<P> For practical and dramatic purposes, the play does not depict all of the more than 50 members of Congress who were present at the time . The John Adams of the play is, in part, a composite character, combining the real Adams with his cousin Samuel Adams, who was in Congress at the time but is not depicted in the play . Although the play depicts Caesar Rodney as an elderly man near death from skin cancer (which would eventually kill him), he was just 47 at the time and continued to be very active in the Revolution after signing the Declaration . He was not absent from the voting because of health; however, the play is accurate in having him arrive "in the nick of time", having ridden 80 miles the night before (an event depicted on Delaware's 1999 State Quarter). In the play, Richard Henry Lee announces that he is returning to Virginia to serve as governor . He was never governor; his cousin Henry Lee (who is anachronistically called "General' Lighthorse' Harry Lee", a rank and nickname earned later) did eventually become governor and would also become the father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee . John Adams was also depicted in the play and the film as disliking Richard Henry Lee . That is not the case as, according to David McCullough, Adams expressed nothing but "respect and admiration for the tall, masterly Virginian ." He did, however, contrary to what was portrayed in the play and the film, dislike Benjamin Franklin . Martha Jefferson never traveled to Philadelphia to be with her husband . In fact, she was extremely ill during the summer of 1776, having just endured a miscarriage . The play's authors invented the scene "to show something of the young Jefferson's life without destroying the unity of setting ." James Wilson was not the indecisive milquetoast depicted in the play . The real Wilson, who was not yet a judge in 1776, had been cautious about supporting independence at an earlier date, but he supported the resolution of independence when it came up for a vote . Pennsylvania's deciding swing vote was actually cast by John Morton, who is not depicted in the musical . </P> <P> The quote attributed to Edmund Burke by Dr. Lyman Hall in a key scene with John Adams is a paraphrase of a real quote by Burke . </P> <P> The song "Cool Considerate Men" is anachronistic because the terms "right" and "left" in politics were not in use until the French Revolution of 1789 . John Dickinson, who is portrayed as an antagonist here, was motivated mainly by his Quaker roots and his respect for the British Constitution, having lived in England for 3 years in the 1750s . He was no wealthier than some members of the pro-Independence faction, and freed his slaves in 1777 . Thomas Jefferson wrote that "his name will be consecrated in history as one of the great worthies of the revolution". </P> <P> The musical also deviates from history in its portrayal of attitudes about slavery . In 1776, after a dramatic debate over slavery, the southern delegates walk out in protest of the Declaration's reference to the slave trade, and only support independence when that language is removed from the Declaration . The walkout is fictional, and apparently most delegates, northern and southern, supported the deletion of the clause . </P>

What did edwards and stone use to help them write the dialogue and songs in 1776