1776

Considering that this is July 4th, it is a perfect time to post about this, one of my favorite movies. It is the story of the Continental Congress and their debates on independence, concluding with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and it has the "obnoxious and disliked" John Adams as the main character. It's funny, it's moving, it's surprisingly historically accurate (it uses many lines from historical letters and documents in the dialogue), and it has great songs. Unfortunately, it does suffer from some bawdy remarks by Franklin (they got his character a little too correct for comfort) and a great deal of taking the Lord's name in vain. But it is an excellent movie. Here are my favorite quotes:


Abigail: I never asked for more. After all, I am Mrs. John Adams and that's quite enough for one lifetime.
John Adams: Is it, Abby?
Abigail: Well, think of it, John, to be married to the man who is always the first in line to be hanged!

John Adams:
I do believe you've laid a curse on North America
A curse that we now here rehearse in Philadelphia
A second flood, a simple famine
Plagues of locusts everywhere
Or a cataclysmic earthquake
I'd accept with some despair
But, no, you sent us Congress.
Good God, sir, was that fair?

I say it with humility in Philadelphia
We're your responsibility in Philadelphia
If you don't want to see us hanging
From some far-off British hill
If you don't want the voice of independency forever still
Then God, sir, get thee to it
For Congress never will

They may sit here for years and years in Philadelphia.
These indecisive grenadiers of Philadelphia.
They can't agree on what is right and wrong
Or what is good or bad; I'm convinced
The only purpose this Congress ever had
Was to gather here specifically
To drive John Adams mad!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Please Mr. Dickinson, but must you start banging? How is a man to sleep?
[laughter from Congress]
John Dickinson: Forgive me, Dr. Franklin, but must YOU start speaking? How is a man to stay awake?
[More laughter]
John Dickinson: We'll promise to be quiet - I'm sure everyone prefers that you remained asleep.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: If I'm to hear myself called an Englishman, sir, I assure you I prefer I'd remained asleep.

John Adams: I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace; that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a Congress!

John Adams: Well, Franklin, where's that idiot Lee? Is he back yet? I don't see him.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Softly, John, your voice is hurting my foot.

[Adams has barged into Jefferson's room, accompanied by Franklin, to read the results of Jefferson's work on the Declaration of Independence]
John Adams: You've had a whole week, man. Is it done? Can I SEE IT?
[Jefferson indicates dozens of rejected drafts strewn crumpled about his floor]
John Adams: Do you mean to say that it is NOT YET FINISHED?
Thomas Jefferson: No sir. I mean to say that it is not yet begun.
John Adams: (stands in shock) A whole week! The entire earth was created in a week!
Thomas Jefferson: Someday, you must tell me how you did it.
John Adams: [regards him for a moment] Disgusting.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Treason is a charge invented by winners as an excuse for hanging the losers.
John Adams: [scoffs] I have more to do than stand here and listen to you quote yourself.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [protests] Oh John, that was a new one!

John Adams: This is a revolution, blast it! We're going to have to offend SOMEbody!

[as they stand on the sidewalk below Jefferson's apartment]
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Don't worry, John. The history books will clean it up.
John Adams: It doesn't matter. I won't be in the history books anyway, only you. Franklin did this and Franklin did that and Franklin did some other thing. Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George Washington, fully grown and on his horse. Franklin then electrified him with his miraculous lightning rod and the three of them- Franklin, Washington, and the horse- conducted the entire revolution by themselves.
[pause while Franklin ponders]
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: I like it.

Dickinson: Are you saying that we publish a paper saying that an illegal rebellion is in fact legal?
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh, Mr. Dickinson, I’m surprised at you. You must know that a rebellion is always legal in the first person, such as "our rebellion." It is only in the third person - "their rebellion" - that it becomes illegal.

Hancock: Step right up to sign it, gentlemen. Don't miss your chance to commit treason.
(laughter from Congress)
Franklin: I’ve got this right: this paper is our passport to the gallows. Nevertheless, if we do not hang together, we most assuredly hang separately.
(laughter from Congress)
Hancock: Excuse me gentlemen if I don't join in the merriment, but if we are arrested now, MY name is still the only one ON THE THING!

John Adams: Now you'll write it, Mr. J.
Thomas Jefferson: Who will make me, Mr. A?
John Adams: I.
Thomas Jefferson: You?
John Adams: Yes!
[Jefferson steps up, towering over Adams, and looks down at him]
Thomas Jefferson: How?
John Adams: [tapping Jefferson’s chest with the pen] By physical force, if necessary.

John Adams: [speaking of Congress] Why can’t they make up their minds? With one hand they can raise an army, dispatch one of their own to lead it, and cheer the news from Bunker Hill; while with the other they wave the olive branch, begging the king for a happy and permanent rebellion. Fat George has declared us in rebellion! Why can't they?

Richard Henry Lee: You've come to the one colony that can get job done: Virginia. The land that gave us our glorious commander in chief, George Washington, will now give the congress its proposal on independence. Where Virginia goes the south is bound to follow. And where the south goes, the middle colonies go! Gentlemen, a salute to Virginia, the mother of American independence!
John Adams: Incredible. We're free and he hasn't even left yet.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Tell me, Mr. Wilson, when you were a judge, how in hell did you ever make a decision?
James Wilson: The decisions I made were based on legality and precedent. But there is no legality here, and certainly no precedent.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [losing his temper] Because, it's a new idea, you CLOT! We'll be making our own precedent!

John Adams: Mark me, Franklin... if we give in on this issue [slavery], posterity will never forgive us.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: That's probably true, but we won't hear a thing, we'll be long gone. Besides, what would posterity think we were? Demi-gods? We're men, no more no less, trying to get a nation started against greater odds than a more generous God would have allowed. First things first, John. Independence; America. If we don't secure that, what difference will the rest make?

John Dickinson: Fortunately, the people maintain a higher regard for their mother country.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Higher, certainly, than she feels for them. Never was such a valuable possession so stupidly and recklessly managed, than this entire continent by the British crown. Our industry discouraged, our resources pillaged... first of all our very character stifled. We've spawned a new race here, Mr. Dickinson. Rougher, simpler; more violent, more enterprising; less refined. We're a new nationality. We require a new nation.

John Dickinson: Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Lee, Mr. Hopkins, Dr. Franklin, why have you joined this... incendiary little man, this Boston radical? This demagogue, this MADMAN?
John Adams: Are you calling me a madman, you, you... you FRIBBLE!
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Easy John.
John Adams: You cool, considerate men. You hang to the rear on every issue so that if we should go under, you'll still remain afloat!
John Dickinson: Are you calling me a coward?
John Adams: Yes... coward!
John Dickinson: Madman!
John Adams: Landlord!
John Dickinson: LAWYER!
[a brawl breaks out]

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Those who would give up some of their liberty in order to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

John Adams: Franklin, where have you been?
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Right here, John, being preserved for posterity. Do you like it?
[John walks around to look at the painting]
John Adams: It stinks.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: As ever, the soul of tact.
John Adams: Well, the man's no Botticelli.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin: And the subject's no Venus.

Dickinson: Pennsylvania moves, as ever, that the subject of independence be postponed indefinitely.
Wilson: I second the motion.
Hancock: Judge Wilson, in your eagerness to be loved you seem to have forgotten that Pennsylvania CANNOT SECOND ITS OWN MOTION!

John Adams: [alone in the Chamber of Congress]
Is anybody there? Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?
They want to me to quit; they say
“John, give up the fight”
Still to England I say
Good night, forever, good night!
For I have crossed the Rubicon
Let the bridge be burned behind me
Come what may, come what may

The croakers all say we'll rue the day
There'll be hell to pay in fiery purgatory
Through all the gloom, through all the gloom
I see the rays of ravishing light and glory!
Is anybody there? Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?

I see fireworks! I see the pageant and
Pomp and parade
I hear the bells ringing out
I hear the cannons roar
I see Americans - all Americans
Free forever more
Is anybody there? Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?