Social media users share online a quote attributed to the second President of the United States, John Adams. This quote has its origins in a musical that premiered on Broadway in 1969; it was not said by Adams.
Examples can be seen here and here.
The quote reads: “In my many years I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a disgrace, two a law firm and three or more a congressman.”
The citation does not exist in the U.S. National Archives database, which contains thousands of reports from founding members here, or in The Adams Papers here, a database containing correspondence from Founding Fathers.
Gwen Fries, production editor of The Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society, told Reuters in an email that the quote came from the 1969 Broadway musical “1776”.
The Tony Award-winning musical shows the events that took place before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, following John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, who tried to persuade the Second Continental Congress to vote for British independence (www. Mtishows). com / 1776).
The screenplay for the musical and its adaptation in 1972 can be seen here and here. It was written by Peter Stone and the songs composed by William Edwards. The character of John Adams is played by actor William Daniels on stage and on screen (here). An interview with Daniels about his experience with Adams and what the quote includes that can be shared online can be seen here. At the very beginning of Scene 1 (fourth page on Scribid, here) John Adams’ character says: “I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, that two are called a law firm and that three or more becomes a congress. ”
The text goes on to say: “And through God I have had this Congress! For ten years King George and his parliament weakened, culled and muffled these colonies with their illegal taxes – Stamp Acts, Townshend Acts, Sugar Acts, Tea Acts – and when we dared to stand up like men, they trade ceased, seized our ships, blocked our ports, burned our towns and shed our blood – and yet this Congress refuses to grant any of my proposals on independence, even as much as with the permission of an open debate! Good God, what are you waiting for in hell? ‘
The scene from the 1972 film can be seen here at 1:50 or 0:15 here.
“The real John Adams never spoke those words,” Fries said. “The quote should be attributed to playwright Peter Stone.”
“You can immediately see that this is not the real John Adams, because he has the greatest respect for the legal profession and those who practice it,” she added.
Reuters Fact Check has earlier, here and here, rejected false or incorrect quotes from Founding Fathers.
VERDICT
Partly false. There is no evidence that these words, uttered by the John Adams character in the Broadway musical ‘1776’, were actually spoken by the second President of the United States.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.