“Alexander Hamilton as Immigrant, Musical Mythology Meets Federalist Reality” by Phillip W. Magness, sets out to identify and illustrate the point that the hit Broadway musical, Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, has misinterpreted Hamilton's agenda and characteristics. Magness believes that Miranda's depiction “falls short of hagiography”, meaning it was almost as if writing about a saint, and that it was done in pursuit of art, as well as regarding Hamilton's ongoing character rehabilitation. The musical emphasizes the immigrant status of Hamilton, stated by Magness, 'as a self-made immigrant who rose to political prominence despite his own low birth… born out of wedlock on the Caribbean island of Nevis… contrast to his high-born rivals Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Aaron Burr (497).' Although this may be true, there was much more irony involved in Hamilton’s life and political career. He was not the man Miranda sought out to display, in-fact he was a one of the founding fathers regarding anti-immigration laws.
Miranda's musical uses Hamilton's ‘low-birth' as his internal drive to become what he has become and do what he has done. Magness believes that 'his background story emerges as a mechanism to introduce adversity into the plot. (498)' Magness scorns Miranda on the idea that Hamilton's character is a derivative of his immigrant and low-birth status in a high-born inheritance world. Not only does Magness believe Miranda misjudges or completely neglects the facts behind Hamilton's political and naturalistic beliefs by adding 'the resulting production… politely and carelessly overlooks several uglier dimensions of Hamilton's views on nationality and birth status (498).' He also mentions the fact that the musical misguides the audience by hiding his political outlook; which by the end of his existence emerged to be one that is both nationalistic and elitist. The real Alexander Hamilton as opposed to the musical adaptation birthed by Miranda, turns against the same beliefs that Miranda sought to illustrate in the musical. Magness's main subject matter is the fact that the musical, with its factual oversights and problematic historical image of Hamilton, will cause disarray between scholars of the founding era for decades to come, 'Scholars of the Founding era will likely have to contend with – and correct – for many decades to come (498).'
Magness illustrates several examples throughout the musical that depict Hamilton's character as one that uses his immigrant and low-birth status as an antagonist to give him and others drive. In one part of the musical, Hamilton announces with the chorus, 'immigrants: We get the job Done!', speaking on behalf of the triumph at the battle of Yorktown. As stated in the prior paragraph Magness believes that throughout the musical, Miranda reminds the audience of Hamilton’s low-birth, to exemplify a plot device.
A message that Magness believes Miranda intended to bring into full clarity in the musical, is one that I found very interesting and thought-provoking after reading about Magness's analysis towards the musical’s historical depiction. In the musical, on the duel that ends his life, Hamilton was proclaiming his final words to the connotation of immigrant identity, Magness summarizes it as a dream in which migrants, refugees and low-born people like himself, can come to the United States and enjoy the promises of freedom (499).' What is interesting about this message that Miranda is clearly conveying is that throughout Hamilton's political carrier he sought after nationalistic and elitist movements. Turning towards anti-immigration, Hamilton, helped find several acts and provocations to prevent immigrant rights. Magness goes on to state how all of Hamilton’s political attacks that he pursued against immigrants, his major role in the founding of the Alien and Sedition Acts and his profoundly hostile anti-immigration outlook, would be classified as “nationalistic Xenophobia.” Miranda incorrectly ascribes to Hamilton, what Jefferson once states, 'Shall oppressed humanity find no asylum on this globe? (500)' In actuality, Hamilton raged at the suggestion, writing in the New York Evening Post, which he co-owned, he spoke about his anti-immigration beliefs and even tied Jefferson's thinking into the demise of the Roman Empire, stating that it was widely known that the largest reason for the downfall of the Roman Empire was how they communicated how much citizenship privilege those who came from Italy had (500). I found that interesting as it contradicts Miranda’s depiction of Hamilton.
I chose this topic because I have always been interested in History and the idea that there will always be two sides to the story, even in history. There are always people against and for a certain subject, with plenty of biases tossed in the mix. I found that this article, although very interested, has certainly gave me the inclination of bias towards Hamilton, from both parties. Which makes it all the more interesting, to delve into the article and hear out both sides of the story to differentiate the biases from the facts in hopes to formulate my own opinion on the matter.
What surprised me most about the article is the issue that Magness brings up, that Miranda’s musical has sidestepped the political legacy of Hamilton, the largest being the Whiskey Rebellion and the Alien and Sedition Acts. In regard to the Whiskey Rebellion, some say that Hamilton purposely supported an aggressive federal response against some sixty nonpaying distillers to strengthen the federal government's power, something that Miranda's musical sidestepped altogether. From here on as Magness states, 'Hamilton was able to cultivate a growing political belief that foreign-born persons posed an imminent threat (502).' This lead to his large thumbprint in the extensive legislative suite, the Alien and Sedition Acts. The sedition Act was a measure that permitted the incarceration and prosecution of any opposition newspaper editors who published anything that was against John Adams. The other components of the package concerned themselves with the matter of immigrants and foreigners that live in the United States. One such component was the Naturalization Act which nearly tripled the existing five-year requirement to become a citizen of the United States, now being fourteen-years. The aforementioned Alien Act, known as the Alien Enemies Act, allowed for the federal government to search, imprison or deport noncitizens who came from any country that the United States was in declared state of war with. The Alien Friends Act, another component of the Alien Act, allowed to the president to be granted sweeping authority to order the detention of deportation of any foreigner he deemed hostile, as well as the ability to impose time restrictions on them. To believe that such a large provocation was not only signed but also advocated by Hamilton, a low-born immigrant, is not only ironic but also tragic; and to think Miranda, like Magness, is debating, not only sidesteps these facts but completely misaligned Hamilton's character to historical fact, is mind baffling. It is understandable to a certain degree that Miranda, in the name of art and music, did not want to tarnish Hamilton's name and character, in efforts to illustrate her motive that immigrants and refugees can in-fact become anything they put their minds to, like Hamilton. Like other musicals we are discussing in the course, South Pacific for example, in my opinion, also deters from some truth to allow for more artistic freedom.
In ending, I agree with Magness that the musical had misrepresented Hamilton’s character and career. In Magness's words, 'in stark contrast with the musical's concluding scene, Alexander Hamilton died with a profoundly pessimistic outlook where immigration to the United States was concerned (506).' As stated before in the musical, the song sung by Hamilton's character gave Magness the following summary, 'Hamilton dreams of a legacy in which other refugees, migrants, and low-born persons might come to enjoy the promises of self-made success in the country he helped to found (499).' What I discovered after reading this article is that in all reality, Hamilton was left to watch all the immigration reforms that he helped create in the Alien and Sedition Acts fall apart after his death. The so-called 'bastard orphan immigrant' had one of the most ironic political policies and lives. Unlike the telling in the musical, Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton was an anti-immigrant nationalist who despised his counterparts who were in the least bit foreign, a man whose main goal was to instigate a change, a change that would push our immigration policy back years. From a country of freedoms to a country with strict immigration and foreign policies, not the same man Miranda sought out to display in the musical.
Works Cited
Magness, Ph. W. “Alexander Hamilton as Immigrant, Musical Mythology Meets Federalist Reality.” The Independent Review- A Journal of Political Economy, vol. 21, no. 4, 2017.