EXCLUSIVE: Compare Hamilton (2015) with Hamilton (1917): First Publication of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Lyrics

One of the biggest hits of the spring is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Off-Broadway musical, Hamilton, which is scheduled to move to Broadway this summer. But it will not be the first time a show of that title and subject has appeared on Broadway. Nearly a century ago dramatic actor George Arliss starred as the Founding Father in Hamilton, a play he co-wrote with Mary P. Hamlin.





The play opened Sept. 17, 1917 at the Knickerbocker Theatre and ran two months. It was adapted as the film "Alexander Hamilton" in 1931, with Arliss recreating the title role.

Hamlin had another reason to be interested in national politics. She was distantly related by marriage to Lincoln’s first vice president, Hannibal Hamlin.

Miranda did not base his musical on the Hamlin/Arliss play, but on "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow. Yet, it is interesting to compare differences and similarities separated by style, approach and 98 years of history.

Similarities

Jefferson and Monroe, the primary writers of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, respectively, are presented as villains--or, at any rate, as Hamilton’s antagonists--in both pieces.

The first half of Act II of Miranda’s musical tracks pretty closely with the action of Hamlin’s play, both of them dealing with the period in the 1790s when Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury, and trying to push through a bill for the newborn federal government to take over states’ debts and thereby put the United States on a firm financial footing—an effort Jefferson and Monroe try to undercut by entangling Hamilton in a sex scandal that eventually destroys his personal life, but not his career. Both pieces portray Hamilton as a man of compulsive honesty, to the point that he is willing to destroy himself to keep his honor.

Both pieces depict the catfight politics of the era just after the American Revolution—a picture that will surprise people who think today’s political discord and dysfunction are strictly modern phenomena.

Differences

Hamlin's play is all in prose; Miranda's is entirely in verse.

Miranda’s musical dramatizes three duels, including the climactic confrontation with Aaron Burr that ended Hamilton’s life. Hamlin’s play does not.

Miranda’s musical presents the whole panorama of Hamilton’s life, from his earliest days in Nieves, West Indies, through his immigration to New York, his rise to fame as Washington’s right-hand man, his military success in the Revolution, etc.

Hamlin’s play barely touches on the existence of African-Americans and slavery. The only black person to be seen is Hamilton’s butler, who speaks in a patois. The musical not only grapples directly with slavery, but all the major roles are played by actors of color. When Jefferson protests that Virginia shouldn’t have to help pay other states’ debts because its government is solvent, Hamilton zings back that Virginia is solvent only because its slave workers are unpaid.

Here is how Hamlin’s play handles the scene in which Jefferson and Monroe approach Hamilton with a compromise. They propose to support his plan to let the federal government control the new nation’s finances in return for his support of having the nation’s capital located in the South.

JEFFERSON

Citizen Hamilton, I have been credited with being a diplomatist.

HAMILTON

Your valued service, as minister to France, places that beyond dispute, sir.

JEFFERSON

And I find that, in settling arguments of all kinds, it is necessary to give and take.

HAMILTON

The best diplomatist, I presume, being the man who gives the least and takes the most.

JEFFERSON

In this instance, Citizen Monroe and myself are prepared to give a great deal, in order that the Southern States shall not be overlooked.

MONROE

Treated with contempt.

JEFFERSON

With regard to the Capital, I have a proposal to make. As we cannot agree on the selection of a city, why not build us a new city—clean and new and full of the ideals of Liberty and Fraternity. Why choose a city like Albany or New York, marred with the scars of the British tyrant—bristling with memories of our servitude?

HAMILTON

Certainly an original idea. A new city. On the Hudson!

MONROE

[Quickly and emphatically.] No, not on the Hudson.

JEFFERSON

On the Potomac, halfway between North and South!

[…] Suppose we pass your Bill in return for the Capital?

HAMILTON

[With an assumption of astonishment.] Why gentlemen, this is a surprising proposal. I fear I must have time to think it over.

MONROE

You’re a quick thinker when you like, Hamilton.

Excerpt from the play Hamilton © 1917 Mary P. Hamlin and George Arliss, published by Walter H, Baker & Co.



Here is how Miranda’s musical handles the same scene, in the lyrics to the song “The Room Where It Happened”:

BURR

CONGRESS IS FIGHTING OVER WHERE TO PUT THE CAPITAL--

The COMPANY screams in chaos.

BURR

IT ISN’T PRETTY.

THEN JEFFERSON APPROACHES WITH A DINNER AND INVITE.

AND MADISON RESPONDS WITH VIRGINIAN INSIGHT.

MADISON

MAYBE WE CAN SOLVE ONE PROBLEM WITH ANOTHER.

AND WIN A VICTORY FOR THE SOUTHERNERS, IN OTHER WORDS--

JEFFERSON

OH-HO!

MADISON

A QUID PRO QUO.

JEFFERSON

I SUPPOSE.

MADISON

WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO WORK A LITTLE CLOSER TO HOME?

JEFFERSON

ACTUALLY, I WOULD.

MADISON

WELL, I PROPOSE THE POTOMAC

JEFFERSON

AND YOU'LL PROVIDE HIM HIS VOTES?

MADISON

WELL, WE’LL SEE HOW IT GOES.

JEFFERSON

LET'S GO.

BURR

NO!

COMPANY

-ONE ELSE WAS IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED.

BURR/COMPANY

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED.

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED…

NO ONE ELSE WAS IN

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED.

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED.

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED.

BURR

MY GOD!

BURR/COMPANY

IN GOD WE TRUST.

BUT WE'LL NEVER REALLY KNOW WHAT GOT DISCUSSED.

CLICK BOOM THEN IT HAPPENED.

BURR

NO ONE ELSE WAS IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED.

COMPANY

ALEXANDER HAMILTON!

BURR

WHAT DID THEY SAY TO YOU TO GET YOU TO SELL NEW YORK CITY DOWN THE RIVER?

COMPANY

ALEXANDER HAMILTON!

BURR

DID WASHINGTON KNOW ABOUT THE DINNER?

WAS THERE PRESIDENTIAL PRESSURE TO DELIVER?

COMPANY

ALEXANDER HAMILTON!

BURR

OR DID YOU KNOW, EVEN THEN, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU PUT THE US CAPITAL.

HAMILTON

CUZ WE'LL HAVE THE BANKS.

WE'RE IN THE SAME SPOT.

BURR

YOU GOT MORE THAN YOU GAVE.

HAMILTON

AND I WANTED WHAT I GOT.

Excerpt from "The Room Where It Happened," music and lyrics © Lin-Manuel Miranda. Used by permission of the author.

In the next scene from Hamlin’s play, Monroe, Jefferson and their allies complain about how much power Hamilton and Washington are accumulating, and resolve to do something about it.

TALLYRAND

Who desires to be king?

GILES

[Fiercely.] George Washington does!

MONROE

And Alexander Hamilton wants to be Prime Minister! Wants to be? He is Prime Minister this very minute. Prime Minister of America! Huh!

JEFFERSON

[Conciliatory:] I assure you Citizen Talleyrand, Citizen Giles and Citizen Monroe voice the sentiments of the great body of the American people. There is a growing unrest all over this land at the aristocratic tendencies of our President. There is bitter and righteous opposition to Alexander Hamilton’s efforts to centralize the government and assume the debts of the thirteen free and independent states. Such centralization of power would inevitably lead to monarchy. I stand on the platform of the Rights of Man—the rights of the individual—and the rights of each state to freedom. And I tell you, Citizen Talleyrand, that the gravest danger that threatens America today rests in the persons of those men who are striving to centralize the power of the United States; striving to establish a military dictatorship.

[…]

MONROE

Washington and Hamilton are working against the interests of the individual. They’re working against us.

JEFFERSON

Come, come, we mustn’t say that.

MONROE

Well, it’s true!

JEFFERSON

That may be, but—

GILES

Well, what you goin’ t’ do about it!

Excerpt from the play Hamilton © 1917 Mary P. Hamlin and George Arliss, published by Walter H, Baker & Co.

Here is how Miranda’s musical handles the same conflict, in the lyrics to the song “Washington Is On Your Side”:

MADISON

SO HE'S DOUBLED THE SIZE OF THE GOVERNMENT

WASN'T THE TROUBLE WITH MUCH OUR PREVIOUS GOVERNMENT SIZE?

BURR

LOOK IN HIS EYES!

JEFFERSON

SEE HOW HE LIES.

MADISON

FOLLOW THE SCENT OF HIS ENTERPRISE

JEFFERSON

CENTRALIZING NATIONAL CREDIT.

AND MAKING AMERICAN CREDIT COMPETITIVE

MADISON

IF WE DON'T STOP IT WE AID AND ABET IT

JEFFERSON

I HAVE TO RESIGN.

MADISON

SOMEBODY HAS TO STAND UP FOR THE SOUTH!

BURR

SOMEBODY HAS TO STAND UP TO HIS MOUTH!

JEFFERSON

IF THERE'S A FIRE YOU'RE TRYING TO DOUSE,

MADISON/JEFFERSON

YOU CAN’T PUT IT OUT FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE.

JEFFERSON

I'M IN THE CABINET I AM COMPLICIT IN

WATCHING HIM GRABBIN AT POWER AND KISS IT

IF WASHINGTON ISN’T GON' LISTEN TO DISCIPLINED DISSIDENTS THIS IS THE DIFFERENCE THIS KID IS OUT!

MAD/BURR/ENSEMBLE

OH!

MADISON/BURR

THIS IMMIGRANT ISN'T SOMEBODY WE CHOSE.

MAD/JEFF/ BURR/ENSEMBLE

OH!

MAD/JEFF/BURR/ENSEMBLE

THIS IMMIGRANT'S KEEPING US ALL ON OUR TOES.

MAD/JEFF/ BURR/ENSEMBLE

OH!

JEFFERSON/MADISON

LET'S SHOW THESE FEDERALISTS WHO THEY'RE UP AGAINST!

MAD/JEFF/BURR/ENSEMBLE

OH!

JEFFERSON /MADISON

SOUTHERN MOTHERFUCKIN’

BURR

UH, UH

JEFFERSON /MADISON/BURR

DEMOCRATIC- REPUBLICANS!

ENSEMBLE

OH!

JEFFERSON /MADISON/BURR

LET'S FOLLOW THE MONEY AND SEE WHERE IT GOES.

ENSEMBLE

OH!

JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR

BECAUSE EVERY SECOND THE TREASURY GROWS.

ENSEMBLE

OH!

JEFFERSON /MADISON /BURR

IF WE FOLLOW THE MONEY AND SEE WHERE IT LEADS

GET IN THE WEEDS LOOK FOR THE SEEDS OF HAMILTON'S MISDEEDS

Excerpt from "Washington on Your Side," music and lyrics © Lin-Manuel Miranda. Used by permission of the author.