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Act 1: Alexander Hamilton
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hamilton, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Collaboration, Disagreement, and Democracy
Stories vs. History
Ambition and Mortality
Immigration and Diversity of Influence
Honor
Summary
Analysis
Hamilton has just arrived in New York, and he is eager to meet Aaron Burr, who graduated from Princeton in only two short years. Burr is put off by Hamilton’s eagerness, but he buys him a drink at nearby Fraunces Tavern, advising him to “talk less, smile more / don’t let them know what you’re against or what you’re for.” Hamilton does not take well to this advice.
In a note on the text, Miranda explains that Burr was able to graduate from college so quickly because his father was the president—but Burr conceals that fact from Hamilton, who has no such connections of his own. This exchange also introduces one of Burr’s central mottos: whereas Hamilton is talkative and opinionated, Burr believes in “smil[ing]” and staying quiet so he can play both sides.
Themes
Sure enough, moments later Burr and Hamilton are joined by the three men who will become Hamilton’s closest friends: Laurens, Lafayette, and Hercules Mulligan. These three men are rowdy and opinionated, just like Hamilton. So, when Burr refuses to join in their fun, Hamilton pushes back: “if you stand for nothing,” he asks, “what’ll you fall for?”
Burr’s lack of principles sometimes comes in handy—he later changes political parties just to win an election—but for the most part, it alienates him from the people around him. Yet Burr’s refusal to ever agree or disagree, so antithetical to the structure of a representative democracy, also keeps him safe; after all, as the foreshadowing in the first song has made clear, Burr will never “fall” to his untimely death in the way Hamilton does.
Themes
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