'Hamilton' Musical: House Candidate Confuses Lin-Manuel Miranda Lyrics with Founding Father

For years, Lin-Manuel Miranda's White House performance of what would become Broadway smash Hamilton has helped teachers all over America show students a little bit about a little-known Founding Father, but it seems some people haven't quite realized the lyrics are fictionalized. House candidate Oliver Rosenberg "quoted" Alexander Hamilton ... by reciting the lyrics to "My Shot" on a debate.

According to The Gothamist, Rosenberg, who was challenging 10th Congressional District incumbent Jerry Nadler for the Democratic nomination, tried to quote the Founding Father without a father by actually reciting lyrics from the most expensive Broadway musical in town.

"As Alexander Hamilton says, 'This is not a moment, this is the movement. Foes oppose us, we take an honest stand. We roll like Moses claiming our promised land,'" Rosenberg said on WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show. "Rise up, rise up and vote."

As die-hard fans of the musical will know, the first bit of the quote is a direct recitation of the third song, "My Shot," and the second bit is the track's leitmotif. Besides Miranda and his alternate Javier Muñoz in the role of Alexander Hamilton, there's no recorded evidence anywhere that the real-life Hamilton actually said or wrote that.

Of course, Rosenberg could be well aware that he was reciting words to a musical instead of a historical figure, but the wording in this case didn't really make this very clear. Not long after the original piece about the quote became viral, Rosenberg took to Twitter to publish a short statement regarding the mishap, saying it was "an obvious reference to Broadway's biggest hit."

Ultimately, Rosenberg was defeated in the primary election last Tuesday.

It's not the first time the period rap musical makes its way into the current political arena. According to Broadway World, back in November, now Democratic Party presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton tweeted about a Republican debate by reciting another song, "Cabinet Battle #1."

Hamilton, a hip-hop musical, follows the story of Alexander Hamilton, the "bastard, orphan, son of a whore and Scotsman" on the $10 bill, best known as the first Treasure Secretary of the United States and the creator of the country's financial system as well as founder of the Coast Guard. The show has been a smash, with tickets going up to thousands of dollars and bagging a Grammy, 11 Tonys and even a Pulitzer Award for Drama.