"On the evening he invited Adams to go along with him to meet Abigail, the middle sister, it was for Adams anything but love a first sight. In contrast to his loving, tender Hannah, these Smith sisters were, he wrote, neither 'fond, nor frank, nor candid.' Nor did Adams much like the father, who seemed a 'crafty, designing man.' Adams's first impressions were almost entirely bad and, as he would come to realize, quite mistaken." Part 1, Chapter 1, pg. 52.

"What John Adams said was not recorded. But as the constant battler on the floor, with all that he had written, his work on committees, his relentless energy, industry, and unyielding determination, he had emerged as a leader like no other, and when the breakthrough came at last on Wednesday, May 15, it was his victory more than anyone's in Congress." Part 1, Chapter 2, pg. 109.

"They had both wanted another...