09 December 2023
“The man who is not resolved to encounter and overcome difficulties when the liberty of his country is threatened, no more deserves the character of a patriot, than another does that of a soldier who flies from his standard.”[1] This statement from Samel Adams to his friend James Warren sums up the man to fervently believed that mankind was inherently gifted his personal liberties by his creator and that government’s sole purpose was to protect those liberties. Adams’ legacy, however, has devolved to that of a man who has been considered a manipulator, troublemaker, and even a dictator. In truth, Adams was indeed a revolutionary, the first to call for independence, and such a stringent believer in liberty, that he was willing to risk everything that he had to pull his countrymen towards that goal. Adams was certainly an antagonist, both within the press and on the streets, and he was outspoken against a strong central government during the construction of the American Constitution. These, however, were pointed aims at creating a government for the people, all people, not just the powerful which Adams highlighted during his argument for harsh punishments for those involved in Shay’s Rebellion. And he accomplished the vast majority of this with the utmost humility, further setting him aside from others of his time.
If Adams was the father of the revolution, he certainly did not begin his life that way. Coming from an old Massachusetts family, Adams was set up for success early in life by his introduction into the Boston elite by being enrolled at Boston Latin and then Harvard College at the age of 13.[2] While Adams did well in school, the personality and fiery speech that he later utilized in his fight for liberty were not to be found in his youth.[3] The most important part of Adams’ youth that stuck with him through adulthood, is the pivotal role of Puritan religion.[4] His religious zeal is something that would guide him throughout his life, as would his passion for politics which he refined leading up to his graduation from Harvard in 1743.[5] To graduate with his Masters from Harvard, Adams chose to conduct his thesis on the lawfulness of resisting the supreme power in order to preserve a republic, a foreshadowing to the exact battle that Adams would wage in his later years.[6]
Adams’ time between Harvard and his revolutionary practices was relatively quiet. He had multiple failed business ventures, lost the entirety of a loan from his father in one of those ventures, and came to terms with being a man living in pleasant poverty.[7] Past his Masters thesis at Harvard, it is difficult to truly pinpoint when Adams secured his belief that American liberties were being trampled by the British government and that Americans must stand up against such abuse. By 1760, Adams had inserted himself, at least informally, into Boston’s political discussions.[8] During this time, he probably began to learn a great deal from fellow Bostonian James Otis, who had a lot to say on the Mother Countries ability to tax the colonies.[9] Adams was now entering in to the political depths that would define his existence for the rest of his life. His fight for the common man in America had begun and would indeed be his legacy.
An issue with researching Samel Adams presents itself in the form of Adams’ own writings. Events leading up to, and directly after, The Boston Massacre, for example, provide very little surviving primary evidence from Adams to truly discern his involvement in events. Adams has often been accused of stirring up violence, including the violence that took place on March 5th, 1770. There is little evidence that this is the case, however. On January 8, 1770, Adams penned an article that was printed in the Boston Gazet and signed by “Dertaminatus” in which he argues to support the Boston merchants in withholding their imports from Great Britain.[10] While this article is full of patriotic rhetoric that focuses on the struggle for liberty and focuses on uniting all merchants and people of Boston, Massachusetts, and the rest of the Colonies, it certainly falls short of suggesting open warfare in the streets. Adams’ voice in this article is strong and expresses anger at the English Government, but it falls substantially short of prescribing to violent rebellion.
Shortly after The Boston Massacre, Adams puts his name to letter along with John Hancock and John Barret, requesting on behalf of the town of Boston that the Governor establish new justices that could try the case against those responsible for The Boston Massacre without delay.[11] This letter is written with a defining calm that is indicative of the calm demeanor that Adams was known for. With the understanding that this is an official correspondence from the town of Boston, and as such written in different form that the article from the newspaper, it is still possible to view this letter and understand that Adams contained the ability to express himself in a calm and dignified manner.
Even after The Boston Massacre, Adams was not adamant that the colonies needed to gain their complete independence from the crown to secure their liberties. In an article written under the pseudonym “A Chatterer”, Adams expresses that the King is simply being led astray by poor ministers and advisors.[12] Adams makes clear in this article that he does not believe that those who the King is placing in positions are making decisions based upon what the King wants, but instead are making decisions for their own gain. As Adams has been historically accused of inciting violence to obtain colonial liberty from the crown, this letter refutes that claim showing that in 1770, Adams believed that if the King could be led to see reason by good honest men advising him, there was an opportunity to salvage the relationship. Though towards the ends of 1770 that opportunity may be slipping as Adams believes the crown’s has been deprived in a letter to John Wilkes in which he expresses “May Heaven forbid that it should yet be truly said Great Britain, ‘Quam Deus Vult Perdere’” or Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first deprives of reason.[13]
Adams would continue through 1771 and 1772 to pen articles in local papers along with helping with letters from the Town of Boston and Massachusetts House of Representatives. In 1773, a shift can be noticed in Adams’ writings, pulling him further and further away from the crown of Great Britain and closer to complete colonial independence. “The Colonies are all embarked in the same bottom. The Liberties of all are alike invaded by the same haughty Power.”[14] Adams in this letter to Richard Henry Lee is adamant that the American Colonials will not allow themselves to be forced into slavery and that the other colonies are beginning to follow suite in their resistance towards British infringement on liberties.[15]
Adams’ shift toward a desire for complete independence would begin to work its way through the rest of the colonies. In “The Resolutions of the Town of Boston” that he helped to write in November of 1773, Adams’ voice and argument can certainly be heard in “The disposal of their own property is the inherent right of Freemen.”[16] This time was, of course leading into the events of the Boston Tea Party, an event that would be one more step towards the dissolution of relations between colony and King. Arguments have been made as to whether Adams was involved in the Boston Tea Party. In a Letter to Arthur Lee on November 9th, 1773, over a month before the occasion, Adams would close, after expressing that “the people here begin to think that they have born oppression long enough,” that “One cannot foresee events, but from all of the observation I am able to make, my next letter will not be upon a trifling subject.”[17] While this letter is not proof that Adams was the master mind behind the Tea Party, it certainly sheds light on the possibility that he was very much involved.
This event would narrow the crowns’ ability to save the relationship between the colonies and Great Britain even if it had wanted to. Adams expresses that “If Lord Dartmouth has prepared his plan, let him produce it speedily; but his lordship must know that it must be such a plan as will not barely amuse, much less farther irritate but conciliate the affection of the inhabitants.”[18] Adams clearly knows that anything short of removing the taxes placed on the colonies, that were inflicted without the colonies having representation in the government, the relationship between the crown and the colonies will continue to dissolve. For Adams himself, anything other than complete security of colonial liberties would guide him further towards separation from Great Britain. And in 1773, the direction that Adams traveled was also the direction that Boston would go. By guiding the thoughts of Bostonians with his multiple newspaper articles printed under pseudonyms to protect himself, his friends, and his family, Adams had a solid grip on hearts and minds against Great Britain.
Following the Boston Tea Party, the government of Great Britain instituted the Intolerable Acts to subdue the upheaval in Boston. These acts instituted such things as the housing of British troops in the homes of Bostonians. To Samuel Adams, these acts were the final step towards pulling the rest of the colonies along with him in his push for independence.[19] Adams knew that the city of Boston was taking most of the punishment, but also that the city of Boston had done the most to strike at the crown to establish liberty in the colonies. Adams knows that Boston cannot fight the British entirely on its own, so he is thus requesting help from all the other colonies to assist them in this venture.[20] Adams showed himself to not only be the first to push for independence from Great Britain, but also the first to reach across colonial lines and unite all Americans against the abuses of the British government.
Adams would continue his fight against the Intolerable Acts both in his correspondence on behalf of the town of Boson along with his personal articles printed in newspapers to keep the vigor for liberty up in the colonies while at the same time rallying the elite in the city to assist those affected most by Acts. In September of 1776, the First Continental Congress would convene, and Adams would be selected by Boston to attend. Throughout this congress, Adams would fight for the liberties of Americans to secured by nearly any means necessary. In a letter Joeseph Warren, he speaks of a constitution relating two houses of government to take the place of the Governor appointed by the crown.[21] This was the first, at least in his correspondence, that Adams speaks of a constitution, and of it he says, “You know there is a charm in the word constitutional.”[22]
It is no mistake that Adams was sought after by the British regulars during the Spring of 1775. As he was considered the firebrand igniting the push for independence in the colonies and had just achieved to join colonies together in the First Continental Congress, capturing and trying him would have gone some way to possibly quelling the unrest. Adams had to go into a period of hiding, highlighted by the ride of Paul Revere and others to warn of the British advance in that cause. In a letter to his wife, he expresses that he is bound for Philadelphia to continue to further the cause while noting his worry for her, asking her to be safe.[23] While in Philadelphia, Adams continued to play an important roll in the cause by providing his insight into early military affairs along with his continued push politically for independence from Great Britain.[24]
There should have been no greater victory for Samuel Adams than the signing and ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the United colonies on July 4, 1776. However, Adams was incessant that this victory had been achieved too late. While congratulatory to the Declarations success, and what it would mean for the united colonies moving forward, Adams was insistent that if the Declaration had been signed three months earlies, there was a very real opportunity for Canada to have joined in with the rest of the colonies.[25] This disappointment galled Adams more than anything else at this time. He had won his battle to get the colonies to grasp on to the ideas of liberty and independence but found it “mortifying” that the colonies had lost their opportunity to add Canada to their list of those willing to resist the British.[26]
Adams was slightly hesitant in the building of a new national government as he understood that a government had to be headed by men, and that men had the capacity for evil. Adams expressed that “if men of wisdom and knowledge, of moderation and temperance, of patience and fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and true republican simplicity of manners, of zeal for honor of the supreme being and the welfare of the Common Wealth- if men possessed of these and other excellent qualities are chosen to fill the seats of government we may expect that our affairs will rest on a solid and permanent foundation.”[27] Adams was strictly against a strong central government as he saw the ability for corruption and how that government could impede on the liberties of men. Throughout the entirety of Adams’ involvement with the American cause, individual liberty and freedoms dominated his thoughts and actions.
Adams took those thoughts for individual liberty into his arguments against a constitution uniting all the colonies under a stronger central government. Adams relates that “As I enter the building I stumble at the threshold. I meet with a National Government, instead of a Federal Union of Sovereign States. I am not able to conceive why the wisdom of the Convention led them to give the preference to the former before the latter.”[28] Adams was upset that he sees the Convention establishing a sort of government that could infringe on the rights and liberties that were just won at the expense of blood and capital. Adams expressed a doubt in the competency of such a government body to pass laws that would be to the benefit of the people instead of their detriment.[29]
Adams did not let this disagreement with the Convention on the establishment of a federal constitution completely destroy his belief in the American system, however. In 1786 and 1787 a violent resistance to taxes enacted to help pay the war debts broke out in the Massachusetts country-side. Adams had spent the entirety of the last 25 years leading the country towards individual liberty and fighting against taxes levied on the colonials. He was primed once more to take on the cause in the defense of this rebellion. Instead, he did just the opposite. Declaring that “ In monarchies the crime of treason and rebellion may admit of being pardoned or lightly punished but the man who dares rebel against the laws of a republic ought to suffer death.”[30] Adams was so adamant that the constitution that protected the rights of Americans also provided their pathway to judicate perceived violations of those rights that he called for the harshest possible discipline against the perpetrators of Shays’ Rebellion. These actions show that Adams was not just a man hell bent on independence from Great Britain, but a man who understood and would stand by a constitution of the people and for the people.
Adams would continue his arguments for personal liberties throughout his life, his greatest victory in this would be the securing of the American Bill of Rights, the first amendments to the United States Constitution which would guarantee the most basic of rights. In a letter to John Adams in 1790, Adams expresses “Is not the whole sovereignty, my friend, essentially the people?”[31] The following year, the Bill of Rights would be instituted into the American Constitution. For a man such as Adams, no greater victory could be obtained.
It is possible that Samuel Adams will continue to be looked at in varied lights as the implication of his historical contributions is reviewed further. From a man of humble beginnings to a man who fought against the new American Constitution, one thing must be said of Adams and generally agreed to by historians, he held his ground on his convictions. Adams fought for personal liberty, often to his own demise, in a time when few others were willing to risk the wrath of the British government. It could easily be said that he singlehandedly dragged the American colonies towards freedom. It was not just freedom that Adams sought, however. It was also justice and a representative republican form of government. He would hold the same self-evident truths that were expressed in the Declaration of Independence for the rest of his life. In a letter to newly elected President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson in 1801, Adams stated of the fight for American independence “The storm is now over, and we are in port, and I dare say, the ship will be rigged for her proper service; she must also be well manned and very carefully officered.”[32]
Notes:
[1] Samuel Adams, “Samuel Adams to James Warren, Boston, March 25, 1771”, in Warren-Adams Letters: Being Chiefly a Correspondence Between John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Warren (The Massachusetts, Massachusetts Historical Society, 1917).
[2] Stacy Schiff, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams, (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2022), 26.
[3] Schiff, The Revolutionary, 28.
[4] Schiff, The Revolutionary, 29.
[5] Schiff, The Revolutionary, 31.
[6] Schiff, The Revolutionary, 32-33.
[7] Schiff, The Revolutionary, 36-37.
[8] Schiff, The Revolutionary, 66.
[9] Schiff, The Revolutionary, 66-67.
[10] Samuel Adams, “Article Signed ‘Determinatus, Boston Gazet, January 8, 1770”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 2, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[11] Samuel Adams, “The Town of Boston to the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, March 19, 1770”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 2, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[12] Samuel Adams, “Article Signed ‘A. Chatterer’, August 20, 1770”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 2, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[13] Samuel Adams, “To John Wilkes, Boston, December 28, 1770”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 2, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[14] Samuel Adams, “To Richard Henry Lee, Boston, April 10, 1773”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[15] Adams, “Richard Henry Lee”.
[16] Samuel Adams, “Resolutions of the Town of Boston, November 5, 1773”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[17] Samuel Adams, “To Arthur Lee, Boston, November 9, 1773”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[18] Samuel Adams, “To Arthur Lee, Boston, December 31, 1773”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[19] Samuel Adams, “The Town of Boston to the Colonies, May 13, 1774”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[20] Adams, “Boston to the Colonies”.
[21] Samuel Adams, “To Joseph Warren, Philadelphia, September, 1774”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[22] Adams, “Warren”.
[23] Samuel Adams, “To Mrs. Adams, New York, May 7, 1775”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[24] Samuel Adams, “To Elbridge Gerry, Philadelphia, September 26, 1775”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[25] Samuel Adams, “To Joseph Hawley, Philadelphia, July 9, 1776”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[26] Samuel Adams, “To Richard Henry Lee, Philadelphia, July 15, 1776”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[27] Samuel Adams, “To Elbridge Gerry, Philadelphia, November 27, 1780”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 4, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[28] Samuel Adams, “To Richard Henry Lee, Boston, December 3, 1787”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 4, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[29] Adams, “Richard Henry Lee”.
[30] William Pencak, “Samuel Adams and Shays’ Rebellion,” The New England Quarterly 62, no. 1 (1989) 64.
[31] Samuel Adams, “To John Adams, Boston, November 25, 1790”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 4, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
[32] Samuel Adams, “To Thomas Jefferson, Boston, April 21, 1801”, in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 4, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing (Project Gutenberg, 2000).
Bibliography:
Adams, Samuel. “Article Signed ‘A. Chatterer’, August 20, 1770.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 2, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “Article Signed ‘Determinatus, Boston Gazette, January 8, 1770.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 2, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “Resolutions of the Town of Boston, November 5, 1773.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “Samuel Adams to James Warren, Boston, March 25, 1771.” in Warren-Adams Letters: Being Chiefly a Correspondence Between John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Warren. The Massachusetts, Massachusetts Historical Society, 1917.
Adams, Samuel. “The Town of Boston to the Colonies, May 13, 1774.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “The Town of Boston to the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, March 19, 1770.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 2, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To Arthur Lee, Boston, December 31, 1773.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To Arthur Lee, Boston, November 9, 1773.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To Elbridge Gerry, Philadelphia, November 27, 1780.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 4, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To Elbridge Gerry, Philadelphia, September 26, 1775.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To John Adams, Boston, November 25, 1790.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 4, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To John Wilkes, Boston, December 28, 1770.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 2, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To Joseph Hawley, Philadelphia, July 9, 1776.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To Joseph Warren, Philadelphia, September, 1774.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To Mrs. Adams, New York, May 7, 1775.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel “To Richard Henry Lee, Boston, April 10, 1773.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To Richard Henry Lee, Boston, December 3, 1787.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 4, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To Richard Henry Lee, Philadelphia, July 15, 1776.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 3, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Adams, Samuel. “To Thomas Jefferson, Boston, April 21, 1801.” in The Writings of Samuel Adams-Vol 4, Ed. Harry Alonzo Cushing, Project Gutenberg, 2000.
Pencak, William. “Samuel Adams and Shays’s Rebellion.” The New England Quarterly 62, no. 1 (1989): 63-74. Schiff, Stacy. The Revolutionary : Samuel Adams. First edition. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2022
The Liberty Chronicles 
Leave a comment