In 1777, John and Thomas Adams and their families arrive in New
Orleans, having fled Massachusetts with little more than the
clothes on their backs. Both men soon become active in producing
propaganda aimed at encouraging a new rebellion. The refusal of
Spanish authorities to hand over the 'traitors' further angers
the British, who are already incensed that the Adamses' fellow
colonial rebel Alexander Hamilton has been given safe haven. In
1777, following weeks of incarceration by the British and a
mockery of a trial, George Washington is hanged for treason on
his birthday. In 1777, Benjamin Franklin is arrested in London
while on a last desperate mission to appeal to Parliament for
'an equitable solution to the grievances between the colonies
and the Crown.' Because Franklin still has influential friends
in England, he is not executed; instead, he is sent to prison,
and, in September of 1788, will be transported to the newly
established Botany Bay penal colony in Australia. In 1826,
Thomas Jefferson dies in