she and abigail adams are already corresponding, they have become fast friends. john adams, very good friends, in 1772, she just can't stand what is happening anymore in boston, in massachusetts, all of the oppression, and after the boston massacre she starts to write. they were read widely. she published her first play, the flatter. a few minutes ago -- she is very hesitant. these are not easy to read. they are written in neoclassical style. in the back of the room there is a key to one of them. that will show you that these characters she makes up kind of like saturday night live, if you think about that in colonial america, she has plenty of names for them. gov. hutchinson is the arch villain. she has other characters like crusty crowbar, simple, she calls one of hutcheson's relatives live. , he must have had a problem with his legs. people know exactly who they are when they read them. we can understand his they are. her name is not on the play. it is published in the massachusetts spa. her name isn't on at. many times if you look at the old newspapers there i

he had a long, very interesting relationship by the way, just through correspondence, with abigail adams, they were close friends, and my good friend, eddie gallos who is a -- an abigail adams biographer wrote a wonderful article on the relationship between lovell and abigail adams a few years ago: >> is a renext of his life and his character and his leadership and his accomplishments, and one of the things we ask people is what do they think about the color when they come in. they're kind of surprised it's so bright, it's so intense, and this would be an example, this room, of george washington's status. one of the last rooms he adds to the house, he calls it the new room. and it has a 16-and-a-half foot ceiling, and if you look at the circles in each corner of the ceiling, and if you look at the marble mantelpiece, he's really telling you in this room with this symbolism what his favorite occupation was. not necessarily being a general, a president, but being a -- >> [inaudible] >> and remember we said he discontinued drawing tobacco, so it shows you what his main cash crop was, wheat

they were close friends, and my good friend edie, abigail adams' biographer, wrote a wonderful story about the relationship a few years ago. >> host: that's our first hour of a conversation live on this independence day weekend. we will be back after a short break, and during that break we will show you some of the mansion here open to visitors for tour. >> one of our assignments when we do the tour is talk about the character and the leadership and accomplishments of george washington. i think as you know jim mentioned one time the main emphasis was on the deckcrattive arts, and now we're trying to see how the home is a reflection of his character and leadership and accomplishments. one of the things we ask people, what do you think about the color? they're surprised it's so bright and intense. this would have been an example of this room of his status. one of the last rooms he ads to the house, the large dining room, and he comes up with a clever name, the new room. and it has a 16-1/2 foot ceiling and if you look at the circles in each corner, and if you look at the mashle mantlep

so that, for example, during the first year of the war, abigail adams, the wife of john adams who was serving in congress, abigail wrote to john and said to him, our house is an hospital, as she put it. and her next letter to her husband revealed to him that johnson brothers wife and one of his children had died of the disease. and that wasn't untypical. civilians died, civilians living on the frontier died in indian attacks. the british made coastal raids, particularly in the middle states and in new england and in virginia. destroying property, killing people. in the first two years of the conflict, women wer when men weo enlist for just a period of a one year the army was a pretty good cross-section of the free population. most free men at the time were farmers or artisans, and most of the men who soldiered in the continental army were farmers or artisans. so a great many families had to struggle along in 1775 and 1776 with their husbands away. somehow, they have to find the money to pay the tax collector who came knocking at their door or to grow crops and so crops or whatever. an

[laughter] i thought i would close with a short passage john adams wrote to abigail from france in 1878 and you can guess to the subject ase. live in our old colleague enjoys a privilege here that is much to be envied. being 70 years of age, the leedy is not only allowed him to embrace them as often as he pleases, but they are perpetually in praising him. i told him yesterday i would write this to america. [laughter] yes indeed, benjamin franklin. my next book is sort of in the same team of leaders of our country. this is abraham lincoln by james mcpherson published by oxford university press. i wish i had -- i should have brought my copy to show you all. i wish i had with me because you'd be amazed and i will tell you why in just a second. i can't begin to imagine how many pages have been written about the president of the united states and the bicentennial year of his birth many more millions of pages will be written so how could and author hope to capture the essence of lincoln from birth through his legacy and 65 short pages? and its loss 65 did pages, its 65 small pages. as mcphers

had a very long and very interesting relationship by the way just through correspondence with abigail adams. they were close friends. my good friend who was seven gallop adams biographer roach day wonderful article on the relationship between afghan adams a few years ago. >> host: that is a 41st hour days for our first hour on this independence day weekend we will be back after a short break and during that break we will show you some of the mansion here open to visitors four [no tour. >> one of our assignments is talk about the character and leadership and accomplishments of washington. one time the main emphasis was on the decorative arts now we say how the home is a reflection of his life and character and leadership and accomplishments. we ask people whether they think about the color? they are surprised it is so bright and intense this is an example of george washington's status. one of the last rooms he adds to the house, it is the large dining room he calls it the new room with a 16 and a half what ceiling and the circles in each corner and the marble mantelpiece it is rather interes

she is a writer, she wants to write four, what abigail adams calls her historic page burt kellett it not a page. it ends up eventually being a history of the american revolution and it is john adams who has been encouraging her to get this done. he is always trying to get sam adams to copy everything down and we know her brother and his friends the at one point had burned up all of his records from the early revolution, so there were a lot of things that are lost. john adams wants her to write this history and slowly, slowly she begins to do so, slowly. i will just give you one quick sideline because in that case that there is a display on this. when general bucklin, before bunker hill, is in boston, he talks about the blocade of boston. he writes a satire and then he leaves and goes back to london. it is a funny story connected that-- with pepper code during the performance of that play is actually the audience, which are british and their wives and mistresses think the gunshots are part of the play but it is actually the patriots who have come in and are attacking in charleston. an