Friday, July 3, 2009

When in the course of human events...

John Adams
by Gilbert Stuart



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
by John Trumbull
(That's John Adams in the center of the painting,
which is exactly where he should be!
Click on image to enlarge)

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."



Thus concludes our Declaration, and begins our American story. Want to know the details of how it was written? Revised? If you missed the HBO series JOHN ADAMS last year, find it and get ready for American history to come to life before you. If videos are not your cup of tea, then read the book on which it is based, David McCullough's JOHN ADAMS. McCullough makes clear the fact that when our founding fathers made that final pledge, it was not just a manner of speaking: "What was the source of their courage? Who were those people? I don't think think we can ever know enough about them." One of his primary sources for this book were the letters exchanged between Abigail and John Adams. What a life these two shared! And, what a life they helped shape for generations to follow.


"The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people."

John Adams



Have a glorious 4th of July!

Pray for peace.

10 comments:

Old Centennial Farmhouse said...

I absolutely LOVED the John Adams series, and those men knew when they signed that they could be signing their own death warrants! COURAGE, I tell ya!
XOXO
Joni

Unknown said...

Hello FireLight,

I saw a little of the John Adams mini series. I liked the piece at the end when he got into the carriage when finally leaving the White House and told the other passengers to stop gawking!

Well, you folks caused us a lot of trouble, you know, but you're forgiven now! :0)

Enjoy your day! And thanks for your nice comments about my writing.

Country Girl said...

I posted about the special when it aired. Excellent program!! Perfect post for a day like today.

FireLight said...

Old Centennial Farmhouse, welocome to my little corner of the blog world! It was a dangerous undertaking to be sure!
Derrick, sometimes I think our middle name is Trouble!
Country Girl, I loved the soundtrack, and I am listening to it this morning!

Rowan said...

Hope you had a good Fourth of July. I confess that I know little about John Adams other than that he was one of the early Presidents. If Derrick has seen some of the mini series then it must have aired over here so I will keep a look out for any repeats.

Tess Kincaid said...

I thought the HBO series was so well done. We thoroughly enjoyed it. WT has Adams in his maternal line that I've been trying, without much luck, to connect to John Adams.

Hope you and yours had a lovely 4th weekend!

Dave King said...

A beautiful blog, both in presentation and in content.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

What a wonderful post and I DO pray for peace...peace in our country as well as Jerusalem!

Unknown said...

Hello FireLight,

I thought I'd call in again to have a snoop around and I've just been looking at the link for the Guernsey Lit. and PPP Soc.! It was interesting to read the background and acknowledge the truth in the idea that each of us has at least one book inside.

Now, how about you? If you are hard at work-related stuff, then poo! But if you're off somewhere having a ball, then I have no sympathy!!

Tom Atkins said...

I missed the show, but read the book, and like all McCollogh's it was excellent. A good post and good reminder of the liveliness of history.

About Me

My photo
Recreational scholar, former high school and junior college English teacher. Animal lover (especially horses, dogs, and people), lives in the South, sometimes poet and essayist... "Ireland, Scotland, Britain, and Wales...I can hear those ancient voices calling..." Van Morrison from Celtic Heartbeat