2) is interesting! I think, especially going to high school in the US south, I spent a lot of time being told that the proper way to relate to history is to Not Impose Your Morals On Other Times, and it's really hard to find a way to relate to history in that context -- the easy alternative is just to erase your own subjectivity. And as a result, I had no idea it was even POSSIBLE for me to feel passion about American history. (I am originally Canadian, so I have a complicated relationship to US patriotism.)

I think what I needed, that Hamilton gives me, is permission to engage with what's going on on some OTHER level than either "the founding fathers are saints because AMERICA" or "the founding fathers are awful because SLAVERY" -- to have both things in there, but ultimately to make Hamilton and Washington and Jefferson and Burr into people with ordinary human problems.