On this day in 1804: Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir?

We love a good throwback and this one features our very favorite Alexander Hamilton and his good frenemy, Aaron Burr, who got into a deadly duel on this day in 1804.

Before Hamilton: An American Musical rose to power, this throwback would have been fine. People would have probably said “okay cool, right Alexander Hamilton was shot today a million years ago. Who cares?” Right?

Or maybe people knew about him and cared. But now, the world knows his name. (Get it? It’s a reference to the musical.) Now for those who don’t know (and I guess it’s a spoiler?), Alexander Hamilton was shot in a duel with his friend/enemy Aaron Burr.

The two were constantly at each other’s throats and in the end, it grew to be too much. The two dueled and it was the undoing for Alexander. It came only after Hamilton’s son had died. Now in the musical, Hamilton had one son and one daughter. In reality, there were a whole bunch of kids but it’s a musical so that’s a little unrealistic.

Before Hamilton premiered, you probably remember hearing about Alexander in your U.S History class. “Oh yeah, he’s that guy who made the bank” is what was frequently heard around the name (at least for me).

Now however, you say the name Alexander Hamilton and at least one person in your vicinity will start singing. “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor grow up to be a hero and a scholar?”

And, if they’re like me, they could probably sing the entire show. Even “Guns and Ships.”

Next: Marvel’s America Pays Homage to Hamilton in New Variant Cover

So today, we remember the founding father who gave us Broadway’s hottest ticket so even if you only thought of Alexander Hamilton as “that guy who made the National Bank”, at least now the world knows his name.