Hamilton's America Page #7

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-If Hamilton's response to loss

is to go as fast as he can,

Burr's response to loss is,

"I'm not gonna do anything until

I know it's the right move.

I'm alive.

Other people I love are dead.

There's a reason for that."

- Life doesn't discriminate

Between the sinners

and the saints

- It takes and it takes

and it takes

- It takes

- And we keep living anyway

- We rise

- We rise

And we fall and we break

- And we fall

- And we make our mistakes

- And if there's a reason

I'm still alive

When so many have died,

then I'm willing' to

[ Instrumental music plays ]

Wait for it

- Wait for it

-After the war,

Hamilton and Burr qualify

to be lawyers at almost

exactly the same time.

They then move

to opposite ends of Wall Street,

and they are the two

rising young men

in the New York

legal establishment.

And it was Alexander Hamilton

who personally issued the call

for a Constitutional Convention

in Philadelphia

in May 1787

and gave a six-hour speech

in which he proposed

his own form of government,

in which he says that there

would be a president

who would serve for life

on good behavior.

-For Hamilton to

stand up and say,

"Hey, let's get this guy in

and sort of make him

look pseudo-king-like,"

you know, having just

finished the Revolution --

that was really

controversial.

It's really after

the Constitutional Convention

that Hamilton has his

major impact on this debate,

and that is with

what becomes known

as "The Federalist Essays."

It's going to confront

people's biggest fears

about this new Constitution.

It's a commercial advertisement

for the Constitution.

-I've read "The Federalist

Papers" many times over.

As an elected official,

as a person who takes office,

by swearing oath

to the Constitution,

I pretty much want to know

what that means, right?

And so it's important

not only to understand

what the Constitution is,

but to understand what

the principles are behind it.

And that's why you look

at "Hamilton."

That's why you look at

"The Federalist Papers."

That is the cornerstone

of this beautiful idea

we call the American experiment.

-Here we are, back at the scene.

-It's been a long way

since 2009.

-Yeah, it's nuts.

The First Lady tweeted

last week, "Alexander Hamilton,

we are waiting

in the East Wing for you."

-It's incredible.

It's incredible.

-It's crazy.

It's very weird to have FLOTUS

quote your lyrics.

[ Cheers and applause ]

-Are you all excited?

-Yes!

-I am -- I'm so excited!

Well, let me start by thanking

the extraordinary performers

from "Hamilton."

[ Cheers and applause ]

I saw the Off-Broadway version

of "Hamilton,"

and it was simply,

as I tell everybody,

the best piece of art

in any form

that I have ever seen

in my life.

So, thank you

for taking the time out

to spend an entire day here

and to bless us

with another performance.

Today they've come here to

spend the day with all of you.

I want you to take

advantage of this time.

-I'm not a really bright student

in the history department.

I've learned so much

from this musical

that I wouldn't have normally

learned in a history class.

And for you guys

to convey history

in the manner that you did --

was that your initial goal,

to inspire kids like me?

-In my high school, we

didn't have a theater program.

History was my drama program.

I saw each and every moment

in history

as the most

dramatic moment ever,

which it was to the people

who were taking part in it.

You might just take a second and

look at from the perspective

of, "Who's the protagonist?

Who's the antagonist?

What's at stake?"

You might find a world

there to unlock.

[ Orchestra tuning ]

-Here we are, performing

not just the opening number,

but an hour worth of material

with our full company

and our full band.

It feels like

this sort of homecoming,

a full-circle closing.

-Hey, man.

-Mr. President.

-Good to see you.

-Thank you for making

time for us.

-Absolutely.

This is so much fun.

-The first time you had me here

was in 2009.

-Right.

-I was just supposed to sing

something from "In the Heights."

I sang "Hamilton" instead.

-When you told us,

"Well, I'm gonna do a rap

about Alexander Hamilton,"

we said, "Well, good luck

with that," right?

-[ Laughs ] Yeah.

That's the typical reaction.

-And after the performance,

I think all of us understood

not only

how much potential it had,

but what it did was capture

the fact that, you know,

the founding fathers were,

to some degree,

flying by the seats

of their pants...

-Absolutely.

-...and making it up

as they went along.

-Yeah.

-And the fact

that the experiment worked

was a testimony to their genius.

And you can draw

a direct connection

between what

the founders were doing

and what we do today.

-Yeah.

-Even today, we really do follow

the model of the executive

from what Washington

established,

you know, so many years ago --

the two-term presidency,

establishing a Cabinet,

Washington sitting at the head.

Allowing for everyone

to have their own influence

in policy is --

is pretty significant.

-He's got kind of

a very small Cabinet,

and it'll turn out

to be Alexander Hamilton

as secretary of treasury,

Henry Knox as secretary of war,

Edmund Randolph as

the first attorney general,

and then Thomas Jefferson

as secretary of state.

-I think of Jefferson

as Bugs Bunny, man.

You know, I think of him

as this indefatigable winner,

who kind of comes in

with incredible confidence,

gets home.

He's already

secretary of state.

And he's like,

"All right, well, let's go."

- France is following us

to revolution

There is no more status quo

But the sun comes up

and the world still spins

- Ah-ooo

-Thomas Jefferson

has a lot to catch up on.

So, when we meet Jefferson,

he's still singing jazz songs,

and the rest of

the United States

has moved on to rap music.

And he doesn't --

he doesn't know that.

[ Chuckling ] Nobody told him.

[ Piano plays jazz ]

- So, what did I miss?

What did I miss, huh?

Virginia, my home sweet home,

I wanna give you a kiss

Mwah

I've been in Paris meeting

lots of different ladies

I guess I basically missed

the late '80s

I traveled the wide, wide

world and came back to this

He misses the whole war

in France

and comes back and

is made secretary of state.

-He was the perfect person

to do this,

having come back

from this diplomatic mission.

So, it was his job to try

to represent the United States

and to let Washington know

about what he knew.

- Mr. Jefferson,

welcome home, sir

You've been off in Paris

for so long

- So, what did I miss?

-In Jefferson's absence,

Alexander Hamilton

has soared from obscurity

to one of the top posts

in government.

-Alexander Hamilton,

as treasury secretary,

was deputy president

in many ways.

-Hamilton has to create

much of the federal government

from scratch -- first

budget systems,

first tax systems,

first customs service,

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