"Best of Wives and Best of Women" is the 21st song of Act Two of Hamilton, and the 44th song of the overall musical.
Before dawn of the duel between himself and Burr, Alexander pens a final letter for Eliza, to be received by her in the event of his death. Eliza catches him writing and urges him to return to bed, but he insists that he needs to finish the letter. He lovingly compliments her, calling her the "best of wives and best of women", before setting off to the site of the duel in Weehawken, New Jersey.
This line "best of wives and best of women", was on the dedication page of Ron Chernow's book, which inspired Hamilton. It originates Hamilton's farewell letter to Eliza, detailing information of his death by the hand of Burr. He signs the letter with
'Adieu best of wives and best of Women. Embrace all my darling Children for me.
Ever yours
A H'
Lyrics[]
[ELIZA]
Alexander, come back to sleep
[HAMILTON]
I have an early meeting out of town
[ELIZA]
It's still dark outside
[HAMILTON]
I know, I just need to write something down
[ELIZA]
Why do you write like you're running out of time?
[HAMILTON]
Shh
[ELIZA]
Come back to bed. That would be enough
[HAMILTON]
I'll be back before you know I'm gone
[ELIZA]
Come back to sleep
[HAMILTON]
This meeting's at dawn
[ELIZA]
Well, I'm going back to sleep
[HAMILTON]
Hey.
Best of wives and best of women...
Trivia[]
- In the lead-up to the 10th Anniversary of Hamilton in August 2025, an audio clip of this song went viral on social media as a lip-sync trend, with various users changing the context of the song to Hamilton trying to sneak out of the house in various comical creative ways, usually through a window. Lin-Manuel Miranda acknowledged the trend in a video showcasing his Madame Tussaud's wax figure, casting himself as Hamilton and the figure as Eliza. Phillipa Soo also lip-synced to Eliza's part in front of a window prop in a video filmed at the premiere of the Hamilton pro-shot at the Delacorte Theater on September 3, 2025. Both Soo and Miranda recreated the trend live during the song at the subsequent screening, with Miranda "sneaking" out of the theater and Soo miming for him to return to his seat.