Lin-Manuel Miranda pulled his Hamilton musical from the Kennedy Center rather than perform for Trump's America.
Ron DeSantis just put a bronze statue of the real Alexander Hamilton on the banks of the Suwannee River.
One man canceled Hamilton, but the other just made him permanent.
Florida Puts Hamilton Where He Belongs
On Tuesday, Governor DeSantis traveled to Hamilton County in North Florida to unveil a new bronze statue of America's first Secretary of the Treasury – planted in the county that has borne his name for nearly 200 years.
The statue stands in White Springs along the historic Suwannee River, part of Florida's Founding Father statue series: a statewide initiative placing monuments in Florida counties named after the men who built this country.
DeSantis didn't mince words about why Hamilton earned the honor.
"His participation in the fight for independence, his contributions to writing the Federalist Papers, his public service as a diplomat and 'Father of the Treasury,' and his role as a confidante to George Washington made Hamilton an indispensable figure in our nation's history," the Governor said.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2031794418705961104?s=20
That's not revisionism.
That's just the record.
Hamilton was a teenager drilling with the New York militia when most men were still deciding which side to take.
He fought at Trenton, Princeton, and Yorktown.
Washington made him his most trusted aide-de-camp in 1777 – the man who helped hold the Continental Army together.
When Washington became president, the choice for Treasury Secretary wasn't even close.
The Man Who Saved the American Economy
Here's something the Broadway version never bothered explaining.
When Hamilton took the job in 1789, the United States was broke.
War debt had nearly destroyed the federal government.
The currency was worthless.
There was no banking system, no national credit, no financial foundation of any kind.
Hamilton built all of it from scratch.
He stabilized the debt, established public credit, and pushed through the First Bank of the United States over the loud objections of both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
He wrote 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers defending the Constitution.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2031750823588319394?s=20
He founded the Revenue Cutter Service – what eventually became the United States Coast Guard.
He championed American manufacturing at a time when Jefferson thought the country should stay on its farms forever.
Historians at the Federal Reserve have credited Hamilton's banking framework as the direct foundation of the modern Federal Reserve System.
Within a century of his work, the United States had become the largest economy on earth.
That isn't a coincidence.
That's what one man with a vision and no patience for failure can do.
Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd noted Tuesday that Hamilton's Florida connection runs deeper than a name on a county line.
As a congressional delegate, Hamilton pushed for American access to the Mississippi River and helped shape Pinckney's Treaty of 1795 – the agreement that drew the boundary still separating Florida and Georgia today.
After the Adams-Onís Treaty brought Florida into the United States in 1819, President Monroe appointed Hamilton's son, Alexander Hamilton Jr., as U.S. District Attorney for East Florida.
The family helped lay the territory's legal foundation. Hamilton County was established in 1827 and named in their honor.
While Miranda Boycotts, DeSantis Builds
Here's what makes Tuesday's ceremony worth more than a history lesson.
In early 2025, Lin-Manuel Miranda – the man who built a Broadway empire celebrating Alexander Hamilton – pulled his musical from the Kennedy Center rather than perform under Trump's leadership.
Miranda and producer Jeffrey Seller announced they couldn't in good conscience participate in what they called the "Trump Kennedy Center."
The show that made Hamilton a household name again chose a political statement over a performance.
https://twitter.com/ReOpenChris/status/2031741266640212114?s=20
DeSantis went the other direction entirely.
While the entertainment left was busy canceling Hamilton from Washington's most famous stage, Florida was casting him in bronze and setting him on a riverbank for every generation to see.
No boycott. No press release about conscience.
Just a governor who believes the men who built this republic deserve to be honored – not leveraged for royalties, and not held hostage to whatever the woke mob decides this week.
Florida is leading the nation in America's 250th anniversary celebrations. Monroe County has its Monroe. Hamilton County now has its Hamilton. Washington, Franklin, Madison, and Jefferson counties have all received the same treatment.
That's what loving your country actually looks like.
Sources:
- Governor's Press Office, "Governor Ron DeSantis Unveils Statue of 'Father of the Treasury' Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton County," Florida Governor's Office, March 11, 2026.
- Michael Costeines, "DeSantis Unveils Statue of Alexander Hamilton as Part of 'America 250,'" The Floridian, March 11, 2026.
- Danielle Shockey, "Florida Gov. DeSantis Unveils Tribute To Alexander Hamilton Along The Suwannee River," Tampa Free Press, March 11, 2026.
- Governor's Press Office, "Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Statewide Commemoration of America's 250th Birthday," Florida Governor's Office, 2026.
