John Adams s01e04 Episode Script
Reunion
Mr.
Adams.
- Mr.
Adams.
- Yes! - Mr.
Adams, sir.
- Yes! Momentous news, Mr.
Adams.
The British are defeated.
Look.
Now, sir now, sir, all will be fine.
All will be fine, sir.
Come.
Come now.
You have struck a great blow for the American cause, Mr.
Adams.
You have turned us all on our heads.
General Washington at Yorktown did the substance of the work.
Only the form belongs to me.
Our directors have agreed to an initial loan of 5 million Dutch guilders 2 million of your American dollars at a special rate of 5% interest.
You may consider American credit fully established.
Well, l well, I thank you, gentlemen.
I thank you very very much indeed.
We are very sorry to hear that you will leave us so soon.
Oh yes, well, I am needed in Paris again.
The British have sued for peace, and I intend to see that we have a treaty that recognizes our independence, nothing less.
You are a most stubborn man, Mr.
Adams.
Ah, well, thanks be to God He gave me stubbornness, especially when I know that I am right.
"My dearest friend, the peace treaty is done but the Congress have instructed me to remain in Paris to secure commerce with other nations.
I cannot justify going home, but what should I do for want of my Abigail? There is only one remedy: Come, my dearest friend.
Make all arrangements you must for the care and education of our children.
They are old enough now.
Come, my friend.
" Madame.
Auteuil? Auteuil, madame, oui.
Adams? Monsieur Adams a Auteuil.
Oui, madame.
Bienvenu.
Madame.
Mrs.
Adams.
Mr.
Adams.
Come.
I've taken the liberty of making this room into my office.
This is not in use.
I came here with many harsh words for you, John.
I know you have complained, and it is very well-deserved.
My my pen was silent not because you were absent from my thoughts, but because you were too much in them.
To write of my disgrace, to burden you with my trials here, knowing of all of those you had to face at home alone it sorrows me more than I can say to think that I may have added to them.
Can you forgive me, Abigail? Did you think that I would think less of you if you spoke of your misadventures here? No man wants to appear a fool before his wife.
And now that you are triumphant, can you open your heart to me again? My heart was never closed to you.
Without you to steady me, without you I I dismiss my God, I grow weak and vain.
Then we shall have to relieve you of such bad habits.
You must stay with me always to prevent my ruination.
I understood my role was to negotiate free-trade agreements with anyone that would listen.
But nobody seems to have the slightest interest in either me or my whale oil.
Well, there is a lack of confidence in us, Thomas in the whale oil, perhaps but in the country as a whole.
Do they think that we will tire of independence? That our nation is ephemeral? My experience here has shown that American affairs are of very little consequence to anyone in Europe.
And as long as they are dealing with 13 separate states, they can afford to procrastinate.
Ah! Thomas, allow me to present my wife.
Mrs.
Adams is already well known to me.
Your wisdom and your passion for your country is said to inform your husband's every decision.
You do me more credit than I deserve, sir.
Come.
Tell me, Mr.
Jefferson, are you situated in an equally grand manner? Oh, certainly.
It's a measure of our immense significance in the French court, where the question is not how well-qualified are we for office, but how many domestics do we retain.
The British Ambassador has 50.
The Spanish Ambassador has 75.
We consider ourselves quite impoverished.
We have to make do with fewer than 20.
I'm sorry, my dear.
Perhaps if we had more servants, you would be more successful in your negotiations.
A diplomatic magician.
At present I see scarcely any opportunity of doing anything for the American public worth the expense of maintaining us here.
Mr.
Adams, did you invite your wife across the Atlantic in order to complain about our business affairs? Uh, yes, of course I did.
I am most used to Mr.
Adams' complaints, Mr.
Jefferson, on either side of the Atlantic.
I'm sure you are, but I for one am much more interested in hearing about your first impressions of France.
Well, I have been in France for such a short time.
It would be unfair to pass sentence or form judgment.
Which implies that you've already done both.
Well, if I had, Mr.
Jefferson, I would only offer them after my further experience had shown my wisdom or the error of my ways.
An admirable caution.
Yes, and highly uncharacteristic, I assure you.
I am sorry I will not have the opportunity to meet your children.
As am I, Mr.
Jefferson.
Johnny has returned and he's very well along at Harvard.
So, uh it would not do to distract him.
Let me take this opportunity, Mr.
Jefferson, to give you my deepest condolences.
You must know that you are welcome here at any time.
I hope you will use this as your second home.
You are most gracious.
Thank you.
If ever there was a city designed to distract us from our troubles, it would be Paris.
Good heavens.
I fear I make an awkward sight.
Oh, no.
Without doubt, you are the fairest creature in Christendom.
It would mortify my soul if I should be thought to disgrace you.
My dear, you are like to dazzle them all.
I confess I was ashamed to be seen looking at them.
I am not accustomed to seeing such intimacy on display.
Well, you seemed quite transported.
- I was.
- Yeah.
I am embarrassed to admit it.
I am resolved to renounce embarrassment in favor of enjoyment and a certain elevation of the spirits which is occasioned by witnessing the human body liberated from its earthly shackles.
Paris is unique.
Yes, and best enjoyed in the company of women.
Women would add interest to many things, Mr.
Jefferson, if men would allow it.
Well, that has been my experience, Mrs.
Adams.
I cannot imagine Monticello without Martha.
I cannot imagine losing a child and your wife in one year.
Perhaps the art of life is the art of avoiding pain.
He is the best pilot who steers clear of the rocks and shoals.
For all of Mr.
Jefferson's sadness, there is a great charm about him.
You find him a captivating man, hmm? He is exceptional.
And am I not exceptional in any way? Certainly, unless you are given to one of your moods.
I'm simply reading a book, madam.
Pauline, merci.
Madame.
All this fuss is really quite silly.
I'm perfectly capable of brushing out my own hair.
Protest if you will, my dear.
The question is whether it is possible for a lady, or even a charming and exceptional man, once they have become accustomed to the manners of Europe, not to have their little heads turned by them.
Well, if I am to have a litany of all my faults, then perhaps we should just have it out and be done with it.
John.
John.
Petulant John.
Exceptional John.
- Sleepy John? - Mmm.
I would not change a single thing about you.
Good thing for you! Le Dr.
Franklin, messieurs, et La Comtesse Ligniville D'Autricourt.
I have something very important to deliver.
When I can find it I will know where it is.
Excellent, excellent.
Madame.
My stones! Ahem.
Oh, pardon me, Mrs.
Adams.
It is Mrs.
Adams, is it not? It is of course, Doctor, yes.
Oh, an honor.
Madam, I shall rise to apologize for not getting up.
Dr.
Franklin.
May I present the Comtesse Ligniville D'Autricourt, Madame Helvetius? - Madame.
- Madame.
Franklin asks me to marry him many times.
Has he indeed? An inconvenience to Mrs.
Franklin, surely.
It is quite tiresome.
I tell him we are too old for romance.
Found it! From Philadelphia.
Merci.
The Congress has seen fit to appoint me Minister to the Court of St.
James.
I am expected to appear in London no later than King George's birthday.
Bravo! Ambassador Adams, may you be the first of many.
Mrs.
Ambassador.
We have had our disagreements.
But you have always been an honest collaborator.
I can think of no better choice to represent the United States in Great Britain than yourself.
The English love an insult.
It's their only test of a man's sincerity.
Ah.
Ahh! My own days abroad are at a close, but Mr.
Jefferson will replace me here quite well, I'm sure.
I merely succeed you, Dr.
Franklin.
No one can replace you.
Well, I fear none of us will taste the bread of idleness.
There is talk of a convention in Philadelphia.
They are to discuss a binding constitution.
I hope to attend, if only to have an effect on the style of its prose.
I expect that any constitutional document that emerges from Philadelphia will be as compromised as our declaration of independency.
I am increasingly persuaded that the earth belongs exclusively to the living and that one generation has no more right to bind another to its laws and judgments than one independent nation has the right to command another.
But surely the constitution, as it did with the ones we wrote for our own states, is meant to establish the stability and the long-term legality essential to the continuation of a civilized society.
Yes, possibly.
But I fear it could prove a breach in the integrity of our revolutionary ideals through which will pour the forces of reaction.
Doctor, Mr.
Jefferson's pet topic is not the artful arrangement of political power, but the cordoning off of a space in which no power exists at all.
You, sir, you are a walking contradiction.
- We're all contradictions, Mr.
Adams.
- Indeed yes.
And what is government ultimately but the putting into effect of the lessons which we have learned in dealing with the contradictions in our own characters? You have a disconcerting lack of faith in your fellow man, Mr.
A, and in yourself, if I may say.
Yes, and you display a dangerous excess of faith in your fellow man, Mr.
Jefferson.
Well, I'm sure we'll all disagree a great deal.
Our country is founded on the right to disagree.
Still, we must prevail, if only to prove Mr.
Dickinson wrong that we will not tear ourselves asunder after the defeat of our common enemy.
We've come too far to be undone by petty rivalries.
Hmm.
It is no small thing to build a new world, gentlemen.
We have our republic.
We must endeavor to keep it if we can.
It will never fly.
It has flown, John, many times.
No, it's pulled up and down, up and down on a rope.
Let's see what happens when the rope is released.
Your husband's admirable caution sometimes blinds him to unanticipated possibilities, Mrs.
Adams.
This is one of them.
Yes yes, the possibility that it will never fly.
I should be very sad, John, if your experience of Paris has left you so unchanged.
I'm consoled only by the thought that one never really knows how much one has been touched by a place until one has left it.
Well, I shall certainly miss your company, Thomas.
And I shall miss yours, Mrs.
Adams.
London is not so very far away, Mr.
Jefferson, in the unlikely event you tire of Paris.
I believe it shall tire of me first.
Well, I stand corrected.
So our umbilical cord to Mother Earth has been severed for the first time in history.
Mankind floats upon a limitless plane of air.
Hmm.
Hot air.
Lord Carmarthen, the foreign minister, will make the official introduction to His Majesty.
And upon being ushered into the royal presence chamber, you will make three reverences, like so: One on entering a second halfway to His Majesty and a third as you come before the royal presence.
Well, if you would, Mr.
Adams.
Please.
Well, uh One.
Lower, sir.
Two.
Truly lower, Mr.
Adams.
An improper reverence has been the undoing of many a foreign ambassador.
I tremble at the thought of being stared at with evil eyes.
Avert your eyes, sir, until you come before the royal presence.
Yes.
May I also suggest that perhaps a change of attire would not be unwarranted, sir? What would you suggest, sir? Possibly something a little more English.
Mr.
John Adams.
The United States of America The United States of America have appointed me Minister Plenipotentiary to Your Majesty.
I think myself more fortunate than all of my fellow citizens in having the the distinguishing honor to be the first to stand in Your Majesty's presence in a diplomatic character.
I shall esteem myself the happiest of men if I can be instrumental in restoring the confidence and affection or in better words, the good old nature and the good old humor between peoples who, though separated by an ocean and under different governments, have the same language, the same religion and kindred blood.
I beg Your Majesty's permission to add that though I had been before entrusted by my country it was never in my whole life in a manner more agreeable to myself.
The circumstances of this audience are so extraordinary.
The language you have now held is so extremely proper and the feelings you have discovered so justly adapted to the occasion, that I not only receive with pleasure the assurance of the friendly disposition of the United States but that I am very glad that the choice has fallen on you to be their minister.
I will be very frank with you.
I was the last to consent to separation.
But the separation having been made and having become inevitable, I have always said as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power.
Thank you, Your Majesty.
There is an opinion among some people, Mr.
Adams, that you are not the most attached of all your countrymen to the manners of France.
Yes, well, I avow to Your Majesty that I have no attachment to any country but my own.
An honest man will never have any other.
I pray, Mr.
Adams, that the United States does not suffer unduly from its want of a monarchy.
Yes, we will strive to answer those prayers, Your Majesty.
Ah, "An ambassador from America.
Good heavens, what a sound.
" Why, they call me a vain imposter and a Pharisee of liberty.
Idiotic phrase.
"The Morning Post and Daily Advertiser.
" Ah, they very helpfully inform their readers that I was "so pitifully embarrassed as to be very nearly tongue-tied.
" You must pay them no mind, sir.
They accuse me of vanity.
They always accuse me of vanity.
There are many different kinds of vanity in this world.
But there is also the vanity that comes from years spent in the service of other men.
And of that I am most certainly guilty.
Guilty as charged.
To deny that would be sheer hypocrisy.
Here is someone calling for me to be hanged! Colonel Smith, remove these papers at once.
God, what a country! Charming! I am sorry, John.
Are you unwell? Do you remember the old Vassall-Borland estate near our farm? Uh, yeah.
Rather a grand place, I recall.
It has become available.
House, farm buildings 80 acres for £600.
What has brought this on? My body is in one place, my soul is in another.
Besides, I am worried about the children.
They are adults now, John.
They have been without us for too long.
- And I'm tired of this weary place.
- Mm-hmm.
There is no pleasure mixing company where no one cares for you.
You care for no one.
I too feel adrift.
I missed the Constitutional Convention.
They are to elect a new federal government, and here am I, 3,000 miles away.
I will write to the Congress and demand my immediate recall.
I hold this post to be so inconsistent with my honor and dignity I can no longer endure it.
I'm finished with pomp and ceremony and bowing and scraping and wigs and all other affectations.
I'm finished with it.
Will they grant it? I hope so.
Make ready! Present! Fire! Father? Charles! Good heavens, you you look fine, sir.
I trust you had a peaceful journey, sir.
Oh, yes yes.
- Father, this is Thomas.
- Of course.
Thomas.
My boy, my goodness.
Well, you've grown into a man, yeah? - It's been a long time, Father.
- Yes indeed.
Yes indeed.
- Welcome home.
- John Quincy! - Father.
- Good! Yeah! My boys.
My boys.
Welcome home, Father.
I feared that you would not know me.
Nonsense.
On the contrary.
No, I am amazed.
Mother.
Colonel William Smith, who has been my private secretary, my sons, my daughter Nabby.
Colonel Smith.
Abigail, shall we? Come.
Nabby.
Charles, Thomas, follow in the next carriage, yes? God bless Mr.
Adams.
Thank you! Thank you.
It is too early for you to speak of retirement.
I have been rolling like a stone for 30 years, never three years in the same place.
No, sir.
I intend to lay fast to my farm, here to live, here to die, here to lay my bones.
Time has already taken too many of '76.
The new government has my best wishes and most fervent prayers for its success.
The Constitution was not ratified without some difficulty.
We need men who will unite us.
Our first election is imminent.
Speculation on your future has been overflowing.
Your name has been mentioned for Governor, Senator, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Vice President, even President of these States United.
Surely Washington is the logical choice.
You would not object if I were to put your name forward? You were not meant to sit in the shade of life neither one of you.
If that is what you wish It must at least be vice president.
Anything less would be beneath you.
To Peacefield, in honor of our lasting peace with Great Britain.
Peacefield.
I could hardly ask your mother to return to the wren's house of your childhood.
Of course not, not after the palaces of Europe! I have heard disturbing reports of your behavior at Harvard, Charles drunkenness and disorderly conduct.
It was only a lark, Father, a momentary effusion of too much good cheer.
I daresay I am neither the first person nor the last to appear naked in Harvard Yard.
Well, I daresay do not let your companions or your amusements get the better of you, sir.
A scholar is always made alone and sober.
Studies can be pursued to good purpose only by yourself.
Your example is always before me, Father.
Following your graduations, I will see to it that you are placed as apprentices to the most prominent lawyers.
Thank you, Father.
Johnny, how goes your clerkship with lawyer Parsons? It's a far cry from the excitement of St.
Petersburg.
I'm sure.
And your courtship of Mary Frazier, is that not exciting? How long have you pursued this courtship? I have known Mary for a year now.
A year? She is a lovely girl.
She is intelligent and well-spoken.
I find her to be delightful company.
Nothing so like perfection in human shape has been seen since the world began.
May I inquire as to the age of the young lady? She is 15, Mother.
I will speak frankly with you, John.
You're too young, you're too unestablished to form any sort of romantic attachment whatsoever.
To excel in the field of the law, let alone become a man of position and prominence, you must work more hours than exist in the day and more days than exist in the week.
- I am well aware of the commit - You are not! Now, I indulge you more than your brothers, and there's a reason for that.
Because you have a strong mind and you have the temperament to succeed at whatever you set that mind to do.
You've traveled the world, man.
You could achieve distinction.
But you have only to apply yourself.
Now I am willing to set you up in your own practice as of tomorrow with an annual stipend of £100.
But you must cut off this romantic attachment immediately.
I will need some time to consider your offer.
No! You will decide now.
Very well, as you wish.
Good boy.
Excellent.
You're smiling, Miss Adams.
Do I not have reason to be happy, Colonel Smith? Our family is so rarely together.
Your brothers seem to be men of good spirit, Charles especially.
My brother Charles can be rather incorrigible.
He can be as headstrong as Father.
Mr.
Adams has the vitality of a much younger man.
Some days it's all I can do to keep up with him.
Father says you commanded a regiment of our army.
Yes, I had the honor to serve under General Washington at Long Island.
Perhaps you will allow me to divert you with stories from the campaign, if you would not find them too dull.
That depends on the telling, does it not, Colonel Smith? Abigail.
Here's a fine culmination to all my years of service fewer than half the votes of the Electoral College.
General Washington is unanimously acclaimed president with 69 votes, whereas I apparently am scorned by all but 34 of the electors.
John, there are two, four, six, eight, 10 other names here.
You have more votes than all of them put together.
- And John Jay comes in third with nine.
- Nonetheless, I consider I consider such a showing a stain upon my character.
- John! - I will not and I cannot accept it.
John you are vice president now.
Vice president.
I am vice president now, hmm? Mr.
Vice President.
- Mrs.
Vice President.
- Vice President Adams.
Mr.
Vice President! Unaccustomed to refuse any public service, however dangerous to my reputation or disproportionate to my talents it would have been inconsistent to have adopted a different maxim of conduct at this time.
And yet and yet, I feel a great difficulty as to how to act.
I am vice president, yes.
And in this I am nothing.
But I may be everything.
Ah.
Well, General, uh uh, you are you are here.
I am, Mr.
Adams.
Um Yes.
Um, yes, we, uh, we are ready to administer the oath of office, sir.
I am at your service.
Thank you, sir.
General, if you will please place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand.
Repeat after me.
I, George Washington, do solemnly swear I, George Washington, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will, to the best of my ability and will, to the best of my ability preserve protect, and defend preserve protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States! the Constitution of the United States so help me, God.
It is done.
God bless George Washington, President of the United States! A fine day.
A fine day.
Adams.
- Mr.
Adams.
- Yes! - Mr.
Adams, sir.
- Yes! Momentous news, Mr.
Adams.
The British are defeated.
Look.
Now, sir now, sir, all will be fine.
All will be fine, sir.
Come.
Come now.
You have struck a great blow for the American cause, Mr.
Adams.
You have turned us all on our heads.
General Washington at Yorktown did the substance of the work.
Only the form belongs to me.
Our directors have agreed to an initial loan of 5 million Dutch guilders 2 million of your American dollars at a special rate of 5% interest.
You may consider American credit fully established.
Well, l well, I thank you, gentlemen.
I thank you very very much indeed.
We are very sorry to hear that you will leave us so soon.
Oh yes, well, I am needed in Paris again.
The British have sued for peace, and I intend to see that we have a treaty that recognizes our independence, nothing less.
You are a most stubborn man, Mr.
Adams.
Ah, well, thanks be to God He gave me stubbornness, especially when I know that I am right.
"My dearest friend, the peace treaty is done but the Congress have instructed me to remain in Paris to secure commerce with other nations.
I cannot justify going home, but what should I do for want of my Abigail? There is only one remedy: Come, my dearest friend.
Make all arrangements you must for the care and education of our children.
They are old enough now.
Come, my friend.
" Madame.
Auteuil? Auteuil, madame, oui.
Adams? Monsieur Adams a Auteuil.
Oui, madame.
Bienvenu.
Madame.
Mrs.
Adams.
Mr.
Adams.
Come.
I've taken the liberty of making this room into my office.
This is not in use.
I came here with many harsh words for you, John.
I know you have complained, and it is very well-deserved.
My my pen was silent not because you were absent from my thoughts, but because you were too much in them.
To write of my disgrace, to burden you with my trials here, knowing of all of those you had to face at home alone it sorrows me more than I can say to think that I may have added to them.
Can you forgive me, Abigail? Did you think that I would think less of you if you spoke of your misadventures here? No man wants to appear a fool before his wife.
And now that you are triumphant, can you open your heart to me again? My heart was never closed to you.
Without you to steady me, without you I I dismiss my God, I grow weak and vain.
Then we shall have to relieve you of such bad habits.
You must stay with me always to prevent my ruination.
I understood my role was to negotiate free-trade agreements with anyone that would listen.
But nobody seems to have the slightest interest in either me or my whale oil.
Well, there is a lack of confidence in us, Thomas in the whale oil, perhaps but in the country as a whole.
Do they think that we will tire of independence? That our nation is ephemeral? My experience here has shown that American affairs are of very little consequence to anyone in Europe.
And as long as they are dealing with 13 separate states, they can afford to procrastinate.
Ah! Thomas, allow me to present my wife.
Mrs.
Adams is already well known to me.
Your wisdom and your passion for your country is said to inform your husband's every decision.
You do me more credit than I deserve, sir.
Come.
Tell me, Mr.
Jefferson, are you situated in an equally grand manner? Oh, certainly.
It's a measure of our immense significance in the French court, where the question is not how well-qualified are we for office, but how many domestics do we retain.
The British Ambassador has 50.
The Spanish Ambassador has 75.
We consider ourselves quite impoverished.
We have to make do with fewer than 20.
I'm sorry, my dear.
Perhaps if we had more servants, you would be more successful in your negotiations.
A diplomatic magician.
At present I see scarcely any opportunity of doing anything for the American public worth the expense of maintaining us here.
Mr.
Adams, did you invite your wife across the Atlantic in order to complain about our business affairs? Uh, yes, of course I did.
I am most used to Mr.
Adams' complaints, Mr.
Jefferson, on either side of the Atlantic.
I'm sure you are, but I for one am much more interested in hearing about your first impressions of France.
Well, I have been in France for such a short time.
It would be unfair to pass sentence or form judgment.
Which implies that you've already done both.
Well, if I had, Mr.
Jefferson, I would only offer them after my further experience had shown my wisdom or the error of my ways.
An admirable caution.
Yes, and highly uncharacteristic, I assure you.
I am sorry I will not have the opportunity to meet your children.
As am I, Mr.
Jefferson.
Johnny has returned and he's very well along at Harvard.
So, uh it would not do to distract him.
Let me take this opportunity, Mr.
Jefferson, to give you my deepest condolences.
You must know that you are welcome here at any time.
I hope you will use this as your second home.
You are most gracious.
Thank you.
If ever there was a city designed to distract us from our troubles, it would be Paris.
Good heavens.
I fear I make an awkward sight.
Oh, no.
Without doubt, you are the fairest creature in Christendom.
It would mortify my soul if I should be thought to disgrace you.
My dear, you are like to dazzle them all.
I confess I was ashamed to be seen looking at them.
I am not accustomed to seeing such intimacy on display.
Well, you seemed quite transported.
- I was.
- Yeah.
I am embarrassed to admit it.
I am resolved to renounce embarrassment in favor of enjoyment and a certain elevation of the spirits which is occasioned by witnessing the human body liberated from its earthly shackles.
Paris is unique.
Yes, and best enjoyed in the company of women.
Women would add interest to many things, Mr.
Jefferson, if men would allow it.
Well, that has been my experience, Mrs.
Adams.
I cannot imagine Monticello without Martha.
I cannot imagine losing a child and your wife in one year.
Perhaps the art of life is the art of avoiding pain.
He is the best pilot who steers clear of the rocks and shoals.
For all of Mr.
Jefferson's sadness, there is a great charm about him.
You find him a captivating man, hmm? He is exceptional.
And am I not exceptional in any way? Certainly, unless you are given to one of your moods.
I'm simply reading a book, madam.
Pauline, merci.
Madame.
All this fuss is really quite silly.
I'm perfectly capable of brushing out my own hair.
Protest if you will, my dear.
The question is whether it is possible for a lady, or even a charming and exceptional man, once they have become accustomed to the manners of Europe, not to have their little heads turned by them.
Well, if I am to have a litany of all my faults, then perhaps we should just have it out and be done with it.
John.
John.
Petulant John.
Exceptional John.
- Sleepy John? - Mmm.
I would not change a single thing about you.
Good thing for you! Le Dr.
Franklin, messieurs, et La Comtesse Ligniville D'Autricourt.
I have something very important to deliver.
When I can find it I will know where it is.
Excellent, excellent.
Madame.
My stones! Ahem.
Oh, pardon me, Mrs.
Adams.
It is Mrs.
Adams, is it not? It is of course, Doctor, yes.
Oh, an honor.
Madam, I shall rise to apologize for not getting up.
Dr.
Franklin.
May I present the Comtesse Ligniville D'Autricourt, Madame Helvetius? - Madame.
- Madame.
Franklin asks me to marry him many times.
Has he indeed? An inconvenience to Mrs.
Franklin, surely.
It is quite tiresome.
I tell him we are too old for romance.
Found it! From Philadelphia.
Merci.
The Congress has seen fit to appoint me Minister to the Court of St.
James.
I am expected to appear in London no later than King George's birthday.
Bravo! Ambassador Adams, may you be the first of many.
Mrs.
Ambassador.
We have had our disagreements.
But you have always been an honest collaborator.
I can think of no better choice to represent the United States in Great Britain than yourself.
The English love an insult.
It's their only test of a man's sincerity.
Ah.
Ahh! My own days abroad are at a close, but Mr.
Jefferson will replace me here quite well, I'm sure.
I merely succeed you, Dr.
Franklin.
No one can replace you.
Well, I fear none of us will taste the bread of idleness.
There is talk of a convention in Philadelphia.
They are to discuss a binding constitution.
I hope to attend, if only to have an effect on the style of its prose.
I expect that any constitutional document that emerges from Philadelphia will be as compromised as our declaration of independency.
I am increasingly persuaded that the earth belongs exclusively to the living and that one generation has no more right to bind another to its laws and judgments than one independent nation has the right to command another.
But surely the constitution, as it did with the ones we wrote for our own states, is meant to establish the stability and the long-term legality essential to the continuation of a civilized society.
Yes, possibly.
But I fear it could prove a breach in the integrity of our revolutionary ideals through which will pour the forces of reaction.
Doctor, Mr.
Jefferson's pet topic is not the artful arrangement of political power, but the cordoning off of a space in which no power exists at all.
You, sir, you are a walking contradiction.
- We're all contradictions, Mr.
Adams.
- Indeed yes.
And what is government ultimately but the putting into effect of the lessons which we have learned in dealing with the contradictions in our own characters? You have a disconcerting lack of faith in your fellow man, Mr.
A, and in yourself, if I may say.
Yes, and you display a dangerous excess of faith in your fellow man, Mr.
Jefferson.
Well, I'm sure we'll all disagree a great deal.
Our country is founded on the right to disagree.
Still, we must prevail, if only to prove Mr.
Dickinson wrong that we will not tear ourselves asunder after the defeat of our common enemy.
We've come too far to be undone by petty rivalries.
Hmm.
It is no small thing to build a new world, gentlemen.
We have our republic.
We must endeavor to keep it if we can.
It will never fly.
It has flown, John, many times.
No, it's pulled up and down, up and down on a rope.
Let's see what happens when the rope is released.
Your husband's admirable caution sometimes blinds him to unanticipated possibilities, Mrs.
Adams.
This is one of them.
Yes yes, the possibility that it will never fly.
I should be very sad, John, if your experience of Paris has left you so unchanged.
I'm consoled only by the thought that one never really knows how much one has been touched by a place until one has left it.
Well, I shall certainly miss your company, Thomas.
And I shall miss yours, Mrs.
Adams.
London is not so very far away, Mr.
Jefferson, in the unlikely event you tire of Paris.
I believe it shall tire of me first.
Well, I stand corrected.
So our umbilical cord to Mother Earth has been severed for the first time in history.
Mankind floats upon a limitless plane of air.
Hmm.
Hot air.
Lord Carmarthen, the foreign minister, will make the official introduction to His Majesty.
And upon being ushered into the royal presence chamber, you will make three reverences, like so: One on entering a second halfway to His Majesty and a third as you come before the royal presence.
Well, if you would, Mr.
Adams.
Please.
Well, uh One.
Lower, sir.
Two.
Truly lower, Mr.
Adams.
An improper reverence has been the undoing of many a foreign ambassador.
I tremble at the thought of being stared at with evil eyes.
Avert your eyes, sir, until you come before the royal presence.
Yes.
May I also suggest that perhaps a change of attire would not be unwarranted, sir? What would you suggest, sir? Possibly something a little more English.
Mr.
John Adams.
The United States of America The United States of America have appointed me Minister Plenipotentiary to Your Majesty.
I think myself more fortunate than all of my fellow citizens in having the the distinguishing honor to be the first to stand in Your Majesty's presence in a diplomatic character.
I shall esteem myself the happiest of men if I can be instrumental in restoring the confidence and affection or in better words, the good old nature and the good old humor between peoples who, though separated by an ocean and under different governments, have the same language, the same religion and kindred blood.
I beg Your Majesty's permission to add that though I had been before entrusted by my country it was never in my whole life in a manner more agreeable to myself.
The circumstances of this audience are so extraordinary.
The language you have now held is so extremely proper and the feelings you have discovered so justly adapted to the occasion, that I not only receive with pleasure the assurance of the friendly disposition of the United States but that I am very glad that the choice has fallen on you to be their minister.
I will be very frank with you.
I was the last to consent to separation.
But the separation having been made and having become inevitable, I have always said as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power.
Thank you, Your Majesty.
There is an opinion among some people, Mr.
Adams, that you are not the most attached of all your countrymen to the manners of France.
Yes, well, I avow to Your Majesty that I have no attachment to any country but my own.
An honest man will never have any other.
I pray, Mr.
Adams, that the United States does not suffer unduly from its want of a monarchy.
Yes, we will strive to answer those prayers, Your Majesty.
Ah, "An ambassador from America.
Good heavens, what a sound.
" Why, they call me a vain imposter and a Pharisee of liberty.
Idiotic phrase.
"The Morning Post and Daily Advertiser.
" Ah, they very helpfully inform their readers that I was "so pitifully embarrassed as to be very nearly tongue-tied.
" You must pay them no mind, sir.
They accuse me of vanity.
They always accuse me of vanity.
There are many different kinds of vanity in this world.
But there is also the vanity that comes from years spent in the service of other men.
And of that I am most certainly guilty.
Guilty as charged.
To deny that would be sheer hypocrisy.
Here is someone calling for me to be hanged! Colonel Smith, remove these papers at once.
God, what a country! Charming! I am sorry, John.
Are you unwell? Do you remember the old Vassall-Borland estate near our farm? Uh, yeah.
Rather a grand place, I recall.
It has become available.
House, farm buildings 80 acres for £600.
What has brought this on? My body is in one place, my soul is in another.
Besides, I am worried about the children.
They are adults now, John.
They have been without us for too long.
- And I'm tired of this weary place.
- Mm-hmm.
There is no pleasure mixing company where no one cares for you.
You care for no one.
I too feel adrift.
I missed the Constitutional Convention.
They are to elect a new federal government, and here am I, 3,000 miles away.
I will write to the Congress and demand my immediate recall.
I hold this post to be so inconsistent with my honor and dignity I can no longer endure it.
I'm finished with pomp and ceremony and bowing and scraping and wigs and all other affectations.
I'm finished with it.
Will they grant it? I hope so.
Make ready! Present! Fire! Father? Charles! Good heavens, you you look fine, sir.
I trust you had a peaceful journey, sir.
Oh, yes yes.
- Father, this is Thomas.
- Of course.
Thomas.
My boy, my goodness.
Well, you've grown into a man, yeah? - It's been a long time, Father.
- Yes indeed.
Yes indeed.
- Welcome home.
- John Quincy! - Father.
- Good! Yeah! My boys.
My boys.
Welcome home, Father.
I feared that you would not know me.
Nonsense.
On the contrary.
No, I am amazed.
Mother.
Colonel William Smith, who has been my private secretary, my sons, my daughter Nabby.
Colonel Smith.
Abigail, shall we? Come.
Nabby.
Charles, Thomas, follow in the next carriage, yes? God bless Mr.
Adams.
Thank you! Thank you.
It is too early for you to speak of retirement.
I have been rolling like a stone for 30 years, never three years in the same place.
No, sir.
I intend to lay fast to my farm, here to live, here to die, here to lay my bones.
Time has already taken too many of '76.
The new government has my best wishes and most fervent prayers for its success.
The Constitution was not ratified without some difficulty.
We need men who will unite us.
Our first election is imminent.
Speculation on your future has been overflowing.
Your name has been mentioned for Governor, Senator, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Vice President, even President of these States United.
Surely Washington is the logical choice.
You would not object if I were to put your name forward? You were not meant to sit in the shade of life neither one of you.
If that is what you wish It must at least be vice president.
Anything less would be beneath you.
To Peacefield, in honor of our lasting peace with Great Britain.
Peacefield.
I could hardly ask your mother to return to the wren's house of your childhood.
Of course not, not after the palaces of Europe! I have heard disturbing reports of your behavior at Harvard, Charles drunkenness and disorderly conduct.
It was only a lark, Father, a momentary effusion of too much good cheer.
I daresay I am neither the first person nor the last to appear naked in Harvard Yard.
Well, I daresay do not let your companions or your amusements get the better of you, sir.
A scholar is always made alone and sober.
Studies can be pursued to good purpose only by yourself.
Your example is always before me, Father.
Following your graduations, I will see to it that you are placed as apprentices to the most prominent lawyers.
Thank you, Father.
Johnny, how goes your clerkship with lawyer Parsons? It's a far cry from the excitement of St.
Petersburg.
I'm sure.
And your courtship of Mary Frazier, is that not exciting? How long have you pursued this courtship? I have known Mary for a year now.
A year? She is a lovely girl.
She is intelligent and well-spoken.
I find her to be delightful company.
Nothing so like perfection in human shape has been seen since the world began.
May I inquire as to the age of the young lady? She is 15, Mother.
I will speak frankly with you, John.
You're too young, you're too unestablished to form any sort of romantic attachment whatsoever.
To excel in the field of the law, let alone become a man of position and prominence, you must work more hours than exist in the day and more days than exist in the week.
- I am well aware of the commit - You are not! Now, I indulge you more than your brothers, and there's a reason for that.
Because you have a strong mind and you have the temperament to succeed at whatever you set that mind to do.
You've traveled the world, man.
You could achieve distinction.
But you have only to apply yourself.
Now I am willing to set you up in your own practice as of tomorrow with an annual stipend of £100.
But you must cut off this romantic attachment immediately.
I will need some time to consider your offer.
No! You will decide now.
Very well, as you wish.
Good boy.
Excellent.
You're smiling, Miss Adams.
Do I not have reason to be happy, Colonel Smith? Our family is so rarely together.
Your brothers seem to be men of good spirit, Charles especially.
My brother Charles can be rather incorrigible.
He can be as headstrong as Father.
Mr.
Adams has the vitality of a much younger man.
Some days it's all I can do to keep up with him.
Father says you commanded a regiment of our army.
Yes, I had the honor to serve under General Washington at Long Island.
Perhaps you will allow me to divert you with stories from the campaign, if you would not find them too dull.
That depends on the telling, does it not, Colonel Smith? Abigail.
Here's a fine culmination to all my years of service fewer than half the votes of the Electoral College.
General Washington is unanimously acclaimed president with 69 votes, whereas I apparently am scorned by all but 34 of the electors.
John, there are two, four, six, eight, 10 other names here.
You have more votes than all of them put together.
- And John Jay comes in third with nine.
- Nonetheless, I consider I consider such a showing a stain upon my character.
- John! - I will not and I cannot accept it.
John you are vice president now.
Vice president.
I am vice president now, hmm? Mr.
Vice President.
- Mrs.
Vice President.
- Vice President Adams.
Mr.
Vice President! Unaccustomed to refuse any public service, however dangerous to my reputation or disproportionate to my talents it would have been inconsistent to have adopted a different maxim of conduct at this time.
And yet and yet, I feel a great difficulty as to how to act.
I am vice president, yes.
And in this I am nothing.
But I may be everything.
Ah.
Well, General, uh uh, you are you are here.
I am, Mr.
Adams.
Um Yes.
Um, yes, we, uh, we are ready to administer the oath of office, sir.
I am at your service.
Thank you, sir.
General, if you will please place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand.
Repeat after me.
I, George Washington, do solemnly swear I, George Washington, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will, to the best of my ability and will, to the best of my ability preserve protect, and defend preserve protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States! the Constitution of the United States so help me, God.
It is done.
God bless George Washington, President of the United States! A fine day.
A fine day.