- [Lin-Manuel] Burr's like, "Duels are stupid,
"and you both should just, like, shut up, and it's over,
"and Hamilton told everyone everything anyway,
"so there's no point in you shooting at each other.
(phone chimes)
"Sorry, gotta put my phone on vibrate."
- So our story begins in 51BC.
We're in Alexandria, the capital of Egypt,
and Cleopatra has just turned 18.
She's like Cleopatra's coming at ya.
She's fresh, she's young, she's supple,
she's like I'm looking fabulous and fly,
and she marries her brother Ptolemy.
- I'm sorry, marries?
- Yes.
It wasn't weird for them.
They were like, "We gonna be blood on blood on blood,
"snacks on snacks on snacks,
"chicken rice on rice on rice."
So now she's the queen.
But their little sister Arsinoe,
she's like super butt hurt about it,
like she's like, "Yo, I know that I'm 11, but really?
"I can't be mother (bleep) queen?
"Nobody asked me if y'all could get married,
"so boo to that, boo to that."
She's a sneaky, thieving ass, thriving tween,
and she had a eunuch that was just like her homeboy.
Ganymedes was in the shadows at all times,
like you would only see a sliver of his face
come out the corner, and he'd be like,
"Dogs, that's what we do in Egypt."
- [Derek] Dogs.
- Dogs.
So now at this point, Julius Caesar is kicking ass,
taking (bleep) names all over the Mediterranean,
like Julius Caesar's like, "What's popping?
"(bleep) whatever, get over it."
Cleopatra's into that, like she's like, "I'm feeling this."
And so she's like, "Hey, Ptolemy, husband, brother.
"We should like link up with Rome hardcore parkour."
Like Cleopatra's like, "Yo, we should (bleep) Rome,
"hard as (bleep)."
'Cause she's like, "Rome is (bleep) able."
Ptolemy is like, "I'm not feeling this,
"we're not gonna link up with Rome,
"that's it, boom, roasted."
Cleopatra is like very upset, right.
But Arsinoe is ear hustling all throughout the castle.
She goes to her brother Ptolemy,
she's like, "Yo, I know I'm 11, peep this.
"I'm not (bleep) with Julius Caesar either.
"I don't think Egypt should link up.
"Matter of fact, you should check your wife
"because she's not even listening to you dude."
Like she's like, "You the husband, and she not listening."
Right?
So Ptolemy goes to Cleopatra and he's like,
"Yo, Arsinoe came to me, told me she not (bleep) with it.
"She put some wisdom in my head,
"told me I shouldn't (bleep) with it,
"so we not going to do it.
"And not only that, I'm gonna banish you from Alexandria."
So Cleopatra's like, "Excuse me?
"You gonna come for my..."
Like, "What?"
So Cleopatra now was pissed that
Arsinoe came for her throne.
She is set on getting revenge on her little sister.
So...
Mm.
- [Derek] Cheers.
- So, Cleopatra's banished, and so Arsinoe's like,
"I'm cute now bitch, I'm Queen of Egypt."
Just so happens at the same time
Julius Caesar happens to make a trip to Alexandria.
He was like, "What's poppin' Egypt?"
So Cleopatra said to herself, she was like,
"Self, I can either arrange a regular meeting with this man,
"or I can get him the Egyptian way."
So she crept in his room in the middle of the night,
and gives him the Egyptian business
right there in that hotel room.
- [Derek] Mm.
- [Lyric] Mm-hmm.
- Now that's a pyramid scheme.
- She was like, "Oh you gonna be reading from
"the book of the dead after this,
"'cause you gonna be what, dead and gone."
- Like an Egyptian.
- He was like, "Well this is some new shit."
He was like, "Girl, what is you doing to my body?"
She's like, "Just some Egyptian shit,
"don't worry about none of that,
"that's what's happening to your whole body right now."
Right.
He like fell for her, after that one (bleep) night.
And so Cleopatra was like, "I know we just met,
"and I gave you the business immediately, my bad.
"However, my brother Ptolemy banished me
"because why, 'cause I wanted to (bleep) with you,
"and I need help to get my throne back."
And Caesar was like, "Say no more girl,
"you put that Egyptian ass on me, it's a done deal.
"Let's go invade some shit, yes?"
And she's like, "Yes bitch, go get my throne back."
So, Julius Caesar invades Alexandria, right.
It's like a whole bunch of Romans and shit.
And Ptolemy is captured as a political prisoner.
Cleopatra's mad but she's like, "Yo."
She's like, "Yo," like she's like, "Yo,
"take her little ass to Rome, I'm done."
We fast forward to 41BC, Cleopatra's still mad.
She thinks that her sister (mumbles).
Cleopatra says, she sends assassins and she's like,
"Yo, go kill my little sister that is like 21."
And the assassins go, and they strangle Arsinoe,
and she dies.
Moral of the story, don't sleep on your siblings.
- Does that mean don't (bleep) your brother?
- And that too, don't (bleep) your brother either.
That should be a given.
- It should be.
- Oh my God!
- Hello.
My name is Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Today we're gonna talk about Alexander Hamilton
and Aaron Burr.
(laughs)
- [Derek] Cheers my brother.
- Cheers.
- Here we are.
- Our story begins in the exotic Caribbean.
It begins on the island of Nevis.
So Hamilton and his mother, they were both sick,
and he survived and she didn't.
So she died in bed with him.
It's a hellish Dickensian childhood.
Here's where we have to talk about our buddy Aaron Burr.
Also an orphan.
Everyone dies by the time he's like 10 years old.
His mother dies, his father dies,
he's put in the care of various people who die,
just like Hamilton.
The difference is he's got money,
gets an amazing education, he goes to Princeton,
which was then Queens College, at 13 years old,
finishes it in two years instead of four.
So Hamilton shows up at Queens College
and he says, "Hey, what's up, I'm Hamilton,
"here are my letters from the West Indies.
"I'm really (bleep) smart,
"so I'd like to graduate in two years,
"which Burr did."
And they say, "Burr's dad was the president of Princeton.
"We don't know you from a hole in the ground.
"So, no."
And he says, "(bleep) you, (bleep) you, you're cool,
"Aaron Burr, nice to meet you,
"I'm gonna go to another college
"that will graduate me faster."
And they both split early before finishing their education,
because ba ba ba ba, the war!
The Revolutionary War.
Burr and Hamilton start their respective war careers.
And Burr has a really distinguished war career,
like kills a lot of British dudes,
has an amazing sort of run.
I wanna order Dominoes.
Okay.
So Hamilton and Burr, they're contemporaries,
and they're colleagues,
and they're friends until they're not.
They're cool until Burr runs against
Hamilton's father-in-law for senate,
and he wins.
And Hamilton's like, "Yo, I thought we were friends."
"We are friends.
"I ran against your father-in-law,
"he was weak and I won.
"Like why can't we still be friends?"
"'Cause that was my (bleep) father-in-law,
"and now we're enemies."
All right, let's flash forward.
Burr runs for president against Hamilton's
arch nemesis Thomas Jefferson.
It was a tie between Jefferson and Burr,
and people went to Hamilton and they said,
"Hey, should we vote for Burr or Jefferson?"
Hamilton was like...
(nonsensical mumbling)
"No.
"Vote for Jefferson.
"I disagree with him.
"At least he has an ethos."
He said, "If pressed, if pressed, like a juice,
"I don't know what the (bleep) Burr stands for,
"and I've known Burr all my life."
And Jefferson wins because of Hamilton.
So Burr is vice president, he doesn't get (bleep) to do.
Like Thomas Jefferson's like,
"I trust you about as far as I can throw you
"and I can't throw things very far,
"I have slaves who do that for me."
So Burr is suddenly on the other side of this
brush with greatness, and he's got nothing.
No one trusts him, and he looks around
and he goes, "Why don't I have a career in this country
"I helped fight for and die for and..."
He didn't die for it but, like,
"I helped to build this thing and why am I,
"why is my political career over?"
And he looks around and the only answer he has is Hamilton.
Hamilton talks shit about Burr all the time.
So Burr writes a letter to Hamilton.
"Dear Alexander Hamilton, mother (bleep)."
Hamilton responds with, "Burr, mother (bleep)."
Burr, "Mother (bleep).
"Apologize for what you said or meet me
"on the field for combat."
Hamilton, "I don't want it to go down like this,
"I really don't.
"But I can't apologize for what I said,
"so I guess I'll see you there."
- [Derek] Again this feels like high school.
- Totally high school.
Well you know what, here's an interesting story
that we haven't talked about yet.
A couple of days before the final duel,
Hamilton and Burr are at the same party,
and by all accounts, Burr was sulking in the corner
and Hamilton was standing on the bar,
leading his friends in a song.
So, where was I?
- We're gonna duel it up.
- 1804, four, four, four.
So we're here, we're on the grounds at Weehawken.
From Burr's perspective, there's no reason to think
Hamilton won't fire at him.
Hamilton shows up wearing glasses.
Hamilton is checking out his gun pretty intently.
Burr's like, "This mother (bleep) right here
"talked shit about me my whole career,
"basically stopped me from being elected
"president of the United States.
"This guy has opposed me at every turn.
"When I look back at my career, he's the one in the way.
"He's got his (bleep) glasses on.
"This guy is checking out his gun pretty intently.
"This mother (bleep) gonna's kill me
"if I don't kill him first."
So they get to that moment.
They meet.
They count their paces.
They turn and fire.
Burr aims forward, Hamilton aims up.
Burr's bullet strikes Hamilton right between his ribs.
The first thing that happened was Burr
rushed over to talk to Hamilton,
and his second held him back, like,
"No, I have to talk to Hamilton."
And his second's like, "No, no, no,
"you forfeit the right to talk to Hamilton
"when you shot him.
"You gotta get back to New York,
"you gotta get like away from the scene
"as quickly as possible."
But, here's the thing.
Hamilton writes letters before the final duel
in his last act of political,
I don't know if it's genius or (bleep)-ative-ness.
He damns Burr for life.
He wrote a bunch of (bleep) letters, saying,
"Listen, I have to go to this duel with Aaron Burr
"but I want you to know that I'm a good Christian
"and I'm not gonna fire on him.
"I'm gonna waste my shot in the air.
"I never meant to kill Burr and if Burr killed me,
"he's the asshole."
(laughing)
And so history's eyes turn on Burr.
Whether Hamilton lived or died, he won the duel.
And so Hamilton wins.
He wins in 200 years later they're writing
musicals where I'm a martyr type way.
And so, Burr's the monster.
And what's ironic about that is Burr was never the monster.
- [Derek] Never.
- [Lin-Manuel] Burr was the cautious mother (bleep)
who never let his opinion be known.
And Hamilton was the reckless mother (bleep)
who let his opinion be known about everything.
And in the one moment where it counted most,
Hamilton was cautious and Burr was reckless.
- [Derek] Oh.
- [Lin-Manuel] And that defined their legacies forever.
It's (bleep) up.
- [Derek] It's really (bleep) up.