Looking at important figures from the past, we tend to assign either a god-like or devil-like complex. This a serious issue because there is no way to learn from the past. When we either believe these people could do no wrong, or believe they could do only wrong, we dehumanize them. Without the fact that these people were just like us, we tend to ignore the fact that, if we aren’t careful, history can repeat itself. This dehumanization can also make us ignore important facts. An example of this is with the indigenous people in North America. For the longest time historians did not really think of the indigenous as being real people, or as being as good as the white men. This lack of understanding made us repeat the same mistakes for years without improving, or changing.
One important job of a historian is to show this humanity in the important figures of the past. The musical Hamilton does a very good job of this. Although there are parts of Hamilton’s life that have been changed with artistic licence, the musical does an excellent job showing both the good sides and the bad sides of these people.
With Alexander Hamilton himself, they of course show his good attributes. They show that he had a rough childhood but was able to overcome it and rise up in life. They show how he was able to become General Washington’s right hand man, and how he created things such as the first national bank, and the coast guard. Every one of these things shows just how incredible Hamilton was, however, Hamilton was not a saint. What is shown very well in this musical is that Hamilton was quite arrogant. Through the other characters in the show we see how Hamilton thought he was more intelligent than most people, and how he thought his opinion was gold. We also see in this musical that he was like so many men and women throughout the years. Because of his struggle to rise to the top Hamilton was extremely prideful. This was what ultimately led to his death. For years Hamilton and Arron Burr were head to head in every aspect of their lives, but Hamilton seemed to come out on top most of the time. This and Hamilton’s arrogance made Burr challenge Hamilton to the duel that killed Hamilton. Due to the opinion at the time, if Hamilton were to decline the duel he would be a coward and not a true gentleman, and since Hamilton was very prideful, this was not an option. With all of these parts of Hamilton in the light, we are able to see how he is just like everyone else.
On the other side, Arron Burr tends to be seen in a bad light because he was the one to kill one of the Founding Fathers. However, what we learn from this musical and the way it shows every part of these people is that Burr was a lot more than just bad. Yes he killed Hamilton but this was done with the intent of a normal human. For years Hamilton was beating Burr out for every opportunity and all the while insulting Burr. When Hamilton claimed that Burr would be a horrible president and was the reason why Burr lost the presidency to Thomas Jefferson, Burr wrote Hamilton demanding an apology. Hamilton, being the arrogant person he was, essentially said “I’m sorry but you will have to be more specific with what you want an apology for because I have insulted you a lot.” This response lead Burr to challenge Hamilton to the duel that killed Hamilton.
If we do not look at the reasons behind people’s actions and look at them as being different from us, we are unable to understand the events from the past. This can be detrimental because it makes us unable to learn and grow from the past. If we do not understand the how these people are like us, then the horrible mistakes of the past can be repeated.