1776 (1972)

John Cullum: Edward Rutledge (SC)

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Quotes 

• Edward Rutledge : [In the final vote for Independence, Rutledge wants the slavery clause removed from the Declaration, or else he will vote against independence]  Well, Mr. Adams?

  John Adams : Well, Mr. Rutledge.

  Edward Rutledge : [stands]  Mr. Adams, you must believe that I *will* do what I promised to do.

  John Adams : [stands and approaches him]  What is it you want, Rutledge?

  Edward Rutledge : Remove the offending passage from your Declaration.

  John Adams : If we did that, we would be guilty of what we ourselves are rebelling against.

  Edward Rutledge : Nevertheless... remove it, or South Carolina will bury, now and forever, your dream of independence.

  Dr. Benjamin Franklin : John? I beg you consider what you're doing.

  John Adams : Mark me, Franklin... if we give in on this issue, posterity will never forgive us.

  Dr. Benjamin Franklin : That's probably true, but we won't hear a thing, we'll be long gone. Besides, what would posterity think we were? Demi-gods? We're men, no more no less, trying to get a nation started against greater odds than a more generous God would have allowed. First things first, John. Independence; America. If we don't secure that, what difference will the rest make?

  John Adams : [long pause]  Jefferson, say something.

  Thomas Jefferson : What else is there to do?

  John Adams : Well, man, you're the one that wrote it.

  Thomas Jefferson : I *wrote* ALL of it, Mr. Adams.

  [stands and goes to the Declaration, crosses out the clause] 

  John Adams : [snatches the paper from Jefferson and takes it to Rutledge]  There you are, Rutlege, you have your slavery; little good may it do you, now VOTE, damn you!

  Edward Rutledge : [takes the paper]  Mr. President, the fair colony of South Carolina...

  [looks at Adams] 

  Edward Rutledge : ... says yea.

• [sung] 

  Edward Rutledge : Molasses to rum/ to slaves/ Who sails the ships back to Boston/ laden with gold, see it gleam? Whose fortunes are made/ in the triangle trade/ hail slavery! The New England dream. Mr. Adams, I give you a toast: Hail Boston! Hail Charleston! Who stinketh... the most?

• [on the anti-slavery clause] 

  John Adams : That little paper there deals with freedom for Americans!

  Edward Rutledge : Oh, really. Mr. Adams is now calling our black slaves "Americans!" Are they, now?

  John Adams : Yes, they are. They are people, and they are here. If there's any other requirement, I haven't heard it.

  Edward Rutledge : They are here, yes, but they are not people sir, they are property.

  Thomas Jefferson : No, sir they are people who are being treated as property! I tell you, the rights of human nature are deeply wounded by this infamous practice!

  Edward Rutledge : Then see to your own wounds Mr. Jefferson, for you are a practitioner are you not?

  Thomas Jefferson : I have already resolved to release my slaves.

  Edward Rutledge : Oh. Then I'm sorry, for you've also resolved the ruination of your own personal economy.

  John Adams : Economy. Always economy. There's more to this than a filthy purse-string, Rutledge! It is an offense against man and God!

  Hopkins : It's a stinking business, Mr. Rutledge, a stinking business!

  Edward Rutledge : Is it really now, Mr. Hopkins? Then what's that I smell floating down from the North? Could it be the aroma of hy-pocrisy? For who holds the other end of that filthy purse-string, Mr. Adams? Our northern brethren are feeling a bit tender toward our black slaves. They don't keep slaves! Oh, no. But they are willing to be considerable carriers of slaves to others. They're willin'! For the shillin'. Or haven't you heard, Mr. Adams? Clink, clink.

• Edward Rutledge : Mr. Adams, perhaps you could clear up something for me. After we have achieved independence, who do you propose would govern in South Carolina?

  John Adams : The people, of course.

  Edward Rutledge : Which people, sir? The people of South Carolina, or the people of Massachusetts?

  Hopkins : Ah, why don't you admit it, Neddy? You're against independence now and you always will be.

  Col. Thomas McKean : [heavy sigh]  Aye.

  Edward Rutledge : Now, gentlemen, you refuse to understand us. We desire independence, yes. For South Carolina. That is our country. And as such, we don't wish to belong to anyone. Not to England, and not to you.

  John Adams : We intend to have one nation, Rutledge.

  Edward Rutledge : A nation of sovereign states, Mr. Adams. United for our mutual protection, but... separate for our individual pursuits. Now, that is what we have understood it to be. And that is what we will support.

  [Adams starts to speak] 

  Edward Rutledge : As soon as everyone supports it.

  James Wilson : [standing up]  Well, there you are, Mr. Adams. You must see that we need time. Time to make certain who we are and where we stand in regard to one another. For if we do not determine the nature of the beast before we set it free, it will end by consuming us all.

  John Adams : For once in your life, Wilson... take a chance. I say the time is now. It may never come again.

• Edward Rutledge : I wonder if we might prevail upon Mr. Thomson to read again a small portion of Mr. Jefferson's Declaration. The one beginning "he has waged cruel war."

  Charles Thomson : [searching]  Uh... "he has affected", "he's combined", "he's abdicated", "he's plundered". "He's constrained", "he's excited", "he's incited", "he's waged cruel war"! Here it is. "He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating them and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, determined to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold. He has prostituted his..."

  Edward Rutledge : That will suffice, Mr. Thomson. I thank you, sir. Mr. Jefferson, I can't quite make out what it is you're talking about.

  Thomas Jefferson : Slavery, Mr. Rutledge.

  Edward Rutledge : Oh, yes. You're referring to us as slaves of the King.

  Thomas Jefferson : No, sir. I'm referring to our slaves. Black slaves.

  Edward Rutledge : Oh. Black slaves. Why didn't you say so, sir? Were you trying to hide your meaning?

  Thomas Jefferson : No, sir.

  Edward Rutledge : Just another literary license, then.

  Thomas Jefferson : If you like.

  Edward Rutledge : I don't like at all, Mr. Jefferson. To us in South Carolina, black slavery is our peculiar institution, and a cherished way of life.

  Thomas Jefferson : Nevertheless, we must abolish it. Nothing is more certainly written in the Book of Fate than that this people shall be free.

• Edward Rutledge : Enter Delaware, tria juncti in uno.

  Col. Thomas McKean : Speak plain, Rutledge. Ya Know I can't follow a word of your damn French.

  Edward Rutledge : It's Latin, Colonel McKean, a tribute to the eternal peace and harmony of the Delaware delegation.

  Col. Thomas McKean : What're ya sayin', man? Ya know perfectly well neither Rodney nor I can stand the sight of this louse!

• Stephen Hopkins : [meeting Dr. Hall]  Tell me, doctor, where does Georgia stand on the question of independence?

  Edward Rutledge : [off screen]  With South Carolina, of course.

  Stephen Hopkins : Ha, ha, ha! Neddy, good morning. Neddy, come over here and shake the hand of Dr. Lyman Hall of Georgia. Dr. Hall, this here is Edward Rutledge from... whichever Carolina he says he's from. God knows I can't keep 'em straight.

• John Dickinson : [after one of Washington's dispatches]  Come, come, Mr. Adams. You must see that it's hopeless. Let us recall General Washington and disband the Continental Army before we're overwhelmed.

  John Adams : [dryly]  Oh, yes, indeed. The English would like that, now, wouldn't they?

  John Dickinson : Why not ask them yourself? They ought to be here any minute.

  Edward Rutledge : And when they hang you, Mr. Adams, I hope you will put in a good word for the rest of us.

• John Adams : No vote has ever had to be unanimous, Dickinson, and you know it.

  John Dickinson : Yes, but this one must be.

  John Adams : On what grounds?

  John Dickinson : That no colony be torn from its mother country without its own consent.

  Edward Rutledge : Hear, hear!

  John Adams : It will never be unanimous, damn it.

  John Dickinson : If you say so, Mr. Adams.

• Edward Rutledge : [starts singing "Molasses to Rum to Slaves"]  Molasses to rum to sla-aves... / Oh, what a beautiful waltz... / You dance with us, we dance with you, / In molasses and rum and sla-aves... / Who'll sail the ships out of Boston, laden with Bibles and rum? / Who drinks a toast, to the Ivory Coast? / Hail, Africa, the slavers have come, / New England, with Bibles and rum...! / Then it's off with the rum and the Bibles, / Take on the slaves, clink, clink, / Then hail and farewell to the smell... / Of the African coast...

  Edward Rutledge : Molassses to rum to sla-aves... / 'Tisn't morals, 'tis money that saves... / Shall we dance to the sound, of the profitable pound, / In molasses and rum and sla-aves...?

  Edward Rutledge : Who'll sail the ships out of Guinea, laden with Bibles and slaves...? / 'Tis Boston can boast, to the West Indies coast, / "Jamaica, we brung what you craves!" / "Antigua, Barbados, we brung Bibles and sla-aves!" /

  Edward Rutledge : [spoken]  Gentlemen, you mustn't think that our Northern friends here see our black slaves as merely figures in a ledger. Oh no, they see them as figures on a block! Look at the faces at the auctions, gentlemen: white faces on African wharves, seafaring faces, New England faces. Put them in the ships, cram them in the ships! Stuff them in the ships! Hurry, gentlemen, let the auction begin!

  Edward Rutledge : [sung]  Yo-ho, yo ho-maa kundah!

  Edward Rutledge : Gentlemen, can you hear? That's the cry of the auctioneer!

  Edward Rutledge : [sung]  Yo-ho, yo ho-maa kundah! Slaves, gentlemen, black go-old! Living gold! Gold from Angola, guinea, guinea, guinea! Blackbirds for sale! Ashanti! Ibo, ibo, ibo! Blackbirds for sale! Ha-andle them! Fondle them! But don't finger them! They're fine, they're prime! Yo-ho, yo ho-maa kundah!

  Dr. Josiah Bartlett : [stands up in outrage]  For the love of God, Mr. Rutledge, please!

• John Dickinson , Edward Rutledge , John Hancock : [Dickinson and theconservative anti-independence candidates dance a minuet and sing "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men"]  What we do, we do rationally,

  John Dickinson : We never, ever go off half-cocked, not we,

  John Dickinson , Edward Rutledge , John Hancock : Why begin, till we know that we can win,

  John Dickinson : And if we cannot win, why bother to begin?

  Edward Rutledge : We say this game's not of our choosing, why should we risk losing?

  John Dickinson , Edward Rutledge , John Hancock : We are cool men...

  John Dickinson : [the song pauses]  Mr. Hancock, you're a man of property, one of us, why don't you join us in our minuet? Why do you persist in dancing with John Adams? Good Lord, sir, you don't even like him!

  John Hancock : [Hancock stands up and sings]  That is true, he annoys me quite a lot, / But still, I'd rather trot to Adams' new gavotte

  John Dickinson : [spoken]  Why? For personal glory? For a place in history? Be careful, sir, history will brand him and his followers as traitors.

  Edward Rutledge : Traitors, Mr. Dickinson, to what: The British Crown, or the British half-crown? Fortunately, there's not enough men with property in America to dictate policy.

  John Dickinson : Perhaps not, but don't forget that most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor. And that is why they will follow us...

  John Dickinson , Edward Rutledge , Chorus : [singing resumes]  To the right, ever to the right, never to the left, forever to the right, / We have gold, a market that will hold, tradition that is old, reluctance to be bold...

  John Dickinson : [Dickinson leads the conservatives as they leave]  I sing Hosanna, Ho-san-na,

  John Dickinson : [angrily raises his voice]  In a sane and lucid manner, we are cool!

  John Dickinson , Edward Rutledge , Chorus : [Dickinson and the conservatives walk out to their carriages]  Come ye cool, cool, considerate men, whose likes may never, ever be seen again, / With our land, cash in hand, self-command, future planned, / And we'll hold to our gold, tradition that is old, reluctant to be bold, / We say this game's not of our choosing, why should we risk losing? / We cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool men!

  McNair : [McNair and his companions are watching the conservatives' carriages pass by as the song ends]  How'd you like to try and borrow a dollar from one of them? You want some more rum, general?

• Joseph Hewes (NC) : Tell me, Doctor, where does Georgia stand on the question of independence?

  Dr. Lyman Hall (GA) : I'm here without instruction, Mr. Hewes, able to vote my own personal convictions.

  Edward Rutledge (SC) : And they are?

  Dr. Lyman Hall (GA) : [seeing them all looking at him]  Personal.