Below is a video from YouTube that represents the origin of nature of politics and American political culture. It is a song from the popular musical Hamilton. This song is set in 1776, Hamilton, being 19 wants to make his mark in ‘the new world’ and is cautioned by Aaron Burr to stay quiet about his intentions as others may try and ruin his future. Each of the Major players expresses their deepest desires for this new country. Marquis de Lafayette, being French does not want to answer to the crown and be under a monarch’s rule ever again. John Laurens is an abolitionist that wants equality for all men. Hercules Mulligan wants to join the revolution and elevate his status in the new social circles being formed. And ultimately Alexander Hamilton the 19-year-old expresses his desire to be remembered even if he must give his life for his ideals. Each of these key players wants to be heard and create a better life for themselves and their future generations to come.
Alexander Hamilton being a founding father represents many qualities that are still valued in the American system today. He also represents qualities that detrimental to the American political system. The song is titled “My Shot”. I want you to analyze the principles and teachings in this song and I hope that you have fun whilst doing so. This song expresses many important themes ambition, equality, freedom, liberty, and justice. I want you to watch this video and think of the themes that stick out most to you. I also want you to write down the questions underneath this video and think about them as you watch the video. There are no wrong answers, I just want you to share your thoughts and opinions with your other classmates. I am excited to see what you and your peers come up with!
Questions:
1) Is ‘my shot’ a little ironic knowing what happened to Alexander Hamilton?
2) What is your deepest desire out of life?
3) If you wrote a song like ‘my shot’ expressing what you want out of life, what would the title be?
4) What is the theme that relates to the nature of politics that stood out most to you?
5) Which character in this song do you relate to the most?
I really enjoyed this assignment, it was really fun to think in the mind of a teacher because that is the profession that I want to go into. The only drawback is that this website seems a little archaic, I would rather use google classroom where the interface is a little friendlier. However, I do appreciate learning more about a new piece of technology.
I liked that you utilized a song to teach about American political culture! I had never heard this song before and I found a lot of important themes throughout the entirety of it. Lines including “my power of speech is impeachable” and “Is that a guarantee of freedom for our descendants?” shed light onto the freedoms and liberties that are to come for Hamilton and America as a whole. I think Hamilton’s desire to give his life to fight for what he wants is also an important aspect. It highlights the individuality that American citizens still value today. One could also see how Hamilton described the country at the time, being “scrappy” and “young”. Because of how new it was, Hamilton wanted to strive and create a great country that future generations would cherish.
I think that you chose a good video. I think that it is a good example of one of the political cultures of America in the seventeen hundreds, because nearly everyone wanted to have a revolutionary war against Great Britain. Almost everyone wanted for the United States to become it’s own country, so that they would be free.