17761972

Dr. Josiah Bartlett:
Mr. Jefferson, I beg you to remember that we still have friends in England. I see no purpose in antagonizing them with such phrases as "unfeeling brethren" and "enemies at war." Our quarrel is with the British king, not the British people.

John Adams:
Oh, be sensible Bartlett, remove those phrases and the entire paragraph becomes meaningless! And it so happens that it's one of the most stirring and poetic of any passage in the entire document.

Dr. Josiah Bartlett:
We're a congress, Mr. Adams, not a literary society. I ask that the entire paragraph be stricken.

Hancock:
Mr. Jefferson?

[Jefferson nods]

John Adams:
Good God, Jefferson when are you going to speak up for your own work?

Thomas Jefferson:
I had hoped that the work would speak for itself.