Page:Hamilton play 1917.pdf/5



This play is written for the stage. It is written with a desire to convey to the audience that the builders of the foundation of the American Republic were real people, and not merely a procession of nice gray-headed old gentlemen who were mainly occupied in sitting for their portraits to Gilbert Stuart and John Trumbull.

Probably no keen admirer of Alexander Hamilton will be fully satisfied with the play. But the authors console themselves with the reflection that no playwright could do justice to the power and scope of this remarkable man within the limits of an evening's entertainment. In writing a play dealing with a great historical figure it is necessary to select an incident that brings out boldly the predominant characteristics of the hero. Having decided upon the incident, it is advisable not to befog it by the introduction of other important episodes however much they may redound to the credit of the central figure, or however much you may be tempted to use them. Alexander Hamilton achieved distinction in so many different directions—as a shipping clerk, as a soldier, as a powerful and graceful writer, as an orator, as a tactician, as a master of the financial policy of Nations—that to the casual reader of history it might seem difficult to discover this dominant characteristic. But to the student and lover of Hamilton it stands out clear and well-defined—Courage. Not the courage of the blind egoist or of the imperious politician, but the courage which had its roots in love of truth and of honorable dealing.

And so the authors chose the incident which forms the basis of this play. In their opinion, no single event could be found that displays this fine quality of courage more surely and more definitely than the course adopted by Hamilton in the face of the attack by his political enemies. Those descendants of Alexander Hamilton whom the authors have