Tim Barton

This is the guy we want.

But they were embarrassed of the way he looked because he only had one suit and it had holes in it.

He had one pair of stockings with holes in it.

And so the town took up a collection.

One man brought in a tailor that made him a tailored suit.

One man bought him six new pairs of stockings.

One man bought him a wig.

Somebody wrote to John Adams and said, hey, will you loan him a horse?

Because we don't want him to have to walk all the way to Philadelphia.

So literally, Sam Adams is going because he's this incredible voice, but he's also incredibly poor because not only was he a failed businessman, he spent all of his time trying to rally patriots.

And so when you look at the disparity of like a John Hancock, who's this uber wealthy guy to a Sam Adams,

You had people from all walks of life coming together, some that had been doctors or teachers, some that were farmers, some that were like a Sam Adams, just a patriotic voice, some like a John Hancock, very wealthy, but it was all people who understood the vision.

And then when they signed their names on the line, I mean, the reason we chose lives, fortunes, and sacred honors is there is not a single person that signed the Declaration of Independence that did not pay to some extent with their life, their fortune, or their sacred honor.

everything you're seeing is correct.

It's also something that even though they're founding fathers, there were times that people noted that because of the rotting flesh on his face, it also smelled terrible.

And so he was so dedicated to be there because he believed in the cause, but he had to keep it covered because it was unsightly and then it smelled bad.

But these were people, to your point, who literally were like,

I don't care what it costs me.

I care that we are doing something for the next, the rising generation, for our kids, for our grandkids.

There's a really, really great letter from John Adams to Abigail in 1777, where as he's a diplomat, at this point, he's already signed the declaration.