ideals without acknowledging the underlying forces — like the fear-mongering, xenophobia, mean-spiritedness exploited by President Trump — that lay siege to them being realized.
"Could Hamilton Be Made Today?": https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/review-hamilton-adores-our-now-problematic-founders/ excerpt: Say, kids, have you heard of this fun Broadway musical called Hamilton? It retells the story of the Revolution and the Founding in a delightful, contemporary idiom enriched by hip-hop and R&B. And all of the major American characters are played by minorities! It’s such a vibrant example of [gigantic Monty Python foot comes down from the heavens and squashes me flat]. I’ll start again: Since it debuted on Broadway in 2015, Hamilton has already become a relic of a different age. It would take considerably more courage to launch it today: black and brown Americans singing, dancing, and rapping in praise of white Americans, several of them slaveholders? Really? While hardly casting a glance at the evils of slavery, white supremacy, and patriarchy? And presenting the Revolution without shame as a spectacular advancement in human rights instead of a noxious compromise with, or even an enshrinement of, systemic racism? Anyone who signed on to this project today would probably get a sinking vision of being called out on social media as an “Oreo” or a “coconut” or an “Uncle Tom” for lending his talents to this . . . whitewashing by people of color. The Walt Disney Co. has a long history of presenting an idealized version of American history that is now taken as an affront. Are we meant to give Disney a pass because it has enlisted willing minorities as accomplices in its project of ignorant patriotism? How will the film of Broadway’s Hamilton, which is debuting on Disney Plus this holiday weekend, appear to our great-grandchildren? Will this be their Song of the South?
When I saw it, I didn't even pay attention to the ethnicity of the performers. I did notice how fat the actor was who played Jefferson. Not sure what that makes me. My mother in law was disappointed with the casting and my brother in law was anal about inconsistencies and inaccuracies to the point where it impacted their enjoyment of the show. We got at least 30 tickets to various Minneapolis performances and with the exception of those two, everyone else enjoyed the heck out of it.
I taught high school and middle school U.S. History from 2009-2011, and, yes, our department taught our students that slavery and states rights were the two main causes of the Civil War. However, slavery has always been the primary cause of the Civil War. States rights was a secondary cause that had its roots in slavery. Without slavery, the Civil War is never fought.
You can look at the reasons why the states left the union as told by the states themselves. Top of the list was always Slavery. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states You can check all of them, but the Federal's government hostility towards slavery is almost always the prime cause. The states themselves declared that was why they were seceding from the Union.
