Samuel Adams

Examples of Samuel Adams in the following topics:

• Swelling Protest

  • In Boston, the street demonstrations originated from the leadership of respectable public leaders such as James Otis, who commanded the Boston Gazette, and Samuel Adams of the "Loyal Nine" of the Boston Caucus, an organization of Boston merchants.
  • Otis and Adams made efforts to control the people below them on the economic and social scale, but they were often unsuccessful in maintaining a delicate balance between mass demonstrations and riots.
  • Samuel Adams and his cousin, John, did not become members of the Sons of Liberty so as not to be directly connected with any violence that the organization may have been involved in.
  • However, Samuel Adams most likely participated in the organization through writing, shared opinion, and association with prominent members that had influential power with the people.
  • Samuel Adams was a leader in the colonial opposition of Stamp Act.

• Gender and Politics

  • For the most part, women confined their politics to their letters and diaries, but a few women, such as Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, and Mercy Otis Warren, entered the political arena as public figures.
  • Abigail Adams was an advocate of property rights for married women and more opportunities for women, particularly in the field of education.
  • She is known for her March, 1776 letter to John Adams and the Continental Congress, requesting that they "... remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.
  • She became a correspondent and adviser to many political leaders, including Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and especially John Adams, who became her literary mentor in the years leading to the Revolution.
  • Prior to the American Revolution, in 1772, during a political meeting at the Warren's home, they formed the Committees of Correspondence along with Samuel Adams.

• The Boston Tea Party

  • When the tea ship, Dartmouth, arrived in Boston Harbor in late November, Sons of Liberty leader Samuel Adams called for a mass meeting.
  • The mass meeting passed a resolution, introduced by Adams and based on a similar set of resolutions promulgated earlier in Philadelphia, urging the captain of the Dartmouth to send the ship back without paying the import duty.
  • While Adams tried to reassert control of the meeting, people poured out of the Old South Meeting House to prepare to take action.
  • Whether or not Samuel Adams helped plan the Boston Tea Party is disputed, but he immediately worked to publicize and defend it.

• The Sons of Liberty and the Committees of Correspondence

  • Samuel Adams and his cousin John did not become members of the Sons of Liberty so as not to be directly connected with any violence that the organization may have participated in.
  • However, Samuel Adams most likely participated in the organization through writing, shared opinion, and association with prominent members that had influential power with the people.

• The Patriots

  • Prominent early Patriots include Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and George Washington.

• A Virtuous Citizenry

  • The "Founding Fathers" were strong advocates of republican values, especially Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.
  • The Founding Fathers discoursed endlessly on the meaning of "republicanism. " John Adams in 1787 defined it as "a government, in which all men, rich and poor, magistrates and subjects, officers and people, masters and servants, the first citizen and the last, are equally subject to the laws. "
  • John Adams also worried that financial interests could conflict with republican duty.
  • To Adams, history taught that "the Spirit of Commerce ... is incompatible with that purity of Heart, and Greatness of soul which is necessary for a happy Republic. " But so much of that spirit of commerce had infected America.
  • In New England, Adams noted, "even the Farmers and Tradesmen are addicted to Commerce. " As a result, there was "a great Danger that a Republican Government would be very factious and turbulent there. "

• American Republicanism

  • In particular, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington were influenced by the history of English rights and the 'country party' system, which opposed the "court party" that held power.
  • Some notable figures include Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton.

• Democracy v. Republicanism

  • Some of these figures include Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton.
  • The Founding Fathers discoursed endlessly on the meaning of "republicanism. " John Adams in 1787 defined it as "a government, in which all men, rich and poor, magistrates and subjects, officers and people, masters and servants, the first citizen and the last, are equally subject to the laws. "

• The Spreading Conflict

  • In May 1774, the Boston Town Meeting, with Samuel Adams acting as moderator, passed a resolution that called for an economic boycott in response to the Boston Port Act, which was one of the Coercive Acts.
  • On May 15, Congress adopted a more radical preamble to this resolution, drafted by John Adams, in which it advised throwing off oaths of allegiance and suppressing the authority of the Crown in any colonial government that still derived its authority from the Crown.

• The Boston Massacre and Military Occupation

  • John Adams wrote that the "foundation of American independence was laid" on March 5, 1770, and Samuel Adams and other patriots used annual commemorations of the event to rally against British rule.