HOW JEFFERSON WAS CHOSEN TO WRITE THE FIRST DRAFT. I had known that the songs between John Adams and Abigail Adams in 1776 were based on their letters. I had not known that the song sung by a quintet about whether Jefferson would write the first draft of the Declaration of Independence—“But, Mr. Adams”—was based on a letter written by John Adams. The chapter on Adams in SIGNING THEIR LIVES AWAY contained the following passage (which I found here):
“The subcommittee met. Jefferson proposed to me to make the draft. I said, ‘I will not,’ ‘You should do it.’ ‘Oh! no.’ ‘Why will you not? You ought to do it.’ ‘I will not.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Reasons enough.’ ‘What can be your reasons?’ ‘Reason first, you are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second, I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third, you can write ten times better than I can.’ ‘Well,’ said Jefferson, ‘if you are decided, I will do as well as I can.’ ‘Very well. When you have drawn it up, we will have a meeting.'”
“But, Mr. Adams”, a traditional Broadway musical song and dance number, incorporates John Adams’s acknowledgment that he is “obnoxious and disliked” and the scene features Adams telling Jefferson that he writes ten times better than Adams or anybody else in Congress.