Thanks for your patience during our recent outage at scalar.usc.edu. While Scalar content is loading normally now, saving is still slow, and Scalar's 'additional metadata' features have been disabled, which may interfere with features like timelines and maps that depend on metadata. This also means that saving a page or media item will remove its additional metadata. If this occurs, you can use the 'All versions' link at the bottom of the page to restore the earlier version. We are continuing to troubleshoot, and will provide further updates as needed. Note that this only affects Scalar projects at scalar.usc.edu, and not those hosted elsewhere.
Hamming it up: Analyzing the Lyrics of "Hamilton"Main MenuWelcomeHistory Is HappeningWelcome One! Welcome All!"Alexander Hamilton"The Start"Aaron Burr, Sir"Let's meet the gang!"My Shot"Don't Throw it Away"The Story of Tonight"The Calm Before the Storm"The Schuyler Sisters"Here come the Ladies!"Farmer Refuted"Tension Builds with England"You'll Be Back"The King has Arrived"Right Hand Man"General George Washington enters"A Winter's Ball"A Night Out on the Town"Helpless"Love has Something To Do With It"Satisfied"Angelica's Mind"The Story of Tonight (reprise)"A Moment Between Friends"Wait For It"Keep Moving Forward"Stay Alive"Loved One's Prayer"Ten Duel Commandments"Gentlemen's Fight"Meet Me Inside"A Change"That Would Be Enough"Reassurance"Guns and Ships"France's Assist"History Has Its Eyes On You"A Warning To Alexander"Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)"Battle Begins and Ends"What Comes Next?"Peace Out from the King"Dear Theodosia"The New Generation"Non-Stop"And We're Back!"What'd I Miss"Welcome Jefferson"Take a Break"A Wife's Request To Relax"Say No To This"Another Women"The Room Where It Happens"Conversation Between Delagates"Schuyler Defeated"Tides Start To Turn"Cabinet Battle #2"Hamilton VS Jefferson: Round 2"Washington On Your Side"Toe to Toe"One Last Time"Going Out With A Bang"I Know Him"A Final Message from the King"The Adams Administration"Change in Rulings"We Know"Secrets are Told"Hurricane"A Choice Is Made"The Reynolds Pamphlet"Knowledge For All"Burn"Eliza's Moment Alone"Blow Us All Away"Philip's Challenge"Stay Alive (reprise)"A Family Pulled Apart"It's Quiet Uptown"Taking In The Night"The Election of 1800"The Government Changes"Your Obedient Servant"Alexander and Aaron Talk"Best of Wives and Best of Women"The Girls"The World Was Wide Enough"Who Shot First?"Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story"The EndWorks CitedThanks for the Help!Natalie Meyersa9d906142e0dc902d8e00a7e48ef9f0bc6c832e2
"Cabinet Battle #1"
1media/Hamilton-burr-duel.jpg2017-03-31T13:58:37-07:00Natalie Meyersa9d906142e0dc902d8e00a7e48ef9f0bc6c832e2151876Hamilton VS Jefferson: Round 1plain2017-04-04T22:14:09-07:00Natalie Meyersa9d906142e0dc902d8e00a7e48ef9f0bc6c832e2Cast: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton
Lyrics with Character Names: Total Words: 662, Words Counted Once: 334 Most common Words: "Hamilton" (16 times), "Washington" (13 times), "Jefferson" (12 times) Lyrics without Character Names: Total Words:623, Words Counted Once: 331 Most Common Words: "Don't" (9 times), "Plan" (6 times), "Hamilton" (5 times)
Now that both sides have been introduced, in a classic rap battle, Thomas "Jefferson" and Alexander "Hamilton" go toe-to-toe on the efficiency of Hamilton's plan of state debt and national banks. Jefferson (with the help of James Madison as the hype man) comes out on top after Hamilton basically tells him to shove it. Washington (the moderator) tells the two to take a walk. As he walks away Jefferson and Madison taunt him like children. Washington tells Hamilton to get it together and "figure it out".
In act 1, the characters were dealing with a physical war, but in this song (and this act) the characters are dealing with a battle of inelegance and popularity in the government setting. I find it funny that the top three names are in that order because the song is all about "Hamilton" VS "Jefferson" with "Washington" mediating the two. It is songs like this that are different from any traditional way of teaching these historical meetings. Instead of it being a room of white men talking about money, it is talented actors having a rap battle about a to do or not to do a government “plan”with low-key insults. It is fascinating how interesting history becomes when it is taught in a unusual way and how people many people will continue to listen to it in order to understand exactly what is going on.