Best of Wives and Best of Women

Though the song was not a part of the Vassar College performance of The Hamilton Mixtape, the precursor to the Broadway musical, in 2013,^[2][3] it was included in the musical when it premiered at The Public Theater, in 2015.^[4]

Former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, having arranged a dawn duel with then U.S. vice president Aaron Burr, and anticipating his death,^[5][6] is writing late into the night, when his wife Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, Eliza, asks him to "come back to sleep".^[7] Alexander explains in an affectionate manner,^[8] that he's just writing something before he has to leave for a "meeting" at dawn, and Eliza, echoing sentiments, and leitmotif, expressed in That Would Be Enough, and Take a Break,^[9] assures him that his presence is enough. Hamilton's last words to Eliza in the song, and in the musical before his death, are "best of wives and best of women".^[10]

The song features some of the words, including its title,^[11] featured in the real Hamilton's last letter to his wife.^[12][13] The chords are those from "It's Quiet Uptown".^[14] It does not feature the ensemble cast.^[15] In 2020, Jennifer Forestal and Menaka Philips of The Washington Post listed the song as evidence of Hamilton's acknowledgement of the "unsung labors of wives", echoing Hamilton's historically attested devotion to Eliza.^[11]

Artist Stef Masciandaro's painting inspired by the song was featured in Arielle Jovellos's art collection, "#Ham4Pamphlet", inspired by the songs of the musical.^[16][17]

In July 2025, Irish TikToker Zoe Coyle, actuallyhamilt0n, posted a clip portraying Alexander attempting to sneak out of a window, as a lip dub to the track.^[18][19][20] Released around the ten year anniversary of the Broadway musical, re-enactments of the clip began to trend on TikTok and other short video platforms.^{[21][22][19][23]} Many of the recreations featured gender flipped portrayals.^[24]

At a screening of the film version of the musical, in September 2025, actors Lin-Manuel Miranda and Phillipa Soo re-enacted the trend in the audience.^[25][26][27] Soo had also recreated it at a pre-screening photoshoot.^[28]