PBS re-ran their American Experience on John and Abigail Adams last week, and I caught the re-re-run of it over the week-end.
It jarred me into writing about something that has been rolling around in my head for awhile, namely what would Fox News and Bill O'Reilly do with John Adams ? Poor ole' Adams. he knew he was gonna get shafted by history .... IE : There ain't no Adams Memorial on the National Mall. No Adams statue parked among the daffodils in Washington DC. Never the less we own John a big debt of gratitude. The list is long of the things we own the 2nd President, but the item I have in mind is his defense of the British troops involved in the "Boston Massacre". Consider what he said about his defense of these men :
"The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the Quakers or Witches, anciently. As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the Jury was exactly right." --John Adams
Those British troops were scared, cold, and out numbered by what was surely a drunken mob, and like most situations like that, things got out of hand. Adams took on their defense, because he was convinced that the rule of law was our only hope.
I wonder what Nancy Grace and O'Reilly would do with Mr. Adams, and his defense of these men today?
