Relationship Spotlight: Thomas Jefferson & Alexander Hamilton (Hamilton)

Let’s put it this way:  given where my head is at the moment, be impressed at the self-restraint I show with all the posts I don’t write about Hamilton.  (I’m saying, I have a lot of Hamilton feelings and possibly even more Hamilton thoughts.  I’m reining it in as much as I can, but I’m only human.)  A few spoilers.

Hamilton has several fascinating relationships in the show, but the one with Jefferson in Act II might be my favorite.  Hamilton spends the first act throwing himself into the revolution and making a name for himself, coming up from nothing.  When Act II begins, he’s living pretty large, but he acquires a new adversary in Jefferson.  Soon, the two are at each other’s throats in cabinet (rap) battles and Jefferson is looking for dirt he can use against the opinionated upstart.  As America develops its first two political parties, each man rises to prominence in one, with Hamilton waving the Federalist flag and Jefferson representing for the Democratic-Republicans.

One thing that I like about this relationship is that, for me, it’s such a new angle in which to portray Jefferson.  Not that he wasn’t a leading Democratic-Republican, the ambassador to France, and so forth, but I’m used to American Hero Thomas Jefferson, Political Word Warrior Thomas Jefferson.  The Jefferson referenced on Sleepy Hollow, whom Crane idolizes and quotes liberally.  I’m not used to seeing Jefferson with a bone to pick, one who’s not automatically right and can be underhanded.  But this show, about one of the first U.S. Federalists, obviously takes a different tack, and while I wouldn’t call Jefferson a villain, he’s not on the side of our hero.  He can be xenophobic and classist.  He’s not afraid to sling mud, and he can be out-articulated by a gung-ho immigrant with radial ideas.  However, like I said, he’s not a villain, and the show doesn’t paint every ideological argument between the two as cut-and-dried.  Both come at their disputes from different sides, but they both have points to make; it’s just that each man’s thinking aligns so much with the beliefs of his party that neither really hears what the other says.

Although, at this point in history, these political divisions are young, they already run deep.  Hamilton, having fought and literally risked his life for America, is determined to see his new nation succeed.  This rags-to-riches poster boy has learned the hard way that nothing comes without hard work, and he approaches government with an eye for practical application.  He believes that, for America to make it, it has to be a true Union, with a strong central government leading the way.  He gets that taxation (with representation, of course) is a necessity, and for him, real-world implications can trump abstract ideals.  Meanwhile, Jefferson’s views tend to hinge very strongly on his principles.  As the drafter of the Declaration of Independence, he believes in liberty and fighting oppressors.  He sees large government as King George in a different hat, so he’s wary when he feels the rights of his state are being stepped on by The Man; the word “taxation” sets off alarm bells in his head, reminding him of the injustices his country fought to overturn.  While Hamilton thinks that getting involved in the French Revolution is too unstable for a young nation, Jefferson is appalled that Hamilton 1) won’t stand for freedom, and 2) refuses to return the favor for all the aid France gave in the cause of U.S. liberty.  To him, helping France should be a no-brainer, because democracy is what America does.  In this way, although the show is clearly on Hamilton’s side, it offers the other, too.  Hamilton may not agree with what he says, but Jefferson’s reasons are well-conveyed and understandable.  This more even-handed approach to their political tug-of-war makes it much more satisfying.