Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Note: any differences/conflict in details between the musical and ch 35 came either from interpretation or extrapolation on alternate-timeline-LMM’s part; ch 35 is the primary canon of what happened after Aaron Burr’s death, this does provide canon-accurate details about the trial, though, you can assume it’s as historically accurate as our musical Hamilton is.

Okay, so let’s go.

The musical for the third timeline is not called Hamilton, it’s called Burr: An American Musical, because let’s be real, Burr is the character that it kind of all centers around. Miranda actually read a biography of Maria Lewis Reynolds Clingman Matthew, a tiny historical figure that nobody really cared about, and saw such strength in the story of this woman who had kind of clawed her way out of one terrible abusive situation and another and had potentially saved their entire country with what documents she had managed to preserve (there are widespread modern opinions that one of the only reasons why the world didn’t tip into nuclear war was Aaron Burr’s “clouds of mushrooms will only rain death” making everyone more paranoid about that during the Cold War, which as it seemed to be nonsense it was something that could have been easily lost, so, like, Maria Matthew, legit saved the world if you think that’s important)—but basically the figures that everyone knows from their history classes are “Aaron Burr, the traitor Seer who I guess was a good guy?”, as well as “Thomas Jefferson, the Evil Incarnate President who at least was involved in a super huge scandal with treason.” People have also sort of heard of Madison and Hamilton as “oh Hamilton that dude who was involved in the Jefferson trial?” and “oh Madison that dude who preserved Aaron Burr’s predictions?” Burr: An American Musical is definitely going to change that.

The information that has been left behind that historians are working with are:
—complete records for each of the trials (treason and impeachment)
—all of Burr’s papers that he left with Maria, combined with James Madison worked extensively to preserve Burr’s legacy
—Dolley Madison wrote a lot about this and also worked extensibly with James; Dolley outlives James by 13 years
—Alexander Hamilton had a shit-ton of letters about his life, quite a bit of this was about post-Burr’s-death action that was taken; he wrote himself an autobiography (that’s, like, a thousand pages because it’s Hamilton), Eliza also helps write a memoir for him because she still outlives him
—Maria left behind a personal memoir that got published this time around! (But before Burr, everyone totally ignored it, even though it was the best-written of all the memoirs. Nobody wanted to associate that ~whore~ with historical faves, y’know?)
—Jefferson left behind an autobiography; like his real-life autobiography, he published it in 1821.

So there’s a lot of stuff to work with, and a lot of sides of the story are known.

I think the only other thing you need to know before we delve into this is the casting: Burr, Hamilton, Madison, and Jefferson, are played by the original cast members (Leslie, Lin, Oak, and Daveed respectively), but things are a bit switched up for the women. Maria Reynolds is played by Renée Goldsberry, Eliza is played by Jasmine Cephas Jones, and Dolley is played by Phillipa Soo. Justice Marshall is played by Chris Jackson, Lafayette is played by Anthony Ramos, and I haven’t really cast anyone else in my head, so feel free to imagine anyone you want playing them. You'll also notice in a few numbers there is a "Susan"--that's Maria's daughter, and in this version of the musical there is specifically a 14-year-old child actor who is a part of the cast who exists for the purpose of sometimes looking really really cute and adorable on stage with wide eyes holding Renée's hand while singing her parts. 

There are a feeeew songs where basically no lyrics have been changed? I will note that in the description above them, but I am including said lyrics in this for the people who want to read through the whole thing uninterrupted while trying to imagine it in their head type deal.

Without further ado, presenting Burr: An American Musical.

Chapter Text

1. Ten Things You Need To Know

(everyone is dressed all in white except for Aaron, James, Alexander, and Maria. Justice Marshall and Thomas Jefferson are half in their costumes, half in narration white. The entire ensemble does the dramatic thing where they step up into a line in the front of the stage, shoulder to shoulder, just as in the original Hamilton opening on the line "never learned to take your -- time" as they sing:)

[COMPANY]
One two three four
Five six seven eight nine—

(they all step back and, Maria, James, and Alexander step through their ranks to stand spread in a line where the ensemble had been)

[MARIA, JAMES, AND ALEXANDER]
There are ten things you need to know.

(they break, all whirling away to their places: Alexander and James to different sides of the audience of the trial that the ensemble has set up, which consists of a desk that Justice Marshall is sitting behind, a stand that Aaron Burr is at, and two small sections of chairs to form an audience of the ensemble. This is all on the turntable part of the stage, and is slowly rotating. Jefferson is also in this audience; Alexander is on his side of the divide, James is on the other.)

[COMPANY]
Number one!

[JAMES]
I smuggled him the poison at dawn,
his face was drawn, fully focused on what—

[JAMES]                                  [COMPANY]
He was gonna do.                   Number two!

[ALEXANDER]
The trial commenced shortly after noon,
He stepped up to the stand, what he had planned, no one knew—

[COMPANY]
Number three!

[JAMES]
He promised me that he would feel no pain,
I wish I could tell you what was happ’ning in his brain
He had been so cursed in his political pursuits—

[JAMES AND COMPANY]
That everything came down to such absolutes—
Number four!

[ALEXANDER]
Aaron Burr held fast in his position
Looking to the world like a man on a mission

[JAMES]
This is a man with unfath’mable ability
He threw it all away so Congress had deniability 

[COMPANY]
Five!

[ALEXANDER]
Now I didn’t know this at the time
But he had—

[ALEXANDER AND AARON]
Absolute proof that they all lied,
Is that why—? 

[COMPANY]
Six!

[ALEXANDER]
He’d conducted his defense with such rigor.
I thought that this was just another speech he would deliver. 

[COMPANY]
Seven!

[JAMES]
Confession time: I let him go.
I didn’t argue, didn’t stop him, when I could’ve said no.

[COMPANY]
Number eight!

[JAMES/ALEXANDER/COMPANY]
His last words, he chose to berate
Every Representative, so he could set the record straight.

[ALEXANDER]
They won’t teach you this in your classes
But look it up, Aaron Burr was wearing his glasses
Why? He didn't need them to read,
Why couldn't I have noticed anything before the deed--

[JAMES]
I had only one thought before it ended:
How could I do this, call myself his friend when--

[COMPANY]
Number nine!

[BURR]
(staring straight at Jefferson)
Look him in the eye, aim no higher
Summon all the courage you require
Then count:

[COMPANY]
One two three four five six seven eight nine
Number ten! He drinks the vial!

(lights go dark, single spotlight comes up on Maria, front center stage):

[MARIA]
He imagined death so much, 
planned it before he met me.
Obsessed with what he couldn’t see,
Entrusted all he saw to me,
He saw it coming, 
didn’t run
or even shun 
his cruel duty—

There is no beat, no melody
Burr, my first friend, now helplessly—
I wait for the papers to carry wind of your fate to me—
You reap what you never had wrought,
In this moment, what is it that you flee?
Why should this trial be your legacy?

(spotlight rises on James, standing to her left.)

[JAMES]
Legacy. What is a legacy?
It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see
You wrote some notes at the beginning of a song
That fades to memory—
America, the great unfinished symphony
You dreamed us free!
We could have made a difference,
A place where even those not born like us
Could leave their fingerprints and rise up—
I’m running out of time, as you grow cold,
As all your limbs being to seize up—
I freeze up, please, just—

(spotlight rises on Alexander, to Maria’s right.)

[ALEXANDER]
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

Aaron, Aaron, please just—

[MARIA]
He chose his own time.
We’ll see him on the other side.

[MARIA, JAMES, AND ALEXANDER]
Raise a glass to freedom...

[COMPANY]
The doctor says that he has died!

[ALEXANDER]
Wait!

(the trial scene is cleared from the stage as James sings his next lines:)

[JAMES]
It's done before it can begin.
The whole courtroom is quickly ushered away.
They clear his body from the floor.
I get a drink.

[ALEXANDER]
Night by night I cannot sleep.

[MARIA]
I keep my promise, I just hide.

[JAMES AND DOLLEY]
We wonder if he ever realized 
We weren't by his side when he died.

[JAMES]
Death doesn’t discriminate
Between the sinners and the saints,
It takes and it takes and it takes.
History obliterates
In every picture it paints
It paints him with all our mistakes.

When dearest Aaron made his sacrifice,
Our nation may have henceforth survived;
I wonder what we'll pay for it?
We survived, but we'll pay for it.

[MARIA]
Who'll be the villain in our history?
Of all the futures he could see--
I should have known, 
I should have known the world was cruel enough
To rip Aaron Burr from me.

[MARIA, JAMES, AND ALEXANDER]
The world was cruel enough
To rip Aaron Burr from me.

2. Aaron Burr.  

This is, of course, the Alexander Hamilton number of the show. Historical background needs to be introduced, as who walks into this sort of musical knowing everything about the period, certainly not all first-time listeners. In the hopes of this being timely, I did not manage to re-write the entire song, but I’ve done bits and snippets so you get an idea of what it might sound like. As Aaron here is already dead, it serves just as much to introduce the characters introducing Aaron than it does to introduce the man himself. Everyone's first paragraph (sans Maria's) is about how they first met Aaron.

[MARIA MATTHEW]
How does a master lawyer, famed politician and
martyr, …
….abandoned by the public,
Prevent the collapse of our Republic?

[JAMES MADISON]
Our young star, Burr,
Followed the footsteps of his father,
Got a lot farther by working a lot harder
By being a lot smarter
By being a self-starter
By sixteen, he’d graduated Princeton’s foremost scholar

Also much like how in Hamilton, the order that the actors sing the narration part is the same order that we are introduced to the characters, the next verse is sung by Alexander, Eliza’s “When he was ten his father split” goes to Dolley (so yay, same actress!), I also really like the whispered line of And Alex got better, but his mother went quick going to Madison went better, but the trial went quick.

Other snipers that I have in my head are:

When America sings for you
Will they honor or curse your name?
Will they know you rewrote the game?
The world will never be the same, oh—

As well as:

[ALEXANDER]
Me? I fought with him.

[JAMES]
Me? I’d guide his plans.

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
Me? I trusted him

[JAMES & DOLLEY & ALEXANDER &ELIZA & MARIA]
We all loved him.

[MARIA]
But I — made sure no one forgot him. 

Chapter Text

21. No John Trumbull

[MARIA]
You ever see a painting by John Trumbull?
Founding fathers in a line, looking all humble
Patiently waiting to sign a declaration, to start a nation
No sign of disagreement, not one grumble
The reality is messier and richer, kids
The reality is not a pretty picture, kids
The courtroom battle that nearly caused us to crumble—
What you 'bout to see is no John Trumbull

22. Courtroom Battle #1

if you’ve ever seen clips of Cabinet Battle #1, (there are a number of clips in the PBS Hamilton documentary from it?), this is staged exactly like it. chairs in a semi-circle at the front of the stage with ensemble members sitting in them, Jefferson and Hamilton with microphones.

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
Ladies and gentlemen,
you could’ve been anywhere in the world tonight,
but you’re here with us in our capital city.
Are you ready for an impeachment trial?

The issue on the table:
President Jefferson’s accusations leading to Aaron Burr’s death,
and if his actions were severe enough to warrant impeachment.
President 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

Oww
But Hamilton forgets
I was the candidate our citizens chose to elect.
Place your bets as to who impeachment benefits:
The very failing party with which Hamilton sits.

[HAMILTON]
Not true!

[JEFFERSON]
Ooh, if the shoe fits, wear it
The prosecuting lawyer suddenly cares for “dearest Aaron”?
Uuuh, you’re motive’s made, I’m afraid.
You calling for this trial ain’t even a game well played.

Aaron Burr was a traitor, as you found.
And now you want to try to flip that verdict around?
This accusation is an outrageous inculpation,
And it’s an insult to the foundation of our very own nation.

Stand with me, in the land of the free,
And pray to God we never see Hamilton’s candidacy.
When Aaron Burr rebelled, we found him guilty.
Imagine what gon’ happen when I paint you just as filthy.

[JUSTICA MARSHALL]
Thank you, President Jefferson. Mr. Hamilton, your response?

[HAMILTON]
Thomas. That was a real nice declaration
You’re so full of shit I wonder how you run this nation.
You wanna talk treason? ‘Cause I have proof
That you blackmailed Aaron Burr for your own personal use.

And when the public knows how deep this goes—
A new tune is playing, doesn’t matter what you’re saying,
How do you not get it? History will not be edited,
The Union gets the truth. All your crimes will be credited.

A civics lesson from a slaver. Hey neighbor
We know you’re used to using other men’s forced labor.
You think a scapegoat makes you safe?
Yeah, keep dreaming,
The cold hard facts paint you past redeeming.

And another thing, Mr. Age of Enlightenment
Being President doesn’t grant you such entitlement.
You think I’m frightened of you, man?
I almost died in the trench
While you were off getting high with the French

Thomas Jefferson, always hesitant as the President
Reticent—now that his prescient advisor has been jettisoned
I’ve got Madison with all your secrets on a platter, man, you still gonna grin?
Damn, you’re in worse shape than Aaron Burr ever has been.

Sittin’ there useless, you lying shit
Hey, turn around, bend over, I’ll show you
Where my shoe fits

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
Excuse me?! Hamilton, take a walk! Jefferson, take a walk. We’ll reconvene after a brief recess. Hamilton!

[HAMILTON]
Sir!

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
A word.

[JEFFERSON]
You don’t have the votes
You don’t have the votes
Aha-ha-ha ha!
You’re gonna need congressional approval and you don’t have the votes
Such a blunder sometimes it makes me wonder why I even bring the thunder.

a spotlight rises on Madison across the stage:

[JAMES]
Your arrogance will pull you under.

both leave the stage, and spotlight centers on Marshall and Hamilton

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
You wanna pull yourself together?

[HAMILTON]
I’m sorry if his hypocrisy is ruffling my feathers.

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
Young man, you want to win this? Then I suggest you calm down.

[HAMILTON]
So we just let Jefferson jerk Congress around?

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
You need the votes.

[HAMILTON]
No, we need bold strokes. We need him behind bars!

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
Then you need to convince more folks.

[HAMILTON]
Well, Madison is backing me, that’s a nice starter.

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
Big talk is easy, young man. Winning is harder.

[HAMILTON]
I’ve got the evidence!

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
Half of them are compromised.

[HAMILTON]
Well, then, they’re traitors too!

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
Accusing them is really not wise.

[HAMILTON]
What happens if I don’t get congressional approval?

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
I imagine they’ll call for your removal.

[HAMILTON]
Sir—

[JUSTICE MARSHALL]
Figure it out, Alexander.
Preferably before you’re dismissed for slander.

23. Aaron Burr Left Everyone A Letter, In Case James Was Salty Enough To Do This (by Panic! At The Disco)

Spoiler alert: James is salty enough.

24. The Parisian Affair

Which is co-narrated by Alexander, Madison, Jefferson, and Lafayette all telling slightly different versions of it while poor Burr is stuck acting out everything on stage, this is definitely the Room Where It Happened number of the show.

Ends with a bit of a segue of “court is adjourned for the day.”

25. Say No To This

This is almost identical to our version of Hamilton’s Say No To This; the only real change is in the first verse, which Maria gives instead of Burr.

[MARIA]
1791.
There’s nothing like summer in the city
Something to remind us that our hist’ry isn’t pretty.
There’s trouble in the air, you can smell it,
And Alexander Hamilton insists that he should 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 a compromise,
Missing my wife
That’s when Miss Maria Reynolds walked into my life, she said:

[MARIA]
looking almost annoyed to be parroting this:
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]
practically rolling her eyes:
You’re too kind, sir

[HAMILTON]
I gave her thirty bucks that I had socked away
She lived a block away, she said:

[MARIA]
This one’s mine, sir

[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 helpless
And 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!

[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 letter
From a Mr. James Reynolds, even better, it said:

[REYNOLDS]
Dear Sir, I hope this letter finds you in good health
And in a prosperous enough position to put wealth
In the pockets of people like me: down on their luck
You see, that was my wife who you decided to

[HAMILTON]
Fuuuu—

[REYNOLDS]
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]
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—

[HAMILTON]
I am helpless—how could I do this?

[MARIA]
Just give him what he wants and you can have me—

[HAMILTON]
I don’t want you—

[MARIA]
Whatever you want,

[HAMILTON]
I don’t want you

[MARIA]
If you pay
You can stay!

[HAMILTON]
Lord, show me how to
Say no to this
I don’t know how to
Say no to this
Cuz the situation’s helpless

And her body’s screaming, “Hell, yes”

No, show me how to
Say no to this
How can I
Say no to this?
There is nowhere I can go

When her body’s on mine I do not say…

Say no to this…
I don’t say no to this
There is nowhere I can go.

[ENSEMBLE]
Go go go...

[REYNOLDS]
So?

[HAMILTON]
Nobody needs to know.

27. Courtroom Battle #2

They all go at it again, Jefferson claims that a lot of stuff from last time was hearsay, it ends with a bit of a standoff. Ends with Hamilton introducing Sarah Bache.

28. The Bache Testimony

Sarah presents the letters that her father left her and completely and utterly shoots down any attempts that the defense makes to derail her, it is brutal, way to go Sarah you’re the best. They adjourn for the day, and Jefferson leaves the courtroom still pretty upset.

29. What He Knows

[HAMILTON]
Mr. President.
What is this?

[JEFFERSON]
I have the check stubs. From separate accounts…
Almost a thousand dollars, paid in different amounts…
To a Mr. James Reynolds way back in
1791.

[HAMILTON]
Is that what you have? Are you done?

[JEFFERSON]
You were uniquely situated by virtue of your position—
Though ‘virtue’ is not a word I’d apply to this situation—
To seek financial gain, to stray from your sacred mission—
And the evidence suggests you’ve engaged in speculation!

An immigrant embezzling our government funds.
I told you I’d paint you dirty, your career is done.
I hope you saved some money for your daughter and sons,
Ya best g'wan run back where ya come from!

[HAMILTON]
Ha! You don’t even know what you’re asking me to confess.

[JEFFERSON]
Confess!

[HAMILTON]
You have nothing. I don’t have to tell you anything at all,
I possess—

[JEFFERSON]
Possess?

[HAMILTON]
Yeah, I have proof that I never broke the law,
If you take this to the press, you’re the one who’ll fall—

[MARIA]
No one else was in the room where it happened.

[JEFFERSON]
Then I wish you the best.

He walks out.

[HAMILTON]
(Reaches into his desk and takes out a letter.)
“Dear Sir, I hope this letter finds you in good health
And in a prosperous enough position to put wealth
In the pockets of people like me: down on their luck
You see, it was my wife who you decided to—”

Hamilton takes a quill out and starts desperately writing on a sheet of paper.

She courted me
Escorted me to bed and when she had me in a corner
That’s when Reynolds extorted me
For a sordid fee
I paid him quarterly
I may have mortally wounded my prospects
But my papers are orderly!
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?

He looks around and realizes that there is no one else in the room, and shudders as the music fades, then puts both Reynolds’ letter and his own draft of the pamphlet back into his desk. The light fades from the desk as he walks in a circle around the stage; the turntable moves and he passes a lamp such to give the illusion that he’s walking and time is passing. A member of the ensemble walks past him holding a newspaper and there is a clear moment where the ensemble member eyes him head to toe. Hamilton snatches the paper, speed-reads it, then throws it to the ground and storms home the rest of the way. 

30. Let It Go

So this came from the 2014 version of the musical, it was a song that was cut. I made a very slapped-together a cappella version of it so that you can tell what parts are singing vs speaking, it starts at the “What in the hell was that” a few lines in. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9FZw0gRm_iFSDVUNGUxNk1sb1k/view?usp=sharing

[ELIZA]
Are you coming to dinner?

[ALEXANDER]
I need to finish writing this.

[ELIZA]
Pulling the paper from him, holding it up beyond his reach.
You haven’t left this room all night. Just—

[ALEXANDER]
Stands and snatches the paper back.
No!
What in the hell was that?
What in the hell are you trying to do?
Don't you know that Jefferson’s been spreading slander right and left
To humiliate me and to cement his coup?
I will not let our family be embarrassed like this
I'll grab a pen and paper, let the whole world know
You swing at my family you better not miss
You better have another punch to throw—

[ELIZA]
You could let it go,
Stay alive for me.
Let it go,
Live to fight another day.
People will always be critical,
They'll make the personal political,
They'll try to knock you off your pedestal, your pinnacle;
Let other people be cynical,
Let it go.
You're smiling because you know I'm right.

[ALEXANDER]
Ha!

[ELIZA]
And you know if that if Aaron were here he would say the same thing.

[ALEXANDER]
Well Aaron’s not here, that’s the whole—

[ELIZA]
Would you listen to me for a minute?
You didn't kill him did you?

[ALEXANDER]
I might as well have.

[ELIZA]
Let it go,
Stay alive for me.
Let it go,
Let it slide right by.
You don't have to bring a gun to a knife fight
It's not a case of your money or your life, right?
You know you really oughta listen to your wife, right?

[ALEXANDER]
I know.

[ELIZA]
So let it go.

[ALEXANDER]
I can’t.

Eliza—I don’t know how to say this.
The rumors are true,
I betrayed our whole family,
I betrayed you.

[ELIZA]
What?

Alexander hands her back the paper he was working on, and she starts reading it.

[ALEXANDER]
So now you know
That Philip died
Protecting the honor
Of a father who lied.

If I can do one thing right,
If I can fix only this,
Atone for another death,
The bullet that should have hit me missed—

[ELIZA]
You could let it go,
Stay alive for me.

[ALEXANDER]
How could you say that?

[ELIZA]
Let it go,
Don’t my feelings matter too?

[ALEXANDER]
Of course they do, but—

[ELIZA]
Alexander, I’ve spent years watching you suffering,
You want forgiveness, then you’ll take what I am offering,
In sickness and in health you swore upon this ring,
Well I’m not watching you destroy us anymore—
You can let it go.

[ALEXANDER]
So what would you have me do?

[ELIZA]
Be a part of this family again. Talk to me.

[ALEXANDER]
Starting with?

[ELIZA]
Why you feel the need to bring a decade-old affair back into the minds of the public.

[ALEXANDER]
I thought I could clear our name.

[ELIZA]
You thought wrong.

[ALEXANDER]
Maybe you’re right.

[ELIZA]
Of course I’m right.

Look around, look around at how
Lucky we are to be alive right now.
If somebody tries to lay you low
Let it go.

Now are you coming?

[ALEXANDER]
What?

[ELIZA]
To dinner.

[ALEXANDER]
I suppose.

Eliza glares.

I mean. Of course. I’ll—I’ll come every night.

[ELIZA]
You owe the children ten years of summers upstate at my father’s.

[ALEXANDER]
You drive a hard bargain.

[ELIZA]
Do you really have a leg to stand on?

[ALEXANDER]
No.

[ELIZA]
Then you can let it go. 

31. Madison On Your Side

Jefferson is towards the front left of the stage, and the back right is dark with a single spotlight on Burr, who is pretty much haunting him. The staging and the lights are set up to portray that this song reflects Jefferson’s paranoia just as much if not more than the actual state of things.

[JEFFERSON]
It must be nice, it must be nice to have
Madison on your side
It must be nice, it must be nice to have
Madison on your side

Ev’ry action has its equal, opposite reactions
Thanks to Hamilton, our Senate’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 own democracy, he threatens just so he can cash in.
In fact this trial could just be a planned distraction!
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
I can’t believe that he got Madison inside his pocket.

[JEFFERSON AND BURR]
It must be nice, it must be nice to have
Madison on your side
It must be nice, it must be nice to have
Madison on your side

[JEFFERSON]
Aaron Burr is dead and gone.
They all took it in stride.
So what’s the price, so what’s the price?
To have Madison on your side.

[BURR]
You have doubled the size of your government,
Wasn’t the trouble with much of our previous government size?
Can you meet his eyes?
With all your lies?

You did it for your private enterprise.
Stamping your paranoia
And purging the unloyal—

You think he’d aid and abetted it?

[JEFFERSON]
I can’t just resign!
Somebody has to stand up for the truth!

[BURR]
(aside to the audience)
Somebody tell him, “That someone ain’t you.”

[JEFFERSON]
If there’s a fire you’re trying to douse
Sometimes you have to forgo one House

I run the Senate, and they are complicit in
Everything Hamilton’s attack is considering,
If the public is going to listen
to unlicensed dissidents, we’ll split the difference:
our country is out!

[BURR]
This future is the one that you chose!
You thought you could control what everyone knows?
It’s time to face what you are up against:

[BURR/HAMILTON/MADISON]
Your old confederates are back to seek revenge!

[BURR]
So follow this trial and see where it goes!

[ENSEMBLE]
Oh!

[BURR]
Because every second civil outrage grows.

[ENSEMBLE]
Oh!

[BURR]
If you follow the threads, to see where it leads
Get in the weeds, look for the seeds of
your own misdeeds—

[JEFFERSON]
It must be nice. It must be nice—

[BURR]
You set the precedent, see where it goes.

[JEFFERSON]
It must be nice. It must be nice—

[BURR]
The emperor has no clothes.
I won’t be invisible. I won’t be denied.

[JEFFERSON]
(turning away from Burr, ignoring him.)
Still
It must be nice, it must be nice to have
Madison on your side. 

He exists the stage, and the light rises on the other side, to James sitting at a desk. Dolley walks in.

32. Just This Time

[JAMES]
My dearest wife, you wanted to see me?

[DOLLEY]
I know you’re busy.

[JAMES]
Never for you. What do you need, love?

[DOLLEY]
I want to give you a word of warning.

[JAMES]
Dear, I don’t know what you heard
But whatever it is, we can weather it.

[DOLLEY]
It’s not Jefferson, it’s you—and your mourning.

[JAMES]
My what?

[DOLLEY]
Do me a favor.

[JAMES]
Has there been something in my behavior?

[DOLLEY]
Shh. Talk less.

[JAMES]
If I’ve caused you distress—
Whatever I can do for you for you, you know I need to see this through—

[DOLLEY]
Perhaps just admit it’s a mess.

[JAMES]
Yes! Aaron’s dead, but we can clear his name—

[DOLLEY]
No,
You’re stepping up because you think this is how you’ll repent.

[JAMES]
I’m not sure what you’re saying.

[DOLLEY]
Aaron’s gone, only *you* think that you must repent.

[JAMES]
I’m sorry, what?

[DOLLEY]
Just this time
I wish you would talk with me.
Just this time,
I’d say to let this go.
You have to learn one day to say goodbye,
To say goodbye.
Just you and I—

[JAMES]
Dolley, why?

[DOLLEY]
I want to talk about your waning health.

[JAMES]
Dear, this time of year it always acts up, if you’d give it time—

[DOLLEY]
This was a battle you weren’t meant to be fighting.

[JAMES]
But—

[DOLLEY]
It’s Hamilton’s war he’s inciting.
And if you talk about what Burr deserved,
This is the future that he spurned!

[JAMES]
As far as the people are concerned,
They need the truth! And we could give them the truth!

[DOLLEY]
No!
Just this time,
You’re going to hear me.
Just this time,
You’re going to let this go.
You need to get this right,
Let me teach you how to say goodby—
You and I.

[JAMES]
I owe Aaron Jefferson’s defeat.

[DOLLEY]
No, he is dead and gone.

[JAMES]
This situation is so unique.

[DOLLEY]
It’s been years, now you must move along.

[JAMES]
How could you ask to say goodbye?

[DOLLEY]
If we say goodbye, our family gets to live on.
You’ll come back to me, our son, and our home.

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 want to sit under my own vine and fig tree
A moment alone in the shade
No more battles or blood to be paid.
Just this time.

[JAMES]
Just this time.

(spoken)

In reviewing the incidents of this trial, and its subsequent effects on myself and my family, I regret to inform you that I will be withdrawing my public and private support for your position and retiring to Montpelier for the foreseeable future.

I leave you with all previous evidence that I have donated to your cause, and the hope that you might find peace doing what you will with it. I can no longer engage in such activities that Aaron Burr would have aggressively disapproved of, under the guise of clearing his name, as a poorly disguised attempt at achieving redemption. I would rather accept what I have done that contributed to his death, and respect the requests he left us with.

(Dolley joins him, singing to echo his spoken words.)

I anticipate with little hesitation that the retreat to which I have promised myself shall be no simple undertaking, yet for the sake of my fellow citizens and those dearest to me, I will no longer challenge our free government because of the torment buried within my own heart. I trust that Aaron Burr knew more than I gauge the worth of our despair, of the labors and dangers inescapable in the creation of a new nation.

[ENSEMBLE]
James Madison’s going home!

[JAMES]
Teach me how to say goodbye

[DOLLEY]
You and I

[BURR]
History has its eyes on you.

(and, with the typical ensemble backing throughout,)

[DOLLEY]
Let me teach you how to
Say goodbye!
Teach you how to say goodbye!
To say goodbye!

Just this time!

33. In Which Madison Tells Hamilton He’s Out.

Probably to the tune of Schuyler Defeated. Hamilton’s like “WTF but I was ready to take down Congress too!!!!”

34. In Which Hamilton Goes And Bugs Maria For The Documents That Will Implicate The Rest Of Congress

He unfortunately does this by trying to flirt a bit and she goes “FUCK YOU.”

35. Satisfied

[MARIA]
Go ahead, storm out!
That's what I'm talking about!
Alexander Hamilton,
a man of such honor.

You’d dare to assume—
No, I have pride!
You think your mistress
Would really take your side?

Your delusion—
You left me by the wayside.
I’m not so easily
Satisfied.

—REWIND—

Flashing lights, turntables turn, and it ends with the set looking a bit like an office with Burr sitting at the single desk.

I remember that night, I just might
Regret that night for the rest of my days
I remember my husband’s bruises,
I walked into your law office in a daze.
I remember the scene, cut so clean, memories
Like a dream that you can’t quite place
But dearest Aaron, I’ll never forget the first
Time I saw your face

I have never been the same
You looked in my eyes, and you saw through my pain,
Said you’d take my case, you had nothing to gain,
But you knew my name, knew before I came—

[FULL COMPANY]
This is not a game.

[AARON]
(walks around the desk so that he’s standing in front of her)
You strike me as a woman who has never been treated right.

[MARIA]
I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. You forget yourself.

[AARON]
You’re like me. Victory is a losing fight.

[MARIA]
Is that right?

[AARON]
Have you ever been satisfied?

[MARIA]
My name is Maria Reynolds.

[AARON]
And you know I’m Aaron Burr.

[MARIA]
(stepping into Burr's personal space)
I came to beg your service, sir.

[AARON]
Don’t mind payment, please consider it already done.
You needn’t wait, needn’t wait.

[MARIA]
And I know—
That this is what it feels like to deal with
Someone who wants something, what the hell is the catch, it’s—
The pretense of freedom, he’s using my plight,
He’ll come to me in the cover of night, you see it, right?

The conversation lasted two minutes, maybe three minutes
Ev’rything he said seemed perfectly inn’cent, it’s
A dream and it’s a bit of a dance
A bit of a posture, it’s a bit of a stance. He’s not
Quite a good flirt, but I’m ‘a give it a chance.
I asked him what he wanted, did you see his answer?
His hands started fidgeting, he looked askance.
He’s using me, he’s flying by the seat of his pants

Desperate, and boy does he know it,
Awkward, though he tries not to show it.
I wanna run off, far away from this place
Then I turn and see my daughter’s face and she is…

[SUSAN]
Helpless…

[MARIA]
And I know she is…

[SUSAN]
Helpless…

[MARIA]
And her eyes are just…

[SUSAN]
Helpless…

[MARIA]
And I realize

[MARIA AND COMPANY]
Three fundamental truths as precious time slips by—

[MARIA]
What would you ask of me?

[AARON]
I would trust you with my life.

[MARIA]
Then by all means, continue on.

[COMPANY]
Number one!

[MARIA]
I’m a girl in a world in which
I’d only thrive if I’d married rich,
I’m at the mercy of men,
Who use me and then,
Leave me destitute, in a ditch

As I grow older, I lose my comeliness
And the winter in the City is
Deadlier than this—
Me and my daughter, we’re penniless,
There is nothing I can say but yes

(spoken)
It’s a pleasure to help you, just tell me what to do.

[AARON]
I have some documents that I’d like you to hold for me. I can pay you monthly sums to make sure they’re kept safe and not found.

[COMPANY]
Number two!

[MARIA]
As the months went on, he kept his bargain better
Than he had ever pledged and I’d
Have to be naive to not wonder why,
He took me aside,
Trusted me with his secrets,
Stood terrified—
Let me pass my own judgement,
He was right,
Though I thought I was satisfied.

[AARON]
I’m very sorry that I dragged you into this mess.

[MARIA]
I’m happy to help you.

[AARON]
History might not thank you for what you do for me.

[MARIA]
But I’ll still do it.

[COMPANY]
Number three!

[MARIA]
Now I know Aaron like I know my own mind,
You will never find anyone as clever or as kind
If he knew one more person loved him,
He’d be silently resigned,
He’d be mine—
For a time—
He would say, “I’m fine”

[MARIA AND COMPANY]
He’d be lying

[MARIA]
But when I fantasize at night
It’s Aaron by my side
As I romanticize what might
Have been if his sacrifice
Hadn’t come so quickly.
At least he could rely in his life
On what I now provide, through this strife.

So please, just assume—
No, it’s implied
That in hist’ry
I’ll be left by the wayside

The delusion—
That I’d matter your mind
That I ought to
Be satisfied.

And I know
He was ready when he died,
And I know
He will never be satisfied,
I will never be satisfied.

36. Hurricane.

Hamilton is back on stage. Same setup as our real-world version of Hurricane. (Also, these are basically the same lyrics, the only change is “this is the only way I can protect my legacy” —> “this is the only way I can protect his legacy.”)

[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 a
Ship 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

[BURR]
Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it…

[HAMILTON]
I’ll write my way out…

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

[HAMILTON]
Write ev’rything down, far as I can see…

[MARSHALL/ ELIZA/ DOLLEY/ MARIA]
History has its eyes on you

[HAMILTON]
I’ll write my way out…
Overwhelm them with honesty.
This is the eye of the hurricane, this is the only
Way I can protect his legacy…

[COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON)]
(swiftly moving off stage, leaving Hamilton alone in center stage)
Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, wait…

[HAMILTON]
(panting as the music fades completely)
I need Madison…

37. Our Shot (Reprise)

Hamilton tries to convince Madison, Madison leaves him with an “I’ll think about it.” This one is a lot less upbeat than the first version of “Our Shot,” and is designed all around the “I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory” section. Hamilton’s stopped pretending this is about justice and is ready to fully admit that it’s about revenge. Hamilton makes it very clear—I don’t need you, just give me what he left you and I’ll burn it all down. You may have given up, but I am not throwing away my shot at this.

38. Burn

Hamilton leaves, and James transitions to sitting on a bench, holding the same letters that Eliza usually has. Same lights and staging as our Burn.

[JAMES]
I saved every letter you wrote me,
To live up to your vision
to trust me with time,
You’d trust me with time,
You gave me your time.

Did you know that I’d stand here one day?
Did you plan this when you were alive?
I know—you were ready to leave me but
Were you really so ready to die?

You left your words,
You left me everything—
Your sentences leave me defenseless,
You dreamed a future
More than what I could dream,
Dreamed for our people—

I’m re-reading the letters you wrote me
I’m searching and scanning for answers
In every line
For some kind of sign
If this is the time—
I’d let the world
Burn
Burn

I’ve hoarded the letters you wrote me,
I’ve robbed the whole world of your visions
you left in your stead;
Now in clearing your name,
have I ruined your life?

All I know is I promised that day—
When you refused to run, you said
That our nation was delicate,
And that I must protect what we’ve done,

You and your words,
Obsessed with their legacy,
Your loyalty borders on senseless,
Why would you give it all—
For a nation—
That would betray you—
You, you, you—

I’m removing myself from this narrative,
The future bestowed on these people,
and the hopes that you drafted
Were yours from the start
And they tore it all apart,
No, I’ll watch them burn—
Burn,

The world has no right to your heart,
The world has no claim to your head,
Let Hamilton write what you said,
I’m keeping the memories,
Keeping these letters
That might have redeemed them—
They forfeit all rights to your life,
They forfeit the visions you left,
They forfeit what I won’t divest,
And I’ll keep your memories,
Now your dream is mine—

I hope that they
Burn.

39. The Jefferson Pamphlet

All the papers about the trial and proving the false testimonies that Senators and Representatives were ready to give and just a bunch of other incriminating documents from Burr all get released. I’ve written bits and pieces of what it might look like down for you:

[FULL COMPANY]
The Jefferson Pamphlet

[ALEXANDER/JAMES/MARSHALL]
Have you read this?

[ALEXANDER/JAMES]
Pres’dent Thomas Jefferson had a torrid affair,
And the proof of it is right there!

[ALEXANDER]
Highlights!

[ALEXANDER/JEFFERSON]
The charge against Burr
is the foreknowledge of the future
withheld from our own government.

The real crime was a
long-running con carried out by
our own President and a portion of Congress
for a considerable time,
and in public contempt.

[ENSEMBLE]
Damn!

and, of course:

[JEFFERSON]
Madison, I thought you were
Someone who understands what I’m
Struggling here to do

[JAMES]
I’m not here for you

[ENSEMBLE]
Oooooh!

[JAMES]
I knew dear Aaron like I know my own mind,
You could never find anyone as selfless or as kind.
Aaron gave us everything and more with his life—
I will choose his mem’ry over mine every time!

Put what we had aside
I’m standing at his side
You could never be satisfied
God, I hope you’re satisfied.

and Jefferson is indeed never gonna stay President now.

40. Best of Wives and Best of Women

[ELIZA]
Alexander, come back to sleep.

[HAMILTON]
Did I just run our nation aground?

[ELIZA]
The sun still will rise.

[HAMILTON]
I know. It rises even though he’s not around.

[ELIZA]
Why do you grieve, every second of your time?

[HAMILTON]
Shhh

[ELIZA]
They’d want you to live. You have done enough.

[HAMILTON]
What will last when I am likewise gone?

[ELIZA]
Come back to sleep.

[HAMILTON]
I’d rather watch the dawn.

[ELIZA]
Then move over, let me take a seat.

[HAMILTON]
Hey. Best of wives and best of women.

(and I can't resist leaving a note here that would be like a Genius Annotation or whatever--the line "I know. It rises even though he’s not around" can refer to either Philip or Burr and is specifically left ambiguous. That's why Eliza uses "They'd want you to live" in her next line.)

41. The Conclusion of the Trial

Jefferson and everyone who helped him are found guilty and impeached. It’s very dramatic. There’s a lot of worry about whether or not the nation will survive that various characters, including Maria, express. Burr watches from above, silent.

42. Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

[AARON]
Let me tell you what I wish I’d known
When my life stretched out before me.
You have no control:

[AARON AND COMPANY]
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story.

[MARIA]
President Jefferson:

[JEFFERSON]
I’ll give him this, his legacy was a work of genius.
I couldn’t undo it if I tried. God, I tried.

[COMPANY]
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story.

[MARIA]
Dolley Payne Todd Madison:

[DOLLEY]
He took our country beyond what it could have been.
He could never get enough credit
for the future he gave us.

[COMPANY]
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story.

[MARIA AND ELIZA]
Every other founding father’s story unfolds,
Every other founding father gets to grow old.

[DOLLEY]
But when you’re gone, who remembers your name?
Who keeps your flame?

[COMPANY]
Who tells you story—
Who tells your story?

[WOMEN]
But Jemmy—

[JAMES]
I put myself back in the narrative.

[WOMEN]
Dear Jemmy

[JAMES]
I stop wasting time on fears,
I live another thirty years,
It’s not enough.

[COMPANY]
And Jemmy—

[JAMES]
I rally ev’ry politician who stood by your side

[ALEXANDER, MARSHALL, AND MALE COMPANY]
We heed your stories.

[JAMES]
I try to make sense of your hundreds of pages of writings,
Glean any insight, of what awaits us in—

[JAMES AND COMPANY]
Time

[JAMES]
I rely on—

[JAMES, DOLLEY, ELIZA, AND ALEXANDER]
The Hamiltons

[JAMES]
While we’re alive—

[JAMES, DOLLEY, ELIZA, AND ALEXANDER]
We tell your story

[DOLLEY]
They protected your letters

[JAMES, DOLLEY, ELIZA, AND ALEXANDER]
For you

[JAMES]
When you needed them most, they were right on—

[JAMES, DOLLEY, ELIZA, ALEXANDER, AND COMPANY]
Time

[JAMES]
And I’m still not through
I know what you promised to do if you had more—

[JAMES AND COMPANY]
Time

[JAMES]
The Lord, in his kindness
He gives us what you always wanted,
He gives us more—

[JAMES AND COMPANY]
Time

[JAMES]
I campaign in D.C. for your full exculpation

[ALEXANDER]
He tells your story

[JAMES]
I speak out against slavery
You could have done so much more if you only had—

[JAMES AND COMPANY]
Time

[JAMES]
And when my time is up, have I done enough?

[JAMES]                                          [COMPANY]
Will they tell our story?             Will they tell your story?

[JAMES]
Oh. Can I show you what I’m proudest of?

[COMPANY]
Our nation lives.

[JAMES]
I’m elected the fifth lawful President of our new nation.

[COMPANY]
Our nation lives.

[JAMES]
I help see hundreds of bills passed,
I see our dreams becoming law.

[COMPANY]
Our nation lives.

[JAMES]
Every day, my hope grows, dearest Aaron,
I wonder every—

[JAMES AND COMPANY]
Time

[JAMES]
That when my time is up
Have I done enough?

[JAMES, DOLLEY, ALEXANDER, ELIZA, AND MARIA]
(stepping forward into a line across the front of the stage, James in the center)
Will they tell our story? 

[JAMES]
Oh, I can’t wait to see you again
It’s only a matter of—

[JAMES AND COMPANY]
Time.

Chapter Text

So yeah, that’s the musical!

Much like our timeline and the second timeline, it’s wildly popular. There are some really great things too: even moreso than our Hamilton and women and the question of whether or not it is a "feminist" musical what with Eliza preserving Hamilton’s legacy, the Eliza-Angelica-Hamilton love triangle never really being a love triangle and being all about Angelica loving her sister, and LMM saying that Angelica was the smartest person in the show, and Eliza (at least how Philip Soo played her) absolutely commanding the stage both with her presence and with the Burn/It’s Quiet Uptown/Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story defining the overarching narrative, Burr: An American Musical legit features women in the most important roles right up there beside the men. It’s Maria who’s narrating the whole show. Dolley plays a huge part in advising Madison politically. Eliza’s role is still reasonably large in terms of calling Alexander on his shit, but she does that successfully and is in no way a victim, Sarah Bache gives one of the most important testimonies, like. The women aren’t in this show only for romantic and familial storylines, they’re right in the heart of the politics. Portraying women as the people who flat-out shaped the most important event in defining what American was post-Revolution and Constitution from direct action to the amount that the men in the musical depend on the women before structuring their actions makes Burr an actively feminist narrative.

The highlighting of Maria Reynolds—okay, Maria Lewis Reynolds Clingman Matthew, she’s so much more than Maria Reynolds and she isn’t known for the affair at all in this timeline, and the telling of her story throughout all of this is one of the newest things from this musical in regards to how people viewed the historical events of the trial before and after said musical came out. Maria is usually completely lost to history, a note on the bottom of the page of “Maria Matthew preserved Aaron Burr’s documents before she passed them onto James Madison” and she’s otherwise completely ignored. Like, she’s a cool character in fictional stories/novelizations/TV shows about the period, but also is sidelined most of the time, she exists completely in the background, it really sucks. So this musical is absolutely huge in reviving interest in Maria Matthew and her entire life story (there’s an outline of her entire life story irl post-Reynolds at the bottom of this page, because also irl Maria doesn't get enough credit and was so badass). There is an immense and inevitable amount of shipping her and Burr, especially because of the emphasis that the musical kind of puts on her leaving her husband just so she could stay in the US near Burr and songs like Satisfied, but hey, you can’t have everything. (To be fair there’s an immense amount of shipping of everyone with Burr) (This whole musical is kind of five different people all going “we’re so hung up over Aaron Burr and it’s either destroying us or our families and this is us trying to get revenge and clear his name”) (So there’s plenty of textual backing to ship kind of anyone with Burr) (Maria x Dolley also for some reason becomes an instant fave)

There’s an immense amount of heated debate about whether or not Madison is an unforgivably problematic historical figure (and, depending on whether or not you believe any of the other characters in this musical read all of Burr’s predictions that he left behind), beyond just the Hamilton problem of “these were all either slave owners, families who directly made their fortunes from the slave trade, or people who benefitted from the status quo”, because Aaron Burr wrote extensive and explicit doomsday predictions about the Civil War. While he didn’t describe any particular battles, he successfully hit all of the events leading up to the Civil War as well as the bloodshed, death, and destruction in the Civil War—some of the imagery he used directly described famous Timothy O'Sullivan war photographs—regardless, despite preserving and publishing all of Aaron Burr’s other predictions post War of 1812, including the seemingly nonsensical ones, Madison & co specifically hid and did not publish Burr’s Civil War predictions. While Madison did speak out against slavery somewhat and slowly free his slaves over the course of ~15 years, there was none of the public pushing for policy and releasing of Burr’s writing that caused women’s suffrage to happen in 1830s. So there are a large number of people under the opinion that Madison or anyone else with access to those documents could have done a lot more, could have ended slavery if they’d pushed for it, and chose not to for self-serving interests. There is another large faction of historians and amateur tumblr historians who argue back that trust in our nation’s stability was so weak post all of the trials and scandals that releasing any sort of knowledge of visions that releasing any of Aaron Burr’s visions about the country tearing itself apart would have undermined everything that Burr was trying so hard to do—to keep the nation together—and that the effect on the public psyche would have been irreparable and the country almost definitely would have split at the very least into the North and South, if not smaller divisions, and Madison was incredibly politically astute and knew this and so did what he could to promote the end of slavery without letting anything slip that could fracture the nation. You can imagine the sort of fights the internet gets into over this, it’s very much not pretty.

Anyways, enough discourse.

One of the most interesting aspects of the musical, as you may have noticed, is the role of Aaron Burr. Despite being the title character, if one studies all of the songs very carefully, he’s characterized slightly differently depending on who’s singing about him. He isn’t one coherent person anymore, he’s a collection of memories, a collection of might-have-beens, a combination of the things that he left behind and what he was to each of these people that cared so much about him, like, Maria’s underlying theme of “we’re preserving you for all of history but at what cost, the more that you’re becoming this mythical figure, the more that we all lose you” is really cemented by LOJ’s absolutely stellar performance, like, there are so many little things, between body language and facial expressions but also inherent in the writing the style of the songs and the different underlying chord progressions depending on whose Burr is onstage that just really highlights this all in and lends to the feeling of utter loss at the end even though the good guys win, like, the trial is successful, the nation lives, they accomplish everything, but he’s still gone, and more than gone, he’s fading because they all go about trying to hold onto him wrong, it’s not until Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story where Madison starts trying to work to accomplish what Aaron wanted to accomplish that it feels like anything that was Aaron is surviving. In a story about moving on, no one does.

So yeah, it’s really, really heartbreaking. Oak wins Best Lead Actor for his portrayal of Madison, it’s great. Everyone cries so much about it.

If you would like to reach the most meta level of all metas, someone asked what it feels more like a memory would look like in this timeline with timeline-3 version of me having heard timeline-3 version of the musical which I just wrote, so if you’re interested, here you go: http://savrenim.tumblr.com/post/158449285416/

HISTORICAL THINGS THAT WERE REAL REGARDING MARIA REYNOLDS
—Maria Reynolds did marry Jacob Clingman shortly after divorcing James Reynolds. From what I’ve found, Clingman was her lover even while she was with Reynolds, and was instrumental in revealing the Reynolds affair in that he saw Hamilton leaving the Reynolds house a few times, and dropping off slips of paper there angrily. Clingman brought this to the attention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Frederick Muhlenberg (who was super cool in and of himself, he was a mild Federalist and the first signer of the Bill of Rights, he was the one who suggested to call the President “Mr. President” instead of John Adams’s “His High Mightiness” or “His Elected Majesty”), after Clingman witnessed Reynolds getting thrown in jail and Hamilton using his influence to get Reynolds released and was certain that Hamilton had been speculating, and Muhlenberg roped James Monroe and Abraham Venable into confronting Hamilton, Monroe thought Jefferson would get a kick out of the letters and sent copies to Jefferson, and the rest is history

—anyways, Clingman had worked with Muhlenberg in his mercantile house in Philadelphia, and Muhlenberg had the opinion that Clingman was a good and honest man, so I’m going to hope that it was a happy marriage

—when the Reynolds affair broke, she and Clingman went to England, where he was an accountant

—she eventually broke up with Clingman (I think around 1802? I couldn’t find an exact date) and came back to Philadelphia, where Aaron Burr helped her out and she adopted the name “Maria Clement”, and worked as a housekeeper and nurse for Dr. Thomas Matthew. She married Matthew in 1807.

—Aaron Burr arranged and paid for schooling for her daughter

—she died in 1832 at age 62

—she gave her memoir to William Duane of the Aurora to publish but he lost it, so blame him that we don’t know more about her

—originally I wrote this note about why I was using the name “Clement” but Maria Reynolds was super cool and you all deserve to know a bunch about her. In this fic she never needed to go to England because the Reynolds affair never became public, but instead broke up with Clingman when he wanted to go because she wanted to stay for Aaron, and skipped straight to the Philly/Clement part of her IRL story

—Maria Reynolds is just really really important okay

—That is your history lesson for the day

The Lancelot Poll Continues:

Voting:
FRENCH: 30.5
ENGLISH: 39
It Is Very Complicated Because There Wasn’t An Obvious Division Between France And England Territory Was Where And Changed When Different People Were Kings And Stuff: 17.5
Britonic: 1
Lindersfarne (which is in Northumberland, Unfortunately in England): 4
Welsh: 1
Magical Fairy*: 36
The Lake (of the Lady of the Lake): 0.5
Agent Sent By The Goddess of Discord: 0.5
Origin and Nationality are Different Things: 5
Dual Citizenship France and England: 1
French Region: 1
Axolotl:1

Latin Pronunciation:
Classical: 1
Medieval: 5
Ecclesiastical Latin: 1

I’m strongly considering calling the Latin poll off because y’all seem to have come to a consensus in the early results

Finally, in regards to life and updates: I’ve got the next chapter of ifmlam almost entirely written, it will hopefully be posted soon? My summer has gone very differently than I thought it would, and I’m dealing with a number of pressures that I didn’t think I’d be dealing with, and writing an updating ifmlam takes an immense amount of time and energy and research that I do not always have, especially with graduate school coming up. My updates will be as fast as possible, but I have no idea how fast that will be. I have no intention of dropping this story, but there are a lot of other things that I am trying to juggle right now.

That being said, I am immensely grateful for what comments are being left, but in the past I have spent almost as much time answering comments as I have spent writing new chapters, and I will no longer be able to do that. I still read and treasure every comment! And if there are any pressing questions or clarifications that you leave in your comments, I will try my best to get to them and answer them. I’m also always happy to try to talk to people on tumblr/answer questions there, time permitting; my blog has changed to http://savrenim.tumblr.com/. But I will no longer be able to respond to everything.

Thank you so much, and I hope to update ifmlam soon!