This product of a late 1960s sensibility (it came out in '72) has as its major joke that the Founding Fathers were as human as we are -- they ate gluttonously, drank to excess, went to the outhouse at inconvenient times, told dirty jokes, mocked and lost their tempers with one another, and had trouble making up their minds. It has as its secondary joke that Thomas Jefferson couldn't get his mind on writing the Declaration of Independence after six month of abstinence until it was arranged that he could have sex with his wife. It has several tuneful numbers, well sung by musical comedy pros. While Franklin (Howard daSilva), Adams (William Daniels) and Jefferson (Ken Howard) are the central figures, all of the supporting characters are vivid and strongly drawn. As Edmund Rutledge of South Carolina, John Cullum (best known for Northern Exposure) has a standout number, "The Triangular Trade," that denounces Northern hypocrisy about slavery and the slave trade. There are some minor anachronisms,but it is substantially true to the historical record. A pleasant two hours on the afternoon of a locked down 4th of July.
