Samuel Adams - Biography, Primary sources, Bibliography
American politician and Revolutionary leader, born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. A second cousin to John Adams, he studied law, failed at several business enterprises, became a tax collector, then devoted himself to politics. One of the first and most outspoken colonists to oppose British laws and policies, in the Massachusetts legislature (176574) he promoted corresponding with other colonies' leaders, wrote newspaper articles criticizing British rule, organized opposition to the Stamp Act in 1765, and composed and circulated a declaration of colonists' rights. He helped organize the Boston Tea Party (1773) and by 1774 was advocating open resistance to Britain. He served in the First and Second Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. At first he backed George Washington as commander-in-chief, but he criticized what he thought was an overly cautious pursuit of the war. Regarded as too radical by many, he resigned from Congress in 1781, but supported the Federal Constitution of 1787. He was lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts (178994), then governor (17947).
| Samuel Adams | |
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| 4th Governor of Massachusetts | |
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Term of office: June 2, 1784 – October 8, 1791 |
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| Lieutenant Governor: | Moses Gill |
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| Predecessor: | John Hancock |
| Successor: | Increase Sumner |
| Born: |
September 27, 1722 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died: |
October 2, 1803 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Political party: | None |
| Spouse: | Elizabeth Checkley, Elizabeth Wells |
| Religion: | Congregational |
Samuel Adams (September 27, 1722 – October 2, 1803) was the chief Massachusetts leader of the Patriot cause leading to the American Revolution.
Biography
Early life
Born to Boston parents, Mary Fifield and Samuel Adams, on September 27, 1722 and died 1803, he was their tenth child. Adams was a baptized member of Old South Church in Boston, and from the tower of the congregation's Meeting House made the loud war whoops signaling the beginning of the Boston Tea Party.
Adams attended school at Boston Latin School.
After he completed his college education, Adams and his father, Old Samuel Adams began a partnership in a brewery.
Turning his attention to politics Adams wrote political essays to the Independent Advertiser newspaper and joined a political club, the "Whipping Post Club," as well as Boston's South End Caucus, which was a powerful force in the selection of candidates for elective office.
While a member of the legislature, Adams served as clerk of the house, in which capacity he was responsible for drafting written protests of various British governmental acts during his tenure, which continued to 1774.
This British troop presence in Boston, aggravated by protest activities such as Adams' formation of the Non-Importation Association, led to the Boston Massacre (a term coined by Adams) two years later. After the incident Adams chaired a town meeting which formed a petition, presented to acting governor Thomas Hutchinson, demanding the removal of two British regiments from Boston proper. the meeting was re-convened and Adams successfully urged the crowd of over 5,000 present to stand firm on the terms: "Both regiments or none!" These regiments would thereafter be known in the British Parliament as "The Sam Adams Regiments."
In 1772, after a British declaration that judges should be paid by the Crown rather than by the colonial legislatures, a demand from the people of Boston for a special session of the legislature to reconsider this matter was refused by Hutchinson. It was at this point Adams devised a system of Committees of Correspondence, whereby the towns of Massachusetts would consult with each other concerning political matters via messages.
Tea Party 1773
Samuel Adams is best remembered for helping organize the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773, in response to the Tea Act - a tax law passed in London that was simply an increase in the taxes on tea paid by American colonists. As British tea-ships sat in Boston Harbor waiting for payment of the import tax, Samuel Adams energized a large crowd that was gathered at the port and sent several men to dump all of the tea from the three ships into the Boston Harbor to the delight of the assembled spectators on shore. The angry reaction from all the colonies was to expedite the opening of a Continental Congress, and when the Massachusetts legislature met in Salem on June 17, 1774, Adams locked the doors and made a motion for the formation of a colonial delegation to attend the Congress.
Adams was one of the major proponents of the Suffolk Resolves, drafted in response to the Intolerable Acts, and adopted in September 1774. Adams opposed a compromise offered by Joseph Galloway and advocated boycotts of British imports through the continental associations.
Continental Congress
In September 1774 Adams retired from the legislature and was a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. After that Adams, wary of a strong central government, was instrumental in the development and adoption of the loose government embodied in the Articles of Confederation, to which he was also a signatory in 1777.
State politics
At the time of the drafting of the United States Constitution, Adams was considered an anti-federalist, but more moderate than others of that political stripe. Additionally, Adams was a member of the conventions that drafted the first Massachusetts state constitution in 1779, and the second one in 1788.
He stood unsuccessfully for election to the House of Representatives for the first Congress, but was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, serving from 1789–94.
Later Life
In old age, Samuel suffered from symptoms akin to those of Cerebral palsy or Parkinson's disease, so Samuel's daughter Hannah had to sign his name for him.
In addition to his daughter Hannah, Adams had a son named Samuel Adams, Jr., by his first wife, Elizabeth Checkley (1725-1757), whom he married in 1749.
His son, Samuel Adams, Jr., studied medicine under Doctor Joseph Warren, fellow patriot and friend to both Adams and his second cousin John Adams. Samuel Adams, Jr. His government claims provided enough for Adams and his wife to live on in their old age.
Adams died at the age of 81 and was interred at the Granary Burying Ground in Boston. Owing to his occupation as a brewer, today a popular brand of Boston beer bears his name: Samuel Adams.
Place in History
Historian Pauline Maier (1980) argues that Adams was not the "grand incendiary" or firebrand of Revolution and was not a mob leader. Within that revolutionary tradition, resistance was essentially conservative, intended to preserve what in 1748 Adams described as "the true object" of patriotic loyalty, "a good legal constitution, which . It had nothing in common with sedition or rebellion, which Adams, like earlier English writers, charged to officials who sought "illegal power" (Wells, vol. Samuel Adams, attributed
“We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.” -- Samuel Adams, attributed, upon signing the Declaration of Independence
"Driven from every other corner of the earth, freedom of thought and the right of private judgment in matters of conscience, direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum." --Samuel Adams, Speech, 1 August 1776
"And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to subject the people to unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons, papers or possessions" --Samuel Adams, Debates of the Massachusetts Convention of 1788
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