Editing 1776 (musical) (section)

== Historical accuracy ==
According to ''The Columbia Companion to American History on Film'', historical "[i]naccuracies pervade ''1776'', though few are very troubling."<ref>Peter C. Rollins, ed., ''The Columbia Companion to American History on Film'' (Columbia University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-231-11222-X}}), p. 154.</ref><!-- This refers to the film, of course, but applies to the stage play as well. -->  Because Congress was held in secrecy and there are no contemporary records on the debate over the Declaration of Independence, the authors of the play created the narrative based on later accounts and educated guesses, inventing scenes and dialogue as needed for storytelling purposes. Some of the dialogue was taken from words written, often years or even decades later, by the actual people involved, and rearranged for dramatic effect.<ref>Stone and Edwards, pp. 153–65, describing the play's historical basis and dramatic license.</ref>

The central departure from history is that the separation from Great Britain was accomplished in two steps: the actual vote for independence came on July 2 with the approval of Lee's [[Lee Resolution|resolution of independence]]. The wording of the Declaration of Independence—the statement to the world as to the reasons necessitating the split—was then debated for three days before being approved on July 4. The vote for independence did not hinge on some passages being removed from the Declaration, as implied in the play, since Congress had already voted in favor of independence before debating the Declaration. For the sake of drama, the play's authors combined the two events.<ref name="Book158">Stone and Edwards, p. 158.</ref> In addition, some historians believe that the Declaration was not signed on July 4, as shown in ''1776'', but was instead signed on August 2, 1776. The authors of ''1776'' had the delegates sign the Declaration on July 4 for dramatic reasons.<ref name="Book158" />

Of the four principal characters, the musical also notably focuses on Jefferson's wife, [[Martha Jefferson|Martha]], and Adams' wife, [[Abigail Adams|Abigail]], but omits Dickinson's wife, [[Mary Norris Dickinson|Mary Norris]], who was actually in Philadelphia at the time, unlike the other wives, and had a different perspective than the other wives. Franklin's common-law wife, [[Deborah Read]], was deceased at this point, and his mistresses are not depicted, although he does mention a "Rendez-vous" he has to attend.

Many characters in ''1776'' differ from their historical counterparts. Central to the drama is the depiction of John Adams as "obnoxious and disliked". According to biographer [[David McCullough]], however, Adams was one of the most respected members of Congress in 1776. Adams' often-quoted description of himself in Congress as "obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular" is from a letter written 46 years later, in 1822,<ref>[http://personal.pitnet.net/primarysources/pickering.html Letter from Adams] to [[Timothy Pickering]], 1822 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117234803/http://personal.pitnet.net/primarysources/pickering.html |date=November 17, 2007 }}. Adams also described himself as "obnoxious" in his [http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea/cfm/doc.cfm?id=A1_24 ''Autobiography''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127085215/http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea/cfm/doc.cfm?id=A1_24 |date=November 27, 2013 }}, written in 1805.</ref> after his unpopular presidency had likely colored his view of the past. According to McCullough, no delegate described Adams as obnoxious in 1776.<ref>McCullough, David. ''[[John Adams (book)|John Adams]]'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), pp. 119–20.</ref>  Historian [[Garry Wills]] earlier made a similar argument, writing that "historians relay John Adams's memories without sufficient skepticism", and that it was Dickinson, not Adams, who was advocating an unpopular position in 1776.<ref>Wills, Garry. ''Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence'' (New York: Doubleday, 1978), pp. 349–50.</ref>

Dickinson, who refused to sign Adams' and Jefferson's declaration based on "rights of man" and "natural law", was seeking to avoid reopening issues from the [[English Civil War]]s, including [[Oliver Cromwell]]'s Puritan regime, and the [[Jacobitism]] cause. In 1689, these issues had been definitively resolved in the [[Glorious Revolution]] and the constitutionalization of the [[English Bill of Rights]] based in "rights and responsibilities of person"; the word "man" is not used except in the context of treason. The [[Jacobite rising of 1745|last Jacobite rebellion]], seeking to re-establish Catholicism and the religious concept of "natural law", had only just happened in 1745, however. None of this background of Dickinson's position is depicted. (Dickinson would later draft the [[Articles of Confederation]], a codification of the Continental Congress system that governed the United States until the present [[United States Constitution]] supplanted it; the Articles draw upon the "rights and responsibilities of person" language.)

For practical and dramatic purposes, the play does not depict all of the more than 50 members of Congress who were present at the time. The John Adams of the play is, in part, a [[composite character]], combining the real Adams with his cousin [[Samuel Adams]], who was in Congress at the time but is not depicted in the play (though he is mentioned).<ref name="Book162">Stone and Edwards, p. 162.</ref> Although the play depicts [[Caesar Rodney]] as an elderly man near death from skin cancer (which would eventually kill him), he was just 47 at the time and continued to be very active in the Revolution after signing the Declaration. He was not absent from the voting because of health; however, the play is accurate in having him arrive "in the nick of time", having ridden 80 miles the night before (an event depicted on Delaware's 1999 [[State Quarter]]). In the play, [[Richard Henry Lee]] announces that he is returning to Virginia to serve as governor. He was never governor; his cousin [[Henry Lee III]] (who is anachronistically called "General 'Lighthorse' Harry Lee", a rank and nickname earned later) did eventually become governor and would also become the father of Confederate General [[Robert E. Lee]]. John Adams was also depicted in the play and the film as disliking Richard Henry Lee. That is not the case as, according to David McCullough, Adams expressed nothing but "respect and admiration for the tall, masterly Virginian." He did, however, contrary to what was portrayed in the play and the film, dislike Benjamin Franklin. Martha Jefferson never traveled to Philadelphia to be with her husband. In fact, she was extremely ill during the summer of 1776, having just endured a miscarriage. The play's authors invented the scene "to show something of the young Jefferson's life without destroying the [[Classical unities|unity of setting]]."<ref name="Book161">Stone and Edwards, p. 161.</ref> [[James Wilson (Founding Father)|James Wilson]] was not the indecisive milquetoast depicted in the play. The real Wilson, who was not yet a judge in 1776, had been cautious about supporting independence at an earlier date, but he supported the resolution of independence when it came up for a vote. Pennsylvania's deciding swing vote was actually cast by [[John Morton (American politician)|John Morton]], who is not depicted in the musical.<ref name="Book162" />

The quote attributed to [[Edmund Burke]] by Dr. Lyman Hall in a key scene with John Adams is a paraphrase of a real quote by Burke.<ref>"Your Representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion."  Edmund Burke, Select Works of Edmund Burke. A New Imprint of the Payne Edition. Foreword and Biographical Note by Francis Canavan (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1999). Vol. 4. Chapter: Speech to the Electors of Bristol, [http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch13s7.html].</ref>{{primary source inline|date=January 2019}}

The song "Cool Considerate Men" is anachronistic because the terms [[Left–right politics#History of the terms|"right" and "left"]] in politics were not in use until the [[French Revolution]] of 1789. [[John Dickinson (politician)|John Dickinson]], who is portrayed as an antagonist here, was motivated mainly by his Quaker roots and his respect for the British Constitution, having lived in England for 3 years in the 1750s.<ref>Jack Rakove: The Patriot Who Refused to Sign the Declaration of Independence, {{cite web|url=http://www.historynet.com/the-patriot-who-refused-to-sign-the-declaration-of-independence.htm |title=The Patriot Who Refused to Sign the Declaration of Independence |date=3 June 2010 |access-date=2012-07-06 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921083610/http://www.historynet.com/the-patriot-who-refused-to-sign-the-declaration-of-independence.htm |archive-date=2016-09-21 }}</ref> He was no wealthier than some members of the pro-Independence faction, and freed his slaves in 1777. Thomas Jefferson wrote that "his name will be consecrated in history as one of the great worthies of the revolution".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/04/jefferson.letter/index.html | work=CNN.com | title=Student finds letter 'a link to Jefferson'  | access-date=May 6, 2010 | date=December 8, 2009}}</ref>

The musical also deviates from history in its portrayal of attitudes about slavery. In ''1776'', after a dramatic debate over slavery, the southern delegates walk out in protest of the Declaration's reference to the slave trade, and support independence only when that language is removed from the Declaration. The walkout is fictional, and apparently most delegates, northern and southern, supported the deletion of the clause.

The musical claims that [[Edward Rutledge]] led the opposition to the supposedly anti-slavery clause in the original draft of the Declaration. This is inaccurate on two counts. First, the musical does not mention the motivation of the clause, namely the fact that, following Lord [[Dunmore's Proclamation]], England was granting freedom to runaway slaves who joined its army.<ref name="FirstDraft">See comparison of First Draft of Declaration of Independence versus final version at: {{cite web|url=http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/compare.htm |title=Compare Versions |access-date=2013-06-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119174922/http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/compare.htm |archive-date=2016-01-19 }}.  (The paragraph in question begins with "He has waged cruel War".)</ref> Second, Rutledge's leadership against the clause is completely fictional. According to Jefferson, the clause was opposed by South Carolina and Georgia, plus unspecified "northern brethren";<ref>''The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia: a Comprehensive Collection of the Views of Thomas Jefferson'' (1900) by Thomas Jefferson, edited by John P. Foley, p. 246</ref> that is the ''limit'' of known information about opposition to the clause.

Thomas Jefferson is depicted as saying that he has resolved to free his slaves, something he did not do, except for a few slaves freed after his death 50 years later. Franklin claims that he is the founder of an abolitionist organization, but the real Franklin did not become an active abolitionist until after the American Revolution, becoming president of the [[Pennsylvania Abolition Society]] in 1785.<ref>Isaacson, Walter.  ''Benjamin Franklin: An American Life'' (2003).</ref>

[[James Wilson (Founding Father)|James Wilson]] is portrayed as subordinating himself to Dickinson's opposition to independence, only changing his vote so that he would not be remembered unfavorably. In fact, Wilson was considered one of the leading thinkers behind the American cause, consistently supporting and arguing for independence, although he would not cast his vote until his district had been caucused.<ref>James Wilson: Founding Father, Charles Page Smith, 1956</ref>

The phrase "We are about to brave the storm in a skiff made of paper", placed in the mouth of John Hancock, was actually stated by John Dickinson ("Others strenuously assert...we ought to brave the Storm in a Skiff made of Paper.")<ref>John Dickinson, 1 July 1776, as cited in {{cite journal |date=October 1941 |title=Notes and Documents |jstor=20087418 |journal= The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |publisher= The Historical Society of Pennsylvania |volume= 65 |issue= 4 |page=  470 |last1=Dickinson |first1=John |last2=Powell |first2=J. H. }}</ref> in his arguments against independence.

In both the play and the film, John Adams sarcastically predicts that Benjamin Franklin will receive from posterity too great a share of credit for the Revolution.  "Franklin smote the ground and out sprang—George Washington. Fully grown, and on his horse.  Franklin then electrified them with his magnificent lightning rod and the three of them—Franklin, Washington, and the horse—conducted the entire Revolution all by themselves."  Adams did make a similar comment about Franklin in April 1790, just after Franklin's death, although the mention of the horse was a humorous twist added by the authors of the musical.<ref name="Old Family Letters">'Old Family Letters', {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id%3D84oTAQAAMAAJ%26dq%3Dold+family+letters+john+adams+55%26pg%3DPA55 |title=Old Family Letters: Copied from the Originals for Alexander Biddle... Series ... - Google Boeken |access-date=2016-03-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705145908/http://books.google.com/books?id=84oTAQAAMAAJ&dq=old%20family%20letters%20john%20adams%2055&pg=PA55 |archive-date=2014-07-05 }}</ref>

The 2022 revival production includes an excerpt of Abigail Adams' March 1776 letter to John Adams, known for its "remember the ladies" statement for women's rights.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1776 Digital Program |url=https://americanrepertorytheater.org/1776-digital-program/ |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=americanrepertorytheater.org |language=en-US}}</ref>