Sit Down, John

"Sit Down, John" is the opening number, written by Sherman Edwards for the musical 1776, a dramatization of the debate over and signing of the United States Declaration of Independence. In the song, John Adams urges the Second Continental Congress to vote for independence from Great Britain, but the delegates to the Congress repeatedly call on him to sit down. Adams, played by William Daniels in the 1969 original Broadway production and the 1972 film version, introduces the musical's irreverent tone toward the Founding Fathers. "Sit Down, John" influenced the composition of Hamilton, a 2015 musical in which Adams does not appear but in which he is discussed.