Historical References in the Musical 1776

James Troutman

Date: 2003/07/13
Last revised: 2003/10/13
(Still very much a work in progress)

In 1776 Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards freely adapt the historical record to create an engaging, witty look at the events that lead up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This page tries to clarify some of the references to people and events that may not be immediately clear to a modern audience and to point out where dramatic necessity caused them to depart from the historical record. See also the 1776 cast of characters references page.

"Stamp Acts, Townshend Acts, Sugar Acts, Tea Acts"

In his opening monologue (in the play, that is; the motion picture prefaced this speech with a scene in the bell tower) John Adams complains about the taxes that King George and the British Parliament have imposed upon the American Colonies for over ten years. For example, the Sugar Act of 1764 was the first attempt to raise money in the colonies for the British Crown. The Townshend Acts of 1767, named after Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend, levied import duties on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. The British saw this as a means of raising funds needed to maintain their army in the colonies; the colonists, however, objected to "taxation without representation."

As the colonists resisted paying the taxes, the British imposed other indignities on the colonists, such as blank search warrants (known as Writs of Assistance), courts that operated without juries, and even the suspension of the New York assembly for not complying with the Quartering Act of 1765. Hostilities between Britain and the American Colonies continued to escalate until in 1774, twelve of the colonies (Georgia was the lone exception) sent representatives to Philadelphia in what became known as the First Continental Congress to consider ways of dealing with what the colonists now called the "Intolerable" Acts. Radical delegates swayed the congress to endorse civil disobedience.

In April 1775, fighting broke out between British troops and American minutemen at Lexington and Concord in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In May 1775 the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, and in June they unanimously chose George Washington as commander in chief of the newly established Continental Army. During the course of the next year, however, the radical delegates, who wanted to declare American independence (i.e., secede from Great Britain), and the conservatives, who still hoped for a reconciliation with Britain, couldn't agree on much else.

Which brings us to May 8, 1776, when the opening scene of 1776 takes place.

"It's hot as Hell, In Philadel-phia!"

Tradition has it that the spring and summer of 1776 were unusually hot in Philadelphia.

Mr. Melchior Meng

The play contains a reference to a Mr. Melchior Meng petitioning the Congress for payment for his dead mule, which had been employed in service to the Congress (this passage is not in the screenplay). There was a Melchior Meng living in Germantown at the time. He was a horticulturist whose house was used as an emergency hospital during the Battle of Germantown.

"Oh, Abigail! Abigail!"

While John Adams was one of the delegates representing Massachusetts Bay in the Continental Congress, his wife Abigail remained in Braintree, raising their family and managing their farm. They corresponded almost daily, and much of the dialogue and lyrics in their scenes comes directly from their letters.

saltpetre

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Botticelli / Venus

Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance. Two of his most famous paintings are The Adoration of the Magi, a Christian scene, and The Birth of Venus, depicting a naked Venus rising out of the sea. While the dialogue between Adams and Franklin is witty, it is, alas, an anachronism, as Botticelli was largely unknown until his paintings were rediscovered in the late nineteenth century.

Bunker's Hill

Patriot and British forces clashed in June 1775 at Breed's Hill (and nearby Bunker's Hill). Although the Patriots were forced to retreat, they inflicted heavy casualties on the British soldiers (nearly 40% of the 2400 soldiers). The story spread through the Colonies (probably with as much accuracy as, say, Fox News might present it in our time), and helped to convince the American public that the British were not invincible.

"The people have read Mr. Paine's Common Sense."

In January 1776 Thomas Paine (1737-1809) anonymously published a pamphlet called Common Sense. Almost immediately it sold over 150,000 copies. The total population of all thirteen colonies at that time was about 2.6 million, so a comparable sales figure if it were published today would be about 16 million copies. (Shades of Harry Potter!) Publishing pamphlets, either anonymously or not, was a common method for expressing opinions and engaging in public argumentation in those days, comparable in many ways to the web log phenomenon of today.

Common Sense was a powerful piece of propaganda and helped to convince many colonists that independence was the only viable solution to their problems with Great Britain.

"...tria juncta in uno"

Latin for "three joined into one," the motto of the Order of the Bath. This was an ancient order in the British Isles, dating back to at least the 11th century. In 1725 King George I revived it as a reward for military service. The honoree could wear a red riband and star upon which were three crowns surrounded by the Latin motto.

sedan chair

In the movie (but not the play) Franklin enters the chamber in a sedan chair carried by prisoners from the local jail. He tips them, and they presumably trot back to prison. It's true that by the time of the the Constitutional Convention of 1787 Franklin's gout frequently made it painful for him to walk and he did hire prisoners to transport him, however, I'm not clear whether he had begun this practice at the time of the Continental Congress. It is possible that its use here in 1776 is an anachronism.

The Royal Governor of New Jersey

With his common-law wife Deborah, Benjamin Franklin had a daughter (Sara or "Sally") and a son (Francis or "Franky"). Franky died of smallpox in his fifth year, a devastating blow to his parents. Before Franklin married Deborah, he had conceived an illegitimate son (William) with a woman whose name is lost to history. Deborah agreed to raise William in her household, although apparently she had no particular maternal feelings towards William, especially after the death of her own son. Franklin, however, was quite close to "Billy" throughout most of his life, until, that is, the trouble started with Great Britain. Franklin eventually came to side with those who wanted to break from Britain, while Billy remained a loyalist. This created a schism between father and son that lasted the rest of Franklin's life, although after the war Billy made some futile efforts at reconciliation. So Franklin's reference a little bit later to "the little bastard" probably is an accurate presentation of his feelings.

G. Washington

George Washington had a sterling reputation in the Colonies and had been the unanimous selection of the delegates to command the Continental Army. It had been John Adams who proposed his name, in part as a way to get Virginia more active in the struggle against Britain.

"...is like calling an ox a bull"

An ox is an adult castrated bull, a fact probably much better known during Colonial times than in our day.

"...you--you--you--fribble!!"

Fribble: a frivolous person; a fop.

"...the little bastard"

See previous entry on William Franklin.

"Necessity of Taking Up Arms"

In 1775 the Continental Congress had Thomas Jefferson draft a statement as to why the British Colonies were taking up arms against the mother country. Jefferson's draft was considered too inflammatory, so John Dickinson was enlisted to tone the language down. The passage Adams quotes here does not appear in the final draft, so possibly it was one of the passages deemed too inflammatory.

"I can romp through Cupid's grove..."

Cupid was the Roman god of love and sex, identified with the Greek Eros. He's usually depicted as a little fellow with wings and a bow and arrows. He survives today as the winged cherub in Christian iconography. To "romp through Cupid's grove" is a delicate way of referring to the sex act.

"...catalogue of my faults..."

John Adams did in fact write a letter enumerating Abigail's faults.

"...sentimental effusion..."

This line and several of the other phrases in this song derive directly from the letters of John and Abigail Adams.

"Franklin smote the ground..."

In 1790 John Adams wrote to Benjamin Rush: "The history of our revolution will be one continued lie from one end to the other. The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin's electrical rod smote the earth and out sprang General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his rod -- and henceforward these two conducted all the policy, negotiations, legislatures, and war." It's not too much of a stretch to believe that Adams might have already been harboring some of that resentment in 1776.

"When heaven calls to me..."

Martha Jefferson was to die from complications surrounding childbirth a mere six years after the events depicted here.

"...what is a man profited, if he shall gain Mary-land and lose the entire South?"

Matthew 16:26: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

"I founded the first anti-slavery society on this continent!"

It's true that Franklin did help to found such a group, but he did so after the creation of the Declaration, so this reference is an anachronism.

Additional Information

The Declaration of Independence

Related Products

1776 - The Director's Cut DVD of the 1972 Motion Picture -- see my review of this DVD release of the movie. Executive Summary: if you love the show, you'll want this DVD.
	1776 - Original Broadway Cast recording CD (1969) -- an indispensable recording for anyone who loves 1776. William Daniels is the definitive John Adams. Alas, because of illness, Howard Da Silva doesn't appear, and his replacement, while not bad, just isn't ... Howard Da Silva.
1776 - New Broadway Cast recording CD of the 1997 New York Revival -- not a bad recording, but it will probably appeal mainly to those who saw the revival or to fans of Mr. Spiner. And completists, of course. :-)
	1776 - Vocal Selections -- includes most of the songs from the original production in playable piano arrangements that are mostly similar to the arrangements in the show. There are some notable exceptions, however, e.g., Is Anybody There?, which has a different arrangement and different lyrics from what appear in the show.
1776: A Musical Play by Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards -- includes the complete text of the play, a Historical Note by the authors, the complete text of Jefferson's original draft for the Declaration of Independence with the elisions clearly marked, and a bibliography.