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Alexander Hamilton My Shot Analysis

Decent Essays

Encompassing an individual’s goals of economic prosperity and upward social mobility regardless of race, class, or any other predetermined factor, the American Dream represents the telos of United States citizenship. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical, Hamilton, perpetuates the notion that hard work allows the ambitious to beat the odds and better themselves along with their country. With a cast comprised of people of color, Manuel reimagines the romanticized American Revolution to inspire a diverse audience to attain the American Dream. However, this pinnacle of success traditionally discriminates against people of minority status. Explained in reference to the songs “Alexander Hamilton” and “My Shot”, the messages of the American Revolution …show more content…

Making a name for oneself, a central theme in American culture, manifests itself in Bread Givers’ Sara Smolinsky, a second-generation Polish immigrant who embarked on a Hamilton-esque adventure in which she achieved the American Dream through her unrelenting persistence to assimilate into the new culture. Her father, while a strict adherent to old-fashioned values, frequently acted as a mouthpiece for the entrepreneurial spirit of American nationalism, spouting, “How do you suppose Rockefeller, or Morgan, or any of those millionaires made their start in America? They all began with empty hands. Their only capital was hope, courage to work out their ideas.” Building upon the beliefs ingrained within her from a young age, Sara sold herring in the street, worked in factories to support her independent lifestyle, received an education, and used her knowledge to escape the burdens of the Old World. While immigrants entered the nation with an optimistic outlook, the virtues of the American Dream often failed to apply to the African …show more content…

John Laurens, both a critic of slavery and character in Hamilton, interjects in “My Shot”, saying, “But we’ll never be truly free/Until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me.” The debate over the freedoms each man would receive under the U.S. Constitution failed to extend to African Americans, who lacked equal status under the law until the 1960s. However, the founding documents served as a tool for civil rights leaders, who utilized messages of the Enlightenment to further their agenda. Vernon E. Jordan Jr. of the National Urban League expressed interest in celebrating America’s 200th anniversary in order to raise awareness of the “uncompleted revolution” for Black Americans. He wrote, “Its ideals had an extraordinary impact on the world of the late 18th Century and their influence has been felt today, both in the inspiration they’ve provided African liberation leaders and to black Americans seeking the fulfillment of 200-year-old policies.” From before the Revolution until the legislation resulting from the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans remained inferior to white people in the eyes of the law. Though, with the support of the Constitution, some within the Black population viewed the bicentennial as a moment to exercise their rights and emphasize the social and economic hurdles that inhibited many of them from

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