Hamilton’s Choice by Jack Casey is a story about the final years of Alexander Hamilton’s life. The book opens with Philip as he hears and reacts to George Eacker’s Fourth of July speech, in which Eacker trashes his father’s legacy and character. This leads to the duel which will end his life. His beloved son dead, his daughter, Angelica, has a breakdown due to the grief, and Eliza avoids him when he needs her the most. Tormented by a secret that he can’t bear to reveal, Hamilton is alone to shoulder his grief. Meanwhile, Aaron Burr, Hamilton's long time political opponent, begins a campaign that threatens to rip apart the nation that Hamilton and the other finding father so carefully crafted. Hamilton does what he can to ensure that the power obsessed Burr does not win. When a mysterious note arrives, suggesting that Hamilton is behind his humiliating loss, Burr becomes determined to bring Hamilton to the same ruin. Torn between his duty and promise to his wife and children and his committed allegiance to the country he fought to build, Hamilton must make a life and death choice. In a time of honor, duel, and political games, we know how the story ends but how did it come to the duel that ends Hamilton’s life?
As a fan of Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical, Hamilton, and Ron Chernow’s biography which inspired it, I was intrigued and hesitant when I came across Hamilton’s Choice. Ultimately, I decided to give it a chance and I am so glad that I did. Jack Casey brings the interior struggle and emotion of Hamilton to life more than the musical and biography does. Hamilton was torn between two loves, two desires and ultimately couldn’t find a way to satisfy both. I enjoyed seeing the egomaniacal Burr desperately try to take his place in the political power machine of his day and ultimately his place in history. He finds himself without friends and more enemies. Although, he never counted on being remembered as the “villain of our history.” The story also brings to life the pieces that moved in this careful game that Burr and Hamilton played as they moved closer and closer to that fateful day in July 1804. I also enjoyed seeing Eliza’s observations and her own internal struggle with her grief and Hamilton’s unwillingness to settle into a comfortable and quiet life. It is an excellent and moving story that brings Hamilton’s final years to life. Even though I have the eBook of this book, I want a paperback for my permanent library. I highly recommend Hamilton’s Choice.
Hamilton’s Choice is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook.
This weekend is the anniversary of the famous duel between
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. At dawn on July 11, 1804, Aaron Burr and
Alexander Hamilton met at Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton would later die the
following afternoon on July 12, 1804, 216 years ago. With the help of the
brilliance of Lin-Manuel Miranda, he is back in the forefront of American
minds. With the release of Hamilton (2015) on Disney+, the story of this
founding father is reaching a wider audience than ever before. While I was in
school, I knew his name and his basic contributions as a founding father. I
first learned of the famous duel, and this might be true for many people, in
the 1993 Got Milk? commercial. However, it would not be until I was in college
when I took a US History course that I was exposed to more detail about this
man. I remember my professor being a great admirer of Hamilton and used him as
an example of someone who pulled himself up from nothing and made his mark on
history.
Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11, 1755 or 1757 in
Nevis, British West Indies. He would come to New York, orphaned, with no money
to his name, at a time when change was brewing. He would become General George
Washington’s right-hand man and eventually lead his own battalion at the Battle
of Yorktown to help end the war. By the end of his life, he would accomplish so
much. He was an influential interpreter and promoter of the US Constitution as
well as the first Secretary of the Treasury. He was the founder of the US
financial system. He was the founder of the Federalist Party. He was the
founder of the US Coast Guard and founder of the New York Evening Post
newspaper. He was a prolific writer, writing 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers. He
is generally regarded as an astute and intellectually brilliant politician and
financier. He was also known to be impulsive which led to the end of his
political career as well as personal issues. He was an abolitionist as he had
written “Who talks most about freedom and equality? Is it not those who hold
the bill of rights in one hand and a whip for affrighted slaves in the other?”
However, his close friendships and other relationships, including his
father-in-law, Philip Schuyler, indicated “he somewhat partook in the system
himself” (Vincenty, 2020).
In today’s social climate, many are looking back at our
founding fathers in a new light. Many have called for their statutes to be
removed. We, as Americans, have been taught to revere and hold the founding
fathers and even our leaders, to hero/icon statues, that we often ignore or
push aside their mistakes and faults. Because they were human too. As Shannon
Lallier, co-author of Jefferson’s Children: The Story of One American Family,
said “He [Thomas Jefferson] was a brilliant man who preached equality, but he
didn’t practice it. He owned people” (Halliday, 2020). We need celebrate these
men and women’s accomplishments as well as acknowledge and learn from their
mistakes and faults. Hamilton’s 5th great-grandson, Douglas Hamilton
agrees, “None of us are perfect. None of them were perfect” (Somerville, 2020).
As Aaron Burr sings in Hamilton, “Life doesn't discriminate/Between the
sinners and the saints/It takes and it takes and it takes/And we keep living
anyway/We rise and we fall and we break/And we make our mistakes,” we need to
examine the whole person in the situations in which they faced. They didn’t
have the benefit of hindsight like we do. We can look back on their successes
and their mistakes. To learn from their example. To be better. “I think we do
need to keep the past. You need to understand it. You do need to learn from it.
But, at the same time, you need to look forward and say, ‘How can we get
better?” (Sommerville, 2020).
In conclusion, on this anniversary of the famous duel and
his death, we look back on Alexander Hamilton. He was a man of flaws and
amazing intellect. He wasn’t saintly, he made mistakes, but he left a legacy
that we cannot ignore. Hamilton is a brilliant show about one man and
the creation of our country. American is the land of opportunity and Alexander
Hamilton is one of many examples of men and women rising from nothing to make a
better life for him or herself as well as make a huge impact on America. There
are many examples that follow him who came to this country with nothing and
become something. We have the benefit to learn from history. To learn about the
men and women, good and bad, to follow their path and avoid their mistakes. We
cannot undo their mistakes, but we can learn from them. Erasing the statutes
for the individuals’ mistakes doesn’t erase their successes and impact on our
country. I highly recommend watching Hamilton, the brilliance of the
music, the talents of the cast are worth the time spent.
