1776 (1972)

1776 is a musical inspired by the events leading up to and after the American Revolution and the subsequent Revolutionary War. Continental Congress representatives Benjamin Franklin (Howard Da Silva) and John Adams (William Daniels) try desperately to get another representative, Thomas Jefferson (Ken Howard) to pen the Declaration of Independence. The authoring of this document will delay decision on whether to separate from English rule, while the states decide whether they individually will be part of the new nation or not. This is complicated when General George Washington proclaims, ominously, the great defeats the colonists are suffering at the hands of the British and the grim reality that independence may not be possible at all.