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A civics lesson from a slaver, Hamilton seethes in the show.
Hey neighbor, your debts are paid because you dont pay for labor.
We plant seeds in the South, we create?
Keep ranting, we know whos really doing the planting.
The thornier side of Hamiltons relationship to slavery is similarly overlooked.
This is a fact Miranda is now publicly commenting on ahead of the Disney+ release.
In a recent interview withNPR, Miranda said, [Slavery] is the third line of our show.
And I think thats actually pretty honest.
So what were Hamiltons actual views on slavery?
Hamilton saw this in his everyday life.
During this period in his life, Hamilton developed a strong distaste for slavery, which he considered barbarous.
But what did he do with this knowledge?
As Manuel said in 2020, clearly not enough.
Before becoming a late-in-life abolitionist, Benjamin Franklin owned several house slaves in his youth.
It was a status symbol.
For the Schuylers it was more than just one slave too.
All of this is expunged in theHamiltonmusical that depicts two of the Schuyler sisters as free thinkers.
In reality, Angelica long maintained the practice of slaveholding after leaving her parents home… asmighthave Eliza.
After his wedding to Eliza, Alexander wrote Gov.
Hamilton even noted the transaction in his cashbook as for 2 Negro servants purchased by him for me.
Yet to say there is an uncomfortable ambiguity there is an understatement.
So what did he do when he actually was in the room where it happens?
Largely nothing other than treating it as a bargaining chip.
And what of his visceral admonishment of Jeffersons hypocrisies in 1796?
It was vividly fair.
Jefferson, ever the proud renaissance man, was aware that slavery was evil.
At one moment he is anxious to emancipate the blacks to vindicate the liberty of the human race.
Hemings was 14 at the time.
Odious and immoral (complete with italicizations) were his favorite words to describe it.
When Burr shot him, his time in power had honestly passed.
