#historical alexander hamilton

[icarusbetide]

wtf was hamilton actually like

yet another long rant about how little i really know about hamilton! this is in regards to his personality because i can't get him down. i can't figure out what he would've been like in everyday life.

for any historical figure, we take explicitly documented traits and build off of them. even if it's clumsy, i'd be confident "predicting" how washington & jefferson usually act, etc. but for some reason, ham's characterization is all over the place. his recorded personality traits, also mixed with his political attitudes, often conflict and authors end up leaning into certain parts. for instance: there's flirty & flamboyant ham. there's prideful, arrogant, standoffish ham. there's bumbling politics ham, obtuse and belligerent 24/7 - aka musical ham, but that was an intentional choice. there's even kind and warm ham, which definitely seems accurate for his family and close friends least.

was he loud and intense 24/7? or was that just him during work, since we also know that he had a habit of mumbling to himself and looking like a daydreamer to spectators?

some people said that his general countenance was serious and austere, but we also know that he could be a charmer in social spaces. he was described as feminine but also as "martial". some have written that there's an "simplicity" in his manners, and a clear openness, but we also speculate that he closed off some part of his emotions after laurens' death. he was constantly worried about his loved ones' health, like him tucking in judge ford, but we also know that he could ghost people mercilessly. was he guarded or was he not?

i guess i can pinpoint how he might have interacted with select people, like eliza, his children, washington. but i don't know which side of him was shown in the majority of his interactions - what the "real" him, or at least common him, would've been.

one of my fav descriptions of him notes how even his speech fluctuated:

“His language is not always equal; sometimes didactic like Bolingbroke’s; at other times light and tripping, like Sterne’s. His eloquence is not so defusive as to trifle with the senses, but he rambles just enough to strike and keep up the attention...His manners are tinctured with stiffness and sometimes with a degree of vanity that is highly disagreeable. “

and i recall another anecdote about how he was serious and made intelligent conversation at dinner, but became more of the flirty charming persona afterwards while socializing.

like all human beings he was multifaceted, but damn. i really can't confidently say "oh if you ran into hamilton in the street he would be really polite/reserved/kind/charming."

i guess all of this goes to say that this guy was insanely complex and i'm not sure if anyone, let alone himself, really figured it out. that's definitely why i'm interested in him as a figure, but ugh. frustrating when i'm writing and can feel myself slipping into a common ham archetype that i don't think is 100% accurate. and we didn't even get into how much of that is "real" or - adams' version.

[alexanderhamiltonhasafatass]

Stares at the wall

[halohaji]

hiiiiiii

[zhuxx20]

Doodles for Valentine's! (Using references from pinterest)

And a bonus where Laurens does not die AU

[pixilotol]

happy birthday hamilton!!

[unicornsaures]

do yall remember when just liking the musical hamilton switxhed from liking the musical to hyperfixating the historical figures themselves or did only I go down that path

[pythiaswine]

face it, even if you had a time machine, you are not getting john laurens to trust you enough to admit he's gay

[fandomhoppers]

So I watched the George Washington mini series from 1984. And I have no clue why, but Laurens and Tilghman just ganging up on Hamilton already is so damn funny to me.

Like- He just arrived and you’re already on his case. And I’m here for it. Break in the new Family member quick. Lol.

[nylatrashcan]

haii 💘

[luisfrostart]

Portraits! :D Concept art of John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton, for my Graphic Novel! No date is set yet and things are a slow progress, but I'll update here when I have more 💜💙

[lalaith999]

[alexanderhamiltonhasafatass]

I can't stop thinking about these fucking gay fucks.

[yr-obedt-cicero]

“Washington's circle of young aides were well educated, were versed in the Greek classics, were well aware of the homosexual loves of the ancient Greeks, and compared their loves for each other to the noble love exemplified by such Greek heroes as Damon and Pythias. In camp during the war Hamilton kept a copy of Plutarch's Lives, and particularly admired the “Life of Lycurgus,” the legendary leader of Sparta. Among notes Hamilton kept on the “Life of Lycurgus” is the notation, “Every lad had a lover or friend who take [sic] care of his education and shared in the praise or blame of his virtues or vices.” In a letter to Hamilton, Laurens used the Greek phrase kalos ka agathos, a phrase used in fifth-century Greece and combining the Athenian term for beauty, kalos, which denotes physical or sensual beauty, with the Spartan term agathos, which means beauty in the spiritual sense of honor and valor. In commenting on the letter, the historian Charley Shively writes that kalos ka agathos was used in the 18th-century as a code word for homosexual love, a reference still understood in Greece to this day, Shively says.”

— The Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Societies, by James Neill · 2011

[zhuxx20]

Happy birthday to pretty boy! (And his depressed friend)

Is so ugly, I just wanted to post something because I've had an obsession with him for over a year now 😔 (Even if it flops)

J. C. Leyendecker style

[almaprincess66]

Broke my tumblr silence just to sprinkle a little sad into your day! You are welcome!

[vmpirevnom]

John: Hey, Alexander. Nice Hands.

Alexander: …thanks?

John: they’d look even better wrapped around my-

Ben: -covering Lafayette’s ears- BIBLE. WRAPPED AROUND YOUR BIBLE. PRAISE THE LORD, AMEN!