Plot
While General George Washington is conducting the struggle against the British Empire on the battlefield, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia piddles away its time over trivial matters and cannot even begin debating the question of American independence.
The leader of the independence faction is the abrasive John Adams (William Daniels) of Massachusetts whose continuous pushing of the issue has brought their cause to a complete standstill. John Dickinson (Donald Madden) of Pennsylvania leads the opposition that hopes for reconciliation with England.
During his quieter moments, Adams calls up the image of his wife Abigail Adams (Virginia Vestoff) who resides in Massachusetts and gives him insight and encouragement. Doctor Benjamin Franklin (Howard Da Silva) of Pennsylvania suggests another colony that supports independence should submit a proposal.
Richard Henry Lee (Ron Holgate) of Virginia is sent off to Williamsburg to get authorization to propose independence. Weeks later, Lee returns with the resolution, and finally debate on the question begins. After heated discussions, the question is called without a majority of positive votes present. In a move intended to defeat the resolution, Dickinson calls for a vote requiring unanimity for passage, which ends in a tie between the colonies and ultimately being decided in favor of unanimity by Hancock, arguing that any objecting colony would fight for England against independence. Stalling for time to rally support for the resolution, Adams and Franklin call again for a postponement, justifying their call by stating the need for a declaration describing their grievances. Once again tied and ultimately being decided by Hancock, the vote is successfully postponed until such a document can be written.
John Hancock (David Ford), President of the Continental Congress, appoints a committee that includes Adams, Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson (Ken Howard), who had been planning to return home to Virginia to see his wife, Martha (Blythe Danner). Adams sends for Martha so that the declaration can be prepared by the otherwise-distracted Jefferson. Both Adams and Franklin are quite taken with Martha.
While maneuvering to get the required unanimous majority for the vote on independence, Adams, Franklin and Samuel Chase (Patrick Hines) of Maryland visit the colonial army encamped in New Brunswick, New Jersey, at the request of General Washington to help convince Maryland.
Upon returning, the declaration is being read and then subsequently debated and amended. The Southern delegates, led by Edward Rutledge (John Cullum) of South Carolina, walk out of Congress when the slavery clause is not removed. After removing that clause, 11 colonies are in favor, and New York continues to abstain.
The question is now up to the colony of Pennsylvania, whose delegation is polled at Franklin's request. Franklin votes for the declaration, then Dickinson against. The outcome is now in the hands of their fellow Pennsylvanian, Judge James Wilson (Emory Bass). Wilson has always been following Dickinson's lead, but in this case, Wilson votes in favor of the declaration, securing its passage. Finally, with the Declaration of Independence ready to be signed, each colony (including New York) affixes their signature to the Declaration, establishing the United States on July 4, 1776.
Read more about this topic: 1776 (film)
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“James’s great gift, of course, was his ability to tell a plot in shimmering detail with such delicacy of treatment and such fine aloofness—that is, reluctance to engage in any direct grappling with what, in the play or story, had actually “taken place”Mthat his listeners often did not, in the end, know what had, to put it in another way, “gone on.””
—James Thurber (1894–1961)