10 Best Moments from Hamilton’s America

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5. History Lesson

Hamilton’s America is a documentary so there is a lot of history. We see the places where the revered events from the play took place. Oak Onaodowan, Daveed Diggs, Anthony Ramos, and Jackson go to Valley Forge and realize just what a gargantuan task actually fighting in the Revolutionary War would be. (They also ask if they can fire a cannon- and are denied their request.) Miranda writes in Burr’s room and realizes the enormity of the situation. Leslie Odom Jr and Miranda read the notes written by Hamilton and Burr in Weehawken. In Hamilton’s America  history comes alive.

When Jackson goes to Washington’s home at Mount Vernon it’s beautiful. In that moment you can almost understand why this man would want to give up the most powerful position in the world to sit under a vine and fig tree.

All of this suddenly makes history not seem so far away. It is one thing knowing these places exist and it is quite another seeing them inhabited by the people playing the fictional versions of these very real people. It puts the entire play into context. You can see a little piece of what the world looked like back then.