Building America was pretty scary, too.

I am (still) lovin' the John Adams miniseries on HBO and I haven't even seen the whole thing. I was going to wait until July to post a clip but like Nu Shooz, baby I can't wait. One of the things I like the most about the series is that it provides fuller, more fleshed out portrayals of the Founders. Too often in school, at least in the bulk of my experiences, they're presented as almost abstract ideas--like something akin to storybook characters or superheroes. [I may or may not agree with the premise of that linked entry. I definely agree with the last line. :)] I don't think I considered for the longest time how absolutely terrifying it must have been for all of them, especially when they'd gone past the point of no return.

And on that note, we have our clip. I'll set it up for you in case you didn't learn US history or slept through it. It is 1775 and the colonists had fought the British soldiers at the Battle of Bunker Hill that June. A month later, the Continental Congress sent the King the Olive Branch Petition, hoping for reconciliation. However, around the time the petition arrived, King George got an intercepted letter from Adams to a friend, in which Adams said that he wasn't pleased with the petition and thought the war was inevitable. Unsurprisingly, the King doubted the colonists' commitment to Sparkle Motion and so he sent them a little love letter called the Proclamation of Rebellion. In this scene, John Adams (Paul Giamatti) is discussing the funding problems the Continental Army is having, when John Hancock (Justin Theroux) receives and then reads the Proclamation to the assembly, which also includes Samuel Adams (Danny Huston), Ben Franklin (Tom Wilkinson), John Dickinson (Zeljko Ivanek) and omg, I love you, Jefferson. [Uh, played by Stephen Dillane.] Now cease ado.

Ohhhhhhh.