... to him and his friends a pious fraud, the claim that a document existed that implicated Adams in crimi-nality. Adams was a political enemy, and he was far from a saint; he had been accused ... of cash for capital expenditures. Within a year, with his legislative salary and his earnings, he was saving money; small sums, but the start of an accumulation of capital. And the law began ... he had a grasp of local and national issues; he had done his best to prepare himself for the law; for his time and situation, he had read widely; and he had talent as a writer and speaker....