John Adams: Alright, gentlemen, let's get on with it. Which of us
will write our declaration on independence?
Benjamin Franklin: Mr. Adams, I think you should write it.
To your legal mind and brilliance, we defer.
John Adams: Is that so? Well, if I'm the one to do it,
They'll run their quill pens through it.
I'm obnoxious and disliked, you know that, sir?
Benjamin Franklin: Yes, I know.
John Adams: Then I say, you should write it Franklin, yes you.
Benjamin Franklin: Hell no.
John Adams: Yes, you, Dr. Franklin, you.
Benjamin Franklin: But-
John Adams: You!
Benjamin Franklin: But-
John Adams: You!
Benjamin Franklin: But, Mr. Adams, but, Mr. Adams,
The things I write are only light extemporania.
I won't put politics on paper, it's a mania,
So I refuse to use a pen in Pennsylvania.
Ensemble: Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, refuse to use the pen.
John Adams: Mr. Sherman, I say you should write it.
You are never controversial, as it were.
Roger Sherman: That is true.
John Adams: Whereas, if I'm the one to do it,
They'll run their quill pens through it.
I'm obnoxious and disliked, you know that, sir?
Roger Sherman: Yes, I do.
John Adams: Then I say, you should write it, Roger, yes you.
Roger Sherman: Good heavens, no!
John Adams: Yes, you, Roger Sherman, you.
Roger Sherman: But-
John Adams: You!
Roger Sherman: But-
John Adams: You!
Roger Sherman: But, Mr. Adams, but Mr. Adams,
I cannot write with any style or proper etiquette.
I do not know a participle from a predicate.
I am just a simple cobbler from Connecticut.
Ensemble: Connecticut, Connecticut, a simple cobbler he.
John Adams: Mr. Livingston, maybe you should write it.
You have many friends, and you're a diplomat.
Whereas, if I'm the one to do it,
They'll run their quill pens through it.
Ensemble: He's obnoxious and disliked, did you know that?
Robert Livingston: I hadn't heard.
John Adams: Then I say, you should write it Robert, yes you.
Robert Livingston: Not me, Johnny.
John Adams: Yes, you, Robert Livingston, you.
Robert Livinston: But-
John Adams: You!
Robert Livingston: But-
John Adams: You!
Robert Livingston: But, Mr. Adams, dear Mr. Adams,
I've been presented with a new son by the noble stork,
So I going home to celebrate and pop a cork
With all the Livingstons together back in Old New York.
Ensemble: New York, New York, Livingston's going to pop a cork.
John Adams: Mr. Jefferson-
Thomas Jefferson: Mr. Adams, leave me alone!
John Adams: Mr. Jefferson-
Thomas Jefferson: Mr. Adams, I beg you. I've not seen my wife in six months.
John Adams: You write ten times better than any man in Congress,
including me. For a man of only thirty-three years, you
possess a happy talent for composition and a remarkable
felicity of expression. Now, will you be a patriot... or a
lover?
Thomas Jefferson: A lover...
John Adams: No!
Thomas Jefferson: But I burn, Mr. A.
John Adams: So do I, Mr. J.
Thomas Jefferson: You? You do?
Benjamin Franklin: John!
Thomas Jefferson: Who'd have thought it?
John Adams: Mr. Jefferson, dear Mr. Jefferson,
I'm only forty-one, I still have my virility,
And I can romp through Cupid's grove with great agility,
But life is more than sexual combustibility.
Ensemble: Bustibility, bustibility, combustibili-
John Adams: Quiet! Now, you'll write it, Mr. J.
Thomas Jefferson: Who will make me, Mr. A.?
John Adams: I!
Thomas Jefferson: You?
John Adams: Yes.
Thomas Jefferson: How?
John Adams: By, by physical force, if necessary. It's your duty,
it's your duty, damn it.
Thomas Jefferson: Mr. Adams, damn you, Mr. Adams,
you're obnoxious and disliked, that cannot be denied.
Once again you stand between me and my lovely bride.
Ensemble: Lovely bride.
Thomas Jefferson: Oh, Mr. Adams, you are driving me to homicide.
Ensemble: Homicide, homicide, we may see murder yet.