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Home , Charles Thomson, John and Abigail Adams, John Dickinson, Josiah Bartlett, Martha Jefferson, Sherman Edwards

GOODSPEED MUSICALS

A Guide to ’ Productions 2007 Season

September 28 - December 2

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Music and Lyrics by SHERMAN EDWARDS Book by PETER STONE Based on a concept by SHERMAN EDWARDS

Directed by ROB RUGGIERO Choreographed by RALPH D. PERKINS Music Direction by MICHAEL O’FLAHERTY

Scenery Design by Costume Design by Lighting Design by MICHAEL SCHWEIKARDT ALEJO VIETTI JOHN LASITER Orchestrations by Assistant Music Director DAN DeLANGE WILLIAM J. THOMAS Production Manager Production Stage Manager Casting by R. GLEN GRUSMARK BRADLEY G. SPACHMAN STUART HOWARD, AMY SCHECHTER, and PAUL HARDT, C.S.A. Associate Producer Line Producer BOB ALWINE DONNA LYNN COOPER HILTON Produced for Goodspeed Musicals by MICHAEL P. PRICE

CAST OF CHARACTERS Members of the President ……………………………………....Alan Rust Dr. …………………………………..Jack F. Agnew …………………………………………Peter A. Carey Stephen Hopkins…………………………………...John Newton ……………………………………..Greg Roderick Robert Livingston…………………………………..Paul Jackel ………………………………………..Michael A. Pizzi Rev. Jonathan Witherspoon………………………..Jerry Christakos ……………………………………..Jay Goede Ben Franklin………………………………………...Ronn Carroll James Wilson……………………………………….Marc Kessler Col. Thomas McKean……………………………...Kenneth Cavett George Read………………………………………..Dean Bellais ……………………………………..Trip Plymale ……………………………………….Paul Carlin ……………………………………Edward Watts ………………………………….Richard White ……………………………………….Michael P. Cartwright …………………………………….Glenn Steven Allen Dr. ……………………………………...Dennis Holland

Charles Thomson, Congressional Secretary…………………………………….Charlie Tirrell Andrew McNair, Congressional Custodian……………………………………...John M. Costa ……………………………………………………………………Jayne Paterson …………………………………………………………………Teal Wicks A Courier…………………………………………………………………………Christopher Michael Kauffmann A Leather Apron/A Painter……………………………………………………….Marcellus Waller

Swings……………………………………………………………………………Kristofer Holz, Erin Williams 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CAST OF CHARACTERS Page 3 Portrait Gallery Page 4 SYNOPSIS Page 7 IN CONTEXT Page 9 The Authors Page 9 Original Broadway Reviews (excerpts) Page 10 Declaration of Independence Page 11 Photo of Original Declaration of Independence Page 13 Editing Jefferson’s Original Draft Page 14 Original Signers…Biographical Details Page 17 Historical Note by the Authors Page 18 CONNECTIONS Page 24

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2 George Read: Delaware delegate who sides with CAST OF CHARACTERS Dickinson.

nd John Hancock: President of the 2 Continental Congress. Samuel Chase: A Maryland delegate. Prefers eating to First to sign the Declaration of Independence with a very debating. Changes his allegiances during the run up to the large signature so that “fat [King] George…can read it final vote on accepting the declaration. without his glasses!”

Richard Henry Lee: A Virginia delegate, who returns Dr. Josiah Bartlett: A New Hampshire delegate. Sides in home to secure from the Virginia state legislature a favor of independence. resolution proclaiming independence from .

John Adams: A Massachusetts delegate. A man found to Thomas Jefferson: A Virginia delegate. Writes the initial be “obnoxious and disliked” 1 by many members of Congress, draft of the Declaration of Independence. Eventually, he is the leading advocate for separation from England. approves all changes in the document that are offered by the delegates. Stephen Hopkins: A Rhode Island Delegate. He would prefer to be found at all times with a tankard of rum in his Edward Rutledge: Delegate from South Carolina. hand. Youngest member of Congress, he leads the opposition to Jefferson’s declaration, because it advocates the abolition of Roger Sherman: A Connecticut delegate, he sides in favor . of independence and is a member of the committee charged with writing the Declaration. Joseph Hewes: North Carolina delegate. Sides with Rutledge on the slavery issue. Lewis Morris: A New York delegate, he abstains…”courteously” on every vote, even from the Dr. Lyman Hall: Georgia delegate. Independent thinker, original vote on accepting the Declaration. who weighs all issues before giving his support to either side.

Robert Livingston: A New York delegate, he is a member Thomson: The secretary of the Congress. of the committee formed to write the Declaration. Andrew McNair: Custodian and bell-ringer. Reverend : Delegate of New Jersey. Witherspoon argues for, and wins, the inclusion of a Courier : Brings dispatches from General . reference to the Supreme Being in the Declaration. Abigail Adams: Wife of John Adams. Not present in : A Pennsylvania delegate, who, along , but appears to her husband through letters and with John Adams, leads those in favor of breaking away from fantasies. England. Very urbane, cool-headed…a skilled negotiator. Martha Jefferson: Wife of Thomas Jefferson. Summoned to Philadelphia by Ben Franklin when Jefferson develops John Dickinson: A Pennsylvania delegate, he advocates a reconciliation with England and King George III. Fierce writer’s block. opponent of Adams.

James Wilson: A Pennsylvania delegate, he casts the final vote to approve the independence declaration. He does so, not out of any strong belief in independence, but because he wishes to remain anonymous, one of the many, instead of forever being known as “the man who prevented American independence.”

Caesar Rodney: A Delaware delegate. Has skin cancer and leaves what is, probably, his death bed to vote. Favors independence.

Colonel Thomas McKean: Delaware delegate. Pronounced Scots accent. Favors independence.

View of , Philadelphia, . Courtesy of National 1 John Adams’ own words about himself. Archives 3 SIGNERS PORTRAIT GALLERY

John Hancock Dr. Josiah Bartlett John Adams

Stephen Hopkins Roger Sherman Robert Livingston

Lewis Morris Rev. Jonathan Witherspoon John Dickinson

4

Benjamin Franklin James Wilson Col. Thomas McKean

George Read Caesar Rodney Samuel Chase

Thomas Jefferson Richard Henry Lee Joseph Hewes

5

Edward Rutledge Dr. Lyman Hall

The Declaration of Independence by

6 Synopsis

Time: Late spring, early summer 1776. written spelling out “their goals and aims” Place: Philadelphia and “reasons for separation.” A committee is formed to write the The weather is oppressive…hot and declaration, and Thomas Jefferson, against exceedingly humid…as the 2nd Continental his will and heart…he wants to return to his Congress convenes. The issue of independ- home in Virginia and his wife, Martha, whom he married only 6 months ago…is “chosen” ence is particularly divisive, with the delegate from Massachusetts, John Adams, peppering to write the document. (But, Mr. Adams) Se- the chamber with his demands to take action lecting him was hard enough, but without his on it. Weary of his arguments, the delegates wife there, Jefferson just can’t concentrate plead with him to sit down. (For God’s Sake and there is no document forthcoming. John, Sit Down) He storms from the cham- Franklin, ever the diplomat, arranges for ber, complaining that they are incapable of Martha to journey to Philadelphia and her accomplishing anything. (Piddle, Twiddle) husband. (“The sooner his problem is solved, Adams, vents his frustrations to his wife, the sooner our problem will be solved.”) Abigail, through letters and imagined con- Adams remains unsure of this arrangement versations. (Till Then and Yours, Yours, until Martha arrives. She quickly wins him Yours) over with her charm and beauty while extol - ling her husband’s virtues. (He Plays the Adams finds Benjamin Franklin, an ally, posing for a portrait. Franklin points out Violin) to him that no colony has ever broken away Back in the Congressional chambers, from its home country. He also reminds Dickinson works to keep the opposition to Adams, that he is considered obnoxious and Adams intact. (Cool, Cool Considerate Men) is generally disliked by Congress, and sug - Periodically, a courier sent by General gests that the idea of independence might be , arrives with the Gen- better proposed by someone else. He pro- eral’s dispatches detailing the progress of the poses a Virginia delegate, Richard Henry war. None of his news is encouraging. Lee, who conveniently shows up at that mo- (Momma, Look Sharp) ment and immediately offers to go to the Not wanting to be in the chamber as Virginia legislature and have them draw up his finished work is read aloud by the Secre- such proposal. When questioned by Adams tary, , Jefferson waits out- as to his credentials for such a mission, Lee side. Adams and Franklin approach him and assures him that his long family history will congratulate him on his genius and the serve them well. (The Lees of Old Virginia) strength of his words. (The Egg) Upon re- Returning to Congress, they meet the turning to the chamber for the conclusion of the reading, their enthusiasm is quickly new delegate from Georgia, Dr. Lyman Hall. The current delegates, eager to have his sup- dampened when the delegates immediately port, press him to tell them where he stands begin picking apart the document. Jefferson on the issue of Independence. He will not say acquiesces to small, insignificant changes and aye or nay to either side, but believes himself deletions and the addition of new language, free to follow his convictions when time to including “with a firm alliance on the protec- vote…if the vote ever occurs. tion of Divine Providence,” offered by Rev - Lee returns from Virginia with the erend Jonathan Witherspoon, the New Jersey proposal, opening up the issue to debate. delegate. However, he holds his ground when During this, Adams contends with Pennsylva- a section pertaining to the abolition of slav - nian John Dickinson, who staunchly opposes ery is vehemently challenged by South Caro- independence. Eventually, after heated and lina’s Edward Rutledge. He accuses the northern colonies of hypocrisy and describes pointed debate and a bit of Congressional fisticuffs, the proposal gets put up for a vote, how northern shippers and merchants get rich but not before Dickinson insures that the on the slave trade (Molasses to Rum), and vote must be unanimous, not a simple leads the southern delegations out of the majority. Knowing this to be impossible at chamber. that time, Adams and Franklin maneuver to With half of the Congress out with delay the vote until a “declaration” can be Rutledge, Adams’ dreams of independence 7 appear to be over. (Is Anybody There?) Nonetheless, as debate continues, delegate after delegate comes over to Adams’ side, accepting the document. Dr. Hall, the Georgia delegate accepts the document as written, but, ultimately, Jefferson begrudg - ingly acquiesces to the removal of the anti- slavery passage in order to satisfy the de- mands of the delegations from the two Caro- linas. A split Delaware vote goes in favor of Musical Numbers Adams when a dying Caesar Rodney (he has skin cancer) is brought to Philadelphia on his Scene 1, The Chamber death bed. For God’s Sake, John Sit Down……. There is a call for a vote on the Vir- Adams & The Congress ginia resolution…The Declaration of Inde- Piddle, Twiddle……………………… pendence. With New York initially abstain- Adams ing, all delegations vote “Aye,” leaving only ‘Til Then……………………………… Pennsylvania the lone standout. Like Dela- Adams & Abigail ware, the delegation is split, with Franklin voting aye and Dickinson, nay. The fate of Scene 2, The Mall the passage depends upon James Wilson, the The Lees of Old Virginia…………… third member of the delegation, who has al - Lee, Franklin & Adams ways been Dickinson’s “yes man.” In a mo- ment of independence of his own, Wilson Scene 3, The Chamber votes with Franklin so that he will be “one of But, Mr. Adams……………………… many” instead of “remembered as the man Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, who prevented American Independence.” Sherman & Livingston Dickinson, defeated, refuses to sign the document, because he still believes that Scene 4. The Chamber & High St. reconciliation with England is the best an- Yours, Yours, Yours………………… swer. However, as he loves his country and Adams & Abigail his fellow citizens, he declares that he will He Plays the Violin………………….. fight alongside them. As the other delegates Martha, Franklin & Adams pound the chamber floor with their walking sticks, he leaves the chamber to join a Penn- Scene 5, The Chamber sylvania regiment. Cool, Cool, Considerate Men……… As the Liberty Bell tolls solemnly in Dickinson & the Conservatives the background, each member of Congress present approaches Congressional President John Hancock’s desk and signs the document. INTERMISSION

Scene 1, Congressional Anteroom The Egg……………………………….. Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, & The Congress

Scene 2, The Chamber Molasses to Rum…………………….. Rutledge Compliments…………………………. Abigail Is Anybody There?...... Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Thomson

8

The Authors The author of more than two dozen feature Peter Stone (Book) films, he won an Academy Award for his screenplay for “Father Goose,” an Edgar Peter Stone, a respected craftsman and much (Mystery Writers of America Award) for his film sought after librettist and show doctor (and the “Charade,” and a Christopher Award for the only writer to win a Tony, an Oscar and an screen adaptation of 1776, one of the most Emmy), won for his books for faithful stage-to-screen adaptations in musical Titanic, Woman of the Year and 1776, which, film history. Among his other films are “The because the categories for Best Book and Best Taking of Pelham 1-2-3,” “Mirage,” “Arabesque,” Score had not been created, also won the Best “Sweet Charity,” “Skin Game,” “Who’s Killing Musical Tony in 1969. In 1991, his musical The the Great Chefs of Europe?,” and “Just Cause.” Will Rogers Follies won the Tony Award for Best Writing for television, he won an Emmy Award Musical. The 1776 script is considered by many for an episode of the acclaimed series “The to be as potent as the score, a rarity in the Defenders.” musical form. The show's unusually long and literate book scenes offer conflict, tension, Mr. Stone was a past president of the Dramatists felicitous dialogue, humor and humanize the Guild. At the time of his death in 2003, he was Founding Fathers, making the libretto sing even working on a new musical, Death Takes a Holiday, when no music is heard. with a score by Maury Yeston.

Among his many theatre credits, he penned the book to the musical, Skyscraper, a vehicle for Julie Sherman Edwards (Music & Harris that earned him a Tony nomination and co-wrote the book for Tommy Tune's My One Lyrics, Concept) and Only, a spin on vintage Gershwin musicals that snagged another Best Book nomination. He Sherman Edwards, the composer and lyricist for adapted Clifford Odets' The Flowering Peach to 1776, was born in in 1919. He create Two by Two, the 1970 was educated at both and musical about Noah, his ark and his family. Mr Cornell, where he was a history major. After Stone also wrote the original book for the serving in the Air Force during World War II, he current Broadway production of Curtains. In became a public high school history teacher. At addition, he revised the book to Finian's Rainbow the same time he pursued a career as a (underscoring the racial angle of the songwriter and occasional actor. Among his many “top-ten” songs were “Wonderful, Wonderful,” “See You in September,” “Johnny socially-aware fantasy) for a planned Broadway Get Angry,” and “Broken-Hearted Melody.” As a production that never made it beyond its tryout, pianist, he was associated with , and adapted the Bernadette Peters’ Broadway , and . revival of Annie Get Your Gun (for that, he took out the culturally offensive references to Native It was as a history teacher, though, that he Americans). conceived of a musical that would deal with the behind-the-scenes aspects of the events leading to the creation of and signing of the Declaration 9 of Independence. Using his skills as a composer/lyricist, he concentrated, at first, on Reviews: Original writing the musical material for the project. Broadway Production Though recognizing that a strong book would have to accompany his music, he was unable to “1776 is, quite properly, the most independent persuade any writer to join him in the project. new musical in years, and if you’ve got any Instead, he did the research on which the book character of your own you’ll go to see it would be based himself. This process required instantly, just to keep its independence more than eight years. company. Mr Stone’s book has the outline and

energy of a hockey game: he’s convinced you it’s Once finished, Edwards’ work was rejected by fun to keep score. Book and music do what they producers time and again. At long last, producer want to do, not what musical-comedy custom Stuart Ostrow understood the power behind dictates, and they do it so confidently and so Edwards’ vision. A savvy man, Ostrow felt that well that you grin and go along quietly. [It’s an] the spirit of rebellion and anti-establishment original, strangely determined, immensely sentiment so strongly represented in the project pleasing evening.” was ideally suited for the 1960’s, a turbulent time Walter Kerr Sunday Times for America as it dealt with an unpopular war and a loss of faith in and lack of understanding “1776…is a most striking, most gripping of its founding in the 18th Century. But Ostrow musical. I recommend it without reservation. It also realized that to produce the work it would makes even an Englishman’s heart beat a little bit need a strong and compelling book. For that he faster. Mr. Edwards and Mr. Stone have found a turned to Peter Stone. wonderful story for themselves in the birth

pangs of the nation. This is a musical with style, Edwards’ was rewarded for his passion and vision humanity, wit and passion. The musical will, I in 1969 when the show opened on Broadway at suspect, prove to be the sleeper of the season. the 46th Street Theater to rave critical reviews. Who knows, it might even run until the He won both a New York Drama Critics Award celebration of the bicentenary in 1976. I rather and a Tony Award for Best Musical. From its hope so.” opening night on March 16, 1969 and for over Clive Barnes, The New York Times three years, it played to enormous audiences both on Broadway and on the road. 1776 finally “[1776] is warm with life of its own; it is funny, closed on Broadway on February 13, 1972 after it is moving. It is an artistic creation such as we an impressive 1,271 performances. It was Mr. do not often find in our theatre. The songs and Edwards’ only musical. He died in 1981. lyrics are remarkably original. Some of them are

big and heroic, others are light and deft. See 1776 right away, before Broadway kills it.” John Chapman, Daily News

“In this cynical age, it required courage as well as enterprise to do a musical play that simply deals with the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And 1776… makes no attempt to be satirical or wander off into modern bypaths. But the rewards of the confidence reposed in the bold conception are abundant. The result is a brilliant and remarkably moving work of theatrical art. [It] is a most exhilarating accomplishment.” Richard Watts, Jr., New York Post

Original Broadway Production Poster Art

10

The Declaration of Independence IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.-- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the , --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged 11 by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Assembly Room, Independence Hall 12 The Document

The original Declaration is now exhibited in the Rotunda for the in Washington, DC. It has faded badly, largely because of poor preservation techniques during the 19th century. The document measures 29-3/4 inches by 24-1/2 inches.

13 EDITING JEFFERSON’S ORIGINAL DOCUMENT

Thomas Jefferson delivered a rough draft of The Declaration of Independence to the delegates of the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776. It did not take very long before objections arose and the delegates began requesting, suggesting and demanding changes. A number of these changes have been worked into the libretto of 1776 by Peter Stone. Ultimately, 86 emendations were made to the document before it was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Arguably, the most significant deletion/emendation to Jefferson’s document concerns the section focusing on the abolition of slavery. To dramatize this point, Stone has Edmund Rutledge, a delegate from South Carolina go so far as to accuse Jefferson of cloaking his intentions in language that is meant to obfuscate and confuse the issue in order for it to pass notice. This was, in no way, his intent, for as he later said his purpose was to present the sense of the document “in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent.” The following is a transcript of Jefferson’s original and the changes, deletions, additions that were made. Insertions are presented in CAPITAL LETTERS. All deletions are printed in bold italics and enclosed in brackets. In reading it, you will notice both the political and philosophical subtlety of the changes and the wholesale, blunt rejection of points…especially that of the slavery section…that were made because of the political and economic differences among the states..

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with CERTAIN [inherent and] unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, [begun at a distinguished period and] pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. -- Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to ALTER [expunge] their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of REPEATED [unremitting] injuries and usurpations, ALL HAVING [among which appears no solitary fact to contradict the uniform tenor of the rest, but all have] in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world [for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood]. He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

14 He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly [and continually], for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. He has OBSTRUCTED [suffered] the administration of justice, BY [totally to cease in some of these states] refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. He has made [our] judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices, [by a self-assumed power] and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies [and ships of war] without the consent of our legislature. He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation; for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; for protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states; f or cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; for imposing taxes on us without our consent; for depriving us IN MANY CASES, of the benefits of trial by jury; for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses; for abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these COLONIES [states]; for taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments; for suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated government here, BY DECLARING US OUT OF HIS PROTECTION, AND WAGING WAR AGAINST US [withdrawing his governors, and declaring us out of his allegiance and protection]. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy SCARCELY PARALLELED IN THE MOST BARBAROUS AGES, AND TOTALLY unworthy the head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. He has EXCITED DOMESTIC INSURRECTION AMONG US, AND HAS endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions [of existence]. [He has incited treasonable insurrections of our fellow citizens, with the allurements of forfeiture and confiscation of our property. He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation hither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of INFIDEL powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of one people, with crimes which he urges them o commit against the LIVES of another.]

15 In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a FREE people [who mean to be free. Future ages will scarcely believe that the hardiness of one man adventured, within the short compass of twelve years only, to lay a foundation so broad and so undisguised for tyranny over a people fostered and fixed in principles of freedom]. Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend AN UNWARRANTABLE [a] jurisdiction over US [these our states]. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here, [no one of which could warrant so strange a pretension: that these were effected at the expense of our blood and treasure, unassisted by the wealth or the strength of Great Britain: that in constituting indeed our several forms of government, we had adopted one common king, thereby laying a foundation for perpetual league and amity with them: but that submission to their parliament was no part of our constitution, nor ever in idea, if history may be credited: and,] we HAVE appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, AND WE HAVE CONJURED THEM BY [as well as to] the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, WOULD INEVITABLY [were likely to] interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. WE MUST, THEREFORE, [and when occasions have been given them, by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their councils the disturbers of our harmony, they have, by their free election, re-established them in power. At this very time too, they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch and foreign mercenaries to invade and destroy us. These facts have given the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. We might have a free and a great people together; but a communication of grandeur and of freedom, it seems, is below their dignity. Be it so, since they will have it. The road to happiness and to glory is open to us, too. We will tread it apart from them, and] acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our [eternal] separation, AND HOLD THEM AS WE HOLD THE REST OF MANKIND, ENEMIES IN WAR, IN PEACE FRIENDS!

2 We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, We, therefore, the representatives of the assembled, do, in the name, and by the authority United States of America in General Congress of the good people of these [states reject and assembled, appealing to the supreme judge of the renounce all allegiance and subjection to the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do in the kings of Great Britain and all others who may name, and by the authority of the good people of hereafter claim by, through or under them; we these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that utterly dissolve all political connection which these united colonies are, and of right ought to be may heretofore have subsisted between us and free and independent states; that they are the people or parliament of Great Britain: and absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, finally we do assert and declare these colonies to and that all political connections between them be free and independent states,] and that as free and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, and independent states, they have full power to totally dissolved; and that as free and independent levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, states, they have full power to levy war, conclude establish commerce, and to do all other acts and peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and things which independent states may of right do. to do all acts and things which independent states And for the support of this declaration, may of right do. we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our And for the support of this declaration, fortunes and our sacred honor. with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

2 Jefferson version on the left, final adopted text on the right. 16 Complete List of Signers of the Declaration of Independence Name State Place of Birth Born Died Occupation

Adams, John Massachusetts Braintree, MA 10/30/1735 7/4/1826 Lawyer Adams, Samuel Massachusetts Boston, MA 9/27/1722 10/21/1803 Merchant Bartlett, Josiah New Hampshire Amesbury, MA 11/21/1729 5/19/1795 Physician Braxton, Carter Virginia Newington, VA 9/10/1736 10/10/1797 Plantation Owner (PO) Carroll of Carrollton, Charles Maryland Annapolis, MD 9/19/1737 11/14/1832 Merchant/ PO Chase, Samuel Maryland Princess Anne, MD 4/17/1741 6/19/1811 Lawyer Clark, Abraham New Jersey Elizabethtown, NJ 2/15/1741 9/15/1794 Lawyer/Surveyor Clymer, George Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 3/16/1739 1/24/1813 Merchant Ellery, William Rhode Island Newport, RI 12/22/1727 2/15/1820 Lawyer/Merchant Floyd, William New York Brookhaven, NY 12/17/1734 8/4/1821 Land Speculator Franklin, Benjamin Pennsylvania Boston, MA 1/17/1706 4/17/1790 Scientist/Printer Gerry, Elbridge Massachusetts Marblehead, MA 7/17/1744 11/23/1814 Merchant Gwinnett, Button Georgia Gloucestshire , England 1735 5/19/1777 Merchant/PO Hall, Lyman Georgia Wallingford, CT 4/12/1724 10/19/1790 Physician/Minister Hancock, John Massachusetts Quincy, MA 1/12/1737 10/8/1793 Merchant Harrisson, Benjamin Virginia Berkeley, VA 4/5/1726 4/24/1791 Merchant/PO Hart, John New Jersey Hopewell, NJ 1711 5/11/1779 Land Owner Hewes, Joseph North Carolina Princeton, NJ 1/23/1730 10/10/1779 Merchant Heyward Jr., Thomas South Carolina St. Lukes Parrish, SC 7/28/1746 3/6/1809 Merchant/PO Hooper, William North Carolina Boston, MA 6/28/1742 10/14/1790 Lawyer Hopkins, Stephen Rhode Island Providence, RI 3/7/1707 4/13/1785 Merchant Hopkinson, Francis New Jersey Philadelphia, PA 9/21/1737 5/9/1791 Lawyer/Musician Huntington, Samuel Connecticut Windham, CT 7/3/1731 1/5/1796 Lawyer Jefferson, Thomas Virginia Shadwell, VA 4/13/1743 7/4/1826 Merchant/PO Lee, Francis Lightfoot Virginia Mt. Pleasant, VA 10/14/1734 1/11/1797 Plantation Owner Lee, Richard Henry Virginia Stratford, VA 1/20/1732 6/19/1794 Merchant/PO Lewis, Francis New York Llandaff, Wales 3/21/1713 12/30/1802 Merchant Livingston, Philip New York Albany, NY 1/15/1716 6/12/1778 Merchant Lynch Jr., Thomas South Carolina Winyah, SC 8/5/1749 1779 Lawyer McKean, Thomas Delaware New London, PA 3/19/1735 6/24/1817 Lawyer Middleton, Arthur South Carolina Charleston, SC 6/26/1742 1/1/1787 Plantation Owner Morris, Lewis New York Morrisania, NY 4/8/1726 1/22/1798 Plantation Owner Morris, Robert Pennsylvania Lancashire, England 1/31/1734 5/8/1806 Merchant/Speculator Morton, John Pennsylvania Ridley, PA 1725 April, 1777 Farmer Nelson Jr., Thomas Virginia Yorktown, VA 12/26/1738 1/4/1789 Merchant/PO Paca, William Maryland Abington, MD 10/31/1740 10/13/1799 Merchant/PO Paine, Robert Treat Massachusetts Boston, MA 3/11/1731 5/11/1814 Lawyer/Scientist Penn, John North Carolina Carolina Co. VA 5/17/1741 9/14/1788 Lawyer Read, George Delaware North East, MD 9/18/1733 9/21/1798 Lawyer Rodney, Caesar Delaware Dover, DE 10/7/1728 6/29/1784 Merchant/PO Ross, George Pennsylvania New Castle, DE 5/10/1730 7/14/1799 Lawyer Rush, Benjamin Pennsylvania Byberry, PA 12/24/1745 4/19/1813 Physician Rutledge, Edmund South Carolina Charleston, SC 11/23/1749 1/23/1800 Lawyer/PO Sherman, Roger Connecticut Newton, MA 4/19/1721 7/23/1793 Lawyer Smith, James Pennsylvania Dublin, Ireland 1719 7/11/1806 Lawyer Stockton, Richard New Jersey Princeton, NJ 10/1/1730 2/28/1781 Lawyer Stone, Thomas Maryland Charles Co. MD 1743 10/5/1787 Lawyer Taylor, George Pennsylvania Ireland 1716 2/23/1781 Merchant Thornton, Matthew New Hampshire Ireland 1714 6/24/1803 Physician Walton, George Georgia Prince Edward Co. VA 1741 2/2/1804 Lawyer Whipple, William New Hampshire Kittery, ME 1/14/1730 11/28/1785 Merchant Williams, William Connecticut Lebanon, CT 4/18/1731 8/2/1811 Merchant Wilson, James Pennsylvania Carskerdo, Scotland 9/14/1742 8/21/1798 Lawyer Witherspoon, John New Jersey Gifford, Scotland 2/5/1723 11/15/1794 Minister Wolcott, Oliver Connecticut Litchfield, CT 11/26/1726 12/1/1797 Lawyer Wythe, George Virginia Elizabeth City, Co. VA 1726 6/8/1806 Lawyer 17

Historical Note by the Authors By Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards

The first question we are asked by those Portly Samuel Chase, the gourmand from who have seen—or read—1776 is invariably: “Is Maryland (pronounced Mary-land in those it true? Did it really happen that way?” times), was referred to (behind his back, of The answer is: Yes. course) as “Bacon-Face.” Certainly a few changes have been made in Connecticut’s Roger Sherman always sat order to fulfill basic dramatic tenets. To quote a apart from his fellow Congressmen, sipping European dramatist friend of ours, “God writes coffee from a saucer-like bowl. lousy theater.” In other words, reality is seldom Caesar Rodney of Delaware, suffering from artistic, orderly, or dramatically satisfying; life skin cancer, never appeared in public without a rarely provides a sound second act, and its cli- green scarf wrapped around his face. maxes usually have not been adequately pre- The dress of the Congressmen graduated pared for. Therefore, in historical drama, a num- from the liberal greens, golds, brocades, and ber of small licenses are almost always taken with laces of the conservative Southerners, to the strictest fact, and those in 1776 are enumerated conservative browns, blacks, mean cloth, and in this addendum. But none of them, either sepa- plain linen of the radical New Englanders. rately or in accumulation, has done anything to The only two known employees of the Con- alter the historical truth of the characters, the gress were Charles Thomson, secretary, who times, or the events of American independence. kept no minutes of the debates (recording only First, however, let us list those elements of those motions which were passed), and Andrew our play that have been taken, unchanged and McNair, custodian and bell-ringer. unadorned, from documented fact. A motion concerning Congress’s liability for The weather in Philadelphia that late spring a certain Mr. Melchior Meng’s dead mule was and early summer of 1776 was unusually hot and debated and approved prior to the motion on humid, resulting in a bumper crop of horseflies independence. incubated in the stable next door to the State Ben Franklin’s illegitimate son William was House (now Independence Hall). Royal Governor of New Jersey until he was ar- John Adams was indeed “obnoxious and rested, in June 1776, and exiled to Connecticut. dislike”—the description is his own. The New York delegation abstained on many votes, including the final vote on independence (that tally being recorded by Mr. Thomson as twelve for, none against, and one abstaining), though later the New York Legislature (the mem- bers of which “speak very fast and very loud and nobody pays any attention to anybody else, with the result that nothing ever gets done”) approved the action after the fact. George Washington’s dispatches arrived on an average of three a day, and almost all of them were “gloomy” to the point of despair. The strength of the armed forces under Washington’s command was as dismal as he re- ported. On May 12, 1776, for instance, the Duty Benjamin Franklin, the oldest member of the Roster of the listed: Congress, suffered from gout in his later years Commissioned officers 589 and often “drowsed” in public. Non-commissioned officers 722 Thomas Jefferson, the junior member of the Present & fit for duty 6,641 Virginia delegation, was entrusted with the daily Sick but present 547 weather report. Sick but absent 352 Rhode Island’s Stephen Hopkins, known to On furlough 66 his colleagues as “Old Grape and Guts” because On command [A.W.O.L.] 1,122 of this fondness for distilled refreshment, always wore his round black, wide-brimmed Quaker’s This was the total strength of the American army. hat in the chamber. 18 Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, the them—Franklin, Washington and the horse— youngest member of Congress, was the leading conducted the entire Revolution by themselves.” proponent of individual rights for individual The seemingly endless list of Congressional states. committees (and their redundant titles) spoken The committee to “manage” the Declaration by Secretary Thomson at the beginning of Scene of Independence consisted of five Congressmen: 5 are all taken from his own report as it appears Adams, Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Living- in the “Journal of Congress.” ston (of New York—he wasn’t available to sign The Declaration of Independence was deba- the Declaration, but he obligingly sent his cou- ted by the Congress for three full days. It under- sin, Philip, to affix the powerful family name), went 8ighty-six separate changes (and withstood and Jefferson. The fifth member had originally scores of others, including an amendment calling been Richard Lee, the offerer of the motion of for clear and sovereign “fishing rights”) and the independence, but he subsequently declined in deletion of over four hundred words, including a order to return to Virginia, where he had been strong condemnation of proposed for governor of that “country” (as that “peculiar institution” Virginians referred to their colony). None of the slavery (accusing King five members of this committee wanted the George III of waging assignment of actually writing the Declaration, “cruel war against human and all of them begged off for one personal nature itself, violating its reason or another. But Jefferson, whom Adams most sacred rights of life accused of being the finest writer in Congress, and liberty in the persons possessing “a happy talent for composition and a of a distant people who remarkable felicity of expression,” was finally never offended him, persuaded. Later he recalled that the purpose of carrying them into slavery in another hemi- the Declaration had been “to place before man- sphere…”) which called for its abolition. This kind the of the subject in terms so paragraph was removed to placate and appease plain and firm as to command their assent.” the Southern colonies and to them in the Union. Jefferson was, besides being an author, law- Jefferson, though a slaveholder himself, de- yer, farmer, architect, and statesman, a fine vio- clared that “nothing is more certainly written in linist. His wife, Martha, a young, beautiful wi- the Book of Fate than that this people shall be dow of twenty-four when they married, was often free.” And further: “The rights of human nature praised for her “uncommon signing voice.”3 She are deeply wounded by this infamous practice.” died ten years after their wedding, a full nineteen The deadlock existing within the Delaware years before Jefferson inhabited the White delegation was finally and melodramatically bro- House, and he never remarried. The Martha ken by the arrival of the mortally ill Caesar Rod- Jefferson who is often listed as First Lady was ney, who, in great pain, had ridden all night from their daughter. Dover, a distance of some eighty miles, arriving Jefferson, during those early years in Con- just in time to save the motion on independence. gress, was not a loquacious man. Adams remem- His sacrifice was all the more remarkable in view bered him as “the most silent man in Congress…. of the fact that by voting for the motion he was I never heard him utter three sentences together.” abandoning forever all hope of receiving the Adams knew he would not receive his proper competent medical treatment of his illness that due from posterity. He wrote that “the whole was available in England; he had become a trai- history of the Revolution will be to lie, from be- tor with a price on his head. ginning to end.” And, equally, he knew that When the motion on independence had Franklin was the stuff of which national legends passed, John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, the are built. They would certify that “Franklin did leader of the anti-independence forces (desiring this, Franklin did that, Franklin did some other reconciliation with England), refused to sign the damned thing….Franklin smote the ground and Declaration, a document he felt he could not out sprang George Washington, fully-grown and endorse. But, asserting a fidelity to America, he on his hors….Franklin then electrified him with left the Congress to enlist in the Continental his miraculous lightning rod and the three of Army as a private—though he was entitled to a commission—and served courageously with the Delaware Militia. Some years later he was 3 Her full name was Martha Wayles Skelton appointed to the Constitutional Convention, Jefferson. No known image of her exists.

19 representing Delaware, and returned to Philadel- to means, and the absence of other possible phia to contribute greatly to the writing of that explanations. extraordinary document, the United States It is unknown, for instance, whether Richard Constitution. Henry Lee was persuaded to go to the Virginia All these historical facts appear in the play. House of Burgesses in order to secure a motion But there are, as has been stated, many other for independence that could be introduced in instances where changes were effected. In all Congress, or if he volunteered on his own. cases, however, we believe they were the result Certainly Adams was getting nowhere with his of sound dramatic decisions which were aestheti- own efforts; he had, on twenty-three separate cally, as well as historically, justified. occasions, introduced the subject of independ- These changes can be divided into five cate- ence to his fellows in Congress, and each time it gories: things altered, things surmised, things had failed to be considered. It was also true that added, things deleted, and things rearranged. whenever an issue needed respectability, the in- Following are examples of all five categories, fluence of a Virginian was brought to bear. (Vir- plus the reasons for the changes. ginia was the first colony, and its citizens were regarded as a sort of American aristocracy, an THINGS ALTERED: Of the two main alterations honor that was not betrayed by their leaders. that were made, one was in the interest of drama- The Virginian Washington was given command tic construction, the other for the purpose of of the army, and the Virginian Jefferson was preserving dramatic unity. given the assignment of writing the Declaration.) First, the Declaration, though reported back Certainly Franklin would have delighted in ap- to Congress for amendments and revisions prior pealing to Lee’s vanity and deflating Adams’ ego to the vote on independence on July 2, was not at one and the same time, as Scene 2 of the play actually debated and approved until after that suggests. But the actual sequence of these events vote. However, had this schedule been preserved is unknown. in the play, the audience’s interest in the debate And when Lee returned from Virginia (in would already have been spent. Scene 3) a transcript of the debate in Congress Second, the Declaration was not signed on on his motion for independence was never re- July 4, 1776, the date it was proclaimed to the corded. But the positions of individual Congress- citizenry of the . It was actually men are known, and it was possible to glean signed over a period of several months, many of phrases, attitudes and convictions from the many the signers having not been present at the time of letters, memoirs, and other papers that exist in its ratification. The greatest number signed on abundance, in order to reconstruct a likely fac- August 2, but one, of New simile of this debate. (Stick fights, such as the Hampshire, did not even enter Congress until one occurring between Adams and Dickinson in November 4, and the name of Colonel Thomas this scene, were common during Congressional McKean of Delaware, probably the last to sign, debate, and though there is no report of this had not yet appeared on the document by the particular one, the sight of the two antagonists middle of January 1777. It seems fairly obvious, whacking away at each other certainly would however, that the depiction of a July 4 signing, have surprised no one.) like the famous Pine-Savage engraving of this Similarly, a record of the debate on the Dec- non-event, provides the occasion with form and laration was never kept. But in this case there allows the proper emotional punctuation to the was even more to go on. Jefferson himself, in his entire spectacle. autobiography, provided two versions of the document—as originally written and as finally THINGS SURMISED: Because Secretary Thom- approved. Who was responsible for each individ- son did not keep a proper re- ual change is not know, but in most instances cord of the debates in Con- convincing conclusions are not too hard to draw. gress, and because other McKean, a proud Scot, surely would have ob- chronicles are incomplete in jected to the charge of “Scotch & foreign merce- certain key areas, a small naries [sent] to invade and deluge us in blood.” number of educated supposi- And John Witherspoon of New Jersey, a clergy- tions had to be made in order man and the Congressional chaplain, no doubt to complete the story. These were based on con- would have supported the addition of the phrase sistencies of character, ends logically connected “with a firm Reliance on the Protection of Divine

20 Providence,” which had not been present in ) to the fiftieth anniversary Jefferson’s original draft. Also, Edward Rutledge celebration of the Declaration of Independence. must be charged with leading the fight against But on that very date, July 4, 1826, exactly a the condemnation of slavery, being the chief half-century later to the day, both of these proponent of that practice in Congress. And the gigantic figures, Jefferson at eighty-three, Adams exchange between Jefferson and Dickinson, oc- at ninety-one—each believing and finding solace curring in our version of this debate, includes in the thought that the other was attending the lines written by Jefferson on other occasions, jubilee—died. Surely this was one of the greatest most notably: “The right to be free comes from coincidences in all history and one which never Nature.” would be believed if included in a play. The conversion of James Wilson of Pennsyl- vania from the “Nay” to the “Yea” column at the THINGS ADDED: The three instances of ele- last minute (in Scene 7) is an event without any ments that were added to the story of American surviving explanation. All that is definitely independence were created in the interest of sat- known is that Wilson, a former law student of isfying the musical-comedy form. Again, it must Dickinson’s and certainly under his influence in be stressed that none of them interferes with Congress, as his previous voting record testifies, historic truth in any way. suddenly changed his position on independence The first concerns Martha Jefferson’s visit to and, as a result, is generally credited with casting Philadelphia in Scene 4. While it is true that the vote that decided this issue. But why? A logi- Jefferson missed her to distraction, more than cal solution to this mystery was found when we enough to effect an unscheduled reunion, it is imagined one fear he might have possessed that believed that he journeyed to Virginia to see her. would have been stronger than his fear of Dick- The license of having her come to see him, at inson’s wrath—the fear of going down in history Adams’ instigation, stemmed from our desire to as the man who single-handedly prevented Amer- show something of the young Jefferson’s per- ican independence. Such a position would have sonal life without destroying the unity of setting. been totally consistent with his well-known Second, in Scene 5 of the play, Adams, penchant for caution. Franklin, and Chase are shown leaving for New The final logical conjecture we made con- Brunswick, New Jersey, for an inspection of the cerned the discrepancy between the appearance military. This particular trip did not actually take of the word “inalienable” in Jefferson’s version of place, though a similar one was made to New the Declaration and its reappearance as “unalien- York after the vote on independence, during able” in the printed copy that is now in universal which Adams and Franklin had to share a single use. This could have been a misprint, but it bed in an inn. Originally the New Jersey junket might, too, have been the result of interference was included in the play, represented by two by Adams (he had written it as “unalienable” in a separate scenes (one in an inn, showing the copy of the Declaration he had drafted in his sleeping arrangements mentioned, the other on own hand), who believed that this seldom-used the military training grounds, showing inspection spelling was correct. There is no doubt that the of “a ragtag collection of provincial militiamen meddlesome “Massachusettesian,” a Harvard and irregulars” who could do nothing right until graduate, was not above speaking to Mr. Dun- a flock of ducks flew by; the men’s hunger lop, the printer. molded them into a smoothly operating unit). It is also consis- These scenes were removed, however, during the tent with both men’s out-of-town tryout, in the interests of the over-all behavior that Adams length of the play and because they were basi- and Jefferson should cally cinemagraphic in concept. Needless to say, have disagreed on this both should appear in the filmed version of matter, as they did on 1776.4 most. They were to And third, the account of General Washing- become bitter enemies ton’s dusty young courier, at the end of Scene 5, for much of their of a battle he had witnessed, while an actual lives, only to make up description of the village green during and after when they had both survived to extreme old age. the Battle of Lexington, is a wholly constructed Both lived long enough to be invited (by Adams’ son, John Quincy, who was then occupying the 4 They don’t.

21 moment, designed to illustrate the feelings and But by far the most frustrating reason for delet- experiences of the Americans outside Congress, ing a historical fact was that the audiences would who were deeply influenced by the decisions never have believed it. The best example of this made inside the Congress. is John Adams’ reply (it was actually Cousin Sam One further note: The tally board used who said it) to Franklin’s willingness to drop the throughout the play to record each vote did not anti-slavery clause from the Declaration. “Mark exist in the actual chamber in Philadelphia. It has me, Franklin,” he now says in Scene 7, “if we been included in order to clarify the positions of give in on this issue, posterity will never forgive the thirteen colonies at any given moment, a de- us.” But the complete line, spoken in July, 1776, vice allowing the audience to follow the parlia- was “If we give in on this issue, there will be mentary action without confusion. trouble a hundred years hence: posterity will never forgive us.” And audiences would never THINGS DELETED: Certain elements that are forgive us. For who could blame them for believ- historically true have been left out or removed ing that the phrase was the author’s invention, from the play for one of three separate reasons. stemming from the eternal wisdom of hindsight? The first of these was the embarrassment of After all, the astonishing prediction missed by riches; there are just too many choice bits of in- only a few years. formation to include in one, two, or even a dozen plays. The fact that Franklin often entered THINGS REARRANGED: Some historical data the Congressional chamber in a sedan chair car- have been edited dramatically without altering ried by convicts, for instance; or that, on several their validity or factuality. occasion, Indians in full regalia would appear be- The first example of this would be the play’s fore the Congress, petitioning for one thing or treatment of Adams’ relationship with his wife, another, and accompanied by their interpreter, a Abigail. Two separate theatrical conventions full-blooded Indian who spoke with a flawless have been employed; the selection and conver- Oxford accent. sion of sections of their actual letters, written to Then there was the advisability of cutting each other during this period of their separation, down on the number of Congressmen appearing into dialogue; and the placing of them in close in the play in the interests of preserving clarity physical proximity though they remain, in reality, and preventing overcrowding. There is, after all, over three hundred miles apart. The notion for a limit to an audience’s ability to assimilate (and this last device sprang, oddly, from a line in one keep separate) a large number of characters, as of these same letters: Adams was complaining well as the physical limits of any given stage pro- about their continued separation and finally duction. For this reason, several of the lesser pleaded, “Oh, if I could only annihilate time and known (and least contributory) Congressmen space!” (The description of scenes, at the begin- were eliminated altogether, and, in a few cases, ning of the play, defines these meetings by listing two or more were combined into a single charac- the area of dramatic action as “certain reaches of ter. James Wilson, for example, contains a few of John Adams’ mind.”) the qualities of his fellow Pennsylvanian, John The exchanges, spoken and sung, between Morton. And John Adams is, at times, a compos- John and Abigail Adams are, as has been stated, ite of himself and his cousin Sam Adams, also of the result of distributing, as dialogue, sections Massachusetts. and phrases from various letters. The list of their children’s diseases, the constant requests for “saltpeter for gunpowder” (and the counter- request for pins), the use of the tender salutation “Dearest friend,” the catalogue of Abigail’s faults, the news of the farm in Braintree failing— even certain song lyrics transferred intact (“I live like a num in a cloister” and “Write to me with sentimental effusion”)—all these were edited and rearranged in an attempt to establish a dramati- cally satisfying relationship.

22 This same process was used to construct triumph in that day’s transaction, even al- George Washing- though we should rue it, which I trust God ton’s dispatches we shall not. from the field. Literally dozens We have attempted, in the paragraphs above, were selected, from to answer the question, “Is it true?” What we which individual cannot answer, however, is how such a question lines were bor- could possibly be asked so often by Americans. rowed and then What they want to know is whether or not the patched together in story of their political origin, the telling of their order to form the national legend, is correct as presented. Don’t five communiqués they know? Haven’t they ever heard it before? that now appear in And if not, why not? As we say, it’s a question the play. There- we cannot answer. fore, though the There are those who would claim that the dispatches as now schools just don’t teach it, and we would have constructed were trouble disagreeing with them. The authors of not written by the 1776 are both products of the American public- Commander-in-Chief, each sentence within them school system—one from the West Coast, the is either an actual quotation (“O how I wish I other from the East. Both were better than aver- had never seen the Continental Army! I would age students with a deeper than average curiosity have done better to retire to the back country about American history. But neither of them was and live in a wigwam”) or paraphrase, or comes given any more than a perfunctory review of the from a first-hand report (the final line of the last major events, a roster of a few cardboard charac- dispatch,”…but dear God! What brave men I ters, and a certain number of jingoistic conclu- shall lose before this business ends!” was spoken sions. by Washington in the presence of his adjutant, But what of the arguments, the precedents, who later reported it). the compromises, the personalities, the regional And finally, John Adams’ extraordinary disputes, the perseverance, the courage, the prophecy, made on July 3, 1776, describing the sacrifices, the expediencies? What of the similari- way Independence Day would be celebrated by ties between those times and these (states rights future generations of Americans and written in a versus federal rights; property rights versus hu- letter to his wife on that date, has been para- man rights; privileged rights versus civil rights) phrased and adapted into lyric form for the song and the differences (if any)? What of the lessons “Is Anybody There?” sung by Adams in Scene 7. of the past applied to the problems of the future, The original lines are: for what society can plan a future without an inti- mate knowledge of its own past? I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated It is presumptuous of us to assume that 1776 by succeeding generations as the great anni- will be able to fill even a portion of this lamenta- versary festival. It ought to be commemo- ble void (though doubtless no small portion of rated as the day of deliverance by solemn its success is due to the “new” information it of- acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought fers); the crime is that is should even have to. to be solemnized with pomp and parade, The United States owes its citizens, at the very with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bon- least, an educational system that describes, de- fires, and illumination, from one end of this fines, and explains our own existence. continent to the other, from this time for- ward for evermore. You will think me transported with enthu- siasm, 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. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means. And that posterity will

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1. In the early 1970s, Jack Warner, head of production for the famed movie studio Warner Bros., bought the rights to 1776, because he fell in love with the stage production and intended to bring it to the screen. In reference to the project, he once said, "I didn't do the thing because it would make money." But amidst the strife and turmoil of the Vietnam War, Warner was thinking about something more important than money. "I figured what the country needed was an idea of where it came from and how we got the freedom we all enjoy." Just before the release of the film, Warner decided to offer a screening to an old friend from California then living in Washington D.C. - President Richard Nixon. Perhaps looking ahead to his re-election, Nixon objected to the song "Cool, Cool Considerate Men," which casts the southerners and conservatives of 1776 in a questionably bad light. Though no conservative himself, Nixon knew he had to garner the votes of the 1972 audience, and didn't want to chance alienating the Republicans who had voted for Barry Goldwater just eight years before. So he asked Jack Warner to remove the song, and Warner agreed - even pledging to destroy the negative. Luckily, Warner, either broke that promise and hid a copy of that scene for posterity, or a copy was hidden away by someone else. In any event, it has been returned to the film in the DVD version.5 Rent the DVD and see for yourself how faithful to the stage production the movie is. The VHS version (without “Cool, Cool Considerate Men”) is also available. Watch both and discuss the effect of the “requested” cut on the movie.

2. The water fountain seen in the film during the number with Franklin, Adams, and Lee is best known to current television viewers as the fountain seen at the beginning of the TV show "Friends". 3. The song "The Egg" was written very late into the writing process for the Broadway show. So late, in fact, that promotional material had already been printed, and it was upon seeing a poster depicting an eaglet coming out of a British eggshell and holding an American flag that Sherman Edwards came up with the song.

4. Go to the website www.FunTrivia.com and take the interactive quiz on 1776.

5. Visit the following websites for more information about the signing of The Declaration of Independence. a. www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration.html b. www.ushistory.org/declaration/ c. www.bookrags.com/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence d. http://www.history.com/minisites/declaration e. americanhistory.about.com/od/declarationofindependence/a/declaration_sg.htm

5 http://www.theblackrepublican.net/archives/002840.html

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