patrick henry was joined by -- there we go, by richard henry lee of virginia. richard henry lee favored independence as well in the 1760's. the leader of the radicals was john adams. adams, we can pretty much determined when he became -- began to favor independence. adams was approached by samuel adams back in the 1760's, but he kept samuel adams cousin at arm's length. and when samuel adams tried to get john to speak in public and attack the british, and john adams' response in his diary was, that way madness lies. he thought that samuel adams was plotting an american revolution and wanted no part of its. but in 1773 some letters written by the governor, the royal governor of massachusetts were made public. those letters convinced john adams that there was a conspiracy afoot between british officials in american and british officials in london to destroy american liberties. from 1773 on john adams favored independence. i think probably george washington came around to independence in the 1760's, and i think thomas jefferson came around to independence around tu