Adams, Samuel (1722-1803), was an American patriot and politician who stirred opposition to British rule in the American Colonies. However, Adams attempted to make people work for their rights peacefully through committees and other meetings. He was willing to justify violent opposition to Britain only if all else failed. Adams was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Adams was born on Sept. 27, 1722, in Boston. He was the cousin of John Adams, who became the second president of the United States. Samuel graduated from Harvard College in 1740, received an M.A. degree from the college in 1743, and then entered private business. However, Adams failed in that career and by 1764 was deeply in debt.
The patriot.
Adams became increasingly involved in politics. He belonged to several patriotic clubs and was a prominent figure in Boston town meetings. Adams opposed several laws passed by the British Parliament to raise revenue in the American Colonies. Those laws included the Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act of 1765, and the Townshend Acts of 1767 (see Stamp Act ). Adams served in the Massachusetts legislature from 1765 to 1774. As its clerk, he corresponded widely with other colonial leaders.
Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766. In 1770, it canceled all the duties (import taxes) in the Townshend Acts except the tax on imported tea. Adams, however, believed American freedom was still in danger. In 1768, the British had sent soldiers to Boston. Adams thought the use of soldiers against civilians was a sign of tyranny. He served as a spokesman for the town of Boston after British troops killed several colonists in the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, and succeeded in getting the British troops sent elsewhere. In 1772, the Boston town meeting, spurred by Adams, set up a committee of correspondence. This committee published a declaration of colonial rights, which Adams had written, and sent it to other towns.
In 1773, Adams led Boston’s resistance to the Tea Act, which gave a British company a monopoly on all tea exported to the colonies. The resistance reached its high point on the evening of Dec. 16, 1773, when a group of Bostonians dumped a cargo of British tea into the harbor (see Boston Tea Party ).
The British Parliament responded in 1774 by passing the so-called Intolerable Acts. Those laws included measures that closed the port of Boston, restricted town meetings, and made it easier for the United Kingdom to use troops against American civilians (see Intolerable Acts ). Adams then urged all the American Colonies to boycott trade with the United Kingdom. Representatives of 12 colonies soon assembled in the First Continental Congress in 1774 (see Continental Congress ). The Massachusetts legislature sent Adams and four others to represent it at the congress. In 1775, Adams began serving in the Second Continental Congress, where he pleaded for independence and a confederation (union) of the colonies. He narrowly escaped arrest by the British in Lexington while he was on his way to Philadelphia. Congress approved the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
In office.
Adams served in the Continental Congress until 1781, when he returned to Boston. He at first opposed the newly written Constitution of the United States. In the end, however, he supported its ratification (approval) in Massachusetts. Adams served as governor of Massachusetts from 1793 to 1797. He died on Oct. 2, 1803. A statue of Adams represents the state in the United States Capitol.
See also Revere, Paul .
