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The colonial Massachusetts native was raised by his uncle, a wealthy Boston merchant. When his uncle died, Hancock inherited his lucrative He was a gifted orator and major figure in the American Revolution. His rousing speeches—which included a speech to the Virginia legislature in which he famously declared, He gave the local militia a key advantage during the Battles Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts.
On the night It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier, but quickly escalated to a chaotic, bloody slaughter. The conflict energized anti-British sentiment Abigail Adams was one of only two women to have been both wife and mother to two U. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Recommended for you. John Adams. Abigail Adams. John Adams: The Early Years. John Hancock American Revolution leader John Hancock was a signer of the Declaration of Independence in and a governor of Massachusetts.
Abigail Adams Abigail Adams was one of only two women to have been both wife and mother to two U. See More. In June, he chaired a committee in the House of Representatives, now meeting in Salem, which proposed electing individuals to represent Massachusetts at a colonial congress scheduled to meet in Philadelphia to discuss the crisis in Boston.
Needless to say, he was selected to be one of the delegates. As the First Continental Congress convened in September, the situation in Massachusetts only grew more desperate. In Adams's absence, his good friend Joseph Warren assumed the leadership role of the opposition. Warren soon penned The Suffolk Resolves , a virtual declaration of independence for Massachusetts.
Working together closely through correspondence, Adams and Warren put forth a bold suggestion - the creation of an opposition government! Adams knew that for such a plan to be successful the people of Massachusetts must be united, writing to Warren:. That union is most likely to be obtained by a consultation of deputies from several towns either in a House of Representatives or a Provincial Congress…the people would be united in what they would easily see to be a constitutional opposition to tyranny.
On September 25, Adams wrote to Warren informing him that the Congress had given its assent to his Suffolk Resolves , and:. They strongly recommend your perseverance in a firm and temperate conduct, and give you a full pledge of their united efforts on your behalf. I have been assured in private conversation with individuals, that, if you should be driven to the necessity of acting in defense of your lives or liberty, you would be justified by their constituents and openly supported by all means in their power.
The Massachusetts Provincial Congress first met in October and assumed all legislative, financial, and military powers for the colony beyond Boston. The die had been cast and the possibility of civil war loomed. The Continental Congress in Philadelphia adjourned in November with a mandate to reconvene in May of should matters fail to improve.
Samuel Adams returned to Massachusetts to take his seat in the Provincial Congress. There he worked tirelessly for the next five months to obtain and distribute aid to the people of Boston still suffering under the closure of the port. Meanwhile, General Gage was under increased pressure from the Ministry in England to put an end to the rebellion in Massachusetts. Gage wished to avoid conflict as much as possible and did not initially attempt to arrest opposition leaders like Samuel Adams for fear that such a move might spark a violent backlash.
Instead, Gage sought to prevent the Provincial Congress from acquiring any further military supplies. Each side attempted to capture local gunpowder stores and military ordnance before the other. On April 14, Gage received letters from the Secretary of State which forced his hand. He was ordered to disarm the militias and arrest the leaders of rebellion immediately. The arrival of spring brought no improvement to the state of affairs in Massachusetts. A second Continental Congress was deemed necessary.
Before departing for Philadelphia in early April, Samuel Adams and John Hancock attended a session of the Provincial Congress then meeting in the town of Concord, 15 miles northwest of Boston. Meanwhile, bowing to the increasing pressure to act, Gage ordered a column of troops to Concord to seize and destroy a suspected cache of munitions.
Ironically, the march took them directly through Lexington. There is no evidence to suggest that Gage had ordered the arrest of Adams and Hancock that day, but fearing the possible capture of the two men, Joseph Warren dispatched riders Paul Revere and William Dawes to warn the delegates to move on.
The troops arrived in the Lexington on the morning of the April 19 just as Hancock and Adams escaped. Events began to progress quickly in the spring and early summer of In rapid succession, the Continental Congress established an Army, was notified of the Battle at Bunker Hill , and ordered an invasion of Canada. Throughout the years of struggle leading to the Second Continental Congress, Adams came to the realization that allegiance to the Crown and possible reconciliation with Parliament was impossible.
Independence seemed the only logical course. The outbreak of hostilities solidified his conviction and he worked deliberately and patiently to convince his fellow delegates that a complete break with Great Britain was necessary. As the calendar turned from to , war began to spread throughout the colonies.
Adams gained more support for the cause of independence:. Is not America already independent? Why then not declare it? Can nations at war be said to be dependent either upon the other? The ideas of independence spread far and wide among the colonies. Many of the leading men see the absurdity of supposing that allegiance is due to a sovereign who has already thrown us out of his protection.
There is a two-fold liberty, natural I mean as our nature is now corrupt and civil or federal. The first is common to man with beasts and other creatures…The other kind of liberty I call civil or federal; it may also be called moral, in reference to the covenant between God and man, in the moral law, and the politic covenants and constitutions between men themselves.
This liberty is the proper end and object of authority and cannot subsist without it: and it is a liberty to that only which is good, just and honest. This liberty you are to stand for, with the hazard not only of your goods, but of your lives if need be. Following several weeks of debate, Congress adopted the resolution on July 2, On July 4, after years of determined effort arguing for the rights of Americans in defiance of Parliament, Adams cast his vote to ratify the Declaration of Independence.
Thirty-three years after posing the argument "Whether it be lawful to resist the supreme magistrate, if the commonwealth cannot be otherwise preserved?
Among the many sources drawn upon in the creation of the document were the Massachusetts Charter and the Massachusetts Body of Liberties. The people of Massachusetts ratified the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in their town meetings in Throughout this time Adams continued to serve as delegate to the Continental Congress.
The Congress worked secretly behind closed doors, however, and there are few details about the role that Adams may have played after the Declaration of Independence was signed. He did serve on several Congressional committees, held a position on the Board of War, and helped draft the Articles of Confederation before returning home to Massachusetts in When Hancock died in office, Adams assumed the governorship.
Following that term, Adams was elected in his own right to three successive one-year terms as Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He retired from politics after his tenure as Governor in Samuel Adams died at the age of 81 on October 2, and was interred at the Granary Burying Ground. I can say that he was truly a great man, wise in council, fertile in resources, immovable in his purposes…although not of fluent elocution, he was so rigorously logical, so clear in his views, abundant in good sense, and master always of his subject, that he commanded the most profound attention whenever he rose in an assembly… [24].
Putnum, 5. Explore This Park. Portrait of Adams ca. A copy still hangs today in the Great Hall. Faneuil Hall as it appeared before the building was enlarged to its current size in In the hall on the second floor, Adams engaged in Town Meetings and would be elected to his offices and to committees where he wrote some of his most significant work. The Old State House as it stands today. Built in , it housed the royal government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
The Governor and Council, the Superior Court, and the Legislature all had chambers on the second floor. Almost immediately he began penning a series of resolutions defending the rights and liberties of the people of Massachusetts: …that all acts made by any power whatever, other than the General Assembly of this Province, imposing taxes on the inhabitants, are infringements of our inherent and inalienable rights as men and British subjects, and render void the most valuable declarations of our charter.
The embellished steeples of the churches dominate the landscape and attempt to beg the viewer to question why troops must be quartered in a Christian and peaceful town. Adams once again took up his quill and under the pseudonym "Vindex" he wrote: Will the spirits of the people as yet unsubdued by tyranny, unawed by the menace of arbitrary power, submit to be governed by military force? Historian Samuel Eliot Morrison observed: He was no orator — he had a quavering voice and a shaky hand; so he let other Sons of Liberty like Joseph Warren and the firebrand James Otis makes the speeches while he wrote provocative articles and pulled political strings.
In the press, Adams began shaming those who would not extend the agreement: Have you not a right if you please, to set fire to your own houses, because they are your own, though in all probability it will destroy a whole neighborhood, perhaps a whole city!
A water-colored print from an engraving by Paul Revere depicting the Boston Massacre. In this image, Captain Preston is behind the soldiers, his sword raised, to suggest he ordered the men to open fire.
In reality, this never happened. Courtesy Library of Congress Meetings, Mobs, Martrys As approached that tension began to flare in minor confrontations between the citizens and the soldiers. In November , Adams wrote: It is with astonishment and indignation that the Americans contemplate the folly of the British Ministry in employing troops…to parade the streets of Boston.
Faced with such a crisis, Hutchinson and his Council bowed to the demand and Hutchinson wrote to the military commander: I am sensible I have no power to order the Troops to the Castle, but under the present circumstances of the Town and the Provence I cannot avoid in consequence of this unanimous advice of the council desiring you to order them there which I must submit to you. Keeping the Cause Alive In April , news of the repeal of all but one of the Townshend taxes reached American shores.
Writing as "Cotton Mather" in the Boston Gazette , Adams called upon his beloved Charter rights: Did not our ancestors, when they accepted this Charter, understand that they had contracted for a free government? Adams became re-energized, and his fury brought the people back into line with the Covenant: To what a state of infamy, wretchedness, and misery shall we be reduced if our judges shall be prevailed upon to be thus degraded to hirelings, and the Body of the People shall suffer their free Constitution to be overturned and ruined?
This popular lithograph from depicts the "Destruction of the Tea" in Boston Harbor. In reality, most men had little more than soot or ash on their faces for a disguise. Adams was conspicuously absent from the event itself. Courtesy Library of Congress Tea and Tyranny After nearly a decade of riots, boycotts and protests, the final blow in the crisis with Parliament struck on May 10, There is no evidence that Adams took part in the destruction of the tea, but he wasted no time in praising it: You cannot imagine the height of joy that sparkles in the eyes and animates the countenances as well as the hearts of all we meet on this occasion.
On June 17, Adams drafted the Resolves of the Massachusetts House of Representatives , asking for both aid and advice: Whereas the towns of Boston and Charlestown are suffering under the Hand of Power, by shutting up the harbor by an armed force, which is in the opinion of this House an invasion of the said towns evidently designed to compel the inhabitants thereof into a submission to taxes imposed on them without their consent and whereas it appears to this House that this attack upon the said towns for the purpose of the aforesaid is an attack made upon this whole Provence and continent which threatens the total destruction of the liberties of all British America.
In the background Boston is depicted being cannonaded. The Woman in the background is Britannia, shielding her eyes from the assault. Courtesy Library of Congress On the Path to War and Independence To enforce these laws and bring Massachusetts under control, General Thomas Gage was appointed military Governor of the province and 4, troops were sent to garrison the town.
Adams knew that for such a plan to be successful the people of Massachusetts must be united, writing to Warren: That union is most likely to be obtained by a consultation of deputies from several towns either in a House of Representatives or a Provincial Congress…the people would be united in what they would easily see to be a constitutional opposition to tyranny.
This painting by John Trumbull idealizes the moment when the draft Declaration of Independence was presented to the Continental Congress in today's Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Samuel Adams is depicted in the front row of men sitting, next to Richard Henry Lee in the grey suit. Courtesy Architect of the Capitol Founding Father The arrival of spring brought no improvement to the state of affairs in Massachusetts. Adams gained more support for the cause of independence: Is not America already independent?
Today, the legacy of Samuel Adams stands immortalized in bronze atop a granite pedestal in front of the building where his career largely began: Faneuil Hall. In , Thomas Jefferson wrote of Samuel Adams: I can say that he was truly a great man, wise in council, fertile in resources, immovable in his purposes…although not of fluent elocution, he was so rigorously logical, so clear in his views, abundant in good sense, and master always of his subject, that he commanded the most profound attention whenever he rose in an assembly… [24].
You Might Also Like. Adams became a Democratic-Republican following Thomas Jefferson when formal American political parties were created in the s. His final political post was as Massachusetts governor from through Adams died on October 2, , in his hometown of Boston. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives.
John Adams was a Founding Father, the first vice president of the United States and the second president. His son, John Quincy Adams, was the nation's sixth president. Samuel F.
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