Samuel+Adams+-3rd+hour

== = __Samuel Adams ﻿ __ = Samuel Adams was a leader of the most important movement in American history. He was a radical patriot that favored complete separation from Britain and was committed to an independent America. He was an exceptional speaker and an excellent. He was a very generous man always reaching into his pockets for those in need. Adams' appearance commanded attention despite his height of only 5'6" as he preferred his own hair to wigs and old suits to new . His commitment to independence for America forever changed the history of this country.

__ Early/Family Life __
Adams was born the fourth of 12 children on September 27, 1722 to his parents, Mary and Samuel Adams. Mary was extremely religious and disliked lawyers. His father, Samuel Adams brewed beer and was heavily involved in the church. Young Samuel Adams was never called Sam at any point in his life. The only people who called him Sam were either making fun of him or didn't know him well. As a boy, Adams lived in a large house in Boston, Massachusetts. Adams was a very smart child and knew his ABC's by the age of three and was sent to a [|dame school]at the age of six. After Dame school, Adams attended Boston Latin School and graduated in 1736 when he was 13 and then enrolled in Harvard. Going to college at such a young age was common in the colonial era because marrying young was custom. Harvard had a rigorous curriculum and made Adams realize he would rather go into a political career than a career in ministry like his parents had wanted for him. When he was 17, he received his undergraduate degree from Harvard and continued schooling there in pursuit of his masters degree. He received his master’s degree in July 1743. In 1749, Adams married his pastor's daughter Elizabeth Checkley. He had six children with her; however, only two lived to be adults. When giving birth in 1757, Elizabeth died and Adams was remarried a in 1764 to a woman named Elizabeth Wells.

__ Career __
When Adams left Harvard, he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do next. His parents wanted him to go into ministry, but he didn't have much interest. He decided to go into business and worked at Thomas Cushing's [|counting house]. After some time, Adams was fired because his employer thought he was too focused on his political career to be in business. Before finally going into politics full time, Adams went to work for his father's malt company. In 1747, Samuel was elected to his first political office as one of the clerks of the Boston Market. In 1748, he launched a newspaper named the Independent Advertiser. This newspaper featured many of Adams' political essays and expressed his resistance to the British government. Much of Adams' writings were inspired by philosopher John Locke's [|Second Treatise of Government], arguing that people have the right to resist any endangerment of their natural unalienable rights. In 1756, Adams was elected to the position of tax collector. Adams' failure to collect taxes increased his popularity with those who did not pay and by 1768, Adams had emerged as a popular political leader. After playing his role in the revolution and the installment of the Articles of Confederation, Adams returned to Massachusetts. In 1787, after [|Shay's Rebellion], Adams attended the [|Constitutional Convention] in Philadelphia as an anti-federalist. Adams feared the possibility of a strong central government but eventually ratified the new constitution. Adams fear influenced him to reenter national politics and ran for the House of Representatives in 1788 only to lose to Fisher Ames. Adams later served as the Governor of Massachusetts from 1793-1797 before retiring from politics for good.

__ Samuel's Scramble __
Starting in 1763, Britain began to crack down on the colonies. They started enforcing taxes such as the sugar act and the stamp act. Adams saw these taxes as an encroachment on the people's natural rights. Beginning with the Sugar Act in 1764, Adams began to protest [|taxation without representation] which was the beginning of the republican value of taxation with representation. The injustice of taxation without representation continued with the [|Stamp Act] in 1765, and the [|Townshend Acts]in 1767. In 1768, the British occupation of Boston made Adams divert his attention from reconciliation with the British Parliament, to complete independence of the colonies. In response to the occupation, Adams began writing essays, which became part of the [|Journal of Occurrences].

In March of 1770, the Boston Massacre occurred. Some believe that Samuel Adams provoked this massacre with his radical ideas of separation from the British government. Later, in 1770, when parliament repealed the Townshend Acts except for the tax on tea, Adams continued to urge colonists to keep up the boycott of British imports, but the boycott faltered. When the Tea Act was passed in 1773, Adams promoted opposition to the act. When the tea ship Dartmouth arrived in Boston, Adams wrote a letter calling for a mass meeting at the Faneuil Hall on November 29th. Thousands of people arrived and the meeting passed a resolution introduced by Adams telling the captain of Dartmouth to send the ship back to Britain without paying the import taxes. On December 16th, the last day of Dartmouth's deadline, about 7,000 people gathered at the meeting house and despite Adam's attempts to control the meeting, colonists left the meeting and headed to the Boston Harbor. There, a group of 30-130 men, disguised at Mohawk Indians, boarded the ship, and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water.

__ Samuel Adams and the Revolution __
Samuel Adams had strong resentment toward the British government, and was determined to do something about the situation. He was invited as one of the few delegates to attend the [|First Continental Congress] in 1774. The congress met in Philadelphia, and Adams realized that colonial unity was absolutely necessary in order to reach an independent level. That same year, Adams served in the [|Massachusetts Provincial Congress]. The revolutionary war truly started when British General Gage tried to seize Adams and John Hancock in Concord, MA for "treason and rebellion" in the Massachusetts provincial congress. Paul Revere went to warn the two men that the British army might arrest them. Lexington and Concord was the first battle of the American Revolution. Adams and Hancock escaped the British army. In 1775, Adams was elected to the second continental congress. He pushed for a declaration of independence, and was happy when the colonies started to develop Republican governments.

Others started to agree with this push for independence, so the declaration was finally written. On July 4th 1776, Adams signed the Declaration of Independence. As the colonies continued to fight for independence, Adams was part of the war effort. He was in favor of the banishment and punishment of loyalists. Some saw his ideas as radical, and a little bit over the top, but his push for independence was an important factor that helped the colonies finally win the fight for their independence. After the declaration of independence was written, Adams was pleased to be the Massachusetts delegate to help write the [|Articles of Confederation]. Although these articles did not give the central government much power at all, it was another step towards the future of a democratic government. Adams signed the Articles of Confederation in 1778, and they were ratified by the rest of the states in 1781. In 1779, Samuel went back to Massachusetts. He became part of the committee to write a constitution for Massachusetts. This committee also included his cousin John Adams, who later became president of the United States. Adams was getting old after writing this constitution, and in 1781 retired from the continental congress and returned to Massachusetts.

=
Samuel Adams is known as one of the most important political leaders in the American Revolution. Supporters of the revolution were very fond of him but loyalists saw him as a menacing figure. Some historians interpret Samuel in an unfortunate light. In the late 19th century, historians found it difficult to write about Adams positively because British- American relations were improving, and Adams' role in separating Americans from Great Britain was now being looked down upon. During this stretch of time Adams actions were being highly criticized by numerous biographers; however, in the mid 19th century interest in Adams grew. The first complete biography was written in 1865. It was a three-volume work written by William Wells, Adams' great grandson. Since his death his name has been associated with commercial and non-profit ventures. In tradition of Samuel Adams’ family taking part in brewing, the Boston Beer Company created Samuel Adams Boston Lager in 1985. Adams name is also used by non-profit organizations, the Sam Adams Alliance and the Sam Adams Foundation. These groups chose to use Samuel Adams' name because he represents national unity to achieve a common goal. ======

References

Alexander, John K. //Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician//. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002. Print. Fradin, Dennis B. //Samuel Adams: the Father of American Independence//. New York: Clarion, 1998. Print. Minks, Benton, and Louise Minks. //Revolutionary War//. Ed. John Bowman. New York: Facts On File, 2003. Print. Fradin, Dennis B. //Samuel Adams: the Father of American Independence//. New York: Clarion, 1998. Print. Stoll, Ira. //Samuel Adams: a Life//. New York: Free, 2008. Print.