Review: A realistic take on the founding of the United States from the perspective of the second president, John Adams. Starting with the Boston Massacre where Adams defended the British Soldiers in court to his death on the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this mini-series reveals the founding fathers as real men instead of heroic icons, their groundbreaking accomplishments mixed with their faults. An amazing cast!
Quotes:
"You do not need to quote great men to show you are one."
"The time for negotiation is past. The actions of the British army at Lexington and Concord speak plainly enough. If we wish to regain our natural-born rights as Englishmen then we must fight for them."
"My dearest friend, the break is made and now our work begins. You will think me transported with enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these states. It is the will of Heaven that the two countries should be sundered forever. It may be the will of Heaven that America shall suffer calamities still more wasting and distresses yet more dreadful. Yet through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory and that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction."
"Have you learned nothing, Mr. Adams? If you continue to exasperate and antagonize these people..."
"As I did in Philadelphia and we declared independence, you recall."
"In Philadelphia we negotiated independence."
"Well, you may be as patient and accommodating as you like, doctor, but for myself, I will not voluntarily put on the chains of France while I am struggling to throw off those of Great Britain!"
"The charge of vanity is the last refuge of little wits and of mercenary quacks! I have long learned, that a man may give offense, and he may still succeed!"
"Paris is unique."
"Yes, and best enjoyed in the company of women."
"Women would add interest to many things, Mr. Jefferson, if men would allow it."
"Well, that has been my experience, Ms. Adams."
"The English love an insult. It's their only test of a man's sincerity."
"There is an opinion among some people, Mr. Adams, that you are not the most attached of all your countrymen to the manners of France."
"Yes, well, I avow to your majesty that I have no attachment to any country but my own."
"An honest man will never have any other."
"Abigail. Here's a fine culmination to all my years of service - fewer than half the votes of the electoral college. General Washington is unanimously acclaimed President with 69 votes, whereas I apparently am scorned by all but 34 of the electors."
"My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived."
"I've been, as you know, in revolutionary France, where the streets are filled with the songs of Liberty and Brotherhood, and the overthrow of ancient tyrannies of Europe. And to return from there to this, our cradle of revolution, and find the dinner table chatter is all of money, and banks, and authority, is an unwelcome surprise."
"Unwelcome perhaps, but necessary."
"Mr. President."
"Thank you, sir. Thank you."
"I am fairly out, and you are fairly in. See which of us will be the happiest."
"My thoughts are so clear to me... each one takes perfect shape within my mind. But when I speak, when I offer them to others, they seem to lose all definition."
5 out of 5 Stars
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