The Measure of a Patriot

Wyatt Perkins and Sophie Hatcher have been traveling through history in the Imagination Station, searching for a patriot to write about for a school assignment on the founder who inspires them most. So far the trip has been discouraging: they have learned that Ben Franklin once stole a dead man's letters and had them published, that Caesar Rodney owns slaves and missed the first vote for independence, and now they are caught in an angry Boston crowd just as shots ring out. John Adams pulls them into an alleyway and hides them in his law office, leaving them with his clerk, William. Catching their breath, the kids realize they have just witnessed the Boston Massacre, and William notices something in Adams's face he has never seen before - a look that says this incident is going to change everything.

The next morning, a visitor named Mr. Forrest brings grim news: five colonists are dead, and the British soldiers who fired have been arrested for murder. No lawyer in Boston will defend them, so Forrest asks Adams to take the case. To everyone's shock, Adams says he would be honored. "In a free country, every man has the right to counsel," he declares - then adds that this will be one of the most gallant, generous, and manly acts of his whole life. William quits on the spot, calling it a betrayal of his country, and even Wyatt and Sophie suspect Adams is doing it out of pride. With their third patriot seemingly ruined, they decide to quit the adventure and research at the library instead.

But the Imagination Station has other plans. It drops them in London in 1774, where Franklin is presenting a petition from the people of Massachusetts to replace their governor. Instead of considering the colonists' complaints, the officials spend the hearing mocking Franklin over the stolen letters, and he walks out without defending himself. Outside, he explains that the attack was never really about him: it is easier to insult his character than to care about the rights of Americans, and now he knows the colonists will never be taken seriously in England. He tells the kids to take note: "Today, a patriot has been made." Wyatt and Sophie begin to think Franklin, despite his wrongs, might be a true patriot after all.

Next they land on a rain-soaked road in 1776, where Caesar Rodney's carriage has broken a wheel on his desperate ride to Philadelphia. When Sophie protests that finding an inn could mean hours of walking in the storm, Rodney simply answers that then they walk - "Independence is at stake." At the inn, he removes the scarf he wears in public and reveals a face scarred by cancer. Sick as he is, he insists on riding through the night, because voting for independence is an act of high treason and he refuses to let his fellow delegates face that danger without him. The kids still hate that he owns slaves, but they cannot deny his bravery.

The Station then carries them to the soldiers' trial in Boston, where Adams tells the jury it is better for many guilty people to go unpunished than for one innocent person to suffer. Sophie recognizes the ideas taking shape - reasonable doubt, the right to counsel, innocent until proven guilty - as the foundations of American law. William slips out of the packed courtroom, and when the kids follow, he admits he had thought Adams only wanted attention. Now he sees that America is defined by its justice: "It just took a better patriot than I am to see it."

Finally the kids arrive at Independence Hall on July 2, 1776, where the delegates are about to vote again and Rodney still has not appeared. Adams agrees to stall for a few precious minutes, and while they wait, Sophie asks him what characteristic makes him the greatest patriot. Adams answers that no person deserves that title. The greatest patriot, he says, is God - the one who gathered a collection of admittedly flawed men and is using their varied talents, despite their faults, to create something new in the world. Just then a mud-spattered Rodney staggers in, having ridden eighty miles through the storm, and Adams happily leads him inside to cast the deciding vote.

The adventure ends before the kids can watch the vote itself, though Wyatt assures Sophie he knows how it turns out from a cartoon. They decide their report can cover all three flawed patriots - Franklin, Rodney, and Adams - and how God brought them together for a greater purpose. Sophie admits she doesn't know much about God, but she didn't know much about Caesar Rodney either, and she's willing to learn. So they head off to do their research her way: to the library.