The inevitable 4th of July quoteathon

[neadods]

Actual John Adams quote: "The history of our Revolution will be one continued lie from one end to the other. The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin's electrical rod smote the earth and out sprang General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his rod - and thenceforward these two conducted all the policies, negotiations, legislatures, and war."

1776 may have been a musical comedy, but it was more accurate historically than many a book published as history nowadays.

Comments

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

Poor John Adams just assumed he'd be forgotten, because he was... what is it, something and unpopular?

At least he had a great marriage, despite being apart for a lot of the time. One of my favorite lines from their letters is when Abigail teases him about turning 60, and he replies that if he had her within grabbing distance he'd show her he wasn't a day over 40.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I sometimes think that the reason why their marriage was so happy and passionate was because they didn't live with each other day in and day out.

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

It wasn't for lack of trying. After he'd spent years on and off in Philly getting the government established, he was home at last. He was off in another town doing a legal case when a letter came from someone official and Abigail opened it, as was usual. When she found out that they wanted to send him to FRANCE for years, she ripped the poor sender a new one. But John went, and she eventually joined him for a while.