SC by Victoria

SC by Victoria - February 2016 Scholarship Essay

Alexander Hamilton would sit across from me in a quiet, dimly lit restaurant. We would sit, exchanging pleasantries, and we would talk for hours, bonding over stories, sharing ideas and thoughts, plans for the future. He would laugh, and I would smile. He would fix his powdered wig occasionally, the wool of his outfit scratching him, but he is deeply engaged in the conversation we are having.
Alexander Hamilton is, in my opinion, one of the most misunderstood people in American history. His enemies, Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson destroyed his credibility and his reputation. Although he did make a few mistakes in his life and his career that does not mean that this Founding Father should be left forgotten to the rest of the world. I would want to understand what he went through, would want to know his side of the story, what he has to say. He lived to be only 49 years old, not very old at all. He did so many wonderful things in his career, but so many of them go overlooked, because America has forgotten his name, what he did for his country.
I believe that he should be heard. It shouldn’t matter if the whole world is listening, or just a bright girl who is willing to have dinner with him. Everyone deserves to be heard. He was killed by Mr. Aaron Burr, the Vice President of the United States at the time of Hamilton’s death. Hamilton never got to tell his story. He was brilliant with word usage, always writing about everything. He wrote 51 out of Federalist Papers, he wrote all of George Washington’s correspondences, he authored the Reynold’s Pamphlet, and so much more. The only thing he never wrote was his own story. No one knew what went on inside of his head at any point of his life, and no one will know what was going on inside his mind when his mother died when he was 12, or when he was created the Bank of the United States, or any point in his life. He has many biographies, written by experts and historians, but they can only describe so much. No one knows his side of the story in detail because he did not tell anyone. Speaking to him in person would allow for someone to hear what happens in that mind of his.
It is such a depressing thought, the idea of the world forgetting your name. The world forgetting what you did, who you were, what you stood for. People in the past only have paintings or pictures of themselves, a few important works or ideas, but they don’t get to live forever. Spoken word tells more about a person than a painting or a few words scratched onto parchment. Alexander Hamilton deserves to be heard. We see him every day; his face is on the ten dollar bill. He deserves to tell his story, for someone to listen who has not seen the bad light in which he is put in.
Alexander Hamilton is one of the Founding Fathers, along with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, but who knows who Alexander Hamilton is? To most of the world, he is the guy who died after fighting in a duel with Aaron Burr. No one knows the rest of the story. I want to know that story. I want to listen for hours upon hours to him speak, telling me what he thinks, what he did, why he did some of those things. I want to be able to be unique, to be the only living person who has ever spoken with the living Alexander Hamilton. His image lives on the ten dollar bill, his legacy lives on with the Bank of the United States, but what about his story? Who tells his story? I want to hear that story of his, and I want to tell people all over the world. My goal is to someday also be remembered, to be known for something, to never be forgotten over the years. Alexander Hamilton never got that chance. I want to be able to help him, to let him live on through my words, and hopefully, I will tell someone my story, and I will be remembered. I’m hoping that 200 years down the road, someone will pick me to sit down and talk to over dinner, to hear what I have to say, what my story is, to be remembered for something more than just a bad rumor. I want to be remembered, too, just as badly as anyone else. This might just be a meal to some people, but to me, it would mean more than anything in the world, to help someone be put back into history. To allow someone to live on forever, instead of staying still on the paper bill or in the oil painting, to be a part of someone else’s story, to mean something. I want to be a part of someone else’s history. Alexander Hamilton would be the way to do that, to make a difference. It might be small, but it will be powerful, just like the story I will tell of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father worth remembering.