Old-Timey American Revolution law, as practiced in the excellent HBO miniseries John Adams. I’m greatly looking forward to wearing breeches and a powdered wig. I’m not much of a history buff; before I started watching this I may have been able to identify Adams as the 2nd President and that he was married to a strong-willed woman but that would have exhausted my knowledge of the subject. I certainly had no idea that he actually defended the Redcoats who fired into the crowd in the Boston Massacre, much less that he was the guy behind the guy when it came to write the declaration of independence. I don’t know how accurate the mini is, but it is most certainly well-made and I find myself wanting to learn more about the founding fathers. Good thing I have Constitutional Law next fall.
Thanks, HBO. I thought I was done with you when Detective McNulty drove off into the sunset, but every time I think I’m out (ready to cancel my subscription), they pull me back in (with kick-ass original programming).
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The mini is extremely accurate, and endorsed and promoted by the Massachusetts Historical Society (of which I am/was a member). Adams was not only a tedious overthinker, crappy statesman and excellent attorney, but like the mini shows, his practice suffered after his redcoat defense. (Most of that scene’s dialogue is taken directly from court transcripts.) He *hated* Franklin. He tried to keep peace between the New Englanders and the powerful southern Virginians and Carolinians regarding slave ownership. John and Abigail spoke fluent Latin as a method of passing secrets in a crowd. His cousin Sam was a bit of a douchebag. All of which makes the city of Boston (especially the parts of it that are still pockmarked from musket balls) feel very alive with the Revolution. If there is an unseen curtain that divides the then from the now and makes history seem very distant, that curtain is gossamer-thin in Boston. I absolutely cannot wait to take you drinking there. On St. Pat’s Day. In a few years.