[Sailor Steve]

I mentioned in the 'What Are You Reading' thread that I was mildly disappointed in the book, and wasn't sure whether it was McCullough's writing style or Adams' personality. Walter Isaacson's book on Franklin made Adams look like a pompous oaf, and McCullough's treated Jefferson in a similar fashion.

Back to the show.

Episode 3: Don't Tread On Me. Covers the rest of the Revolution, including Adams' appointment as Franklin's assistant in France. It nicely covers Franklin's coddling of the French, and Adams irritating all and sundry by trying to cut directly to the chase. It also goes into his six-year separation from his family, and the frustrations involved in being apart for that long from someone you love as deeply as they did each other. In the book McCullough mentions that John and Abigail Adams wrote more than five thousand letters to each other during their lives. They weren't the only ones, but we'll never know how many Thomas and Martha Jefferson wrote - when she died young, in a fit of grief and rage he burned every single one.

The chapter ends with Adams being pretty much laughed out of Paris, and going to Amsterdam to try to secure a load from the Dutch banking merchants; and finally a devastating illness.

I liked this episode the least so far, but that's not bad; if I was rating them so far I'd give episode 2 a 10, but 1 would be 9.8 and this one would still be at least 9.5.

Episode 4: Reunion. Picks up where the last one left off. The war ends with Cornwallis's surrender to Washington, and Adams goes back to Paris to be part of the peace negotiations. It then jumps to Abigail's arrival in Paris to join her husband, which was a big disappointment to me. Not the Abigail part; but they have Adams say that he will insist on a British guarantee of Independence being part of the treaty, and then skip the whole treaty itself. I wanted to see the look on his face when, after swearing that he'll force Franklin to his way of thinking, had his thunder stolen when Franklin takes his team aside (John Jay was there also) and told them "We won't even talk to them unless Independence is mentioned up front!" And then everyone was shocked when the British negotiator showed up, and right there in his charter it said he was "authorized to treat with the representatives of The United States Of America."

But still, the reunion was a wonderful scene, and the discussions between both of them and Jefferson are priceless. It gets even better with their return home, the beginning of the degeneration of their son Charles into alcoholism, and the beginning of the romance between their daughter Nabby (Abigail) with Adams' secretary, William Smith. That funny side-note is one I never noticed until watching the show: Abigails senior's maiden name was Smith, making her Abigail Smith Adams, and Nabby married William Smith, making her Abigail Adams Smith.

The episode ends with the Election of 1788 and George Washington becoming the first president. John Adams knew he would almost certainly be vice-president, and he knew that the electors would make sure he got less votes than Washington, so there was no question or argument; but the electors wanted to be absolutely certain, so Adams got less than half the votes the general did. He was so disappointed that he wanted to refuse the position, but his wife kindly pointed out that he had still recieved more votes than all the other candidates combined. This is history, and it is portrayed very well here. We're back to a 9.8 for this one.

One thing that has been bothering me is their habit of placing famous historical statements in a false context. They had Benjamin Franklin make his famous "hang together" speech during the debates on the Declaration, when in fact he is said to have made it right after he signed his name to the document. Again, when the French Foreign Minister met Thomas Jefferson he said "So you are the man who is to replace the great Franklin." Jefferson famously replied "Sir, no one can replace Doctor Franklin. I only succeed him." They have him say this to Adams during a quiet outdoor discussion.

A very small complaint, but it still bugs me.