A Winter’s Ball

Hamilton has a tendency to talk too much, i.e. “go on and on” with both his mouth and his quill. but Burr uses this line as a playful way to cut off the line above, which began Burr’s whole spiel on “Alexander Hamilton,” before it picks up too much speed. He’s found the most ruthlessly efficient, most dismissive way possible to summarize all that Hamilton’s non-stop lifestyle has accomplished since then.

Burr sees Hamilton as a friend and an opponent. Either way, he cannot deny Hamilton’s success and rise to the top.

“Father” here refers to Washington—the most revered of the Founding Fathers, and a father figure to the characters and audience. Of course, Hamilton has just become Washington’s right hand man. Jefferson uses their father/son relationship to taunt Hamilton later in “Cabinet Battle #2”.

Going further, the exact wording is a reference to Jesus' ascension into heaven and where he took his place with God. Sitting at ‘God’s right hand’ is based on Acts 2:33. The whole line is a reference to the Apostles Creed:

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

So on that level, these words imply that Hamilton is essentially being co-signed by God.

America, and history in general, is littered with works deifying Washington. At one point, there was a veritable trend of (UNIRONIC) paintings depicting Washington ascending into heaven and achieving an apotheosis (literally being deified after death because a mortal has pleased God; see Jesus' mother’s death). There are even paintings of him sitting in heaven and welcoming other American figures during their apotheoses (usually Abraham Lincoln). The most prominent of these depictions, “The Apotheosis of Washington,” is a fresco that graces the domed ceiling of the rotunda in the US Capitol Building.

Hamilton is being set up as the protégé of the God-like, soon-to-be deified, Washington, and thus, Burr’s comment is both a bitterly sarcastic comment about Hamilton’s rising star, and another connection in the show between Hamilton & Burr and Jesus & Judas.

And no doubt Burr is still bitter about that.

In “Right Hand Man”, Burr tried to impress Washington – even with a name-drop of General Montgomery. However, Hamilton’s actions caught Washington’s attention, resulting in his dismissal of Burr. Silly Burr–If you’d only act out like Hamilton does, you’d be noticed by the big guys!

Because of the write/right homophone, this can be interpreted in two ways:

“Hamilton still wants to fight, not write” – Hamilton doesn’t want to keep Washington’s journal, he wants to have a command and lead men in battle. Both because he believes he can do a good job and because he knows it gives him a better chance at upward mobility in his lifetime and a legacy in history.

“Hamilton still wants to fight, not right” – Burr is tisking at Hamilton wanting to throw away this amazing opportunity to influence and work with the most powerful man in the movement, just because he’d rather win glory and martyrdom for himself on a battlefield.

Hamilton served as Washington’s chief secretary. Chernow reports that Washington complained to congress that he had to spend too much time at his desk. Hamilton was able to “think for him”—that is, he drafted letters for Washington in Washington’s voice. Of the surviving field orders from General Washington, most are in Hamilton’s handwriting.

There’s also nice double entendre in that “Hamilton’s skill with a quill” could also refer to his sexual prowess, a subject which is about to become much more prominent in this song. Hamilton’s libido was legen… wait for it… dary, and possibly quite indiscriminate. Many incredibly saucy letters of his survive to the present day, including one from April 1779, where Hamilton, after saying how much he loves Laurens himself, writes:

You will be pleased to recollect in your negotiations that I have no invincible antipathy to the maidenly beauties & that I am willing to take the trouble of them upon myself.

And later:

To excite their emulation, it will be necessary for you to give an account of the lover—his size, make, quality of mind and body, achievements, expectations, fortune, &c. In drawing my picture, you will no doubt be civil to your friend; mind you do justice to the length of my nose and don’t forget, that I ⟨– – – – –⟩.

Note: five words were made illegible in this letter, and remain a mystery. A shame, as surely many historians would have loved to have heard whatever followed Hamilton’s penis euphemism.

As made explicit in the next part of the song (and by his later interactions with women), Hamilton certainly had little trouble finding people to seduce—in many cases via his love letters, bringing his “skill with the quill” full circle.

Burr is trying to set himself up as an equal to Hamilton when it comes to conquests. After all, Hamilton may have been the feral tomcat, but we’ll find out that Burr himself was quite the Burr-d dog.

Even Hamilton described Burr as “voluptuary in the extreme.”

Burr kept letters as trophies from his various sexual conquests – these letters were apparently so scandalous that Burr’s first biographer, Matthew L. Davis, burned them to protect the reputation of the women who wrote them, writing:

Major Burr, while yet at college, had acquired a reputation for gallantry. On this point he was excessively vain, and regardless of all those ties which ought to control an honourable mind. In his intercourse with females he was an unprincipled flatterer, ever prepared to take advantage of their weakness, their credulity, or their confidence. She that confided in him was lost. In referring to this subject, no terms of condemnation would be too strong to apply to Colonel Burr.

In 1861, a semi-pornographic Burr biography entitled The Amorous Intrigues and Adventures of Aaron Burr was published anonymously. If we are to believe this biography (the authority of which is questionable at best), Burr’s “adventures” include:

• Adelaide King, a virgin from Connecticut, who Burr impregnated. She was expelled from her parents' home, and she and the baby died later. Burr apparently said, “But it is I who suffer the crucifixion” (perhaps a prelude to I’m the villain in your history)
• Miss Keating, a widow needing a “pick me up” – who later attempted suicide as a result
• A married woman, then a random woman in a nearby house, who he slept with while escaping the married woman’s husband)
• A nun
• Two women from New Jersey, off and on, at the same time.

Hamilton’s exploits were likewise notorious. Abigail Adams said of Hamilton:

Oh, I have read his heart in his wicked eyes. The very devil is in them. They are lasciviousness itself

Her husband, John, noted that Hamilton had:

a superabundance of secretions which he could not find whores enough to draw off.

A nod to the Beastie Boys' sample of Kurtis Blow’s “Party Time” in “Hey Ladies.”

It should be noted that Laurens, in real life, didn’t actually love the ladies. John’s father noted this disinterest when John was 13. Biographer George Massey writes that he “reserved his primary emotional commitments for other men”.

We all know what Burr has on his mind…

In 1860, an anonymous author actually published a sexually explicit biography of Aaron Burr—The Amorous Adventures of Aaron Burr. The book, though undoubtedly highly fictionalized, details a number of his alleged sexual conquests.

This would be fine if Burr, like Drake, lived in the modern world, where he would be free to please as many ladies as would have him. However, by 18th century standards, there’s a bit more going on here.

When Burr is talking about deflowering, he’s literally talking about taking away a woman’s virginity. While pre-marital sex was not exactly verboten in the 18th century—about one-third of colonial brides were pregnant on their wedding days—a lady was expected to marry the man who got her in the family way. If a woman’s chastity was lost, whether it was through a consensual act or rape, her reputation could be ruined.

As women weren’t easily able to retain property or businesses, most had to rely on their husbands or, more tentatively, their fathers and brothers to provide for her income. Thus, if a young woman lost her reputation and became unable make an advantageous marriage, her whole livelihood could be threatened. The higher the class, the more important it was that a woman’s chastity was preserved, as such a girl would not have been brought up to make any contingency plans for her future.

Basically, Burr and his crew can joke all they want, but for women, the act of courtship was a deadly serious business.

A nod to the Beastie Boys' sample of Kurtis Blow’s “Party Time” in “Hey Ladies.”

It should be noted that Laurens, in real life, didn’t actually love the ladies. John’s father noted this disinterest when John was 13. Biographer George Massey writes that he “reserved his primary emotional commitments for other men”.

This is Burr listing all the reasons that they’re getting all the shine right now.

Hamilton was broke and in rags and now he’s in a military uniform standing next to the future President of the United States. That’s what he’s listing. Like, look at us, we’re at a ball with rich people and we got our military outfits on.

Some delightful ambiguity here:

This might refer to Hamilton and Burr’s ~assets as young, handsome, prominent soldiers in the Revolution. Hamilton in particular had distinguished himself working as George Washington’s right hand man.

However, in “Satisfied,” the beautiful Angelica attributes Hamilton’s attention to her proximity to power. Burr also approached her by making a comment on her perfume/wealth in “The Schuyler Sisters.”

…This seems to imply that absolutely everybody at this party has an ulterior motive for all the flirting going on.

A nod to the Beastie Boys' sample of Kurtis Blow’s “Party Time” in “Hey Ladies.”

It should be noted that Laurens, in real life, didn’t actually love the ladies. John’s father noted this disinterest when John was 13. Biographer George Massey writes that he “reserved his primary emotional commitments for other men”.

MountVernon.org’s got the skinny on this tidbit of weird history:

There is a wonderful story about a cat Martha Washington befriended at Morristown during the Revolution. According to several secondary sources, Mrs. Washington had a male cat at the New Jersey headquarters, which she named “Hamilton,” after her husband’s long-time aide. This name was not bestowed as a way of honoring Alexander Hamilton, however, but was a way of teasing him, for his roving eye and romantic escapades, in other words, for acting the part of a tomcat.

Unfortunately, this is probably not true. An unflattering portrait of Martha and her womanizing pet was originally put forth by British newspapers making satirically grandiose claims against the rebels.

Mrs. Washington has a mottled tomcat (which she calls in a complementary way Hamilton) with thirteen yellow rings around his tail, that his flaunting it suggested to the Congress the adoption of the same number of stripes for the rebel flag.

That it ended up a part of Martha Washington and Hamilton’s anecdotal history is probably due to John and Abigail Adams‘ catty characterization of Hamilton.

Lin-Manuel Miranda breaks the Fourth Wall for this moment, just to react to and geek out a little about all the weird history he learned while writing Hamilton.

In response to the unlikely truth of this anecdote, Lin-Manuel Miranda said:

This tomcat claim was in early editions of the Chernow book, though it has since been removed, possibly in response to the attention this line has gotten.

In fact, you might say that at this moment, Alexander and crew are

In a letter from Hamilton to Eliza dated March 17, 1780, he wrote that

If I were not afraid of making you vain, I would tell you that Mrs. Carter, Peggy, and yourself are the dayly toasts of our table; and for this honor you are chiefly indebted to the British Gentlemen; though as I am always thinking of you, this naturally brings Peggy to my mind who is generally my toast. Capt Beebe is here and talks of her sometimes; but I won’t give my consent to his being her favourite.

Note that Mrs. Carter refers to Angelica, as one of her husband, “the British Gentleman,” John Church’s wartime aliases was John Carter. It wouldn’t do for the men to seem too proud of their own sweethearts, but Hamilton teasingly mentions to Eliza that they can’t help speaking fondly of the sisters as a unit.

The “sister” has double meaning here. “Sister” is often used to describe an African-American woman. It’s a nod to the intentionally diverse casting, where two of the sisters are played by “sisters”. It also recalls the reference to Hamilton as a “brother” from the opening number.

Hamilton was indeed on the lookout for a rich wife when he met Elizabeth Schuyler. In 1779, he wrote a saucy letter to John Laurens describing what he desired in a wife. The last line is of particular note.

She must be young, handsome (I lay most stress upon a good shape), sensible (a little learning will do), well bred, chaste and tender (I am an enthusiast in my notions of fidelity and fondness); of some good nature, a great deal of generosity (she must neither love money nor scolding, for I dislike equally a termagant and an economist). In politics, I am indifferent what side she may be of. I think I have arguments that will safely convert her to mine. As to religion a moderate stock will satisfy me: she must believe in God and hate a saint. But as to fortune, the larger stock of that the better…

Yet despite the decided advantages this match would give Hamilton, there is evidence that Hamilton declined help from his wife Elizabeth’s rich father, General Philip Schuyler, and built up quite a debt on credit (which is ironic unto itself, considering what Hamilton did for the United States' credit). When Hamilton died, his widow would spend the rest of her life in poverty because of her husband’s debts.

Nevertheless, Hamilton’s marriage did catapult him into an entirely new social sphere, cementing his place in the highest rung of society.

Hamilton being cocky. It’s not really a question of whether he can get a sister… but which one he should pick. Hey, he’s the cat’s meow, right?

Later on in the show, Hamilton goes on to have romantic relationships with both Angelica and Eliza. Separately, of course, but still. While the surface value is a cocky Hamilton, underlying is the fact that he could not easily choose between two of the Schuyler sisters. And, since Jasmine Cephas Jones plays both Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds (who Hamilton has an affair with), in a way, Hamilton does score all three Schuyler sisters.

Here, the men start engaging in some very sophisticated flirtation. This leads into “Helpless” where the women continue the flirting.

In an interview with Buzzfeed, Lin described his acting during this part of the song:

There’s a moment where I just basically eye fuck whoever’s in the first two rows. And I wink at them and I’m just like, “Hey, hey hey”. That’s just my little fun times as Hamilton. And I just winked the hell out of Kanye because he was right in my blast zone!”

“Hey” becomes shorthand throughout the show for flirtation, seduction, and affection. Hey, sometimes when you have two and a half hours to tell the story of two and a half decades, things can get a little compressed.