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1776
A Musical Play
by

Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards

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1776

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1776

A Musical Play
Based on a conception of Sherman Edwards
Book by Peter Stone
Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards

Text Copyright © 1964 by Sherman Edwards: Copyright © 1969 by Peter Stone
Lyrics Copyright © 1964, 1968, 1969 by Sherman Edwards
Historical Notes Copyright © 1970 by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone

Scene 1

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. And by God, I have had this Congress!

Topic:

Politicians

John:
[...] Why damn it, Fat George has declared us in rebellion—why in bloody hell can’t they?

Franklin:
John, really! You talk as if independence were the rule! It’s never been done before! No colony has ever broken from the parent stem in the history of the world!

John:
Dammit, Franklin, you make us sound treasonous!

Franklin:
Do I? Treason—“Treason is a charge invented by winners as an excuse for hanging the losers.”

John:
I have more to do than stand here listening to you quote yourself.

Franklin:
No, that was a new one!

John:
[...] The people want independence!

Franklin:
The people have read Mr. Paine’s Common Sense. I doubt the Congress has.

Scene 3

Rutledge:
Where does Georgia stand on independence at the present time, Dr. Hall?

Hall:
I am here without instructions, able to vote my own personal convictions.

Rutledge:
And they are—?

Hall:
Personal.

Hall:
Good Lord, do you have the honor to be Dr. Franklin?

Franklin:
Yes, I have that honor—unfortunately the gout accompanies the honor.

Hopkins:
Been living too high again, eh, Pappy?

Franklin:
Stephen, I only wish King George felt like my big toe—all over!

Hancock:
I’m concerned over the continued absence of one-thirteenth of this Congress. Where is New Jersey?

Dickinson:
Somewhere between New York and Pennsylvania.

Hancock:
Thank you very much. Dr. Franklin, have you heard anything? Your son resides there.

Franklin:
Son, sir? What son?

Hancock:
The Royal Governor of New Jersey, sir.

Franklin:
As that title might suggest, sir, we are not in touch at the present time.

Hall:
Mr. Secretary— Georgia seems to be split right down the middle on this issue. The people are against it—and I’m for it.

But I’m afraid I’m not yet certain whether representing the people means relying on their judgment or on my own. So in all fairness, until I can figure it out, I’d better lean a little toward their side.

Dickinson:
What’s so terrible about being called an Englishman? The English don’t seem to mind.

Franklin:
Nor would I, were I given the full rights of an Englishman. But to call me one without those rights is like calling an ox a bull—he’s thankful for the honor but he’d much rather have restored what’s rightfully his.

Dickinson:
When did you first notice they were missing, sir?

Fortunately, Dr. Franklin, the people of these colonies maintain a higher regard for their mother country.

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.

Dickinson:
Mr. Jefferson, are you seriously suggesting that we publish a paper declaring to all the world that an illegal rebellion is, in reality, a legal one?

Franklin:
Why, Mr. Dickinson, I’m surprised at you! You should know that rebellion is always legal in the first person—such as “our” rebellion. It is only in the third person—“their” rebellion—that it is illegal.

Morris:
I’m sorry, Mr. President, but the simple fact is that our legislature has never sent us explicit instructions on anything.

Hancock:
Never? That’s impossible!

Morris:
Have you ever been present at a meeting of the New York legislature? They speak very fast and very loud and nobody pays any attention to anybody else, with the result that nothing ever gets done.

Topic:

Rhetoric

Scene 4

John:
[...] Do you mean to say it’s not finished?

Jefferson:
No, sir—I mean to say it’s not begun.

John:
Good God! A whole week! The entire earth was created in a week!

Jefferson:
Some day you must tell me how you did it.

Topic:

Writing

John:
Don’t be unreasonable, Abigail.

Abigail:
Now I’m unreasonable—you must add that to your list.

John:
List?

Abigail:
The catalogue of my faults you included in your last letter.

John:
They were fondly intended, madame!

Abigail:
That I play at cards badly?

John:
A compliment!

Abigail:
That my posture is crooked?

John:
An endearment!

Abigail:
That I read, write, and think too much?

John:
An irony!

Abigail:
That I am pigeon-toed?

John:
Ah, well, there you have me, Abby—I’m afraid you are pigeon-toed.

Topic:

Compliments

John:
[...] I mean, what will people think?

Franklin:
Don’t worry, John. The history books will clean it up.

John:
It doesn’t matter. I won’t appear in the history books, anyway—only you. Franklin did this, Franklin did that, Franklin did some other damned 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 all by themselves.

Franklin:
I like it!

Topic:

History

Scene 5

Dickinson:
[...] Be careful, sir. History will brand him and his followers as traitors!

Hancock:
Traitors to what, Mr. Dickinson—the British Crown? Or the British half-crown? Fortunately, there are not enough men of property in America to dictate policy.

Dickinson:
Perhaps not, but don’t forget that most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor. And that is why they will follow us . . .

Scene 7

Sherman:
Brother Jefferson, I noted at least two distinct and direct references to the British Parliament in your Declaration. Do you think it’s wise to alienate that august body in light of our contention that they never had any direct authority over us anyway?

John:
This is a revolution, dammit! We’re going to have to offend somebody!

Rutledge:
Oh, really! Mr. Adams in now callin’ our black slaves Americans. Are-they-now?

John:
They are! They’re people and they’re here—if there is any other requirement, I’ve never heard of it.

Rutledge:
They are here, yes, but they are not people, sir, they are property.

Jefferson:
No, sir! They are people who are being treated as property. I tell you the rights of human nature are deeply wounded by this infamous practice!

Rutledge:
Then see to your own wounds, Mr. Jefferson, for you are a—practitioner, are you not?

Jefferson:
I have already resolved to release my slaves.

Rutledge:
Then I’m sorry, for you have also resolved the ruination of your personal economy.

John:
Economy. Always economy. There’s more to this than a filthy purse-string, Rutledge. It’s an offense against man and God.

Hopkins:
It’s a stinking business, Mr. Rutledge—a stinking business!

Rutledge:
Is it really, Mr. Hopkins? Then what’s that I smell floatin’ down from the North—could it be the aroma of hy-pocrisy? For who holds the other end of that filthy purse-string, Mr. Adams? Our northern brethren are feelin’ a bit tender toward our slaves. They don’t keep slaves, no-o, but they’re willin’ to be considerable carriers of slaves—to others!

Topic:

Slavery

John:
The entire South has walked out of this Congress, George Washington is on the verge of total annihilation, the precious cause for which I’ve labored these several years has come to nothing, and it seems—it seems I am obnoxious and disliked.

Abigail:
Nonsense, John.

John:
That I am unwilling to face reality.

Abigail:
Foolishness, John.

John:
That I am pig-headed.

Abigail:
Ah, well, there you have me, John. I’m afraid you are pig-headed.

John:
Mark me, Franklin, if we give in on this issue, posterity will never forgive us.

Franklin:
That’s probably true. But we won’t hear a thing, John—we’ll be long gone. And besides, what will posterity think we were—demigods? We’re men—no more, no less—trying to get a nation started against greater odds than a more generous God would have allowed.

Wilson:
I’m different from you, John. I’m different from most of the men here. I don’t want to be remembered. I just don’t want the responsibility!

Dickinson:
Yes, well, whether you want it or not, James, there’s no way of avoiding it.

Wilson:
Not necessarily. If I go with them, I’ll only be one among dozens; no one will ever remember the name of James Wilson. But if I vote with you, I’ll be the man who prevented American independence. I’m sorry, John—I just didn’t bargain for that.

Dickinson:
And is that how new nations are formed—by a nonentity trying to preserve the anonymity he so richly deserves?

Franklin:
Revolutions come into this world like bastard children, Mr. Dickinson—half improvised and half compromised. Our side has provided the compromise; now Judge Wilson is supplying the rest.

Historical Note by the Authors

Certainly a few changes have been made in order to fulfill basic dramatic tenets. To quote a European dramatist friend of ours, “God writes lousy theater.” [...] But none of them, either separately or in accumulation, has done anything to alter the historical truth of the characters, the times, or the events of American independence.

But by far the most frustrating reason for deleting a historical fact was that the audiences would never have believed it. The best example of this is John Adams’ reply (it was actually Cousin Sam who said it) to Franklin’s willingness to drop the anti-slavery clause from the Declaration. “Mark me, Franklin,” he now says in Scene 7, “if we give in on this issue, posterity will never forgive us.” But the complete line, spoken in July 1776, was “If we give in on this issue, there will be trouble a hundred years hence; posterity will never forgive us.” And audiences would never forgive us. For who could blame them for believing that the phrase was the author’s invention, stemming from the eternal wisdom of hindsight?

Adams’ line

text checked (see note) Feb 2005

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