The One Where Hamilton Gets Me Thinking About Star Trek

Confession: I am profoundly and unequivocally obsessed with the Broadway musical Hamilton.

Lin Manuel Miranda’s smash hit has been a near constant soundtrack to my life for the last few months. I know most songs by heart. I own the monstrous Chernow biography and Miranda’s Hamilton: A Revolution (I call it a “Hamiltome”). In short, I simply cannot get enough of things related to this musical about our ten-dollar founding father.

The cover of Hamilton: An American Musical.

I have deep conversations about the genius behind individual songs. Suddenly, I have very strong opinions about American involvement in the French Revolution. I think Aaron Burr is an endlessly fascinating man, and his feminism–more than a century ahead of his time–inspires me. I now use names like the Marquis de Lafeyette, Hercules Mulligan, and John Laurens in daily conversation. I could go on and on.

By now, I’m sure any reader of this blog is wondering if I’ve suddenly abandoned Star Trek in favor of this rap musical. Of course not. The Prolific Trek is still in full force, and this blog is still about Star Trek.

So, I promise I have a point.

Anyways, the central theme of Hamilton is best summed up by its final song:

Let me tell you what I wish I’d known

When I was young and dreamed of glory

You have no control:

Who lives

Who dies

Who tells your story?

–“Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” Hamilton: An American Musical

Throughout the musical (and I realize as I do more research into American history that legacy was something they were also truly focused on throughout their lives), the various American Revolutionaries are deeply concerned with how history will view them. They want to cement their legacies, and they want to be in control of how future generations will view them.

Hamilton and Burr discuss that it is easier, perhaps, to die to cement your legacy than to keep on living:

Burr: Did you hear the news about good old General Mercer?

Hamilton: No.

Burr: You know Clermont Street?

Hamilton: Yeah.

Burr: They renamed it after him. The Mercer legacy is secure.

Hamilton: Sure.

Burr: All he had to do was die.

Hamilton: That’s a lot less work.

Burr: We oughta give it a try.

–“The Room Where It Happens” Hamilton: An American Musical

Oh the irony.

Burr and Hamilton are somewhat secondary characters in our mainstream understanding of American history. So, perhaps, we might consider that their concern with their legacy is understandable. We might believe that they were “less important” and wanted to be more center stage than they ultimately were. But even Washington, the most well known person of the Revolution, was aware that history had its eyes on him:

I was younger than you are now

When I was given my first command

I led my men straight into a massacre

I witnessed their deaths firsthand

I made every mistake

I felt the shame rise in me

And even now I lie awake

Knowing history has its eyes on me.

–“History Has Its Eyes On You” Hamilton: An American Musical

Okay, so what does all of this have to do with Star Trek?

Well, one of my Hamilton discussions with two dear friends devolved into a debate about the merits of Thomas Jefferson. In short, Thomas Jefferson penned some of the most important words in all of American history:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness…

–Thomas Jefferson, The American Declaration of Independence

Yes. These are important words, indeed. They are, ultimately, the foundation of our country. And anyone who has watched much Star Trek, can see how these concepts are essential to the Federation. Equality and IDIC are some of the most important elements to the entire franchise.

Thomas Jefferson has his face on Mount Rushmore. He has his face on the two-dollar bill. He was our third president. He played an essential role in both the breaking off of the colonies from the British government in 1776 and the actual American Revolution.

But Jefferson also has some skeletons in that closet. Jefferson owned slaves, and his relationship with his slave, Sally Jennings, is questionable, at best. Jefferson may have truly believed those words he included in the Declaration, but it’s unclear, exactly, what sort of a man he was behind the pen.

And, so, this idea that Jefferson, Washington, Hamilton, and Burr all had differing contributions to our country and are viewed with varying degrees of importance and reverence in history but, ultimately, were simply men trying to pave their way in the world, got me thinking about an important historical figure in the Star Trek canon: Zefram Cochrane.

–Zefram Cochrane in the Phoenix in Star Trek: First Contact (photo credit: MemoryAlpha)

Zefram Cochrane is credited in the Star Trek universe as the man who discovered warp drive. His contributions to human history are so important that the Borg, when trying to destroy the federation, simply go back in time to stop Zefram Cochrane.

Zefram Cochrane’s first warp drive flight, in his ship called the Phoenix, occurs on April 5, 2063. That flight is observed by the Vulcans who are traveling near earth’s system, determine that humans are finally advanced enough to initiate first contact. This, of course, completely alters the state of human history. This is the precursor to the founding of the United Federation of Planets. And without Zefram Cochrane’s first warp flight, Star Trek would not exist.

In Star Trek: First Contact, one of my favorite Star Trek movies and unequivocally the best one, the crew of the Enterprise goes back in time to stop the Borg’s interference and ensure that Cochrane’s first flight goes off without a hitch. The crew’s reaction to meeting Zefram Cochrane is much like I imagine my reaction (or any American’s reaction) would be to traveling back in time to 1776 or any other time in the Revolution and meeting Jefferson, Washington, Hamilton, Burr, or countless other founding fathers.

The crew is in absolute awe. Geordi, for one, can’t help but mention to Cochrane that he attended Zefram Cochrane high school. Barclay is his usual stuttering mess. I mean, think about it, if you met Alexander Hamilton wouldn’t you want to tell him that he’s on the ten-dollar bill and that the treasury department still exists because of him?

But Cochrane isn’t concerned with his legacy. He isn’t out there to make humanity better. He’s a bit of an alcoholic and an absolute genius, but he is ultimately just a man hoping to make a lot of money off of his ship. In fact, he’s a little freaked out by all of this attention.

Cochrane: You wanna know what my vision is? Dollar signs! Money! I didn’t build this ship to usher in a new era for humanity. You think I want to go to the stars? I don’t even like to fly. I take trains. I built this ship so that I could retire to some tropical island filled with naked women. That’s Zefram Cochrane. That’s his vision. This other guy you keep talking about. This historical figure. I never met him. I can’t imagine I ever will.

Riker: Someone once said, “Don’t try to be a great man. Just be a man, and let history make its own judgments.”

Cochrane: Rhetorical nonsense. Who said that?

Riker:  You did. Ten years from now.

—Star Trek: First Contact

That bolded line is one of my favorite in all of Star Trek. Cochrane has the right idea. You ultimately can’t control your legacy. Only those who view you after the fact can.

I have to think that, much like when the crew of the Enterprise met Cochrane, there would be a bit of a shock for us to meet the founding fathers. Jefferson wrote the Declaration, but he also had a questionable relationship with a slave. Hamilton founded the treasury and wrote most of the Federalist papers, but he was also hot headed and embroiled in the first sex scandal in America. Washington was an amazing first president, but he was kind of a really terrible tactitian and General. Burr is remembered as the man who shot Alexander Hamilton, but he was also America’s first feminist.

These founding fathers are viewed in one light by history, but ultimately, they were simply men doing what they needed to to get by and push a new country forward.

When I listen to Hamilton and hear about these men trying to build their legacies, I want to tell them about those brilliant words from Zefram Cochrane. You can’t control who lives, who dies, who tells your story. All you can do is:

Don’t try to be a great man. Just be a man, and let history make its own judgments.

#LLAP (and don’t throw away your shot!)