Bach, Hamilton, And Ambition In Our WorkSample

Alexander Hamilton

As we began to explore yesterday, Johann Sebastian Bach and Alexander Hamilton shared a lot in common. Both were orphaned at an early age. Both were incredibly ambitious. And both were made famous by their writings. But you can see their stories start to diverge when you take a closer look at each man’s motivations for his work.

As we saw yesterday, even though Bach’s genius was not recognized by his contemporaries, Bach was content creating Soli Deo Gloria, for the glory of God alone. Hamilton’s motivations for his work were quite different.

As the hit musical that bears his name so artistically portrays, Hamilton had a most tragic childhood, growing up fatherless and poor in the Caribbean and losing his mother at the age of twelve. After a hurricane decimated his hometown, Hamilton (then a self-educated teenager) wrote a detailed account of the storm that was published in the local paper. Upon reading his story, Hamilton’s neighbors were amazed at his talents as a writer and raised enough money to book him a ticket out of the Caribbean, bound for New York City, promising the young revolutionary that, as the musical’s lyric says, “The world’s going to know your name!” 

When Hamilton walks onto the staged streets of New York City for the first time, he publicly vows an ascent to greatness that will ensure the history books remember him. This is Hamilton’s declaration of significance. Unlike Bach who created for the glory of God alone, Hamilton was driven by an overwhelming desire to glorify himself. This motivation to make a name for himself is a major theme of his life and the musical. His idolatry of his work leads him to neglect his family, cheat on his wife, publicize the details of his extramarital affair in a misguided attempt to protect his legacy as a politician, which, in a bizarre turn of events, leads to the tragic death of Hamilton’s son.

In a song titled Non-Stop, which highlights Hamilton’s unrivaled work ethic, the chorus asks him most poignantly: “Why do you write like you’re running out of time?” Like most of us, he was doing it to make a name for himself, to glorify himself, to leave a legacy. Hamilton’s work ethic was not the problem though. As we will see tomorrow, if we view our work as a calling and work for the glory of our Caller rather than ourselves, we have proper motivation to write, work, and create like we’re running out of time.