Caponpon, Althea Kaye Q.

PSY1104
Student No. : 21-36661 6 September 2021

Eliza Hamilton cannot be considered as a Historian. First of all, being a

historian comes with critical duties. This is a profession that requires abundant
knowledge about interpreting data, organizing events, and analyzing the authenticity
of any data given to them. Being a historian is a professional job and it's not some
title that you'll just accord to people just because they were able to preserve stories
and pass it on. Owning to the fact that she was Alexander's wife and a defender of
Alexander's works, Eliza could be subjective. It's expected that the information she'll
pass on would be biased. Instead, Eliza Hamilton was considered to be a
philanthropist. It is supported with a credible source by Moniz (2017), “In the years
after the Revolution, Americans threw themselves into the work of forming
philanthropic organizations, often drawing on examples of European institutions. It
was in that era that women, including Eliza Hamilton, began to create and manage
their own charities.”

Since I believe that Eliza Hamilton is not a historian, I think that she belongs to
primary sources. This is due to the fact that she was a direct witness of Alexander’s
life and that same circumstance goes for Angelica. Even Alexander’s writings, the
soldiers, and the two founding fathers that were included in the song can be
considered as primary sources. For secondary sources, Eliza could be considered
as well to this group since it was stated on the song that she was the one who
interviewed the soldiers. Personally, I couldn’t recognize any tertiary sources.

The song “Who, Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” that was part of a
musical drama could not be a credible source specifically in the concept of history.
This song is more of a creative way of telling a story. I believe that this song is
merely for entertainment purposes. Although the song was based on a true story, it’s
not enough reason to make this as a reference of credible data. There are numerous
documents and citations that are present up to this day that can be utilized as an
authentic source instead. Nonetheless, this song can be part of the history since this
song made a big impact to the theatre industry but it would only be labeled as a form
of entertainment.
References :
Moniz, A. (2017) Who tells Eliza's story? Philanthropy and "Hamilton: An American
Musical” National Museum of American History
https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/philanthropy-and-hamilton