More John Adams thoughts

I know this is not an original thought but it occurred to me as I watched some of the second episode of HBO’s John Adams again. What an extraordinary collection of individuals gathered in 1776 and 1787 and the surrounding years. I don’t count just those who fought or debated in Philadelphia and elsewhere, but count Abigail Adams (and others), too, though I probably wouldn’t have until recently reading Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis who included her as a brother.

By no means do I discount the two original sins of the founding, slavery and the Native American issue. From what I gather, most historians think the former simply not solvable in 1787 and the conscientious plan was to kick that can down the road 20 years to be addressed later. The latter was presumably to be handled through assimilation. That sounds rather like a Chinese or Borg tactic today but then was seen as charitable and probably inevitable.

Late 18th century and probably the most extraordinary piece of technology these folks commonly possessed were eyeglasses. (Apparently, Washington used his glasses to great dramatic effect later in life when he wanted to persuade by appearing somewhat frailer than he was...a heavy sigh while reaching into his pocket so that he could read what had been placed in front of him.) Population small compared to Great Britain. Economy almost nothing compared to the mother country.

By focusing on Adams, probably the most underappreciated of the group, and Abigail, players such as Washington, Franklin and Jefferson become their supporting cast and that just staggers. I’m sure that later in the series we’ll be similarly introduced to figures such as Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. And those are just the Big 8. I mentioned John Dickinson earlier, the Pennsylvania Quaker who agreed to be absent at the final vote so that Adams could persuade South Carolina to vote in the affirmative because there were no nay votes, only an abstention from New York. Dickinson did serve as an officer in the militia briefly even after arguing persuasively against the separation from Britain.

That these characters should all come together at the same place and time and get so much right just amazes me. We’ve got 300,000,000 now and the best we can come up with for 16 years is Bill Clinton and George W. Bush? What if the cast had been different?

Instead of Jefferson, Elliot Spitzer;
Adams, Rush Limbaugh;
Madison, James Carville;
Washington, Wesley Clark;
Franklin, Tom DeLay;
Abigail, Ann Coulter;
Jay, Ted Rall?