I'm an European, therefore I do not completely know American history, however I did have World History in high school.... and I was amazed by the stupidity of this.
Let's start with the scene of the dramatic "tea party". Now Adams while it is true that was part of Sons of Liberty and the resistance, actually tried to stop this. The day of the meeting at Old South Meeting House. After receiving a report that Governor Hutchinson had again refused to let the ships leave, Adams announced that "This meeting can do nothing further to save the country." According to a popular story, Adams's statement was a prearranged signal for the "tea party" to begin. However, this claim did not appear in print until nearly a century after the event, in a biography of Adams written by his great-grandson, who apparently misinterpreted the evidence. According to eyewitness accounts, people did not leave the meeting until ten or fifteen minutes after Adams's alleged "signal", and Adams in fact tried to stop people from leaving because the meeting was not yet over.
So as you can see it is absurd the way they are trying to portray this character.
Now let's talk about General Washington's appearance. So he enters the room of the congressional meeting and states "General Wade is a cancer, if not removed..." It is curious how a uneducated man such as Washington knows about cancer, not to mention that even thought we knew about it from ancient Greek times, the time we were finally familiar with it was between 1871 and 1874 and we are talking about cutting edge research, which will take years to become mainstream knowledge.
To be honest, History channel did warn us, by billing the series as a "dramatic interpretation of events" and a work of "historical fiction", arguing the goal of the miniseries was "to capture the spirit of the time, convey the personalities of the main characters, and focus on real events that have shaped our past". Stil I think this was no excuse for such crude mistakes.
Final judgment: If you know nothing about history, and enjoy action with modern wording in old era, this is for you. Otherwise run.
Let's start with the scene of the dramatic "tea party". Now Adams while it is true that was part of Sons of Liberty and the resistance, actually tried to stop this. The day of the meeting at Old South Meeting House. After receiving a report that Governor Hutchinson had again refused to let the ships leave, Adams announced that "This meeting can do nothing further to save the country." According to a popular story, Adams's statement was a prearranged signal for the "tea party" to begin. However, this claim did not appear in print until nearly a century after the event, in a biography of Adams written by his great-grandson, who apparently misinterpreted the evidence. According to eyewitness accounts, people did not leave the meeting until ten or fifteen minutes after Adams's alleged "signal", and Adams in fact tried to stop people from leaving because the meeting was not yet over.
So as you can see it is absurd the way they are trying to portray this character.
Now let's talk about General Washington's appearance. So he enters the room of the congressional meeting and states "General Wade is a cancer, if not removed..." It is curious how a uneducated man such as Washington knows about cancer, not to mention that even thought we knew about it from ancient Greek times, the time we were finally familiar with it was between 1871 and 1874 and we are talking about cutting edge research, which will take years to become mainstream knowledge.
To be honest, History channel did warn us, by billing the series as a "dramatic interpretation of events" and a work of "historical fiction", arguing the goal of the miniseries was "to capture the spirit of the time, convey the personalities of the main characters, and focus on real events that have shaped our past". Stil I think this was no excuse for such crude mistakes.
Final judgment: If you know nothing about history, and enjoy action with modern wording in old era, this is for you. Otherwise run.