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Article: BELLS AND BONFIRES
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- July 5, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1987 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Martin F. Nolan is editor of the Globe's editorial page.
John Adams insisted that Jefferson write the Declaration of
Independence because of the Virginian's "peculiar felicity of
expression." The dour Adams was felicitous himself. Some of his
beneficiaries today would call him a major fun guy.
Adams was the impresario of the Glorious Fourth, although he
suggested the Glorious Second, when the resolution was first
adopted. From Philadelphia to his wife, Abigail, as she toiled on
the farm in Braintree, he wrote:
"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable
epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will
be celebrated by succeeding generations as the ...