Tag: Hamilton

The Schuyler Sisters in Boston (episode 274)

Thanks to the Hamilton musical, it’s almost impossible to hear the names Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy without bursting into song.  The play made the three eldest daughters of Philip Schuyler famous, and in this episode we’re talking about the first two sisters, but mostly just Angelica.  Fans know that there was a flirtation between Angelica and Hamilton, but that relationship was exaggerated for the show.  Angelica’s actual romance and marriage were downplayed for the show, but it was this union that brought Angelica Schuyler Church to Boston, where she lived for over two years under an assumed name.  What was she doing here, and who was the mysterious John Carter who escorted her here? 


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Demanding Satisfaction: Dueling in Boston (episode 216)

A little more than three years ago, cohost emerita Nikki and I were on our way to see the Hamilton musical for the first time.  In our excitement, we decided to record an episode about an 1806 political duel in Boston that had a lot of parallels with the Hamilton-Burr duel.  We dug into the history of dueling in Boston, how dueling laws evolved in response to the duels that were fought here, and why a young Boston Democratic-Republican and a young Boston Federalist decided they had to fight each other to the death in Rhode Island.  Unfortunately, we also peppered samples from the Hamilton soundtrack throughout the episode in our excitement, stomping all over Lin Manuel’s intellectual property.  The unlicensed music even got the episode pulled from at least one podcast app.  This week, I went back to our original recording and re-edited it to clean it up and remove all the Hamiltunes.  So get ready to meet Charles Sumner’s dad and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s dad, sail on the USS Constitution, and Alexander Hamilton himself will even put in a brief appearance.  Plus, we’ll learn why fighting a duel in Massachusetts could get you buried at a crossroads with a stake driven through your heart. 


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