History Characters / SeventeenSeventySix

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: During "Sit Down, John" he remarks "Good God! Consider yourselves fortunate that you have John Adams to abuse, for no sane man would tolerate it." In 1962, after losing the election for Governor of California, UsefulNotes/RichardNixon told the press conference "You don't have Nixon to kick around any more because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference and it will be one in which I have welcomed the opportunity to test wits with you".

* HistoricalDowngrade: Discussed. He fears that his contributions will be ignored by posterity; they actually were in reality for a long time, with popular opinion only changing in the 1960s-- due, in part, to ''this play'' calling attention to him.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He is "obnoxious and disliked" (a phrase the ''real'' Adams used to describe how others viewed him), but he believes strongly in breaking from England's tyranny and is the only member of the core trio to really stick to his guns about ending slavery, until Rutledge notes in that even though he doesn't own slaves, he still benefits somewhat from the importation of slaves, and goes into the "Molasses to Rum to Slaves" number. He also clearly loves his wife and misses her, which give him the idea to send for Martha Jefferson to help Thomas break his writer's block.

* SurroundedByIdiots: He has a whole song about Congress being a bunch of petty, pedantic and self-centered twits. Franklin [[WhatTheHellHero calls him on this]] late in the play, pointing out that those men alone were selected by their colonies and insulting them alienates them from their cause.

* HistoricalDowngrade: Franklin's manipulating Lee into proposing independence is entirely fictional. Lee was a very capable and respected justice and politician in his own right. And he gets PutOnABus to Virginia to serve as governor, something which never happened in history because his character's fictional silliness would undermine the more-serious tone of the later acts.

* StopHavingFunGuys: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. He proposes a piece of legislation to ban gambling, horse-racing, drinking, etc... and is immediately shouted down by the rest of Congress.

* DarkestHour: Briefly looses hope after Rutledge emphasizes his dissent with ''Molasses and Rum''.

* DeadpanSnarker: Quips that he "hadn't heard" how Adams was "obnoxious and disliked" fairly late into "But Mr. Adams", when that verse had already been sung several times (including by Livingston himself).

The long-suffering President of Congress. Too hot -- literally. Philadelphia is ''steaming'' in the summer. (It really is -- the summers are hot, and though it's too far from the sea to get a decent breeze, the Delaware River provides oceanic humidity). Also continually bothered by flies, as shown by his constant flyswatting.

* TheDitherer: Judge Wilson, as portrayed in the play, is a colorless, weak-willed chameleon who usually votes whatever way Dickinson does. Even his old court cases were all decided based entirely on precedent and the rules of order. However, at the end of the play, Franklin calls for a poll of the Pennsylvania delegation...and Wilson's the one who has to cast the deciding vote for the state. With all eyes on him and everyone waiting for his decision, he realizes that if he continues being Dickinson's toady and votes against independence, he'll be remembered forever by history as the guy who denied the American colonies their liberty- so he [[spoiler: breaks with Dickinson and votes ''for'' independence to avoid that, and become just another voice in the crowd.]]

* TheDitherer: Judge Wilson, as portrayed in the play, is a colorless, weak-willed chameleon who usually votes whatever way Dickinson does. Even his old court cases were all decided based entirely on precedent and the rules of order. However, at the end of the play, Franklin calls for a poll of the Pennsylvania delegation...and Wilson's the one who has to cast the deciding vote for the state. With all eyes on him and everyone waiting for his decision, he realizes that if he continues being Dickinson's toady and votes against the motion for independence, he'll be remembered forever by history as the guy who denied the American colonies their liberty- so he [[spoiler: breaks with Dickinson and votes ''for'' independence to become just another voice in the crowd and avoid the ''responsibility'' of being hated.]]

* TheDitherer: Judge Wilson, as portrayed in the play, is a colorless, weak-willed chameleon utterly dominated by Dickinson. Even his old court cases were all decided based entirely on precedent and the rules of order. However, at the end of the play, Franklin calls for a poll of the Pennsylvania delegation...and Wilson's forced to be the last one to cast his vote. He has two choices- either oppose the motion the way Dickinson wants (and be remembered forever by history as the guy who denied the American colonies their liberty) or stand up to him (and give the colonies the freedom they desire). With all eyes on him and everyone waiting for his decision, Wilson ''finally'' stops dithering and makes the most fateful decision of his life, in an effort to avoid making an even ''worse'' one: [[spoiler: he breaks with Dickinson and votes ''for'' independence to become just another voice in the crowd, rather than oppose the motion and accept the ''responsibility'' of being remembered forever by history as the man who prevented it.]]

* TheDitherer: Judge Wilson, as portrayed in the play, is a colorless, weak-willed chameleon utterly dominated by Dickinson. Even his old court cases were all decided based entirely on precedent and the rules of order. However, at the end of the play, he finally makes the most fateful decision of his life, in an effort to avoid making an even ''more'' fateful one: [[spoiler: he breaks with Dickinson and votes ''for'' independence to become just another voice in the crowd, rather than oppose the motion and accept the ''responsibility'' of being the man who prevented it.]]

* BeleagueredBureaucrat: It isn't that he doesn't ''want'' Independence on some level, but his state government is to chaotic to allow him to do anything about it.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPay: In the movie, his last name is pronounced "Mac-''keen"''. In real life, however, his surname was pronounced ”Mac-''kayne''".

* NotSoDifferent: Considers himself as patriotic as Adams, [[spoiler: to the point of leaving Congress to join the Continental Army when the Declaration is ratified so that he can defend the new country]].

* NotSoDifferent: When Adams and Bartlett condemn the slave trade, Rutledge reminds them, brutally, that it's northern sailors and businessmen who ''carry'' slaves to the South in the first place.

* HistoricalDowngrade: Discussed. He fears that his contributions will be ignored by posterity; they actually were in reality for a long time, with popular opinion only changing in the 1960s-- due, in part, to ''this play'' calling attention to him, and not unlike ''Theatre/HamiltonAnAmericanMusical'' in the late 2010s.

* HistoricalDowngrade: Discussed. He fears that his contributions will be ignored by posterity; they actually were in reality for a long time, with popular opinion only changing in the 1960s.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: During "Sit Down, John" he remarks "Good God! Consider yourselves fortunate that you have John Adams to abuse, for no sane man would tolerate it."
** In 1962, after losing the election for Governor of California, UsefulNotes/RichardNixon told the press conference "You don't have Nixon to kick around any more because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference and it will be one in which I have welcomed the opportunity to test wits with you".

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: The passage from "On the Necessity of Taking Up Arms" that Adams quotes was actually written by Dickinson, who was Jefferson's co-author, and the real John Dickinson actually ''abstained'' from both debating and voting, and did nothing more than respectfully present his sentiments before official debate over independence even began. While the play goes out of its way to make its fictional version of Dickinson sympathetic, the hardline conservative powerhouse of the musical is a far cry from the reasonable moderate he was in real life, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools in the service of giving the play a strong antagonistic figure for Adams to play against]]. For what it's worth, Dickinson was a signer of the Constitution.

* NotSoDifferent: When Adams and Bartlett condemn the slave trade, Rutledge reminds them, brutally, that it's northern businessmen who ''carry'' slaves to the South in the first place.

* DatedHistory: When the play was written, it was considered as good an interpretation of the historical record as any. Then new sources became available, and it turns out Wilson was probably hedging his bets the same way Lyman Hall was.
* RunningGag: Trying to second Dickinson's motions.

Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father, wise man, and wise wit, extraordinaire. Like Adams, deeply devoted to freeing America from the British Crown, and much better at playing politics than Adams in the Congress.

* IHaveNoSon: At the outset, the first Loyalist delegation from New Jersey is missing, and Hancock asks Franklin if he's heard anything from his son, who happens to be the Royal Governor of New Jersey. Franklin responds, "Son, sir? What son?" Eventually, the second pro-independence New Jersey delegation arrives, and the Rev. Witherspoon informs Franklin that his son is captured. The first words out of his mouth (once he knows his son is unharmed) is a delighted inquiry about "why [they arrested] the little bastard."[[note]]The joke being that Franklin was never married to this son's mother.[[/note]] In RealLife, the father never forgave the son for serving the Crown.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPay: In the movie, his last name is pronounced Mc-''keen''. In real life, however, his real life was pronounced Mc-''kane''.

* ShutUpHannibal: When Rutledge is singing "Molasses to Rum to Slaves", he gets fed up with Rutledge's hamminess and has a strong emotional outburst:

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Argues for Adams and Jefferson to yield to South Carolina's demand to remove the passages involving slavery from the Declaration. If they don't, the move to independence for the United States dies on the spot.

A loud Scotsman, whose loud voice belies his soft heart.

->'''Played by:''' Betty Buckley (1969 Broadway run), Blythe Danner (1972 film)

->'''Played by:''' Howard da Silva

->'''Played by:''' Ken Howard

!!'''John Dickinson, Delegate for Pennsylvania''' (Paul Hecht (original Broadway), Donald Madden (film))

* CompositeCharacter: While he is largely the historical John Adams in his intelligence, standoffish attitude, lack of charisma and strained-but-happy family life, the character in the play has absorbed many aspects of his cousin Samuel Adams, including his radical politics, firebrand temper, and several very choice quotes about slavery.

* CloserToEarth: She does her best to bring down John from his rages and get him going again when he's despondent.

* BearerOfBadNews: Seeing as how he's always carrying distraught messages from George Washington.
* MinorCharacterMajorSong: He spends most of the show tromping in and out without any lines. Then he sings "Mama, Look Sharp," reminding everyone that the Revolution is not just about a bunch of rich, irritable gentry arguing semantics in a hot room.

* StopHavingFunGuys:[[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. He proposes a piece of legislation to ban gambling, horse-racing, drinking, etc... and is immediately shouted down by the rest of Congress.

* ShooOutTheClowns: A very early example. He leaves the Congress to serve as the governor of Virginia (something that did not happen in history) because the show's [[FirstLawOfTragicomedies gradual slide from comedy to drama]] would be heavily-damaged by Lee's buffoonish presence.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Deconstructed thoroughly and lampshaded by Adams himself. Besides Franklin, not many respect Adams for his boorish and rude demeanor, dislike his presence, and the members of Congress thoroughly reject his pleas despite him only trying to establish national independence from the British. His own tendencies to insult them in turn for their obstinate only makes them reject him further which is lampshaded by Franklin as those men alone were selected by their colonies and insulting them just further alienated them from their cause. Adams is forced to rely on Franklin to coax members of Congress to choose independence because his own reputation makes it impossible for him.

* ManInWhite: The Southern delegates, in general, wear lighter-colored clothing, but Rutledge is their leader, and his signature song is ''quite'' unsettling.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Congressional Custodians]]

* TheAmbassador: A popular and well-liked diplomat. Adams evokes this when trying to get him to right the Declaration of Independence.