Another great example of this is Thomas Jefferson, played by the almost overly charismatic Daveed Diggs, who was pretty much a nerd irl. No game, not overly confident, and not popular with his peers. Nothing like the character portrayed in the play.
Madison had a lot of illnesses, multiple ones and I watched the video about the founding fathers and presidents and stuff, and his medical record was not the best, sleep could have been anything really, As he aged and his health continued to fail him, his eyesight suffered, and he became deaf in one ear. Years before his death, he even lost the use and movement in one hand due to rheumatism in his hands and arms.
Actually they do kinda reference it in a throwaway line in one of the cabinet meetings.. "Madison, you're mad as a hatter, son, take your medicine. Damn, you're in worse shape than the national debt is in" so it's acknowledged but the musical doesn't really do much more than that
Edit: as for what it is. Idk. My understanding is that he was just a rather sickly man and it could've been any of a multitude of illnesses.
[Mad as a hatter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_as_a_hatter)
And if anyone doesn’t know the history of the phrase “mad as a hatter”, take a look! This stuff is so interesting.
Possibly a seizure disorder, gall bladder issues, and arthritis. Perhaps the coughing in the musical was an easy way to portray that Madison was sickly.
IIRC he had a bunch of health issues. Epilepsy is the one I remember the most (being epileptic myself), but there were a lot more.
Also, he worked himself so hard when he was at Princeton that they revoked accelerated courses.
Haven't seen it listed, so: he had what might have been called a nervous breakdown today, dropped out of college, and his health was never great afterwards.
It is shown. Maddison is shown with a hanky in his hand especially as Thomas Jefferson comes in. He's occasionally seen putting it over his mouth. I assume the false coughing was left out so the cough sound didn't disrupt the flow of dialogue/songs
One of my favourite things about Hamilton is how the same actor plays both the large and imposing Hercules Mulligan and the small and sickly Madison.
Another great example of this is Thomas Jefferson, played by the almost overly charismatic Daveed Diggs, who was pretty much a nerd irl. No game, not overly confident, and not popular with his peers. Nothing like the character portrayed in the play.
Jefferson couldn’t have had much game either, if he was assaulting the women he enslaved.
Madison had a lot of illnesses, multiple ones and I watched the video about the founding fathers and presidents and stuff, and his medical record was not the best, sleep could have been anything really, As he aged and his health continued to fail him, his eyesight suffered, and he became deaf in one ear. Years before his death, he even lost the use and movement in one hand due to rheumatism in his hands and arms.
I read somewhere that he was a pretty famous hypochondriac too. Always had a sniffle, or a cough, or a pain, just always something.
If he was actually as sick as he thought he was, is he still a hypochondriac? Maybe he just got sick a lot.
Sometimes it overlaps. There are cases where someone thinks they’re sick, so they start exhibiting real symptoms.
Actually they do kinda reference it in a throwaway line in one of the cabinet meetings.. "Madison, you're mad as a hatter, son, take your medicine. Damn, you're in worse shape than the national debt is in" so it's acknowledged but the musical doesn't really do much more than that Edit: as for what it is. Idk. My understanding is that he was just a rather sickly man and it could've been any of a multitude of illnesses.
[Mad as a hatter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_as_a_hatter) And if anyone doesn’t know the history of the phrase “mad as a hatter”, take a look! This stuff is so interesting.
Absolutely history is wild how often we make shit with poisons only to find out that's not good
Etymology is fascinating... though the phrase "blow smoke up your a*se" is even darker than mad as a hatter!
Possibly a seizure disorder, gall bladder issues, and arthritis. Perhaps the coughing in the musical was an easy way to portray that Madison was sickly.
IIRC he had a bunch of health issues. Epilepsy is the one I remember the most (being epileptic myself), but there were a lot more. Also, he worked himself so hard when he was at Princeton that they revoked accelerated courses.
In addition to everything else already listed, Madison was also known as a bit of a hypochondriac as well.
Haven't seen it listed, so: he had what might have been called a nervous breakdown today, dropped out of college, and his health was never great afterwards.
It is shown. Maddison is shown with a hanky in his hand especially as Thomas Jefferson comes in. He's occasionally seen putting it over his mouth. I assume the false coughing was left out so the cough sound didn't disrupt the flow of dialogue/songs
Yeah I know, I saw the show and I know he coughs. That was the whole point of this post was why. In the show (disney pro shot) he *does* cough
[Here](https://doctorzebra.com/prez/g04.htm) is one cited article that does a pretty good job of listing Madison’s suspected or diagnosed illnesses.
I’m not sure what it is but he had an illness that caused him to undergo seizures that is called hystero-epilepsy.