(dramatic instrumental music)
- [Dermot] News is the first draft of history.
It is immediate and takes place in real time.
Legends take longer to develop.
And are sometimes based on myth.
This Fox News series looks at the truth behind the legend.
Previously on "Legends and Lies: the Patriots."
- I propose that we establish an association for the purpose
of resisting these attacks for our rights.
- We won’t sit by while the King’s agents bleed us dry.
(crowd yelling)
- Our Liberty Boys are gonna give the Tories hell.
(glass shattering)
- A warning shot.
(gunshot bangs)
(crowd yelling)
(woman shrieks)
- Remember every detail of this Mr. Revere.
Every detail!
(suspenseful music)
- Move by sea, eh Mr. Revere?
- That’s right, sir.
- The Regulars are coming out!
The Regulars are coming out!
The Regulars are on the march!
- Halt or you’re dead!
(foreboding music)
- What’s up that road?
- Only about 500 of the best men in the colony.
We know you’re after Hancock and Adams
and the cannon at Concord.
- He’s a damn spy sir.
- Speak the truth, or I’ll blow your brains out.
(ominous music)
(gunshot bangs)
(somber music)
♪ My country, tears of thee
♪ Sweet land of liberty
♪ Land where my fathers die
♪ Land of the pilgrim’s pride
♪ From every mountain side
♪ Let freedom ring
- [Dermot] Pushed to their limits by an oppressive empire,
a determined group of rebels unites
under the cause of Liberty.
Their quest for freedom will unify a people,
ignite a revolution
and forge a new system of government.
In time these brave men and women will come to be known
as the American Patriots.
John Adams, Boston’s most influential founding father.
A firebrand, an outspoken voice
for human rights and the rule of law.
But behind every voice stands a man
and behind every legend lies the truth.
- There is a misconception that the Patriots from Boston
are a brotherhood of freedom fighters
operating in lock step.
Two of our founding fathers, Sam and John Adams,
actually members of the same family,
find themselves at odds over the growing revolution.
While Sam keeps the fervor of the rebellion
boiling in the streets,
John Adams, isn’t sure that defying the king,
an act of treason punishable by death, is a good idea.
Even after the Boston massacre,
John Adams needs more convincing
before committing to revolution.
(gunshots banging)
(woman screams)
- Help me with this man.
- Good God he’ll start another riot with this.
- The Boston massacre becomes a huge propaganda effort
for Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty.
You’ve got an immediately famous engraving by Paul Revere.
It is one of the most inaccurate pieces of propaganda
ever produced by an American press.
Almost nothing in it is correct.
- This is treason.
- This is an early instance in the colonies of the power
of what we now call media to shape public opinion.
- Bloody liar!
- Well Sam? Will it do?
- It’s some of your finest work I’d say.
- Samuel!
You’ve replaced the customs house with butchers hall.
What else have you changed?
- Look around you, cousin.
The people demand justice.
- By the actions of an angry mob Samuel.
Justice that is not.
- Those bastards killed five of our own.
When are you going to get down off the fence
and join the cause of your brethren?
- John Adams and Samuel Adams were not necessarily close.
Sam Adams was a failed tax collector
with a long history of debt.
- John Adams was a very principled man.
He agreed in general people like Samuel Adams,
but on the other hand, he was one
who thought that things could get out of control.
- [Dermot] The rift between the Adams cousins
is only made worse when John takes the case
to defend the soldiers involved with the Boston massacre.
- What is the matter John?
- Representing the King’s men in these times
could put us all in grave danger.
- You promised Captain Preston and those men
you’d take their case.
There is no one in this colony or any other
more suited to preserve justice than you, John.
Either you believe in the principles you say you do,
or you do not.
Which is it?
- Those men deserve a defense.
And we must show the world
Boston is capable of giving them a fair trial.
- He believes every man in a free country
deserves a fair trial.
But ambition does play a part in this.
There’s no bigger case .
That cocktail of principle and ambition wins out
and he signs on as their attorney.
- [Dermot] In Boston, anti British sentiment is everywhere.
(crowd heckling)
The defendants, Captain Thomas Preston and eight troops
face hanging if found guilty.
(gavel bangs)
- You may proceed sir.
- [Dermot] To get to the truth behind the shooting,
Adams must uncover who gave the order to shoot
and whether it was justified.
- I am for the prisoners at the bar.
- [Man In Crowd] Traitor!
- And we’re uncovering the truth of this tragedy.
This tragedy was not brought on by these soldiers,
but by the actions of a hostile and unruly mob.
(crowd heckling)
- He develops a defense that is based on the fact
that this was a mob that was created
and a situation of escalating violence was building.
- The part I took in defense of Captain Preston
and the soldiers was the most exhausting
and fatiguing cause I ever tried,
for hazarding my popularity and for incurring suspicions
and prejudices, which will never be forgotten
as long as the history of this period is read.
- [Dermot] Colonist Richard Palms is a key eye witness,
whose testimony could turn the case for Adams.
Of the 22 witnesses at the Boston massacre trial,
Palms’s location, just feet from the gunfire,
puts him in the best position to say
whether the order to fire comes from Captain Preston.
- Mr. Palms. - Sir.
- Describe for the court if you will,
how you came upon the scene in question.
Someone said that there was a rumpus down on King Street.
So of course I went down there to see Captain Preston
ahead of seven or eight soldiers at the customs house
with fixed bayonets.
(crowd yelling)
- Get off King Street.
- Captain, are your soldiers’ weapons loaded?
- With powder and ball sir.
- As soon as he spoke, I saw something resembling ice
or snow hit Private Montgomery on his right.
Private Montgomery stepped one foot back
and then fired his gun.
(gunshots bang)
But I had my hand on Captain Preston’s shoulder
after the shot was fired and then I heard the word "Fire."
- And from whose mouth did the word "Fire" emanate?
- I heard the word "Fire" but who gave it, I know not.
(dramatic music)
- Fire!
(gunshots bang)
- [Dermot] With his cousin mounting a strong defense
Sam Adams sees his efforts to provoke an uprising
slipping through his fingers.
- John Adams ace in the hole at the trial,
which his cousin doesn’t want him to use
is a deathbed confession from Patrick Carr.
(man groaning)
- Doctor. Good morning.
When had you your last conversation with Patrick Carr?
- About four o’clock in the afternoon,
preceding the night on which he died.
- And what was it he said?
- He said, he fired.
- Yes, but why did the soldier fire?
- He fired...
(suspenseful music)
To defend himself.
- To defend himself.
To defend himself.
The defense rests, your honor.
- By today’s standards, Dr. Jeffrey’s testimony
recounting a dying man’s last words
would be considered inadmissible, hearsay.
But puritanical thinking gives John Adams an advantage.
At the time, death bed testimony is considered irrefutable
since it is believed that no one would dare lie
so close to facing God’s final judgment.
- Hugh Montgomery, Matthew Kilroy.
You are found guilty of manslaughter
for your crimes are hereby sentenced to be branded.
Captain Thomas Preston, as for you and the rest of your men,
you’re all found not guilty.
(crowd clamoring)
- [Dermot] Far from ruining his career,
his defense of the soldiers solidifies John Adams
as the most gifted legal mind in Boston,
perhaps all the colonies.
But to put that brilliant mind to use,
Sam Adams and his Sons of Liberty must first convince him
to join them in open rebellion.
- Fire!
- [Dermot] Because when their struggle turns to war,
they will need John Adams to persuade a people
to defy their king and to define the ideals
of freedom and liberty upon which America will be built.
- I believe we have certain rights
and I am not prepared to cede these rights to any man,
no matter how noble his title.