Steven Holt: “I would like to right off the bat thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Roemer) for bringing recognition to John and…”

“I would like to right off the bat thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Roemer) for bringing recognition to John and Abigail Adams and their family, a century and three quarters after his death. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt) for his generous gift of time to show me the old house in Quincy and introduce me to the Adams' family. Having grown up on a family farm in Braintree, now Quincy, Massachusetts, Adams was fully expected to become a farmer and a clergyman, but he soon abandoned any hope of a quiet private life in exchange for a life that called on his vision and valor in the birth of a republic. I underscore valor, because he and his compatriots at that time for all they knew were marching straight to the gallows. While many of his contemporaries were calling for compromise with Britain, Adams was one of the first to realize that independence was the only reasonable resolution of the relationship between the oppressive parent and its upstart colony. Adams realized that America's future did not lie in negotiating concessions, but in promoting liberty by whatever means necessary.”