Helpless

"Helpless" is the tenth song from Act 1 of the musical Hamilton, based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, which premiered on Broadway in 2015. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote both the music and lyrics to the song. Synopsis This song focuses on the romance and eventual wedding of Eliza Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton. Eliza is introduced to Hamilton by her sister Angelica during a ball held while the Army is stationed in Morristown for the winter in early 1780. They immediately start a correspondence and Hamilton wastes no time in asking Eliza's father Philip Schuyler for his permission to marry his daughter, which is granted. Hamilton shares with Eliza his concerns regarding his orphanhood and lack of wealth and station, but Eliza dismisses them and the song ends on the notes of the Bridal Chorus played at their wedding. Historical differences Although the musical Hamilton is based on true events, Miranda uses dramatic license in retelling the story. Here, the main differences are: Eliza was alone in Morristown when she first met Hamilton in early February of 1780, a guest of her paternal aunt Gertrude and Gertrude's husband Dr. John Cochran. Angelica had eloped with John Barker Church three years before she first met Hamilton at her sister's wedding in December 1780, when she was already mother of two of her eight children with Church.