Where's Ben Franklin In Hamilton? Why The Founding Father Doesn't Appear
Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton is set in the earliest years of the United States of America's history, but Benjamin Franklin is conspicuously absent. A Pulitzer Prize-winning rap musical, Hamilton premiered on Broadway in 2015, while a filmed version was released on Disney+ earlier this year. The show follows the life of Alexander Hamilton, from his role in the American Revolution to his personal and professional struggles as the country's first secretary of the treasury, ending with his death at the hands of longtime rival Aaron Burr.
Ben Franklin was, in many respects, very unlike Hamilton. A man of wide-ranging interests, Franklin worked as a newspaper editor, a writer, a college president, a diplomat, and postmaster-general, among other things, before contributing to the Revolution, after which he continued many of these pursuits. Among these, a particular interest in hard science and technical invention distinguished him from his peers, although later in life he did share an ardent abolitionist perspective with fellow Revolutionaries like John Laurens and the Marquis de Lafayette. But while he was heavily involved in shaping the American Revolution, Franklin spent a fair amount of time abroad, representing the colonies - and, later, the young United States - in Europe.
Benjamin Franklin was originally intended to appear in Hamilton, albeit in a less prominent role than some of the other Founding Fathers. A solo called "Ben Franklin's Song" was even planned for his introduction. While the lyrics for this song were mostly complete, Lin-Manuel Miranda never wrote music for them, cutting the number very early on. However, he reportedly envisioned it in the style of The Decemberists, so he later presented them with the lyrics and the suggestion of performing it. The song came out in 2017 as part of the Hamilton-adjacent Hamildrops project, with the band composing the music and Miranda revisiting the song to pen a new bridge.
There are manifold reasons why Franklin was excised from the show. Most practically, he was nearly 50 years Hamilton's senior, and he passed away in 1790, so his significance would naturally have fallen off in the latter half of the show - and if George Washington's death song was cut, Franklin's passing would certainly have been overlooked. The Decemberists have also mentioned the reasoning that Lin-Manuel Miranda thought the song and character, who was so often in Europe at the time, would be too far removed from the show's action in the United States, a technique that is solely reserved for King George in the final version. In the long term, the explicit language of the chorus would have potentially raised issues when Hamilton's (censored) filmed version was released on Disney+.
Had he been present in Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin could have provided an interesting thematic counterpoint, because, in contrast to the single-minded dedication of Hamilton, Franklin has historically been defined by his interest and involvement in many varied pursuits. Of course, one can only speculate on how much Lin-Manuel Miranda would have emphasized this, but the black-sheep folk genre of "Ben Franklin's Song" suggests that the idea occurred to him. However, as himself Miranda realized, in a musical so densely packed with history and politics and philosophy - all rhyming, no less - adding a character as multifaceted as Franklin may have been overwhelming to the audience. Ultimately, a passing reference to him in "Satisfied" is probably sufficient.