[StBernard] HBO's John Adams

[Westley Annis]

I completely agree that the series is gripping and is something that
should be seen by as many people as possible, for all of the reasons
John stated.  I highly recommend it.  In addition to all of the things
John mentioned, it shows the Founders as human beings -- Washington the
respected leader, Franklin the savvy politician, Adams the stubborn (and
at times overbearing)  man always pushing for action, and Jefferson the
thinker and dreamer.  The founding of our country was the happy product
of this amazing melding of all these personalities and probably would
not have happened (at least in that way) without any of them.

Being the stickler that I am for details, however, I wanted to make one
point about what John said as far as the ultimate fate of those who
signed the Declaration of Independence.  It is absolutely true that they
really were risking everything by their actions, and the miniseries
helps to bring that home.  However, their ultimate fate has been
slightly exaggerated by urban myth, which says, among other things, that
the majority were captured and executed or suffered other horrible
fates.  For a quick summary of what happened to the signers, see
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/pricepaid.asp.

CMK