John Adams

I've been Reading "John Adams" by David McCullough. It's pretty fascinating actually. I haven't taken a US history class since I was about 14, and I haven't read too many books on the subject recently.

The Founding of our country was during a pretty amazing time. They had a chance, as Adams mentions, to start a country from scratch. So they brought together ideas of leading philosophers and intellectuals, filtered those ideas through the politics of the country, and came up with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution (skipping those few years during the Articles of Confederation of course).

Does our country have problems? Of course it does. There may be days when we want to throw the whole thing out and start over. But generally, eventually, after everything else has been tried out, after few thousand people are killed or suffer in some way, the Country gets going in the right direction.

The other interesting thing about the book is the context. It's hard to say today how I'd feel about the revolutionaries. Most of those who wanted a revolution were radical for their day. I think Boston was a "North East liberal" city even then, resented by the more conservative south.

Adams himself is a fascinating man. He was stubborn, outspoken, witty, eloquent, extremely well read and passionate. It's unlikely independence would have been declared if he hadn't been there to smooth the edges of the dissenters. He was an astute politician.
I can't wait to read more. I'd highly recommend it!