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''Good God, Sir, was that fair?'' }}
'''''1776''''' is the name of both a 1969 Broadway play and its 1972 film adaptation, featuring [[William Daniels]] of later ''[[Knight Rider]]'', ''[[St. Elsewhere]]'' and ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' fame in the role that made him a star. It's a mostly accurate depiction of the hurdles and loopholes that the Founding Fathers went through in order to separate from Great Britain... well, once you take out the all-singing, all-dancing part, it is, anyway.
Daniels plays [[John Adams]] (later the first-ever Vice President), a Boston revolutionary who spearheads the American effort to turn from a British Crown Colony into its own nation. All sorts of reasons are brought up for this, including taxation sans representation and the alienation that the Atlantic Ocean brings. With the help of Yoda-esque [[Ben Franklin]] and a reluctant [[Thomas Jefferson]], who is so homesick he can barely write the Declaration of Independence, he puts forth these reasons... which are almost immediately savaged. It takes a minor miracle just to get the whole thing to a point where it can be voted on, much less ratified -- ''that'' would require unanimity.
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* [[The Ghost]]: [[George Washington]].
* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: Adams. So, so much.
* [[Grammar Nazi]]: John Adams. It's "''un''alienable," not "''in''alienable" -- but he'll speak about it with the printer later. Funny thing is, he did! "Unalienable" is the [http://www.ushistory.org/DECLARATION/unalienable.htm word used on printed copies of the
* [[Happily Married]]: John and Abigail Adams, Thomas and Martha Jefferson. Both of them, incidentally, are [[Truth in Television]]; the Adamses in particular were quite happily married for ''fifty-four years.'' Sadly, despite how much in love they were, Jefferson and his wife didn't have nearly as much time together, as Martha died tragically young. (The Martha Jefferson listed as Jefferson's First Lady is actually his daughter.)
* [[Hate Sink]]: John Dickinson, who isn't at all evil, but takes point for the anti-Independence side.
* [[Historical Domain Character]]: With the exception of the courier and MacNair's assistant -- called only "Leather Apron" -- every single person who appears in the Congressional chambers, speaking role or not, is a historically documented personage. Yes, even Thomson and MacNair were real people.
* [[Hollywood Night]]: Both averted and not. The "Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve" number is clearly shot at night in front of the Independence Hall
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: "Two [useless men] are called a law firm." John Adams was a lawyer -- in particular, he was famous for defending the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre.
** Adams could have been aiming a bit of self deprecating humor at himself and/or a [[Take That]] at his lazy contemporaries, much like when he decries the congress he's a part of.
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* [[Incoming Ham]]: Richard Henry Lee.
{{quote|'''Lee:''' YOU SENT FOR ME, BENJAMIN?
'''Adams''' [to Franklin]: ''Never!''
'''Lee:''' HELLLLOOOOO, JOHNNY! }}
* [[It's Personal]]: Lewis Morris of New York abstains ("Courteously!") from every vote since the New York legislature never told him
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Adams. He does have a heart of gold. Somewhere. For instance, he really does love his wife, and he really does want the best for his country and its people. He's just... [[Good Is Not Nice|not that nice about it]].
* [[Large Ham]]: Richard Henry Lee, Jefferson's fellow Virginian.
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* [[Reality Is Unrealistic]]: In the [[DVD Commentary]] recorded many, many years later, the play's writer revealed that he originally intended Adams to note that if they leave in the slavery clause war would break out in about a century, in yet another example of lifting dialogue directly from the founders' writings. He used only the second half of the quote, "posterity will never forgive us," because he was afraid people would think it was him speaking in hindsight, rather than an ''actual historic observation'' by Adams.
** In something of a meta-example (and another use of Adams' own writings), Adams' comment to Franklin about history forgetting him and focusing exclusively on Franklin and Washington (and Washington's horse) is dead-on -- until well into the twentieth century, Adams' pivotal role in getting the Declaration passed and signed was almost systematically overlooked by historians besotted with the more traditionally heroic Washington and the polycompetent Franklin. The horse was an embellishment of the writers', however.
** [[Roger Ebert]] (and probably others) blasted the film version in [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19721226/REVIEWS/212260301/1023 his review] calling it "an insult to the real men who were Adams Jefferson, Franklin and the rest" for being an unrealistic portrayal, [[Did Not Do the Research|unaware just how much of the conflict was true]].
* [[Redheaded Hero]]/[[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Abigail Adams. Her insight and willingness to support her husband when he's at a loss even for words, spur him into action in the Continental Congress.
** And of course, there's also Thomas Jefferson.
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* [[Truth in Television]]: Vast amounts of dialogue and even song lyrics were lifted ''intact'' from the writings of the various Founding Fathers. In particular, "obnoxious and disliked" was ''John Adams' own description'' many decades after the fact of how he felt he was viewed by the Founders and the nation in general (although many historians feel he was an [[Unreliable Narrator]] in this respect), and his duets and discussions with the mental image of his wife Abigail are composed of passages from their letters to each other -- including the "Saltpeter!"/"Pins!" [[Running Gag]].
** Similarly, every motion made on the floor of Congress, and every modification proposed or made to the Declaration (including the briefly heard objection about it not mentioning deep-sea fishing rights!) come directly from either the Congressional minutes or Jefferson's own notes from the revision of the Declaration into its final form.
** And even though the passage of the Declaration did not in actuality work out to a nail-biting final vote the way the movie portrays, Judge Wilson did in fact switch sides at the very last minute, changing Pennsylvania's vote from "nay" to "yea"; his reason for this
* [[Victorian Novel Disease]]: Played very straight with Delaware delegate Caesar Rodney, who had skin cancer that was killing him at the time of the Continental Congress, although it's dramatically ''underplayed'' with the small patch covering his cheek -- in truth, Rodney was missing literally ''half of his face'' due to primitive surgery/cauterization treatments and kept the afflicted area hidden under a green kerchief wrapped around his head. [[Truth in Television]] here as well, including how he rode eighty miles to break a deadlock in the final vote on independence for his home state -- a feat celebrated on the commemorative Delaware quarter.
** Not so much [[Truth in Television]]... at least not in regards to his reason for being away from Congress. While Caesar Rodney did die of skin cancer, he was in no ways the "dying man" Colonel McKean describes him as in ''1776'', and had not returned to Delaware to take to his deathbed; in fact, he lived another eight years after the signing of the Declaration before the cancer killed him. In actuality, he had gone home to make a speaking tour to try to stiffen the spines of his fellow Delawarians, who were wavering on Independence and the Revolution. To be fair, though, he ''did'' still make what then amounted to a two-day-plus trip overnight -- ''through a thunderstorm'' -- while suffering from the effects of both his cancer ''and'' asthma.
* [[Villain Song]]: "Cool, Considerate Men" fits, "Molasses to Rum" defines.
* [[Volleying Insults]]: "Coward!" "Madman!" [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|"Landlord!"]] [[Berserk Button|"Lawyer!"]]
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** It's a sign of a good production of this musical if one's [[Suspension of Disbelief|disbelief is suspended enough]] that one forgets the (in hindsight) [[Foregone Conclusion]].
* [[Welcome Episode]]: Dr. Lyman Hall's arrival at Congress allows the audience to meet all the remaining (important) members of the cast.
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: All the damn time to Adams. And he always deserves it, too.
** "Molasses to Rum" is this for the entire North.
* [[Written by the Winners]]: Alluded to by Franklin in one of his witticisms:
{{quote|Rebellion is ''always'' legal in the first person -- "''Our'' Rebellion". It's only in the third person -- "''Their'' rebellion" -- that it becomes illegal.}}
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