ACT 1
1. Alexander Hamilton
BURR
How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore
and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of aforgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence,
impoverished, in squalor,
grow up to be a hero and a scholar?
LAURENSThe ten-dollar founding father without a father
got a lot farther by working a lot harder,
by being a lot smarter,
by being a self-starter,by fourteen, they placed him in charge of a
trading charter.
JEFFERSONAnd every day while slaves were being slaughtered and carted
away across the waves, he struggled and kept his guard up.
Inside, he was longing for something to be a part of,
the brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow or barter.
MADISON
Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned,
our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain,
put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain,
and he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain.
BURR
Well, the word got around, they said, “This kid is insane, man”
took up a collection just to send him to the mainland.
“Get your education, don’t forget from whence you came, andthe world is gonna know your name. What’s your name, man?”
HAMILTON
Alexander Hamilton.
My name is Alexander Hamilton.
And there’s a million things I haven’t done,
but just you wait, just you wait...

1

ELIZA
When he was ten his father split, full of it, debt-ridden,
two years later, see Alex and his mother bed-ridden,
half-dead sittin in their own sick, the scent thick,
COMPANY
And Alex got better but his mother went quick.
WASHINGTON
Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide.
Left him with nothin’ but ruined pride, something new inside,a voice saying,
WASHINGTON“You gotta fend for yourself.”

COMPANY“Alex, you gotta fend for yourself.”

WASHINGTON
he started retreatin’ and readin’ every treatise on the shelf.
BURR
There would have been nothin’ left to dofor someone less astute,
he woulda been dead or destitutewithout a cent of restitution,
started workin’, clerkin’ for his late mother’slandlord,
tradin’ sugar cane and rum and all the things hecan’t afford
scammin’ for every book he can get his hands on,plannin’ for the future see him now as he stands on
the bow of a ship headed for a new land,
In New York you can be a new man.
COMPANYIn New York you canbe a new man—In New York you canbe a new man—

COMPANY
Scammin’
Plannin’Oooh...

HAMILTON
Just you wait!
Just you wait!

COMPANYIn New York you can be a new man—WOMEN
In New York—2

MEN
New York—
HAMILTON
Just you wait!
COMPANY
Alexander Hamilton

COMPANY
Alexander Hamilton

We are waiting in the wings for you
Waiting in the wings for you
You could never back down,
you never learned to take your time!
Oh, Alexander Hamilton
When America sings for you
Will they know what you overcame?
Will they know you rewrote the game?
The world will never be the same, oh.
BURR
The ship is in the harbor now,
see if you can spot him.

Another immigrant,
comin’ up from the bottom.

You never learned to take your time!
Oh, Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton…
America sings for you
Will they know what you overcame?
Will they know you rewrote the game?
The world will never be the same, oh.

MENJust you wait

COMPANY
Just you wait

His enemies destroyed his rep,
America forgot him
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE
We fought with him.
LAURENS
Me? I died for him.
WASHINGTON
Me? I trusted him.
ELIZA/ANGELICA/MARIA
Me? I loved him.

3

BURR
And me? I’m the damn fool that shot him.
COMPANY
There’s a million things I haven’t done,
but just you wait!
BURR
What’s your name, man?
COMPANY
Alexander Hamilton!

42. Aaron Burr, Sir
COMPANY
1776. New York City.
HAMILTON
Pardon me. Are you Aaron Burr, sir?
BURR
That depends. Who’s asking?
HAMILTON
Oh, well, sure, sir,I’m Alexander Hamilton, I’m at your service, sir.
I have been looking for you.
BURR
I’m getting nervous.
HAMILTON
Sir…
I heard your name at Princeton. I was seeking an accelerated course of study when I got sort of out ofsorts with a buddy of yours. I may have punched him. It’s a blur, sir. He handles the financials?
BURR
You punched the bursar.
HAMILTONYes!
I wanted to do what you did. Graduate in two, then join the revolution. He looked at me like I was stupid,
I’m not stupid.
So how’d you do it? How’d you graduate so fast?
BURR
It was my parents’ dying wish before they passed.
HAMILTON
You’re an orphan. Of course! I’m an orphan.
God, I wish there was a war!
Then we could prove that we’re worth morethan anyone bargained for…
BURR

5Can I buy you a drink?
HAMILTON
That would be nice.
BURR
While we’re talking, let me offer you some free advice.
Talk less.
HAMILTON
What?
BURR
Smile more.
HAMILTONHa.
BURR
Don’t let them know what you’re against or what you’re for.
HAMILTON
You can’t be serious.
BURR
You wanna get ahead?
HAMILTON
Yes.
BURR
Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead.
LAURENSYo yo yo yo yo!
What time is it?
LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN
Show time!
BURR…like I said…
LAURENS

6

Show time! Show time! Yo!
I’m John Laurens in the place to be!
Two pints o’ Sam Adams, but I’m workin’ on three, uh!
Those redcoats don’t want it with me!
Cuz I will pop chick-a pop these cops till I’m free!
LAFAYETTE
Oui oui, mon ami, je m’appelle Lafayette!
The Lancelot of the revolutionary set!
I came from afar just to say “Bonsoir!”Tell the King “Casse toi!” Who’s the best?
C’est moi!
MULLIGAN
Brrrah brraaah! I am Hercules Mulligan,
Up in it, lovin’ it, yes I heard ya mother said “Come again?”Lock up ya daughters and horses, of course
it’s hard to have intercourse over four sets of corsets…
LAURENSNo more sex, pour me another brew, son!
Let’s raise a couple more…
LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN
To the revolution!
LAURENS
Well, if it ain’t the prodigy of Princeton college!
MULLIGAN
Aaron Burr!
LAURENS
Give us a verse, drop some knowledge!
BURR
Good luck with that: you’re takin’ a stand.
You spit. I’m ‘a sit. We’ll see where we land.
LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN
Boooo!
LAURENS
Burr, the revolution’s imminent. What do you stall for? HAMILTON
If you stand for nothing, Burr, what’ll you fall for?

7

3. My Shot
LAURENSOoh,
Who are you?

MULLIGANOoh,LAFAYETTEOoh,

Who are you?
Who are you?
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE/LAURENS
Ooh, who is this kid? What’s he gonna do?
HAMILTON
I am not throwing away my shot!
I am not throwing away my shot!
Hey yo, I’m just like my country,
I’m young, scrappy and hungry,
and I’m not throwing away my shot!
I’m ‘a get a scholarship to King’s College.
I prob’ly shouldn’t brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish.
The problem is I got a lot of brains but no polish.
I gotta holler just to be heard.
With every word, I drop knowledge!
I’m a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coaltryin’ to reach my goal. My power of speech: unimpeachable.
Only nineteen but my mind is older.
These New York City streets get colder, I shoulder
ev’ry burden, ev’ry disadvantage
I have learned to manage, I don’t have a gun to brandish,I walk these streets famished.
The plan is to fan this spark into a flame.
But damn, it’s getting dark, so let me spell out the name,I am the—HAMILTON/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENS
A-l-e-x-a-n-de-r—we are—meant to be…
HAMILTON
A colony that runs independently.
Meanwhile, Britain keeps shittin’ on us endlessly.
Essentially, they tax us relentlessly,
then King George turns around, runs a spending spree.
He ain’t ever gonna set his descendants free,so there will be a revolution in this century.
Enter me!
8

LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENS(He says in parentheses)
HAMILTON
Don’t be shocked when your hist’ry book mentions me.
I will lay down my life if it sets us free.
Eventually, you’ll see my ascendancy,
HAMILTON
And I am not throwing away my shot.
I am not throwing away my shot.
Hey yo, I’m just like my country,
I’m young, scrappy and hungry
and I’m not throwing away my shot.

LAURENSMy shot!
My shot!

And I’m not throwing away my shot.

HAMILTON/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE
I am not throwing away my shot.
I am not throwing away my shot.
Hey yo, I’m just like my country,
I’m young, scrappy and hungry
and I’m not throwing away my shot.
It’s time to take a shot!
LAFAYETTE
I dream of life without a monarchy.
The unrest in France will lead to ‘onarchy?
‘Onarchy? How you say, how you say, ‘anarchy?’
When I fight, I make the other side panicky.
With my—HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN
Shot!
MULLIGAN
Yo, I’m a tailor’s apprentice,and I got y’all knuckleheads in loco parentis.
I’m joining the rebellion cuz I know it’s my chance
to socially advance, instead of sewin’ some pants!
I’m gonna take a—
HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN
Shot!

9

LAURENS
But we’ll never be truly free
until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me,
you and I. Do or die. Wait till I sally inon a stallion with the first black battalion
have another—
HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN
Shot!
BURR
Geniuses, lower your voices.
You keep out of trouble and you double your choices.
I’m with you, but the situation is fraught.
You’ve got to be carefully taught:
If you talk, you’re gonna get shot!
HAMILTON
Burr, check what we got.
Mister Lafayette, hard rock like Lancelot,
I think your pants look hot,
Laurens, I like you a lot.
Let’s hatch a plot blacker than the kettle callin’ the pot...
What are the odds the gods would put us all in one spot,
poppin’ a squat on conventional wisdom, like it or not,a bunch of revolutionary manumission abolitionists?
Give me a position, show me where the ammunition is!
Oh, am I talkin’ too loud?
Sometimes I get over excited, shoot off at the mouth.
I never had a group of friends before,
I promise that I’ll make y’all proud.
LAURENS
Let’s get this guy in front of a crowd.
HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/ENSEMBLE
I am not throwing away my shot.
I am not throwing away my shot.
Hey yo, I’m just like my country,
I’m young, scrappy and hungry
and I’m not throwing away my shot.
I am not throwing away my shot.

10

I am not throwing away my shot.
Hey yo, I’m just like my country,
I’m young, scrappy and hungry
and I’m not throwing away my shot.
LAURENS
Ev’rybody sing:Whoa, whoa, whoa
Hey!
Whoa!
Wooh!!
Whoa!
Ay, let ‘em hear ya!

HAMILTON/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
Whoa!
Whoa!
Yea!

Let’s go!
COMPANY
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
Whoa!
Whoa!

I said shout it to the rooftops!
Said, to the rooftops!
Come on!

Yea!
Come on, let’s go!
LAURENS
Rise up!
When you’re living on your knees, you rise up.
Tell your brother that he’s gotta rise up.
Tell your sister that she's gotta rise up.
LAURENS AND ENSEMBLE
When are these colonies gonna rise up?
When are these colonies gonna rise up?
When are these colonies gonna rise up?
When are these colonies gonna rise up?

COMPANY
Whoa! Whoa!
Whoa!
Whoa!
Whoa!

Rise up!
Rise up!
HAMILTON
I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory
When’s it gonna get me?
In my sleep? Seven feet ahead of me?
If I see it comin’, do I run or do I let it be?
Is it like a beat without a melody?

11

See, I never thought I’d live past twenty.
Where I come from some get half as many.
Ask anybody why we livin’ fast and we laugh, reach for a flask,
we have to make this moment last, that’s plenty.
Scratch that,
this is not a moment, it’s the movement
where all the hungriest brothers withsomething to prove went?
Foes oppose us, we take an honest stand,we roll like Moses, claimin’ our promised land.
And? If we win our independence?
‘Zat a guarantee of freedom for our descendants?
Or will the blood we shed begin an endlesscycle of vengeance and death with no defendants?
I know the action in the street is excitin’,but Jesus, between all the bleedin’ ‘n fightin’
I’ve been readin’ ‘n writin’.
We need to handle our financial situation.
Are we a nation of states? What’s the state of our nation?
I’m past patiently waitin’. I’m passionately
smashin’ every expectation,
every action’s an act of creation!
I’m laughin’ in the face of casualties and sorrow,for the first time, I’m thinkin’ past tomorrow,
HAMILTON AND COMPANY
And I am not throwing away my shot.
I am not throwing away my shot.
Hey yo, I’m just like my country,
I’m young, scrappy and hungry
and I’m not throwing away my shot.
HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN
We’re gonna rise up! Time to take a shot!
We’re gonna rise up! Time to take a shot!
We’re gonna

ENSEMBLE
Not throwing away my shot.
Not throwing away my shot.
We’re gonna
rise up!
Rise up!

HAMILTONTime to take a shot!

12

Rise up!
Rise up!
HAMILTON/LAFAYETTE/LAURENS/MULLIGANTime to take a shot!
Take a shot!
Shot!
Shot!
A-yo it’stime to take a shot!
Time to take a shot!
And I am—

Rise up!
Rise up!
Ri— ri— ri—

Time to take a shot!
Time to take a shot!
And I am—

HAMILTON/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENS
Not throwin’ away my—
COMPANY
Not throwin’ away my shot!

13

4. The Story of Tonight
HAMILTON
I may not live to see our glory!
LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENS
I may not live to see our glory!
HAMILTON
But I will gladly join the fight!
LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENS
But I will gladly join the fight!
HAMILTON
And when our children tell our story…
LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENS
And when our children tell our story…
HAMILTON
They’ll tell the story of tonight.
MULLIGAN
Let’s have another round tonight.
LAFAYETTE
Let’s have another round tonight.
HAMILTON
Let’s have another round tonight.
LAURENS
Raise a glass to freedom,
Something they can never take away,
no matter what they tell you.
Raise a glass to the four of us.
LAURENS/MULLIGAN
Tomorrow there’ll be more of us.
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE/LAURENS
Telling the story of tonight.

14

HAMILTON
They’ll tell the story of tonight.
LAURENS/MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE
Raise a glass to freedom,
something they can never take away.
HAMILTONNo matter what they tell you.
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE
Let’s have another round tonight.
LAURENS
Raise a glass to the four of us.
HAMILTON/LAURENS/MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE
Tomorrow there’ll be more of us.
HAMILTON/LAURENS
Telling the story of tonight
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE
Let’s have another round tonight
HAMILTON/LAURENS/ENSEMBLE
They’ll tell the story of tonight

MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE/ENSEMBLE
Raise a glass to freedom

They’ll tell the story of tonight
Raise a glass to freedom
They’ll tell the story of tonight
They’ll tell the story of—
FULL ENSEMBLE
Tonight15

5. The Schuyler Sisters
BURR
There’s nothing rich folks love morethan going downtown and slummin’ it with the poor.
They pull up in their carriages and gawk
at the students in the common
Just to watch them talk.
Take Philip Schuyler: the man is loaded.
Uh-oh, but little does he know that
his daughters, Peggy, Angelica, Eliza
sneak into the city just to watch all the guys at—
COMPANY
Work, work!
ANGELICAAngelica!
COMPANY
Work, work!
ELIZA
Eliza!
PEGGY
And Peggy!
COMPANY
Work, work!
The Schuyler sisters!
ANGELICAAngelica!
PEGGY
Peggy!
ELIZA
Eliza!
COMPANYWork!

16

PEGGY
Daddy said to be home by sundown.
ANGELICA
Daddy doesn’t need to know.
PEGGY
Daddy said not to go downtown.
ELIZA
Like I said, you’re free to go.
ANGELICA
But—look around, look around, therevolution’s happening in New York.
ELIZA/PEGGYNew York.
COMPANYAngelica
SCHUYLER SISTERS AND COMPANY
Work!
PEGGY
It’s bad enough daddy wants to go to war.
ELIZA
People shouting in the square.
PEGGYIt’s bad enough there’ll be violence on our shore.
ANGELICA
New ideas in the air.
ANGELICA AND MALE ENSEMBLE
Look around, look around—
ELIZA
Angelica, remind me what we’re looking for…
ALL MEN17

She’s lookin’ for me!
ANGELICA
Eliza, I’m lookin’ for a mind at work.
I’m lookin’ for a mind at work!
I’m lookin’ for a mind at work!
Whooaaaaa!

COMPANY
Work, work!
Work, work!
Work, work!

ELIZA/ANGELICA/PEGGY
Whooaaaaa!
Work!

Work!

BURR
Wooh! There’s nothin’ like summer in the city.
Someone in a rush next to someone lookin’ pretty.
Excuse me, miss, I know it’s not funny
But your perfume smells like your daddy’s got money.
Why you slummin’ in the city in your fancy heels
You searchin for an urchin who can give you ideals?
ANGELICA
Burr, you disgust me.
BURR
Ah, so you’ve discussed me.
I’m a trust fund, baby, you can trust me!
ANGELICA
I’ve been reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine.
So men say that I’m intense or I’m insane.
You want a revolution? I want a revelation
So listen to my declaration:
ELIZA/ANGELICA/PEGGY“We hold these truths to be self-evident
That all men are created equal”
ANGELICA
And when I meet Thomas Jefferson,
COMPANYUnh!
ANGELICA18

I’m ‘a compel him to include women in the sequel!
WOMEN
Work!
ELIZA
Look around, look around at how
Lucky we are to be alive right now!
ELIZA/PEGGY
Look around, look around at how
Lucky we are to be alive right now!
ELIZA/ANGELICA/PEGGY
History is happening in Manhattan and we just happen to be in the greatest city in the world!
SCHUYLER SISTERS AND COMPANY
In the greatest city in the world!
ANGELICAELIZA/PEGGY
Cuz I’ve been reading Common Look around, look around
Sense by Thomas Paine.
So men say that I’m intense or I’m
The revolution’s happening in—insane.
ANGELICA
You want a revolution?
I want a revelation

Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

ELIZA/PEGGYNew York!
WOMEN
Look around, look around therevolution’s happening

In New York!
So listen to my declaration:
ANGELICA/ELIZA/PEGGY
We hold these truths to be self
evident that all men are created
equal
Whoo!

MEN
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

FEMALE ENSEMBLE
Look around
Look aroundAt how lucky we are to be alive
right now

Hey! Hey!
Hey! Hey!
Hey! Hey!
Hey! Hey!

FULL COMPANY
Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now!
History is happening in Manhattan and we just happen to be

19

ALL WOMENIn the greatest city in the world
ALL MEN
In the greatest city—
COMPANYIn the greatest city in the world!

COMPANY
Work, work!

ANGELICAAngelica!

Work, work!
ELIZA
Eliza!
PEGGY
And Peggy!

Work, work!

ANGELICA/ELIZA/PEGGYThe Schuyler sisters!
Work, work!
Work, work!

We’re looking for a mind at work!
Hey!

Work, work!
Hey!
Work, work!

COMPANY
Work, work!
Work, work!

ANGELICAWhoa!

ELIZA/PEGGY
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
In the greatest

Work, work!

In the greatest
city in the world

COMPANYIn the greatest city in the world!

20

city in the world

6. Farmer Refuted
SEABURY
Hear ye, hear ye! My name is Samuel Seabury,and I present “Free Thoughts on theProceedings of the Continental Congress!”
Heed not the rabble who scream revolution,
they have not your interests at heart.
MULLIGAN
Oh my God. Tear this dude apart.
SEABURY
Chaos and bloodshed are not a solution.
Don’t let them lead you astray.
This Congress does not speak for me.
BURR
Let him be.
SEABURY
They’re playing a dangerous game.
I pray the king shows you his mercy.
For shame, for shame…
HAMILTON
Yo!
He’d have you all unravel at thesound of screams but therevolution is comin’.
The have-nots are gonna win this,it’s hard to listen to you with a straight face.

SEABURY
Heed not the rabble
Who scream
Revolution, they
Have not your interests at heart.

Chaos and bloodshed already haunt us, honestly you Chaos and bloodshed are notshouldn’t even talk. And what about Boston? Look A solution.
at the cost, n’ all that we’ve lost n’ you talkDon’t let them lead you
about Congress?!
astray.
My dog speaks more eloquently than thee!
This Congress does not speak for me,
But strangely, your mange is the same.

they’re playing a dangerous game.

Is he in Jersey?

I pray the king shows you his mercy.

For the revolution!

For shame,21For shame,
COMPANY
For the revolution!
SEABURYHeed—
HAMILTON
If you repeat yourself again I’m gonna—
SEABURY/HAMILTON
Scream—HAMILTON
Honestly, look at me, please don’t read!
SEABURY
Not your interests—
HAMILTON
Don’t modulate the key then not debate with me!
Why should a tiny island across the sea regulate the price of tea?
BURR
Alexander, please!
HAMILTON
Burr, I’d rather be divisive than indecisive, drop the niceties.
ENSEMBLE
Silence! A message from the King!
A message from the King!
FULL COMPANY
A message from the King!

22

7. You’ll Be Back
KING GEORGEYou say
the price of my love’s not a price that you’re willing to pay.
You cry
in your tea which you hurl in the sea when you see me go by.
Why so sad?
Remember we made an arrangement when you went away,
now you’re making me mad.
Remember, despite our estrangement, I’m your man.
You’ll be back.
Soon you’ll see.
You’ll remember you belong to me.
You’ll be back.
Time will tell.
You’ll remember that I served you well.
Oceans rise,
empires fall,
we have seen each other through it all,and when pushcomes to shove,
I will send a fully armed battalion
to remind you of my love!
Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da
Da da dat dat da ya da!
Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da,
Da da dat dat da…
You say our love is draining and you can’t go on.
You’ll be the one complaining when I am gone...
And no, don’t change the subject
cuz you’re my favorite subject.
My sweet, submissive subject,
my loyal, royal subject,forever and ever and ever and ever and ever…
You’ll be back,like before.
I will fight the fight and win the war
for your love,for your praise,and I’ll love you till my dying days.

23

When you’re gone
I’ll go mad,so don’t throw away this thing we had.
Cuz when push comes to shove,
I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love.
Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da
Da da dat dat da ya da!
Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da
Da da dat—
Everybody!
ENSEMBLE
Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da
Da da dat dat da ya da!
Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da da da da
dat dat da ya da!

24

8. Right Hand Man
COMPANY
British Admiral Howe’s got troops on the water.
Thirty-two thousand troops in New York harbor.
ENSEMBLE 1
Thirty-two thousand troops in New York harbor.

ENSEMBLE 2
Thirty-two thousand troops in New York harbor.

When they surround our troops!
They surround our troops!
When they surround our troops!

They surround our troops!
They surround our troops!

HAMILTON
As a kid in the Caribbean I wished for a war.
I knew that I was poor,
I knew it was the only way to—
HAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE
Rise up!
HAMILTON
If they tell my story
I am either gonna die on the battlefield in glory or—
HAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE
Rise up!
HAMILTON
We will fight for this land
but there’s only one man
who can give us a command so we can—
HAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE
Rise up!
HAMILTON
Understand? It’s the only way to—
HAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE
Rise up! Rise up!
HAMILTON
Here he comes!

25

ENSEMBLE
Here comes the General!
BURR
Ladies and gentlemen!
ENSEMBLE
Here comes the General!
BURR
The moment you’ve been waiting for!
ENSEMBLE
Here comes the General!
BURR
The pride of Mount Vernon!
ENSEMBLE
Here comes the general!
BURR
George Washington!
WASHINGTON
We are outgunned,

ENSEMBLE
What?

outmanned,
What?
outnumbered,outplanned.
Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!
We gotta make an all out standayo, I’m gonna need a right-hand man.
Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!
WASHINGTON
Check it—Can I be real a second?
For just a millisecond?
Let down my guard and tell the people how I feel a second?
Now I’m the model of a modern major general,the venerated Virginian veteran whose men are all26

lining up, to put me up on a pedestal,writin’ letters to relatives
embellishin’ my elegance and eloquence,but the elephant is in the room,
the truth is in ya face when ya hear the British cannons go…
ENSEMBLEBoom!
WASHINGTON
Any hope of success is fleeting,
how can I keep leading when the people I’mleading keep retreating?
We put a stop to the bleeding as the British take Brooklyn,
knight takes rook, but look,
WASHINGTON
We are outgunned,

ENSEMBLE
What?

outmanned,
What?
outnumbered,outplanned.
Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!
We gotta make an all out standayo, I’m gonna need a right-hand man.
Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!
Incoming!
HAMILTON
They’re battering down the Battery check the damages.
MULLIGANRah!
HAMILTON
We gotta stop ‘em and rob ‘emof their advantages.
MULLIGANRah!
HAMILTON
Let’s take a stand with the stamina God has granted us.

27

Hamilton won’t abandon ship,
Yo, let’s steal their cannons—
MULLIGAN
Shh-boom!

COMPANYBoom!

WASHINGTON
Goes the cannon, watch the blood and the shit spray and…
COMPANYBoom!
WASHINGTON
Goes the cannon, we’re abandonin’ Kips Bay and…
COMPANYBoom!
WASHINGTON
There’s another ship and…
COMPANYBoom!
WASHINGTON
We just lost the southern tip and…
COMPANYBoom!
WASHINGTON
We gotta run to Harlem quick, we can’t afford another slip.
Guns and horses giddyup,
I decide to divvy up
my forces, they’re skittish as the British cut the city up.
This close to giving up, facing mad scrutiny,
I scream in the face of this mass mutiny:
are these the men with which I am to defend America?
We ride at midnight, Manhattan in the distance.
I cannot be everywhere at once, people.
I’m in dire need of assistance…
BURR
Your excellency, sir!

28

WASHINGTON
Who are you?
BURR
Aaron Burr, Sir?
Permission to state my case?
WASHINGTON
As you were.
BURR
Sir,
I was a captain under General Montgomery
until he caught a bullet in the neck in Quebec,
and well, in summary
I think that I could be of some assistance.
I admire how you keep firing on the British
from a distance.
WASHINGTON
Huh.
BURR
I have some questions, a couple of suggestions
on how to fight instead of fleeing west.
WASHINGTON
Yes?
BURR
Well—
HAMILTONYour excellency, you wanted to see me?
WASHINGTON
Hamilton, come in, have you met Burr?
HAMILTON
Yes, sir.
HAMILTON AND BURR
We keep meeting.

29

BURR
As I was saying, sir, I look forward to seeing
your strategy play out.
WASHINGTON
Burr?
BURR
Sir?
WASHINGTON
Close the door on your way out.
HAMILTON
Have I done something wrong, sir?
WASHINGTON
On the contrary.
I called you here because our odds are beyond scary.
Your reputation precedes you, but I have to laugh.
HAMILTON
Sir?
WASHINGTON
Hamilton, how come no one can get you on their staff?
HAMILTON
Sir!
WASHINGTON
Don’t get me wrong, you’re a young man, of great renown.
I know you stole British cannons when we were still downtown.
Nathaniel Green and Henry Knox wanted to hire you…
HAMILTON
To be their Secretary? I don’t think so.
WASHINGTON
Why’re you upset?
HAMILTON
I’m not—

30

WASHINGTON
It’s alright, you want to fight, you’ve got a hunger.
I was just like you when I was younger.
Head full of fantasies of dyin’ like a martyr?
HAMILTONYes.
WASHINGTON
Dying is easy, young man. Living is harder.
HAMILTON
Why are you telling me this?
WASHINGTON
I’m being honest.
I’m working with a third of what our Congresshas promised.
We are a powder keg about to explode,I need someone like you to lighten the load. So?
COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON)
I am not throwin’ away my shot!
I am not throwin’ away my shot!
Ayo, I’m just like my country, I’m young,scrappy and hungry!
HAMILTON
I am not throwing away my shot!
WASHINGTONSon,
WASHINGON AND COMPANY
We are outgunned, outmanned!
HAMILTON
You need all the help you can get.
I have some friends. Laurens, Mulligan,
Marquis de Lafayette, okay, what else?
WASHINGTON AND COMPANY
Outnumbered, outplanned!

31

HAMILTON
We’ll need some spies on the inside,
Some King’s men who might let some things slide.
HAMILTONCOMPANY
I’ll write to Congress and tell ‘em Boom!
we need supplies, you rally theguys, master the element of
surprise.
Chicka-boom!
I’ll rise above my station, organize
your information, ‘til we rise to theoccasion of our new nation. Sir!

ELIZA/ANGELICA/PEGGY
Whoa, whoa, whoa...

Whoa, whoa, whoa...
ELIZA/ANGELICA/PEGGY
AND WOMEN
Whoa, whoa, whoa…

ENSEMBLE
Here comes the General!
HAMILTON
Rise up!
ENSEMBLE
Here comes the General!
HAMILTON
Rise up!

SCHUYLER SISTERS
Rise up!

ENSEMBLE
Here comes the General!
HAMILTON
Rise up!

SCHUYLER SISTERS AND
WOMENRise up!

FULL COMPANY
Here comes the General!
HAMILTONWhat?
WASHINGTON
And his right hand man!
FULL COMPANY
Boom!
32

LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN
What?

LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN
What?

LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN
What?

9. A Winter’s Ball
BURR
How does the bastard, orphan, son of a whore,
go on and on,
grow into more of a phenomenon?
Watch this obnoxious, arrogant, loudmouth botherbe seated at the right hand of the father.
Washington hires Hamilton right on sight,
But Hamilton still wants to fight, not write.
Now Hamilton’s skill with a quill is undeniable
But what do we have in common? We’rereliable with the
ALL MEN
Ladies!
BURR
There are so many to deflower.
ALL MEN
Ladies!
BURR
Looks! Proximity to power.
ALL MEN
Ladies!
BURR
They delighted and distracted him.
Martha Washington named her feral tomcat after him!
HAMILTON
That’s true.
FULL COMPANY
1780.
BURR
A winter’s balland the Schuyler sisters are the envy of all.
Yo, if you can marry a sister, you’re rich, son.
HAMILTON
Is it a question of if, Burr, or which one?
33

10. Helpless
HAMILTON/BURR/LAURENS
Hey
Hey
Hey hey
HAMILTON/BURR/LAURENS/ALL WOMEN (EXCEPT ELIZA)Hey hey hey hey
ELIZA
Ohh, I do I do I do I
Dooo! Hey!
Ohh, I do I do I do I
Dooo! Boy you got me

ALL WOMENHey hey hey hey
Hey hey hey hey
Hey hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

ELIZA AND WOMEN
Helpless!
Look into your eyes, and the sky’s the limit I’m helpless!
Down for the count, and I’m drownin’ in ‘em.
ELIZA
I have never been the type to try and grab the spotlight.
We were at a revel with some rebels on a hot night,
laughin’ at my sister as she’s dazzling the room
then you walked in and my heart went “Boom!”
Tryin’ to catch your eye from the side of the ballroom,
everybody’s dancin’ and the band’s top volume.
ELIZA AND WOMEN
Grind to the rhythm as we wine and dine.
ELIZA
Grab my sister, andwhisper, “Yo, thisone’s mine.”

ALL WOMEN
Oooh

My sister made her way across the room to you
and I got nervous, thinking “What’s she gonna do?” Oooh
She grabbed you by the arm, I’m thinkin’ “I’mthrough”
Oooh
Then you look back at me and suddenly I’m
Helpless!
Oooh

34

Oh, look at those eyes,Oh!
Yeah, I’m
helpless, I know

I’m so into you,
I am so into you.

I know I’m down for the count
And I’m drownin’ in ‘em.

Helpless!

Look into your eyes,
And the sky’s the limit
I’m
Helpless!
Down for the count,
And I’m drownin’ in ‘em.
I’m helpless!
Look into your eyes,
And the sky’s the limit I’m helpless!
Down for the count,
And I’m drownin’ in ‘em.

HAMILTON
Where are you taking me?
ANGELICA
I’m about to change your life.
HAMILTON
Then by all means, lead the way.
ELIZA
Elizabeth Schuyler. It’s a pleasure to meet you.
HAMILTON
Schuyler?
ANGELICAMy sister.
ELIZA
Thank you for all your service.
HAMILTON
If it takes fighting a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it.
ANGELICA
I’ll leave you to it.

35

ELIZA AND WOMEN
One week later
ELIZA
I’m writin’ a letter nightly.
Now my life gets better, every letter that you write me.
Laughin’ at my sister, cuz she wants to form a harem.
ANGELICA
I’m just sayin’, if you really loved me, you would share him.
ELIZA
Ha!
Two weeks later,
In the living room stressin’
My father’s stone-faced
while you’re asking for his blessin’.
I’m dying inside, as
you wineand dineand I’m tryin’ not to cry,‘cause there’s nothing that your mind can’t do.
My father makes his way across the room
to you.
I panic for a second, thinking,“we’re through”
But then he shakes your hand and says,“Be true”
And you turn back to me, smiling, and I’m
Helpless!

Helpless!
Hoo!

That boy is mine,that boy is mine!

Helpless! Helpless!

ALL WOMEN
stressin’
blessin’.

Oooh
Oooh
Oooh
Oooh
Helpless!
Look into your eyes,
and the sky’s thelimit I’m
Helpless!
Down for the count,and I’m drownin’ in‘em I’mhelpless!
Look into your eyes,
And the sky’s thelimit I’m

36

Down for the count,
And I’m drownin’ in em

helpless!
Down for the count,
And I’m drownin’ in em

HAMILTON
Eliza, I don’t have a dollar to my name,an acre of land, a troop to command, a dollop of fame.
All I have’s my honor, a tolerance for pain,
a couple of college credits and my top-notch brain.
Insane, your family brings out a different side of me,
Peggy confides in me, Angelica tried to take a bite of me,
no stress, my love for you is never in doubt.
We’ll get a little place in Harlem and we’ll figure it out.
I’ve been livin’ without a family since I was a child.
My father left, my mother died, I grew up buckwild.
But I’ll never forget my mother’s face, that was real,
and long as I’m alive, Eliza, swear to God,
you’ll never feel so…

HAMILTON
Eliza…

ALL WOMEN
Helpless!

ELIZA
I do I do I do I do!

Helpless!
I do I do I do I do!
I’ve never felt so—
Helpless!
Hey, yeah, yeah!
I’m down for the count,I’m—
My life is gon’ be fine cuz Eliza’s
in it.

Down for the countand I’m drownin’ in ‘em
Helpless!

I look into your eyes, and the sky’s Helpless!
the limit
I’m
Helpless!
Down for the count,and I’m drownin’ in ‘em.

…drownin’ in ‘em.
ALL WOMENIn New York, you can be a new man…
in New York, you can be a new man…
In New York, you can be a new man…

ELIZA
Helpless.
3711. Satisfied
LAURENS
Alright, alright. That’s what I’m talkin’ about!
Now everyone give it up for the maid of honor,
Angelica Schuyler!
ANGELICA
A toast to the groom!

ALL MENTo the groom!
To the groom!
To the groom!

ALL WOMEN
To the groom!

To the bride!
To the bride!
To the bride!
To the bride!

To the bride!

Angelica!
Angelica!
Angelica!

ELIZA AND WOMENAngelica!

From your sister,

who is always by your side.
By your side!
By your side!
To your union,
To the union!
To the revolution!

To the union!
To the revolution!

May you always…

You provide!
You provide!

You provide!

be satisfied.

HAMILTON AND MEN
Always—

Always—Rewind—Rewind—and the hope that you provide.

ANGELICA
I remember that night, I just might
regret that night for the rest of my days.
I remember those soldier boys
tripping over themselves to win our praise.
I remember that dreamlike candlelight38

like a dream that you can’t quite place,
but Alexander, I’ll never forget the firsttime I saw your face.
I have never been the same,Intelligent eyes in a hunger-pang frame,
And when you said “Hi,” I forgot my dang name,set my heart aflame, ev’ry part aflame,
FULL COMPANYThis is not a game…
HAMILTON
You strike me as a woman who has never been satisfied.
ANGELICA
I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. You forget yourself.
HAMILTON
You’re like me. I’m never satisfied.
ANGELICAIs that right?
HAMILTON
I have never been satisfied.
ANGELICAMy name is Angelica Schuyler.
HAMILTON
Alexander Hamilton.
ANGELICA
Where’s your fam’ly from?
HAMILTON
Unimportant. There’s a million things I haven’t done but
just you wait, just you wait…
ANGELICA
So so so—so this is what it feels like to match wits

39

with someone at your level! What the hell is the catch? It’s
the feeling of freedom, of seein’ the light,
it’s Ben Franklin with a key and a kite! You see it, right?
The conversation lasted two minutes, maybe three minutes,
ev’rything we said in total agreement, it’sa dream and it’s a bit of a dance,a bit of a posture, it’s a bit of a stance. He’s a
bit of a flirt, but I’m ‘a give it a chance.
I asked about his fam’ly, did you see his answer?
His hands started fidgeting, he looked askance?
He’s penniless, he’s flying by the seat of his pants.
Handsome, boy, does he know it!
Peach fuzz, and he can’t even grow it!
I wanna take him far away from this place,then I turn and see my sister’s face and she is…
ELIZA
Helpless…
ANGELICAAnd I know she is…
ELIZA
Helpless…
ANGELICA
And her eyes are just…
ELIZA
Helpless…
ANGELICAAnd I realize
ANGELICA AND COMPANY
Three fundamental truths at the exact same time…
HAMILTON
Where are you taking me?
ANGELICA
I’m about to change your life.

40

HAMILTON
Then by all means, lead the way.
COMPANY (EXCEPT ANGELICA)
Number one!
ANGELICA
I’m a girl in a world in which
my only job is to marry rich.
My father has no sons so I’m the one
who has to social climb for one,
so I’m the oldest and the wittiest and the gossip in
New York City is insidious,
And Alexander is penniless,
Ha! That doesn’t mean I want him any less.
ELIZA
Elizabeth Schuyler. It’s a pleasure to meet you.
HAMILTON
Schuyler?
ANGELICAMy sister.
COMPANY
Number two!
ANGELICA
He’s after me cuz I’m a Schuyler sister.
That elevates his status, I’dhave to be naïve to set that aside,
maybe that is why I introduce him to Eliza,
now that’s his bride.
Nice going, Angelica, he was right,
You will never be satisfied.
ELIZA
Thank you for all your service.
HAMILTON
If it takes fighting a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it.
ANGELICA41

I’ll leave you to it.
COMPANY
Number three!
ANGELICA
I know my sister like I know my own mind,
you will never find anyone as trusting or as kind.
If I tell her that I love him she’d be silently resigned,
he’d be mine.
She would say, “I’m fine”
ANGELICA AND COMPANY
She’d be lying.
ANGELICA
But when I fantasize at night
it’s Alexander’s eyes,
as I romanticize what might
have been if I hadn’t sized him
up so quickly.
At least my dear Eliza’s his wife;
at least I keep his eyes in my life…
ANGELICATo the groom!

To the bride!

ALL MEN (EXCEPTHAMILTON)
To the groom!
To the groom!
To the groom!

ALL WOMEN (EXCEPT ELIZA)
To the groom!
To the bride!

From your sister,

To the bride!
To the bride!

To the bride!

Angelica!
Angelica!

ELIZA AND WOMENAngelica!

By your side.

By your side.

who is always by your side.

To your union,

and the hope that you provide.

To the union!
To the revolution!

42

To the union!
To the revolution!

May you always
be satisfied.

And I know

She’ll be happy as

his bride.
And I know

You provide!
You provide!

You provide!

HAMILTON AND MEN
Always—

Always—Be satisfied,be satisfied.

be satisfied,
WOMEN
Be satisfied.

MEN
Be satisfied.
Be satisfied.
Be satisfied.
Be satisfied.
Be satisfied.
Be satisfied.

Be satisfied.
Be satisfied.
Be satisfied.
Be satisfied.
Be satisfied.

Be satisfied.

ANGELICA
He will never be satisfied.
I will never be satisfied.

43

12. The Story of Tonight (Reprise)
LAURENS
I may not live to see our glory!
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE
I may not live to see our glory!
LAURENS
But I’ve seen wonders great and small.
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE
I’ve seen wonders great and small.
LAURENS
Cuz if the tomcat can get married,
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE
If Alexander can get married—
LAURENS
There’s hope for our ass, after all!
LAFAYETTE
Raise a glass to freedom.
LAURENS/MULLIGAN
Hey!
Something you will never see again!
MULLIGAN
No matter what she tells you.
LAFAYETTE
Let’s have another round tonight!
LAURENS
Raise a glass to the four of us!
LAFAYETTE/HAMILTON
Ho!
MULLIGAN
To the newly not poor of us!

44LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/HAMILTONWoo!
LAFAYETTE
We’ll tell the story of tonight.
LAURENS
Let’s have another round—
HAMILTON
Well, if it isn’t Aaron Burr.
BURR
Sir!
HAMILTON
I didn’t think that you would make it.
BURR
To be sure.
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE
Burr!
BURR
I came to say congratulations.
MULLIGAN
Spit a verse, Burr!
BURR
I see the whole gang is here.
LAFAYETTE
You are the worst, Burr!
HAMILTON
Ignore them. Congrats to you, Lieutenant Colonel.
I wish I had your command instead of manning George’s journal.
BURR
No, you don’t.

45

HAMILTON
Yes, I do.
BURR
Now, be sensible.
From what I hear, you’ve made yourself indispensable.
LAURENS
Well, well, I heard
you’ve got a special someone on the side, Burr.
HAMILTON
Is that so?
LAURENS
What are you tryin’ to hide, Burr?
BURR
I should go.
HAMILTON
No, these guys should go.
LAFAYETTEWhat?
LAURENSNo!
HAMILTON
Leave us alone.
MULLIGAN
Man…
HAMILTON
It’s alright, Burr. I wish you’d brought this girl with you tonight, Burr.
BURR
You’re very kind, but I’m afraid it’s unlawful, sir.
HAMILTON
What do you mean?

46

BURR
She’s married.
HAMILTON
I see.
BURR
She’s married to a British officer.
HAMILTON
Oh shit…
BURR
Congrats again, Alexander. Smile more.
I’ll see you on the other side of the war.
HAMILTON
I will never understand you.
If you love this woman, go get her! What are you waiting for?
BURR
I’ll see you on the other side of the war.
HAMILTON
I’ll see you on the other side of the war.

47

13. Wait For It
BURR
Theodosia writes me a letter ev’ry day.
I’m keeping her bed warm while her husband is away.
He’s on the British side in Georgia.
He’s tryin’ to keep the colonies in line.
He can keep all of Georgia.
Theodosia, she’s mine.
Love doesn’t discriminate
between the sinners
and the saints,
it takes and it takes and it takes
and we keep loving anyway.
We laugh and we cry
and we break
and we make our mistakes.
And if there’s a reason I’m by her side
when so many have tried
then I’m willing to wait for it.
I’m willing to wait for it.
BURR
My grandfather was a fire andbrimstone preacher

MEN
Preacher,preacher,preacher

But there are things that thehomilies and hymns won’t teachya
Teach ya,teach ya,teach ya
My mother was a genius

WOMEN
Genius

My father commanded respect

When they died they left no
instructions.
Just a legacy to protect.

Respect,
respect

48

BURR/ENSEMBLE
Death 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.
And if there’s a reason I’m still alive
when everyone who loves me has died
I’m willing to wait for it.
I’m willing to wait for it.
Wait for it
ENSEMBLE
Wait for it
Wait for it
Wait for it
BURR
I am the one thing in life I can control
ENSEMBLE
Wait for it
Wait for it
Wait for it
Wait for it
BURR
I am inimitable
I am an original
ENSEMBLE
Wait for it
Wait for it
Wait for it
Wait for it
BURR
I’m not falling behind or running late
ENSEMBLE

49

Wait for it
Wait for it
Wait for it
Wait for it
BURR
I’m not standing still,
I am lying in wait
ENSEMBLE
Wait
Wait
Wait
BURR
Hamilton faces an endless uphill climb
ENSEMBLE
Climb
Climb
Climb
BURR
He has something to prove
he has nothing to lose
ENSEMBLE
Lose
Lose
Lose
Lose
BURR
Hamilton’s pace is relentless,he wastes no time
ENSEMBLE
Time
Time
Time
BURR
What is it like in his shoes?

50Hamilton doesn’t hesitate.
He exhibits no restraint.
He takes and he takes and he takes
and he keeps winning anyway.
He changes the game.
He plays and he raises the stakes.
And if there’s a reason
he seems to thrive when so few survive, then Goddamnit—
BURR
I'm willing to wait for it.

COMPANY
I'm willing to wait for it
Wait for it
Wait for…
I'm willing to wait for it…
I'm willing to—Life doesn’t discriminate
Life doesn’t discriminate
between the sinners and the saints,
between the sinners and the saints,
it takes and it takes and it takes.
it takes and it takes and it takes
and we keep living anyway,
We risewe rise and we fall and we break and we make our
We fallmistakes.
and if there’s a reason I’m still alive when so many and if there’s a reason I’m still alive when so many
have died,have died,then I’m willin’ to—then I’m willin’ to—
BURR
Wait for it…

WOMEN
Wait for it...

MEN
Wait for it…

Wait for it...
Wait for it…
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Wait...

51

14. Stay Alive
ELIZA
Stay alive…
ELIZA/ANGELICA/ENSEMBLE WOMEN
Stay alive…
HAMILTON
I have never seen the General so despondent.
I have taken over writing all his correspondence.
Congress writes, “George, attack the British forces.”
I shoot back, we have resorted to eating our horses.
Local merchants deny us equipment, assistance,
they only take British money, so sing a song of sixpence.
WASHINGTON
The cavalry’s not coming.
HAMILTON
Sir!
WASHINGTON
Alex, listen. There’s only one way for us to win this.
Provoke outrage, outright.
HAMILTON
That’s right.
WASHINGTON
Don’t engage, strike by night.
Remain relentless ‘til their troops take flight.
HAMILTON
Make it impossible to justify the cost of the fight.
WASHINGTON
Outrun.
HAMILTON
Outrun.
WASHINGTON
Outlast.

52

HAMILTON
Outlast.
WASHINGTON
Hit ‘em quick, get out fast.
HAMILTON
Chick-a-plao!
WASHINGTON
Stay alive ‘til this horror show is past.
We’re gonna fly a lot of flags half-mast.
HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE
Raise a glass!
MULLIGAN
I go back to New York and my apprenticeship.
LAFAYETTE
I ask for French aid, I pray that France has sent a ship.
LAURENSI stay at work with Hamilton,
we write essays against slavery,
and every day’s a test of our camaraderie
and bravery.
HAMILTON
We cut supply lines, we steal contraband,
we pick and choose our battles and places to take a stand.
And ev’ry day,“Sir, entrust me with a command,”and ev’ry day,
WASHINGTONNo.
HAMILTONHe dismisses me out of hand.
HAMILTON
Instead of me,

ELIZA/ANGELICA
Stay alive...

53

he promotes
Charles Lee.
Makes him second-in-command:

LEE
Charles Lee.

LEE
I’m a General. Whee!!!!
HAMILTON
Yeah. He’s not the choice I would have gone with.
HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTEHe shits the bed at the Battle of Monmouth.
WASHINGTON
Ev’ryone attack!
LEE
Retreat!
WASHINGTON
Attack!
LEE
Retreat!
WASHINGTON
What are you doing, Lee? Get back on your feet!
LEE
But there’s so many of them!
WASHINGTON
I’m sorry, is this not your speed?!
Hamilton!
HAMILTON
Ready, sir!
WASHINGTON
Have Lafayette take the lead!
HAMILTON
Yes, sir!

54

LAURENS
A thousand soldiers die in a hundred degree heat.
LAFAYETTE
As we snatch a stalemate from the jaws of defeat.
HAMILTONCharles Lee was left behindwithout a pot to piss in.
He started sayin’ this to anybody who would listen:
LEE
Washington cannot be left alone to his devices
indecisive, from crisis to crisis.
The best thing he can do for the revolution
is turn n’ go back to plantin’ tobacco in Mount Vernon.
COMPANYOo!!
WASHINGTON
Don’t do a thing. History will prove him wrong.
HAMILTON
But, sir!
WASHINGTON
We have a war to fight, let’s move along.
LAURENS
Strong words from Lee, someone oughta hold him to it.
HAMILTON
I can’t disobey direct orders.
LAURENS
Then I’ll do it.
Alexander, you’re the closest friend I’ve got.
HAMILTON
Laurens, do not throw away your shot.

55

15. Ten Duel Commandments
MEN
One, two, three, four
FULL COMPANY
Five, six, seven, eight, nine…
BURR/HAMILTON/LAURENS/LEE
It’s the Ten Duel Commandments.
FULL COMPANY
It’s the Ten Duel Commandments.
Number one!
LAURENSThe challenge: demand satisfaction.
If they apologize, no need for further action.
COMPANY
Number two!
LAURENS
If they don’t, grab a friend, that’s your second.
HAMILTONYour lieutenant when there’s reckoning to be reckoned.
COMPANY
Number three!
LEE
Have your seconds meet face to face.
BURR
Negotiate a peace…
HAMILTON
Or negotiate a time and place.
BURR
This is commonplace, ‘specially ‘tween recruits.
COMPANY56

Most disputes die, and no one shoots.
Number four!
LAURENS
If they don’t reach a peace, that’s alright.
Time to get some pistols and a doctor on site.
HAMILTON
You pay him in advance, you treat him with civility.
BURR
You have him turn around so he can have deniability.
COMPANYFive!
LEE
Duel before the sun is in the sky.
COMPANY
Pick a place to die where it’s high and dry,
number six!
HAMILTON
Leave a note for your next of kin.
Tell ‘em where you been. Pray that hell or heaven lets you in.
COMPANY
Seven!
LEE
Confess your sins, ready for the moment of adrenaline when you finally face your opponent.
COMPANY
Number eight!
LAURENS/LEE/HAMILTON/BURR
Your last chance to negotiate.
Send in your seconds, see if they can set the record straight…
BURR
Alexander.
HAMILTON

57

Aaron Burr, sir.
BURR
Can we agree that duels are dumb and immature?
HAMILTON
Sure.
But your man has to answer for his words, Burr.
BURR
With his life? We both know that’s absurd, sir.
HAMILTON
Hang on, how many men died because Lee was inexperienced and ruinous?
BURR
Okay, so we’re doin’ this.
COMPANY
Number nine!
HAMILTON
Look ‘em in the eye, aim no higher.
Summon all the courage you require.
Then countMEN
One two three four
FULL COMPANY
Five six seven eight nine
HAMILTON/BURR
NumberCOMPANY
Ten paces!
HAMILTON/BURR
Fire!

58

16. Meet Me Inside
HAMILTON
Lee, do you yield?
BURR
You shot him in the side!
Yes, he yields!
LAURENS
I’m satisfied.
BURR
Yo, we gotta clear the field!
HAMILTON
Go! We won.
COMPANY
Here comes the General!
BURR
This should be fun.
WASHINGTON
What is the meaning of this? Mr. Burr, get a medic for the General.
BURR
Yes, sir.
WASHINGTON
Lee, you will never agree with me,
but believe me, these young men don’t speak for me.
Thank you for your service.
BURR
Let’s ride!
WASHINGTON
Hamilton!
HAMILTON
Sir!

59

WASHINGTON
Meet me inside.
COMPANY
Meet him inside! Meet him inside!
Meet him inside, meet him, meet him inside!
WASHINGTONSon—
HAMILTON
Don’t call me son.
WASHINGTONThis war is hard enoughwithout infighting—
HAMILTON
Lee called you out. We called his bluff.
WASHINGTON
You solve nothing, you aggravate our allies to the south.
HAMILTON
You’re absolutely right. John should have shot him in the mouth.
That would’ve shut him up.
WASHINGTONSon—
HAMILTON
I’m notcha son—
WASHINGTON
Watch your tone.
I am not a maiden in need of defending, I am grown.
HAMILTON (OVERLAPPING)Charles Lee, Thomas Conway,these men take your name and they rake itthrough the mud.
WASHINGTON
My name’s been through a lot, I can take it.

60

HAMILTON
Well, I don’t have your name. I don’t have your titles.
I don’t have your land.
But, if you—WASHINGTONNo—HAMILTON
If you gave me command of a battalion, a group of men to lead, I could fly above my station after thewar.
WASHINGTON
Or you could die and we need you alive.
HAMILTON
I’m more than willing to die—
WASHINGTONYour wife needs you alive, son, I need you alive—
HAMILTON
Call me son one more time—
WASHINGTON
Go home, Alexander.
That’s an order from your commander.
HAMILTON
Sir—
WASHINGTON
Go home.

61

17. That Would Be Enough
ELIZA
Look around, look around at how lucky we are
to be alive right now.
Look around, look around…
HAMILTON
How long have you known?
ELIZA
A month or so.
HAMILTON
Eliza, you should have told me.
ELIZA
I wrote to the General a month ago.
HAMILTONNo.
ELIZA
I begged him to send you home.
HAMILTON
You should have told me.
ELIZA
I’m not sorry.
ELIZA
I knew you’d fightuntil the war was won

HAMILTON
The war’s notdone.

But you deserve achance to meet your son.
Look around, look aroundat how lucky we are
to be alive right now.
HAMILTONWill you relish being a poor man’s wife,
unable to provide for your life?

62

ELIZAI relish being your wife.
Look around, look around…
Look at where you are.
Look at where you started.
The fact that you’re alive is a miracle.
Just stay alive, that would be enough.
And if this child
Shares a fraction of your smile
or a fragment of your mind, look out world!
That would be enough.
I don’t pretend to know
the challenges you’re facing.
The worlds you keep erasing and creating in your mind.
But I’m not afraid.
I know who I married.
So long as you come home at the end of the daythat would be enough.
We don’t need a legacy.
We don’t need money.
If I could grant you peace of mind,
If you could let me inside your heart…
Oh, let me be a part of the narrativein the story they will write someday.
Let this moment be the first chapter:
where you decide to stayand I could be enoughand we could be enoughthat would be enough.

63

18. Guns and Ships
BURR
How does a ragtag volunteer army in need of a shower
somehow defeat a global superpower?
How do we emerge victorious from the quagmire?
Leave the battlefield waving Betsy Ross’ flag higher?
Yo. Turns out we have a secret weapon!
An immigrant you know and love who’s unafraid to step in!
He’s constantly confusin’, confoundin’ the British henchmen.
Ev’ryone give it up for America’s favorite fighting Frenchman!
COMPANY
Lafayette!
LAFAYETTE
I’m takin this horse by the reins makin’
redcoats redder with bloodstains.
COMPANY
Lafayette!
LAFAYETTEAnd I’m never gonna stop until I make ‘emdrop and burn ‘em up and scatter their remains, I’m
COMPANY
Lafayette!
LAFAYETTE
Watch me engagin’ em! Escapin’ em!
Enragin’ em! I’m—
COMPANY
Lafayette!
LAFAYETTE
I go to France for more funds.
COMPANY
Lafayette!
LAFAYETTE
I come back with more

64

LAFAYETTE AND ENSEMBLE
Guns
And ships
And so the balance shifts.
WASHINGTON
We rendezvous with Rochambeau, consolidate their gifts.
LAFAYETTE
We can end this war at Yorktown, cut them off at sea, but
for this to succeed, there’s someone else we need:
WASHINGTON
I know.
WASHINGTON AND COMPANY
Hamilton!
LAFAYETTE
Sir, he knows what to do in a trench.
ingenuitive and fluent in French, I mean—
WASHINGTON AND COMPANY
Hamilton!
LAFAYETTE
Sir, you’re gonna have to use him eventually,
what’s he gonna do on the bench? I mean—
WASHINGTON AND COMPANY
Hamilton!
LAFAYETTE
No one has more resilienceor matches my practical tactical brilliance—
WASHINGTON AND COMPANY
Hamilton!
LAFAYETTE
You wanna fight for your land
back?

COMPANY
Hamilton!

65

WASHINGTON
I need my right hand man back!
LAFAYETTE
Ah! Uh, get ya right handman back
you know you gotta get ya righthand man back

WOMEN
Hamilton!
MEN
Get your right hand man back!

Your right hand man back!
I mean you gotta put some thought
into the letter but the sooner the Hamilton!
betterto get your right hand man back!
Hamilton, Hamilton!
Ha— ha—!
WASHINGTON
Alexander Hamilton,
troops are waiting in the field for you.
If you join us right now, together we can turn the tide.
Oh, Alexander Hamilton,
I have soldiers who will yield for you.
If we manage to get this right,
they’ll surrender by early light.
The world will never be the same, Alexander…

66

Hamilton!
Ha—
Ha—
Hamilton, Hamilton!
Ha— ha—!

19. History Has Its Eyes On You
WASHINGTON
I was younger then you are now
when I was given my first command.
I led my men straight into a massacre.
I witnessed their deaths firsthand.
I made every mistake,I felt the shame rise in me,
And even now I lie awake,
WASHINGTON
Knowing history has its eyes on me.

LAURENS/MULLIGAN
Whoa…
Whoa…
Whoa…
Yeah

HAMILTON/WASHINGTON
History has its eyes on me.

COMPANY
Whoa…
Whoa…
Whoa…
Yeah

WASHINGTON
Let me tell you what I wish I’d known
when I was young and dreamed of glory:
You have no control:
WASHINGTON AND COMPANY
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story.
WASHINGTON
I know that we can win.
I know that greatness lies in you.
But remember from here on in,
WASHINGTON/HAMILTON AND MEN
History has its
Eyes on you.

ENSEMBLE
Whoa…
Whoa…
Whoa…

FULL COMPANY
History has its eyes on you.

67

20. Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)
COMPANYThe battle of Yorktown. 1781.
LAFAYETTE
Monsieur Hamilton.
HAMILTON
Monsieur Lafayette.
LAFAYETTE
In command where you belong.
HAMILTON
How you say, no sweat.
We’re finally on the field. We’ve had quite a run.
LAFAYETTE
Immigrants:
HAMILTON/LAFAYETTE
We get the job done.
HAMILTON
So what happens if we win?
LAFAYETTE
I go back to France,
I bring freedom to my people if I’m given the chance.
HAMILTON
We’ll be with you when you do.
LAFAYETTE
Go lead your men.
HAMILTON
See you on the other side.
LAFAYETTE‘Til we meet again, let’s go!
ENSEMBLE

68

I am not throwin’ away my shot!
I am not throwin’ away my shot!
Hey yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young,scrappy and hungry
and I’m not throwin’ away my shot!
I am not throwin’ away my shot!
HAMILTON‘Til the world turns upside down…
ENSEMBLE‘Til the world turns upside down!
HAMILTON
I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory.
This is where it gets me: on my feet,the enemy ahead of me.
If this is the end of me, at least I have a friend with me,
weapon in my hand, a command, and my men with me.
Then I remember my Eliza’s expecting me...
not only that, my Eliza’s expecting.
We gotta go, gotta get the job done,
gotta start a new nation, gotta meet my son!
Take the bullets out your gun!
ENSEMBLEWhat?
HAMILTON
The bullets out your gun!
ENSEMBLEWhat?
HAMILTON
We move under cover and we move as one
through the night, we have one shot to live another day.
We cannot let a stray gunshot give us away.
We will fight up close, seize the moment and stay in it.
It’s either that or meet the business end of a bayonet.
The code word is ‘Rochambeau,’ dig me?
ENSEMBLE
Rochambeau!

69

HAMILTON
You have your orders now, go, man, go!
And so the American experiment begins
with my friends all scattered to the winds.
Laurens is in South Carolina, redefining brav’ry.
HAMILTON/LAURENS
We’ll never be free until we end slavery!
HAMILTON
When we finally drive the British away,
Lafayette is there waiting—
HAMILTON/LAFAYETTEIn Chesapeake Bay!
HAMILTON
How did we know that this plan would work?
We had a spy on the inside. That’s right,
HAMILTON/COMPANY
Hercules Mulligan!
MULLIGAN
A tailor spyin’ on the British government!
I take their measurements, information and then I smuggle it!
COMPANYUp
MULLIGAN
To my brother’s revolutionary covenant
I’m runnin’ with the Sons of Liberty and I am lovin’ it!
See, that’s what happens when you up against the ruffians.
We in the shit now, somebody gotta shovel it!
Hercules Mulligan, I need no introduction,
when you knock me down I get the fuck back up again!
COMPANY
Left! Right! Hold!
Go!
What! What! What!
HAMILTON70

After a week of fighting, a young man in a red coat stands on a parapet.
LAFAYETTE
We lower our guns as he frantically waves a white handkerchief.
MULLIGAN
And just like that, it’s over. We tend to our wounded, we count our dead.
LAURENSBlack and white soldiers wonder alike if this really means freedom.
WASHINGTON
Not. Yet.
HAMILTON
We negotiate the terms of surrender.
I see George Washington smile.
We escort their men out of Yorktown.
They stagger home single file.
Tens of thousands of people flood the streets.
There are screams and church bells ringing.
And as our fallen foes retreat,
I hear the drinking song they’re singing…
ALL MEN
The world turned upside down.
FULL COMPANY
The world turned upside down,
the world turned upside down,
the world turned upside down,
down,
down, down, down.
LAFAYETTE
Freedom for America, freedom for France!
COMPANY
Down, down, down.
HAMILTON
Gotta start a new nation,
gotta meet my son.

71

COMPANY
Down, down, down.
MULLIGAN
We won!
LAFAYETTE
We won!
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE/LAURENS
We won!
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE/LAURENS/HAMILTON/WASHINGTON
We won!
COMPANYThe world turned upside down!

7221. What Comes Next?
KING GEORGE
They saythe price of my war’s not a price that they’re willing to pay.
Insane.
You cheat with the French, now I’m fighting with France and with Spain.
I’m so blue.
I thought that we’d made an arrangement
when you went away,
You were mine to subdue.
Well, even despite our estrangement, I’ve got
a small query for you:
What comes next?
You’ve been freed.
Do you know how hard it is to lead?
You’re on your own.
Awesome. Wow.
Do you have a clue what happens now?
Oceans rise.
Empires fall.
It’s much harder when it’s all your call.
All alone, across the sea.
When your people say they hate you, don’tcome crawling back to me.
Da da da dat da dat da da da
Da ya daDa da dat
Da da ya da...
You’re on your own…

73

22. Dear Theodosia
BURR
Dear Theodosia, what to say to you?
You have my eyes. You have your mother’s name.
When you came into the world, you cried and it broke my heart.
I’m dedicating every day to you.
Domestic life was never quite my style.
When you smile, you knock me out, I fall apart.
And I thought I was so smart.
You will come of age with our young nation.
We’ll bleed and fight for you, we’ll make it right for you.
If we lay a strong enough foundation
we’ll pass it on to you, we’ll give the world to you,and you’ll blow us all away…
someday, someday.
Yeah, you’ll blow us all away,
someday, someday.
HAMILTON
Oh Philip, when you smile I am undone.
My son.
Look at my son. Pride is not the word I’m looking for.
There is so much more inside me now.
Oh Philip, you outshine the morning sun.
My son.
When you smile, I fall apart.
And I thought I was so smart.
My father wasn’t around.
BURR
My father wasn’t around.
HAMILTON
I swear that
I’ll be around for you.

BURR
I’ll be around for you.

HAMILTON
I’ll do whatever it takes.

74

BURR
I’ll make a million mistakes.
BURR/HAMILTON
I’ll make the world safe and sound for you…
…will come of age with our young nation.
We’ll bleed and fight for you, we’ll make it right for you.
If we lay a strong enough foundation
we’ll pass it on to you, we’ll give the world to you,and you’ll blow us all away...
someday, someday.
Yeah, you’ll blow us all away,
someday, someday.

75

23. Non-Stop
BURR
After the war I went back to New York.
HAMILTON
A-after the war I went back to New York.
BURR
I finished up my studies and I practiced law.
HAMILTON
I practiced law, Burr worked next door.
BURR
Even though we started at the very same time,
Alexander Hamilton began to climb.
How to account for his rise to the top?
Maaaaan, the man is
non-stop!

ENSEMBLE
Non-stop!

HAMILTON
Gentlemen of the jury, I’m curious, bear with me.
Are you aware that we’re making hist’ry?
This is the first murder trial of our brand-new nation.
HAMILTON
The liberty behind deliberation—

ENSEMBLE
Non-stop!

HAMILTON
I intend to prove beyond a shadow of a doubtwith my assistant counsel—
BURR
Co-counsel.
Hamilton, sit down.
Our client Levi Weeks is innocent. Call your first witness.
That’s all you had to say!
HAMILTON
Okay!
One more thing—

76

BURR
Why do you assume you’re the smartest in the room?
Why do you assume you’re the smartest in the room?
Why do you assume you’re the smartest in the room?
Soon that attitude may be your doom!
ENSEMBLE
Awwww!
BURR
ENSEMBLE
Why do you write like you’re running out of time? Why do you write like you’re running out of time?
Write day and night like you’re running out of time?
Ev’ry day you fight, like you’re running out of time.
Ev’ry day you fight, like you’re running out of time.
Keep on fighting. In the meantime—Non-stop!
HAMILTON
Corruption’s such an old song that we can sing along in harmonyand nowhere is it stronger than in Albany.
This colony’s economy’s increasingly stalling and
HAMILTON
Honestly, that’s why public service
seems to be calling me.

BURR AND ENSEMBLE
He’s justNon-stop!

HAMILTON
I practiced the law, I practic’ly perfected it.
I’ve seen injustice in the world and I’ve corrected it.
Now for a strong central democracy,
If not, then I’ll be Socrates
HAMILTON
Throwing verbal rocks
at these mediocrities.

ENSEMBLE
Awww!

BURR
Hamilton, at the Constitutional Convention:
HAMILTON77

I was chosen for the Constitutional Convention.
BURR
There as a New York junior delegate:
HAMILTON
Now what I’m going to say may sound indelicate…
BURR
Goes and proposes his own form of government!
His own plan for a new form of government!

COMPANY
Awwww!

What?
What?
BURR
Talks for six hours! The convention is listless!
ENSEMBLE MAN
Bright young man…
ANOTHER ENSEMBLE MAN
Yo, who the f is this?
BURR
Why do you always say what you believe?
COMPANYWhy do you always say what you believe?
Why do you always say what you believe?
Ev’ry proclamation guarantees free ammunition foryour enemies!
Awww!
BURR AND MEN
Why do you write like it’s
ALL WOMEN
going out of style?
Going out of style, hey!
Write day and night like it’sgoing out of style?
Going out of style, hey!
BURR AND COMPANY
Ev’ry day you fight like it’sgoing out of style.
Do what you do.
BURR
Alexander?

78

HAMILTON
Aaron Burr, sir.
BURR
It’s the middle of the night.
HAMILTON
Can we confer, sir?
BURR
Is this a legal matter?
HAMILTON
Yes, and it’s important to me.
BURR
What do you need?
HAMILTON
Burr, you’re a better lawyer than me.
BURR
Okay.
HAMILTONI know I talk too much, I’m abrasive.
You’re incredible in court. You’re succinct, persuasive.
My client needs a strong defense. You’re the solution.
BURR
Who’s your client?
HAMILTON
The new U.S. Constitution?
BURR
No.
HAMILTON
Hear me out.
BURR
No way!

79

HAMILTON
A series of essays, anonymously published,defending the document to the public.
BURR
No one will read it.
HAMILTON
I disagree.
BURR
And if it fails?
HAMILTON
Burr, that’s why we need it.
BURR
The constitution’s a mess.
HAMILTON
So it needs amendments.
BURR
It’s full of contradictions.
HAMILTON
So is independence.
We have to start somewhere.
BURR
No. No way.
HAMILTON
You’re making a mistake.
BURR
Good night.
HAMILTON
Hey.
What are you waiting for?
What do you stall for?
BURR

80

What?
HAMILTON
We won the war.
What was it all for?
Do you support this constitution?
BURR
Of course.
HAMILTON
Then defend it.
BURR
And what if you’re backing the wrong horse?
HAMILTON
Burr, we studied and we fought and we killed
for the notion of a nation we now get to build.
For once in your life, take a stand with pride.
I don’t understand how you stand to the side.
BURR
I’ll keep all my plansclose to my chest.

I’ll wait here and see
which way the wind
will blow.
I’m taking my time,
watching theafterbirth of a nation,
watching the tension grow.

ENSEMBLE
Wait for it, wait for
it, wait…
Which way the wind
will blow.
I’m taking my time,
watching theafterbirth of a nation,
watching the tension grow.

ANGELICA
I am sailing off to London. I’m accompanied by someone
who always pays.
I have found a wealthy husband who will keep
me in comfort for all my days.
He is not a lot of fun, but there’s no one who
can match you for turn of phrase.
My Alexander.

81

HAMILTONAngelica.
ANGELICA
Don’t forget to write.
ELIZA
Look at where you are.
Look at where you started.
The fact that you’re alive is a miracle.
Just stay alive, that would be enough.
And if your wife could share a fraction of your time,
if I could grant you peace of mind,
would that be enough?
BURR
Alexander joins forces with James Madison and John Jay to write a series of essays defending the newUnited States Constitution, entitled The Federalist Papers. The plan was to write a total of twenty-five
essays, the work divided evenly among the three men. In the end, they wrote eighty-five essays, in the
span of six months. John Jay got sick after writing five. James Madison wrote twenty-nine. Hamilton
wrote the other fifty-one!
BURR
How do you write like you’rerunning out of time?
Write day and night like you’rerunning out of time?
BURR AND MEN
Ev’ry day you fight,
like you’rerunning out of time,
like you’rerunning out of time,
are yourunning out of time?

ALL WOMEN
Running out of time?
running out of time?

running out of time,running out of time,
Awwww!

FULL COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON)
How do you write like tomorrow won’t arrive?
How do you write like you need it to survive?
How do you write ev’ry second you’re alive?
Ev’ry second you’re alive? Ev’ry second you’re alive?

82

WASHINGTON
They are asking me to lead.
I am doing the best I canto get the people that I need,
I’m asking you to be my right hand man.
HAMILTON
Treasury or State?
WASHINGTON
I know it’s a lot to ask,
HAMILTON
Treasury or State?
WASHINGTON
To leave behind the world you know…
HAMILTON
Sir, do you want me to run the Treasury or State department?
WASHINGTON
Treasury.
HAMILTON
Let’s go.
ELIZA
Alexander…
HAMILTON
I have to leave.
ELIZA
Alexander—
HAMILTON
Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now.
ELIZA
Helpless…

HAMILTON
They are asking me to lead.

ELIZA
Look around, isn’t this enough?

83

ANGELICA
He will never besatisfied,
ELIZA
he will never be satisfied, What would be enoughsatisfied,satisfied…

To besatisfied,satisfied,satisfied…

WASHINGTON
History has its eyes…
on…
you!

Look around,look around!
He will never besatisfied,satisfied,satisfied…
Why do you fight likehistory has its eyes on
you…

WASHINGTON/MULLIGAN/
Isn’t thisLAURENS/
enough?
LAFAYETTE
What would be enough? History has its eyes…
Why do you fight likeon…
history has its eyes onyou...
you...
history has its eyes onyou...

HAMILTON
I am not throwin’ away
my shot!

MEN
Just you wait!

I am not throwin’ away
my shot!
I am
Alexander Hamilton!

FULL COMPANY
Just you wait!
Alexander Hamilton
Hamilton, just you wait!

I am not throwin’ away
my shot!

84

BURR
Why do you assume
you’re the smartest in theroom? Why do you
assume you’re thesmartest in the room?
ENSEMBLE
Why do you assume
Non-stop!
you’re the smartest in theroom?
Non-stop!
Soon that attitude’s
gonna be your doom!
Non-stop!
Why do you fight likeyou’re running out ofNon-stop!
time?
Why do you fight likehistory has its eyes on
you…

history has its eyes onyou...

ACT 2
1. What’d I MissCOMPANY
Seventeen. Se- se- seventeen...
Se- se- seventeen…
BURR
1789.
How does the bastard orphan,immigrant decorated war vet
unite the colonies through more debt?
Fight the other founding fathers til he has to forfeit?
Have it all, lose it all,you ready for more yet?
Treasury Secretary. Washington’s the President,
ev’ry American experiment sets a precedent.
Not so fast. Someone came along to resist him.
Pissed him off until we had a two-party system.
You haven’t met him yet, you haven’t had the chance,‘cause he’s been kickin’ ass as the ambassador to France
but someone’s gotta keep the American promise.
You simply must meet Thomas. Thomas!
COMPANY
Thomas Jefferson’s coming home!
Thomas Jefferson’s coming home!
Thomas Jefferson’s coming home!
Thomas Jefferson’s coming home!
Thomas Jefferson’s coming home Lord he’s
been off in Paris for so long!
Aaa-ooo!
Aaa-ooo!
JEFFERSONFrance is following us to revolution,
there is no more status quo.
But the sun comes up and the world still spins.
ENSEMBLE
Aaa-ooo!

1

JEFFERSON
I helped Lafayette draft a declaration,then I said, ‘I gotta go.
I gotta be in Monticello.’ Now the work athome begins…
ENSEMBLE
Aaa-ooo!
JEFFERSON
So what’d I miss?
What’d I miss?
Virginia, my home sweet home, I wanna give you a kiss.
I’ve been in Paris meeting lots of different ladies...
I guess I basic’lly missed the late eighties...
I traveled the wide, wide world and came back to this…
ENSEMBLE
Aaa-ooo!
JEFFERSON
There’s a letter on my desk from the President.
Haven’t even put my bags down yet.
Sally be a lamb, darlin’, won’tcha open it?
It says the President’s assembling a cabinet
and that I am to be the Secretary of State, great!
And that I’m already Senate-approved...
I just got home and now I’m headed up to New York.
ENSEMBLE
Headin’ to New York!
Headin’ to New York!
JEFFERSON
Lookin’ at the rolling fields
I can’t believe that we are free.

ENSEMBLE
Believe that we are free

Ready to face
whatever’s awaiting
me in N.Y.C.

Me in N.Y.C.

JEFFERSON
But who’s waitin’ for me when I step in the place?

2

My friend James Madison, red in the face.
JEFFERSON
He grabs my arm andI respond,“What’s goin’ on?”ENSEMBLE
Aaa-ooo!

MADISON
Thomas, we are engaged in a battle for our nation’s very soul.
Can you get us out of the mess we’re in?
ENSEMBLE
Aaa-ooo!
MADISON
Hamilton’s new financial plan is nothing lessthan government control.
I’ve been fighting for the South alone.
Where have you been?

ENSEMBLE
Aaa-ooo!

JEFFERSON
Uh...France.

MADISON
We have to win.
JEFFERSON
What’d I miss?

ENSEMBLE
Wha? Wha? What’d I miss?

What’d I miss?
I’ve come home to this?
Headfirst into a political abyss!
Headfirst, into the abyss!
I have my first cabinet meeting today,
Chik-a-pow!
I guess I better think of something to say,
I’m already on my way,
let’s get to the bottom of this…

On my way
What did I miss?
Ahhh ah!

WASHINGTON
Mr. Jefferson, welcome home.

3

HAMILTON
Mr. Jefferson? Alexander Hamilton.
WASHINGTON AND ENSEMBLE
Mr. Jefferson, welcome home.
COMPANYMr. Jefferson, welcome home
Sir, you’ve been off in Paris for so long!
JEFFERSON
So what did I miss?

4

2. Cabinet Battle #1
WASHINGTON
Ladies and gentlemen, you coulda been anywhere in the world tonight, but you’re here with us in New
York City. Are you ready for a cabinet meeting???
The issue on the table: Secretary Hamilton’s plan to assume state debt and establish a national bank.
Secretary Jefferson, you have the floor, sir.
JEFFERSON‘Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’
We fought for these ideals; we shouldn’t settle for less.
These are wise words, enterprising men quote ‘em.
Don’t act surprised, you guys, cuz I wrote ‘em.
JEFFERSON/MADISON
Oww
JEFFERSON
But Hamilton forgets
his plan would have the government assume state’s debts.
Now, place your bets as to who that benefits:
the very seat of government where Hamilton sits.
HAMILTON
Not true!
JEFFERSON
Ooh, if the shoe fits, wear it.
If New York’s in debt—
why should Virginia bear it? Uh! Our debts are paid, I’m afraid.
Don’t tax the South cuz we got it made in the shade.
In Virginia, we plant seeds in the ground.
We create. You just wanna move our money around.
This financial plan is an outrageous demand,and it’s too many damn pages for any man to understand.
Stand with me in the land of the freeand pray to God we never see Hamilton’s candidacy.
Look, when Britain taxed our tea, we got frisky.
Imagine what gon’ happen when you try to tax our whisky.
WASHINGTON
Thank you, Secretary Jefferson. Secretary Hamilton, your response.

5HAMILTON
Thomas. That was a real nice declaration.
Welcome to the present, we’re running a real nation.
Would you like to join us, or stay mellow,
Doin’ whatever the hell it is you do in Monticello?
If we assume the debts, the union gets
A new line of credit, a financial diuretic.
How do you not get it? If we’re aggressive and competitive
The union gets a boost. You’d rather give it a sedative?
A civics lesson from a slaver. Hey neighbor,Your debts are paid cuz you don’t pay for labor.
“We plant seeds in the South. We create.”Yeah, keep ranting,
we know who’s really doing the planting.
And another thing, Mr. Age of Enlightenment,
Don’t lecture me about the war, you didn’t fight in it.
You think I’m frightened of you, man?
We almost died in a trench
while you were off getting high with the French.
Thomas Jefferson, always hesitant with the President,
reticent—there isn’t a plan he doesn’t jettison.
Madison, you’re mad as a hatter, son, take your medicine.
Damn, you’re in worse shape than the national debt is in,sittin’ there useless as two shits.
Hey, turn around, bend over, I’ll show you
where my shoe fits.
WASHINGTON
Excuse me? Jefferson, Madison, take a walk! Hamilton, take a walk! We’ll reconvene after a brief recess.
Hamilton!
HAMILTON
Sir!
WASHINGTON
A word.
MADISON
You don’t have the votes.
JEFFERSON/MADISON
You don’t have the votes.
JEFFERSON6

Aha-ha-ha ha!
JEFFERSON/MADISON
You’re gonna need congressional approval and you don’t have the votes.
JEFFERSON
Such a blunder sometimes it makes me wonder why I even bring the thunder.
MADISON
Why he even brings the thunder…
WASHINGTON
You wanna pull yourself together?
HAMILTON
I’m sorry, these Virginians are birds of a feather.
WASHINGTON
Young man, I’m from Virginia, so watch your mouth.
HAMILTON
So we let Congress get held hostage by the South?
WASHINGTON
You need the votes.
HAMILTON
No, we need bold strokes. We need this plan.
WASHINGTON
No, you need to convince more folks.
HAMILTONJames Madison won’t talk to me, that’s a nonstarter.
WASHINGTON
Winning was easy, young man. Governing’s harder.
HAMILTON
They’re being intransigent.
WASHINGTON
You have to find a compromise.

7

HAMILTON
But they don’t have a plan, they just hate mine!
WASHINGTON
Convince them otherwise.
HAMILTON
What happens if I don’t get congressional approval?
WASHINGTON
I imagine they’ll call for your removal.
HAMILTON
Sir—
WASHINGTON
Figure it out, Alexander. That’s an order from your commander.

8

2. Take a BreakELIZA
Un deux trois quatre
Cinq six sept huit neuf.
Good! Un deux trois quatre
Cinq six sept huit neuf.

PHILIP
Un deux trois quatre
Cinq six sept huit neuf.
Un deux trois quatre
Cinq six sept huit neuf.

Sept huit neuf—
Sept huit neuf—
Sept huit neuf—
Sept huit neuf—
ELIZA AND PHILIP
One two three four five six seven eight nine!
HAMILTON
My dearest, Angelica,“tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
creeps in this petty pace from day to day”
I trust you’ll understand the reference toanother Scottish tragedy without my having to name the play.
They think me Macbeth, and ambition is my folly,
I’m a polymath, a pain in the ass, a massive pain,
Madison is Banquo, Jefferson’s Macduff
And Birnam Wood is Congress on its way to Dunsinane.
HAMILTON/ANGELICA
And there you are, an ocean away.
Do you have to live an ocean away?
Thoughts of you subside,then I get another letter,
I cannot put the notion away…
ELIZA
Take a break.
HAMILTON
I am on my way.
ELIZA
There’s a little surprise before supper
and it cannot wait.

9HAMILTON
I’ll be there in just a minute, save my plate.
ELIZA
Alexander—
HAMILTON
Okay, okay—
ELIZAYour son is nine years old today.
has something he’d like to say.
He’s been practicing all day.
Philip, take it away—
PHILIP
Daddy, daddy, look—
My name is Philip.
I am a poet.
I wrote this poem justto show it.
And I just turned nine.
You can write rhymes,
but you can’t write mine.

HAMILTON
What!

I practice Frenchand play piano with my mother.
Uh-huh!
I have a sister but I want a little brother.
Okay!
My daddy’s trying to start America’s bank.
Un deux trois quatre cinq!
Bravo!
ELIZA
Take a break.
HAMILTON
Hey, our kid is pretty great.
ELIZA
Run away with us for the summer.
Let’s go upstate.

10

HAMILTON
Eliza, I’ve got so much on my plate.
ELIZA
We can all go stay with my father.
There’s a lake I know…
HAMILTONI know.
ELIZA
In a nearby park.
HAMILTON
I’d love to go.
ELIZA
You and I can go when the night gets dark…
HAMILTON
I will try to get away.
ANGELICAMy dearest Alexander,
You must get through to Jefferson.
Sit down with him and compromise,
don’t stop ‘til you agree
your fav’rite older sister,Angelica, reminds you
there’s someone in your corner all the way across the sea.
In a letter I received from you two weeks ago
I noticed a comma in the middle of a phrase.
It changed the meaning. Did you intend this?
One stroke and you’ve consumed my waking days.
It says:
HAMILTON/ANGELICA“My dearest Angelica”
ANGELICAWith a comma after “dearest.” You’ve written

11

HAMILTON AND ANGELICA“My dearest, Angelica.”
ANGELICA
Anyway, all this to say
I’m coming home this summer
at my sister’s invitation,
I’ll be there with your fam’ly
if you make your way upstate.
I know you’re very busy,
I know your work’s important,but I’m crossing the ocean and I just can’t wait.
HAMILTON AND ANGELICA
You won’t be an ocean away.
You will only be a moment away…
ELIZA
Alexander, come downstairs. Angelica’s arriving today!
ELIZA
Angelica!
ANGELICA
Eliza!
HAMILTON
The Schuyler sisters!
ANGELICA
Alexander.
HAMILTONHi.
ANGELICA
It’s good to see your face.
ELIZA
Angelica, tell this man John Adams spends the summer with his family.
HAMILTONAngelica, tell my wife John Adams doesn’t have a real job anyway.

12

ANGELICA…you’re not joining us? Wait.
HAMILTON
I’m afraid I cannot join you upstate.
ANGELICA
Alexander, I came all this way.
ELIZA
She came all this way—
ANGELICAAll this way—
ELIZA AND ANGELICA
Take a break.
HAMILTON
You know I have to get my plan through Congress.
ELIZA AND ANGELICA
Run away with us for the summer.
Let’s go upstate.
HAMILTON
I lose my job if I don’t get my plan through Congress.
ELIZA AND ANGELICA
We can all go stay with our father.
ELIZA
There’s a lake I know

ANGELICA
I know I’ll miss your face—

In a nearby park
Screw your courage to the sticking place—
You and I can go
Take a break and get away—

Let’s go upstate
where we can stay.

Eliza’s right—
Take a break.
Run away with us for the summer—
Let’s go upstate.
We can all go stay with our father,13

if you take your time—
Look around, look aroundat how lucky we are to be alive right now—
We can go—
When the night gets dark.
Take a break.

you will make your mark.
Close your eyes and dream—when the night gets dark.
Take a break.

HAMILTON
I have to get my plan through Congress.
I can’t stop until I get this plan through Congress.

144. Say No To This
BURR
There’s nothing like summer in the city.
Someone under stress meets someone looking pretty.
There’s trouble in the air, you can smell it.
and Alexander’s by himself. I’ll let him tell it.
HAMILTON
I hadn’t slept in a week.
I was weak, I was awake.
You never seen a bastard orphan
more in need of a break.
Longing for Angelica.
Missing my wife.
That’s when Miss Maria Reynolds walked into my life, she said:
MARIA
I know you are a man of honor,
I’m so sorry to bother you at home
but I don’t know where to go, and I came here all alone…
HAMILTON
She said:
MARIA
My husband’s doin’ me wrong
beatin’ me, cheatin’ me, mistreatin’ me...
Suddenly he’s up and gone.
I don’t have the means to go on.
HAMILTON
So I offered her a loan, I offered to walk her home, she said
MARIA
You’re too kind, sir.
HAMILTON
I gave her thirty bucks that I had socked away,
she lived a block away, she said:
MARIAThis one’s mine, sir.

15

HAMILTON
Then I said, “well, I should head back home,”
she turned red, she led me to her bed,
let her legs spread and said:
MARIA
Stay?
HAMILTON
Hey…
MARIA
Hey…
HAMILTON
That’s when I began to pray:
Lord, show me how to
say no to this.
I don’t know how to
say no to this.
But my God, she looks so helplessAnd her body’s saying, “hell, yes”
MARIA
Whoa…
HAMILTON
Nooo, show me how to
HAMILTON/ENSEMBLE
Say no to this.
HAMILTON
I don’t know how to
HAMILTON/ENSEMBLE
Say no to this.
HAMILTON
In my mind, I’m tryin’ to go
ENSEMBLE
Go! Go! Go!

16

HAMILTON
Then her mouth is on mine, and I don’t say…
ENSEMBLE
No! No!
Say no to this!
No! No!
Say no to this!
No! No!
Say no to this!
No! No!
Say no to this!
HAMILTON
I wish I could say that was the last time.
I said that last time. It became a pastime.
A month into this endeavor I received a letterfrom a Mr. James Reynolds, even better, it said:
JAMES
Dear Sir, I hope this letter finds you in good health,and in a prosperous enough position to put wealthin the pockets of people like me: down on their luck.
You see, that was my wife who you decided to
HAMILTON
Fuuuu—JAMES
Uh-oh! You made the wrong sucker a cuckold,so time to pay the piper for the pants you unbuckled.
And hey, you can keep seein’ my whore wife
if the price is right: if not I’m telling your wife.
HAMILTON
I hid the letter and I raced to her place,screamed “How could you?!” in her face,
she said:
MARIA
No, sir!
HAMILTON

17

Half dressed, apologetic. A mess, she looked
pathetic, she cried:
MARIA
Please don’t go, sir!
HAMILTON
So was your whole story a setup?
MARIA
I don’t know about any letter!
HAMILTON
Stop crying Goddamnit, get up!
MARIA
I didn’t know any better
HAMILTON
I am ruined...
MARIA
Please don’t leave me with him
helpless.
Just give him what he wants and you can have me.
Whatever you want,

MARIA
If you pay,
You can stay.

Tonight

HAMILTON
I am helpless—how could I do this?

I don’t want you
I don’t want you
HAMILTON
I don’t…
Lord, show me how to
say no to this.
I don’t know how to
say no to this.
Cuz the situation’s helpless.

ENSEMBLE
Say no to this!
Say no to this!

Helpless.
And her body’s screaming, “Hell,
yes”
Whoa!

How can you

No, show me how to
say no to this.
How can I

18

Say no to this!

say no to this?

Say no to this?
There is nowhere I can go.

Say no to this!
Go! Go! Go!

When her body’s on mine I do not
say…
HAMILTON
Yes.

No!
MARIA
Yes!

ENSEMBLE
Say no to this!
No!

Yes!

Say no to this!
No!

Yes!

Say no to this!
No!

Yes!

Say no to this!

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

HAMILTON
Say no to this…
I don’t say no to this,
there is nowhere I can go.

MARIA
Don’t say no to this.
ENSEMBLE
Go go go...

JAMES
So?
HAMILTON
Nobody needs to know.

19

5. The Room Where It Happens
BURR
Ah, Mister Secretary.
HAMILTON
Mister Burr, sir.
BURR
Didja hear the news about good old General Mercer?
HAMILTONNo.
BURR
You know Clermont Street?
HAMILTON
Yeah.
BURR
They renamed it after him. The Mercer legacy is secure.
HAMILTON
Sure.
BURR
And all he had to do was die.
HAMILTON
That’s a lot less work.
BURR
We oughta give it a try.
HAMILTONHa.
BURR
Now how’re you gonna get your debt plan through?
HAMILTON
I guess I’m gonna fin’ly have to listen to you.

20

BURR
Really?
HAMILTON
Talk less. Smile more.
BURR
Ha.
HAMILTON
Do whatever it takes to get my plan on the Congress floor.
BURR
Now, Madison and Jefferson are merciless.
HAMILTON
Well, hate the sin, love the sinner.
MADISON
Hamilton!
HAMILTON
I’m sorry Burr, I’ve gotta go.
BURR
But—
HAMILTON
Decisions are happening over dinner.
BURR
Two Virginians and an immigrant walk into a room.
BURR AND ENSEMBLE
Diametric’ly opposed, foes.
BURR
They emerge with a compromise, having opened doors that were
BURR AND ENSEMBLE
Previously closed,
ENSEMBLE
Bros.

21

BURR
The immigrant emerges with unprecedented financial power,a system he can shape however he wants.
The Virginians emerge with the nation’s capital.
And here’s the pièce de résistance:
BURR
No one else was in
the room where it happened.
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.
No one really knows how the game is played,
The art of the trade,
how the sausage gets made.
We just assume that it happens.
But no one else is in
the room where it happens.

ENSEMBLE
The room where it happened.
The room where it happened.

How the sausage gets made.
Assume that it happens.
The room where it happens.

BURR AND COMPANY
Thomas claims—
JEFFERSON
Alexander was on Washington’s doorstep one day
in distress ‘n disarray.
BURR AND COMPANY
Thomas claims—
JEFFERSON
Alexander said—
HAMILTON
I’ve nowhere else to turn!
JEFFERSONAnd basic’ly begged me to join the fray.
BURR AND COMPANY
Thomas claims—

22

JEFFERSON
I approached Madison and saids—“I know you hate ‘im, but let’s hear what he has to say.”
BURR AND COMPANY
Thomas claims—
JEFFERSON
Well, I arranged the meeting.
I arranged the menu, the venue, the seating,
BURR
But!
No one else was in—
BURR AND COMPANY
The room where it happened.
The room where it happened.
The room where it happened.
BURR
No one else was in—
BURR AND COMPANY
The room where it happened.
The room where it happened.
The room where it happened.
BURR
No one really knows how theparties get to yesssss.
The pieces that are sacrificed in
ev’ry game of chesssss.
We just assume that it happens.
But no one else is in
the room where it happens.

COMPANY
Parties get to yesssss.
Ev’ry game of chesssss.
Assume that it happens.
The room where it happens.

BURR AND COMPANY
Meanwhile—
BURR
Madison is grappling with the fact that not ev’ry issue can be settled by committee.

23

COMPANY
Meanwhile—
BURR
Congress is fighting over where to put the capital—
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!
MADISONA 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.
JEFFERSONAnd you’ll provide him his votes?
MADISON
Well, we’ll see how it goes.
JEFFERSON
Let’s go.

24

BURR
No!
COMPANY—one else was in
the room where it happened.
BURR AND 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 AND COMPANY
In God we trust.
But we’ll never really know what got discussed.
Click-boom then it happened.
BURR
And 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 U.S. Capital?

25

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.
When you got skin in the game, you stay in the game.
But you don’t get a win unless you play in the game.
Oh, you get love for it. You get hate for it.
You get nothing if you…
HAMILTON AND COMPANY
Wait for it, wait for it, wait!
HAMILTON
God help and forgive me,
I wanna build
something that’s gonna
outlive me.
HAMILTON/JEFFERSON/MADISON/WASHINGTON
What do you want, Burr?
What do you want, Burr?

COMPANY
What do you want, Burr?
What do you want, Burr?

If you stand for nothing,
Burr, then what do you fall for?

What do you want, Burr?
What do you want?

BURR
I
wanna be in
the room where it happens.
The room where it happens.
Iwanna be in
the room where it happens.
The room where it happens.
BURR
I

COMPANYI wanna be in26

wanna be
In the room where it happens.
I

the room where it happens.
The room where it happens.
The room where it happens.

I wanna be
I wanna be

I wanna be in the room
where it happens.
The room where it happens.
The room where it happens.
I wanna be in
the room where it happens
The room where it happens.
The room where it happens.

I’ve got to be
I’ve got to bein that roomin that big ol’ room

I wanna be in
the room where it happens.
The room where it happens.
The room where it happens.

I wanna be in the room….
Oh
Oh

COMPANYThe art of the compromise—
BURR
Hold your nose and close your eyes.
COMPANY
We want our leaders to save the day—
BURR
But we don’t get a say in what they trade away.
COMPANYWe dream of a brand new start—
BURR
But we dream in the dark for the most part.
BURR AND COMPANY
Dark as a tomb where it happens.
BURR
I’ve got to be in
the room…

COMPANYThe room where it happens

I’ve got to be...

27

The room where it happens
I’ve got to be...
The room where it happens
Oh, I’ve got to be in
the room where it happens…
I’ve got to be, I’ve gotta be, I’ve gotta be…
in the room!
Click-boom!

The room where it happens
The room where it happens
I wanna be in the room
where it happens!
Click-boom!

28

6. Schuyler Defeated
PHILIP
Look! Grampa’s in the paper! ‘War Hero Philip
Schuyler loses Senate seat to young upstart Aaron Burr!’
Grampa just lost his seat in the Senate.
ELIZA
Sometimes that’s how it goes.
PHILIP
Daddy’s gonna find out any minute.
ELIZA
I’m sure he already knows.
PHILIP
Further down,
PHILIP AND ELIZA
Further down,
PHILIP“Let’s meet the newest Senator from New York…”
ELIZA
New York—
PHILIP AND ELIZAOur Senator!...
HAMILTON
Burr!
HAMILTON
Since when are you a Democratic-Republican?
BURR
Since being one put me on the up and up again.
HAMILTON
No one knows who you are or what you do.
BURR

29

They don’t need to know me. They don’t like you.
HAMILTON
Excuse me?
BURR
Oh, Wall Street thinks you’re great.
You’ll always be adored by the things you create.
But upstate,
HAMILTON
Wait.
BURR
People think you’re crooked!
And Schuyler’s seat was up for grabs, so I took it.
HAMILTON
I’ve always considered you a friend.
BURR
I don’t see why that has to end!
HAMILTON
You changed parties to run against my father-in-law.
BURR
I changed parties to seize the opportunity I saw.
I swear, your pride will be the death of us all!
Beware: it goeth before the fall…

30

7. Cabinet Battle #2
WASHINGTON
The issue on the table: France is on the vergeof war with England. Do we provide aid andtroops to our French allies or do we stay outof it? Remember, my decision on this matter
is not subject to congressional approval.
The only person you have to convince is me.
Secretary Jefferson, you have the floor, sir.
JEFFERSON
When we were on death’s door, when we were needy,
we made a promise, we signed a treaty.
We needed money and guns and half a chance.
Who provided those funds?
MADISON
France.
JEFFERSONIn return, they didn’t ask for land,
only a promise that we’d lend a handand stand with them if they fought against oppressors,
and revolution is messy but now is the time to stand.
Stand with our brothers as they fight against tyranny.
I know that Alexander Hamilton is here and hewould rather not have this debate.
I’ll remind you that he is not Secretary of State.
He knows nothing of loyalty,
smells like new money, dresses like fake royalty,
desperate to rise above his station,
everything he does betrays the ideals of our nation.
ENSEMBLE
Ooh!!
JEFFERSON
Hey, and if ya don’t know, now ya know, Mr. President.
WASHINGTON
Thank you, Secretary Jefferson. Secretary Hamilton, your response.
HAMILTON

31

You must be out of your Goddamn mind if you think
the President is gonna bring the nation to the brinkof meddling in the middle of a military mess,a game of chess, where France is Queen and Kingless.
We signed a treaty with a King whose head is now in a basket.
Would you like to take it out and ask it?
“Should we honor our treaty, King Louis’ head?”“Uh… do whatever you want, I’m super dead.”
WASHINGTON
Enough. Hamilton is right.
JEFFERSON
Mr. President—
WASHINGTON
We’re too fragile to start another fight.
JEFFERSON
But sir, do we not fight for freedom?
WASHINGTON
Sure, when the French figure out who’s gonna lead ‘em.
JEFFERSON
The people are leading—
WASHINGTON
The people are rioting.
There’s a difference. Frankly, it’s a little disquieting you would let your ideals blind you to reality.
Hamilton.
HAMILTON
Sir.
WASHINGTON
Draft a statement of neutrality.
JEFFERSON
Did you forget Lafayette?
HAMILTON
What?

32

JEFFERSON
Have you an ounce of regret?
You accumulate debt, you accumulate power,
yet in their hour of need, you forget.
HAMILTON
Lafayette’s a smart man, he’ll be fine.
And before he was your friend, he was mine.
If we try to fight in every revolution in the world, we never stop.
Where do we draw the line?
JEFFERSON
So quick-witted.
HAMILTON
Alas, I admit it.
JEFFERSONI bet you were quite a lawyer.
HAMILTON
My defendants got acquitted.
JEFFERSON
Huh. Well, someone oughta remind you.
HAMILTON
What?
JEFFERSON
You’re nothing without Washington behind you.
WASHINGTON
Hamilton!
JEFFERSON
Daddy’s calling.

8. Washington On Your Side
BURR
It must be nice, it must be nice to have
Washington on your side
It must be nice, it must be nice to have
Washington on your side.

33

JEFFERSON
Ev’ry action has its equal, opposite reactions.
Thanks to Hamilton, our cab’net’s fractured into factions.
Try not to crack under the stress, we’re breaking down like fractions.
We smack each other in the press, and we don’t print retractions.
I get no satisfaction witnessing his fits of passion.
The way he primps and preens and dresses like the pits of fashion.
Our poorest citizens, our farmers, live ration to ration
as Wall Street robs ‘em blind in search of chips to cash in.
This prick is askin’ for someone to bring him to task.
Somebody gimme some dirt on this vacuous mass so we can at last unmask him.
I’ll pull the trigger on him, someone load the gun and cock it.
While we were all watching, he got Washington in his pocket.
JEFFERSON AND BURR
It must be nice, it must be nice to have
Washington on your side.
It must be nice, it must be nice to have
Washington on your side.
Look back at the Bill of Rights.
MADISON
Which I wrote.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
The ink hasn’t dried.
It must be nice, it must be nice to have
Washington 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.

34

JEFFERSON
Centralizing national credit
and making American credit competitive.
MADISONIf we don’t stop it we aid and abet it.
JEFFERSONI 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 AND JEFFERSON
You can’t put it out from inside the house.
JEFFERSON
I’m in the cabinet. I am complicit inwatching him grabbin’ at power and kiss it.
If Washington isn’t gon’ listen
to disciplined dissidents, this is the difference:
This kid is out!
MADISON/BURR/JEFFERSONOh!
This immigrant isn’t somebody we chose.
Oh!
This immigrant’s keeping us all on our toes.
Oh!
Let’s show these Federalists who they’re up against!
Oh!
JEFFERSON/MADISONSouthern motherfuckin’—
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
Democratic-Republicans!

35

JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR/ENSEMBLE
Oh!
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
Let’s follow the money and see where it goes.
ENSEMBLEOh!
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
Because every second the Treasury grows.
ENSEMBLEOh!
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
If we follow the money and see where it leads,
get in the weeds, look for the seeds ofHamilton’s misdeeds.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
It must be nice. It must be nice.
MADISON
Follow the money and see where it goes.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
It must be nice. It must be nice.
JEFFERSONThe emperor has no clothes.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
We won’t be invisible. We won’t be denied.
Still,
it must be nice, it must be nice to have
Washington on your side.

36

9. One Last TimeHAMILTON
Mr. President, you asked to see me?
WASHINGTON
I know you’re busy.
HAMILTON
What do you need, sir? Sir?
WASHINGTON
I wanna give you a word of warning.
HAMILTON
Sir, I don’t know what you heard,
But whatever it is, Jefferson started it.
WASHINGTON
Thomas Jefferson resigned this morning.
HAMILTON
You’re kidding.
WASHINGTON
I need a favor.
HAMILTON
Whatever you say, sir, Jefferson will pay for his behavior.
WASHINGTON
Shh. Talk less.
HAMILTON
I’ll use the press,
I’ll write under a pseudonym, you’ll see what I can do to him—
WASHINGTON
I need you to draft an address.
HAMILTON
Yes! He resigned. You can finally speak your mind—
WASHINGTON

37

No, he’s stepping down so he can run for President.
HAMILTON
Ha. Good luck defeating you, sir.
WASHINGTON
I’m stepping down. I’m not running for President.
HAMILTON
I’m sorry, what?
WASHINGTON
One last time.
Relax, have a drink with me
one last time.
Let’s take a break tonight
and then we’ll teach them how to say goodbye,to say goodbye.
You and I.
HAMILTON
No, sir, why?
WASHINGTON
I wanna talk about neutrality.
HAMILTON
Sir, with Britain and France on the verge of war, is this the best time—
WASHINGTON
I want to warn against partisan fighting.
HAMILTON
But—
WASHINGTON
Pick up a pen, start writing.
I wanna talk about what I have learned.
The hard-won wisdom I have earned.
HAMILTON
As far as the people are concerned,
you have to serve, you could continue to serve—

38

WASHINGTONNo! One last time
the people will hear from me
one last timeand if we get this right
we’re gonna teach ‘em how to say
goodbye.
You and I—
HAMILTON
Mr. President, they will say you’re weak.
WASHINGTON
No, they will see we’re strong.
HAMILTONYour position is so unique.
WASHINGTON
So I’ll use it to move them along.
HAMILTON
Why do you have to say goodbye?
WASHINGTON
If I say goodbye, the nation learns to move on.
It outlives me when I’m gone.
Like the scripture says:“Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
and no one shall make them afraid.”
They’ll be safe in the nation we’ve made.
I wanna sit under my own vine and fig tree.
A moment alone in the shade,at home in this nation we’ve made.
One last time.
HAMILTON
One last time.
HAMILTON
Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am
nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. I
shall also carry with me

39

HAMILTONWASHINGTON
The hope
The hopethat my country willview them with indulgence;
View them with indulgence
And that,after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its
After forty-five years of my life dedicated to its
service with an upright zeal
service with an upright zeal
the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned
to oblivion, as I myself must soon be to theConsigned to oblivion, as I myself must soon be to
mansions of rest.
the mansions of rest.
I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat inwhich I promise myself to realize the sweet
which I promise myself to realize the sweet
enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow- enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellowcitizens, the benign influence of good laws
citizens, the benign influence of good laws
Under a free government, the ever-favorite object of Under a free government, the ever-favorite object of
my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust,my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust,Of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
Of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
WASHINGTON
One last time.
ALL WOMEN
George Washington’s going home!
HAMILTON
Teach ‘em how to say goodbye.

WASHINGTON
You and ICOMPANY
George Washington’s going home
George Washington’s going home

Going home
George Washington’s going home
History has its eyes on you
George Washington’s going home
We’re gonna teach ‘em how to
say goodbye!
Teach ‘em how to
say goodbye!
To say goodbye!

Teach ‘em how to say goodbye!
Teach ‘em how!
Say goodbye!

Say goodbye!
Say goodbye!
One last time!
One last time!

4010. I Know Him
KING GEORGE
They sayGeorge Washington’s yielding his power and stepping away.
‘Zat true?
I wasn’t aware that was something a person could do.
I’m perplexed.
Are they gonna keep on replacing whoever’s in charge?
If so, who’s next?
There’s nobody else in their country who looms quite as large…
A sentinel whispers in King George’s ear.
John Adams?!
I know him.
That can’t be.
That’s that little guy who spoke to me
all those years ago.
What was it, eighty-five?
That poor man, they’re gonna eat him alive!
Oceans rise.
Empires fall.
Next to Washington, they all look small.
All alone,
watch them run.
They will tear each other into pieces,
Jesus Christ, this will be fun!
Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da
Da da da dat dat da ya daaaaa!
“President John Adams”
Good Luck.

41

11. The Adams Administration
BURR
How does Hamilton, the short-tempered,protean creator of the Coast Guard,
Founder of the New York Post,
ardently abuse his cab’net post,
destroy his reputation?
Welcome, folks, to
BURR/COMPANY
The Adams administration!
BURR
Jefferson’s the runner-up, which makes him the Vice President.
JEFFERSON
Washington can’t help you now, no more mister nice President.
BURR
Adams fires Hamilton.
Privately calls him “creole bastard” in his taunts.
JEFFERSON
Say what?!
BURR
Hamilton publishes his response.
HAMILTON
Sit down, John, you fat motherf—
BURR
Hamilton is out of control.
MADISON
This is great! He’s out of power. He holds nooffice. And he just destroyed President John
Adams, the only other significant memberof his party.
JEFFERSON
Hamilton’s a host unto himself. As long as
he can hold a pen, he’s a threat. Let’s let him
know what we know.

4212. We Know
HAMILTON
Mr. Vice President.
Mr. Madison.
Senator Burr.
What is this?
JEFFERSON
We have the check stubs. From separate accounts…
MADISON
Almost a thousand dollars, paid in different amounts…
BURR
To a Mr. James Reynolds way back inseventeen ninety-one.
HAMILTON
Is that what you have? Are you done?
MADISON
You are uniquely situated by virtue of your position—
JEFFERSON
Though ‘virtue’ is not a word I’d apply to this situation—
MADISON
To seek financial gain, to stray from your sacred mission—
JEFFERSON
And the evidence suggests you’ve engaged in speculation—
BURR
An immigrant embezzling our government funds—
JEFFERSON/MADISON
I can almost see the headline, your career is done.
BURR
I hope you saved some money for your daughter and sons.
BURR/JEFFERSON/MADISONYa best g’wan run back where ya come from.

43

HAMILTON
Ha! You don’t even know what you’re asking me to confess.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
Confess.
HAMILTON
You got nothing. I don’t have to tell you anything at all.
Unless.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
Unless?
HAMILTON
If I can prove that I never broke the law,
do you promise not to tell another soul what you saw?
BURR
No one else was in the room where it happened.
HAMILTON
Is that a yes?
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
Um, yes.
BURR“Dear Sir, I hope this letter finds you in good healthand in a prosperous enough position to put wealthin the pockets of people like me: down on their luck.
You see, it was my wife who you decided to—”
JEFFERSON
Whaaaat—
HAMILTON
She courted me.
Escorted me to bed and when she had me in a cornerthat’s when Reynolds extorted mefor a sordid fee.
I paid him quarterly.
I may have mortally wounded my prospects
but my papers are orderly!

44

As you can see I kept a record of every check in my checkered
History. Check it again against your list n’ see consistency.
I never spent a cent that wasn’t mine,
you sent the dogs after my scent, that’s fine.
Yes, I have reasons for shame
but I have not committed treason and sullied my good name.
As you can see I have done nothing to provoke legal action.
Are my answers to your satisfaction?
JEFFERSONMy God.
MADISON
Gentlemen, let’s go.
HAMILTONSo?
JEFFERSON AND MADISON
The people won’t know what we know.
HAMILTON
Burr!
How do I know you won’t use this against me
the next time we go toe to toe?
BURR
Alexander, rumors only grow. And we bothknow what we know.

45

13. Hurricane
HAMILTON
In the eye of a hurricane
there is quiet
for just a moment,a yellow sky.
When I was seventeen a hurricane
destroyed my town.
I didn’t drown.
I couldn’t seem to die.
I wrote my way out,
wrote everything down far as I could see.
I wrote my way out.
I looked up and the town had its eyes on me.
They passed a plate around.
Total strangers
moved to kindness by my story.
Raised enough for me to book passage on aship that was New York bound…
I wrote my way out of hell.
I wrote my way to revolution.
I was louder than the crack in the bell.
I wrote Eliza love letters until she fell.
I wrote about The Constitution and defended it well.
And in the face of ignorance and resistance,
I wrote financial systems into existence.
And when my prayers to God were met with indifference,
I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance.
In the eye of a hurricane
there is quiet
for just a moment,a yellow sky.
I was twelve when my mother died.
She was holding me.
We were sick and she was holding me.
I couldn’t seem to die.

46

BURR
Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it…
BURR AND ENSEMBLE
Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it…

HAMILTON
I’ll write my way out…

Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, Write ev’rything down, far as I can
wait…
see…
WASHINTON/ELIZA/ANGELICA/MARIA
History has its eyes on you.
I’ll write my way out…
Overwhelm them with honesty.
HAMILTONThis is the eye of the hurricane, this is the only
way I can protect my legacy…
COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON)
Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, wait…
HAMILTON
The Reynolds Pamphlet.

47

14. The Reynolds Pamphlet
FULL COMPANY
The Reynolds Pamphlet.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/ANGELICA
Have you read this?
BURR/JEFFERSON/MADISON
Alexander Hamilton had a torrid affair.
And he wrote it down right there.
MADISON
Highlights!
HAMILTON/JEFFERSON“The charge against me
is a connection with one
James Reynolds!
For purposes ofimproper speculation.
My real crime is anamorous connection with his wife
for a considerable time with his knowing consent

JAMES
James Reynolds!
BURR
My real crime is anamorous connection with his wife

MADISON/BURR/JEFFERSON
Damn!
HAMILTON/JEFFERSON/MADISON“I had frequent meetings with her. Most ofthem at my own house.”
BURR
At his own house!
MADISONAt his own house!
DEEP VOICE
Damn!
HAMILTON/JEFFERSON“Mrs. Hamilton with our children being absent
on a visit to her father.”48

MADISON/BURR
No…
COMPANY
Boooo!
MADISON/BURR
Have you read this?
JEFFERSON
Well, he’s never gon’ be President now.
MADISON/BURR
Never gon’ be President now.
JEFFERSON
Well, he’s never gon’ be President now.
MADISON/BURR
Never gon’ be President now.
JEFFERSON
He’s never gon’ be President now.
MADISON/BURR
Never gon’ be President now.
JEFFERSON
That’s one less thing to worry about.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
That’s one less thing to worry about!
ANGELICA
I came as soon as I heard.
JEFFERSON
What?!
HAMILTONAngelica—
COMPANY49

All the way from London?!
Damn.
HAMILTONAngelica, thank God.
Someone who understands what I’m
struggling here to do.
ANGELICA
I’m not here for you.
ENSEMBLE
Oooooh!
ANGELICA
I know my sister like I know my own mind,
you will never find anyone as trusting or as kind.
I love my sister more than anything in this life,
I will choose her happiness over mine every time.
Put what we had aside.
I’m standing at her side.
You could never be satisfied.
God, I hope you’re satisfied.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
Well, he’s never gon’ be President now.

ENSEMBLE MEN
Never gon’ be President now.

Well, he’s never gon’ be President now.
Never gon’ be President now.
Well, he’s never gon’ be President now.
Never gon’ be President now.
That’s one less thing to worry about.
That’s one less thing to worry about.
JEFFERSON/MADISONHey!
At least he washonest with our money!

HAMILTONHey!
At least I was
honest with our money!

ENSEMBLE WOMEN
Well he’s never gon’ be
President now.

ENSEMBLE MEN
Well he’s never gon’ be
President now.

Well he’s never gon’ be
President now.
Well he’s never gon’ be
President now.

50

Hey!
At least he washonest with our money!

Hey!
At least he washonest with our money!

Well he’s never gon’ be
President now.
Well he’s never gon’ be
President now.

That’s one less thing toworry about.
FULL COMPANY
That’s one less thing to worry about!
The Reynolds Pamphlet.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/BURR
Have you read this?
You ever see somebody ruin their own life?
COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON/ELIZA)
His poor wife.

51

15. Burn
ELIZA
I saved every letter you wrote me.
From the moment I read them
I knew you were mine.
You said you were mine.
I thought you were mine.
Do you know what Angelica said
when we saw your first letter arrive?
She said,“Be careful with that one, love.
He will do what it takes to survive.”
You and your words flooded my senses.
Your sentences left me defenseless.
You built me palaces out of paragraphs,
you built cathedrals.
I’m re-reading the letters you wrote me.
I’m searching and scanning for answers
in every line,
for some kind of sign,
and when you were mine
the world seemed to
Burn.
Burn.
You published the letters she wrote you.
You told the whole world how you brought
this girl into our bed.
In clearing your name, you have ruined our lives.
Do you know what Angelica said
When she read what you’d done?
She said,“You have married an Icarus.
He has flown too close to the sun.”
You and your words, obsessed with your legacy...
Your sentences border on senseless,and you are paranoid in every paragraph
how they perceive you,52You, you, you…
I’m erasing myself from the narrative.
Let future historians wonder
how Eliza reacted when you broke her heart.
You have torn it all apart.
I am watching it
burn.
Watching it burn.
The world has no right to my heart.
The world has no place in our bed.
They don’t get to know what I said.
I’m burning the memories,
Burning the letters that might have redeemed you.
You forfeit all rights to my heart.
You forfeit the place in our bed.
You sleep in your office instead,with only the memoriesof when you were mine.
I hope that you burn.

53

16. Blow Us All Away
PHILIP
Meet the latest graduate of King’s College!
I prob’ly shouldn’t brag, but, dag, I amaze and astonish!
The scholars say I got the same virtuosity and brains as my pops!
The ladies say my brain’s not where the resemblance stops!
I’m only nineteen but my mind is older,gotta be my own man, like my father, but bolder.
I shoulder his legacy with pride,
I used to hear him saythat someday
I would—
ENSEMBLE
Blow us all away.
PHILIP
Ladies, I’m lookin for a Mr. George Eacker.
Made a speech last week, our Fourth of July speaker.
He disparaged my father’s legacy in front of a crowd.
I can’t have that, I’m making my father proud.
MARTHAI saw him just up Broadway a couple of blocks.
He was goin’ to see a play.
PHILIP
Well, I’ll go visit his box.
DOLLY
God, you’re a fox.
PHILIP
And y’all look pretty good in ya’ frocks.
How ‘bout when I get back, we all strip down to our socks?
BOTH
Ok!
COMPANY
Blow us all away!
PHILIP

54

George!
GEORGEShh.
PHILIP
George!
GEORGE
Shh! I’m tryin’ to watch the show!
PHILIPYa’ shoulda watched your mouth before you
talked about my father though!
GEORGEI didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.
You father’s a scoundrel, and so, it seems, are you.
ENSEMBLE
Ooooooooooh!
PHILIP
It’s like that?
GEORGE
Yeah, I don’t fool around.
I’m not your little schoolboy friends.
PHILIPSee you on the dueling ground.
That is, unless you wanna step outside and go now.
GEORGEI know where to find you, piss off.
I’m watchin’ this show now.
PHILIP
Pops, if you had only heard the shit he said about you
I doubt you would have let it slide and I was not about to—
HAMILTON
Slow down.

55

PHILIPI came to ask you for advice. This is my very first duel.
They don’t exactly cover this subject in boarding school.
HAMILTON
Did your friends attempt to negotiate a peace?
PHILIPHe refused to apologize, we had to let the peace talks cease.
HAMILTON
Where is this happening?
PHILIP
Across the river, in Jersey.
HAMILTON/PHILIP
Everything is legal in New Jersey…
HAMILTON
Alright. So this is what you’re gonna do:Stand there like a man until Eacker is in front of you.
When the time comes, fire your weapon in the air.
This will put an end to the whole affair.
PHILIP
But what if he decides to shoot? Then I’m a goner.
HAMILTON
No. He’ll follow suit if he’s truly a man of honor.
To take someone’s life, that is something you can’t shake.
Philip, your mother can’t take another heartbreak.
PHILIP
Father—
HAMILTON
Promise me. You don’t want thisyoung man’s blood on your conscience.
PHILIP
Okay, I promise.
HAMILTON

56

Come back home when you’re done.
Take my guns. Be smart. Make me proud, son.
PHILIPMy name is Philip
I am a poet
I’m a little nervous, but I can’t show it.
I’m sorry, I’m a Hamilton with pride.
You talk about my father, I cannot let it slide.
Mister Eacker! How was the rest of your show?
GEORGEI’d rather skip the pleasantries.
Let’s go.
Grab your pistol.
PHILIP
Confer with your men.
The duel will commence after we count to ten.
ENSEMBLE
Count to ten!
PHILIP
Look ‘em in the eye, aim no higher.
Summon all the courage you require.
Then slowly and clearly aim your gun towards the sky—
MALE ENSEMBLE
One two three four
FULL ENSEMBLE
Five six seven—5717. Stay Alive (Reprise)
ENSEMBLE WOMEN
Stay alive…
Stay alive…

HAMILTON
Where’s my son?

Stay alive...

Is he alive?

DOCTOR
Mr. Hamilton, come in. They
brought him in a half an hour ago.
He lost a lot of blood on the way
over.

DOCTOR
Yes. But you have to understandthe bullet entered just above his hip andlodged in his right arm.
HAMILTON
Can I see him please?
DOCTORI’m doing ev’rything I can but the wound was
already infected when he arrived—
HAMILTON
Philip.
PHILIPPa.
I did exactly as you said, Pa.
I held my head up high.
HAMILTONI know, I know. Shh.
I know, I know.
Shh. I know you did
ev’rything just right.

PHILIPHigh.

Even before we got to ten—Shh.
I was aiming for the sky.
I know, I know.
I know, I know.
I know,

I was aiming for the sky.

Save your strength and

ENSEMBLE MEN

58

stay alive…

Stay alive...

ELIZA
No!
HAMILTON
Eliza.
ELIZA
Is he breathing? Is he going to survive this?

ENSEMBLE MEN
Stay alive...

ELIZA
Who did this, Alexander, did you know?
PHILIP
Mom, I’m so sorry for forgetting what you taught me.
ELIZA
My son—PHILIP
We played piano.
ELIZA
I taught you piano.
PHILIPYou would put your hands on mine.
ELIZA
You changed the melody every time.
PHILIP
Ha. I would always change the line.
ELIZA
Shh. I know, I know.
PHILIPI would always change the line.
ELIZA
I know, I know.

59

ELIZAUn deux trois quatre
Cinq six sept huit neuf.
Good.
Un deux trois quatre
Cinq six sept
Huit neuf.
Sept huit neuf—
Sept huit…

PHILIP
Un deux trois quatre
Cinq six sept huit neuf.
PHILIP
Un deux trois…

60

18. It’s Quiet Uptown
ANGELICA
There are moments that the words don’t reach.
There is suffering too terrible to name.
You hold your child as tight as you canand push away the unimaginable.
The moments when you’re in so deep,
it feels easier to just swim down.
ANGELICA/ENSEMBLE
The Hamiltons move uptown
and learn to live with the unimaginable.
HAMILTON
I spend hours in the garden.
I walk alone to the store,
and it’s quiet uptown.
I never liked the quiet before.
I take the children to church on Sunday,
a sign of the cross at the door, and I pray.
That never used to happen before.
ANGELICA AND WOMEN
If you see him in the street, walking byhimself, talking to himself, have pity.
HAMILTON
Philip, you would like it uptown.
It’s quiet uptown.
ANGELICA AND WOMEN
He is working through the unimaginable.
ALL MEN (EXCEPT HAMILTON)
His hair has gone grey. He passes every day.
They say he walks the length of the city.
HAMILTON
You knock me out, I fall apart.
COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON AND ELIZA)Can you imagine?

61

HAMILTON
Look at where we are.
Look at where we started.
I know I don’t deserve you, Eliza.
But hear me out. That would be enough.
If I could spare his life,
If I could trade his life for mine,he’d be standing here right now
and you would smile, and that would be enough.
I don’t pretend to know
the challenges we’re facing.
I know there’s no replacing what we’ve lostand you need time.
But I’m not afraid,
I know who I married.
Just let me stay here by your side,
That would be enough.
COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON AND ELIZA)
If you see him in the street, walking by herside, talking by her side, have pity.
HAMILTON
Eliza, do you like it uptown? It’s quiet uptown.
COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON AND ELIZA)
He is trying to do the unimaginable.
See them walking in the park, long after dark,
taking in the sights of the city.
HAMILTON
Look around, look around, Eliza.
COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON AND ELIZA)
They are trying to do the unimaginable.
ANGELICA
There are moments that the words don’t reach.
There is a grace too powerful to name.
We push away what we can never understand,we push away the unimaginable.
They are standing in the garden,
Alexander by Eliza’s side.

62

She takes his hand.
ELIZA
It’s quiet uptown.
COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON AND ELIZA)
Forgiveness. Can you imagine?
Forgiveness. Can you imagine?
If you see him in the street, walking by herside, talking by her side, have pity.
They are going through the unimaginable.

6319. The Election of 1800
FULL COMPANY
The election of 1800.
JEFFERSON
Can we get back to politics?
MADISON
Please?
JEFFERSON
Yo. Ev’ry action has an equal, opposite reaction.
John Adams shat the bed. I love the guy, but he’s in traction.
Poor Alexander Hamilton? He is missing in action.
So now I’m facing—
JEFFERSON AND MADISON
Aaron Burr!
JEFFERSONWith his own faction.
MADISON
He’s very attractive in the North. New Yorkers like his chances.
JEFFERSON
He’s not very forthcoming on any particular stances.
MADISONAsk him a question: it glances off, he obfuscates, he dances.
JEFFERSON
And they say I’m a Francophile: at least they know I know where France is!
MADISON
Thomas that’s the problem, see, they see Burr as a less extreme you.
JEFFERSONHa!
MADISON
You need to change course, a key endorsement might redeem you.

64

JEFFERSON
Who did you have in mind?
MADISON
Don’t laugh.
JEFFERSON
Who is it?
MADISONYou used to work on the same staff.
JEFFERSON
Whaaaat.
MADISON
It might be nice, it might be niceto get Hamilton on your side.
JEFFERSON AND MADISON
It might be nice, it might be niceTo get Hamilton on your side.
BURR
Talk less!

ENSEMBLE
Burr!

Smile more!
Burr!
Don’t let ‘em know what you’re against or what
you’re for!
Burr!
Shake hands with him!
Burr!
Charm her!
Burr!
It’s eighteen hundred, ladies, tell your husbands:
vote for
Burr!

Burr!

MALE VOTER
I don’t like Adams.
FEMALE VOTER

65

Well, he’s gonna lose, that’s just defeatist.
ANOTHER MALE VOTER
And Jefferson—
TWO MEN
In love with France!
ANOTHER FEMALE VOTER
Yeah, he’s so elitist!
TWO WOMEN
I like that Aaron Burr!
A WOMANI can’t believe we’re here with him!
A MAN
He seems approachable…?
ANOTHER MALE VOTER
Like you could grab a beer with him!
ENSEMBLE
Dear Mr. Hamilton: your fellow Fed’ralists would like to know how you’ll be voting.
HAMILTON
It’s quiet uptown.
ENSEMBLE
Dear Mr. Hamilton: John Adams doesn’t stand a chance, so who are you promoting?
HAMILTON
It’s quiet uptown.
MEN
Jefferson or Burr?

WOMEN
Jefferson or Burr?
We know it’s lose-lose.

We know it’s lose-lose.
Jefferson or Burr?

Jefferson or Burr?
But if you had to choose

But if you had to choose
EVEN MORE VOTERS

MEN

66

Dear Mr. Hamilton:

Jefferson or Burr?

We know it’s lose-lose.
John Adams doesn’t stand achance so who are you promoting? Jefferson or Burr?
But if you had to choose
But if you had to choose
HAMILTON
Well, if it isn’t Aaron Burr. Sir!
BURR
Alexander!
HAMILTON
You’ve created quite a stir, sir!
BURR
I’m going door to door!
HAMILTON
You’re openly campaigning?
BURR
Sure!
HAMILTON
That’s new.
BURR
Honestly, it’s kind of draining.
HAMILTON
Burr—
BURR
Sir!
HAMILTON
Is there anything you wouldn’t do?
BURR
No. I’m chasing what I want.
And you know what?

67

WOMEN
Jefferson or Burr?
We know it’s lose-lose.
Jefferson or Burr?
But if you had to choose

HAMILTON
What?
BURR
I learned that from you.
ENSEMBLE
If you had to choose
If you had to choose
MADISON
It’s a tie!
ENSEMBLE
If you had to choose
If you had to choose
JEFFERSON
It’s up to the delegates!
ENSEMBLE
If you had to choose
If you had to choose
JEFFERSON/MADISON
It’s up to Hamilton!
VOTERS
If you had to choose,
If you had to choose,
If you had toChoose,Choose,Choose!

MADISON/ENSEMBLE
Jefferson or Burr?
Choose,Choose,Choose!

HAMILTONYo.
ENSEMBLEOh!
HAMILTON
The people are asking to hear my voice

68

ENSEMBLE
Jefferson or Burr?
Choose,Choose,Choose!

ENSEMBLEOh!
HAMILTON
For the country is facing a difficult choice.
ENSEMBLEOh!
HAMILTON
And if you were to ask me who I’d promote—
ENSEMBLEOh!
HAMILTON—Jefferson has my vote.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/ENSEMBLE
Oh!
HAMILTON
I have never agreed with Jefferson once.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/ENSEMBLE
Oh!
HAMILTON
We have fought on like seventy-five diff’rent fronts.
JEFFERSON/MADISON/ENSEMBLE
Oh!
HAMILTON
But when all is said and all is done,
Jefferson has beliefs. Burr has none.
ENSEMBLE
Oooooooooooooh.
MADISON AND JEFFERSON
Well, I’ll be damned.
Well, I’ll be damned.

69

MADISON
Hamilton’s on your side.
ENSEMBLE
Well, I’ll be damned.
Well, I’ll be damned.
JEFFERSONAnd?
MADISON
You won in a landslide.
BURR
Congrats on a race well-run.
I did give you a fight.
JEFFERSON
Uh-huh.
BURR
I look forward to our partnership.
JEFFERSON
Our partnership?
BURR
As your vice-President.
JEFFERSON
Ha. Yeah, right.
You hear this guy? Man openly campaigns against me, talkin’ bout, “I look forward to our partnership.”
MADISON
It’s crazy that the guy who comes in second becomes vice President.
JEFFERSON
Yeah, you know what? We can change that. You know why?
MADISONWhy?
JEFFERSON‘cuz I’m the President. Hey, Burr, when you see Hamilton, thank him for the endorsement.

7020. Your Obedient Servant
BURR
How does Hamilton,
an arrogant,immigrant, orphan,bastard, whoreson,
somehow endorse
Thomas Jefferson, his enemy,
a man he’s despised since the beginning,
just to keep me from winning?
I wanna be in the room where it happens—
BURR AND COMPANY
The room where it happens.
The room where it happens.
BURR
You’ve kept me from—
BURR AND COMPANY
The room where it happens.
BURR
For the last time.
Dear Alexander:
I am slow to anger,
but I toe the line
as I reckon with the effectsof your life on mine.
I look back on where I failed,
and in every place I checked,
the only common thread has been your disrespect.
Now you call me “amoral,”a “dangerous disgrace,”
if you’ve got something to say,name a time and place,face to face.
I have the honor to be Your Obedient Servant,A dot Burr.

71

HAMILTON
Mr. Vice President,
I am not the reason no one trusts you.
No one knows what you believe.
I will not equivocate on my opinion,
I have always worn it on my sleeve.
Even if I said what you think I said,
you would need to cite a more specific grievance.
Here’s an itemized list of thirty years of disagreements.
BURR
Sweet Jesus.
HAMILTON
Hey, I have not been shy.
I am just a guy in the public eye
Tryin’ to do my best for our republic.
I don’t wanna fight,
But I won’t apologize for doing what’s right.
I have the honor to be Your Obedient Servant,A dot Ham.
BURR
Careful how you proceed, good man.
Intemperate indeed, good man.
Answer for the accusations I lay at your feet or
prepare to bleed, good man.
HAMILTON
Burr, your grievance is legitimate.
I stand by what I said, every bit of it.
You stand only for yourself.
It’s what you do.
I can’t apologize because it’s true.
BURR
Then stand, Alexander.
Weehawken. Dawn.
Guns. Drawn.
HAMILTON
You’re on.

72

BURR AND HAMILTON
I have the honor to be Your Obedient Servant,
HAMILTON
A dot Ham.
BURR
A dot Burr.

73

21. Best of Wives and Best of Women
ELIZA
Alexander, come back to sleep.
HAMILTON
I have an early meeting out of town.
ELIZA
It’s still dark outside.
HAMILTONI know. I just need to write something down.
ELIZA
Why do you write like you’re running out of time?
HAMILTON
Shhh.
ELIZA
Come back to bed. That would be enough.
HAMILTON
I’ll be back before you know I’m gone.
ELIZA
Come back to sleep.
HAMILTONThis meeting’s at dawn.
ELIZA
Well, I’m going back to sleep.
HAMILTON
Hey. Best of wives and best of women.

7422. The World Was Wide Enough
MALE COMPANY
One two three four
FULL COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON AND BURR)
Five six seven eight nine—
BURR
There are ten things you need to know.
COMPANY
Number one!
BURR
We rowed across the Hudson at dawn.
My friend, William P. Van Ness signed on as my—
BURR AND COMPANY
Number two!
BURR
Hamilton arrived with his crew:
Nathaniel Pendleton and a doctor that he knew.
COMPANY
Number three!
BURR
I watched Hamilton examine the terrain.
I wish I could tell you what was happ’ning in his brain.
This man has poisoned my political pursuits!
COMPANY
Most disputes die and no one shoots!
Number four!
BURR
Hamilton drew first position.
Looking, to the world, like a man on a mission.
This is a soldier with a marksman’s ability.
The doctor turned around so he could havedeniability.

75

COMPANYFive!
BURR
Now I didn’t know this at the time
But we were—
BURR AND PHILIP
Near the same spot
your son died, is thatwhy—

HAMILTON
Near the same spot
my son died, is that
why—

COMPANYSix!
BURR
He examined his gun with such rigor?
I watched as he methodically fiddled with the trigger.
COMPANY
Seven!
BURR
Confession time? Here’s what I got:
My fellow soldiers’ll tell you I’m a terrible shot.
COMPANY
Number eight!
BURR/HAMILTON/ENSEMBLE MENYour last chance to negotiate.
Send in your seconds, see if they can set the record straight.
BURR
They won’t teach you this in your classes,
but look it up, Hamilton was wearing his glasses.
Why? If not to take deadly aim?
It’s him or me, the world will never be the same.
I had only one thought before the slaughter:
This man will not make an orphan of my daughter.
COMPANY
Number nine!

76

BURR
Look him in the eye, aim no higher.
Summon all the courage you require.
Then count:
COMPANYOne two three four five six seven eight nine
Number ten paces! Fire!—
HAMILTON
I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory.
Is this where it gets me, on my feet, sev’ral feet ahead of me?
I see it coming, do I run or fire my gun or let it be?
There is no beat, no melody.
Burr, my first friend, my enemy,
maybe the last face I ever see,If I throw away my shot, is this how you remember me?
What if this bullet is my legacy?
Legacy. What is a legacy?
It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.
I wrote some notes at the beginning of a song someone will sing for me.
America, you great unfinished symphony, you sent for me.
You let me make a difference.
A place where even orphan immigrants
can leave their fingerprints and rise up.
I’m running out of time. I’m running, and my time’s up.
Wise up. Eyes up.
I catch a glimpse of the other side.
Laurens leads a soldiers’ chorus on the other side.
My son is on the other side.
He’s with my mother on the other side.
Washington is watching from the other side.
Teach me how to say goodbye.
Rise up, rise up, rise up,
Eliza,
My love, take your time.
I’ll see you on the other side.
Raise a glass to freedom…
BURR AND COMPANY77

He aims his pistol at the sky—
BURR
Wait!
BURR
I strike him right between his ribs.
I walk towards him, but I am ushered away.
They row him back across the Hudson.
I get a drink.
COMPANY
Aaaah
Aaaah
Aaaah
BURR
I hear wailing in the streets.
COMPANY
Aaaah
Aaaah
Aaaah
BURR
Somebody tells me, “You’d better hide.”
COMPANY
Aaaah
Aaaah
Aaaah
BURR
They say
BURR AND ANGELICA
Angelica and Eliza—
BURR
Were both at his side when he died.
Death doesn’t discriminate
between the sinners and the saints,
it takes and it takes and it takes.
History obliterates.

78

In every picture it paints,
it paints me with all my mistakes.
When Alexander aimed
at the sky,he may have been the first one to die,but I’m the one who paid for it.
I survived, but I paid for it.
Now I’m the villain in your history.
I was too young and blind to see...
I should’ve known.
I should’ve known
the world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me.
The world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me.

79

23. Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
WASHINGTON
Let me tell you what I wish I’d known
when I was young and dreamed of glory.
You have no control:
WASHINGTON AND COMPANY
Who lives,
who dies,
who tells your story?
BURR
President Jefferson:
JEFFERSON
I’ll give him this: his financial system is awork of genius. I couldn’t undo it if I tried.
And I tried.
WASHINGTON AND COMPANY
Who lives,
who dies,
who tells your story?
BURR
President Madison:
MADISON
He took our country from bankruptcy toprosperity. I hate to admit it, but he doesn’t
get enough credit for all the credit he gave us.
WASHINGTON AND COMPANY
Who lives,
who dies,
who tells your story?
ANGELICA
Every other founding father story gets told.
Every other founding father gets to grow old.
BURR
And when you’re gone, who remembers your name?

80Who keeps your flame?
BURR AND MEN
Who tells your story?
Who tells your story?

ANGELICA AND WOMEN
Who tells your story?
Your story?

WOMEN
Eliza.
ELIZA
I put myself back in the narrative.
WOMEN
Eliza.
ELIZA
I stop wasting time on tears.
I live another fifty years.
It’s not enough.
FULL COMPANY
Eliza.
ELIZA
I interview every soldier who fought by your side.
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE/LAURENS
She tells our story.
ELIZA
I try to make sense of your thousands of pages of writings.
You really do write like you’re running out of—
ELIZA AND COMPANY
Time.
ELIZA
I rely on—
ELIZA AND ANGELICA
Angelica.
ELIZA

81

While she’s alive—
ELIZA AND ANGELICA
We tell your story.
ELIZA
She is buried in Trinity Church,
ELIZA AND ANGELICA
Near you.
ELIZA
When I needed her most, she was right on—
ELIZA AND COMPANY
Time.
ELIZA
And I’m still not through.
I ask myself, “What would you do if you had more—”
ELIZA AND COMPANY
Time.
ELIZA
The Lord, in his kindness,
He gives me what you always wanted.
He gives me more—
ELIZA AND COMPANY
Time.
ELIZA
I raise funds in D.C. for the Washington Monument.
WASHINGTON
She tells my story.
ELIZA
I speak out against slavery.
You could have done so much more if you only had—
ELIZA AND COMPANY
Time.

82

ELIZA
And when my time is up, have I done enough?
ELIZA
Will they tell our story?

COMPANY
Will they tell your story?

ELIZA
Oh. Can I show you what I’m proudest of?
COMPANYThe orphanage.
ELIZA
I establish the first private orphanage in New York City.
COMPANYThe orphanage.
ELIZA
I help to raise hundreds of children.
I get to see them growing up.
COMPANYThe orphanage.
ELIZA
In their eyes I see you, Alexander.
I see you every—
ELIZA AND COMPANY
Time.
ELIZA
And when my time is up,
Have I done enough?
Will they tell my story?

COMPANY
Will they tell your story?

ELIZA
Oh, I can’t wait to see you again.
It’s only a matter of—
ELIZA AND COMPANY
Time.

83

COMPANYWill they tell your story?

COMPANYTime…

Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?
Time…
Will they tell your story?
Time...
Who lives, who dies—
FULL COMPANY
Who tells your story?

84