- Audio/visual unsynchronized: Richard Henry Lee talks as he mounts his horse, yet his mouth is closed.
- Continuity: Position of Col. McKean's hands when he fires the musket.
- Continuity: When Adams and Franklin are in the park, Franklin is holding a cane in his outstretched arm. In the next shot, his arm is against his body.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): During "Sit Down, John", one of the extras playing a Southern delegate knocks over a lit candle when he stands up to sing.
- Factual errors: Stephen Hopkins' statement "The Colonies are rotting for want of independence," should actually be attributed to Rev. John Witherspoon.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The insult that sparks the hand-to-hand brawl between Dickinson and Adams is "Lawyer!" One of the first lines is "One useless man is called a disgrace, two become a law firm, and three or more become a Congress." Dickinson, Adams, and about 90% of the Congress were lawyers, so that seems a strange insult to use against somebody in the same profession.
- Anachronisms: John Adams and Martha Jefferson waltz during "He Plays the Violin". The waltz did not become popular until 1780, when it became the rage at the Hapsburg court in Vienna. It spread to other countries several years later.
- Factual errors: The circumstances of Caesar Rodney's ride are historically inaccurate. Rodney suffered from asthma and skin cancer, but he had not returned to Delaware because he was dying. As a brigadier general in the Delaware militia, he was in Sussex County monitoring Tory activity when he received word that the vote on independence was about to take place. Changing horses several times, he rode all night, eighty miles through a thunderstorm, to reach Philadelphia in time to cast his vote. He remained almost continuously in public service until his death in 1784.
- Factual errors: In the movie Martha came to Philadelphia to see Thomas Jefferson, as the two had not been together "for 6 months" - a common refrain by Tom. While Tom wrote the Declaration, Martha stayed in Virginia, recovering from a miscarriage - there is no record of such a "conjugal visitation."
- Factual errors: John Hancock was the only person to sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4th. The others waited until August 2nd. One signed it in 1781.
- Factual errors: Contrary to what is portrayed in the Broadway musical and the film, John Adams and Richard Henry Lee had a healthy admiration and respect for one another.
- Factual errors: At the Congress, John Adams says Benjamin Franklin "smote the ground, and out sprang George Washington, fully grown and on his horse. Franklin then electrified them with his miraculous lightning rod and the three of them - Franklin, Washington, and the horse - conducted the entire Revolution all by themselves." Adams made that speech in April of 1790, after Franklin was dead.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Caesar Rodney is depicted as a short man, but he was famously tall and thin.
- Anachronisms: Southern delegates sing about "moving to the right", but right/left political orientation originated in the assemblies of the French Revolutionary governments, at least a dozen years later.
- Continuity: The beginning of the film takes place in early June, 1776 in Philadelphia. There are several references to the heat, and several delegates are clearly sweating. After a squabble breaks out during the debate, John Hancock orders McNair to remove a dog from the room because it smells bad. As McNair complies, Hancock shouts, "Christ! It's hot!" and Jefferson sits on a sill by an open window to read a book. In the next scene, the dog is out on the sidewalk. It barks twice, and you can see its breath.
- Continuity: When Adams and Samuel Chase talk about visiting the Continental Army, Adams asks Chase if he would support independence by saying, "Would you or wouldn't you?" When Adams says, "wouldn't you" his hand is clearly above the notepad on the desk (as evidenced by the shadow below his hand). In the next shot from behind Adams, his hand is resting on the notepad.
- Factual errors: In the song "Lees of Old Virginia" Richard Henry Lee mentions General Lighthorse Harry Lee. In fact Henry Lee III, in 1776, was neither a General, nor had he yet become known as "Lighthorse Harry," a moniker that he would only earn after taking command of "Lee's Legion" in 1778.
- Factual errors: John Dickinson was a pacifistic Quaker who objected to revolution, not a Tory leading the resistance to declaring independence.
- Plot holes: A few characters want to retrieve the ailing Cesar Rodney from his home so Delaware will vote for independence. As Col. McKean, explicitly states in one of the restored scenes, the delegation is tied without him, and would abstain. New York abstains on every vote, and no one worries about them. If unanimity is required, one abstention or two would have the same effect.
- Factual errors: There was no direct requirement for unanimity, only the understanding that a less than unanimous vote would indicate a divided America to potential allies.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: While attempting to write the Declaration in his apartment, Jefferson throws the paper about and finally tosses his quill and picks up the violin. As Adams and Franklin enter the apartment, the quill has reappeared in the inkwell on the desk in front of Jefferson. But the change in lighting (from darkness to broad daylight) indicates that many hours have passed between the two moments.
>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<
Goofs below here contain information that may give away important plot points. You may not want to read any further if you've not already seen this title.
- Factual errors: SPOILER: When the Declaration is signed, John Dickenson leaves the Congress without signing the document. Though he was a non-signer, he did not resign. At the time the Declaration of Independence was passed, he was on the committee that drafted the Articles of Confederation (part of Richard Henry Lee's resolution).
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