John Adams: Independence

Eric
I never knew the founding fathers were so cool.

I grew up studying history in school thinking that those men were larger-than-life heroes and impossible to know on a personal level. Maybe those funny white wigs they wore and their high ideals about liberty and government made them seem unattainable to me. After viewing this second installment of the John Adams HBO miniseries, I feel like I know them better. They were brought down to my level as well as a made-for-TV movie can--they were human. They rocked.

One way the movie makes them seem real to me is the nonchalant way in which each player is introduced. A merchant marine steps off his ship at the Boston Harbor docks; we learn his name is John Hancock. The rascally man from Pennsylvania that can hardly be bothered to stand up and cast his votes in the Continental Congress is none other than Benjamin Franklin. The tall, gravely-voiced man dressed like a double-sized Napoleon is George Washington. The shy, tight-lipped man who refuses to speak up at the assembly is Thomas Jefferson.

Each time one of these characters first appears, you get a thrill when you realize who they are and what is in store for them during this heroic period of American history.

Another way the movie makes each hero accessible to me is the fact that they have flaws they must acknowledge and sometimes overcome to contribute to the birth of a country. John Adams himself was a hothead, with no patience for tact and diplomacy. In the opening scene of this segment, we see Adams cross-talking to John Dickenson as he makes a conciliatory speech to Congress. Mr. Dickenson stops to glare at Mr. Adams after every sentence. Hilarious.

Ben Franklin would have fit right in today's government quite well, I think. He understood the art of political double speak brilliantly. I never knew he was such a scamp. Witness this conversation between him and John Adams, when Adams sought out Franklin to vent his frustrations regarding the lack of progress in Congress:

Adams: "Do you not believe in saying what you think?"

Franklin: "Oh, I am very much against it."

Thomas Jefferson was my favorite character in this episode. He quietly absorbs all that goes around him but never speaks up. "I have no gift for oratory," he says. When he does speak, though, he does so passionately. The first thing we hear him say concerns his "affection" for Philadelphia. "When will we escape this dreadful city?" Philadelphia: once, and always, the city of brotherly love.

Jefferson then drops a bombshell on John Adams by speaking his true mind regarding his anti-British sentiment: "I would gladly lend my hand to sink the whole island of Great Britain into the ocean." Adams is the king of the incredulous look, and the one he gives Jefferson after this invective is priceless. He remembers Jefferson's passion later, however, when he needs someone to draft a declaration of independence. Adams says he can't do it himself for the obvious reason that he is "obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular." At least he is honest and authentic.

A few weeks later we see Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson in Jefferson's study poring over the now-famous document in the climactic scene for me. Hearing those ageless words spoken for the first time was another big thrill: "We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable." Sacred and undeniable?

Franklin speaks his mind this time, to Jefferson's chagrin. "These truths are self-evident, are they not?"

Thomas Jefferson, quietly seething, shrugs his hand in a barely perceptible movement and responds that each word was chosen with precision. Franklin fires back that every man in the congress will have a hand on the document. Adams could care less. He is thrilled that he finally has his instrument of defiance to wave under the king's nose. "I will defend every word of it," he says confidently.

The flashpoint is over, and the three men agree to present the document to Congress. Benjamin Franklin then spins gleefully in his chair. "This really is a marvelous invention, Mr. Jefferson."

"Yes, I went through several variations. This is by far the most successful." I thought at first he was talking about the Declaration. He continued speaking, and I then realized he was talking about the chair that Dr. Franklin was spinning in. Yes, these are the founding fathers--heroes and ordinary men.

Soon the Declaration of Independence will be unleashed on the world, but first the historic vote on independence must take place in Congress. Before the vote, John Adams gets his chance to speak his mind to the assembly using his pent-up emotions, emboldened by the eloquent document before him.

"While I live, let me have a country. A free country!"

Amen.

Kelly
I think the founding mothers were rock stars, too.

I want to be like Abigail Adams when I grow up. Her strength, her honesty, her determination, and her wit shine through brilliantly in this segment. She represents the women who persevered during these times and held their families together no matter what they had to face. Women were equal partners in the fight for independence. They often don't get much mention in the history books, but their story is front and center in this series.

The chapter opens with the familiar historical giants of the Continental Congress quarreling over whether or not to defy their mother country. They are considering a dangerous act of treason, and their debates are not mere words. They may be signing their own death warrants. What we see next is that the horrors faced at home during this time in our country's history were equally frightening.

In an early scene, Abigail is alone on the farm. John is in Philadelphia. It is the middle of the night, and she comforts her children when they hear enemy gunfire outside their window. They cling to her for courage, and she holds them throughout the night. Days later, she hands out water to the wounded soldiers straggling along the road in front of her house. I wondered what it must have been like for her to see Boston burning across the water and not have any idea when--or if--her husband would return from Philadelphia. She sees a face she recognizes in a cart filled with dead bodies that rolls past. The blood of war is on her doorstep. In yet another scene, we see her at the threshold with a rifle in her hands in the pouring rain. She will protect her family to the death, just like all the brave men fighting for liberty.

When John comes home again to visit, he relays the news of Congress. Abigail is annoyed and never afraid to speak her mind. 

"Send a woman to the Congress," Abigail says. "She might knock some sense into them."

"This is not a question of men and women, Abigail. It is a matter of politics."

"Politics? And do women not live politics, John Adams? When I go to the cupboard, and I find no coffee, no sugar, no pins, no meat . . . am I not living politics? This war touches people that your congress treats with the same contempt King George reserves for the people of Boston. I mean women, yes, and slaves, too, for that matter. Though, I am sure you wish that I not mention that subject, as it might upset your southern friends."

She's not messing around. She's mad, she's frightened, she's cold, and she's sick of men making all the decisions. I love this lady!

Abigail can't take part in the decisions, but she can scrub the floors, make bullets, care for her children, and reassure John that she will manage. You see the frustration and determination in her eyes when she's on her hands and knees with a bucket of cold water and a scrubbing stone. Her loneliness seeps from every part of her body as she wearily goes about her chores alone and takes a moment here and there to read a letter from John.

Another great scene is when George Washington pays Abigail a visit. She looks so meek and proper sitting across from him with her hands folded on her lap, but she lets General Washington have it. She asks this towering man, the head of the Continental Army and a southern slave owner, if their bleak situation might be God's punishment for the sin of slavery. This woman was fearless--and quite ahead of her time!

In another gutsy move, Abigail asks a doctor to inoculate her family against smallpox. This was a painful and unproven method, and many died from the inoculation itself. It was a great risk, and she made the life-and-death decision on her own. The scene depicting their inoculation is heartbreaking and reveals one example of the kind of literal pain that men, women, and children experienced in the colonies. Abigail goes first and grits her teeth but then smiles reassuringly at her children. Then, one by one, each child faces the knife while sitting on their mother's lap.

Nabby says, "What about Papa?"

"Papa is not here," Abigail replies. "We must depend on ourselves."

They all get sick from the inoculation, and Nabby nearly dies. Abigail presses on in an astonishing example of strength and nurses her child, almost defying death to take her from her arms. Nabby pulls through, and in a triumphant scene she reads a copy of the new Declaration of Independence with her mother and brothers who gather around her bed.

There were equal shares of sacrifice given throughout the colonies during these historic years. They came from men, women, and children. This segment is a wonderful example of how the founding fathers do not deserve all the glory.