Saturday, October 30, 2010

Happy Birthday, John Adams



John Adams was born on this day in 1735 in Quincy, Massachusetts. Taken from HBO's seven-part miniseries "John Adams," this scene captures the pivotal deliberations of the Second Continental Congress in the summer of 1776. As delegates face the inevitability of war with Great Britain, Adams makes a moving case for freedom and self-determination, stressing that the price of liberty can never be too high. America must be free, no matter what the cost.
“Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.”

~ John Adams

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