Perhaps one of the most inspiring visions for our nation can be found in a letter John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail. It was the spring of 1780, he was serving a diplomatic post in Paris, and the final outcome of the Revolutionary War was still in doubt. But Adams had his eyes firmly set on the future. “I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy . . . in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, [and] Musick.”
