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Samuel Adams Facts

Samuel Adams Facts
Samuel Adams was one of the most important figures in early American history as his efforts to resist the British government took place over several years. Before and during his time as a revolutionary, Adams worked as an organizer, propagandist, and negotiator, before serving as Massachusetts' fourth governor after independence. Although historians' assessments of Adams have changed according to the times - ranging from overwhelming positive in the nineteenth century to somewhat negative in the early twentieth century - all agree that he played a central role in the events leading up to the revolution. Adams was born on September 27, 1722 to Samuel Adams Senior and Mary Adams, a Puritan family, in Boston, Massachusetts. Adams Senior was a successful merchant and minister who hoped that his son would follow in his professional footsteps. Hoping to appease his father, Junior earned a master's degree from Harvard College, but he soon learned that politics, not business, was his true calling. He married Elizabeth in 1749 and the couple had six children, but only two survived to adulthood.
Interesting Samuel Adams Facts:
Adams worked as a tax collector in the 1760s, but he often refused to collect taxes, which resulted in him losing the position but gaining popularity and political points with the nascent anti-British community in Boston.
Samuel Adams was the second cousin of the second American President John Adams.
In 1765, Adams wrote a series of anti-Stamp Act resolutions for the Massachusetts House of Representatives while he was a representative.
John Adams was often confused with Samuel, especially when he traveled abroad during the Revolution.
Along with James Otis Junior, Adams authored the Massachusetts Circular Letter in 1768 in response to the Townshend Act. It is considered by most historians to have been a major step toward the Revolution as it argued that the colonies could only be taxed by their own representatives.
Adams was one of the founders of the Committees of Correspondence, which began in 1772 and played a key role in the Boston Tea Party of 1773.
During the American Revolution, Adams represented Massachusetts in the Continental Congress.
Adams carried his Puritan values with him throughout his life and believed that morality and religion had a strong place in politics and government.
After the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the British proclaimed an amnesty for all Patriots who put down their arms, with the exceptions of Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
Adams was one of the chief architects of the Articles of Confederation and was initially opposed to the United States Constitution, being in the Anti-Federalist camp.
After the Revolution, Adams was vehemently opposed to early American tax rebellions, such as Shay's Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion, because he argued that the rebels had proper legislative representation.
Adams died on October 2, 1803 at the age of eighty-one in his home of Boston, which is where he was buried.
The Samuel Adams Beer company uses Adams' name because it is a Boston based company and because Adams worked briefly as a brewer before his foray into politics.


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