In his July 30, 1815 letter to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams wrestles with the question of who can truthfully record the American Revolution. Adams laments that the secret debates of the Continental Congress were never preserved, leaving history incomplete and vulnerable to distortion. Responding to an Italian historian’s romanticized account, he criticizes the fabrication of speeches and warns that fiction may replace fact. Reflecting on the extemporaneous oratory of 1776, Adams invites Jefferson’s judgment as a fellow witness. His words reveal deep concern that the Revolution’s authentic spirit could vanish beneath myth and literary embellishment.
