No Guarantee in the Great Experiment

For the men who walked in 1776, the war for independence was neither a proven success or a beaten path. They paved a trail, unsure if it would take them anywhere, sacrificing their lives and fortunes for a great experiment. Those of us who walk their trail in 2026 are beneficiaries of their risks and sacrifices. 

The Founders believed that their choice to declare independence from Great Britain was necessary, a duty and even a right. “When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government,” the authors of the declaration declare. Their right and duty to form a new government did not guarantee them success in the endeavor. The Founders felt the need to alter the course of events, but they pledged “their lives, fortunes and sacred honor,” to an experiment. 

The uncharted territory of a new nation rested upon her leaders. This experiment and story was lived in real time by the John Adams family. We read the sacrifices of the John Adams Family in our history books, but their journals and letters are not just a record of our nation but of their lives.