Video link: https://youtu.be/qEF4vi17DMs
To begin the second act, we see the return of Thomas Jefferson, one of America's ambassadors who worked with France during the American Revolutionary War. To make it easier, this song will be interpreted line by line.
"How does a bastard orphan/Immigrant decorated war vet/Unite the colonies through more debt?" - Hamilton proposed a financial plan to help America break out of its massive debt from fighting the war with Britain. His plan included 3 things: the establishment of a national bank, the federal government paying off all the states' debts, and imposing tariffs on imported goods to encourage domestic manufacturing. This line in the song refers to the assumption of state debts. Hamilton wants the federal government to pay the states' debts so the government will gain the states' trust, and make the country more unified.
"Not so fast, someone came along to resist him/Pissed him off until we had a two-party system" - Jefferson came back to America and opposed Hamilton's financial plan. Lots of other disagreements between the two contributed to the creation of 2 separate political parties: the Federalists (Hamilton) and the Democratic Republicans. Federalists support the North, manufacturing, and the rich merchants. Democratic Republicans support the South, farming, and poor people.
Thomas Jefferson in the musical Hamilton
"France is following us to revolution/There is no more status quo" - France followed America and began the French Revolution. Many other countries also started revolting against their oppressing superior, leading to the Haitian Revolution, the Latin American revolution, and a few more.
"It says the President's assembling a cabinet/And that I am to be the Secretary of State, great!" - I quickly mentioned this earlier, but Washington, when he became president, created the president's cabinet, which included a Secretary of Treasury and Secretary of State. Jefferson was selected to be Secretary of State, which manages foreign and international affairs.
"Hamilton's new financial plan is nothing less than government control" - One more thing to note: Federalists support a strong central government, while Democratic Republicans support a weak central government. Hamilton wants to create a national bank and have the federal government assume state debts, which increases the power of the federal government. Democratic Republicans don't want the federal government to have more power, so that's another reason for them to oppose this (although I wouldn't go as far as to say Hamilton's financial plan is government control).