Thursday, June 7, 2018

Eliza Schuyler Hamilton

Okay, so I'm sure most of you know I have an obsession with Hamilton; An American Musical that began two years ago.  Lin-Manuel Miranda not only created "the best piece of art in any form" as Michelle Obama said, but he sparked an interest in our country's revolutionary history.  As a lover of American history, I felt well versed on the Civil War and times after and on the writing of the Declaration of Independence, but my knowledge of the Revolutionary War through the 1850s was pretty sparse.  Did I know who Alexander Hamilton was?  I could have told you he was on the $10, he was our first treasury secretary, and he was killed in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr (which I only knew from the Got Milk? commercial).  The musical inspired me to read Ron Chernow's biography of Hamilton, but also his Washington biography (which I found more interesting and would highly recommend).

The first time I listened to the Hamilton soundtrack in April 2016, the character of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton grabbed me, and she hasn't let go.  Here's a woman who gave birth to EIGHT children and basically adopted a ninth yet she had no rights.  She helped fight the revolution in many ways, but she couldn't vote.  She lived 50 years after Hamilton died in the duel of 1804 and during that time, she fought against slavery and used her influence to help raise funds for the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children as well as helping to found the first private orphanage in New York City.  That orphanage still exist today and functions as a group home for foster youth as well as providing services to families and children.  However, she saw her most important role as maintaining the memory of Alexander's role in the founding of our county.  As the final song in the musical says, "Will they tell your story?"  And I would say as a country, we did not tell Hamilton's story.

I have always loved historical fiction, and My Dear Hamilton did not disappoint.  I was afraid I would find it in opposition to the character of Eliza I had created in my mind from the musical, but if anything, the book made me respect her even more.  As it said in the book, we all talk about the Founding Fathers, but what about the Founding Mothers?  I'm thankful that someone is finally telling Eliza's story.