The Adams Administration

The song “The Adams Administration” is sung by Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson, and has some commentary by James Madison. The song is about Burr, Jefferson, and Madison talking about the fact that Hamilton has destroyed his reputation by getting into a huge fight with John Adams, who is a member of the same political party. The song also goes into the fact that Hamilton abused his cabinet post, and alludes to the fact that Hamilton has done something much worse that they are about to call him out on.

When listening to this song, I immediately assumed that they were going to go into depth about what he did in order to get fired, however they did not do so, at least not in this song. I found it to be an extremely interesting choice that Miranda decided to have the information that was contained in this song and “We Know” in two different songs. I also that that it was very smart for Miranda to have Burr being the main singer in this song opposed to Jefferson or Madison. I think that it really helps reinforce just how much Hamilton and Burr are consistently budding heads, which also helps in foreshadowing the end of the play. Another thing that I wondered when listening to this song for the first time was if what the men knew was about Hamilton’s affair with Maria Reynolds. However, the song that continues “The Adams Administration,” “We Know” does a great job of explaining what they were discussing.