From:Simon Laub (silanian@mail.tele.dk) Subject:True Blue - John Adams Newsgroups:alt.history, soc.culture.usa, soc.history, soc.history.war.us-revolution Date:2002-12-29 16:35:16 PST David McCullochs detailed biography of John Adams is a pleasure to read. It not only brings back the life of John Adams, it also brings back the American revolution. A revolution that happened because some, like Adams, were dedicated to its ideals. Ideals, that sometimes seems almost forgottan in our mundane world. But it is a joy to have them refreshed, as David McCulloch so masterfully does in his John Adams biography. When townspeople asked for a toast that they might read out aload on the 4th of July, the 90 year old former president declared in true blue spirits that it should be "Independence forever". No less, no more. But David McCullochs story of John Adams is great, because it is a story of a real person. A mensch, as germans would put it. Born into the times of the american revolution he prized the Roman ideal of honor. He read Cicero, Tacitus and others in Latin. Plato in the original Greek. Indeed, something to consider for your 2003 politician who considers CNN a source of information. He was not a man of wealth - but he loved the esteem of public life and his farm, family and goose quill. And above all, it seems, his wife. Whom he married on october 1764 at the home of the prides parents in Weymouth Massachusetts. He was 28 and Abigail Smith was 19. And through thick and thin we follow them though these epic times of the American revolution. As they cross the Atlantic and don't expect to survive it - right till the end when Abigail dies in 1818. A marriage that in itself would be worthy of a book - in all its trials, love, wisdom and humanity. Indeed, Abigail surely deserves a biography dedicated solely to her. At times Adams would wrestle with fellow founders. Benjamin Franklin called him: Sometimes out of his senses. And Thomas Jefferson was both a lifelong friend and a bitter political opponent, who accused him of monarchistic tendencies in the hard fought election of 1800. And it was not "just" politics to Adams. Indeed, Whereas God, according to Jefferson, created the universe and then withdrem from mundane affairs, Adams believed in continous divine intervention. So, to John Adams life was never just a puppet game - it was a question of giving providence a helping hand. And providence certainly had a helping hand in securing that the two surviving heroes of the 1776 revolution both died on the 4th of July. July 4th 1826 - Jefferson a few hours before Adams. A wonderful story. A wonderful book. Something to think about. Democracy and freedom was won by real people. People like John and Abigail Adams. -Simon ---------------- Simon Laub www.silanian.subnet.dk www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/lol/1165/