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Prom tlia Original P.iintin,*, in Fa Tieial.li.il I
THE
LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES
t
OF
SAMUEL ADAMS,
A NARRATIVE OF HIS ACTS AND OPINIONS, AND OF HIS AGENCY
IN PRODUCING AND FORWARDING THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
WITH
EXTRACTS FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE, STATE PAPERS,
AND POLITICAL ESSAYS.
BY
WILLIAM V. WELLS.
M V.
VOL. I.
BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY,
1865.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by
WILLIAM V. WELLS,
in the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York.
a
UNIVERSITY PRESS : WELCH, BIGELOW, & Co.,
CAMBRIDGE.
E 302,
.6
/UW4
V.
AS
A TESTIMONIAL OF AFFECTION AND ESTEEM,
THESE VOLUMES
ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED TO
GEORGE A. SIMMONS, ESQ.,
OF ROXBURY, MASS.,
BY HIS SINCERE AND LIFE-LONG FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
INTRODUCTION
AN eminent statesman has said, that a " Life of Samuel
Adams is the one niche remaining to be filled in American
biography." It will not be questioned that, considering his
entire self-devotion to the welfare of his countrymen, to
gether with the oblivion which has enshrouded all but his
mere name, an attempt at restoration is as much a necessity
to those who revere virtue and exalted patriotism as it is a
duty we owe to his memory.
"If," wrote John Adams, in 1819, "the American Eevolution
was a blessing, and not a curse, the name and character of Samuel
Adams ought to be preserved. It will bear a strict and critical -ex
amination even by the inveterate malice of his enemies. A syste
matic course has been pursued for thirty years to run him down.
His merits and services and sacrifices and sufferings are beyond
all calculation."
Circumstances have for many years prevented the pro
duction of a work, to write which completely, it has been
asserted, would be to repeat the story of the Revolution.
And it is perhaps better that it has been so long deferred.
With the additional facts which time has brought to light,
it is likely that inaccuracies in a book written forty years
ago might now be discovered. Placed nearer to the statue,
the biographer would not have clearly discerned its true
VI INTRODUCTION.
proportions ; its contour and character are more correctly
seen from a distance.
As early as 1815, the late Samuel Adams Wells com
menced gathering, from various sources, the papers of his
grandfather, with the view to publication. The enterprise
was based on a profound veneration for the man, and an
intelligent appreciation, enhanced by family tradition, of
his great services. It was pursued at intervals until he had
prepared a history of the Revolution up to the year 1777,
of which a few chapters had been printed, when the death
of the writer put an end to the work. Not long afterwards,
the papers passed into the hands of the Hon. George Ban
croft, for whose History they have supplied valuable mate
rial. To the genius, love of truth, and discriminating
/ judgment of that historian is greatly due the increasing lus
tre which time is shedding on the name of Samuel Adams.
If at any time before the Declaration of Independence
the Revolution had proved a failure, Samuel Adams would
probably have been the first victim on the scaffold. All
contemporary evidence goes to show that, as the " Arch
Manager " and " Chief Incendiary," on him at least must
have fallen the royal vengeance. While, then, the righteous
principle of the Revolution is admitted, and posterity has
reaped the benefits resulting from its successful achieve
ment, it is but justice that his part in the great drama
should be ascertained. The study and research inseparable
from Bancroft s literary labors left no reason to hope that
he could devote the attention necessary to a biography em
bracing such a succession of events ; and it seemed as if the
longer the work was delayed the less likelihood there was
INTRODUCTION. Vll
that it would ever be begun. Scarcely realizing the require
ments for an undertaking which, properly, could only be
warranted by a position of literary leisure, the author,
though distrustful as to his own fitness, determined to apply
to Mr. Bancroft for access to the Adams papers, which had
then lain many years in the historian s library. Permission
was promptly given, and they were carefully gleaned, while
their proprietor facilitated the design with kind advice and
direction.
But this acquisition only showed how much remained to
be done, and that hardly the threshold of the work had
been crossed. American history had to be read and reread,
/until a proper understanding could be gained of its relation
to the political course of Adams. Town records, files of
old newspapers, pamphlets, and circulars were to be exam
ined and compared, public archives in different States and
in the London State Paper Office consulted, and the col
lections of antiquarian and historical societies patiently
searched. Interviews were sought with aged persons who
had known Samuel Adams, or had lived near him ; but in
nearly every instance time had effaced all recollection of
^
particular events. The last of the preceding generation
who had witnessed his public career had passed away, and
with them much of the fund of interesting reminiscence
and anecdote always so valuable in illustrating character.
Only brief and imperfect sketches could be found in ency
clopaedias and biographical dictionaries, in some his very
name being omitted ; and the story had to be created out
of fragments gathered here and there. The course of
Adams has thus been followed through the leading events
Vlll INTRODUCTION.
_of the Revolution, sometimes his action ascertained ever/
month in the year, and this is as close an approach to
continuity as is now possible. The careful tracing of some
.thread of evidence, both by correspondence and personal
investigation, oftentimes ended in total disappointment, or,
at best, afforded the material for only a few lines.
When, by reason of unavoidable delays and constant de
mands upon the time of the author in an editorial capacity,
five years had been expended, he was disposed to transfer
what he had collected to any gentleman whose scholarly
attainments and leisure would be better adapted to weaving
it into a biography worthy the character and times to be
treated. The whole was arranged in chronological order,
with notes and references, ready for a comparatively speedy
completion ; but time passed on, and it was plain that if the
work was to be finished, it must be by the hand that be
gan it. And perhaps such a narration could appear at no
time more appropriately than at the commencement of the
great centennials of the Revolution, and when treason has
just been defeated in an attempt to overthrow the goodly
heritage of freedom which the subject of these memoirs
toiled so long and arduously to secure. The example pre
sented by his disinterested desire for the advancement of
his country, his incorruptible integrity and republican sim
plicity of character, cannot be entirely thrown away, how
ever imperfectly delineated.
Care has been taken not to lose the individuality of
the man in a too copious account of general events ; but
rather to keep sight of him at all times, and only briefly
depart from his immediate actions when such digression
INTRODUCTION. IX
would tend to illustrate the central figure. The correspond
ence, pamphlets, state papers, and controversial essays with
the Loyalist writers, which would be included in a complete
collection of his works, while exhibiting the immensity and
importance of his labors, would furnish matter for many
volumes ; but the publication of them seemed to be inconsis
tent with the original design, which has been to condense
the material into as narrow a compass as the subject would
admit. Thus, in order to confine the work within ordinary
/Hmjts, only extracts in most cases have been given from his
v \ writings. These are silent evidences of his amazing indus
try, his courage, ceaseless vigilance, and wise statesmanship,
and his cheerfulness and fortitude amid disasters. They
; display his early championship of Colonial rights long prior
to the taxation disputes ; his positive principles at the dawn
ing of the Revolution ; his far seeing, yet prudent measures
for effecting a separation from the mother country, when
rf \ redress of grievances was evidently hopeless ; his ingenious
and gradual direction of public opinion into an habitual con
templation of Independence ; his paster agency in carrying
that measure in the Congress of 1776 ; his Congressional
services during the war ; his hopes and anxieties for the
young republic after the peace ; and his deep solicitude for
the preservation of the National Union when, towards the
close of the century, while he was Governor of Massachusetts,
partisan strife had assumed a bitterness scarcely paralleled
in any country. The intention, in fine, has been to repre
sent him as he appeared to those who personally knew him,
; friends and enemies, to show the great space he filled
(, ~" --
in the Revolution, and to disclose, by means of his own
X INTRODUCTION.
private letters and trustworthy contemporary evidence, the
measures hy which he aided so largely in accomplishing
American liberty.
A portion only remains of the manuscript papers left by
the patriot. Soon after his death, they were placed by his
executors in the keeping of Benjamin Austin, Esq., who in
tended to write the Life of Adams ; but finding that the
preparation of the work would occupy more time than he
had expected, and believing that the proper period had not
then arrived for their publication, he renounced the task,
and they passed from hand to hand, and laid neglected for
some years in the possession of those who knew not their
value, and were careless as to their preservation. Before
attention had been directed to it, inroads upon the most
precious were made ; sometimes by the descendants of Mr.
Adams s correspondents seeking memorials of their ances
tors ; at others, by persistent autograph hunters, who were
allowed unrestricted liberty to carry off the most illus
trious signatures ; and. to the ravages of time should be
added their destruction by children, and, more vexatious
still, by an ignorant servant, who used no inconsiderable
portion to kindle fires. There is also reason to believe
that letters were abstracted early in the present century
by persons interested in their suppression. It was now
that Mr. Samuel Adams Wells, as above stated, became
aroused to the importance of preserving what remained, and
carefully collected all that could then be recovered. How
extensive they must once have been, even after Samuel
Adams himself had destroyed such as his thoughtfulness
for others forbade him to preserve, may be inferred from
INTRODUCTION. XI
.
the fact that, in 1804, as recorded by a member of the
family, trunks and boxes were filled, and shelves around the
walls of the garret piled high with letters and documents,
many of them in the handwriting of the late Governor.
There yet remain his original rough drafts of celebrated
state papers of the Revolution, prior to the war, some entire,
and of others only the fragments. The paternity of num
bers of these, as well as of political essays of that period,
has, until the appearance of Bancroft s later volumes, been
claimed for one and another of his contemporaries, a
natural, but unfortunate, consequence of Samuel Adams s
entire disregard for the honors of authorship. The royal
Governors in their secret letters to the Ministry, now first
published, have in some measure compensated for this by
repeatedly denouncing him as the author. The accuracy
of their information, which was probably furnished by hired
spies or Loyalists in the Legislature, is attested by such of his
original compositions as have been preserved in manuscript.
The collection of letters as they now exist, together with
others more recently discovered, embraces a correspondence
with the principal characters of the Revolution, including
Joseph Warren, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington,
Samuel Cooper, James Warren, James Otis, Paul Revere,
James Lovell, General Roberdeau, J. Pickering, Elbridge
Gerry, Dr. Cotton Tufts, the Count de Vergennes, James
Sullivan, Governor Trumbull, Judge Marchant, Peter Tim
othy, Richard Henry Lee, John Dickinson, Stephen Sayre,
John Wilkes, Arthur Lee, John Langdon, Samuel Mather,
Joseph Hawley, President Weare, Benjamin Kent, Jonathan
Scollay, Governor Ward, Dennys Deberdt, John Hancock,
John Lowell, Colonel Barre*, General Burgoyne, James
Xll INTRODUCTION.
Smith, John Morin Scott, George Head, Christopher Gads-
den, Israel Putnam, Thomas McKean, William Lee, Thomas
Jefferson, General Howe, Silas Deane, Noah Webster, the
Chevalier de la Lucerne, General Alexander Macdougal,
General Gates, Thomas Young, Josiah Quincy, Richard
Jackson, John Pitts, Judge Bryan, John Winthrop, S. P.
Savage, Dr. Chauncy, Governor George Clinton, General
<Grreene, Governor Thomas Johnson, General John Sullivan,
General John Fellows, James Bowdoin, The Baron de Steu-
ben, Thomas Chittenden, Charles Thompson, Stephen Hop
kins, Benjamin Church, Roger Sherman, Thomas Paine,
and various prominent friends of liberty in England, with
whom Adams maintained an anonymous correspondence,
some of them furnishing him with secret information. Au
tograph letters to or from most of these have been saved,
in some instances, probably, all that ever passed be
tween the writers, but oftener only small portions. In
connection with Revolutionary occurrences, they form an
intelligible key to his life, extending through the heroic age
of America, and exhibit the secret springs of his most im
portant political actions.
The author is under lasting obligations to several mem
bers of historical and other literary societies, who have
interested themselves in procuring copies of records and
papers which were beyond his reach, and have cheerfully
responded to troublesome queries, involving an expenditure
of time and attention which in some instances could ill be
spared. The continual use of data thus furnished is the
best evidence how indispensable it has proved.
W. V. W.
BOSTON, December, 1865.
CHRONOLOGY
OF THE
LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
VOL. I.
1722.
Sept. 16 (0. S.). Samuel Adams is born, in Boston ... 4
. 1736.
He enters Harvard College 5, 6
1740.
He is graduated 6
1740-43.
He studies law, enters a counting-house, and finally be
comes his father s partner. His father is embarrassed
by the dissolution of the Land Bank . . . . 6-13
1743.
He takes his Master s degree, delivering a thesis on re
sistance to the power of ..the supreme magistrate
1746.
His father is elected a Representative of Boston . . 13, 14
1747.
Adams and a few friends form a political club . . 15 (
1748.
The club publish "The Public Advertiser" . . . 15-23
March. His father dies, and he succeeds to his business, brewing . 23, 24
1749.
Oct. 17. He marries Elizabeth Checkley 25
1750, etc.
He becomes a frequent writer in the newspapers in de
fence of Colonial rights 30-34 \
XIV
CHRONOLOGY.
July 25.
March.
**&&lt;4040
S; August.
Sept, 18.
2V.
1757.
His wife dies, leaving two children . . . ,
1758.
He resists a sheriff s attachment on the family estate,
arising from the unsettled affairs of the Land Bank .
1760.
Francis Bernard succeeds Thomas Pownall as Governor
1763-65.
Adams is tax-collector, and has much trouble on ac
count of the inability of many to pay their taxes
1764.
25
25-29
39 -42
35-38
/~
138
^
He liberates a slave who had been given to Mrs. Adams-
He drafts the Boston instructions protesting against Pary^
liamentary taxation . . . . . .46 -.49 \ if s
He brings about the first union of the Colonies to oppose
the measures of Parliament . . . . . 49, 5Q\-^
Address to Parliament for the repeal of the Sugar Act, ^
perhaps written by Adams 5l\/*
Adams marries his second wife, Elizabeth Wells . 53, 54
/
f
\s
55, V&S
Oct. 7-25.
Oct. 24.
Oct. 29j>
Oct., Nov.
Nov. 7.
Nov. 8.
Nov., Dec.
Dec. 21.
1765.
The Stamp Act passed, despite the eloquence of Barre
and others ........
Riot in Boston on account of the Act. Origin of the
Sons of Liberty .......
Adams again drafts the Boston instructions .
He enters the Massachusetts Legislature, which is imme
diately prorogued . * . . . . 70, 71 ,
Colonial Congress at New York . ... . * 64, 65, 67, 80*^
The Legislature reassembles and Adams replies to the
Governor s opening address of Sept. 25 . . . 71-74
He writes the Massachusetts Resolves on the rights and
privileges of the Province ... .. . . 74-77*
Opposition to the Stamp Act; also to the additional/
guard at Castle William, on which Adams writes a re/
port, Nov. 6 . . V 78-80
Adams instructs the Massachusetts agent in London . 80-82
The Legislature is prorogued ..... 82
The Province distressed by the effects of the Stamp Act 82 - 85
Adams writes instructions to Deberdt . . . . 103-105
CHRONOLOGY.
XV
1765-68.
He is still harassed on account of the uncollected taxes,
but is finally discharged from all liability by a vote of
the Town
38-42
Jan., Feb.
Jan. 15, etc.
March 24.
May 6.
May 19. -
June.
Oct. - Dec.
Oct.
Dec.
Dec.
March 16.
X March 16.
\May.
May 27.
June 29.
Dec. 30.
Jan. 13.
1766.
"Debates in Parliament on the repeal of the Stamp Act .
The Massachusetts Legislature meets. Adams replies
to the Governor s Speech of Nov. 8, 1765, answers a
letter of Deberdt to the House, and acts on many com
mittees, especially on that to consider the closing of
the courts of justice. The Court adjourned, Feb. 24 110-114
He replies for Boston to a letter of sympathy from Ply
mouth . . .. ... ,..,.*, . 119
Adams re-elected ^Representative, and, on the meeting of
the General Court, May 28, chosen^ Clerk. He con
ducts a controversy with the Governor on the election
of Councillors . . 120-122
Celebration of the repeal of the Stamp Act . . . 114-116
Dispute of the House with the Governor on the indem
nification of the sufferers by the Stamp Act riot.
Adams composes the reply of the House, June 24 . 122 - 125
After much discussion, the House, influenced by Haw-
ley, grant indemnification ..... 126 128
The House and the Town take into consideration the
misrepresentations of the crown officers . . . 129, 130
Dennis Deberdt appointed special agent in London for
the Assembly ~; : :~T T . . . 130 \
Adams opposes~quarfenhg the royal troops on the Prov
ince . 131-133
1767.
Adams writes the Assembly s letter to Deberdt on Hutch-
inson s attempt to force himself into the Council . 134-137
The Town of Boston advocates the abolition of slavery
in Massachusetts &$***** *. < ^ c f*** v/ *; C . ;
The dispute on quartering the troops reopened by the
arrival of the 14th Foot . .. .. ...
The Legislature meets, and elects Adams Clerk. It is
prorogued, June 25 ......
Townshend s new scheme of taxation adopted .
The Legislature meets
141, 142.
1768.
Adams writes to Deberdt the Assem
wards published in London in
of America
y-s letter, after-
The True Sentiments
. 152-158, 180
XVI
\
Jan., Feb.
CHRONOLOGY.
He writes the Assembly s addresses to the Ministry,
their petition to the King, and a Circular Letter to
the other Provincial Assemblies . . 158-167, 172-174 ^
Jan. 21. A motion to invite the other Assemblies to join in the
petition to the King is lost . - . 169^
Feb. 4. A similar motion carried, and the Circular Letter, dated
Feb. 11, written by Adams. Its results . 170-173, 1 7Q_ J;J .
Feb. The House demand and obtain a letter of Shelburne to
: Bernard. The letter reveals Bernard s misrepresenta
tions . . . 174, 175
Feb. 26. / Resolutions passed for the encouragement of manufac
tures in the Province . . . . . . 176
March 4. The Legislature is prorogued . . . . 116, 117
March 18. The anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act celebrat
ed peaceably 177, 178
April. The Privy Council order Bernard to direct the Assembly
to rescind their Circular Letter .... 180- -. u
May 25, 26. The General Court meets. Hutchinson again defeated
in the election of Councillors . . . . . 183 .
June. Troops and a fleet ordered to Boston ... 1
June 10. Hancock s sloop Liberty seized by the crown officers.
Indignation of the people. The Collector s boat burnt 186189
June 14. Meeting of the " Sons of Liberty," who send an address
to the Governor, drawn up by Otis . . . 189, 190
June 17. John Adams writes the Boston Instructions. . . 191
June 30. The House refuse to rescind their Circular Letter.
They despatch a letter to Lord Hillsborough written by
Adams. Adams discusses the subject in the Assem
bly s answer to the Governor s message. Otis opposes
the publication of the letter. The Court prorogued 192- 198 *
Adams begins to labor for American INDEPENDENCE . 20
The third anniversary of the Stamp Act riot celebrated 203, 204
A town meeting held to consider the expected arrival of
British troops. Otis, Adams, and Warren draw up re
solves. The citizens adopt a " Declaration " that they
" will not submit," and call for a convention of dele
gates from the towns 212-215, 283 ^^^
Sept. 22-27. The convention held. Its proceedings. Otis s ab
sence . . . . . . . .215 218
Sept. 27. The 14th and 29th regiments arrive. The 14th is
allowed by the Sons of Liberty to sleep in Faneuil Hall 218, 219 v^a,
Oct. Disputes between the Council and General Gage in re
gard to the maintenance of the troops. The soldiers
desert. Adams saves one from the lash . . 220 - 223
Nov. Debates in Parliament on American affairs . . . 225 - 228
Nov., Dec. Difficulties between the troops and the towns-people. 229234.
CHRONOLOGY. XV11
1769.
Jan. Evidence to convict the patriots of treason sought unsuc
cessfully . . . 236, 237
Jan. 23. The deposition of Richard Sylvester against Adams . 209-211
Jan., Feb. Further debates in Parliament on American affairs.
Eloquence of Burke, Barre, etc. . . 235, 236, 244, 247
March 13. Public meeting to vindicate the town .... 246
March 18. Adams publishes an address "To the Sons of Liberty" 247-
March 27. He defends Dr. Chauncy against the Rev. Mr. Seabury 249, 250
April 4. - T.hj3 Town adopts a petition to the King and a letter
\ I to Barre* written by Adams T ^T*"*^ 11 ^-^ - . 246, 247.
)f April. \JZIhange in the policy of the Ministry towards the Colo
nies ; the late duties are removed from all articles ex
cept tea, but the right of taxation is still claimed.
Bernard is recalled and created Baronet of Nettleham.
Adams comments sarcastically on the promotion . 252 254.
X^ April 24. Adams attacks Gage and Bernard for their misrepresen
tations of Boston ....... 250, 251
f\ *^ May 5. Adams re-elected Representative .... 255
/& May 31. The Legislature meet. Adams re-elected Clerk. He
writes for the House a remonstrance against the pres
ence of the troops 255, 256
June. Discussions between the House and the Governor con
cerning the troops, the removal of the Assembly to
Cambridge, the payment of the Governor s salary in
advance, etc. . 256 - 258
A June 27. The Assembly present a petition to the King for Gov
ernor Bernard s removal ...... 258
July 3. A resolution of the House denying the power of Parlia
ment over the Colonies is published in the Boston
Gazette, and the Governor in consequence detains two
regiments which were starting for Halifax . . . 259, 260
July 7. The House modifies its resolution and the regiments de
part ......... 260
July 15. Adams writes the report of a committee of the House on
the maintenance of the royal troops by the Province.
."The Legislature is prorogued ..... 262
July 26. A meeting of merchants protests against the tax on tea,
and adopts the non-importation agreement of August,
1768 264,
Aug. 1. Bernard sails for England. Popular rejoicings. Ad
ams s opinion of him ...... 266, 267
Aug. 14. Celebration of the Anniversary of the Stamp Act riot 269 - 271
Sept. 1. Conference of 1 Adams and Otis with the Commissioners
of the Customs . . . . . 274
Sp^^ } /M/f
! " >i-*Afc2
4&?.Z~^** / . /\S\
^t ,s\s \^ /2)
"s& &
off
XV111 CHRONOLOGY.
Sept. 4. Otis is assaulted by Robinson in consequence of an at
tack on the Commissioners in the Gazette . ..-. 275-277
Sept. 25. Adams defends Otis in the Gazette . . . . 276, 277
Oct. 4. A cargo of tea arrives. A town meeting records the
names of four importers as " infamous " and confirms
the non-importation agreement . . . . 278-281
Oct. 18. The "Appeal to the World," written by Adams, adopt
ed by the town and sent to England with a letter, also
written by Adams . ... . - . . . 282 -
Oct. 28. An informer tarred and feathered. The mob breaks
into the Chronicle office . , . ... . 287
yNov. 16. Adams writes to Deberdt on the danger to the British
power in America to be apprehended from the French
and Spanish 288
1770.
Jan. Debates in Parliament on America. Lord North be
comes Prime Minister ...... 293, 294
Jan. 4. Hutchinson, under instructions from Hillsborough, fur
ther prorogues the General Court, to meet at Cambridge 294, 295
Jan. 8. Adams, in the Gazette, denies the validity of the instruc
tions, and rebukes the sons of Hutchinson and others
who had recommenced the sale of tea ... 295, 296
Jan. 16. A meeting of merchants compels Hutchinson to give up
the sale of tea. Adams skilfully prevails on a certain
Scotchman to sign the non-importation agreement . 298 - 300
Feb. Many ladies sign a compact not to drink tea until the
revenue laws are repealed ...... 301, 302
Feb. 22. In a slight disturbance growing out of the importation of
tea, Richardson, an informer, mortally wounds Chris
topher Snyder, who is buried with a public funeral on
the 26th . . , . . . . .302-304
March 2. Affray between the troops and the men of Gray s rope-
Walk . . . 308-310
March 5. v "The Massacre in King Street . . . . 310-318
March 6. The town and county authorities apply to Hutchinson
unsuccessfully for the removal of the troops. A town
meeting send a committee, headed by Adams, to Hutch
inson and the Council, to renew the demand. They
receive an evasive answer. Adams reports to the peo
ple, who intrust him with the final issue. Memorable
scene in the Council Chamber. Adams overawes
Hutchinson, and the troops are sent to the Castle.
regiments." A volunteer night-
watch is established
319-327,
CHRONOLOGT. XIX
March 5, etc. Debates in Parliament on American affairs. The
duty on tea retained . ..-.. .- , . 332,
March 8. Public funeral of the victims of the Massacre . . 327, 328 -^
March. Adams sends an account of the affair to Governor Pow-
nall in behalf of the Town . . , , .
March 15. The Legislature is convened at Cambridge. They pro
test unsuccessfully against their removal from Boston 334
April 23. The House remonstrates with the Lieutenant-Governor
concerning various grievances .... 336
April 26. Hutchinson dissolves the Assembly, threatening to lay
their remonstrance before the King . . . 337
May 8. Adams re-elected Representative ..... 338 .
May 11, etc. He persuades Hancock not to withdraw from the Boston
delegation . 343, 344
May 15. The Boston members receive instructions from Josiah
Quincy ... . . , . . . . 338,339
May 30. The Legislature meet at Cambridge. Adams elected
Clerk. Controversy between the House and Hutchin
son on their removal to Cambridge. The Court pro
rogued June 25 344, 345,
Aug. 3. The Court, having met July 25, adopt Adams s reply to
Hutchinson s opening address in defence of the removal 347 - 351
Sept. 10. Castle William taken from the keeping of the Provincial
authorities ....... .355358
Sept., Oct. The Legislature meets Sept. 25. Controversy with
Hutchinson on the surrender of the Castle. Adams
writes replies for the House and articles in the Gazette
on the subject ........ 358 - 362
Oct., Nov. Trial of the soldiers. Adams causes John Adams and
Quincy to be retained as their counsel, and Paine to
conduct the prosecution ..... 328 331
The opposition to the measures of Parliament slackens . 365 - 369
Adams writes the instructions to Franklin . . 370 - 3T9^-
The first Committee of Correspondence appointed . 372-3?**.
Nov. 16, 20. The House present to Hutchinson an address written
by Adams, on the surrender of the Castle, and another
on the militia. The General Court is prorogued . 375
Dec. 27. Adams writes to John Wilkes , 377, 373
~ Dec.,
1770, 1771.
Jan. Controversy between " Vindex" (Adams) and "Philan-
throp" 330-332
1771.
March. Hutchinson appointed Governor, his salary to be paid by
the Crown ... .... 380
XX CHRONOLOGY.
March 5. The first Anniversary of the Boston Massacre. Lovell
delivers the oration. Adams on the committee of ar
rangements for the next year . - . . . . 381
March or April. Adams writes the reply of the Town to the letter of
Dr. Lucas regarding the Massacre . . . . 383
April 24. Adams writes the reply of the House (which met on the
3d) to two speeches of the Governor relating to the
military establishment, to his appointment, etc. The
Governor objects to the phrase " His Majesty s Com
mons," applied to the House . . .- ,,-. .384-387
April 25. Adams makes inquiries for the House in regard to the
payment of the Governor s salary by the Crown . 387, 388 ^J
April 26. The Assembly is dissolved 388
Apr. -June. The opposition to government subsides. John Adams
withdraws from public life. Adams re-elected Repre
sentative, and, on the meeting of the Legislature (May
29), again chosen Clerk. Otis is jealous of Adams,
and the Governor tampers with Hancock. They carry
the House in opposition to Adams. Adams prepares
a report on the Provincial military, and a protest
against holding the session at Cambridge. With
some difficulty he secures the passage of the latter in
the House. Hancock and his party for a while si
lenced , . . 389-406
June 27. Adams appointed one of a Committee of Correspondence 406*
June 29. Adams drafts a letter of instructions to Franklin . . 406-41Q..
July 4. Hutchinson announces arbitrary instructions received
from the King 412
July 5. Adams replies for the Assembly. The Court prorogued 412, 413
Aug. 12. Twelve war vessels anchor in the harbor . . . 416
Sept., Oct. Adams writes much in the Gazette. He counsels union
of the Colonies and an Assembly of deputies . . AT a _ 49*
1771, 1772.
ct.-Jan. Adams denies the supreme authority of Parliament
over the Colonies. He maintains an incessant contest
with the crown writers. His celebrity as a political
essayist .... /~~" """- ^^j * ~ 425-458*
Oct. -Jan. Political divisions among the patriots . . 437-439,458
1772.
March 5. Joseph Warren delivers the oration in commemoration
of the Massacre 459, 460
April 8, etc. Meeting of the Legislature. Adams carries the House
against Hancock and his party. Bowdoin secures for
Adams the co-operation of the Council . . .465 -467
CHRONOLOGY. XXI
April 10. Adams writes the reply to the Governor s message re
specting the removal of the General Court to Cam
bridge . . . . . . . . 467, 468
April 20 - 25. Adams is ill. The Legislature dissolved on the 25th 468
6. Adams re-elected Representative against considerable op
position 471, 472
May 27. The Legislature meets. Hancock rejoins the patriot
party 473-475
May 29. Adams again remonstrates against keeping the Assem
bly at Cambridge, and it is finally adjourned to Bos
ton, June 13 477-479
June ? Hancock causes Copley to paint the portrait of Adams
and himself 475-477
July. Controversy with the Governor on the payment of his
salary by the Crown ...... 479-481
July 14. The House reply by the hand of Adams to the Govern
or s demand that the Province House should be re
paired. The Governor prorogues the General Court
with a fling at Adams . 481 -483
Oct. 5. Adams writes against the payment of the salaries of Pro-
Cvincial officers by the Crown . . . ;.^* s *J-485 - 488
>ct. He labors for a general league of the Massachusetts
towns. Gushing, Hancock, and others oppose the
measure in vain ....... 488 - 495" **
Oct. 28. A preliminary town meeting is held to inaugurate the
Confederation 491-493^_
Oct. 30. At the adjourned town meeting the Governor is peti
tioned for a session of the Legislature . . . 494, 495
Nov. 2. The Governor signifies to the meeting his refusal of the
petition. On the motion of Adams a COMMITTEE OP
COBRESPONDENCE is appointed . . . . 495 - 498- -"
Nov. 20. Adams drafts for the Committee the " Rights of the Colo
nists " ; Joseph Warren, the " Violations of Rights " ;
and Church, the "Letter of Correspondence to the
Towns" 500-5^2
LIFE
OF
SAMUEL ADAMS
CHAPTER I.
The Ancestors of Samuel Adams. Political Career and Social Position of
his Father. The Family Homestead. Boyhood and College Life.
The Land Bank Scheme. Is graduated at Harvard College. Asserts the
Right of Eesistance to Tyranny. Attempts a Mercantile Life. The
Public Advertiser. His Early Essays in that Paper in Favor of Colo-
nial Rights. Death of the elder Adams. Marriage of young Adams.
Death of his Wife. His Children. Efforts to deprive him of his
Estate. Asserts Colonial Supremacy over an Act of Parliament. His
Fame as a Political Writer during Shirley s and Pownall s Administrations.
His Influence in Boston. Becomes a Tax-Collector.
BEFORE tracing the youth and early manhood of Samuel
* Adams, it will be proper to glance at the character and cir
cumstances of his father, who bore the same name, and
it may be supposed nad the principal share in developing
his character. The few facts which have been collected
concerning him are gathered from "contemporary writings
and family tradition, and rather cause regret that they are
so meagre, than afford a satisfactory sketch of his life.
Samuel Adams the elder, the second son of Captain John
Adams* of Braintree, was born in Boston on the 6th of
May, 1689, and at the age of twenty-four was married, to
* Captain John Adams was a descendant from the first of his name who
settled in Massachusetts, who was the common ancestor of the Adamses of
Revolutionary celebrity ; Samuel Adams the younger and John Adams, tha
second President of the United States, having been second-cousins.
VOL. I. 1
2 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1712.
Miss Mary Fifield, only daughter of Richard Fifield of Bos
ton. Mr. Adams was possessed of an ample fortune for
those days, the fruits of his scrupulous attention to business ;
for, though he made himself prominent in political affairs,
he never lost sight of the value of property as a means of
securing the comfort of his family, and their position in
society.
His residence was in Purchase Street, Boston, where in
1712, the year before his marriage, he had bought a piece
of land running on the northwest two hundred and fifty-
eight feet along Purchase Street, and extending to low-water
mark. On the northeast, it was bounded by Dawes s Wharf
(since Prentice s estate) and Bull s Wharf, there being sixty-
two feet between Adams s estate and the north side of Sum
mer Street. The house fronted upon and commanded a
fine view of the harbor. But few buildings had then been
erected in its neighborhood, so that it stood conspicuous in
that vicinity. On the roof was an observatory, and a railing
with steps leading up from the outside. About the year
1730 it was somewhat improved, and as late as 1800 the
grounds were still adorned with trees and shrubbery. Ho
also owned other property in that vicinity, and was the
proprietor at a subsequent date of several dwelling-houses.
This property remained vested in him until 1734, as shown
by the records of some of the principal estates. From that
date, no facts appear concerning it until early in the next
century, after it had become the property of his son. From
the little known of Deacon, or Captain Adams, as he was
often called, he appears to have merite4 to the fullest extent
the encomiums passed upon him by his illustrious son, who
in after years said, that " he was a wise man and a good
man." His name appears in 1739 on the town record, as one
of the committee appointed to draft instructions to the
Representatives in the Assembly.
The ability afterwards manifested by his son in managing
popular assemblies, and in so ordering elections as to insure
1715.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
the advancement of those favorable to the cause of liberty,
may have had its origin in the examples thus presented in
early life. Gordon states that more than fifty years before
the year 1774 (1724 or earlier), Samuel Adams senior, " and
about twenty others, one or two from the north end of the
town, where all ship business was carried on, used to meet,
make a caucus, and lay their plans for introducing certain
persons into places of trust and power." It was probably
from the name of this political club, composed principally
of ship-building mechanics, that the word " caucus " was
derived, as a corruption of " Calker s Club." The same
writer confesses himself unable to trace the term beyond
their circle and times.
Mr. Adams s house must have been the resort of many of
the leading politicians of the day, as he was of a sociable
disposition and able to entertain his friends with liberal hos
pitality. He was for some years a Justice of the Peace and
a Selectman, and was a Representative of his native town in
the Massachusetts House of Assembly. The younger Elisha
Cooke, long a leader of the popular party, was his friend,
and joined with him in his opposition to Governor Shute s
measures, which were considered subversive of the public
liberties.
The mother of Samuel Adams was a woman of severe
religious principles, and she early imbued her children with
reverence for the Christian virtues which she practised. To
the scrupulous attention of his parents to devotional subjects
must have been greatly due the religious turn of mind which
was a prevailing trait throughout the life of the son. His
father had been for some years a deacon of the Old South
Church. With thirteen other inhabitants at the southerly
end of the town, he had petitioned the authorities in 1715 for
leave to erect a meeting-house on the site of the present Sum
mer Street Church. The building was completed in 1717,
dedicated in January of that year, and commonly known as
the "New* South." Soon after, the Rev. Samuel Checkley,
2 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1712.
Miss Mary Fifield, only daughter of Richard Fifield of Bos
ton. Mr. Adams was possessed of an ample fortune for
those days, the fruits of his scrupulous attention to business ;
for, though he made himself prominent in political affairs,
he never lost sight of the value of property as a means of
securing the comfort of his family, and their position in
society.
His residence was in Purchase Street, Boston, where in
1712, the year before his marriage, he had bought a piece
of land running on the northwest two hundred and fifty-
eight feet along Purchase Street, and extending to low-water
mark. On the northeast, it was bounded by Dawes s Wharf
(since Prentice s estate) and Bull s Wharf, there being sixty-
two feet between Adams s estate and the north side of Sum
mer Street. The house fronted upon and commanded a
fine view of the harbor. But few buildings had then been
erected in its neighborhood, so that it stood conspicuous in
that vicinity. On the roof was an observatory, and a railing
with steps leading up from the outside. About the year
1730 it was somewhat improved, and as late as 1800 the
grounds were still adorned with trees and shrubbery. Ho
also owned other property in that vicinity, and was the
proprietor at a subsequent date of several dwelling-houses.
This property remained vested in him until 1734, as shown
by the records of some of the principal estates. From that
date, no facts appear concerning it until early in the next
century, after it had become the property of his son. From
the little known of Deacon, or Captain Adams, as he was
often called, he appears to have merite4 to the fullest extent
the encomiums passed upon him by his illustrious son, who
in after years said, that " he was a wise man and a good
man." His name appears in 1739 on the town record, as one
of the committee appointed to draft instructions to the
Representatives in the Assembly.
The ability afterwards manifested by his son in managing
popular assemblies, and in so ordering elections as to insure
1715.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
the advancement of those favorable to the cause of liberty,
may have had its origin in the examples thus presented in
early life. Gordon states that more than fifty years before
the year 1774 (1724 or earlier), Samuel Adams senior, " and
about twenty others, one or two from the north end of the
town, where all ship business was carried on, used to meet,
make a caucus, and lay their plans for introducing certain
persons into places of trust and power." It was probably
from the name of this political club, composed principally
of ship-building mechanics, that the word " caucus " was
derived, as a corruption of " Calker s Club." The same
writer confesses himself unable to trace the term beyond
their circle and times.
Mr. Adams s house must have been the resort of many of
the leading politicians of the day, as he was of a sociable
disposition and able to entertain his friends with liberal hos
pitality. He was for some years a Justice of the Peace and
a Selectman, and was a Representative of his native town in
the Massachusetts House of Assembly. The younger Elisha
Cooke, long a leader of the popular party, was his friend,
and joined with him in his opposition to Governor Shute s
measures, which were considered subversive of the public
liberties.
The mother of Samuel Adams was a woman of severe
religious principles, and she early imbued her children with
reverence for the Christian virtues which she practised. To
the scrupulous attention of his parents to devotional subjects
must have been greatly due the religious turn of mind which
was a prevailing trait throughout the life of the son. His
father had been for some years a deacon of the Old South
Church. With thirteen other inhabitants at the southerly
end of the town, he had petitioned the authorities in 1715 for
leave to erect a meeting-house on the site of the present Sum
mer Street Church. The building was completed in 1717,
dedicated in January of that year, and commonly known as
the "New 4 South." Soon after, the Rev. Samuel Checkley,
4 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1722.
a relative of Mr. Adams, and afterwards father-in-law of
Samuel Adams, was ordained minister. It was here that
the subject of these memoirs was baptized, on Sunday, the
day of his birth, September 16th (0. S.), 1722.
Of the family of Captain Adams, consisting of twelve,
only three survived him, Mary, Samuel, and Joseph. Of
Joseph there are no accounts extant, other than that he is
said to have been Clerk of the Market in Boston at the time
of his father s death. Samuel Adams frequently recurred
to the gentle influence of his sister, who was five years
his elder. She was of a winning and amiable disposition,
and, like himself, a strict observer of the requirements of
religion. A memorandum-book kept partly in 1735-36,
and filled with texts of sermons in her neat handwriting, is
still preserved, and indicates the religious bent of her mind.
This was during the revival which under the ministry of the
learned and devout Jonathan Edwards extended through
Massachusetts, and afterwards to some of the other Colonies.
In the journal occur the names of some twenty clergymen
whose discourses she had attended, among them Doctors
Lowell, Cooper, Checkley, Byles, Chauncy, Edwards, Thach-
er, Prince, and Mather. There are also letters written to
some friend during the revival attending Whitefield s visit
to Boston, in which she freely expresses her opinions on
religious subjects. These writings are the fervent outpour
ings of a heart tinctured with, but not chilled by, the stern
doctrines then prevailing in New England. She was mar
ried to James Allen of Boston. Her brother never forgot
her amiable disposition, and, when speaking of her in after
years, used to remark, " That is a happy young man who
has had an elder sister upon whom he could rely for advice
and counsel in youth."
In boyhood Samuel Adams exhibited indications of a
strong and inquiring mind. Naturally observant and of a
quick intelligence, he saw and comprehended the disputes
which arose between Governor Burnet and the people, and,
1736.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 5
after the death of the former, were continued under the ad
ministration of Governor Belcher. The refusal of the House
of Representatives to deprive themselves of their charter
rights by the settlement of a fixed salary upon the Governor,
and the spirited controversies arising from it, all occurred
during his youth, and were doubtless the subject of discus
sion at his father s house- It is not difficult to picture
the youth, with his earnest face, listening intently to conver
sations, which, when his own manhood should arrive, and
these preliminary actors should have passed from the stage,
were to occupy his thoughts and rule his conduct. At an
an early age he was placed under the guidance of the cele
brated Mr. Lovell the elder, principal of the Grammar
School of Boston, where he evinced a commendable degree
of readiness and attention to his studies. One of his school-
books is yet in existence, and contains in his handwriting
some boyish sentiments on the importance of learning in com
parison with riches, a principle which he emphatically ex
emplified in after life. His manners, which had been carefully
cultivated by his father, who intended him for a professional
life, had much of the persuasive earnestness which enabled
him in manhood to lead others in time of public agitation.
His form was of the medium height, and well developed.
Though he often made equestrian journeys into the coun
try, he is not known to have ever quitted Massachusetts
until he visited Philadelphia as one of the delegates to the
Continental Congress.
His collegiate course, which extended through four years,
was marked by close application to his studies. In 1736, at
the^age of fourteen, he entered Harvard, and during his
student life subjected himself but once to reproof, which
was for oversleeping himself and missing an attendance at
morning prayers. At that time, position in the classes was
determined by the wealth and standing of families. In a
class of twenty-two, young Adams stood fifth. Thirty years
afterwards, when democratic principles had become general,
6 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1740.
such family distinctions were disregarded, and the names of
students were arranged in alphabetical order. The boy
made considerable proficiency in classical learning, logic,
and natural philosophy ; but the Greek and Latin authors
were his favorites ; he studied their works assiduously, and
being thus early imbued with a love of the ancient classical
writers, never lost his fondness for quoting them. His po
litical writings and speeches during the Revolution contain
frequent allusions to them ; and it was sometimes said of
him, that he could never write or speak of American affairs
without illustrating his theme by comparisons with Greece
and Rome. He also attentively read at college the works of
English writers on government.
At the age of eighteen, in 1740, he was graduated and re
ceived his degree of Bachelor of Arts. Of the incidents of
his college life there are no accounts other than the general
ities which family traditions have handed down. The scanty
records made at that time in the books of the University
reveal but little.
The investigation of theology had much occupied his
thoughts, and had doubtless been quickened by the advent
of Whitefield, who visited Boston at this time. But this
gradually gave place to an irresistible love of political sub
jects, then beginning to engross popular attention. Though,
in accordance with the wishes of a pious father, he had
endeavored to fix his mind upon the ministry, for which
he had been designed, his inclinations wandered to that
more exciting arena in which he hoped to find the spir
ited contests better suited to his ardent and active temper
ament. In a debate in college, in which several of his
classmates took part, he had chosen for the subject "Lib
erty " ; and then he probably expressed his opinions in
nearly the strain of his publications on that subject several
years later.
In the year that he was graduated his father began to
experience reverses of fortune. The great exertions made
1740.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 7
by the Province in support of the national wars and those
for its own defence had sadly embarrassed the public finances.
The Province was temporarily impoverished, and, to add
to the general distress, the bills of credit, founded on the
uncollected public taxes, and since 1690 used as a partial
substitute for coin, were to be stopped in consequence of
orders received by Governor Belcher from the King to con
sent to the issue of no bills to remain current beyond the
year 1741. Those outstanding were ordered to be paid off.
These orders were procured by the remonstrances of English
merchants engaged in the American trade, who had com
plained to Parliament of the great fluctuation and deprecia
tion of prices consequent upon the decrease of coin in the
Colony, and the over-issue of bills of credit ; and was in con
tinuation of the odious policy of the act of 1732, restricting
the industry of the Colonies, to keep them " properly depen
dent upon the parent country," and prohibiting intercolonial
and foreign trade in specified articles of Colonial manufac
ture ; a policy which was followed up, in 1750, by prohibiting
" the erection or continuance of any mill or other engine for
slitting or rolling iron, or any plating forge to work with a
tilt-hammer, or any furnace for making steel in the Colonies,
under the penalty of two hundred pounds." The Stamp Act
of 1765 was by no means the initiatory act of aggression
by the home government. For more than thirty years
before that eventful, period, it had been weaving the net
work of oppressive measures to cramp the growing industry
of the Colonies, of which the English manufacturers had long
shown themselves jealous.
This arbitrary interference with the Colonial currency
was regarded as oppressive, and its evil results were not
long in appearing. The paper currency, which the cus
tom of half a century had rendered indispensable in every
branch of business, being thus absorbed, a monetary panic
similar to those following the bank contractions of the
present day ensued. Urged by the distresses which fol-
8 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1741.
lowed hard upon these measures, a powerful party was
formed, who used every effort to induce the Governor to
consent to new issues, or to extend the period of the old
beyond the time to which they had been limited. The
Governor refused, and thus incurred the enmity of the
people and the majority of the Legislature, through whose
efforts he was, in the following year, removed from office.
Mr. Adams senior, as a leading tradesman and active poli
tician, made his influence felt in procuring this result.
The withdrawal of the bills of credit had the opposite effect
from what had been anticipated in England. Financial
difficulties increased, public credit declined, and the cur
rency was fast depreciating.
Among the expedients adopted to remedy these evils
were the " Land Bank Scheme," and the " Silver Scheme."
The latter was devised by a number of merchants, who
organized an association, and issued bills to the amount of
one hundred and ten thousand pounds, which were redeem
able in ten years at a specified rate. The " Land Bank
Scheme," which was subsequently organized, was a more
popular and wide-extended institution, and continued to
exercise its functions for about sixteen months. It was
unlimited in the number of its members, and at last grew
into an association of about eight hundred, consisting for
the most part of mechanics and farmers. Its object was
joint private emolument, as well as public benefit. The
capital stock consisted of one hundred and fifty thousand
pounds, each person signing opposite to his name the
amount in which he wished to become interested, which
was secured to the company by a mortgage on his estate,
or by bonds with two sufficient sureties. The largest
amount of a bond was one hundred pounds. Bills to the
amount of the capital were issued to supply the place of the
public bills which had been withdrawn. Subscriptions
might be received in the manufactures or produce of the
Province, at such prices as the board of directors should
1741.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 9
decide upon, or at the current market value. An annual
interest of three per cent on the amount taken by the sub
scribers was to be paid by them, which, together with five
per cent of the original subscription, was to go into the
general bank fund.
Such are the outlines of the " Land Bank Scheme," or
"Manufactory Company" as it was oftener called. The
causes which led to its organization are particularly specified,
as subsequently its arbitrary dissolution by Parliament first
brought young Adams into political notice. His father was
among the members, and was a director. George Leonard,
and Robert Auchmuty, formerly Judge of Vice-Admiralty,
were also of the number. Memorials of their transactions,
found in the public records, show that the bank was in suc
cessful operation in October and November, 1741,* when
Samuel Adams, Esq., and others of the directors, appear as
the grantors of a certain parcel of land, for the sum of for
ty pounds, to Eliphalet Pond, yeoman ; and subsequently,
Messrs. Robert Auchmuty, Samuel Adams, and others ac
knowledge the receipt of twenty pounds "in bills called
Manufactory Bills," from one Kingsman, which releases him
from the mortgage to that amount on his estate, and the in
terest, two pounds nine shillings and threepence, paid.
These and other records of their business show the nature
of the company s operations. They issued their notes or
bills as money, receiving in turn mortgages on real estate in
all parts of the Province, which were redeemable in the
bills of the association.
Opposition to this, as well as to other currency schemes,
had been violent from their commencement. It had espe
cially proceeded from the government officers ; and the
Governor, and Mr. Hutchinson, afterwards Governor, were
particularly inimical to it, as much, as it has been alleged,
from political considerations as from any honest convic
tion of its impolicy. Party lines between Colonial rights
* Kegistry of Deeds, Boston, 1741, Lib. 62, p. 50.
10 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1743.
and Parliamentary aggression had already been drawn ; and
Mr. Adams senior being a leader of the popular side, he
was regarded with particular disfavor. The efforts against
the bank were finally successful, and the company was dis
solved by an act declaring that " the act of King George,
chap. 18, did and shall extend to the Colonies and planta
tions in America." It prohibited the formation of incor
porated joint-stock companies with more than six persons.
The whole financial system of the association was thus
brought summarily to a close, and each of the directors
became individually responsible for the liabilities of the
whole. Large inroads were consequently made upon the
property of Mr. Adams, who was probably the principal
shareholder, and perhaps the wealthiest man in the com
pany ; and he seems to have been especially selected by the
crown officers as the object of their rancor.
During the agitation caused by these events, in 1743,
Samuel Adams, then twenty-one years of age, took his
Master s degree at Cambridge. He selected a subject
for discussion curiously significant of the thoughts which
had now taken possession of his mind; and it indicates
that even thus early he had seriously contemplated forcible
opposition at some future time to the power of the British
Parliament, unjustly exercised over the Colonies. His
thesis was : " Whether it be lawful to resist the Supremo
Magistrate, if the Commonwealth cannot be otherwise pre
served." * He fnarlesslv^maintained the affirmative, though
it pointed to a course of policy, which, as was justly re
marked by one who personally knew him, " was scarcely
contemplated in that day, unless in the retirement of a
closet."
At Commencement it is customary for the Governor
and Council to be present, imparting greater dignity to the
ceremonies. It would prove an interesting addition to the
* "-An supremo Magistratui resistere liceat, si aliter servari Respublica ne-
quit ? Affirmat respondens Samuel Adams."
1743.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 11
scanty memoirs which can be gathered of the youth of
Samuel Adams to know the sentiments with which this
bold denial of British power was received by the assem
bled dignitaries of the land ; what conversations grew out
of such an unprecedented act of incipient " treason" ; what
was thought of it by his father and such of his friends as
were present. The occasion must have brought together
a large audience, hundreds of whom knew and were in
terested in the success of the young speaker; and those
who ventured to predict the future career of one who
hazarded such novel views in the presence of the royal
executive and the crown officers must have marked out for
him an adventurous life. The manuscripts of the Com
mencement theses were not then preserved at Harvard
College, and of this performance there remains but the bare
title. Of the arguments, we can only judge from the tone
of his political writings in the public press a few years
later.
The right of resistance to oppression was on this occa
sion first publicly asserted by one of the Revolutionary gal
axy of illustrious men ; thirty-three years before the Dec
laration of Independence; twenty-two before the Stamp
Act ; in the reign of George II. ; while Robert Walpole
was Prime Minister ; when Washington, Patrick Henry,
Jphn Adams, Warren, and Hancock were children, and
Jefferson, Gerry, and Quincy yet unborn ; at a time when
the Colonies were not only at peace with Great Britain,
but generally loyal in their feelings towards her. In his
old age, Samuel Adams was by common consent called!
" the father of the Revolution." The title was his, asl
much because he was the first to foresee, as because he was!
active in furthering, the separation.
Prom the time when Adams was graduated, his father
perceived that his tastes and his powers fitted him for poli
tics. He ceased, therefore, to urge him to enter the minis
try, and proposed his pursuing the law. The young man
12 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1743
accepted the proposal with pleasure, and eagerly commenced
to study, but relinquished the design at the desire of his
mother, and finally entered the counting-house of Mr.
Thomas Gushing, whose son, bearing the same name, was
many years afterward Speaker of the House of Representa
tives when Samuel Adams was its Clerk. He is said at,
this time to have had republished at his own expense a
pamphlet written in the previous century, entitled " The
Englishman s Right. But although there are several edi
tions of it dated between the years 1680 and 1772, none
appear to have been printed between 1740 and 1750. One
of the later editions, however, may have been published at
his suggestion.
The life of a merchant, it was soon evident, was ill adapted
to his talents or inclinations. He had no tact for business,
r and this was a trait which characterized his whole after life.
"While with Mr. Gushing he was oftener found in the
society of political disputants debating the questions of
the times, than in the counting-house bent over his desk.
The desire for pecuniary gain, and the excitement of com
petition in trade, had no attractions for him, and probably
some of his more methodical acquaintances considered him
at this time as a very unpromising and thriftless character,
upon whom his father had uselessly expended the cost of his
college education. Yet he was no idler. He was too ner
vously and actively constituted for indolence. His mind
was always employed, though on subjects then regarded as
unprofitable. When Mr. Gushing was questioned respecting
the capacity of young Adams as a tradesman, he replied,
that, though active enough in mind and body, he would
never do for a merchant ; that his whole soul was engrossed
by politics, to which all other subjects were necessarily sub
servient.
Even now he had weight in the people s party. Several of
his contemporaries speak of him as a recognized leader in
the popular cause, which had already a defined existence.
1746.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 13
John Adams, writing in 1772, says, in reference to Samuel
Adams and himself, " they have been steadfast and immova
ble in the cause since 1761, and one of them, Mr. Samuel
Adams, for full twenty years before " ; * which would fix
the commencement of his patriotic career in 1741. He re
mained but a few months with Mr. Gushing. Some time
afterward, his father, anxious to see him established in busi
ness, advanced him one thousand pounds with which to com
mence for himself. But disastrous results came from this
attempt. Having unfortunately trusted a friend to the
value of half his stock, he became greatly embarrassed him
self. This person soon after met with reverses which he
represented to his creditor, who therefore characteristically
never demanded the debt; and this and other losses soon
consumed all his possessions. He then joined his father in
business, and conducted the affairs of the malt-house which
adjoined the family dwelling on Purchase Street ; and from
that time he probably made no effort to go beyond the posi
tion of a subordinate partner.
His father enjoyed an increased popularity after the gov
ernment persecutions to deprive him of his property. On
the 4th of June, 1746, at the annual town-meeting, he was
elected a Representative to serve in the place of Andrew
Oliver, who had been chosen a Councillor. The spnjDerhaps
obtained access to the jiebates of the Hoiisa, and noted the
political occurrences of the times. The next year, his father
was refused as a member of the Council by the Governor,
who wanted no such spokesman of the popular element in
that body.
the services of Captain Adams in the Legislature are in
dicated in its journals, where his opinion, particularly in
military matters, was evidently held in high estimation.
The reduction of Louisburg in the previous year suggested
to Governor Shirley more extensive operations for the con
quest of Canada. Captain Adams was upon most of the
* John Adams s Works, II. 295.
14 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1746.
committees appointed on the affairs of the war. The Legis
lature, which met on the 5th of June, 1746, adjourned on
the 10th of October to November 6th, from which time it was
in session until April of the following year.* There seems to
have been a constant demand for his industry and judgment
in a curious variety of affairs. The subject of the Governor s
salary, questions of finance and settlement of estates, sol
diers petitions, disbursements and expenditures for the
war, the drafting of state papers on a diversity of topics,
military expeditions and enlistments, the New Hampshire
boundary line, local assessments and taxations, and an
Address to his Majesty the King through the agents, are
among the matters intrusted to committees of which he was
a member, and at times chairman. In April, 1747, he was
one of a committee " to consider some method to prevent the
distress brought upon the inhabitants of the Province by
the impressing of seamen out of the coasting vessels, and
other inhabitants of the Province, by the commanders and
other officers of his Majesty s ships of war." This practice
probably culminated in the following November, when the
town was the scene of violence and riot in opposition to the
press-gang outrages of Commodore Knowles in the public
streets.
No other means than these scanty records exist by which
to trace the services of the elder Adams in the Assembly ;
but that he enjoyed the well-earned confidence of his fellow-
citizens is evident ; while his practical talent as a business
man is displayed by his active and leading part in the public
counsels. The elder Dexter knew him "as a reputable
magistrate in Boston." John Adams, writing in 1774,
remembers him as " a gentleman of liberal education and
good abilities " ; and his more celebrated son in after years
attested his wisdom and blameless character.
During the late war with France, ending with the capture
of Louisburg by the New England troops, the Colonists had
* Journals of the House from June 4, 1746, to April 25, 1747.
1747.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 15
been able to ascertain their own strength, and were imbued
with increased confidence in their native resources. The
whole of the fruits of their toil were thrown away by the
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ; and this mortifying event, to
gether with what preceded it, served to remind them of
their position in relation to the home government. Numer
ous were the complaints, and the discussion of these occur
rences was common among all classes. The impressment
riots indicated that the fire of discontent already existed,
and needed only the proper occasion to be fanned into a
flame. The events of the war, and the government misman
agement (though Massachusetts prospered under all these
circumstances) prepared the people for the struggle which
was at length to rend the Colonies from the mother country.
The press commenced the discussion of popular rights, and
no doubt many speculative minds calculated the probable
fate of America at some future day as a separate and inde
pendent sovereignty.
The idea now suggested itself to young Adams and a few
of his political friends to form a club for the special consid
eration of public affairs both by writing and debate. Each
member agreed to furnish in turn political essays for a !
newspaper to be called " The Public Advertiser," of which
the first number appeared in January, 1748. There are no (
means of ascertaining the date of the organization ; but it is
most probable that it went into existence not long before
the first issue of the journal, and that this was commenced
on the strength of the communications promised by the
members. Who were the other contributors is unknown.
The publishers had issued a printed circular, announcing
that the paper would appear at an early period. It was
published weekly. The head was embellished with a rough
ly executed wood-cut representing Britannia seated, and
liberating a bird confined by a cord to the arms of France,
which are lying on the ground before her. The flight of the
bird, which is on the wing, being impeded by the cord, Bri-
16 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1748.
tannia is in the act of cutting the cord with a pair of shears.
The Advertiser had hut little foreign or domestic news,
and was devoted to political discussion. Isaiah Thomas,
who was engaged as a printer in Boston a few years later,
and doubtless knew all the members of the club, says it con
sisted of " Whigs, who advocated the rights of the people
against those measures of government which were supposed
to infringe upon the privileges of the Province secured by
charter." * The address to the public in the first number
holds that " the present political state affords matter for a
variety of thoughts of peculiar importance to the good people
of New England." The columns were open " to whatever
may be adapted to state and defend the rights and liberties
of mankind." The essays in the Advertiser soon began to
excite attention, and the opponents of the popular rights
party applied to the association the name of " Whipping
post Club," which did not deter them from publishing their
essays in each issue of the paper. Extracts from two of
these, written by Samuel Adams, will serve to illustrate his
style and sentiments at the age of twenty-six. One has for
its subject, " Loyalty and Sedition." In defining the true
meaning of the words, he says :
;" But we oftentimes perceive such significations assumed by those
tvho find the wrong use of the words conducive to the increase of
power or gain, that it is difficult to tell whether loyalty is really
commendable or sedition blameworthy. True loyalty in the sense
just now explained is the beauty and perfection of a well-constituted
state. It cannot indeed subsist in an arbitrary government, because
it is founded in the love and possession of liberty. It includes in it
a thorough knowledge of our Constitution, its conveniences and de
fects as well as its real advantages ; a becoming jealousy of our im
munities, and a steadfast resolution to maintain them. It delights
in the quiet and thankful enjoyment of a good administration, and it
is the scourge of the griping oppressor and haughty invader of our
liberties.
* Thomas s History of Printing.
B
4
1748.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 17
" But sedition is founded on the depraved and inordinate passions
of the mind : it is a weak, feverish, sickly thing, a boisterous and
unnatural vigor, which cannot support itself long, and oftentimes
destroys the unhappy patient. It proceeds from gross mistake or
great wickedness, from lust of power or gain, in the first promoters
of it, and from untamable obstinacy and a vitiated palate that can
not relish the happiness of a free state in the creatures of their de
signs.
" It is a very great mistake to imagine that the object of loyalty
is the authority and interest of one individual man, however dignified
by the applause or enriched by the success of popular actions. This
has led millions into such a degree of dependence and submission,
that they have at length found themselves to homage the instruments
of their ruin at the very time they were at work to effect it. The
true object of loyalty is a good legal constitution, which, as it con
demns every instance of oppression and lawless power, derives a cer
tain remedy to the sufferer by allowing him to remonstrate his
grievances, and pointing out methods of relief when the gentle arts
of persuasion have lost their efficacy. Whoever, therefore, insin
uates notions of government contrary to the constitution, or in any
degree winks at any measures to suppress or even to weaken it, is
not a loyal man. Whoever acquaints us that we have no right to
examine into the conduct of those who, though they derive their
power from us to serve the common interests, make use of it to im
poverish and ruin us, is in a degree a rebel to the undoubted
rights and liberties of the people. He that despises his neighbor s
happiness because he wears a worsted cap or leathern apron, he that
struts immeasurably above the lower size of people, and pretends to
adjust the rights of men by the distinctions of fortune, is not over
loyal. He that aggravates beyond measure the well-meant failings
of a warm zeal for liberty, he that leaves no stone unturned to de
fend and propagate the schemes of illegal power, cannot be esteemed
a loyal man. Indeed, the reverse use of these words may possibly
find authorities in some parts of the world where language and
sense are deluged in the torrent of arbitrary power."
These sentiments on popular liberty, the right of " remon
strating grievances," and the views which at that distant
VOL. I. 2
18 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1748.
period he had obtained of the rights of the citizen as com
pared with the divine right of kings, will suggest, when at
tentively considered, the consistency exhibited by the writer
throughout his life, which was one of the most marked
and admirable traits of his character. A careful scrutiny
of his career for more than forty years, including the most
eventful period of American history, reveals no instance of
"^inconsistency. The principles which became fixed in his
mind, as soon as he was capable of understanding political
subjects, were never changed ; and long after the Revolution
had passed, and party spirit assumed the place of the more
united patriotism of the Revolutionary period, the same
views and expressions will be found in his latest writings,
extending into the following century.
In another essay, written during the second year of the
" Advertiser," he considers the subject of liberty, a
theme which seems to have always occupied his mind, as is
evidenced by those who were contemporary with him, and
remembered his early course. His writings generally give
an insight into the class of books which he must have
perused. He had manifestly been a student of the great
authors on government, and was familiar with Roman his
tory. His works and conversations all his life are tinged
with the doctrines of those writers, and all his politics are
founded on their principles.
" Libertate modice utantur. Temperatam earn salubrem et
singulis et civitatibus esse : nimiam et aliis gravem, et ipsis qui
habeant effrenatam et praecipitem esse Alienis armis partam,
externa fide redditam libertatem sua cura custodirent servarentque,
ut populus Romanus dignis datam libertatem ac munus suum bene
positum sciret. Orat. T. Quint, ad Graee. Civit apud Liv.
XXXIV. 49.
" There is no one thing which mankind are more passionately fond
of, which they fight with more zeal for, which they possess with more
anxious jealousy and fear of losing, than liberty. But it has fared
with this, as with many other things, that the true notion and just
1748.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 19
definition of it has been but little understood, at the same time that
zeal for it and disputes about it have produced endless altercations.
There is, there certainly is such a thing as liberty, which distin
guishes man from the beasts, and a society of wise and reasonable
creatures from the brutal herd, where the strongest horns are the
strongest laws. And though the notions of men were ten times
more confused and unsettled, and their opinions more various about
this matter than they are, there yet remains an internal and essen
tial distinction between this same liberty and slavery.
" In a former paper, the true notion of loyalty has been consid
ered ; I shall now offer to the public some general thoughts upon
liberty, in order rightly to apprehend which subject we must con
sider man in two different states, namely, those of Nature and
of Society.
" In the state of nature, every man has a right to think and act
according to the dictates of his own mind, which, in that state, are
subject to no other control and can be commanded by no other power
than the laws and ordinances of the great Creator of all things.
The perfection of liberty therefore, in a state of nature, is for every
man to be free from any external force, and to perform such actions
as in his own mind and conscience he judges to be rightest ; which
liberty no man can truly possess whose mind is enthralled by irreg
ular and inordinate passions ; since it is no great privilege to be free
from external violence if the dictates of the mind are controlled by
a force within, which exerts itself above reason.
" This is liberty in a state of nature, which, as no man ought to
be abridged of, so no man has a right to give up, or even part with
any portion of it, but in order to secure the rest and place it upon
a more solid foundation ; it being equally with our lives the gift
of the same bounteous Author of all things.* As, therefore, no
man s life is his own in such a sense as that he may wantonly
destroy it at his own pleasure, or submit it to the wanton pleasure
of another, so neither is his liberty. And had mankind continued
in that innocent and happy state in which the sacred writings rep
resent them as first created, it is possible that this liberty would
have been enjoyed in such perfection as to have rendered the em-
* Compare the Rights of the Colonists, November, 1772; and the Declara
tion of Eights in the Congress of 1774.
20 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1748.
bodying into civil society and the security of human laws alto
gether needless.
" But though in the present corrupt and degenerate times no such
state of nature can with any regularity exist, it will not, however,
be difficult from the description we have given of liberty in that
state to form the true notion and settle the just bounds of it in a
state of society and civic government. But here, too, we must dis
tinguish and consider liberty as it respects the whole body and as it
respects each individual. As it respects the whole body, it is then
enjoyed when neither legislative nor executive powers (by which I
mean those men with whom are intrusted the power of making
laws and of executing them) are disturbed by any internal passion
or hindered by any external force from making the wisest laws and
executing them in the best manner ; when the safety, the security,
and the happiness of all is the real care and steady pursuit of those
whose business it is to care for and pursue it ; in one short word,
where no laws are carried through humor or prejudice, nor con
trolled in their proper execution by lust of power in the great, nor
wanton licentiousness in the vulgar.
" As it respects individuals, a man is then free when he freely en
joys the security of the laws and the rights to which he is born ;
when he is hindered by no violence from claiming those rights and
enjoying that security, but may at any time demand the protection
of the laws under which he lives, and be sure when demanded to
enjoy it. This is what I take to be liberty ; and considered in this
light, all the fine things said of it by ancient and modern do justly
belong to it. O Libertas ! Dea certe ! it is the choicest gift
that Heaven has lent to man ; an emanation from the Father of
Lights ; an image and representation of the government of the Su
preme Director of all things, which, though it can never be con
trolled by any superior force, is yet ever guided by the laws of
infinite wisdom.
" But alas ! in this exalted sense, liberty is rather admired in the
world than truly enjoyed. What multitudes of persons are there
who have not so much as the shadow of it ! who hold their prop
erty and even their lives by no other tenure than the sovereign will
of a tyrant, and he often the worst and most detestable of men,
who, to gratify the least humor or passion in his nature, does not
scruple to massacre them by thousands ! Sure it is true what ortho-
1748.1
LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS 21
dox divines tell us, that men are apostate from God, since in his
righteous providence he subjects so many of them to such mis
erable fate!
" But there are other states and civil societies in the world, the
model of whose government seems to promise the sure enjoyment
of this blessing ; which yet, if we attentively examine, we shall
find to be really destitute of it. "We shall often find, that where the
forms of it are observed, the substance of it is wanting; for, as
that man is truly a slave, who, though impelled by no external vio
lence, is yet carried away by the impetuosity of his passions to do
those things which are abhorrent from his nature and his reason, so
neither can the people be called free, who, though they make their
own laws, are yet blinded by prejudice and diverted by undue influ
ence from uniformly pursuing their own interest.
" It has been a question much controverted in the world what
form of government is best, and in what system this liberty is best
consulted and preserved. I cannot say that I am wholly free from
that prejudice which generally possesses men in favor of their own
country, and the manners they have been used to from their infancy.
But I must declare, for my own part, that there is no form of civil gov
ernment, which I have ever heard of, appears to me so well calcu
lated to preserve this blessing, or to secure to its subjects all the
most valuable advantages of civil society, as the English. For in
none that I have ever met with is the power of the governors and
the rights of the governed more nicely adjusted, or the power which
is necessary in the very nature of government to be intrusted in the
hands of some, by wiser checks prevented from growing exorbitant.
This Constitution has indeed passed through various amendations, but
the principal parts of it are of very ancient standing, and have con
tinued through the several successions of kings to this day ; having
never been in any great degree attacked by any, but they have lost
their lives or their crowns in the attempt.
" The two main provisions by which a certain share in the govern
ment is secured to the people are their Parliaments and their juries ;
by the former of which no laws can be made without their consent,
and by the latter none can be executed without their judgment. By
this means the subject can never be oppressed by bad laws, nor lose
the security of good ones, but by his own fault ; and though I am not
such an extravagant admirer of my own country as to suppose that
22 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1748.
Parliament never made unwise laws, or that jurors never put false
constructions on wise ones, yet I will venture to assert that every
man s security and happiness is much safer in such hands than under
an arbitrary or aristocratical form of government. Especially since,
by the wise provisions of our ancestors, both these powers are of
short continuance; for power intrusted for a short time is not so
likely, to be perverted as that which is perpetual.
<^ From this happy Constitution of our mother country, ours in this
is copied, or rather improved upon. Our invaluable charter secures
to us all the English liberties, besides which we have some addi
tional privileges which the common people there have not. Our
fathers had so severely felt the effects of tyranny and the weight of
the bishop s yoke, that they underwent the greatest difficulties and
toils to secure to themselves and transmit to their posterity those in
valuable blessings ; and we, their posterity, are this day reaping the
fruits of their toils. Happy beyond expression ! in the form of
our government, in the liberty we enjoy, if we know our own
happiness and how to improve it. But neither the wisest constitu
tion nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a
people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the
truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote
its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will
not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who
./r
isjlQtawise and virtuous manJKWe must not conclude merely upon
*" If Eoan^ ^lal imgTrtng^^b nTiberty, and using the charming sound,
that he is fit to be trusted with the liberties of his country. It is
not unfrequent to hear men declaim loudly upon liberty, who, if we
may judge by the whole tenor of their actions, mean nothing else by
it but their own liberty, to oppress without control or the restraint
of laws all who are poorer or weaker than themselves. It is not, I
say, unfrequent to see such instances, though at the same time I
esteem it a justice due to my country to say that it is not without
shining examples of the contrary kind ; examples of men of a dis
tinguished attachment to this same liberty I have been describing ;
whom no hopes could draw, no terrors could drive, from steadily
pursuing, in their sphere, the true interests of their country ; whose
fidelity has been tried in the nicest and tenderest manner, and has
been ever firm and unshaken.
" The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of
1748.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 23
+
Heaven, let us become a virtuous people : then shall we both de
serve and enjoy it. While, on the other hand, if we are universally
vicious and debauched in our manners, though the form of our Con
stitution carries the face of the most exalted freedom, we shall in
reality be the most abject slaves."
In March, 1748, Mr. Adams had the misfortune to lose
his father, who died in Boston in his fifty-ninth year. The
cause of his death is not known. His will was made the day
before his decease. Throughout a long and methodical life,
he had performed in an exemplary manner the duties of a
good citizen, an affectionate husband, and an indulgent
father. He lived at a time when party lines were beginning
to be drawn between the government and the friends of
popular rights ; and those who at the time of his death were
entering upon manhood must have long remembered his
sterling integrity of purpose, when in after years they
came to fill conspicuous positions in the Revolution. Early
joining the popular side, he had incurred the dislike of
many of the other party, particularly of Hutchinson, a mem
ber of the Government Council, and afterwards Judge of
Probate for the County of Suffolk, whose animosity, far
from disappearing with the death of his opponent, was
directed against the son until the close of the Revolution.
The Boston Weekly Gazette and the Independent Adver
tiser contain notices of Mr. Adams s death, the latter as
follows :
" Last week died and was decently interred the remains of Sam
uel Adams, Esq. ; a gentleman who sustained many public offices
among us, and for some time past represented this town in the
General Assembly. He was one who well understood and rightly
pursued the civil and religious interests of this people ; a true New
England Man ; an honest Patriot. Help, Lord, for such wise and
godly men cease, and such faithful members fail from among the
sons of New England." *
* N. E. Hist, and Genealogical Register, VII. 44.
24 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1748.
*
The will of Mr. Adams* appoints Ms sons Samuel and
Joseph, and his son-in-law James Allen, of Boston, his ex
ecutors. His estate, real and personal, was left to his wife
Mary, except in case she should marry again, when half the
property was to accrue to his children, Samuel, Joseph,
and Mary, the wife of James Allen. After his wife s decease,
the whole estate was to be divided between them. He affec
tionately provides for the interest of his favorite son by a
clause relating to the sum advanced to him several years
before to embark in business, the unfortunate result of
which has already been shown. He says : " My son Samuel,
being my eldest son, to receive his full third part., exclusive
of and besides the sum of a thousand pounds, old tenor, he
has already received, and for which he is made debtor in my
books ; it being my will that he be discharged from said debt
at my decease."
The estate being settled, Samuel Adams succeeded to his
father s business of a brewer, which he conducted in person.
It enabled him to maintain a respectable rank in society.
The Hudibrastic poet Green, at a later day, in some of his
lampoons of conspicuous characters, makes mention of him
as " Sam the maltster." Admiral Coffin, many years after,
relating events prior to the Revolution, remembered that
in boyhood he had carried malt on his back from Sam.
Adams s brewery ; and one of the British writers during
the Revolution, in an attack upon him for procuring certain
important results, speaks slightingly of him as a " curer of
bacon."
Succeeding to the social and political station which had
been occupied by his father, Adams retained all his father s
friends, and also saw growing up around him a circle of
young men who subsequently occupied distinguished posi
tions in political life. Among the most intimate of his
father s acquaintances was the Rev. Samuel Checkley, whose
position at the New South Church had been procured by the
* Lib. 41, p. 33, Records of Probate Court, Boston.
1749.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 25
v
influence of the elder Adams, and by whom the son had
been baptized. In his visits to his reverend friend, he formed
an attachment for his daughter Elizabeth, and they were
married at her father s house on the 17th of October, 1749.
Miss Checkley was then twenty-four years of age, and, as her
daughter testifies, was a rare exaniDle of virtue and piety,
blended with a retiring and modest demeanor, and the
charms of elegant womanhood.* Only two of their five
children survived their mother ; Samuel, afterwards a sur
geon in the Continental army, who died unmarried ; and
Hannah, who married Captain Thomas Wells, an officer of
the Revolution. This union, which was an extremely happy
one, lasted nearly eight years, when Mr. Adams sustained his
severest affliction, the loss of his wife. She died July 25,
1757. In the family Bible on that day he wrote : " To her
husband she was as sincere a friend as she was a faithful
wife. Her exact economy in all her relative capacities, her
kindred on his side as well as her own admire. She ran her
Christian race with remarkable steadiness, and finished in
triumph ! She left two small children. God grant they
may inherit her graces ! " The families of Adams and
Checkley had been connected by marriage in the previous
century, Captain John Adams, the grandfather of Samuel
Adams, having married Hannah, the daughter of Anthony
Checkley, Esq., first Attorney-General of the Province under
the new charter, f
The year following his wife s death, Mr. Adams was beset
with an attachment by the sheriff on the family estate,
arising from the unsettled affairs of the Land Bank, which
had been dissolved seventeen years before. During that
* The maiden name of the mother of Miss Checkley was Elizabeth Eolfe.
In Drake s " History of Boston," p. 535, will be found an interesting account
of her escape, with her sister and mother, from the Indians, in their memorable
descent upon Haverhill in the summer of 1708. Her father, the Rev. Benjamin
Rolfe, minister of the town, was killed, together with nearly one hundred of the
inhabitants.
t Drake, p. 534.
26 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1758.
long period this business had been intrusted to commission
ers under a law of the Province passed for that purpose.
Many intricate questions were involved in attempts to adjust
the accounts, each member being liable for the debts of the
whole. To add to these difficulties and complications, the
company s records, with the building containing them, had
been destroyed by fire, and no means remained of ascertain
ing the names of the debtors or the amounts due from them,
except what they might themselves furnish. Ruin and dis
tress were entailed upon many, and successive laws had
been passed by the Legislature with a view to an arrange
ment. The virulence with which the suit seems to have
been pursued against the Adamses may have arisen from the
elder Adams having been a director of the bank, and proba-
i bly its principal member. The attempt on the part of the
authorities to seize and sell the property gave Samuel Adams
his first opportunity to openly avow his opposition to the
arbitrary exercise of Parliamentary rule in the Colony. In
common with a large party, he had at that early day re
garded the dissolution of the Land Bank as an unwarranta
ble encroachment on the charter rights of the people, and
an illegal interference in their local concerns. In August,
1758, the following notice appeared in the Boston News-
Letter :
" To be sold at public Auction at the Exchange Tavern in Boston,
To-morrow at noon. The Dwelling House, Malt-House, and other
buildings, with the Garden and lands adjoining, and the Wharf,
Dock and Flats before the same, being part of the estate of the late
Samuel Adams, Esq., deceased, and is scituate near Bull -Wharf, at
the lower end of Summer Street in Boston aforesaid, the said estate
being taken by warrant or execution under the hand and seal of the
Hon. Commissioners for the more speedy finishing the Land-Bank,
or Manufactory scheme. . . .
"Stephen Greenleaf."*
The sale, however, probably did not take place " to-mor-
* N. E. Hist, and Genealogical Kegister, VII. 44.
1758.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 27
row," as advertised ; for in the next issue of the News-
Letter, a week later, Mr. Adams appears in the following
note to the sheriff:
"To STEPHEN GREENLEAF, ESQ.
" Sir I observe your Advertisement for the sale of the Estate of
Samuel Adams, Esq., director of the Land-Bank Company. Your
predecessor, Colonel Pollard, had the same affair in hand five years
before his death ; but with all his known firmness of mind, he never
brought the matter to any conclusion, and his Precept, I am told, is
not returned to this Day. The reason was he, as well as myself,
was advised by gentlemen of the law, that his proceeding was illegal
and unwarrantable ; and therefore he very prudently declined enter
ing so far into this affair as to subject his own Estate to danger.
How far your determination may lead you, you know better than I.
I would only beg leave, with freedom, to assure you, that I am ad
vised and determined to prosecute to the law any person whomsoever
who shall trespass upon that Estate, and remain
" Your humble servant
" Samuel Adams.*
"BOSTON, Aug. 16, 1758."
This representation seems to have had the desired effect ;
and the sheriff, unwilling to incur the responsibility, deferred
the sale to September 22d, and then again to the 29th, when
it was stated that attendance would be given between twelve
and one o clock on that day ; but the sale did not take place,
and the property remained in the family possession.
On some one of these occasions, if not when Colonel Pol
lard attempted the same procedure several years before,
Adams appeared in person on the ground and prevented the
sale. Hutchinson refers to it in his History of Massachu
setts. He says :
" Mr. S. Adams s father had been one of the directors of the Land
Bank in 1741, which was dissolved by an act of Parliament. After
his decease, his estate was put up for sale at public auction under
* New England Hist, and Genealogical Register, "VTL 44.
28 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1758.
authority of an act of the General Assembly. The son first made
himself conspicuous on this occasion. He attended the sale, threat
ened the sheriff to bring an action against him, and threatened all
who should attempt to enter upon the estate under pretence of a
purchase ; and by intimidating both the sheriff and those persons
who intended to purchase, he prevented the sale, kept the estate in
his possession, and the debt to the Land Bank Company remained
unsatisfied." *
What hand Hutchinson himself had in the framing and
passage of the " act of the General Assembly " referred to,
he does not state. His hatred of Samuel Adams knew no
bounds ; and his third volume, written in England in old age,
after his disgraceful and final departure from Boston, was
penned when his heart rankled with chagrin and disappoint
ment, produced by the agency of Samuel Adams more
than that of any other man. He well knew that the suits
against the Adams estate were unjust and cruel ; but he
believed that the spirit of the proprietor could be crushed
by reducing him to poverty, and it was not until the com
mencement of the Revolution that he learned his mis
take. Bancroft, writing from contemporary evidence, says
that on this occasion Adams " appeared in defence of Colo
nial supremacy " against an act of Parliament " overruling
the laws of the Colony," and that " by his success he grati
fied alike his filial piety and his love of his country." f
Hutchinson always prided himself upon his instrumen
tality in abolishing a paper currency. Fifteen years after
wards when he was Governor of the Province, and Samuel
Adams was denounced as " the chief of the Revolution "
by the ministry, this subject was brought up in the cele
brated controversy between the House of Representatives
and the Governor, who referred to the act of Parliament
which had broken up the Land Bank Company as an evi
dence of the authority of Parliament over the Colonies,
* Hutdunson s History, III. 294. t Bancroft, V. 195.
1758.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 29
the validity of the act not having been disputed by those
persons immediately affected by it. It was true that none of
the company raised any appeal against the act, young Adams,
apparently, being the only person who publicly opposed it
on anything like constitutional grounds ; but in the con
troversy alluded to, looking back to this time, he says :
"The act of Parliament passed in 1741 for putting an end to
several unwarrantable schemes mentioned by your Excellency, was
designed for the general good ; and, if the validity of it was not
disputed, it cannot be urged as a concession of the supreme author
ity to make laws binding on us in all cases whatsoever ; but if the
design of it was for the general benefit of the Province, it was, in
one respect at least, greatly complained of by the persons more im
mediately affected by it; and to remedy the inconvenience, the
Legislature of this Province passed an act directly militating with
it ; which is the strongest evidence that, although they may have
submitted sub silentio to some acts of Parliament that they con
ceived might operate for their benefit, they did not conceive them
selves bound by any of its acts, which they judged would operate
to the injury even of individuals."*
The elder Dexter, who was the intimate friend of Sam
uel Adams, stated that in this cause, in which Adams " had
powerful interests to contend against, he gained the respect
of every party by the acuteness of his wit and the depth
of his understanding," and that the act of the Legislature
liberating the directors from prosecution was brought about
through "the influence of his pen and language."! Thus
he not only saved his own homestead, but released others
from the unjust gripe of the Parliamentary mandate. The
passage of that act was the germ of the great issues, which
resulted in an emphatic denial, by the Legislature, of Parlia
mentary authority, and served as a precedent to sustain the
Colony in the controversy on that subject.
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 394.
t Thacher, Funeral Discourse, 1804, quoting a verbal statement then re
cently made by the Hon. Samuel Dexter.
30 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1758.
The expedition against Louisburg, which was mainly
planned by Governor Shirley, had contributed greatly to
his popularity ; but towards the close of his administration,
the failure of the expeditions of 1755, which was perhaps
unjustly charged upon him, produced a considerable revul
sion in public sentiment, especially after his appointment as
" Commander-in-chief of all his Majesty s forces in Amer
ica." For some time, during the term of Governor Shirley,
Adams wrote against the dangerous tendencies of such an
extension of military force in the Colonies. Thacher says :
"Mr. Adams, however, was opposed to the union of so
great a degree of civil and military power as was intrusted
to that gentleman, and endeavored to awaken his country
men to a sense of danger, though at a distance."* The
measures of Governor Shirley were criticised and assailed
in the public press, particularly in 1756, during his at
tempts to procure men and money from the Colony for the
proposed expedition against the French at Crown Point.
The enterprise met with little favor at that tune, owing to
the belief that it would require great expense, and that an
attack upon Quebec, aided by the British fleet, would be
preferable. That Adams was a frequent contributor to the
press from 1750 to 1764, is indisputable. There is ample
contemporary evidence. \ He warned his countrymen against
the growing usurpations of power by the mother country,
and endeavored to keep the principles of Colonial rights
before the public! Some who knew him refer to these pro
ductions with admiration of their ability and objects. A
contributor to the Polyanthus alludes to Samuel Adams
at this time as one among that eminent band of patriots
who wrote in defence of their country. f At the time of
Adams s death, Thacher referred to the few distinguished
characters of the ante-Revolutionary period then surviving,
" who spoke with the highest respect of his wit, ingenuity,
* Thacher s Funeral Discourse.
t Polyanthus, III. 74. Boston, 1806.
1758.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 31
and profound argument," in his public writings during
Governor Shirley s administration. Hutchinson says, " He
was for near twenty years a writer against government in
the public newspapers."
John Adams, at this time an obscure young man in a
country village, remembered in after years the reputation
of his kinsman as a powerful agent in Colonial politics
long before the causes of the Revolution began to be felt.
More than once, both in his diary before the war, and
in his letters in the next century, he refers to this.
"The talents," he says, "of that great man were of the most
exalted, though not of the most showy kind. His love of country,
his exertions in her service through a long course of years, through
the administrations of Governors Shirley, Pownall, Bernard,
Hutchinson, and Gage, under the royal government, and through
the whole of the subsequent Revolution, and always in support of
the same principles, his inflexible integrity, his disinterestedness,
his invariable resolution, his sagacity, his patience, perseverance, and
pure public virtue, were never exceeded by any man in America." *
Samuel Adams was friendly to Governor Pownall, who
succeeded Shirley in 1756, and who entertained a greater
respect for popular rights than his predecessor. Pownall,
who about this time predicted the nearness of American
independence, was the firm advocate of the Colonies.
When he left for England, in 1760, having been suc
ceeded by Bernard, the inhabitants unanimously voted him
an address, acknowledging the happy influence of his ad
ministration, which had extended to every branch of the
public interest, and had been too sensibly felt by the
merchants to allow them to part with his Excellency with
out the most particular acknowledgment of gratitude and
respect.
As early as during Shirley s administration, Samuel Ad
ams had undoubtedly pondered over the subject of a future
separation of the American Colonies from the mother coun-
* John Adams s Works, I. 673.
32 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1758.
try. His subsequent career showed that the scheme was
no new one with him, and had not been suggested by the
immediate events causing the outbreak of hostilities. His
native sagacity foresaw the great issue ; but he knew how
to guide the circumstances of the hour so that the crisis
should not be injudiciously precipitated upon his country
men before the appointed time. The inevitable result of
the French war in developing the strength of the Colonies
and establishing confidence in their own resources, was
leading to a determination on the part of the home govern
ment to bring them under closer subjection. Any such
infringement on their charter rights and privileges could
only arouse opposition, and a conflict must necessarily en
sue. Governor Shirley had, perhaps, recommended tax
ation of the Colonies, and Minot alludes to a report that
he had disclosed to a leading character in America the
ministerial plan for taxing that country.* Massachusetts,
in 1755, was informed of the resolution in Parliament to
raise funds for American affairs by a stamp duty, and a
duty on products of the West Indies imported into the
Continental Colonies ; and her agent in London was in
structed " to oppose everything that should have the re
motest tendency to raise a revenue in the Plantations for
any public uses or services of government." The project
of Colonial taxation was freely discussed and defended by
the British press, and that the act might be enforced when
passed, a rule was laid down by an Order in Council, that
troops might be kept in the Colonies and quartered upon
the people without the consent of the several Assemblies.
& Massachusetts, ever watchful of her liberties, used every
,/ exertion of remonstrance against the threatened evils ; and
wise men foresaw the gathering storm. Samuel Adams
was most active in preparing his countrymen for the crisis.
John Adams knew and had felt the power of those efforts.
Writing to a friend in 1819, he says :
* Minot s History, I. 296.
1758.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
"Samuel Adams, to my certain knowledge, from 1758 to 1775,
that is for seventeen years, made it his constant rule to watch the
rise of every brilliant genius, to seek his acquaintance, to court his
friendship, to cultivate his natural feelings in favor of his native
country, to warn him against the hostile designs of Great Britain,
and to fix his affections and reflections on the side of his native
country. I could enumerate a list, but I will confine myself to a
few. John Hancock, afterwards President of the Congress and
Governor of the State ; Dr. Joseph Warren, afterwards Major-Gen
eral of the militia of Massachusetts, and the martyr of Bunker s
Hill ; Benjamin Church, the poet and the orator, once a pretended
if not a real patriot, but afterwards a monument of the frailty of
human nature ; Josiah Quincy, the Boston Cicero, the great orator
in the body meetings, the author of the Observations on the Boston
Port Bill and of many publications in the newspapers." *
Instances of his unwearying zeal in these early stages of
the Revolutionary era could be multiplied. Beyond the
Atlantic it was well known. Mr. Adolphus, in the second
volume of his History of England, says :
" Samuel Adams, a distinguished leader of the American counsels,
noted for subtlety, perseverance, and inflexibility, boasted in all
companies that he had toiled twenty years to accomplish the measure
* Correspondence, X. 364. To this list John Adams might with propriety
have added his own name. He was thirteen years the junior of his kinsman,
by whom his genius was first exhibited in a fair field. The young lawyer was
first made prominent in 1765, when his cousin, as chairman of the town meet
ing in December in relation to the Stamp Act, obtained his nomination as one
of the three to plead the cause of the town before the Governor and Council.
"While in Boston, he was introduced by Samuel Adams to the political club, and
on becoming a resident there, he frequently turned aside from his profession to
aid in the cause. A few days after his nomination as above stated, he makes
the following record in his diary : " Mr. Samuel Adams told me he was glad
I was nominated for several reasons : first, because he hoped that such an in
stance of respect from the town of Boston would make an impression on my
mind, and secure my friendship to the town from gratitude ; secondly, he was
in hopes such distinction would be of service to my business and interest;
thirdly, he hoped that Braintree, finding the eyes of Boston fixed upon me,
would fix theirs on me too in May. His hopes in the two first particulars
may be well grounded, but I am not sure in the third."
VOL I. 3
v/
34 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1763.
of independence. During that time he had carried his art and in
dustry so far as to reach every rising genius in the New England
seminaries, employed his utmost abilities to fix in their minds the
principles of American independency, and now triumphed in his
success."
A learned commentator on this authority, who thoroughly
\ ^ understood the character of Samuel Adams, asserted that
he was " no boaster, but a polite gentleman of modest car
riage."
His reputation as a political manager was acquired at
this epoch, and it was now that he laid the foundation of
the public confidence and esteem which introduced him to
those positions where his talents and abilities were largely
enjoyed by his country. In matters of public interest he
was always prominent in deliberation and debate. Indeed,
it would be inconsistent with probability to suppose that
with his entrance into the Legislature in 1765 began the
leadership he then exercised, or that his agency in conduct
ing the affairs of the town commenced at that date. The
historian Bradford, writing from a personal acquaintance
with him, says " he had great influence with his fellow-
townsmen for some years before he went into the General
Court, which was in 1765."
During the religious controversy on the Episcopacy, in
which the Rev. Dr. Apthorp and the celebrated Dr. Mayhew
were opposed to each other, Samuel Adams is said to have
written a pamphlet in which the whole subject is considered.
John Adams says, in a letter to Mr. Niles :
" To form a judgment of this debate, I beg leave to refer to a
view of the whole printed at the time, and written by Samuel
Adams, though by some very absurdly and erroneously ascribed to
Mr. Apthorp. If I am not greatly mistaken, it will be found a
model of candor, sagacity, and impartiality, and close, correct rea
soning." *
* There are reasons for believing that Samuel Adams was not the author of
this pamphlet, and that he probably did not enter into the controversy at any
1763.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 35
Adams does not appear to have aspired to any public office
until 1763, when he became one of the tax collectors. The
same year, in May, his name appears on the town records,
as one of the selectmen who reported on the visitation of
schools. In the prosecution of his duties, he was brought
into frequent communication with all classes of his fellow-
time. John Adams, in the above brief allusion (Works, X. 288), is the only
authority for attributing it to his kinsman. Careful but as yet unsuccessful
search has been made for such a review by Samuel Adams, not only in public
libraries and among the most complete collections of pamphlets in America, but
also in the British Museum, the Oxford libraries, and that of the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel, where everything relating to the Society has been
zealously gathered for more than a century.
The author lately applied to Mr. John Langdon Sibley, the Librarian of Har
vard College, to renew the search which had been made in that library several
years before. Mr. Sibley very kindly undertook the task in person, and has
traced the subject to what seems to be a satisfactory conclusion. In the Cat
alogue of the Library, the work is thus noted : " Adams, Samuel. On the
Conduct of the Society for Propagating the Gospel. 8vo. Lond. 1765." As
euch a pamphlet by Samuel Adams had never been seen by any of the pres
ent generation, the inference was, either that it had long since been taken
from the library and never returned, or that the production of some other
person had been attributed to him. The original manuscript from which
the Catalogue was printed was now hunted up ; and here was found, marked
by the compiler, a query as to the probable author, Apthorp or Adams.
This manuscript expressly refers to Volume II. of the " Mayhew Controversy,"
consisting of a bound collection of pamphlets on this subject, presented to the
library by Thomas Hollis about the year 1768. In this collection, the pam
phlet in question is found. It is an octavo, printed in London in 1765, and
entitled, "A Review of Dr. Mayhew s Remarks on the Answer to his Ob
servations on the Charter and Conduct of the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel in Foreign Parts. By East Apthorp, M. A." That this is the work
to which the compiler of the Catalogue had reference is shown by his pencil
notes specifying the volume and page in Hollis s collection above mentioned.
But notwithstanding the fact that the title-page shows Apthorp to have been
the author, the compiler plainly was in doubt as to crediting it to him. This
hesitancy was apparently owing to some statement he had heard, ascribing it
to Samuel Adams, and which finally induced him to so place it in the Cata
logue. That authority may have been John Adams, who often visited the Li
brary and took great interest in its welfare, and who probably repeated there
the substance of what has been above quoted, written in 1818, more than
half a century after the time of the controversy, and when the writer had not
the pamphlet before him, and trusted to memory in making the assertion. Had
86 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1763.
townsmen, and passed much of his time in political con
verse with them. So prominent did he become by his de
cided opinions, which then became widely disseminated,
that the royalists derisively styled him, in allusion to his
office, " Samuel the Publican." His wisdom, integrity,
political knowledge procured him the respect and con
fidence of the people. His counsel was frequently asked,
and freely given to all, on questions of difficulty personally
interesting to them ; and it has come direct from his daugh
ter, that controversies among his neighbors were often si
lenced by submitting the subjects in dispute to his decision,
from which appeals were seldom made. The office of tax
collector was at that time generally given to gentlemen
who had seen better days. Adams had by this time little
remaining beyond the homestead for the protection of which
from seizure he had battled for years past. Eliot, who was
personally acquainted with him, and familiar with the events
of his life, says that at this period he was so reduced that
" he received assistance from his private friends, and from
many others who knew him only as a spirited partisan in
the cause of liberty," * and that he was then " one of the
best writers in the newspapers."
Mr. Adams appears to have been unsuccessful in his of-
he possessed the work, he could not have fallen into the error, as the title-page
would have set at rest any question of authorship.
The evidences against its having been the work of Samuel Adams, and that
he never employed his pen at all in the controversy, may be thus summed up.
1. The pamphlet leans to the Episcopal side of the argument, and opposes Dr.
Mayhew, which Samuel Adams certainly would not have done. 2. The pam
phlet referred to in the Catalogue was published in London, but not as the re
print of a Boston edition. Had Samuel Adams been its author, it would have
appeared first in Boston. 3. It bears no resemblance in style to the composi
tions of Samuel Adams. 4. Apthorp went to England in 1764, and never re
turned to America. Being there when the pamphlet was printed, he would
not have allowed his own name to appear as the author of another s work. 5.
No other pamphlet or newspaper publication resembling the one in question has
been found bearing the title indicated, or having the style of Samuel Adams,
which no one familiar with his writings could ever mistake.
* Biographical Dictionary. 1809.
1764.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 37
ficial duties, owing partly to his humane disposition, which
prevented him from pressing delinquents, butjmrjicjulaxly to
the embarrassed financial condition of the Province, which
rendered it impossible for many to meet the public demands.
The general distress was also increased by the alarming spread
of the small-pox in the winter and spring of 1764, causing
many of the inhabitants to fly the town. Numbers of mer
chants and traders removed their goods into the country,
and business for some months was paralyzed. The several
tax collectors were thus thrown in arrears, and with no
prospect of being able to square their accounts. At the elec
tion in March, 1764, Mr. Adams declined serving again, al
though elected by a large majority, but he was finally induced
to continue in office, and during this year he attempted to
collect the arrearages in his district, but the experiment
only involved him deeper, and the uncollected amount was
increased. In the following year (1765), a committee was
appointed to examine into the state of the treasury, who
reported that the several collectors of taxes appeared by the
Treasurer s books to be indebted to the town ninety-eight
hundred and seventy-eight pounds, divided between John
Ruddock, Samuel Adams, Jonathan Payson, John Grant,
and Thomas Satter. What measures the others took to ar
range their difficulties is not known. Mr. Adams pub
lished the following notice :
" Those of the inhabitants of this town who are indebted to the
subscriber for their taxes for any year past are desired forthwith
to discharge them, or they may depend upon the steps of the law
being taken, without distinction of persons ; the present circum
stances of the town being such as to make any further indulgence
utterly inconsistent with the duty of their
" Humble servant,
"SAMUEL ADAMS."*
At the next election all the collectors were re-elected, but
unanimously refused to serve. f Four days later, Messrs.
* Boston Gazette, 20th May, 1765. t Boston Town Records.
38 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765.
Payson and Satter accepted; but Mr. Adams steadily
and properly declined to sacrifice his peace of mind to the
necessities of the public. Efforts were made by his ene
mies for three or four years afterwards to hold him, and
two others of the five collectors, responsible for the uncol-
lected sums. The subject was brought up at town meet
ings ; and in March, 1768, an attempt, by a body of Tories,
who had evidently assembled for the purpose of crushing
Adams, was voted down " by a great majority." At a sub
sequent town meeting, the people refused to hear the list
of uncollected taxes read, and, by " a very great major
ity," he was finally discharged from all liability.* The
Tories, glad of any pretext on which to malign the patriot,
rung the changes on this tax-collecting affair at every op
portunity, distorting the facts, and attempting to blacken
his character; but the calumny only recoiled upon them
selves. Hutchinson, as it afterwards appeared, did not fail
to add this to his other malignant representations in his
secret letters to the government in England, and in his His
tory of Massachusetts he gravely calls it a " defalcation." f
* Boston Town Kecords.
t Examination of every statute upon the subject, from the earliest times
under the Province Charter of 1692 down to. 1785, will show that no
sureties were ever required of tax collectors by any law of the Province
during that period. It is quite certain that neither Samuel Adams nor any
other collector of taxes of his time, either in Boston or in any other town
of the Province, ever gave sureties or surety for the performance of the duty
of collector. Bonds by collectors of taxes, with sureties, are of much later ori
gin. The stringent provisions of law during that period to urge collectors of
taxes up to a punctual and vigorous execution of their duties, by necessary im
plication, show that they had no sureties ; for, besides liability to suit and pen
alties attached, &c., an act was passed at the November session, 1736, of the
General Court, that if collectors of town taxes neglected to collect the taxes
committed to them for collection, and pay the same in to the town treasurer,
within one month after the time provided in and by the warrant to them di
rected for the purpose, the town treasurer was empowered to issue a warrant to
the sheriff of the county, who was empowered and directed thereby to cause
the sum not paid in by the collector to be levied by distress and sale of the
real and personal estate of the collector.
That law was revived and continued from time to time, and kept always in
1760.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 39
In August, 1760, Governor Pownall was succeeded by
Francis Bernard. The new official was received with due
parade, and, being met at Dedham by Lieutenant-Governor
Hutchinson, was escorted to the Province House, the resi
dence of the Colonial Governors. Bernard was educated
at Oxford, and bred to the law. He had been two years
force until June 23d, 1770. The idea of a surety by a collector of taxes is not
even hinted at by any statute until long after the year 1785.
Under the statutes prior to 1785, every person elected as collector of taxes
was bound under the penalty of a fine to take the prescribed oath and perform
the duties of the office, all the excuse being that he was not obliged to serve
but one year in seven.
There was always great difficulty in collecting taxes in Provincial times,
owing to the scarcity of money among the people. But in the year 1763
there was unusual difficulty in Boston. Thus at the adjourned session of the
General Court, which assembled on the 27th day of December, 1763, the Se
lectmen of Boston petitioned the General Court to provide a remedy for their
collectors of taxes in particular, on account of the insufficiency of the law
for Boston, as it then stood. On the next day (Dec. 28th, 1763), a bill was
read the first time, entitled, " An Act to enable the Collectors of Taxes in the Town
of Boston to sue for and recover the Rates and Taxes given them to collect in certain
Cases."
The preamble of the statute, following the title, is in these words, viz. :
" Whereas, notwithstanding the provision already made by the laws of
this Province respecting constables and collectors of taxes, it is represented
that in many cases there may be a failure, and the town of Boston have
humbly desired that remedy may be provided for their collectors in those
coses."
The act then goes on to provide, in Sect. 1, that when any person duly
taxed in Boston had absconded, or should abscond, not having paid his taxes,
and had concealed his goods and estate, the collectors of Boston should have
like remedy against the agents, factors, or trustees of such absconding person,
to recover the taxes assessed against such absconding person, as by law cred
itors have for the recovery of their debts.
The second section provides that where any person taxed in Boston had
died before paying his tax, or removed to some other town, or where any
feme sole duly taxed had married before paying her tax, or where the collectors
(the time for them to pay in having elapsed) had paid the whole sum com
mitted to them to collect, in all such cases, the collectors of Boston might
sue the person so assessed, and have the like remedy as other creditors have
for recovering their proper debts.
This act was read a second and third time on the 29th day of December,
40 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1760.
Governor of New Jersey when transferred to Massachusetts.
He commenced his administration under favorable auspices,
but he failed to appreciate or understand the people among
whom his lot had been cast; and his name, as that of a
secret enemy to the liberties of America, was ever after
detested by the patriots. On his arrival, the Assembly
granted him a liberal salary of thirteen hundred pounds
1763, and passed to be engrossed, and sent tip to the Council Board for concur
rence ; and in the third section, it was provided that the act should be in force
from and after the first day of February, in the year 1764, viz. for two years
and two months only.
Those acquainted with political and party strife, and the relation in which
Samuel Adams and Governor Hutchinson stood to each other, will not attach
importance to what the latter said of the former.
That in those exciting times some complication may have existed in the
accounts of the treasurer of Boston with Samuel Adams and his co-collectors
is very probable. The confusion of the times for a considerable period pre
ceding the Eevolutionary war, and during that war, and for some time after,
probably prevented a formal auditing of those accounts until it became im
possible.
Against the attack upon Samuel Adams in relation to the matter of the
collection of taxes, we may safely invoke the great weight of his personal
character. What is character good for, unless it protects the reputation of a
person in a single case of accusation without proof in a long lifetime ?
Against that accusation it is sufficient that the town of Boston and the
House of Representatives of the Province testified contemporaneously in the
strongest manner. Would the town of Boston, in September, 1765, have
elected a defaulting collector to fill the vacancy in their representation in the
Legislature, occasioned by the death of the famous Oxenbridge Thacher ?
Would our House of Representatives, on the third day after his becoming a
member, have made a defaulting collector the chairman of the committee to
present to Governor Bernard the answer to his message on the subject of the
stamped paper that had just then arrived in the Province ? Does that answer,
most palpably drafted by " the last of the Puritans," savor of the mind of a de
faulting collector 1 ? This subject may be dismissed by putting in evidence
against the aspersion by Hutchinson the unanimous declaration of our General
Court, both House and Council Board, on the seventh day of November, 1776,
in the preamble to the act changing the name of the town then called
Hutchinson to what it is now, Barre.
That act cannot be safely abridged ; and as it disposes of the character of
Hutchinson as a witness against BO great a political opponent as Samuel
Adams, it is copied entire.
1760.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 41
per annum, and presented him with the island of Mount
Desert on the coast of Maine. This gratified his avarice,
but he remained a hidden foe to the Province. When the
troubles with the mother country commenced, he was un
wearied in his efforts for the subversion of the Colonial
charter, though he constantly professed the contrary. His
letters subsequently revealed that he was a persistent advo-
" An Act for discontinuing the name of a Town in the County of Worcester, lately
incorporated by the name of Hutchinson t and calling the same Barre.
" Whereas the inhabitants of the town of Hutchinson have by their petition
represented to this Court that in June, 1774, when the said town was incorpo
rated, General Gage, the then Governor, gave it the name of Hutchinson, in
honor to, and to perpetuate the memory of, Thomas Hutchinson, his immediate
predecessor in the chair of government, whom they justly style the well-
known enemy of the natural and stipulated rights of America ; and that, at a
town meeting notified for that purpose, they voted unanimously to petition, and
accordingly have petitioned, the General Court, that the name of the said town
might be altered, and that it might no longer bear the disgraceful name of
Hutchinson ;
" And whereas there is a moral fitness that traitors and parricides, especially
such as have remarkably distinguished themselves in that odious character,
and have long labored to deprive their native country of its most valuable
rights and privileges, and to destroy every Constitutional guard against the
evils of an all-enslaving despotism, should be held up to public view in their
true characters, to be execrated by mankind, and that there should remain
no other memorials of them than such as will transmit their names with in
famy to posterity ;
" And whereas the said Thomas Hutchinson, contrary to every obligation of
duty and gratitude to this his native country, which raised him from private
life to the highest and most lucrative offices in the government, has acted
towards her the part of a traitor and parricide, as above described, which has
been clearly manifested to the world by his letters lately published ; and by his
having thus acted, it has become fit and just that every honorable memorial of
him should be obliterated and cease : therefore,
" Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the State of
Massachusetts Bay in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the
same, that the land lying in the County of Worcester, formerly called Rutland
District, and in June, 1774, incorporated into a town by the name of Hutch
inson, shall no more bear that name, but henceforth shall be called and known
Dy the name of Barre, the aforesaid incorporating act notwithstanding. And
all officers in the said town shall hold and exercise their offices respectively, in
the same manner as they would have done had not the name of the said town
been altered."
42 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1760.
cate for bringing troops to Boston. He was vain, fretful,
timid, passionate, easily offended, and possessed of little
dignity of character. The officers of the army contemned
him for his cowardice and duplicity, and the people hated
and despised him.
CHAPTER II.
Schemes to tax the Colonies. Writs of Assistance. Eloquence of James
Otis The Sugar Act. Efforts to procure its Eepeal. Adams draughts
the Boston Instructions in 1764. The Right of Parliament to tax the
Colonies first publicly denied ; and a general Union of the Colonies recom
mended. Character and Influence of Adams. His Second Marriage.
His Opinions on the Taxation Question. The Legislature follow the
Boston Instructions. The Stamp Act. Renewed Paiiiamentary Debates.
Noble Oratory of Colonel Barre. Reception of the News in Boston.
Public Indignation and Violence. Adams drafts the Boston Instruc
tions in 1765. The New York Congress.
I WITH the termination of the French war arrived the
/ eventful period when the Stamp duty, by which the British
government proposed to raise a revenue from the Colonies
without their having a representation in Parliament, aroused
the Americans from the condition of peaceful and generally
contented subjects to exasperated assertors of the rights
sacredly guaranteed by charter. The freedom and prerog-
alive parties, including on either side the ablest men in
^ Massachusetts, were arrayed on the issues of the relation
between the Colonies and Great Britain. The first notable
question was on the validity of the writs of assistance, which
enabled officers of the customs to forcibly enter dwellings
and stores to search for any contraband goods supposed
to be concealed there. A petition being sent by an officer
to the Superior Court for one of these writs, legal excep
tions were taken, and James Otis, a man who thenceforth
took a leading part in the support of the liberties of his
country, appeared for the Bostonians against Gridley, the
King s Attorney. Oxenbridge Thacher was also engaged
for the people, and preceded Otis with an argument to prove
that the practice of the Exchequer was not good ground
44 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1758-63.
for that court, and that the required seizures were wanton
exercises of power. James Otis electrified his audience by
a speech, denouncing the writs as instruments of slavery on
the one hand, and villany on the other. The orator spoke
for four hours, and was remembered by John Adams as " a
flame of fire." " The child Independence," he says, " was
then and there born. Every man of an immense crowded
audience appeared to me to go away as I did, ready to take
up arms against writs of assistance."
The speech of Otis spurred the people of Boston to the
first acts of resistance ; but as yet their unwavering loyalty
to the mother country remained intact. There were few in
deed who ventured to conjecture such a state of affairs as
should lead to a separation. During thirty years, occasional
popular commotions, such as followed the writs of assistance,
had occurred, and had subsided with the moving cause.
That the events of 1761 indirectly led on to those of the
Revolution cannot be denied. The inhabitants were aroused
by the nearness of the danger, but the struggle did not
commence there. The argument of Otis, brilliant, logical,
and flaming, was not the prologue of the great drama,
for it did not then begin. The American Revolution was
caused by, and opened with, the revenue acts. The direct
issue in that struggle was the raising of a revenue from
the Colonies without their consent, and without their being
represented in Parliament. Independence was gained in
consequence of the assertion of the right of unconditional
taxation by Parliament, whence grew in regular sequence
every phase in the ten years of controversy with the royal
governors preceding the war. It was not until 1765 that
the Stamp Act passed and received the royal assent, and the
Revolution was born with the popular resistance to that
measure and the acts of 1763.
In 1763, the Colonial agent at London, Mr. Mauduit, noti
fied the Assembly that the act passed in the sixth year of
George II., for securing the trade of the sugar Colonies, would
1763.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 45
shortly expire, and would be revived with alterations of a
more stringent nature, The news of the projected Stamp
Act was also received, and the whole country was alive with
apprehension. Early in the year, the House, through their
committee, instructed the agent to endeavor to procure the
repeal of the obnoxious Sugar Act, and to exert himself to
prevent the passage of the Stamp Act, " or any other impo
sitions or taxes upon this or the other American Colonies ";
and before the adjournment it was proposed to choose an
other agent to act in concert with Mr. Mauduit in remon
strating with the ministry. Mr. Hutchinson received almost
the unanimous vote, but the House soon after changed their
views of his fitness fbr the office. This is believed to have
turned him from the position he then held, to an ardent sup
porter of the measures of the government ; and in his manu
script correspondence is found a letter, written about that
time, in which he deemed it " a high delinquency towards
Heaven if he afforded countenance to any cause longer than
it was favored by fortune."
The first public opposition in America to Parliamentary
schemes of taxation was made in Massachusetts. Though
Virginia has always claimed that honor through her illus
trious son, Patrick Henry, the " alarm bell " was earliest
rung in Boston by Samuel Adams, who preceded the Vir
ginia patriot a year.*
* See Grahame s United States, II. 388. See also Arnold s History of
Rhode Island, II. 254. " The suggestion of a general union for this object
first emanated from the town of Boston. It is contained in the instructions to
their Representatives at the General Court in May, drawn up by Samuel Adams,
and adopted by that body in a memorial prepared by James Otis, to be sent to
the agents in England." Wirt, in his admirable, but somewhat imaginative
biography of Patrick Henry, overlooks this fact, which he doubtless would
have recorded had it been brought to his notice. Patrick Henry himself seems
to have been ignorant of the decided stand taken by the people of Boston a
year before his celebrated resolutions were written. Among his papers was
found a copy of this document, on the envelope of which he had fondly in
scribed, with his own hand : " The within resolutions passed the House of
Burgesses, May, 1765. They formed the first opposition to the Stamp Act,
V
46 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1764.
The spring elections of 1764 having arrived, a committee
in town meeting was appointed to prepare instructions by
which the newly elected Representatives were to be guided
during the year s legislation. The committee chose Samuel
Adams, one of their number, to draft the report, which he
submitted to the inhabitants assembled at Faneuil Hall on
the 24th of May. The original autograph still exists among
his papers.
After reminding the Representatives that the people had
delegated to them the power of acting in their public con
cerns in general, with the right of instructing them upon
particular matters, he continues :
" We, therefore, your constituents, take this opportunity to declare
our just expectations from you ;
" That you will constantly use your power and influence in main
taining the invaluable rights and privileges of the Province, of which
this town is so great a part, as well those rights which are derived
to us by the royal charter, as those which, being prior to, and in
dependent of it, we hold essentially as free-born subjects of Great
Britain.
" That you will endeavor, as far as you will be able, to preserve
that independence in the House of Representatives which character
izes a free people, and the want of which may, in a great measure,
prevent the happy effects of a free government ; cultivating, as you
shall have opportunity, that harmony and union there which is ever
desirable to good men when founded in principles of virtue and
public spirit; and guarding against any undue weight which may
tend to disadjust the critical balance upon which our happy Constitu
tion and the blessings of liberty do depend. ,
and the scheme of taxing America by the British Parliament. All the Colo
nies, either through fear or want of opportunity to form an opposition, or
from influence of some other kind, had remained silent." The instructions were
the signal which first called for combined action against an act of tyranny, the
legality of which they were the earliest to deny. Bradford, in his History of
Massachusetts, does not overlook the fact. He says : " In these patriotic meas
ures to resist the encroachment of arbitrary power, the citizens of Boston seem
to have been the first. They instructed their Representatives in May, 1764."*
See also Bancroft, V. 194 - 200.
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1764.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 47
"As you represent a town which lives by its trade, we expect
that in every particular manner you make it the object of your
attention to support our commerce in all its just rights, to vindicate
it from all unreasonable impositions, and promote its prosperity.
Our trade has for a long time labored under great discouragements,
and it is with the deepest concern we see such further difficulty
coming upon it as will reduce it to the lowest ebb, if not totally
obstruct and ruin it. We cannot help expressing our surprise thatj
when so early notice was given by the agent of the intentions of 1
the ministry to burden us with new taxes, so little regard was had
to this most interesting matter that the Court was not even called
together to consult about it till the latter end of the year, the con
sequence of which was that instructions could not be sent to the
agent, though solicited by him, till the evil had got beyond an easy
remedy. There is no more room for delay. We therefore expect
that you will use your earliest endeavors in the General Assembly
that such methods may be taken as will effectually prevent these
proceedings against us. By proper representation, we apprehend
it may easily be made to appear that such severity will prove detri
mental to Great Britain itself; upon which account we have reason
to hope that an application even for a repeal of the act, should it be
already passed, will be successful. It is the trade of the Colonies
that renders them beneficial to the mother country. Our trade as
it is now, and always has been conducted, centres in Great Britain ;
and in return for her manufactures affords her more ready cash, be
yond any comparison, than can possibly be expected by the most
sanguine promoters of these most extraordinary methods. We are,
in short, ultimately yielding large supplies to the revenues of the
mother country, while we are laboring for a very moderate subsist
ence for ourselves. But if our trade is to be curtailed in its most
profitable branches, and burdens beyond all possible bearing are
levied upon that which is suffered to remain, we shall be so far from
being able to take off the manufactures of Great Britain, that it
will be scarcely possible for us to earn our bread.
" But what still heightens our apprehensions is, that these unex
pected proceedings may be preparatory to more extensive taxations
upon us. For if our trade may be taxed, why not our lands?
Why not the produce of our lands, and in short everything we pos
sess or make use of? This, we apprehend, annihilates our charter-
48 LIFE OF SAMUFJ, ADAMS. [1764.
rights to govern and tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privi
leges, which, as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common
with our fellow-subjects who are natives of Britain. If taxes are
laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal representation
where they are laid, are we not reduced from the character of sub
jects to the miserable state of tributary slaves ? [We_claim Brit
ish rights not by charter only. They belong to us as well a& to-our
fellow-subjects in Great Britain, and we depend upon you to main
tain and assert them.*]
" We therefore earnestly recommend it to you to use your utmost
endeavors to obtain in the General Assembly all necessary instruc
tions to our agent at this most critical juncture, that while he is
setting forth the unshaken loyalty of this Province and this town,
its unrivalled exertions in supporting his Majesty s government and
rights in this part of his dominions, its acknowledged dependence
upon, and submission to Great Britain, and the ready submission of
its merchants to all just and necessary regulations of trade, he may
be able in the most humble and pressing manner to remonstrate for
us all those rights and privileges which justly belong to us either
by charter or birth.
" As his Majesty s other North American Colonies are embarked
with us in this most important bottom, we further desire you to use
your endeavors that their weight may be added to that of this Prov
ince ; that by the united applications of all who are aggrieved, all
may obtain redress."
This is the earliest public document written by Samuel
Adams, of which any traces remain ; but there can be no
question that his pen was often engaged for such purposes,
and that he was often consulted by the members of the
House of Representatives, and assisted largely in devising its
measures, as well as in preparing the drafts of state papers for
that body before his election to it. {The Instructions form
an important landmark in American history, as containing
the first public denial of the right of the British Parliament
to tax the Colonists without their consent ; and the first sug-
* This passage in the original draft seems to have been rejected by the meet
ing at which the instructions were adopted, as it does not appear in the Town
Records.
1764.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 49
gestion of a union of the Colonies for redress of griev
ances. > They were published in a few days after their adop
tion, and circulated through the continent as the avowed
sentiments of Boston, and virtually of Massachusetts. The
important position is also taken, that the Judges are de
pendent for their support upon the General Assembly ;
an appeal is made for unrestricted trade ; with a direct hint
that, if the burdens imposed upon it are not removed, the
result must prove detrimental to Great Britain, by a con
sequent decrease in the consumption of English manufac
tures. These principles, the germs of those which after
wards constituted the great issues of the Revolution, had
long been immovably fixed in the author s mind.
The effect of the instructions was immediate. They be- X
came the basis of the Provincial policy ; and as speaking the
wishes of the people, their injunctions were at once acted
upon by the Legislature, which assembled in June. One of
these requirements wasifchat a letter of instructions be sent
to the agent in London, setting forth the loyalty of the Prov
ince to all just and necessary regulations of trade, and di
recting him to vindicate the rights and privileges belonging
to the people by charter or by birth. A memorial was
consequently drawn up by James Otis, and adopted, in
which the House asks, using nearly the words of Mr. Ad
ams, " If all the Colonies are to be taxed at pleasure, with
out any representative in Parliament, what will there be to
distinguish them in point of liberty from the subjects of
the most absolute prince ? "
One more measure remained to be taken. The instruc
tions had recommended a concert of action with the sister
Colonies in an application to the ministry for "a "redress of
grievances. The members from Boston made this a por
tion of their duties ; and on the day following the adoption
of the letter to the agent, June 14th, a committee was
appointed to correspond with the several Assemblies on the
continent, who were invited to use their united efforts to
- Y0L. I. 4
50 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1764.
protect their essential rights.* This was the first plan to
unite the Colonies in opposition to Parliamentary oppres
sion, f It originated with Samuel Adams, ) who had the ,
satisfaction of seeing all his plans in successful operation.X
" To him," says one who personally knew his agency in
public actions, " is the nation indebted for the idea of
assembling the first Congress at New York, which led, ten
years afterwards, to the Continental Congress, and finally
to the union and confederation of the Provinces.":): During
the month of June, James Otis and Oxenbridge Thacher
had published respectively their pamphlets, the first the
" Rights of the Colonies," and the second the " Senti
ments of a British American." The former the House
adopted as their own, and ordered it to be sent to the
agent in England, who was " to make the best use of it in
his power, with the addition of such arguments as his good
sense should suggest." The House had hardly time to
accomplish what they had probably preconcerted, when the
Governor prorogued the Assembly.
Throughout the glimmer the Legislature remained pro
rogued. The Governor had said at the last session that he
did not intend calling another until winter ; but the call
was made for October, when the House, having convened,
* After the sitting of the New York Congress in the following year, which
was the offspring of this measure, Mr. Adams had occasion to write to the
patriot Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina, to whom he says, referring
to that union of the Colonies : " Happy was it for us that a union was then
formed upon which, in my humble opinion, the fate of the Colonies turned.
What a blessing to us has the Stamp Act eventually, or, to use a trifling word,
virtually proved, which was calculated to enslave and ruin us. When the Colo
nies saw the common danger, they at the same time saw their mutual depend
ence, and mutually called in the assistance of each other ; and I dare say such
friendships and connections are established between them as shall for the future
deter the most virulent enemy from making another open attack upon their
rights as men and subjects."
t Journal of the House of Representatives for June, 1765. Compare Gra-
name s History, II. 388.
J Sketch in Sanderson s Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Indepen
dence. Compare Bancroft s History, V. 198-200.
1764.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 51
again made the Boston Instructions the groundwork of
their proceedings by petitioning the King, Lords, and
Commons "for a repeal of the Sugar Act." This address
had been prepared before the session, and was brought in
by Oxenbridge Thacher. Samuel Adams probably had a
hand in drafting it. Bradford, in his sketch of him, says :
" Before he was a member, he had great influence with
the committees appointed to prepare state papers, and
took the lead in the proceedings of the town relating to
public affairs." * It is certain that in two different state
papers of the following year, he referred to this remonstrance
as subsequently amended for the House by the pen of
Hutchinson ; and very soon after, in a letter to Richard
Jackson, again deplores the tardiness of the agent in not
presenting the petition and pursuing it with proper vigor.
Hutchinson seems to suspect the hand of the author of the
Boston Instructions, for he says that the original address
was in substance conformable to that paper.f Elbridge
Gerry, a few years before his death, stated that he had heard
a member of the Legislature in the early days of the Revolu
tion assert that Samuel Adams was always consulted, as a
matter of course, by committees appointed to draft papers
for the House, for some years before he became a member
of that body, and that some of these were entirely from his
pen. No copy of the address, as originally drafted, has
been preserved.
The influence of Adams s vigorous will was now experi
enced and acknowledged. The few facts which can be gath-
* History of Massachusetts. Hutchinson, III. 133, says : "Mr. Adams had
for several years been an active man in the town of Boston, always on the side
of liberty, and was the reputed author of many of the publications in favor of it."
t The answer of the House to the Governor s address, at the opening of this
session, suggested, in the original draft, that the Colonies would be obliged to
manufacture for themselves, which would soon operate to the injury of the Brit
ish manufacturers. This was rejected by the House, and does not appear in the
printed journal. Yet after all the modifications which the first draft underwent,
the resemblance to the Boston Instructions is remarkable.
52 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1764.
ered of his public actions at this time, though vague and
unsatisfactory, are sufficient to portray him as the most active
politician of the country. His contemporaries, Otis and
Thacher, and several of lesser note in the House, divided
with him the public confidence ; and of Otis it is true that
/ none wielded an equal power over the multitude in public
harangue or in the debates of the Assembly. But Adams,
by his superior will and command over his passions, the ac
knowledged sincerity of his character, and a genial address,
which was natural and enabled him to convince and per
suade, stood in advance of all others ; while in his political
creed, he was the embodiment of the most practical opposi
tion to government measures. The honor of originating
measures forming the basis of the Colonial policy was of no
importance in his estimation compared to the great results
to which he looked forward. The time was now at hand
for the infusion of his energetic, commanding spirit into
the Assembly, by his immediate presence as one of their
number.
Attention to public affairs so engrossed his time as to leave
him but little leisure for his private business, of which, how
ever, the proceeds were sufficient for the maintenance of his
children in a respectable rank in society, and to give them
the best education the times admitted. He superintended
their instruction with great care, and by precept and exam
ple endeavored to impress their minds with correct moral
principles. He had the pleasure of knowing that they were
esteemed and loved. Both became the pride of his man
hood ; and though his son, Dr. Adams, was cut off in the
prime of life, after the Revolution, his daughter lived to be
the solace of his declining years, and ministered at his
death-bed.
An intimate friend of his father had been Francis Wells,
Esq., an English merchant, who, as his own record states,
arrived in his ship, " y e Hampstead Galley," from London,
with his family and possessions, in August, 1723, and settled
1764.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 53
in Boston. Mr. Adams married Elizabeth, the fifth daughter \
of Mr. Wells, for his second wife, on the 6th of December, \
1764. She was then twenty-four years of age, a lady of en
gaging manners, amiable disposition, and in point of educa
tion well qualified to become the companion of her husband.
An excellent housewife, she eked out by her close economy
their small income, so that few comforts were wanting.
Through all the darkened periods of the Revolution, with
the attendant privations and sufferings, she nobly seconded
her husband in his patriotic efforts, and to their latest days
their mutual relations were a model of tender love and affec
tion. Their residence was still in Purchase Street, where
the family lived until the occupation of the city by the
British troops in 1774. The house was partially destroyed
by the soldiers at the time of the evacuation.
In his family, Samuel Adams was a delightful and enter
taining companion. His cheerful temper, which never de
sponded, shed a perpetual sunshine of happiness upon those
about him ; and his intimacy was valued by his acquaintances
as much for these qualities as for his counsel and sagacity in ^J
public affairs. Though a stern and uncompromising oppo
nent to tyranny, and ever presenting an undaunted front in
his ceaseless warfare against schemes of oppression, he could
unbend among his friends and with his family. Bancroft
introduces him in 1764 with a just and splendid tribute to
his greatness of character.
" He was a tender husband, an affectionate parent, and relaxing
from severer cares, he could vividly enjoy the delights of conversa
tion with friends ; but the walls of his modest mansion never wit
nessed dissipation or levity or frivolous amusements, or anything
inconsistent with the discipline of the man whose incessant prayer
was that l Boston might become a Christian Sparta.
" He was at this time near forty-two years of age, poor, and so con
tented with poverty that men censured him as * wanting wisdom to
estimate riches at their just value.
54 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1764.
" But he was frugal and temperate ; and his prudent and industrious
wife, endowed with the best qualities of a New England woman,
knew how to work with her own hands, so that the small resources,
which men of the least opulent class would have deemed a very
imperfect support, were sufficient for his simple wants. Yet such
was the union of dignity with economy, that whoever visited him
saw around him every circumstance of propriety. Above all, he
combined with poverty a stern and incorruptible integrity." *
Mr. Bancroft quotes the former Lord Ashburton, who
gave him an account of his dining with Samuel Adams in
Boston.
Familiar letters often reveal the disposition of the writer
more truthfully than studied compositions intended for the
eye of the world. The following epistle, written fifteen
months after his second marriage, illustrates to some extent
the foregoing remarks upon his " home character." It was
in reply to his friend William Checkley, a relative of his
first wife:
BOSTON, March 16, 1766.
DEAR SIR : I received your letter of the 6th instant with the
greater satisfaction, as it brought me intelligence of your having
taken some resolutions which I cannot but flatter myself will greatly
add to your future happiness in life. Believe me, my friend, I wish
I could persuade all the agreeable bachelors to think so, there
are social joys in honest wedlock which single life is a stranger to.
You will allow me to be a tolerably good judge, having had experi
ence of each in double turns. You have so long been intimate with
Miss Cranston before you made a formal address to her, that I make
no doubt your choice of her is well made. I have a good opinion
of the young lady, without the pleasure of an acquaintance with her ;
and it is grounded on the opinion I have long had of your judgment
and integrity. Without flattery, I believe you would hardly have
made proposals of marriage to any lady who had not those ac
complishments which will always make a man of integrity and
virtue happy. May the best of Heaven s blessings attend you both.
I somewhere met with a couplet which impressed my mind in early
life.
* Bancroft, V. 194.
1765.J LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 55
" Sure is the knot Religion ties,
And Love, well bounded, never dies."
Pray present my own and Betsy s kind respects to your fair one,
and be assured nothing that in the least regards your welfare can be
a matter of indifference to either of us.
Adieu,
SAM. ADAMS.
March 24th.
I received this moment yours of the 22d. Should have forwarded
this per post had he not been interrupted last week. Am now at
the wedding-house, Deacon Hill s.
Yours,
MR. WILLIAM CHECKLEY. S * A *
Early in 1765, Grenville brought forward his scheme of
taxation, and the American question was presented by the
King as involving " obedience to the laws, and respect for
the legislative authority of the kingdom." The Lords and
Commons responded with a determination to proceed with
that temper and firmness which " will best conciliate and in
sure due submission to the laws and reverence to the legisla
tive authority of Great Britain." The Prime Minister had
long been resolved upon raising a revenue from the Colo
nies to meet the demand for some new source of income ;
and when the resolutions were brought up, they were carried
by an overwhelming majority, despite the opposition of Barre,
Beckford, Conway, and Jackson. The generous spirit of
Barr shone conspicuously in his reply to Townshend, who
held that the Colonies had been " planted by our care,
nourished by our indulgence, and protected by our arms."
Barre refuted the assertions in detail in a burst of uncon
trollable eloquence. Concluding, he said :
" They protected by your arms ! They have nobly taken up arms
in your defence ; have exerted a valor amidst their constant and
laborious industry for the defence of a country whose frontier was
drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded all its little sav
ings to your emoluments; and believe me, remember I this day
* New England Hist, and Genealogical Eegister, VII. 45.
56 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765.
told you so, the same spirit of freedom which actuated that people
at first will accompany them still The people I believe are
as truly loyal as any subjects the King has ; but a people jealous of
their liberties, and who will vindicate them, if ever they should be
violated."
But the subject had been carefully considered, and the
few appeals in favor of the Colonies weighed as nothing
against the determination to impose the tax. The bill
passed the Commons in February, was agreed to by the
Lords in March, and received the royal assent in the same
month. The passage of the Stamp Act was the entering
wedge, the first of the series of measures which ended
British supremacy in the Colonies.
The opinions of Samuel Adams on the question of Parlia
mentary taxation, though found in his private correspond
ence and public writings towards the close of this year, are
more directly expressed in a political essay written a few
years later, referring to the period of which we are now
treating. The arguments will be found to cover the whole
ground of the controversy. A writer on the side of the
government had asserted and attempted to prove that Par
liament was warranted by law and justice in taxing the
Colonies. Mr. Adams replied in the organ of the patriots,
going back to the commencement of the dispute, and show
ing the illegality and injustice of the measure :
" It seems," says Mr. Adams, " to be generally agreed that every
man who is taxed has a right to be present in person or by his own
representative in the body which taxes him ; or, as Lord Camden has
expressed it, that taxation and representation are inseparable. A
man s property is the fruit of his industry ; and if it may be taken
from him under any pretence whatever, at the will of another, he
cannot be said to be free, for he labors like a bond slave, not for
himself, but for another. Or suppose his property comes by inheri
tance or free gift, it is absolutely his own ; and it cannot rightly be
taken from him without his consent. This I take to be the com
monly received opinion concerning liberty as regards taxation. And
it is moreover generally understood, that upon this opinion the
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 57
very being of a free government depends. The writer who signs
Z. T. in the two last Evening Posts, think it is very hard that he
and others should be treated with sneers and ridicule, and as ene
mies of their country, for not falling in with the commonly received
opinion of liberty and taxation ; but till he makes it appear that it
is not a just and very important opinion, he has no reason for his
complaint.
" He tells us that in the year 1764, it was proposed in Parliament
to tax the Colonies for the charge of their government and defence ;
and intimates the reason : The nation being then more than one
hundred and forty millions in debt, which was above sixty millions
more than it was the last year. I would ask this gentleman, whether
the old-settled Colonies, or particularly whether this Province, ever
put the nation to a farthing s expense for its government or defence
from the first settlement of it to this day ? If he can prove it ever
did, he will do that which no one has ever been able to do before ;
but if he cannot, and I presume he cannot, the reason he offers why
the Colonies, or particularly why this Province, should be obliged
to pay any part of the national debt is of no validity. But he seems
to be aware of this himself, and therefore advances another reason
why it was proposed that the Parliament should tax America, viz., to
defend the conquered provinces, which ought not to be left without
troops. And it was not reasonable that * England, after having run
so deeply in debt for acquiring them, should now tax itself for the
maintenance of them. But did England alone run deeply in debt in
conquering the French in America ? Did not the Colonies bear a
great share in the expense of it ? Undoubtedly. Why then should
not England tax herself at least for a part of the maintenance of
them ? Because great stability and security were given thereby to
all the American governments. Was Canada conquered then only
for the sake of giving stability and security to the American govern
ments ? Had Great Britain no view to her own profit ? to the ad
vancement of her own glory, the increase of her trade, and the
enlargement of her empire ? Has she not the sole advantage of the
trade, and the immense tracts of land which the Colonies helped her
to conquer ? And is it a sufficient reason why they should pay the
whole expense of defending these acquisitions, because stability and
security were given to them by means of the conquest, after they
had pushed their settlements to the infinite advantage of the mother
58 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765.
country at their own expense, and in continual wars with the French
and Indian enemies, some of them for a century and a half ? But
the plan is laid ; ten thousand troops must be kept up in America,
the charge of them only computed at two hundred and fifty thousand
pounds; and the charge of troops and government, three hundred
and fifty thousand pounds per annum ; and, considering the distress
of the nation, none could expect to prevail against a tax on the
Colonies. And further : l All that Mr. Grenville desired was,
that America would bear the charge of its own government and
defence. In pursuance of this plan, the Stamp Act, he tells us,
passed the House of Commons, but in complaisance to the Colonies,
and, as Mr. Grenville expressed it, to consult their ease, quiet, and
good will, it was hung up till the next year, to give them the oppor
tunity to pass it themselves, or some other equivalent. This, then,
was the state of the case : the House of Commons was resolved to
propose to the Colonies that they should tax themselves three hun
dred and fifty thousand pounds sterling a year for the maintenance
of ten thousand troops to be kept up in America, and for the sup
port of their own government (which they had always before honor
ably supported), or they would tax them by the passing the Stamp
Act ; and our writer, by way of question, expresses his surprise, that,
instead of l considering the distress of the nation, and the justness
of the demand, the legality of their right to tax us was disputed, and
we proceeded boldly to assert what we called our liberties. But he
ought to have shown that the Colonies could be said to be free in
either case supposed, nor in the one more than in the other ; and
until he does this, he cannot reasonably find fault with them for
thinking the proposed alternative a just occasion to awaken their
attention, and that it was high time for them boldly to assert what
they knew to be their indefeasible right, viz. to grant their aid with
a free consent and without constraint. I never yet heard it said,
that a man who had his purse demanded of him by a superior power
acted freely, though he delivered it with his own hand, instead of
waiting for it to be taken from him by force. His will and consent
cannot be at all concerned in the matter.
" Our writer tells us that the Stamp Act being hung up (in its
state of a bill) for a year might have favored us with time to plead
our cause ; and he doubts not but we might have been freed from
the greatest part of those charges. But does he not consider, that,
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 59
in pleading our cause, as he terms it, we implicitly put it in the
power of others to be the judges whether they shall tax us without
our consent ; for I do not find among the pleadings which he would
have us to make, there is anything that looks like a saving of our
rights. And supposing that, after having pleaded our cause in the
manner in which he would have had us to do it, we should not have
prevailed upon them to recede from their purpose of taxing us, if
we did not tax ourselves, would they not have done it with a much
better grace, and told us that we ought not surely to complain, since
in pleading our cause before them, we left it to their sole judgment
and decision whether they had not the right to tax us, or, which is
the same thing, oblige us to tax ourselves ; and they had determined
that they had the right. This, it must be owned, would have afforded
a happy precedent for all futurity.
" But this matter, it seems, was already determined ; for he tells
us that the Parliament, previous to the repeal, resolved that they
had a right to tax us. If his inference is that they really had the
right, because they resolved that they had, I shall only say that his
reasoning is much like that of a late letter-writer from London,
whose wonderful performance, if I mistake not, was inserted in all
our newspapers, who says., that, t when an act of Parliament is once
passed, it becomes a part of the Constitution. This at once, I con
fess, shuts the mouths of all Americans from complaining of revenue
acts, or any other acts of Parliament as unconstitutional ; for what
is an essential part of the Constitution, I think, cannot be unconsti
tutional.
" Our writer intimates very strongly, that the repeal of the Stamp
Act was a matter of favor rather than justice to the Colonies ; that
the act itself was the discipline of a tender and prudent parent ;
that the Colonies, in opposing it, discover the symptoms of distrac
tion ; that the repeal was derogatory to the honor of the Parliament,
but it was done to give the Colonies time to come to reason ; that,
instead of this, their obstinate temper, manifested by assuming and
insulting airs, has made troops necessary for the order of society.
All which, no doubt, entitles him to ministerial favor, with a pension
of two hundred a year, or at least a place under the right worship
ful American.
" After all, he acknowledges that there is a great deal of justice
and propriety in the case, that the subjects taxed should give their
60 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765.
consent by their representatives. But he fears that if our plea
stands good, that the Parliament cannot tax us now, it will hold
good at another time ; and therefore he would have had us, against
the time to come, when he supposes we may become equal to a
fourth part of the whole, to acknowledge that they had the right to
tax us for such sums as they shall think proper to demand of us ;
and if the matter had been thus stated and pleaded in a public
manner, he apprehends it would have influenced the people in the
Colonies to make a different choice of persons to represent them,
and things would have taken a different turn/ Perhaps it would
have pleased this writer if they had chosen persons who would have
given up the whole dispute about the right ; for I cannot see that
there is any difference, with regard to the right in question, between
the Americans consenting forever hereafter to tax themselves such
sums as the Parliament of Great Britain shall apportion them to
pay, and their consenting that the Parliament shall tax them as
well as apportion the sum. The mode of taxation in the one case
might have be,en allowed to the Americans, and that is generally
allowed even to an enemy in the case of military contribution ; but
the right of consenting to the taxation itself would be given up ; and
in that case would not the Colonies be tributary to the people of
Great Britain, instead of fellow-subjects, coequal in dignity and
freedom ? " *
By the provisions of the Stamp Act, all written instru
ments in daily use among a commercial people were to be
null and void, unless executed on stamped paper or parch
ment, upon which a duty was to be collected by government
officers. It was to take effect in the following November,
and the Colonists had ample time to discuss its bearings and
to frustrate its designs.
The news reached Boston in April, and was received with
mingled alarm and indignation. A spirit of resistance was
shown in every Colony. In Virginia, the Resolves of the
House of Burgesses, drawn up by Patrick Henry in May, gave
impulse to the movement and sounded over the continent in
trumpet-tones. Everywhere they were read and carried
* T. Z., in the Boston Gazette, January 9, 1769.
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 61
conviction. In Boston the excitement was intense, and the
whole Province was quickly in a blaze of resentment. At
the first opportunity the determined hostility to the act broke
forth. This was on the 12th of August, the birthday of
the Prince of Wales, when the people rent the air with
shouts of " Pitt and Liberty " ! and, the enthusiasm rising
with the occasion, it was concerted to hang the appointed dis- .
tributor of stamps in effigy. On the morning of the 14th, ;
the stuffed figure of Oliver was seen dangling from Liberty-
Tree, together with a large boot, to represent Lord Bute, from
the top of which peeped forth a head with horns, intended
to personify the Devil. The authorities did not attempt to
remove the effigies, for, in the excited state of the popular
mind, it was difficult to say how far the rage of the people
might lead them. The Sons of Liberty, with whom the pro
ceedings originated, kept the matter in hand, and at evening
cut the figures down and carried them in procession through
the town, borne on a bier. The multitude moved in perfect
order, and their route was lined with people. They passed
through the town-house and under the council-chamber,
where the Governor and Council were sitting. " Liberty,
property, and no stamps " ! were shouted in the ears of the
listening dignitaries above. The Sons of Liberty were pre
ceded by some forty or fifty tradesmen, decently dressed ;
and the whole body marched to King Street, where they de
molished a frame which they believed the stamp distributor
was building for an office. Thence they proceeded to Fort
Hill, where Oliver resided, and with fragments of the frame
which they brought with them, built a bonfire in which the
effigies were consumed. Bernard and Hutchinson fled to
the Castle for safety.* Old Boston had rarely witnessed such
* See Hutchinson s letter to Bernard, Sept. 15, 1770, in which, detailing his
flight at that time to the Castle, after it had passed from the Provincial authority,
he says : " In the evening, I took boat at Dorchester, two or three miles from
my house, and went to the Castle ; and you will believe I could not help think
ing of your and my passage to the same place about five years before." (See
Chap. XVII. of the present work, where this letter is quoted in full.)
62 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765.
a commotion. But the popular wrath did not end here. At
nightfall on the 26th of August, remembering the agency of
Hutchinson in subverting their liberties, a mob collected
again at a late hour, burnt the records of the Admiralty,
and ravaged the houses of Hallowell, Comptroller of the
Customs, and of Hutchinson, whose plate, books, and val
uable collection of manuscripts they threw into the street,
barely giving the owner time to escape with his family, and
utterly destroying the interior of perhaps the finest private
residence in the Province.*
These outbreaks of lawless violence, though manifesting
the spirit of opposition to the late acts of Parliament, were
viewed with horror by most of the popular leaders, and by
none more so than Mr. Adams. The period of peaceful
remonstrance had not yet terminated with him. It was the
policy of the Colonies to avow their sincere loyalty to Great
Britain, which they reiterated in every state paper ; and acts
of insubordination were only calculated to mar the harmony
of these plans. Petitions and dutiful representations were
to be the basis of operations for ten years to come, though
a few looked beyond these measures to an eventual appeal
to Heaven. In the present instance, Adams agreed with his
friend Mayhew that he would rather lose his hand than en
courage such outrages, and he personally aided the civil
power in preventing them. ( He saw no impropriety however
in the earlier portion of the proceedings of August 14th,
when the tradesmen marched in procession and hung the
stamp distributor in effigy ; believing that when loyal peti
tions were unavailing, such an orderly and unanimous dem
onstration was the only legal method to advise the authorities
of the popular feeling. )
A town meeting was summoned early on the following
day, at which the last night s proceedings were condemned,
and a series of resolutions adopted desiring the Selectmen to
suppress the like riots for the future, and pledging the aid of
* Mass. Gazette for August 19, 1765. Hutchinson s History, III. 124.
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 63
the people to preserve order.* Writing to Richard Jackson,
the Colonial agent, a few months later, as one of a committee
of the Assembly, Adams referred to this riot particularly, ap
prehending its evil effects against the efforts which were
making in behalf of the Province : " As the Stamp Act had
given the greatest uneasiness even to the most judicious men
of the Colony," it was not, he thought, " to be wondered at,
that among the common people such steps should be taken
as could not be justified, it being frequent in populous towns
when grievances are felt. This had been the case in Boston,
where the people had shown their resentment in such ways
as were not uncommon elsewhere." These proceedings he
denounced as " high-handed outrages," " of which the in
habitants immediately, at a meeting called for the purpose
within a few hours after the perpetration of the act, pub
licly declared their detestation. All was done the day fol
lowing that could be expected from an orderly town, by
whose influence a spirit was raised to oppose and suppress
it. It is possible these matters may be represented to our
disadvantage, and therefore we desire you will take all pos
sible opportunities to set them in a proper light."
The society known as the " Sons of Liberty" seems to
have originated either immediately after the arrival of the
news from England that the Stamp Act had become a law,
or about the time of the August riot, as the name was prob
ably adopted from a similar term applied to the Bostonians
by Colonel Barr in his late speech. The writer of a one
sided account of the riot, in the Boston News-Letter, immedi
ately after its occurrence, speaks of a report that " the society
by the name of the Union Club " was established that night ;
and doubtless refers to the same organization. The " Sons
of Liberty" were soon thoroughly organized and subject to
the direction of influential leaders. They were composed,
for the most part, of the laboring classes and mechanics, and
were successfully secret in all their meetings and prepara-
* Drake s Boston, p. 701.
64 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765.
tions for concerted movements. They issued warrants for
the arrest of suspected persons, arranged in secret caucus
the preliminaries of elections and the programme for patri
otic celebrations, and in fact were the main-spring, under
the guidance of the popular leaders, of every public demon
stration against the government. They probably numbered
about three hundred, and held their public meetings in
" Liberty Hall," the name given to a space around " Liberty
Tree," at the junction of Newbury, Orange, and Essex
Streets, which afforded ample room for a gathering of
several thousand persons. Their private meeting place,
according to John Adams, was the counting-room in Chase
and Speakman s distillery in Hanover Square. The count
ing-room however, from its size, could have been only the
rendezvous of committees of the association. Some of the
other towns soon followed the example of Boston, and the
" Sons of Liberty " were established in several of the Colo
nies, especially in New York, Rhode Island, Georgia, Mary
land, and South Carolina.
At the opening of the session of the Legislature in May,
Governor Bernard had notified the members that the general
settlement of the American Provinces, which had long ago
been proposed, and was now probably to be completed, would
necessarily produce some regulations which, from their nov
elty only, would appear disagreeable. He recommended a
respectful submission to the decrees of Parliament as the
duty and for the interest of the people.* Committees were
appointed to answer those sections in the speech relating to
all matters excepting the Stamp Act, which had been thus
tenderly introduced. Upon that subject the House made no
reply, but, acting upon the impulse of the last year s Boston
Instructions, advising a Colonial union for redress, James
Otis proposed the calling of committees from the several
Houses of Representatives or Burgesses on the continent
to consult together on the dangers and difficulties surround-
* Journal of the House for 1765.
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 65
ing them, " and to consider of a general and united, dutiful
and humble, representation of their condition to his Majesty
and the Parliament, to implore relief." The 1st of October
was proposed for the day of assembling at New York, and cir
cular letters to this effect were sent to the other Assemblies.
The co-operation of the sister Colonies, in the opinion of
Adams, left no room for delay. He desired that the Legis
lature should assert and maintain the liberties of the people
guaranteed them by charter, and their rights as British sub
jects, and should preserve the independence of the House
of Representatives ; and to have the inherent rights of the
Provlhce placed upon the records of the House, that pos
terity might see that men were not wanting in those days
who understood and could vindicate them. Before the re
assembling of the Legislature in the fall of 1765, he was ap
pointed, at a town meeting, one of a committee " to consider
of what instructions were proper to be given to the Repre
sentatives of the town as to their conduct in the General
Court for the remainder of the year." It was customary
to give these instructions at or immediately after the spring
elections ; but the critical condition of public affairs de-
*manded that the Boston seats should be specially instructed
for the ensuing session, more particularly because, by the ex
tensive publication of these injunctions as ordered by the
meeting, the cause of liberty would be subserved. The com
mittee intrusted the task to Samuel Adams, and on the 18th
he reported his draft, which, after " being read paragraph by
paragraph, was unanimously adopted." The Legislature was
to meet one week later, and in the interim, the instructions,
which were printed next day in the Boston Gazette, spread
far and wide, and set the example to the other towns.
Braintree, led by John Adams, soon after made similar dec
larations, and those written by Samuel Adams thus became
the platform of the whole Province.*
* John Adams, in his Autobiography, speaking of the Braintree Instructions
drawn up by him, says : " They rang through the State and were adopted in
VOL. I. 5
66 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765.
" At a time," the paper commences, " when the British American
subjects are everywhere loudly complaining of arbitrary and un
constitutional innovations, the town of Boston cannot any longer
remain silent without just imputation of inexcusable neglect.
"By the royal charter granted to our ancestors, the power of
making laws for our internal government, and of levying taxes, is
vested in the General Assembly ; and by the charter, the inhabi
tants of this Province are entitled to all the rights and privileges of
natural free-born subjects of Great Britain. The most essential
rights of British subjects are those of being represented in the same
body which exercises the power of levying taxes upon them, and of
having their property tried by juries. These are the very pillars of
so many words, as I was informed by the Representatives of that year, by
forty towns, as instructions to their Representatives. They were honored suf
ficiently by the friends of the government with the epithets of inflammatory,"
&c. " About this time," he continues, " I called upon Samuel Adams, and
found him at his desk. He told me he had been employed to draw instruc
tions for their Representatives ; that he felt an ambition which was very apt to
mislead a man, that of doing something extraordinary ; and he wanted to
consult a friend who might suggest some thoughts to his mind. I read his in
structions and showed him a copy of mine. I told him I thought his were very
well as far as they went, but he had not gone far enough. Upon reading mine,
he said he was of my opinion, and accordingly took into his some paragraphs
from mine."
There is an inaccuracy in this narration very excusable in one who is recall
ing his first public act, performed half a century before. Samuel Adams wa3
appointed to draft the Boston Instructions on the 12th of September; they were
accepted on the 18th, and published in the Boston Gazette on the 19th. The
Braintree Instructions, which John Adams says he prepared at home and carried
with him to the meeting, are dated September 24th. They were not published
until October 10th in Draper s Gazette, and October 14th in the Boston Gazette,
and Green and Russell s Post Boy and Advertiser. The celebrity therefore
gained by either must rather have attached to the Boston Instructions, as those
by John Adams were not made public until after the Legislature had assembled
and had been a fortnight prorogued.
John Adams also says : " In the Braintree Instructions, if I recollect any
reprehensible fault, it was that they conceded too much to the adversary, not to
say enemy." It may be reasonably asked then, if these instructions conceded
too much, how could Samuel Adams s have been improved by adopting them "?
On the priority of the Boston Instructions, and their influence among the other
towns of Massachusetts, see Bancroft, V. 329.
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 67
the British Constitution, founded on the common rights of mankind.
It is certain that we were in no sense represented in the Parliament
of Great Britain where this act of taxation was made, and it is also
certain that this law admits of our properties being tried in contro
versies arising from internal concerns by courts of admiralty with
out a jury. It follows that at once it annihilates the most valuable
privileges of our charter, deprives us of the most essential rights of
Britons, and greatly weakens the best security of our lives, liberties,
and estates, which may hereafter be at the disposal of judges who
may be strangers to us, and perhaps malicious, mercenary, corrupt,
and offensive.
" Moreover, this act, if carried into execution, would become a
further grievance to us, as it will afford a precedent for the Par
liament to tax us in all future time, and all such ways and measures
as they shall judge meet, without our consent.
" We therefore think it our indispensable duty, in justice to our
selves and posterity, as it is our undoubted privilege, in the most
open and unreserved, but decent and respectful terms, to declare
our greatest dissatisfaction with this law. And we think it incum
bent upon you by no means to join any public measures for counte
nancing and assisting in the execution of the same ;* but to use your
best endeavors in the General Assembly to have the inherent, in
alienable rights of the people of this Province asserted and vindi*
cated, and left upon the public records, that posterity may never
have reason to charge the present times with the guilt of giving
them away."
After expressing the satisfaction of the town at the consent
given by most of the other Colonies to the Congress proposed
by the Massachusetts House, Mr. Otis is expressly enjoined
" to contribute to the utmost of his ability in having the
rights of the Colonies stated in the clearest view and laid
before the Parliament ; and in preparing a humble petition
to the King, our sovereign and father, under whose generous
care and protection we have the strongest reason to hope
that the rights of the Colonies in general, and the particular
* Compare Answer of the House to the Governor s Speech, Oct. 24th.
68 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1765.
charter rights of this Province, will be confirmed and per
petuated."
The meeting substituted the word "patron" for " father."
Before the adjournment a committee was appointed, of
which Mr. Adams was a memtier, to prepare a resolution
thanking Conway and Barre* for their noble and generous
speeches at the last session of Parliament, and directing that
their portraits should be placed in Faneuil Hall as soon as
they could be obtained.
Governor Bernard, in his opening address to the Legis
lature, on the 25th of September, alluded to the late vio
lences, and the declarations which had been made against
the execution of the Stamp Act within the Province. _ The
instructions of the previous week had enjoined the Boston
members of the Legislature against participating in any pub
lic measures for countenancing or assisting the execution of
the act. The ordinary executive authority of the govern
ment being insufficient to oppose the force with which such
" declarations " were supported, the Governor now called on
the Legislature for aid. He asserted that Parliament had the
right to make laws for the American Colonies, that it would
maintain and support its authority, and that opposition
would bring on a contest which might prove the most detri
mental and ruinous event which could happen to this people.
Parliament would most probably require submission as a
preliminary to granting relief. His Excellency then drew a
vivid picture of the dreadful effect of a general refusal to use
the stamped papers, and the consequent shutting up of the
courts of justice and custom-houses, the fraud and rapine
which would succeed to credit and mutual faith. The hand
of violence would be let loose, and general distress and out
lawry would reign.
" I would not," he continued, " willingly aggravate the dangers
which are before you : I do not think it very easy to do it. This
Province seems to me to be on the brink of a precipice, and that it
depends upon you to prevent it falling. Possibly I may fear for
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 69
you more than you do for yourselves ; but in the situation you stand,
a sight of your danger is necessary to your preservation ; and it is my
business to open it to you."
Thus the Governor artfully attempted to excite the House
to commit themselves on the limits of Parliamentary author
ity. On the following day a committee was appointed to
prepare a reply. A bill declaring the necessity of going on
with the general business of the Province without stamps
was introduced, and was occupying the attention of the two
Houses, when the alarmed Governor suddenly prorogued the
Assembly.
CHAPTER III.
Death of Oxenbridge Thacher. Adams enters the Massachusetts Legisla
ture. The Governor prorogues the Assembly. Adams replies to the
Governor s Speech, and prepares the Massachusetts Resolves. Effect and
Celebrity of these Productions. He is elected Clerk of the Assembly.
Arrival of the Stamps. Adams instructs the Agent in London. Is
Chairman of a Public Meeting for the opening of the Law Courts. The
Patriotic Club. John Adams s Description of its leading Members.
THE early contest for American liberty lost a stanch sup
porter about this time in Oxenbridge Thacher, a lawyer of
fine abilities, an unassuming gentleman and scholar, and a
man of the most admirable character in all the relations of
life. In 1764, his publications in support of the Colonial
liberties had been widely circulated ; and though of a feeble
constitution, which demanded a penalty of suffering for every
exertion at the bar, or in the Legislature of which he was a
member, he entered into the struggle for liberty with an
earnest heart, and his life was shortened by his anxiety and
efforts in the cause. He died of disease of the lungs at the
age of forty-five, equally conspicuous for his unaffected piety
and sterling patriotism.
On the morning of September 27th, a town meeting was
called to elect a Representative in the place of Mr. Thacher ;
and Samuel Adams receiving the majority of votes, was de
clared by the Selectmen duly elected. He entered the As
sembly the same day,* and was immediately qualified, and
* "VENEKIS, 27 Die SEPTEMBRIS, A. D. 1765. Mr. Samuel Adams, re
turned Representative from the Town of Boston, making his Appearance in the
House, Ordered, That Mr. Cushing of Boston attend him to the Gentlemen ap
pointed by Dedimus to administer the Oaths required by the Act of Parlia
ment to the several Members of this House. Who returned that they had
Sept., Oct., 1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 71
not a moment too soon ; for scarcely was the act consum
mated, when a message was brought down from the Gov
ernor proroguing the Assembly to the last week in October.
This of course prevented the committee who had been ap
pointed to answer the Governor s speech from replying until
the next session. The Legislature reassembled on the 24th
of October, when the committee s report, written by Mr.
Adams, was taken up and accepted.* This document in
augurated a political era, and was as surprising to the
Governor and his friends as it was satisfactory to the
patriots.
The reply states that the sentiments of the House would
attended him accordingly, that he had taken the same and subscribed the
Declaration ; and then Mr. Adams took his seat in the House." Journal of
the House for September, 1765.
* This paper has, without a shadow of evidence, been ascribed to James
Otis (see John Adams s "Works, II. 182). The evidences of its being the
production of Samuel Adams leave no question as to the authorship. Ad
ams having been, as we have seen, qualified a member of the House only a
few minutes before the Governor prorogued the Assembly, it was not possible
to place him upon the original committee for drafting the answer ; but the
best proof that his pen was employed during the recess is found in the fact
that on the reassembling, he appears as chairman of the committee appointed
to present the answer to his Excellency, the House naturally making him
the bearer of his own production. Hutchinson distinctly ascribes this paper,
as well as the celebrated resolves subsequently offered in the House, to Samuel
Adams (Hutchmson s History, III. 133, 134). And Governor Bernard, in his
letters to the Ministry, points to him without naming him. The style is that
of no other person, and the sentiments are not those of Otis, who favored an
American representation in Parliament, which this paper pronounces to be im
practicable. But the matter is finally set at rest by the fact that Otis was ab
sent at the Congress in New York from the day the last Assembly had been
prorogued until November 1st, or a week after this answer had been reported
and sent up to the Governor ; therefore he could not have been the author. He
moreover pronounced the celebrated Virginia Resolves of May in this year to
be treasonable (see Hutchinson, III. 119) ; and as the Massachusetts Resolves,
which appeared almost simultaneously with the answer now under considera
tion, were intended to accompany and support that answer, and went even
further than those of Virginia had done, Otis cannot be consistently associated
with the authorship of either of these remarkable papers. On Samuel
Adams s authorship, see Bancroft, V. 349.
72 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
sooner have been communicated had not the late sudden and
unexpected adjournment prevented it.
" Your Excellency tells us that the Province seems to be upon the
brink of a precipice ! A sight of its danger is then necessary for its
preservation. To despair of the Commonwealth is a certain presage
of its fall. Your Excellency may be assured that the representa
tives of the people are awake to a sense of its danger, and their
utmost prudence will not be wanting to prevent its ruin.
"Your Excellency is pleased to tell us that declarations have
been made and still subsist, that the act of Parliament for granting
the stamp duties in the Colonies shall not be executed within the
Province. We know of no such declarations. If any individuals
of the people have declared an unwillingness to subject themselves to
the payment of the stamp duties, and choose rather to lay aside all
business than to make use of the stamped papers, we are not account
able for such declarations, so neither can we see anything criminal in
them. This House has no authority to control their choice in this
matter. The act does not oblige them to make use of the papers ;
it only exacts the payment of certain duties for such papers as they
may incline to use. Such declarations may possibly have been
made and may still subsist very consistently with the utmost respect
to the King and Parliament.
" You are pleased to say that the Stamp Act is an act of Parlia
ment, and as such ought to be observed. This House, sir, has too
great a reverence for the supreme legislature of the nation to ques
tion its just authority. It by no means appertains to us to presume
to adjust the boundaries of the power of Parliament ; but bounda
ries there undoubtedly are. We hope we may, without offence, put
your Excellency in mind of that most grievous sentence of excom
munication solemnly denounced by the Church in the name of the
sacred Trinity, in the presence of King Henry the Third and the
estates of the realm, against all those who should make statutes or
observe them being made contrary to the liberties of Magna Charta.
We are ready to think those zealous advocates for the Constitution
usually compared their acts of Parliament with Magna Charta;
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 73
1
and if it ever happened that such acts were made as infringed upon
the rights of that charter, they were always repealed.
" Furthermore, your Excellency tells us that the right of the Par
liament to make laws for the American Colonies remains indispu
table in Westminster. Without contending this point, we beg leave
just to observe that the charter of this Province invests the Gen
eral Assembly with the power of making laws for its internal gov
ernment and taxation ; and that this charter has never yet been
forfeited./ The Parliament has a right to make all laws within the
limits of their own Constitution. Among these, is the right of rep
resentation in the same body which exercises the power of taxation.
There is a necessity that the subjects of America should exercise
this power within themselves, otherwise they can have no share in
that most essential right, for they are not represented in Parliament,
and indeed we think it impracticable. Your Excellency s assertion
leads us to think that you are of a different mind with regard to this
very material point, and that you suppose we are represented ; but
the sense of the nation itself seems always to have been otherwise?
The right of the Colonies to make their own laws and tax them
selves has been never, that we know of, questioned ; but has been
constantly recognized by the King and Parliament. The very sup
position that the Parliament, though the supreme power over the
subjects of Britain universally, should yet conceive of a despotic
power within themselves, would be most disrespectful ; and we leave
it to your Excellency s consideration, whether to suppose an indis
putable right in any government to tax the subjects without their
consent, does not include the idea of sucli a power.
" Our duty to the King, who holds the rights of all his subjects
sacred as his own prerogative, and our love to our own constituents
and concern for their dearest interests, constrain us to be explicit upon
this very important occasion. We beg that your Excellency would
consider the people of this Province as having the strongest affec
tion for his Majesty, under whose happy government they have felt
all the blessings of liberty : they have a warm sense of the honor,
freedom, and independence of the subjects of a patriot king ; they
have a just value for those inestimable rights, which are derived to
all men from nature, and are happily interwoven in the British Con-
74 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
stitution ; they esteem it sacrilege for them to ever give them up ;
and rather than lose them they would willingly part with everything
else. / We deeply regret it that the Parliament has seen fit to pass
such an act as the Stamp Act. We flatter ourselves that the hard
ships of it will shortly appear to them in such a point of light as
shall induce them in their wisdom to repeal it. In the mean time,
we must beg your Excellency to excuse us from doing anything to
assist in the execution of it."
The answer closes with a refusal to compensate the suffer
ers by the late riots, as the Governor had recommended;
and as he had cast a reflection on the Province, in conse
quence of those disturbances, they reply :
" We inherit from our ancestors the highest relish for civil lib
erty, but we hope never to see the time when it shall be expedient
to countenance any methods for its preservation but such as are legal
and regular. When our sacred rights are infringed, we feel the
grievance ; but we understand the nature of our happy Constitution
too well, and entertain too high an opinion of the virtue and justice
of the supreme Legislature, to encourage any means of redressing it,
but what are justifiable by the Constitution." *
Pending the recess of the Assembly, Mr. Adams had pre
pared, in accordance with his Boston Instructions, a series of
resolves intended to be offered to the House at its meeting
in October. These Instructions had directed that the inhe- \
rent and inalienable rights of the people should be asserted
and vindicated, and their assertion and vindication left upon
the public records for transmission to posterity. The op
portunity had now arrived when he could introduce those
resolves, digested and condensed, as a guide by which the
policy of the Province in its subsequent controversies should
be directed, and a model according to which public docu
ments discussing the popular liberties should henceforward
be framed. The answer to the speech was accepted by the
House in the forenoon of October 24th; and in the after
noon of the same day, a committee, of which Mr. Adams
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 43. Grahame, II. 401.
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 75
was a member, was appointed " to prepare proper resolves
expressing the sentiments of this House with respect to their
rights and privileges." The report was not made until two
days later, a delay occasioned by the deliberation naturally
arising among the committee upon so important a meas
ure. On the 26th, the report was read to the House, and
ordered to be taken into consideration on the 29th at
three o clock, and was meantime " to lie on the table for
the perusal of the members." On the day appointed, says
the record, " the House, agreeable to the order of the day
(there being a full House), entered into the consideration
of the resolves, which were particularly considered and
passed."
" Whereas the just rights of his Majesty s subjects of this Prov
ince, derived to them from the British Constitution, as well as the
royal charter, have been lately drawn into question : in order to
ascertain the same, this House do unanimously come into the follow
ing resolves :
" 1. Resolved, That there are certain essential rights of the Brit
ish Constitution of government, which are founded in the law of
God and nature, and are the common rights of mankind ; there
fore,
" 2. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this Province are unalien-
ably entitled to those essential rights in common with all men : and
that no law of society can, consistent with the law of God and na
ture, divest them of those rights.
" 3. Resolved, That no man can justly take the property of an
other without his consent ; and that upon this original principle,
the right of representation in the same body which exercises the
power of making laws for levying taxes, which is one of the main
pillars of the British Constitution, is evidently founded.
" 4. Resolved, That this inherent right, together with all other
essential rights, liberties, privileges, and immunities of the people of
Great Britain, have been fully confirmed to them by Magna Charta,
and by former and by later acts of Parliament.
" 5. Resolved, That his Majesty s subjects in America are, in rea
son and common sense, entitled to the same extent of liberty with
his Majesty s subjects in Britain.
76 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct., Nor.
" 6. Resolved, That by the declaration of the royal charter of
this Province, the inhabitants are entitled to all the rights, liberties,
and immunities of free and natural subjects of Great Britain to all
intents, purposes, and constructions whatever.
" 7. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this Province appear to be
entitled to all the rights aforementioned by an act of Parliament,
13th of Geo. II.
" 8. Resolved, That those rights do belong to the inhabitants of
this Province upon the principle of common justice ; their ancestors
having settled this country at their sole expense, and their posterity
having approved themselves most loyal and faithful subjects of
Great Britain.
" 9. Resolved, That every individual in the Colonies is as advan
tageous to Great t Britain as if he were in Great Britain and held to
pay his full proportion of taxes there ; and as the inhabitants of this
Province pay their full proportion of taxes for the support of his
Majesty s government here, it is unreasonable for them to be called
upon to pay any part of the charges of the government there.
" 10. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this Province are not, and
never have been, represented in the Parliament of Great Britain ;
and that such a representation there as the subjects in Britain
do actually and rightfully enjoy is impracticable for the subjects in
America ; and further, that in the opinion of this House, the sev
eral subordinate powers of legislation in America were constituted
upon the apprehensions of this impracticability.
"11. Resolved, That the only method whereby the constitutional
rights of the subjects of this Province can be secure, consistent with
a subordination to the supreme power of Great Britain, is by the
continued exercise of such powers of government as are granted in
the royal charter, and a firm adherence to the privileges of the same.
" 12. Resolved, as a just conclusion from some of the foregoing
resolves, That all acts made by any power whatever, other than
the General Assembly of this Province, imposing taxes on the in
habitants, are infringements of our inherent and unalienable rights
as men and British subjects, and render void the most valuable
declarations of our charter.
" 13. Resolved, That the extension of the powers of the Court of
Admiralty within this Province is a most violent infraction of the
right of trials by juries, a right which this House, upon the princi-
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 77
pies of their British ancestors, hold most dear and sacred ; it being
the only security of the lives, liberties, and properties of his Majes
ty s subjects here.
" 14. Resolved, That this House owe the strictest allegiance to his
most sacred Majesty King George the Third ; that they have the
greatest veneration for the Parliament ; and that they will, after the
example of all their predecessors from the settlement of this coun
try, exert themselves to their utmost in supporting his Majesty s au
thority in the Province, in promoting the true happiness of his sub
jects, and in enlarging the extent of his dominion.
" Ordered, That all the foregoing resolves be kept in the records
of this House, that a just sense of liberty and the firm sentiments
of loyalty be transmitted to posterity." *
These resolves startled the whole Province. They were
extensively* published, and in fact they rang through the
entire continent. Together with the answer, they were re
ceived in England as " the ravings of a parcel of wild enthu
siasts."! Both excited universal applause in New England. \
Governor Hopkins of Rhode Island, afterwards a signer of
the Declaration of Independence, said, at the political club
in Providence, that " nothing had been so much admired
there through the whole course of the controversy as tho
answer to the Governor s speech, though the Massachusetts
Resolves were the best digested and the best of any on the
continent."
The 1st of November, the day on which the hated Stamp
Act was to go into operation, was ushered in with the tolling
of bells and the firing of minute-guns, while the flags of the
vessels in port were displayed at half-mast, and an unfalter
ing determination was everywhere shown to nullify and
effectually oppose the act. The crisis was a momentous
one, and required decisive measures. At early morning
the effigies of Grenville and of Huske, who had recom-
* Journal of the House of Representatives for October 29, 1765. Bradford s
State Papers, p. 50.
t Bancroft, V. 349.
78 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov.
mended the passage of the act, were seen suspended from
the branches of Liberty Tree, where they hung until after
noon. They were then cut down and carted with great
solemnity, escorted by a multitude of the people, to where
the General Assembly was in session, and thence to the gal
lows on the Neck, where they were again suspended, and
finally were torn in pieces and flung to the winds. All
classes and conditions mingled in these transactions ; and
such manifestations of public sentiment were not repugnant
to the principles of Mr. Adams and his friends, provided
they were not coupled with personal violence or damage to
property. In this instance the proceedings were conducted
without rioting ; and, at the conclusion, the people dispersed
quietly to their homes, at the request of their leaders, and
the night was undisturbed by confusion or noise.*
During the September session the stamped papers had
arrived from England, and the Governor, at a loss what dis
position to make of them, asked the advice of the Council,
who prudently referred him to the Assembly. The latter
declined giving him either advice or assistance, conformably
to the policy they had adopted, of refusing to assist in the
execution of the Stamp Act. The effect of a non-distribu
tion of the stamps would be to suspend business in the
Province, and to close the courts of justice, the proceedings
of which would be illegal without them. The Assembly, as
we have seen, on the day of their last prorogation, were con
sidering a bill declaring the necessity of going on with all
business without the stamps. On the reassembling in Octo
ber, they at once proceeded to adopt measures to counter
act, if possible, the evils of the Stamp Act, which was to take
effect in another week. A committee, of which Adams was
a member, carried up the answer to the Governor s an
nouncement in the previous session, that the stamped papers
had arrived ; and on the following day he was chosen one of
a committee to report upon proper methods to prevent dif-
* Barry s Massachusetts, II. 305. Drake s Boston, p. 708.
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 79
ficulties that might arise in the proceedings of courts of
justice after the day on which the act was to go into oper
ation.
The stamps had meantime been placed in the Castle, agree
ably to the recommendation of the Council ; and to protect
them, an additional guard had been ordered, for the pay
ment of whom warrants were issued by the Governor and
Council, without the necessary resolve of the Assembly.
The House took the alarm, and on the first day of the ses
sion, a committee, of which Mr. Adams was chairman, was
appointed to ascertain what drafts had been made from the
several appropriations in the act for supplying the treasury.
He was also placed on a second committee, on the 4th of
November, to report a proper remonstrance to the Governor
and Council in relation to the issue of moneys for repairing
forts and fortifications. The two reports were made a few
days later to the Governor and Council. The former was
from the pen of Mr. Adams. The paper clearly exposes
the illegality of the draft of moneys from the treasury for
the payment of an additional military company at Castle
William.
" If the Governor and Council have a right in any case to raise
and pay one company, they may raise ten, or a hundred, and at
their pleasure subject this people to be governed by a standing
army. We therefore, in duty to ourselves, our constituents, and
our posterity, declare the said procedure to be a high infraction of
the rights of this House, with whom the origin and granting of all
taxes on the freeholders and inhabitants of this Province is indubi
tably and constitutionally lodged." *
The remonstrance then desires the Council to order the
said sum to be replaced in the treasury for the public ser
vice.
This was the most dangerous and arbitrary measure that
had been attempted, and an emphatic denouncement of it
was required. The Council replied on the following day,
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 51.
80 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nor.
vindicating their position and themselves from any intended
infraction of the rights of the House, and averring that the
.draft had been sanctioned by them with great reluctance.
The House again responded, through a committee of which
Mr. Adams was a member, deploring that the obnoxious
measure should have been justified, prescribing what, in the
opinion of the House, were the limits of the power of the
Governor and Council during a recess of the General Court,
and denying the right of either to dispose of the public mon
eys without the assent of the people s representatives.
Mr. Otis, who had been absent during the last session, ar
rived from New York early in November. The proceedings
of the Colonial convention held in that city having been
adopted by the House, Dennys Deberdt was chosen a special
agent in London to present and support, on the part of Mas
sachusetts, the petitions prepared on that occasion ; and on
the following day, Mr. Adams was one of a committee to con
sider what grants of money were proper to be made to
Messrs. Deberdt and Jackson. The latter, the standing
agent of the Province, had already been instructed. De
berdt, who was a respectable London merchant and ardently
attached to the cause of the Colonies, was agent for " the
three lower counties," now the State of Delaware, as well as
for Massachusetts. A letter of instructions, dated November
7th, was prepared by Samuel Adams for the committee, to
convey to Jackson the sentiments of the House. From his
original draft the following extracts are transcribed. Jack
son had been notified in May of this year what steps to take
in relation to the Stamp Act, and Adams believed there was
too much reason to apprehend that past applications for
redress had failed for want of due zeal in those whose busi
ness it had been to support them.
"We cannot but think," he continues, "that the exceptions
which the Colonies had to offer against a measure new and extraor
dinary in its kind would not have been refused, if they had been
supported with proper vigor. For although, as you observe, it was
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 81
against a bill depending in the House of Commons for imposing
taxes, it might and ought to have been urged that those very taxes
were proposed to be laid upon many thousands of freeholders who
were not represented in Parliament, and who therefore in no other
way could make their circumstances known and the hardships which
the bill depending would bring upon them, but by humble supplica
tions.
" We heartily wish it was more fully considered on your side the
water than it seems now to be, that the only method whereby Great
Britain can make her Colonies useful to her is by encouraging their
trade. Our dependence at present is altogether upon your manu
factures for many of the necessary articles of life, and it is our trade
only that can furnish us with the means of purchasing them. The
burdens upon trade already imposed, particularly by the Sugar Act,
have made it so difficult to procure remittances, that there will be a
necessity of stopping in a great measure the importation of English
goods. And indeed the people of the Colonies seem more and more
determined to do without them as far as possible ; and how much
the mother country will be prejudiced thereby is obvious to a com
mon observation.
" We do not find that the hardships, under color of requiring
sufferances in the case of inland navigation from Colony to Colony,
have been eased. You will find by the act made by the last ses
sion of Parliament, to which we imagine you have a reference, that
no vessels are exempt but boats, flats, shallops, and other vessels
without decks, under twenty tons, and which shall not be carried
out to sea above one league from the shore. The declared design of
the act is, that no unnecessary restraint may lay upon the trade and
correspondence of his Majesty s American subjects when goods are
carried from Colony to Colony, merely for the use and sustenance of
said Colony. You will please to consider that we have a sea-coast
of fifteen hundred miles, and very little inland navigation. Few
such small vessels, if any, described in the act, are ever employed
from Colony to Colony ; and besides, they must of necessity, to avoid
headlands in passing not only from Colony to Colony, but even from
Boston to most parts of this Province, for the necessary article of
fuel, go beyond the limit of a league to sea. Moreover, most if not
all of our coasters and fishermen, being decked vessels, are obliged
VOL. i. 6
82 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nor.
to give bond, and take sufferances which will subject many of them
to the expense of travelling many miles. We desire you would look
into the act and apply for the relief which the Parliament seem to
have had in their intention."
This letter embraces the chief causes of complaint. The
hint at non-importation is significant. That measure be
came a few years later one of the most powerful engines of
opposition in Massachusetts, where Mr. Adams was its orig
inator and persistent advocate ; and, when resistance was
organized into a system including the thirteen Colonies, it
was adopted as one of the great measures of concerted war
fare against oppression.
The Legislature, which adjourned on the 8th of Novem
ber, was not to meet again until January. Business de
clined in the Province, and the utmost distress began to be
experienced. Yet no stamps were purchased to legalize
business or other transactions. Rather than make use of
them, proceedings in all courts of justice were suspended ;
and the disputes which, under ordinary circumstances,
were taken before such tribunals, were decided by arbitra
tion. The act was even disregarded. Ships entered and
cleared without stamps ; and printers of newspapers, fear
less of consequences, boldly disseminated their defences
of liberty without the obnoxious stamp affixed to their
journals. In New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut,
the exasperated populace had given the most signal proofs
of their indignation. So general was the opposition to
the act, that the stamp officers in all the Colonies were
compelled to resign. In Boston care was taken, on the one
hand, to prevent the recurrence of violent proceedings, and,
on the other, to keep up in full vigor the spirit of resistance.
A newspaper " The Constitutional Courant," was estab
lished, having for its device a snake divided into as many
parts as there are Colonies, and forJis motto, "Join or die."
Oliver, the stamp officer, was required to resign his office
under Liberty-Tree, in the presence of a great concourse.
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 83
Non-importation agreements were adopted in the Colonies,
and associations were organized for the encouragement of
domestic manufactures. Sullen discontent spread over the
Province.
Answering the statement made in England, that the tax
was to discharge the Colonists proportion of the expense of
former wars for their defence, Mr. Adams about this time
wrote to a friend in London, with the view of furnishing him
with arguments in favor of the Province. After showing
that the nation were the debtors of the Colonists for sub
duing and settling an uncultivated wilderness at their own
expense, he asks :
" And is there no credit to be giVen to the New England Colonies,
who not only purchased these territories of the natives, but have
defended them for above a century against the encroachments of
these warlike savages, with fortitude scarcely equalled, without a
farthing s expense to the nation?
" You are sensible, sir, that it has been her policy to oblige the
Colonies to carry the chief of their produce to Great Britain, and
take off her manufactures in return ; and as they must conform to
her price both in buying and selling, one would think the advantage
she reaps by this trade would be sufficient. This is an indirect tax.
The nation constantly regulates their trade, and lays it under what
restrictions she pleases ; and the duties on the goods imported from
her and consumed here, together with those which are laid on almost
every branch of our trade, all of which centres in cash in her coffers,
amount to a very great sum. The money drawn from us in the way
of actual direct taxes, by means of these regulations, it is thought
will very soon put an end to the trade. Of this you are as able to
judge as any gentleman ; and, if it be the case, it certainly requires
prudent and impartial consideration. For all the advantage the
nation can expect to reap from the Colonies must arise from com
merce. Their whole profits, saving a moderate subsistence for them
selves, flow in upon her through various channels. The stamp
duty, if the act is continued in force, will probably in a very few
years take off the whole of their cash, and leave them none to carry
84 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
on any trade at all. I wish that trade policy, as a very sensible
gentleman has expressed it, was better understood by the present
rulers in the mother country with respect to the Colonies. By re
strictions and duties she is even now in danger of putting an end to
their usefulness to her; whereas, by abolishing those duties and
giving them indulgences, they would be enabled to repay her a
hundred fold."
These arguments, which were afterwards reproduced in
many forms, were thrown away upon the short-sighted states
men of England. An increase of the trade and opulence of
America, it was thought, would have a dangerous tendency
to encourage its independence, and the revenue laws were
as much designed to keep the Colonies in subjection, as to
raise a revenue from them.
On the 18th of December, the day after Oliver had been
compelled to resign, a town meeting was called for the pur
pose of taking measures for the opening of the courts. The
stagnation of business was bringing ruin upon all classes ;
yet the persistency of purpose against using the stamps
never once faltered. The meeting appointed a committee,
with Mr. Adams as chairman, to present a petition to the
Governor and Council for the opening of the courts ; and
it was agreed to apply to Jeremiah Gridley, James Otis,
and John Adams, to appear in behalf of the town in sup
port of the memorial. John Adams, then a young and
promising lawyer, was included at the instance of his
friend and kinsman of Boston, and he left Braintree for the
capital the next day after receiving the summons. The
same evening he attended the town meeting. His diary
of that date says : " After dinner, went to the town-house,
and attended with the committee of the town of Boston and
many other gentlemen in the Representatives room till
about dark, after candle-light, when Mr. Adams, the chair
man of the committee, received a message from the Governor
by the Deputy-Secretary, purporting that his Excellency and
the Council were ready to hear the memorial of the town of
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 85
Boston, and the counsel in support of it, but that no other
persons might attend." * A brief allusion to the arguments
and proceedings of the meeting follows. The Governor
responded, that there was no precedent for the interference
of himself and Council. Samuel Adams, who had presented
the petition, reported to the town on the 25th, when the
Governor s answer was voted to be unsatisfactory ; and Otis,
who was present, declared that he knew of no legal and
constitutional course the town could take, but to direct their
Representatives to request the Governor to call a convention
of the members of both Houses ; and, if he would not, to
call one themselves. The meeting had no further effect
than to suggest measures of opposition to the arbitrary pro
ceedings of Parliament ; and with the Province courts still
closed, and a consequent total suspension of business, a
gloomy stillness reigned throughout the country.
John Adams, while in Boston, attended the political club,
which he visited in company with Samuel Adams. Of this
club, Otis, Gushing, Wells, Gray, Dawes, Austin, two Wal
dos, Story, Inches, and Dr. Parker are mentioned as mem
bers. The father of Samuel Adams had been the leading
member of a similar club forty years before. But the Cau
cus (caulkers ) Club of the earlier times was composed
mainly of ship-building mechanics, whose political influ
ence was all powerful then as afterwards. This very nu
merous body were the warm friends of the elder Adams,
as they were of his son throughout the Revolution. At
the commencement of the difficulties between the Colo
nies and the mother country, the club was composed of a
few persons who met at each other s houses, arranged
the preliminaries of elections, discussed public matters, and
prepared political articles for the press. Samuel Adams,
Dawes, Ruddock, Dr. Cooper, and others of the leading
supporters of liberty, were among the early members. At a
later period their number was increased by Otis, Dr. Warren,
* John Adams s Works, H. 158, 161. Hutchinson, III. 138.
86 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
John Adams, Hancock, Pemberton, Gray, Austin, and others.
Their meetings were at last more publicly held, and at vari
ous places ; sometimes in a small wooden building in Milk
Street, occupied by Mr. Samuel Shed, a respectable grocer,
whose inner parlor was well known as a rendezvous of the
popular leaders ; and at others, in a house near the North
Battery. They acted in harmony with another political or
ganization known as the Merchants Club, exchanging with
them committees to concert measures as to t he choice of
public officers. The Caucus Club was a more popular insti
tution than the other. Its number was subsequently in
creased to above sixty. Many important moves resulting in
great political benefits, previous to the organization of the
committees of correspondence, originated at these meetings.
John Adams, in his contemporary writings, repeatedly men
tions " the club " first above referred to, and has left sev
eral lively sketches of the principal characters attending it.
After his visit there with Samuel Adams, December 23d, he
placed on record his impressions of the members.
" The behavior of these gentlemen is very familiar and friendly
to each other, and very polite and complaisant to strangers. Gray
has a very tender mind, is extremely timid. He says when he
meets a man of the other side, he talks against him ; when he meets
a man of our side, he opposes him ; so that he fears he shall be
thought against everybody, and so everybody will be against him.
But he. hopes to prepare the way for his escape at next May from
an employment that neither his abilities nor circumstances nor
turn of mind are fit for.
" Gushing is steady and constant and busy in the interest of
liberty and the opposition, is famed for secrecy and his talent at pro
curing intelligence.
" Adams is zealous, ardent, and keen in the cause, is always for
softness and delicacy and prudence where they will do, but is staunch
and stiff and strict and rigid and inflexible in the cause.
" Otis is fiery and feverous ; his imagination flames, his passions
blaze ; he is liable to great inequalities of temper ; sometimes in
despondency, sometimes in a rage. The rashnesses and imprudencies
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 87
into which his excess of zeal have formerly transported him have
made him enemies, whose malicious watch over him occasion more
caution and more cunning and more inexplicable passages in his con
duct than formerly ; and, perhaps, views at the Chair, or Board, or
possibly more expanded views beyond the Atlantic, may mingle now
with his patriotism.
" The II Penseroso, however, is discernible on the faces of all four, v
" Adams, I believe, has the most thorough understanding of liberty
and her resources in the temper and character of the people, though
not in the law and Constitution ; as well as the most habitual, radical
love of it of any of them, as well as the most correct, genteel, and
artful pen. He is a man of refined policy, steadfast integrity, exqui
site humanity, genteel erudition, obliging, engaging manners, real as
well as professed piety, and a universal good character, unless it
should be admitted that he is too attentive to the public, and not
enough so to himself and his family." *
Up to the late session of the Legislature, when Samuel
Adams first became a member, the question of Parliamentary
power had not been fully raised. The course of the Province
from the beginning of the taxation policy by England had
hitherto been by remonstrances and humble petitions for
relief, rather than assertions of the natural and charter
rights of the Colonies. The answer to the Governor s
speech and the Massachusetts resolves were therefore re
garded as the opening of a new policy. From that time, the
expediency and right of Parliamentary taxation ceased to
be argued in the Massachusetts Assembly, and were tacitly
resigned as no longer open to discussion. f
* John Adams s Diary (Works, II. 162).
t The firmness of the new legislator," says Bancroft (V. 350), "was sus
tained by the unwavering confidence of the people of Boston, beyond what
was given to any of his colleagues; and the vacillation of Otis, increasing
with his infirmities, ceased to be of public importance. Massachusetts never
again questioned with the British ministry the amount of a practical tax, or
the inexpediency of taxation by Parliament, or the propriety of an American
representation in that body."
Hutchinson was fully convinced that the state papers of the late session
practically denied Parliamentary supremacy in the Colonies. He says, just
CHAPTER IY.
Differences in Political Opinion between Otis and Adams. Otis advocatei
an American Bepresentation in Parliament, and sustains the Right of Par
liament to Tax the Colonies. Plans for such a Representation. Adams
denies the Practicability of a Fair Representation, and disproves the Right
of Taxation. Controlling Influence of Adams in the Assembly. Testi- .
mony of Contemporaries. TheHrst Advocate of American Independence. \
His Letters to Gentlemen in England in behalf of the Colonies. \
THE differences of opinion existing between James Otis
and Samuel Adams, the two principal figures of this period,
require special explanation ; particularly as this contrast in
policy has not been generally understood, though truthfully
pictured in the contemporary delineation by the observant
John Adams, which has been already quoted. The learning,
zeal, and eloquence of Otis, added to his great ability and
devotion to the welfare of the Province, made him ever
popular with his townsmen, who cherished a regard for him
long after he had ceased to be of service, and loved to
place him in positions where his restless spirit would be
calmed by such attentions. Until 1765 he was the leader
of the debates in the House. But thenceforward his opin
ions grew uncertain, and vacillated as circumstances altered.
His fervid eloquence was always at the command of his
country, but the direction of its torrent could not be relied
on at all times.
The project of sending representatives to Parliament
five years afterwards, in a letter to Bernard (October 20, 1770) : "Had every
man who openly asserted that Parliament was not the supreme authority of the
whole Empire been subjected to part of the penalties of the statute of premu-
nire, and every man concerned in every combination to resist the execution of
an act of Parliament been subjected to the whole penalties five years ago, I
think that few people would have run the risk of them."
Dec., 1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 89
from the Colonies, a point on which Otis and Adams essen
tially differed, was suggested during the Stamp Act difficul
ties, and found advocates in both countries. It appears to
have been first publicly written upon by the historian Old-
mixon, and was afterwards more deliberately considered and
espoused by Dr. Franklin and others. Until the last stages
of the controversy this measure was sincerely urged by dis
tinguished writers, among whom was Adam Smith, who
recommended that the number of American representatives
should be proportioned to the produce of American tax
ation.
A pamphlet * was published in London in 1770, and re
viewed in the Monthly Register, proposing "that about
fourscore commissioners from the Colonies should be ad
mitted into the British House of Commons, to be chosen
annually, to counterbalance the inconveniency of their re
mote distance from their constituents, who by this means
will have a frequent check over them that will preserve
their attention to the interests of the places for which they
serve ; that their representative power, to prevent accident,
should continue after the expiration of the year, until the
new commission should renew their powers, or new com
missioners arriving, should supersede them ; and that no
law relating to the Colonies should pass until one year after
the reading of the bill."
" These," continues the reviewer, " are the outlines of the plan of
representation, which is proposed in a dispassionate, sensible manner ;
and could it be digested into a feasible, regular system, so as to ob
viate the objections arising from the interposition of a vast ocean, it
might happily tend much towards that consummation which is so
devoutly to be wished."
In 1774 an ably written pamphlet appeared in England,
strongly urging an American representation.
f
* " Considerations on the Expediency of admitting Kepresentatives from the
American Colonies into the British House of Commons." London, 1770, 8.
pp. 41.
90 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
" The Legislature of this kingdom," says the author, " cannot pos
sibly depart from any part of its supremacy over the Colonies ; but
it is in the power of the Colonies to share in that supremacy. If
they complain of being taxed without having the privilege of send
ing members to Parliament, let them be represented. Nay, more ;
let their representation increase in proportion to the revenue they
shall furnish."
i
During the war, the British government, with concession
more or less sincere, offered to the people of America a share
in Parliamentary representation, together with the redress
of all grievances. Andrew Eliot alludes to it in a letter to
Thomas Hollis in the winter of 1769,* and briefly shows the
idea to be impracticable. A plan, supposed to have been
endorsed by the King, proposing that America should be
governed by a Congress of American peers, in number not
to exceed two hundred, to be appointed by the Crown, was
conveyed to Franklin and John Adams while in France in
1778. Among the names of eminent Americans to be thus
honored were Franklin, Washington, Samuel Adams, and
Hancock, as having stood foremost, and suffered most in the
contest. f Even towards the close of the war, after the cap
ture of Cornwallis, this dream was indulged, when, as Cur-
wen says in his diary, the ministerial plan was " to govern
America by a Lord Lieutenant and create nobility ; and if
she will not agree to Great Britain s proposal, to make a
partition treaty of the Colonies with France, to whom the
Northern Colonies and Canada would be ceded, the Southern
Colonies remaining to Great Britain." J One of the ideas
of the Loyalists in the first Congress in 1774 was a grand
Colonial Council to act in conjunction with the British
Parliament to regulate American affairs. Galloway, who
fathered this scheme, admitted in his subsequent writings
that it was defeated through the efforts of Samuel Adams.
* Mass. Hist. Society s Collections, 4th Series, IV. 439.
t John Adams s Works, III. 178. July, 1778.
J Curwen s Journal, March, 1782.
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 91
The subject had been seriously considered by the royal
governors, Bernard and Hutchinson. Says the latter, writ
ing to his friend in England, October, 1770 :
" I can say little or nothing in answer to the queries you propose,
more than what has often passed in conversation between us. You
know we have both wished for a second branch of the Legislature
more analogous to the House of Lords than that in the royal gov
ernment, or that in the Massachusetts, but have found invincible
difficulties attending every projection."
Hutchinson and Bernard undoubtedly at one time hoped
to attain rank in an American peerage which might result
from the disputes on taxation and representation. Even
before the Stamp Act, Bernard, as shown by his letters to
Lord Halifax, had formed plans for a new colonial arrange
ment, a modification of the Massachusetts charter, and the
establishment of an order of nobility for life.* A few years
later he succeeded in getting himself knighted, but Hutchin
son had less influence at court.
At the commencement of the troubles between the parent
state and the Colonies, James Otis urged an American rep
resentation in the British Parliament, both in his speeches
in the Assembly and in his political essays. Whether he
had matured any specific plan is not known. If by a colo
nial representation the supreme power of Parliament over
the Colonies was to have been established, it would at the
same time have annihilated their Provincial Assemblies, and
rendered their charters absolutely nugatory. He was long
in favor of " a general union of all parts of the British em
pire, under an equal and uniform direction and system of
laws." Had the Colonies sent representatives to the House
of Commons, and succeeded in hitting upon an equitable
proportion in point of numbers, it would yet not have been
a fair representation. The British Legislature consisted
of King, Lords, and Commons, but the Colonies would have
* Bancroft, V. 201 -225.
92 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
had a voice only in one branch, unless to perfect the plan it
was really intended to create an American nobility, and
American peers were to compose a part of the House of
Lords on a plan of union similar to that with Scotland. In
whatever light the project is viewed, it was visionary, and
was so considered by those who sided with Samuel Adams
in his opposition to the measure.
Hutchinson says that Otis " always admitted the Parlia
ment of Great Britain to be the supreme Legislature of the
whole empire, and every act made to respect all parts of
the empire to be wholly obligatory upon every part, whether
represented or not ; but he insisted that every part had a
claim to representation, and that it was an unconstitutional
exercise of the power of Parliament to tax any part, and
nevertheless to deny it a share in the representation."
Otis also said in the Assembly, " that he had fully informed
himself of the relation between Great Britain and her Colo
nies, and was convinced that the power of Parliament over
her Colonies was absolute, with this qualification, that they
ought not to tax them until they allowed them to send
representatives ; and that if the Colonies had representatives,
the power of Parliament would be as perfect over America
as England. He then argued for an American representa
tion."*
In the " Rights of the Colonists," he says :
" Besides the equity of a representation in Parliament, a thousand
advantages would result from it. It would be the most effectual
* Gordon s Hist., I. 229. He says a member remarked, " that, as they were
determined to have representatives, he begged leave to recommend a merchant
who would undertake to carry their representatives to England for half what
they would sell for when they got there." This seems to show that Gordon
had access to Bernard s letters in London, for the anecdote is originally told by
the Governor in a letter to the Ministry, January 28, 1768. The argument
of Otis, as here reported, was, that a representation in Parliament had become
a measure necessary to Great Britain and the Colonies for healing the existing
difficulties. In this same letter Bernard advises to take the Colonists at their
word, and let them have a representation.
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS.
means of giving those of both countries a thorough knowledge of
each other s interest, as well as that of the whole, which are insep
arable."
Samuel Adams held exactly the opposite doctrine. He
considered a fair representation in Parliament to be utterly
impossible, and that the purpose contemplated by the scheme
could never be realized. He opposed it in the House, in:
his public essays and state papers, and to his correspondents
in England. In the Massachusetts Resolves he declares rep
resentation to be impracticable. In his letter to " G. W."
he briefly upsets the theory, and completely exposes its fal
lacy in a letter written about the same time to Deberdt,
extracts from which are given at the close of this chapter.
To Deberdt, in 1768, he writes that " there is nothing which
the Colonies would more dread" than a representation in
Parliament.* In fact he never ceased to believe the plan
preposterous and chimerical ; and even in the Congress
preceding the Declaration of Independence he combated the
same schemes. There is matter for curious speculation in
the question how long the Colonists would have remained
contented under the proposed new system. All the Prov
inces might not have assented to the change, in which case
those who did would sooner or later have incurred the en
mity of the others. But if it had been universally adopted,
the several delegations would eventually have come into
conflict as to the application of any general laws for the
regulation of the whole. Four elected by each would have
given an aggregate of fifty-two members, who could not
long have acted in harmony as representatives of such
widely separated regions, differing so essentially in produc
tions, climate, and inhabitants. Each Province would have
sent its best known and ablest men. Massachusetts would
probably have been represented in part from among the
delegates to the late New York Congress, including Otis ;
* See also his letters in the True Sentiments of America, January and
February, 1768, quoted hereafter in Chap. VII.
94 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
and it is not unlikely that Gridley, Oliver, and Hutchinson
would have been candidates. Regarded in the light of a
concession to the Provinces, the effect might have been to
delay awhile the revenue disputes with the mother country ;
but when shown to be impracticable and unequal, as it
must soon have proved itself, the struggle and separation
would as certainly have resulted.
Another vital point of difference between Otis and
Adams was on the nature and extent of the authority of
Parliament over the Colonies. Their views on the subject
were diametrically opposed. Otis maintained, " as it was
agreed on all hands the Crown alone could not impose taxes
and impositions on trade and other property, we should be
justifiable in refusing to pay them, but must and ought to
yield obedience to an act of Parliament, though erroneous,
till repealed."
" It is the duty of all," said he, " humbly and silently to acqui
esce in the decisions of the supreme Legislature. Nine hundred
and ninety-nine in a thousand of the Colonists will never once en
tertain a thought but of submission to our sovereign, and to the au
thority of Parliament, in all possible contingencies." "They un
doubtedly have the right to levy internal taxes on the Colonies."
" I detest and abhor the thought of making a question of jurisdic
tion."
" The power of Parliament is uncontrollable but by themselves,
and we must obey. They only can repeal their own acts. There
would be an end of all government if one or a number of subjects
or subordinate provinces should take upon them so far to judge of
the justice of an act of Parliament as to refuse obedience to it. If
there was nothing else to restrain such a step, prudence ought to do
it ; for forcibly resisting the Parliament and the King s laws is high
treason. Therefore let the Parliament lay what burdens they
please on us, we must, it is our duty to, submit, and patiently bear
them till they relieve us."*
" It is certain that the Parliament of Great Britain hath a just,
* Writings of Otis in 1765. Brief Remarks." "Vindication of the British
Colonies," &c. See also Bancroft, V. 271-273; and VI. 118.
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 95
clear, equitable, and constitutional power and authority to impose
taxes on the Colonies, internal and external, on lands as well as on
trade."
These are only some of the instances where James Otis
asserts the right of Parliament to tax the Colonies. The
firmest advocates of the arbitrary measures of the adminis
tration, its warmest apologists, went no further than Otis
in supporting that right. The Governor himself in his
speech of September 25th was not more explicit :
" I trust," he says, " that the supremacy of that Parliament over
all the members of their wide and diffused empire never was, and
never will be, denied within these walls." " The right of the Par
liament of Great Britain to make laws for the American Colonies,
however it has been controverted in America, remains indisputable
at "Westminster. If it is yet to be made a question, who shall de
cide it but the Parliament ? "
Such were precisely the views of Otis, which he long ad
hered to. He appears to have limited himself to advocating
the repeal of a grievous and unconstitutional act ; when this
could not be effected, no steps could, in his opinion, be
taken beyond it without transgressing the law.
The opinion of Adams on the nature and extent of Parlia
mentary authority was unvarying throughout his career.
From his college thesis in 1743, when he affirmed that " it
is lawful to resist the supreme magistrate if the Common
wealth cannot be otherwise preserved," to the close of the
arguments with the royal Governors, through a period of
more than thirty years, his sentiments were uniform and de
cided.
He maintained that an unconstitutional act was ipso facto
null and void ; * that the Constitution was the paramount
law of the land, to which every department of the govern
ment was separately and collectively subject ; and that when
* See Samuel Adams as " Candidas " in the Boston Gazette, January,
1772, quoted in Chap. XXI.
96 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
a law was enacted obviously repugnant to its true spirit and
principles, and the constitutional mode of redress by peti
tion and remonstrance failed to obtain its repeal, obedience
could not be lawfully enforced, and to evade or resist it
was neither morally nor politically wrong. Parliament, he
held, had no authority whatever over the internal concerns
of the Colonies, but this power resided exclusively in the
the respective Provincial Assemblies.
One of his letters to a correspondent in London, written
December 20th, 1765, expresses his views as to Parliamentary
authority. The name of the recipient is unknown, but that
this and others of the numerous letters of Adams were now
instrumental with persons in authority in England in pro
curing the repeal of the Stamp Act, there is no reason to
doubt.
" But there is another consideration which renders this tax still
more obnoxious to the Colonies, and that is, it totally annihilates
their essential rights as British subjects. The first settlers of New
England had been persecuted in England at a time when the nation
was intoxicated with bigotry and the ideas of ecclesiastical tyranny.
This induced them to cross an untried ocean, and take shelter in a
dreary wilderness. Immediately after their arrival, they recognized
their allegiance to the English King, and he declared them entitled
to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of natural-born subjects.
The other Colonies are by charter or other royal institutions thus
acknowledged. Indeed, as they were good subjects in England, and
were not prohibited to leave the kingdom, their removal could not
disenfranchise them, although they were told by a haughty Ba
shaw,* you know whom I mean, they must not expect their
liberties would follow them to the ends of the earth. They un
doubtedly brought with them the rights and laws of the mother
state. The British Constitution makes no distinction between good
subjects with regard to liberty. To talk of British subjects who are
free, and of other British subjects who are not free, is absurd. They
* Gov. Dudley in 1702. See also letter to Deberdt, January 6th, 1768,
quoted in Chap. VII.
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 97
are all alike free. The British Constitution is founded in the princi
ples of nature and reason. It admits of no more power over the
subject than is necessary for the support of government, which was
originally designed for the preservation of the inalienable rights of
nature. It engages to all men the full enjoyment of their rights
who take refuge in her bosom. Foreigners who have resided a cer
tain time, and have behaved well, and have taken the oath of alle
giance, by act of Parliament are declared to be as free as natural-
born subjects (in which act, it is to be observed, the Colonies are
considered such). And even conquered people, after swearing alle
giance, are entitled to the same honor and freedom."
The subject is so often treated in lengthy state papers by
Samuel Adams, that extended quotations here would be need
less to explain his views. The Boston Instructions in May,
1764, may be taken as a text for his whole subsequent ca
reer. Otis and Adams, however, were generally on friendly
terms, despite these differences of opinion. Their relation
ship was too strong to be affected by occasional collisions of
sentiment. Otis, in most cases, acted with the Whig party,
and rendered eminent service to the cause, though his orig
inal principles were not those which gave independence to
the Colonies. He seems to have changed his opinions ta
some extent in the latter part of 1765, when (in December)
he is quoted by Bancroft as saying of the Stamp Act, " if
they do not repeal it, we will repeal it ourselves," and when
he led and shared the most excited opposition.* For several
years afterwards, he was placed nominally at the head of
committees, and none more than he loathed and denounced
the corrupt crown officers ; but his opinions from this time
became more and more variable, and few if any state papers
can be thenceforth claimed for him.f
The impulse given by Samuel Adams to the cause of
liberty, and his influence in the Legislature, is apparent
* Bradford says Otis was the leading member of the House from 1763 to:
1766.
t Bancroft, VI. 121.
VOL. i. 7
98 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. p e c.
from the time he became a member. The elder Samuel
Dexter, who was generally with him on important commit
tees, asserted in after years, from his own personal knowledge,
that from Samuel Adams s entrance into the House, in 1765,
he was the soul of that body, and its guide and director
through the storms of the succeeding nine years, until the
dissolution of the royal authority in Massachusetts. From
that hour, he rose naturally, at once, and by general assent,
to the position belonging by right to his vigorous mind and
firmness of character. No person can read the state papers
of the Assembly, through the ensuing nine years up to that
of the first Congress, without recognizing in many of them
his pervading genius and the productions of his practised
pen. He became immediately the leader of the Legislature,
the beacon which illumined its counsels in its darkest periods.
He originated the most important measures, and bent his en
ergies and invincible will to their accomplishment.
Governor Bernard ruefully pointed to the surprising
change in the legislative proceedings in the October session
of this year. " Your answer to my speech," he says to
the House, " is conceived in terms so different from what
you have been used to address me with, that I know not
how to account for it, but from the disordered state of the
Province, which affects its very counsels." * And in his re
ply a few years later to the petition of the Assembly for his
removal from office, he says that " a very good understand
ing and agreement of sentiment continually prevailed be
tween the Governor and the Assembly, until the opposition
to the Stamp Act, which began in 1765."
Hutchinson, who names Samuel Adams as the author of
the Massachusetts Resolves says :
" They seem to be designed as a sort of Magna Charta, or rather
a declaration of the fundamentals of the Constitution." " There is
no acknowledgment of the authority of Parliament in any case
whatever." " These resolves were passed when three fourths of the
* Journals of the House, Nov. 8, 1765.
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 99
members of the House were the same persons who had been mem
bers the last year. The House then declared it to be their duty to
yield obedience, even to a tax act, until it should be repealed. In
consistencies in the votes and proceedings of such bodies of men are
common. The reason is obvious. The body is governed by a few
of its members, sometimes by a single member." " They are agree
able to his* [Samuel Adams s] professed principles, which he owned
without reserve in private discourse to be independency ; and from
time to time he made advances towards it in public as far as would
serve the great purpose of attaining to it. To his influence may be
attributed the great advance made in this session." *
This passage was written by the mortal enemy of Samuel
Adams, who, in the hearty dislike he entertained for him,
honestly believed that these facts were recorded to his dis
grace. Yet at this day, we feel that he could have no
nobler monument or more honorable distinction.
During the long interval of inactivity caused by the cessa
tion of business, Mr. Adams employed his pen in the cause
he loved to defend. Among his papers are found letters,
some of them partially obliterated by time or carelessness so
as to be nearly illegible. The few which have been restored
prove to be directed to persons in England on the subject of
the public grievances. One, over his own signature, dated
November 13th, 1765, is addressed to " G. W., London," of
whose " good will to mankind, and particular regard to New
England," the writer says he had long been convinced, and
continues :
" The free access which I am informed you have to some eminent
personages may put it in your power to do us offices of singular
kindness. New England has had the misfortune of having many
enemies, but He that planted the vine seems hitherto to have had
a watchful eye over it.
" Nothing could have given greater disgust than the Stamp Act.
The people are in consternation from one end of the continent to
* Hutchinson s History, III. 134, 135.
100 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
the other. Whatever the favorers of the act on your side of the
water may apprehend, it certainly is esteemed a grievance in the
opinions of many thousands of as loyal and quiet subjects as any
under the King s government.
" I wish some genius of the Earl of Dartmouth s goodness and
penetration might find leisure particularly to attend to this matter,
in which I think Great Britain herself, as well as her Colonies, is
deeply interested. We stand in great need of some such advocate
in England, as the Governor of this Province has declared in a
message delivered to the House of Representatives last week, that
he has no pretence to interpose in this business, and that he does not
think that any governor on the continent has presumed to express
his sentiments against the act ; which case may be easily supposed,
for it is not likely that any gentleman in commission would choose
to express his sentiments against what is said to be a favorite point
with a minister. It is, however, amusing, that those who are substi
tuted by his Majesty to be the patrons of his subjects in the several
Colonies should think themselves to be under this restraint. The
Ministry and the Parliament no doubt had the good of the Colonies
as well as the nation in view. With respect to the Colonies, they
are at so great a distance, and having none in England to represent
them, it cannot be wondered at if this interest should be sometimes
mistaken. The opinion of a governor will no doubt be of great
weight and candidly received ; if all of them are silent, the applica
tions of the people will be thought to be of little importance. But
should these gentlemen, with the design to please their superiors,
express their minds in favor of every measure, the people s uneasiness
might then be imputed to a discontented or even a factious humor ;
and considering the imperfection of human nature, this inclination
to natter a superior is at least a possible supposition.
" In looking over one of the latest London newspapers, I find the
following article, viz: The disputes continually arising in the
American Colonies, joined to the struggles they make for indepen
dence, it is thought will induce the British Legislature to new model
their system of government, and to allow them representatives in
the great councils of the nation. Whether the writer of this piece
of intelligence meant only to arouse the nation, I am not able to say.
He has endeavored to establish two facts, one of which at least is
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 101
without any foundation. That there are frequent disputes between
adjoining Colonies about their dividing line is true ; but we hope they
may be settled as they have always heretofore been, without the ne
cessity of altering their system of government. A very celebrated
writer, the author of the Spirit of Laws, has defined political liberty
to be a tranquillity of mind, arising from the opinion which each
man has of his own safety. Now if a number of Colonies are to
have their system of government new modelled at discretion, or even
to be threatened with it, because such disputes, which subsist wher
ever society is, take place among them, there can never be among
them any opinion of their safety, from which should arise a tran
quillity of mind, and consequently there can - be no liberty accord
ing to the definition of the before-mentioned learned author. This
news-writer shoots his bow at a venture. Where did he learn that
the Colonies were struggling for independence ? The contrary is
most certainly true. You, sir, can be a witness to the loyalty of the
Colonies and their affection for the mother country. There is at
present no appearance of such a disposition as this writer would
insinuate, much less a struggle for independence ; and I dare say there
never will be, unless Great Britain shall exert her power to destroy
their liberties. This we hope will never be done. He tells us that
we are to be allowed representatives in the great councils of the
nation, which implies that we have no representative there at pres
ent. This is a main argument against a constitutional right of Par
liament to tax us. It is built upon one of the main pillars of the
British Constitution, the right of representation. If the subject has
a constitutional right to be represented in the body that taxes him,
it is but altering the expression of the same sentiment to say there
can be no constitutional right to tax the subject in a body where he
is not represented. When the question is asked, Will any one deny
that the Parliament hath a right to tax the Colonies ? it needs only
to ask again, Are the Colonies represented in Parliament ? The
writers against the Colonies, when they have been thus pressed, have
been obliged to adopt the word virtually ; but we must first under
stand what they mean by being virtually represented, before we can
give their doctrine a serious consideration.* There is one thing,
* If the gentleman to whom this letter was addressed had that " access to
eminent personages," indicated by Mr. Adams, it would be interesting to
102 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
however, which perhaps may need explanation. The Colonies de
pend upon it. As their argument against being taxed by the Par
liament because they are not represented must be allowed to be
good, to be consistent with the British Constitution, yet they are far
from desiring a representation for this reason only, because they
judge it impracticable for them to be equally and fully represented in
Parliament. Many things might be said to justify such an opinion,
which perhaps may occasion my troubling you with another letter ;
in the mean time, allow me just to add that the only way to preserve
to the Colonists their rights as British subjects, consistent with their
acknowledged subordination to the supreme Legislature of Great
Britain, as it appears to me, is to continue the same power of gov
ernment which they have hitherto been used to, with the same
checks and no other. This is all they desire."
Another letter, directed to " J. S., Esq.," in London, writ
ten December 20th, 1765, reviews the occurrences in the
Colonies from the first notice of the intended Stamp Act.
The person to whom it was addressed has not been ascer^
tained, but he was some gentleman of influence, who had
access to those in power. It was intended to prevent any
erroneous impressions arising from exaggerated statements
of the riotous proceedings in Boston. These disorders were
regretted by the respectable class of people ; but the Governor
and his friends had charged them indiscriminately upon the
know whether this and other communications on the same subject were not
shown to Pitt. Two months after it was written and when it had been in
England three or four weeks, the " Great Commoner " exposed the absurdity
of a virtual representation in Parliament.
" There is an idea/ said he, " in some, that the Colonies are virtually repre
sented in this House. I would fain know by whom an American is represented
here. Is he represented by any knight of the shire in any county in this king
dom? Would to God that respectable representation was augmented to a
greater number. Or will you tell him that he is represented by any represen
tative of a borough, which perhaps no man ever saw 1 This is what is called
the rotten part of a constitution. It cannot endure a century. If it does not
drop, it must be amputated. The idea of a virtual representation of America
in this House is the most contemptible idea that ever entered into the heart of a
man. It does not deserve a serious refutation." Debates in Parliament, Jan.
14, 1766.
1765.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 103
liberty party, whom they represented as enemies of law and
order. In his speech at the opening of the October session
he had implied this, and attempted to throw the odium
upon all classes of the Province. Mr. Adams, in the reply
of the House, effectually demolished that argument, and
properly vindicated the people and the Legislature. This
letter has the same tendency.
" I do not now attempt," he says, " to justify this proceeding "
(alluding to the riots of August 14th) ; "yet I will venture to ex
press my belief that if the whole body of the nation had thought
their essential constitutional rights had been invaded by an act
of Parliament, which really is the apprehension that the whole body
of the American people have of the Stamp Act, the nation, after
having taken every legal means, to no purpose, to prevent its opera
tion, would have justified itself in the same conduct. The opposition
to the act daily increases, and I am satisfied nothing can ever recon
cile the people to it."
By the same conveyance, Dennys Deberdt, the newly ap
pointed agent in London for special purposes, was written
to on the 21st of December by several members of the
House, who employed as usual the pen of Samuel Adams.
After expressing confidence in the ability and inclination of
Deberdt to serve the Province, and opening the subject of
the late oppressive acts, Adams continues :
" The Colonies may in consequence of this be put upon contriving
some other method, perhaps to their own greater advantage, and not
so beneficial to the nation. Be that as it may, it is certain there
will be an end to remittances that are now made to Spain, Portugal,
and other parts of Europe, through which the greatest part of the
produce of America and the profits of the trade flow into Great
Britain, and set up her manufacturers of all kinds of work. By
means of the trade of the Colonists, as hitherto carried on, millions
of them have been enabled yearly to consume British manufactures.
An attempt to raise revenue out of their trade, as it will in effect
advance the price of your manufactures, will reduce the people to
the necessity of setting up manufactures of their own. Their ne
cessity will quicken their invention, and they will become by degrees
104 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
less useful, and in time entirely useless to the mother country. But
we humbly apprehend it would appear too partial for a nation to
confine her views to her own interest in regulating the trade of her
Colonies. There is justice due them as subjects. As such, they
have an equal right with the inhabitant of Britain of making use of
trade and all other honest means of subsisting and enriching them
selves.
" The Colonists have as great a regard for right, liberty, and jus
tice as any people under heaven. And they generally have knowl
edge enough to discover when their rights are infringed. If this be
true, you will own they merit the esteem of every man of sense in
England, especially when it may be justly added that they are and
ever have been as loyal subjects as any the King has. They hold
themselves entitled to all the inherent and unalienable rights of
nature as men, and to all the essential rights of Britons as subjects.
The common law of England, and the grand leading principles of
the British Constitution, have their foundation in the law of nature
and of universal reason. Hence, one would think that British
rights are in a great measure unalienable, the rights of the Colo
nists and of all men else. The American subjects are, by charters
from the Crown and other royal institutions, declared entitled to all
the rights and privileges of natural-born subjects within the realm,
and with good reason, for as emigrating subjects they brought the
rights and laws of the mother state with them. Had they been con
quered, we presume that by the British Constitution, after taking the
oath of allegiance, they should be acknowledged as free subjects,
much more when they have been neither rebels nor enemies, but
have greatly merited of their mother country by subduing and set
tling a large continent, to the amazing increase of national power
and wealth.
" The right of representation, and the argument against this tax
founded upon it, is so constitutional that the writers in favor of it
have been put to great shifts to evade it. We have been told that
we are virtually represented, but we must desire an explanation of
this vague term, before we can give it a serious consideration.*
* Compare the letter to " G. W.," Nov. 13, 1765, ante, pp. 99-102.
1765.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 105
" When we plead the right of representation, we only mean to
have our not being represented upon our own free election consid
ered as a reason why we should not be taxed by the Parliament ;
and we apprehend that as we are entitled to all the rights of British
subjects, it is a reason that cannot be withstood without violence to
the Constitution. We are far however from desiring any representa
tion there, because we think the Colonies cannot be fully and equally
represented ; and if not equally, then in effect not at all. A repre
sentative should be, and continue to be, well acquainted with the in
ternal circumstances of the people whom he represents. It is often
necessary that the circumstances of individual towns should be
brought into comparison with those of the whole ; so it is particu
larly when taxes are in consideration. The proportionate part of
each to the whole can be found only by an exact knowledge of the
internal circumstances of each. Now the Colonies are at so great a
distance from the place where the Parliament meets, from which
they are separated by a wide ocean, and their circumstances are so
often and continually varying, as is the case in countries not fully
settled, that it would not be possible for men, though ever so well
acquainted with them at the beginning of a Parliament to continue
to have an adequate knowledge of them during the existence of that
Parliament.
" The several subordinate powers of legislation in America seem
very properly to have been constituted upon their (the Colonists) be
ing considered as free subjects of England, and the impossibility of
their being represented in Parliament, for which reason these powers
ought to be held sacred. The American powers of government are
rather to be considered as matters of justice than favor, without
them, they cannot enjoy that freedom which, having never forfeited,
no power on earth has any right to deprive them of." *
* This letter was not written by direction of the Assembly, but is signed
by several gentlemen as individuals. The order of the names is, Otis, Gush
ing, Gray, Adams, and Sheafe. That Otis was not its author is beyond ques
tion from the unqualified opposition to a representation in Parliament which it
expresses. His name was probably placed first from the fact that at the close
of 1765 he was the most conspicuous member of the Legislature. That it
was the production of Samuel Adams is evidenced by the fact that the original
draft has been found in his handwriting, while a comparison of whole sen-
CHAPTER Y.
Change in the British Ministry. Effect of the Non-importation Agreements.
Petitions of the English Tradesmen and Manufacturers for the Eepeal of
the Stamp Act. Exciting Debates in Parliament. Pitt and Burke.
Repeal of the Stamp Act. Rejoicings in London. rv^prMtinn nf /\fiV|jr g
in Massaphr gQffg The Legislature meet in January, 1766. Bold Lan
guage of the House. Controversy with the Governor on the Opening of
the Courts. Arrival in Boston of the News from London. Rejoicings
at the Repeal of the Stamp Act. Adams dissatisfied with the Terms.
The Declaratory Act. -Adams^brings John Hancock forward into Public
Life. Election Controversy conducted by Adams in the Assembly. Dis
putes as to compensating the Sufferers by the late Riots.
IN September, while the country was yet agitated with the
measures of the administration, the news had arrived in
Boston of a change in the Ministry ; Grenville having been
succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham, a young states
man of no great natural abilities, but liberal and honorable
in his views. The elevation to power of the " Rockingham
Whigs " gave a gleam of hope to the oppressed Americans.
Although a portion of the new administration had been
among the original supporters of the Stamp Act, Conway, a
warm friend of the Colonies, was one of the Cabinet ; and
Edmund Burke, the most accomplished intellect in the na
tion, and a giant supporter of the American cause, became
private secretary to the Premier. It was not at first contem
plated to alter or repeal the Stamp Act. The King was
determined on the prosecution of his policy of taxation, and
tences, as well as the general style of the paper, with his private letters written
a short time before, will show the same hand in each. Adams undoubtedly
wrote the letter, and, to give it additional weight, obtained the signatures of
the others. It is printed, with slight variations, in the " Seventy-six Society s "
Papers relating to Public Events in Massachusetts preceding the Revolution.
Philadelphia, 1856.
Jan., 1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 107
a change of measures seemed unlikely. The subject indeed
was not then considered of pressing importance ; and in the
House of Peers, when the Stamp Act became a law, it was
not even adverted to by a single lord. A few years served
to reveal the whirlwind they had sown. Now, under the
Rockingham Ministry, though every ship from America
brought tidings of popular tumults, British statesmen had
not yet aroused to the importance of the subject. Parlia
ment met on the 17th of December, but immediately ad
journed until after the Christmas holidays. Applications
not only from the Colonial agents, but from the trades inter
ests, began to pour in for a repeal of the act. These, backed
by the efforts of innumerable influential persons in England,
grew so powerful, that the prospect became daily more en
couraging. Solemn resolutions had been adopted among
the Colonists to import no more British manufactured goods
till the act was repealed ; and government was in conse
quence besieged with petitions from manufacturers. Gren-
ville, now out of power, declared that " had he continued
in office, he would have forfeited a thousand lives, if the act
had been found impracticable." A special hindrance to the
repeal was the denial by the Colonial Legislatures of a right
to impose taxes. It would therefore be conceding too much ;
it would be admitting, in fact, that the Parliament had no
right to legislate for the Colonies ; it would be a " surrender
of sovereignty." But the sympathy of the intelligent classes
in England was largely with the Americans, whose struggle
for liberty could not be regarded merely with mercenary
views.
The debate in Parliament early in the new year was one
of the most memorable in the annals of England. Pitt and
Burke, the Titans of British eloquence, the one fast disap
pearing from the stage, and the other just entering upon his
splendid career, were present and took part. Pitt entered
during the debate, having just arrived in town. The Ameri
cans in the gallery viewed him as their " guardian angel
108 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
and saviour," and waited for his words with eager impatience.
The man who had wielded with such mighty effect the power
of England in the late war, arose. He regretted, he said,
that he had not been able to attend in his place, and oppose
the law on its passage.
" It is now an act that has passed. I would speak with decency
of every act of this House ; but I must beg the indulgence of this
House to speak of it with freedom. Assuredly a more important
subject never engaged your attention, that subject only excepted,
when, nearly a century ago, it was the question whether you your
selves were bond or free.
" Taxation is no part of the governing or legislative power. The
taxes are a voluntary gift and grant of the commons alone ; when,
therefore, in this House, we give and grant, we give and grant what
is our own. But in an American tax, what can we do ? We, your
Majesty s commons of Great Britain, give and grant to your Majesty
what ? Our own property ? No. We give and grant to your
Majesty the property of your commons in America. It is an ab
surdity in terms."
Conway concurred in the views of the great statesman.
Then Grenville, true to his indomitable spirit, censured the
Ministry for not giving earlier notices of the disturbances in
America, which he said had grown to tumults and riots, and
bordered now upon rebellion. " Protection and obedience
are reciprocal. Great Britain protects America. America
is bound to yield obedience. If not, tell me when these
Americans were emancipated."
" I rejoice," replied Pitt, " that America has resisted. Three
millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as volunta
rily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make
slaves of the rest.
"The gentleman asks, When were the Colonies emancipated?
But I desire to know when they were made slaves ? A great deal
has been said without doors, and more than what is discreet, of the
power, of the strength of America. In a good cause, on a sound
1766] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 109
bottom, the force of this country can crush America to atoms. But
on the ground of this tax, when it is wished to prosecute an evident
injustice, I am one who will lift my hands and my voice against it.
In such a cause, your success would be deplorable and victory haz
ardous. America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man. She
would embrace the pillars of the state and pull down the Constitution
along with her."
He concluded with giving his advice that the Stamp Act-
should be repealed absolutely, totally, and immediately ;
that this reason for its repeal be assigned, that it was founded
on an erroneous principle.
" At the same time," said he, " let the sovereign authority of this
country over the Colonies be asserted in as strong terms as can be
devised, and be made to extend to every point of legislation what
soever ; that we may bind their trade, confine their manufactures,
and exercise every power, except that of taking their money out of
their pockets without their consent."
Petitions from London, Birmingham, Coventry, Bristol,
Liverpool, Manchester, and other towns, were presented, and
the recent correspondence with America was laid on the
table. Dr. Franklin appeared soon after before the House
in committee of the whole, and was examined touching the
state of America, and the probable effect upon the inhabi
tants of the imposition of stamp duties. His novel and
pertinent replies, and their evident truthfulness, convinced
the House, that " the American people would never submit
to the act, unless compelled by force of arms." The ques
tion remained in suspense until the 22d of February, when
after a debate, in which Pitt, Conway, Burke, and Grenville
took part, in the presence of five hundred members, at half-
past two o clock in the morning, Conway s motion to bring
in a bill to repeal the Stamp Act prevailed. 611 the 18th of
March, the King sanctioned the bill, and all London was in
a blaze of joy. The next night houses were illuminated, the
ships displayed their colors, and bells merrily pealed forth in
response to the general jubilee.
110 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
Meantime, the hand of oppression lay heavily upon Massa
chusetts. The principal merchants of Boston and other
towns, to the number of two hundred, agreed to import no
more goods from England, and countermanded their orders
for shipments. No compulsion was used at this time to
enforce the observance of these agreements. The courts
were still closed ; no business was done in the custom
house ; no wills were proved, no deeds nor bonds executed.
The Assembly had been prorogued, and anxiety and distress
prevailed. All that prudence and due moderation could
suggest had been done by the populace to manifest their
indignation, and it only remained to see whether the strenu
ous efforts of their friends in England would prevail in re
pealing the act.
The Assembly had been prorogued from November to
January 15th. In his opening speech, the Governor recom
mended the ordinary business, and only distantly alluded to
the point in controversy. During this session, Mr. Adams s
name appears on numerous committees, to draft answers
and prepare general reports. Besides being a member of
that appointed to reply to the opening address, he was on the
committee " to take into consideration his Excellency s
speech of the 8th of November at the prorogation of the
General Court, and to prepare the draft of an answer there
to." The Assembly, owing to the Governor s sudden pro
rogation, had been allowed no time to reply, during the
previous session. Hutchinson says of the House, that
" their zeal in the cause had rather increased than abated
during the recess." Adopting the words of Adams s Massa
chusetts Resolves, they admit only " a due veneration to the
Parliament of Great Britain " ; a term in which Hutchinson
could see " no acknowledgment of the authority of Parlia
ment in any case whatever." The Governor had expressed
the hope " that an estimate of this people would not be
formed from a review of the present times " ; and the House
replied, in the language of Samuel Adams :
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. Ill
" Of the present times, may it please your Excellency, impartial
history will record that the people of this continent, after giving the
strongest testimonies of their loyalty to his Majesty, particularly by
making their utmost exertions in defending his territories and en
larging his dominion in this part of the world, upon a motion made
in this House, gave an equal testimony of a love of liberty and
regard to those principles which are a basis of his Majesty s govern
ment, by a glorious stand even against an act of Parliament, because
they plainly saw that their essential, unalienable right of represen
tation and of trials by juries, the very foundation of the British
Constitution, was infringed and even annihilated by it ; but that
they had knowledge and virtue enough to regulate their opposition
to it by the law, and steadily to persevere in such steps as the Con
stitution has prescribed to obtain its repeal.*
"Your Excellency says that these times have been made more diffi
cult than they need have been, which is also the opinion of this House.
Those who have made them so have reason to regret the injury
they have done to a sincere and honest people. We are glad, how
ever, to find that the difficulty of the times is in a great measure
removed, and we trust that the Province will be soon restored to its
former tranquillity, your Excellency is pleased to add "reputa
tion." The custom-houses are now open, and the people are per
mitted to do their own business. The courts of justice must be open,
open immediately, and the law, the great rule of right in every
county in the Province, executed." f
Among the other committees upon which the name of
Samuel Adams appears during the session are the following :
" To consider the grievances the people of this Province
labor under " ; " To prepare the draft of an impost bill " ;
" To present to the Governor the answer of the House to his
speech of November 8th " ; " To propose a bill to prevent
frauds in flax " ; " To consider the light-house keeper s re
port " ; " To view the papers and wills above stairs, and
report " ; " To take under consideration the extract from the
Right Honorable Mr. Conway (which his Excellency was
pleased to communicate to the House), and report." J
* Compare the Massachusetts Resolves, ante, pp. 75 - 77.
t Bradford s State Papers, p. 61. \ Journal of the House for 1766.
112 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
Early in the session letters were received from Deberdt
and Jackson in answer to those written at the close of the
previous year, extracts from which have already been given.
Deberdt signified his acceptance of the agency of the House
to solicit the petitions of the New York Congress, and gave
reason to anticipate their favorable reception. Mr. Adams
replied for the House :
" Your acceptance of the trust imposed upon you by the House,
and your early and zealous application to the very important business
of it, affords them great satisfaction. Your not having copies of the
several petitions authenticated by the speakers was an oversight of
the House. It is hoped, however, that their interest will not be
prejudiced by this omission, as Mr. Jackson, to whom they were
sent, signed by the members of the Congress, was so careful as to
deliver them to you, and your appointment as a special agent for
these very petitions fully shows that the House had adopted them.
" The favorable reception which the petitions met with from the
Secretary of State and Lord Roekingham, the real affection which
Lord Dartmouth has been pleased to express for America, and
indeed the whole Ministry, which your letter assures us of, will
justify us in entertaining the strongest hopes of the success of our
applications ; and the access which you are honored with to persons
of great rank and importance confirm the House in the wisdom of
the choice they made of you to act for them in so interesting an
affair.
" It is a satisfaction to the House to find by a letter from Mr.
Jackson that your appointment is so agreeable to him. He assures
the House that he will join his utmost endeavors with you to favor
the interest of the Province.
" The House is very sensible of the kindness of the merchants of
London in warmly espousing their cause, and promise themselves
great success from the aid which the application and interest of so
respectable a body of men must afford to our petitions. The many
great and powerful friends to America on your side the water,
which the Colonies must be convinced of, will serve to prevent that
indifference towards the mother country which the late regulations
might have produced, and will tend to the mutual advantage of both
countries ; for, as you rightly observe, the interest of both is insep-
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 113
arable, and nothing is more to be wished than that this affection
may be mutual.
" The House trust that Divine Providence will interpose for them,
that your agency, in which this Province is most essentially con
cerned, will be attended with success."
His original draft of this letter, Mr. Adams marked " re
corded " ; and by the journal of the day before it was
reported it appears that Captain Sheafe was directed to pur
chase two books in which to record the correspondence of
the House. These books, however, have disappeared.
A full list of Mr. Adams s committee services for this
session cannot be made out, as the journals are incomplete.
The results of those already named, however, are found on
many pages. Towards the close of the previous session in
October, he had been appointed one of a joint committee
with the Council, " to consider and report some proper
methods to prevent difficulties, which may arise in the pro
ceedings of courts of justice, and in any other matters after
the 1st of November next." The report soon appeared,
and recommended that all the judges and court officers
" be ordered and directed to proceed in the same manner in
the execution of their respective offices as if the Stamp Act
had never passed ; and all papers whatever which are siib-
ject to be stamped by said act shall, without the stamp, be
deemed valid during this emergency," The Council refused
to concur, and the House recommitted the report, but do
not appear to have proceeded further in the matter, perhaps
thinking that the ground was covered by the Massachusetts
Resolves, which were reported at that time.
But on the opening of the session in January, 1766, the
subject was immediately revived, and the committee on griev
ances now reported against several arbitrary acts of the Gov
ernor ; and " that the shutting up the courts of justice, par
ticularly the Superior Court, which is not yet open, nor like
to be, as we can learn, has a manifest tendency to dissolve the
bonds of all civil society, is unjustifiable on the principles of
VOL. I. 8
114 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. May,
law and reason, and dangerous to his Majesty s crown and
dignity, and in disherison thereof, and an intolerable griev
ance on the subject, to be forthwith redressed." * They
asked leave to sit again, and after three days, during which
there must have been some close discussion among the
committee-men and others, they again reported to the same
effect, but with the important recommendation that " the
judges, and justices, and all other public officers, ought
to proceed in the discharge of their several functions as
usual." f The first report was evidently not strong enough
to suit somebody on the committee.
This went for concurrence to the Council, who refused
their assent, but resolved to recommend the judges to meet
and determine whether they would proceed upon the trial
of civil actions or not. Later in the session the House again
passed their resolution, which the Council once more re
jected, on the ground that the judges had intimated that the
Superior Court would open and proceed to business as usual
at the ensuing term. These efforts for the renewal of the
legal business of the Province were in keeping with those
of Samuel Adams in the previous month, when, as chair
man of the town meeting, he had applied for the opening
of the courts, and that the town might be heard by their
counsel.
The news, that in the House of Commons Pitt had de
clared himself favorable to the repeal of the Stamp Act, and
his vindication of the people of America, prepared the pub
lic mind for a happy result. The welcome intelligence
reached Boston on the 16th of May by the brigantine " Harri
son," which " hove to, in the inner harbor." The jubilee
in consequence was as intense as the opposition to the act
had been. Bells were rung, the ships in the harbor displayed
their colors, guns were fired, and, at dark, bonfires were
kindled. On the 19th the event was celebrated with notable
* Journal of the House, Jan. 20, 1766.
t Bradford s State Papers, p. 65.
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 115
enthusiasm. At one in the morning, as the sound of the
clock striking ceased, the bell in the Rev. Dr. Byles s
church, being nearest to Liberty-Tree, began to ring ; this
was answered by the bells of Christ Church at North End,
and soon every bell in town gave forth its joyful clangor.
Guns were fired, and drums beat, and music was played in
the street before two o clock in the morning and throughout
the day, and peals of artillery boomed from Castle William,
the North and South Battery, the artillery train in the city,
and from the ships in the harbor. Steeples and house
tops were hung with flags, and the whole town went wild
with excitement. Fireworks, exceeding anything before
known in New England, were exhibited on the Common,
and the houses were universally illuminated ; that of John
Hancock shone conspicuously. Fireworks were let off from
a stage erected in front of the dwelling at his own expense,
which answered those of the Sons of Liberty on the Common.
" The genteel part of the town " were entertained at his
house, and the wealthy, generous-hearted proprietor treated
the populace with a pipe of Madeira wine.* Throughout
the exhibition, Mr. Otis and others living near the Common
kept open house. The celebration appears to have surpassed
all others of the kind ever seen in Boston. The people
seemed, as Mr. Adams afterwards said, " mad with loyalty,"
but it would appear from his writings on the subject that he
was not carried away by the popular rejoicing. He looked
beyond the immediate results, and foresaw the consequences
of the mischievous reservation which accompanied the re
peal. He could not join in any expression conveying the idea
that this was & favor to his countrymen, who had resolutely
claimed a total exemption from taxation, and were now re
joicing over a semblance of relief, while the evil was really
unchanged. The effect of the celebration, however, like that
in London, was to display to the powers in England the
* Drake s History of Boston, pp. 721, 722 ; and Boston papers of May,
1766.
116 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May,
determined spirit of American liberty. In one of his con
troversies with the crown writers on the public grievances,
Mr. Adams says :
" As to the repeal of the Stamp Act, though the people of this
Province and America universally regarded this act as an infraction
of their constitutional rights, and consequently humbly claimed the
repeal as a point of equity, they yet received it with as much grati
tude as though it had been a free gift. They blessed their sovereign ;
they revered the wisdom and goodness of the British Parliament ;
they felt themselves happy till new acts, equally unconstitutional,
were made, and severities imposed upon trade unknown even at the
time of the Stamp Act. But it seems we are unpardonable for not
being thankful for the removal of one burden, after another is laid
upon us, by the same hands, equally hard to bear ! How contempti
ble is such reasoning ! What an affront to common sense ! I never
heard of such discourse in Parliament till I saw our court paper.
And can these persons be friends to the leading men in government,
who represent them as reasoning in such a manner ? " *
With the repeal of the obnoxious act, was coupled the
Declaratory Act, asserting the authority of Parliament " to
bind the Colonies and people of America in all cases what
soever." The mere fact of relief from the Stamp Act, as we
have seen, diffused heartfelt joy ; but as the enthusiasm wore
away, the act for " securing the dependency of the Colonies,"
began to be viewed with distrust and anxiety by the more
intelligent. They had contended, not against the pecuniary
loss involved in an enforcement of the act, but for the asser
tion of a great principle, the right of exemption from taxa
tion unless they were represented, and that representation
must ever be impractible. If the repeal was attended by an
avowal of the right to bind the Colonies in all cases whatso
ever, it was but a nominal relief ; and a precedent was es
tablished which could operate on future occasions to the
prejudice of their liberties. Samuel Adams saw that the
* Shippen, in the Boston Gazette for January 30, 1769. See also the close
of his letter from the House to Dr. Franklin, June, 1771, quoted in Chap. XIX.
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 117
danger was equally great, did the Province still complain
after the repeal, or remain silent. The first course would
be construed against them as turbulent, unruly subjects,
seeking after independence ; the last might imply acquies
cence in the declaration, and lead to further encroach
ments.
His views on this subject are found more at length a few
years after the time of the Declaratory Act, in one of his
political essays:
" Let us take a short retrospect of American affairs. The oppo
sition which the Colonies made to the detestable Stamp Act in the
year 1765 finally operated its repeal. I am induced to call it a
detestable act, not from a warmth of resentment against a measure
which, had it taken effect, would have involved this whole continent
in perfect absolute slavery, but from the cool dictates of reason.
For though it was soon repealed, it yet created such a jealousy be
tween the mother country and the Colonies as it is to be feared
will never wholly subside, and, for aught the promoters of it can
tell, will finally end in the ruin of the most glorious empire the sun
ever shone upon, or at least may accelerate consequences, arising
from American independence, which, whenever they happen, will be
fatal to Britain herself. As a condition of the repeal, the friends
of the American cause, which was the cause of liberty, in the British
House of Commons, were obliged to yield to a proposal that an act
should be passed expressly declaring the right in the King, Lords,
and Commons of Great Britain to make laws which shall be binding
on the Colonies in all cases whatever. The Americans, who not
long before were viewed by the people of Britain in no better a
character than the tawny, aboriginal natives, were not so void of
understanding as to overlook the latent meaning of this act. They
clearly understood the true intention of the words, in all cases what
ever, and that a right of making revenue laws binding on the Colonies
was necessarily included. Thus Great Britain, instead of burying
in eternal oblivion a claim so repugnant to the laws of reason and
equity, and therefore so obnoxious to all the Colonies, was induced
at that critical season, and as I conceive contrary to all the rules of
sound policy, as far as she could, to establish it, and while she was,
through necessity, about to repeal one law for taxing the Colonies
118 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Mar,
without their consent, she at the same time held up to them a claim,
and in effect told them that she was resolved to make another, or a
thousand more, whenever she should be pleased to exercise the right
she had assumed. Such were the counsels which ruled in Britain
then, and we all know what they have been since.
" The Americans, for the sake of restoring harmony, chose to treat
this act with silence, at least till necessity should oblige them to re
monstrate the ill effects of it. The repeal of the Stamp Act was
received with universal joy; and perhaps future historians may
say of the Colonists, as has been said of the people of Britain, upon
another occasion, in a former period, that they were mad with loy
alty. Addresses were offered to our most gracious sovereign on
the occasion, and letters of thanks were sent to the patriots, who
had signalized themselves as instruments in bringing on this happy
event. The commerce with Great Britain, which had been stopped,
was again revived upon the additional motive of gratitude ; and such
steps were taken as might probably lead the mother country, in the
height of her glory, to imagine that the Americans looked upon the
repeal as a singular and unmerited favor. It must be owned they
eeemed too unmindful of the right they had on their part claimed,
of a total exemption from taxes not raised with their own free con
sent ; and that the repeal was nothing more, upon their own princi
ples, than the removal of a burden which they were under no man
ner of obligation to bear. I mention these things to show that the
Colonies were at that time heartily disposed to a reconciliation with
the mother country, and that she has not the least reason to complain
of them that differences still unhappily subsist between them ; and,
if Britain herself would now and then recollect, she might, perhaps,
correct some past errors and follies, which might tend to restore that
mutual affection which all good men wish for, and she herself, how
ever she may now think of the matter, may one day want. Power
is intoxicating ; and those who are possessed of it too often grow
vain and insolent. We have daily instances of this in particular
persons ; and a haughty nation, inebriated with power, like a drunken
man upon a precipice, may fall into inevitable ruin, when the friend
ly hand of a child, if present, might have led him from danger." *
During the spring of this year, there had been a number
* "Alfred," in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 2, 1769.
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 119
of town meetings relative to the public liberties. At one of
these an address was read from the people of Plymouth to
Boston, expressing a generous sympathy with the inhabi
tants and their thanks for the loyal and legal endeavors of
the Bostonians to secure the blessings of liberty, " and trans
mit them entire and perfect to the latest posterity." Mr.
Adams was chairman of the committee to draft an answer,
which was reported on the 24th of March. It eloquently
rehearses the settlement of the country by their forefathers,
recounts the cost, pains, and peril of the adventure, and the
increase of dominion, strength, and riches, which had thus
accrued to Great Britain. They express their " honest in
dignation to think there should have been any among her
sons so ungrateful, as well as unjust and cruel, as to seek
their ruin."
" Instances of this too frequently occur in the past history of our
country. The names of Randolph, of Andros, and others, are
handed down to us with infamy ; and the times in which we live
even these very times may furnish some future historian with a
catalogue of those who look upon our rising greatness with an envi
ous eye, and, while we and our sister Colonies have been exerting
our growing strength in the most substantial services to the mother
country, by art and intrigue have wickedly attempted to deceive her
into measures to enslave us." *
At the annual election on the 6th of May, Samuel Adams,
Thomas Gushing, James Otis, and John Hancock were
chosen Representatives for the town. This was the opening
of the political career of the afterwards famous John Han
cock. He had failed of an election the previous year, hav
ing received but forty votes. In the mean time his wealth
and ambition had attracted the notice of Adams, who saw
that the enlisting of so potent an auxiliary must result in
signal benefit to the cause. He therefore nominated him in
opposition to John Rowe, and secured his election. Han
cock was at this time twenty-nine years of age, fifteen years
* Boston Town Records.
120 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Mar,
the junior of Samuel Adams, with whom his name is in-
dissolubly connected by Gage s proscription. He was bred
a merchant in the counting-room of his uncle, Thomas
Hancock, where he acquired a knowledge of mercantile
life. At the death of his uncle, who made him his heir,
Mr. Hancock became possessed of a handsome fortune in
shipping and real estate, making him uncommonly rich for
that period. His profuse liberality, fine person, and affable
manners gave him great popularity. As the struggle with
the mother country advanced, Hancock became conspicuous
among his countrymen, and eventually reached positions of
trust and honor, whereby his name will descend to posterity
as one of the illustrious galaxy of Revolutionary patriots.
The Board of Councillors, as well as the Speaker of the
House under the royal charter, were elected by a convention
of the Legislature, and subject to the approval of the Gov
ernor. On the meeting of the General Court, May 28th,
the House elected James Otis Speaker, and Samuel Adams
Clerk ; this officer always being chosen from among their
own body. The Clerk took part in the debates of the House,
had a vote like the Speaker, and was in no way distinguished
from the other members, except in the matter of salary and
his official duties. The sums voted at different times in the
next eight years, as shown by the records, prove that the sal
ary of Mr. Adams was not above one hundred pounds a year.
The Governor, who was elated at having been praised in
the House of Lords for his opinions, and had given out that
he " meant to play out his part as Governor," refused Mr.
Otis as Speaker, though no one doubted his loyalty. The
House however acquiesced, though the whole Colony were
filled with an undefined dread by the act, and Thomas Gush
ing was elected in his place. On the same afternoon, the
House revised the list of Councillors, and five, consisting of
Hutchinson, the Olivers, Trowbridge, and Lynde, all crown
officers, were not re-elected, on the ground, as Samuel Adams
afterwards wrote to the agent in England, that " upon the
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 121
principle of the best writers, a union of the several powers
of government in one person is dangerous to liberty." This
was consistency in him, for as early as in Shirley s adminis
tration he had opposed the dangerous union of too much
civil and military power in one man. The exclusion of these
five, among whom was a Judge of the Superior Court,
was resented by Bernard, who, from the whole number of
twenty-eight elected, rejected six as an act of retaliation.
The House submitted without a murmur ; but the Governor
on the following day, without reason or justice, sought to
constrain the election of four of the rejected crown officers,
and in his message accused the House of having been guided
in their votes "by private interests and resentments and
popular discontent."
"It were to be wished," he continued, "that a veil could be
drawn over the late disgraceful scenes. But that cannot be done
until a better understanding shall prevail. The recent election of
Councillors is an attack on government in form, depriving it of its
best and most able servants, whose only crime is their fidelity to the
Crown, and is an ill-judged and ill-timed oppugnation of the king s
authority."
The answer, which was drafted by Samuel Adams, though
Hutchinson states that James Otis " was supposed to have
had a principal share in its composition," repelled the charge
of acting from private interests and resentments, and de
clared that they had " given their suffrages according to
the dictates of their consciences, and the best light of their
understandings " ; that it had " ever been their pride to cul
tivate harmony and union upon the principles of liberty and
virtue " ; and that by dropping some of the old Board, they
had " released the judges from the cares and perplexities of
politics, and given them an opportunity to make still further
advances in the knowledge of the law." * " Surely," con-
* The exclusion of crown officers from a seat in the Legislature had long
been a favorite idea with Mr. Adams. In his Boston Instructions of 1764,
after recommending to the newly elected members " the cultivation of har-
122 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
tinues the writer, " this is not to deprive the government of
its best and ablest servants, nor could it be called oppugna-
tion of anything, but a dangerous union of legislative and
executive power in the same persons."
The House remained firm, and refused to vote for Coun
cillors of the Governor s choice ; the vacancies in the Board
therefore remained unfilled ; and thenceforward the Council,
which with Hutchinson at its head had been the conservative
branch, acted under the lead of his successor, James Bow-
doin, who was zealous in the popular cause.
The spirit of freedom was abroad, and to accommodate its
demands a gallery was opened in the House for the public
to attend the debates. No reports were made of speeches,
the journals affording only the outlines of proceedings,
and at times giving the votes of the members upon im
portant questions. At this time, debates were generally
confined to the adoption of the reports of committees ap
pointed to express the sentiments of the House on the meas
ures and opinions advanced by the Governor ; and as such
reports, either as answers or resolves, were mostly from the
pen of Mr. Adams, it must frequently have devolved upon
him to support or explain the views taken by the committees.
Of the character of these debates, the State papers preserved
in the journals give the only indication.
The remainder of this session was occupied in discussing
the requisition of the Governor for the indemnification of the
suiferers by the Stamp Act riots in the previous year, and
the right of the crown officers to a seat in the King s Coun
cil. On the 3d of June, Bernard informed the House that
he had received a letter from the Right Honorable Secretary
mony and union " in the Legislature, " which is ever desirable to good men,
when founded in the principles of virtue and public spirit," he proposes the
passage of a law, " whereby the seats of such gentlemen as shall accept of
posts of profit from the Crown or the Governor, while they are members of the
House, shall be vacated." He also recommends that the judges, " having in
their minds an indifference to all other affairs, shall devote themselves wholly
to the duties of their own department and the further study of the law."
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 123
Conway, enclosing two acts of Parliament ; one for securing
the dependency of the Colonies on the mother country, and
the other for the repeal of the Stamp Act. He was ordered,
he said, to recommend to the House that full and ample
compensation be made to the sufferers.
He also lamented that the letter had not arrived before
the meeting of the General Court, or the rejection of the
crown officers would not have taken place ; and he invited
them to choose again, among others, Hutchinson, who had
been plunged in melancholy at the thought of a retreat after
thirty years uninterrupted concern in public affairs. So
anxious indeed was the Lieutenant-Governor to remain, that
he had the presumption to still occupy his seat, where he
was discovered by a committee of the House.
It appeared subsequently that the demand for indemnifi
cation made by Bernard was based upon the simple " recom
mendation " of Secretary Conway in his circular letter ; but
the Governor, in his anxiety to see Hutchinson made whole,
used the word " requisition" on his own responsibility, add
ing, that " the authority with which it is introduced should
preclude all disputation about complying with it."
At this time, the Province was " hushed into silence " by
the repeal of the Stamp Act, which had stopped public clamor,
and " composed every wave of popular disorder into a smooth
and peaceful calm." " Every newspaper and pamphlet, every
public and private letter which arrived in America from
England, seemed to breathe a spirit of benevolence, tender
ness, and generosity." " The letters from the Ministry to
the Governor recommended the mildest, softest, and most
lenient and conciliating measures ; and even the resolve of
the House of Commons, and the recommendation from his
Majesty concerning an indemnification to the sufferers, was
conceived in the most alluring language." Such was the
contemporary record of John Adams,* who observed that the
indemnification was then the reigning topic of conversation.
* John Adams s Diary (Works, II. 203).
124 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
The speech by the Governor, especially the part relating to
the Council, was received with indignation. Sa-muel Adams
considered it as not less " infamous and irritating than the
worst that ever came from a Stuart to the English Parlia
ment," and he called the Province happy in having for its
Governor one who left the people no option but between per
petual watchfulness and total ruin.*
In the reply of the House, both of these subjects are con
sidered by Mr. Adams, who was its author, and reported it
two days after the appointment of the committee.
" Had the most excellent letter from one of his Majesty s princi
pal Secretaries of State, which has been communicated to the House,
arrived sooner, it could not have prevented the freedom of our elec
tions, nor can we, on the strictest examination of the transactions of
the day of our general election, so far as the House was concerned,
discover the least reason for regret. So long as we shall have our
charter privileges continued, we must think ourselves inexcusable
if we should suffer ourselves to be intimidated in the free exercise
of them. This exercise of our rights can never, with any color of
reason, be adjudged an abuse of our liberty.
" We believe your Excellency is the first Governor of this Prov
ince that ever formally called the two Houses of Assembly to ac
count for their suffrages, and accused them of ingratitude and disaf
fection to the Crown, because they had not bestowed them on such
persons as, in the opinion of the Governor, were quite necessary
to the administration of government. Had your Excellency been
pleased in season to have favored us with a list, and positive orders
whom to choose, we should on your principles have been without
excuse. But even the most abject slaves are not to be blamed
for disobeying their master s will and pleasure, when it is wholly
unknown to them."
The report then reviews the recommendation contained in
Secretary Conway s letter, and promises io embrace the first
convenient opportunity to consider and act upon it.
" In the mean time we cannot but observe that it is conceived
in much higher and stronger terms in the speech than in the letter.
* Samuel Adams to Arthur Lee, April 19, 1771, referring to this period.
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 125
Whether by thus exceeding, your Excellency speaks of your own
authority or a higher, is not with us to determine." *
On the 24th of June, the House appointed a committee,
of which Mr. Adams was a member, to prepare a special
answer to the Governor s speech in relation to the proposed
compensation ; in which, after expressing their abhorrence
of the riot, they decide to refer the subject to the next ses
sion, " that the members might have an opportunity to take
the minds and instructions of their several towns thereon."
A few days later, the Governor again pushed the matter,
and the House still deferred the subject to the next session.
After an address of thanks to the King for his assent to the
repeal of the Stamp Act, Mr. Adams of course being of the
committee to prepare it, the Assembly was adjourned.
While these events were happening in Massachusetts,
another change was taking place in the Ministry. The
Marquis of Rockingham, with several of his Whig col
leagues, after a year s trial, was dismissed, much to the
surprise and regret of the liberal politicians in England ;
but the Prime Minister, with all his good qualities of heart,
was not the statesman for the times. The Duke of Grafton
threw up the seals of Secretary of State, which were in turn
refused by several noblemen, and at length were accepted by
the Duke of Richmond. At the head of the new Cabinet
was placed the Duke of Grafton, a Tory ; and Charles
Townshend, one of the promoters of the Stamp Act, became
Chancellor of the Exchequer. Pitt, the " Great Commoner,"
who had sprung from the people to the leadership of the
nation, clouded the lustre of his name by accepting a peer
age and the office of Lord Privy Seal. The title of Earl
of Chatham, however much he may have earned it by his
brilliant career, could add no dignity to his character, while
his desertion of the popular branch of Parliament for the
House of Lords was but strengthening a Ministry raised on
the downfall of Rockingham and his patriot friends. In
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 88.
126 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug. Oct.
America, however, the elevation to office of Chatham and
Camdeii was considered a fortunate offset to the Townshend
influence.
Though Governor Bernard professed to be a friend to the
Colonies, his letters, as was subsequently ascertained, always
urged upon government such a course as should secure their
more perfect subordination to Great Britain. He was op
posed to the several charters ; and in his letters to the Minis
try, he complained of the elective character of the Council
as the " fatal ingredient in the Provincial Constitution." He
considered the only anchor of hope to be the sovereign
power, which would secure obedience to its decrees if they
were properly introduced and effectually sustained. In
support of these views, he made studied attempts to distort
every act of popular rejoicing on public occasions into tur
bulence and riot. The anniversary of the outbreak against
the Stamp Act was celebrated with great parade in Boston,
and the Governor s party represented the patriotic toasts as
treasonable. Bernard also renewed his complaints of illicit
trade. After having long colluded with some merchants in
their infractions of a revenue law, he now claimed the legal
penalty of treble forfeits, and secretly reported the crowds
collected by some sudden attempts to enforce the law by
search-warrants as a general rising against the execution
of the law.
Towards the close of October, the Governor again called
the Legislature together to obtain, as he stated, a positive
answer to the recommendation made during the previous
session as to compensating the sufferers by the Stamp Act
riots. In the discussion which ensued, Joseph Hawley, a
lawyer of Northampton, the intimate and warm friend of
Samuel Adams, took the leading part. He was a man of
unblemished integrity ; and after the year 1766, when he
entered the Legislature, his strict religious principles and
sincerity of character gave a wide influence to his opinions.
Adams oftener consulted him on legal points than any other
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 127
man, and it is probable that neither penned any very impor
tant public paper without the revision of the other. Mr.
Hawley was in the Legislature until the war, and he was ex
celled by none in his stern zeal and uncompromising hostility
to oppression. He was the most distinguished counsellor in
Western Massachusetts, where his practice was very exten
sive. During his legislative service, his name appears on
many committees for drafting state papers. He and Samuel
Adams worked together, having the most implicit confidence
in each other s judgment. Mr. Hawley, in the intervals be
tween the sessions, resided in Hampshire County, and their
intimacy was continued at such times by lengthy correspon
dence on public affairs.
Most of the towns had voted in favor of compensating the
sufferers, or left it to the discretion of their Representatives.
The discussion in the House was long and animated, so that a
fortnight elapsed before they replied to the Governor s mes
sage. During this time, Mr. Hawley opposed compensation
except on condition of a general amnesty, which was to in
clude several of his clients, who were in prison in Hampshire
County for non-payment of fines and costs of court, having
been convicted of riotous opposition to the Stamp Act.
" Of those seeking compensation," said he, " the chief is a
person of unconstitutional principles, as one day or other he
will make appear." The resolves of Parliament were cited
in reply. " The Parliament of Great Britain," retorted
Hawley, " has no right to legislate for us." At these words
Otis, rising in his place, bowed and thanked him, saying,
" He has gone further than I myself have yet done in this
House." The general opinion of Hawley s integrity and
understanding acted upon the House, and a bill was framed,
granting compensation to the sufferers and pardon to the
offenders, even to the returning of the fines which had been
paid. It is most probable that Adams was at first opposed
to making any compensation, but, being on the committee
with Hawley, was induced to acquiesce by the general am-
128 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct., 1766.
nesty clause. Hawley s name appears as chairman of the
committee to answer the Governor s speech and to draw up
the resolve setting forth the motives which induced the House
to pass the bill. It was adopted in December, the House
having meanwhile taken a recess in which to consult their
constituents.
CHAPTER VI.
The Crown Officers misrepresent the Town to the Ministry. Dennys Deberdt
appointed Special Agent of the Assembly. Adams corresponds with the
new Agent and with Christopher Gadsden. He desires Union and Cor
respondence among the Merchants throughout the Continent. Hutchin-
son attempts to force himself into the Council. Adams writes on the
Subject to the Agent in behalf of the Assembly. He liberates a Slave
presented to his Wife.
IN November of the previous year, Mr. Adams had ex
pressed his dissatisfaction with the apparent want of zeal
manifested by Jackson, the Colonial agent in England.
This opinion he repeated indirectly in state papers of the
House in the following session. He had much more confi
dence in the abilities of Deberdt, who had already served
the Province as its special agent in urging the petitions
prepared by the Congress at New York. This lack of en
ergy was now particularly feared ; for, after the August
celebration in honor of the repeal of the Stamp Act, it was
known that Paxton, Marshal of the Court of Admiralty, was
to be sent to England, with the intention of representing there
the interests and statements of the crown officers, and to ap
pear as the special friend of Oliver and Hutchirison. The
Governor had not lost the opportunity of advising the Minis
try, after his own views, of the condition of affairs in the
Province. An attempt had been made by Paxton and the un-
der-sheriff to search the house of Daniel Malcom for a second
time, under the disputed authority of writs of assistance.
The sturdy patriot had refused to open his doors, and in
the altercation which ensued a crowd had gathered. These
and other incidents had been misrepresented to the govern
ment. On the 8th of October, a town meeting was called,
VOL. I. 9
130 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct. Dec.
and a committee, of which Mr. Adams was a member, was
appointed to wait upon the Governor in behalf of the town,
and desire him to give the Secretary orders to furnish the
town clerk with copies of all the depositions relating to the
information given the custom-house officers and the proceed
ings thereon, so that the town, having knowledge of their
accusers and of the nature and design of the testimony taken,
might have it in their power to rectify mistakes and counter
work the designs of any who would represent them in a dis
advantageous light to his Majesty s ministers. The committee
reported in the afternoon that the Governor, by order of the
Council, considered the depositions secret ; but that he had
no difficulty himself in complying with the request of the
town, if the Council should so advise him. This assertion,
however, was contradicted by the Council, who transmitted
the depositions to the meeting, with a note, stating that
" they had never given any advice either for or against the
said testimony being transmitted." Otis, Adams, Rowe,
Hancock, and others, were then appointed a committee to
take the depositions into consideration, and procure such
evidence as might be further necessary to set this matter
in its proper light.
The subject occupied the attention of the public for some
days. Town meetings were held, and every effort was made
to counteract the known intentions of the designing Gov
ernor and his officers. The address of the freeholders and
other inhabitants to the Governor, on the 22d of October,
and that to Deberdt on the 26th, were both written by Mr.
Adams.
It was necessary now that the danger from Paxton s voy
age to London should be met by the efforts of an active as
well as an honest friend of the people ; and the House, to
wards the close of the session in December, dismissed Jack
son from the service of the Province, and appointed Dennys
Deberdt as its own special agent. In that capacity, he was
the frequent recipient of letters, both private and public, from
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 131
Mr. Adams, who for several years made him the medium of
reaching the Ministry.
The first letter of Mr. Adams to the agent, after this ap
pointment, was on a subject which engaged his pen for some
years afterwards, that of billeting soldiers upon the in
habitants of the Province. In Parliament s making provis
ion for the royal troops at the expense of the people of the
Colonies, the sagacious patriot, in common with his fellow-
citizens, saw the commencement of military rule with which
the government could enforce any arbitrary demands that it
might conceive. The first instance therefore which could
act as a precedent in Massachusetts awoke his anxiety.
Soon after the adjournment of the Legislature in Decem
ber, a vessel was driven into port by stress of weather
having on board two companies of royal artillery. The
General Court not being in session, the Governor, by the
advice of the Council, directed that provision should be
made for them at the expense of the Province. The prece
dent had been made by the Governor and Council, when
a new company was established at the expense of the Prov
ince, and without the consent of the House of Representa
tives, to protect the stamps deposited at Castle William.
At that time Samuel Adams had declared that " if the Gov
ernor and Council could raise and pay one company, they
might ten or a hundred, and at their pleasure subject the
people to be governed by a standing army." The Council
answered that they were " by no means fond of exercising
such a power, and wish the occasion for it had never arisen
and may never arise again." In a twelvemonth the occa
sion had arisen. Earlier in the year, the Assembly of New
York refused to make provision for quartering the King s
troops, and Parliament passed an act to suspend the legis
lative power of the Assembly until the billeting act was com
plied with.
Mr. Adams applied himself to this subject with the same
assiduity that marked his every effort in the cause. Several
132 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
of his letters written at this time have come to light. Two
of these are to Deberdt, to whom he explains the evil de
signs which his penetration had already divined. His fear
of the quartering of a military force in the Colonies had
commenced with the first acts of oppression, and his earliest
public paper, of which any record exists, urges upon the
Representatives a decrease .in the military establishment of
the Province. He now instructed Deberdt to oppose the
apprehended establishment of a military force in America,
as needless for protection and dangerous to liberty.
" Certainly," he continues, " the best way for Great Britain to
make her Colonies a real and lasting benefit is to give them all
consistent indulgence in trade, and to remove any occasion of their
suspecting that their liberties are in danger. While any act of Par
liament is in force which has the least appearance of a design to
raise a revenue out of them, their jealousy will be awake." *
On the llth of December, he wrote to Christopher Gads-
den, whom Bancroft calls " the patriot most like himself,"
and having felicitated him upon the Colonial Congress of
which Gadsden had been a member, and towards which the
writer had offered the first suggestion, he continues :
" But is there not reason to fear that the liberties of the Colonies
may be infringed in a less observable manner ? The Stamp Act
was like the sword that Nero wished for, to have decollated the
Roman people at a stroke ; or like Job s sea monster, in the height
ened language of Young, who sinks a river, and who thirsts again/
The sight of such an enemy at a distance is formidable ; while the
lurking serpent lies concealed, and not noticed by the unwary pas
senger, darts its venom. It is necessary that each Colony should be
awake and upon its guard. You may ask me what is the danger.
I answer, none from his present Majesty and the Parliament in their
intention, yet such is human frailty that the best may err some
times ; and consider, sir, we are remote from the national Parlia-
* Letter to Deberdt, Dec. 16 and 17, 1766. Autograph letters of Samuel
Adams to Deberdt, on public questions, exist, dated Oct. 26, Nov. 11, 12,
and Dec. 2, 16, and 18, 1766.
1766.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 133
ment, and unrepresented. You are aware that what are called Acts
of Trade sensibly affect the Colonies. May not such acts be made
through the inadvertency of our friends, or for want of suitable
intelligence from the Colonies, as may not only injure their trade
but wound their liberties? Suppose, for instance, that sometime
hereafter, under the pretext of regulating trade only, a revenue
should be designed to be raised out of the Colonies ; would it signify
anything whether it be called a Stamp Act or an act for the regul
ation of the trade of America ? I wish there was a union and a
correspondence kept up among the merchants throughout the conti
nent. But I am still upon the liberties of the Colonies.
" I should tell you what perhaps you know already, were I to
mention an act of Parliament I have lately seen, wherein the Gov
ernor and Council of any Province wherein his Majesty s troops
may happen to be, are enjoined to make certain provision for them
at the expense of the people of such Province. Tell me, sir,
whether this is not taxing the Colonies as effectually as the Stamp
Act ? and if so, either we have complained without reason or we
have still reason to complain. I have heard that George Grenville
was told to his face that he missed it in his politics, for he should
have stationed a sufficient number of troops in America before he
sent the Stamp Act among them. Had that been the case, it is
possible your Congress might have been turned out of doors. New
York has had regular troops among them for some months. I never
could hear a reason given to my satisfaction why they were ordered,
at least to remain there so long. Perhaps I am captious ; however,
I always looked upon a standing army, especially in a time of peace,
not only as a disturbance, but in every respect dangerous to civil
community. Surely, then, we cannot consent to their quartering
among us ; and how hard it is to be obliged to pay our money to
subsist them. If a number should happen to come into a Province
through necessity, and stand in need of supplies, as is the case at
present here, is it not a disgrace to us to suppose that we should be
so wanting in humanity or in regard to our sovereign as to refuse to
grant him the aid with our free consent? " *
The subject was considered early in the next session, when
the House desired to be informed by the Governor whether
* Letter to Christopher Gadsden, Dec. 11, 1766.
134 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan. March,
any provision had been made at the expense of the Province
for the troops lately arrived, and by whom? A lengthy
discussion ensued, giving the House an opportunity of add
ing their opposition to the Billeting Act, against which the
Assembly of New York was still contending.
It was the Governor s policy to keep the Legislature in
session for brief periods, summoning them only to hear
instructions and orders from the Ministry. The Council and
the House were now acting in harmony, and gave his Excel
lency continual cause for anxiety and matter for his letters
to England. At the opening of the session, January 28,
1767, he briefly recommended the support of the author
ity of the government, and other duties, which, truly pur
sued, would leave " no room for disagreement or dissatis
faction."
To recommendations which seemed to imply that the
House was negligent in the performance of their duties,
they replied that they understood their rights and powers,
and those of the civil officers of the Province ; that those
rights and powers would be firmly maintained, and the au
thority of government supported ; and that they should feel
greatly rejoiced to find his Excellency exciting and animat
ing them in the discharge of that important duty.
They then resumed the subject of the Lieutenant-Gov
ernor s occupying a seat in the Council. Having been ex
cluded in a previous session at the annual election for
councillors, Hutchinson determined to claim a seat by vir
tue of his office as Lieutenant-Governor. The House in
sisted on his removal, considering his presence as " a new
and additional instance of ambition and lust of power."
The Council, now under the lead of the resolute Bowdoin,
agreeing with them, Hutchinson at last resigned his claim
and retired. It might well be termed " a lust of power."
Not only was he Chief Justice, Judge of Probate, and Lieu
tenant-Governor, but several of his relatives held lucrative
positions under government, and yet his rapacity clutched
17G7.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 135
at every additional means of advancement. Samuel Adams
considered him the most dangerous man to American liberty
in the Province, and lost no opportunity to oppose his de
signs. On the 3d of March, the House appointed Hawley,
Otis, Adams, Sheafe, and Bowers a committee to write to
Deberdt in relation to Hutchinson s claim to a seat in the
Council. A voluminous paper, written by Adams, was re
ported on the 16th. The rough draft, endorsed " read and
accepted," is preserved entire, with the erasures and inter
lineations in his own hand. It differs in no respect from the
copy in the journal of the House, with which it has been
compared. The subject is carefully considered in all its bear
ings, and the infamous construction put upon the charter
by those who had been appointed to search for precedents to
the usurpation is completely exposed. The answer of the
House to the Governor s speech on the same subject, at the
opening of the session, was enclosed to the agent with the
letter. The reasons urged by Bernard in Hutchinson s be
half were, that the Lieutenant-Governor was empowered by
the charter, equally with the Governor, to administer the
oaths to the returned members ; that, " in order to execute
that trust, he must necessarily meet them on the day when
they were returned, and met to form the General Assembly ;
and because the duty of his trust must bring him among
the Representatives, before they themselves were qualified
to sit and act in General Assembly, therefore that power" or
authority gave him a right to a place and seat in Council at
all times during the being of the General Assembly, although
the full exercise of that power must end and be determined,
and the trust fully discharged, before the Representatives
themselves have a right to take a place or to do any one act
in General Assembly, and consequently before the General
Assembly existed." Pointing out the " absurdity of this
reasoning," which the writer says "must be obvious to every
man," Mr. Adams continues:
u As it is said that, in that paragraph, he [the Lieu tenant- Gov-
136 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
ernorj has given to him an immediate, original, and inherent right
to administer the oaths to the returned members of the House, it
may be matter of curious inquiry, why it is chosen as a consequence
that a right to a place or seat in Council is thereby given, rather
than a right to a seat in the House of Representatives. According
to this manner of deducing inferences, any one may, among the infi
nite variety of propositions altogether foreign to any given premises,
take an absolute and arbitrary liberty to infer some one favorite con
clusion, rather than any other which may not so well suit his humor
or interest. When the imagination is suffered to rove at random,
and phantoms are made use of to establish power and authority
supported neither by the charter nor by reason or necessity, it is
not easy to conceive why a right of still greater importance than a
seat without a voice was not imagined. It was full as easy to col
lect from the charter a right in the Lieutenant- Governor, as such,
to a voice in Council, or in the House of Representatives, or in
either, as should best suit his fancy, or in each at different times.
But perhaps it was judged prudent to begin with lesser claims, and
gradually to advance to greater, as imaginary countenances should
become more familiar.
" We are the more astonished at this attempt of the Lieutenant-
Governor, as, at his own desire, he has been so lately admitted to
the floor of the House, and there publicly acknowledged the generous
compensation granted him for his losses and sufferings in the late
times of universal distress, despair, and of course of great confusion.
At the same time, he gave the highest assurances of his affection for
his native country, and of the fresh obligations he felt himself under
to support the rights, liberties, and privileges of his countrymen.
After all this, it is truly surprising that he should make an attack
upon the charter, and endeavor to support a claim, jointly with his
Excellency, which, if they attain their ends, has a manifest tendency
very unduly to influence and alter, if not totally to subvert, the free
legislative of the Province.
" We cannot but think this attempt of his Honor the more unnat
ural, as he has so long enjoyed every honor and favor in the power
of his native country to confer upon him. Some of his high offices
are so incompatible with others of them, that in all probability they
never will hereafter be, as they never were heretofore, thus accumu-
1767.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 13T
lated by any man. This gentleman was for years together Lieu
tenant-Governor, Councillor, Chief Justice of the Province, and a
Judge of the Probate. Three of these lucrative as well as honor
ary places he now enjoys, and yet is not content. It is easy to con
ceive how undue an influence the two first must give.
" The office of a chief justice is most certainly incompatible with
that of a politician. The cool and impartial administration of com
mon justice can never harmonize with the meanders and windings
of a modern politician. The integrity of the judge may sometimes
embarrass the politician, but there is infinitely more danger, in the
long run, of the politician s spoiling the good and upright judge.
This has often been the case, and in the course of things may be
expected again.
" As the Governor and the Lieutenant- Governor now firmly per- .
sist in the claim, and his Excellency seems determined to make a
representation of this matter home, it is incumbent upon us to be
particularly attentive to it, though both of them have in effect de
sired the present House to remain quiet and inactive. We must
therefore earnestly recommend it to you to make it a matter of
your special care, and if any stir should be made about it in Eng
land, that you would use your utmost endeavors to prevent a deter
mination thereon till we can be heard ; or otherwise, that you make
the best use you can of the papers enclosed."
We have in this letter an illustration of the logical severity
and purity of style characterizing the writings of Samuel
Adams. He never overdid any private or public paper.
Always keeping within the bounds of reason and legal pro
cedure, he had nothing to retract, and no indiscreet ebullition
of passion or prejudice to regret. His knowledge of man
kind, and an almost infallible judgment, gave the stamp of
wisdom to all his measures, not one of which had to be re
called after passing final revision. In these trying times,
without precedent to guide him, and steering into an un
known sea of perilous experiment in opposition to the arbi
trary course of the government, the patriot might well
pause or advance with caution. But the certainty of being
right nerved the leaders to an unshrinking fortitude, and
138 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May,
pointed out, to at least the more discerning, the dim but
glorious future. Among the remnants of the Adams papers
are rough drafts of letters written during this session to the
agent and others in England, relating to public matters,
some of which appear to have been adopted by the House.
The question of slavery had been discussed in Boston for
nearly a year. At the town meeting in May, 1766, the Rep
resentatives had been instructed to advocate its total abo
lition in the Province. The subject came up again at a town
meeting on the 16th of March, 1767, when it was decided to
adhere to that part of the town s instructions. It was prob
ably about this time that an incident occurred, revealing the
sentiments of Samuel Adams in regard to slavery. It was
related, in 1837, by Mrs. Mary Avery of Shrewsbury, Mass.,
the niece of Samuel Adams. She was then eighty-two years
of age, having been born in February, 1755, but retained her
powers of memory in a remarkable degree. Mrs. Avery
stated that when she was eight or ten years old (1764 or
1766), a female slave called " Surry " was given to her aunt,
Mrs. Adams, and that on her returning home and mention
ing the gift to her husband, he said to her immediately, " A
slave cannot live in my house. If she comes, she must be
free." He accordingly liberated her on her going into his
family, where she lived many years, and where she died in
the midst of kind ministrations both to her body and soul.*
The agent in England, who had access to members of the
Ministry, had reason to believe from his interviews, espe
cially with Shelburne, the Secretary of State for the South
ern Department, that the feeling towards the Colonies was
* The gentleman to whom the author is indebted for the above anecdote (the
Rev. George Allen of Worcester, Mass.) adds in his letter : "I have thought
the anecdote above related worth preserving, and have therefore taken the
liberty to send it to you, who have so many materials for the biography of a
master spirit in an age which shaped the destinies of the world. It serves to
show the unity of his character, and that the love of liberty, for which he strove
BO early and with so much zeal and constancy, was at home with him and in
deed a part of his very being."
1767.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 139
modified despite the defeat of the government party and the
withdrawal of Chatham. Shelburne proposed changes in
certain departments favorable to American liberties, but his
colleagues disapproved of them. He was not entirely com
mitted to the policy in the Billeting Act, and objected to
the dependence of the judges. Deberdt wrote to Samuel
Adams his impressions of the state of affairs. The affection
which still warmed in the hearts of the Colonists towards
England, and which it took years of oppression to eradicate,
is shown in the reply :
BOSTON, May 9, 1767.
SIE: Your favor of 10th February and 9th March came to hand.
It gives me the greatest satisfaction to find that this Province stands
in an agreeable point of light with the Ministry and the Parliament,
and I hope with our gracious Sovereign himself. The nation has
no reason to be offended with us, or to entertain any jealousy of us.
We are naturally attached to the people of Great Britain. We es
teem them, not barely as fellow-subjects, but as brethren of the same
blood. We can look back a few years, and find the same men the
fathers of us all. Why then should Britain hate America, or they
envy her ? Our dependence is mutual ; our interest is undivided ;
one cannot be sensibly injured, but the other must feel it.
I now send you the journal o the House for the remaining part
of the year. You will find in the beginning of February some
messages between the Governor and the House relating to the sup
ply of about seventy of his Majesty s troops, arrived here last fall.
Heretofore it has been the practice of this government to make pro
vision in such cases by an act of their own. Thus they granted to
their sovereign the necessary aid of their own free accord, which was
strictly constitutional ; and I am satisfied the people would always be
ready cheerfully to make such grants upon all future occasions.
Does not an act of Parliament made to oblige us in this case de
prive us of our honor as well as our right, and imply a mistrust of
us in the mother country? It is probable some persons here had
induced the Ministry to believe it would have been refused by us,
and argued from thence the necessity of the Parliament s interfering.
But there is no room for such a suggestion. If the question should
140 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, 1767.
at any time be put, I am persuaded the people would show their
loyalty in this as they have done in all other requests. I wish, if
our enemies should put an ill construction upon this matter, it might
be thus explained, for it is the truth. The House made you a grant
for your services for one year, as you will see by the journal of
March. His Excellency did not think proper to sign it ; perhaps he
will assign the reason at the May session, when it will no doubt be
again considered.
Your constant endeavors to serve this people merit their warmest
gratitude as well as an ample recompense ; and I hope, sir, you will
not fail of an infinitely better reward than it is in their power to
give you.
I am, with very great esteem, sir,
Your sincere friend and humble servant,
SAMUEL ADAMS.
DENNYS DEBERDT, ESQ.
CHAPTER VII.
Adams re-elected to the Assembly. Arrival of Recruits from Scotland.
The King and Ministry resolved to draw a Revenue from the Colonies.
Revenue Acts passed by Parliament, and a Board of Custom Commission
ers appointed for Boston. Reception of the News by the Patriots.
Samuel Adams and Independence. Opinions of James Otis. Of Andrew
Eliot. Of Josiah Quincy. Joseph Hawley. Bancroft s description of
Adams. Meeting of the Legislature. Adams drafts the celebrated Letter
to Deberdt, the Petition to the King, and Letters to several English Noble
men. They are published in England as " The True Sentiments of
America." He prepares a Circular Letter to the other Colonies, and
secures its Adoption by the House. Its Effect in England and America.
Public Celebrations. The Governor writes to England for Troops.
Earl Hillsborough denounces the Circular Letter. Adams labors for the
Removal of Governor Bernard, whom he suspects of Treachery to the
Province.
AT the May elections this year, Adams, Gushing, and Han
cock were chosen to the Legislature, which was convened by
the Governor, May 27th. As usual, Thomas Gushing was
elected Speaker, and Samuel Adams Clerk. The subject of
quartering troops on the Province, without the consent of the
people s representatives, again came up, on the arrival from
Scotland of recruits for the Fourteenth Regiment of Foot un
der Ensign Dalrymple. The Governor advised the House of
the fact, and that he had ordered them to the barracks of the
Castle. The Council, on his application to them for the usual
allowances, had referred him to the House. Mr. Adams was
one of a committee, with Otis, Hawley, Dexter, and others, to
reply. They reported a brief resolve that such provision be
made, while they remained, the usual course towards
troops occasionally in the Province. This resolution showed
that, while the House were disposed to comply with an act
of Parliament, they saw and feared the first steps towards
142 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
establishing an armed force in the Province, and that the
parent government was determined to carry out the act,
however oppressive and unpopular.
Mr. Adams was also on the committee to reply to the
Governor s opening speech, in which he had advised the de
spatch of public business, and " a spirit of harmony in the
public councils, which seemed to have lately departed from
the several branches of the government." He declared that
he " should not decline the full exercise of the powers of his
office, yet intended to use them with due moderation. " Un
necessary disputes," he said, " were expensive, and he hoped
would be avoided." The House replied that they were not
sensible of any act on their part, which tended to interrupt
the general harmony. They referred to the misrepresenta
tions of the Province to the government, and added that they
should be glad to receive proof which would enable them
to assure the people that the Governor was not their author.
As regarded his use of power, they reminded him that there
was such a thing as an indiscreet use of legal power , of which
they must form their own judgment.
" There are matters that immediately concern his Majesty s gov
ernment of this Province, which properly now come before us.
These we shall despatch in as short a time as will admit of a due
deliberation upon them As the rights of this people are
now intrusted to us, it is our indispensable duty to maintain and
defend them. We hope none of them will be drawn into question ;
but should that be the case, we are bound in conscience to contend
for them, and therefore we shall not think the dispute on our part
unnecessary, or the time employed in it misspent." *
To raise a revenue from America, despite the repeal of
the Stamp Act, was still the policy of the leading statesmen
in England. Parliament now regretted the repeal as much
as the act itself had been condemned a year before. A feel
ing of injured pride and mortified ambition was expressed.
* Journal of the House, June 2, 1767.
1767.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 143
The King, who regarded the repeal as a " fatal compliance,"
was made to believe that he had been humiliated, and the
courtiers urged Townshend to retrieve the dignity of the
Crown by some financial measure which should establish the
authority of Parliament over the Colonies beyond question.
The King, anxious to maintain his prerogative, favored the
idea. Chatham, hitherto the great advocate of Colonial
rights, was rendered useless by ill health, and Townshend,
boasting " that he knew how to draw a revenue from the
Colonies without giving them offence," announced his new
project in the Cabinet. Grenville and Conway, the latter
still Secretary of State, gave it their approval. " I am
still," said Townshend, " a firm advocate for the Stamp Act,
for its principle and for the duty. I laugh at the distinc
tion between internal and external taxes. I know no such
distinction. It is perfect nonsense." Camden, who had
lately asserted with the Colonists that taxation and repre
sentation were inseparable, now declared that his doubts
were removed by the declaration of Parliament itself, and
that its authority must be maintained. The Chatham power
and influence were overthrown in Parliament. Shelburne,
who for a time was an advocate of some modifications favor
able to the Colonists, was overruled by his associates in
the Cabinet^ and now declared that the Billeting Act
must be enforced, and that no relaxation of its provisions
should be made. In his opinion, the Colonies were on the
verge of rebellion, which firmness alone could check. The
noble stand of the Americans in support of their just rights
as Britons and men, and their assertion of principles upon
which were based the freedom of the whole British Em
pire, were lost on this school of statesman, whose deter
mination to destroy them seemed to increase with the gener
ous efforts made in their behalf.
Having matured his scheme, Townshend proposed a tax
on glass, paper, painters colors, and tea, to be paid as impost
duties. Lord Camden objected to the measure ; but after a
144 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
discussion of several weeks duration, it finally passed both
Houses, and being approved by the King, on the 29th of
June, it became a law. Its passage was assisted by Paxton,
who had arrived in England, and by the representations
of Bernard and Hutchinson. At the same time, acts were
passed legalizmg^writs of assistance and establishing a board
of commissioners qf^ customs at Boston. These measures
convinced the patriots that their liberties were to be wrested
from them, and the press grew eloquent with the effusions
of nervous and fearless thinkers. Already the employment
of ships of war and troops was advocated to insure tranquil
lity, and the approach of military rule was foreseen. The
Stamp Act was in reality less subversive of the popular
rights than these new revenue acts. Even the moneys
accruing from them were to be beyond the control of the
subjects from whom they were raised, but were at the King s
disposal, to be employed in the support of the very officers
who were appointed to collect them. The ignominy and
perfect servitude involved filled the Colonists with alarm,
and seemed the culmination of Ministerial oppression.
It has been observed by contemporary writers, and the
assertion is generally admitted, that Samuel Adams was
the first man in America who openly advocated the inde
pendence of the Colonies. The rapid succession of the De
claratory and Billeting Acts, and the passage, after mature
deliberation, of these arbitrary measures for taxing the Col
onies, must have convinced Adams of the
peaceful efforts for redress. He saw that forcible resistance
would inevitably ensue, and that the only question was,
when events would call for decisive action.
Hutchinson says that, as early as 1765, Samuel Adams
owned without reserve, in private discourse, that he was for
the independence of the Colonies, and adds, that " from time
to time he made advances towards it in public, as far as
would serve to the great purpose of attaining to it." But
the private and public writings of Adams up to this time do
1767.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 145
not disclose such an intention. If lie entertained a settled
determination towards independence as early as the year
of the Stamp Act, he concealed it for prudential reasons,
deeming it premature to advance it until tyranny had
wrought the people to the proper pitch of exasperation, and
the Ministry had been placed sufficiently in the wrong be
fore the world.
But independence was not yet his policy. That Samuel
Adams had for many years foreseen a great empire, free and
independent, and under his favorite democratic form of gov
ernment, is not denied. He saw that such a structure was
possible and probable. It might spring from the genius and
peculiar character of the American Colonies, a character
he had studied, and knew in its minutest details. That
American independence would be hastened by the unwise
policy of the British government we must believe was fixed
in his mind as an absolute certainty ; but his conversations
on independency, to which Hutchinson alludes, had this bear
ing and no other, that while it was certain the Colonies must
eventually fall from the parent stem and become a great
Western power, the time for the separation had not yet ar
rived, nor was the popular mind ready for its discussion.
The general feeling throughout America, up to the year of
the Stamp Act, was one of deep loyalty to the King and
Parliament. England was known, even among those who
had never left the Provinces, by the affectionate name of
" home." Massachusetts had freely exhausted her treasury
and spilt her blood in fighting the battles of Great Britain in
America for the conquest of territory, which, while it resulted
in no benefit to the Province, enlarged the British dominion.
The idea of a separation, if it was ever entertained, was re
garded as one of the greatest evils which could befall the
country. Its trade would be ruined, its credit destroyed,
and the people left a prey to the power of France. Vague
terrors attached to the thought, and the wealth and intelli
gence of the country were opposed to it. Andrew Eliot
VOL. I. 10
146 * LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
wrote : " The Colonies disunited from Great Britain must
undergo great convulsions before they would be settled on a
firm basis. Colony would be against Colony, and there
would be in every one furious internal contests for power.
.... I hope not to see the American British Colonies dis
connected from Great Britain." * With this general opinion
in the country, whatever may have been the private convic
tions of Samuel Adams, to have asserted in any public
manner at this time the doctrine of independence, would
not only have lost the Colonies some of their warmest ad
vocates in England, but would materially have retarded the
progress of liberty by alarming those whose demands for re
dress went no further than for a restoration of the Province
to its position at the close of the French war. Such indeed
were the views of many eminent patriots as late as 1776.
Hence Mr. Adams, in his private letters to England as well
as his public papers, takes frequent occasion to refute the
charge that the Assembly aimed at independence.
To a correspondent in London, in November, 1765, he as
serts the loyalty of the Colonists and their affection for the
mother country, and adds : " There is at present no appear
ance of such a disposition as this writer would insinuate,
much less a struggle for independence ; and I dare say there
never will be, unless Great Britain shall exert her power to
destroy their liberties." It is observable, however, that the
tenor of this extract makes the effort for independence con
tingent upon the course of England towards the Colonies.
One of his letters to Deberdt, written in December, 1765,
says :
" We find that attempts have been made to raise a jealousy in the
nation, that the Colonists are struggling for independence, than which
nothing can be more injurious. It is neither their interest, nor have
they ever shown the least disposition to be independent of Great
Britain. They have always prided themselves on being British sub-
* To Thomas Hollis, Dec. 10, 1767.
1767.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 147
jects, and have with the greatest cheerfulness done everything in
their power to promote the common cause of the nation. And we
have reason to believe that the Colonists will ever remain firmly at
tached to the mother country."
To an absent friend, whose name cannot be ascertained,
he wrote, about the same time :
" I should have taken the liberty of writing to you by vessels
which have already sailed, had I known it was your intention to
spend the winter in England. Your acquaintance with this country,
its civil constitution, its religious establishment, the temper, educa
tion, manners, and customs of the people, their attachment to, as well
as connections with, the mother country, their trade and the advan
tages of it to Great Britain, their ardent love of liberty, civil and
religious, make you an able advocate in her behalf, when her friends
have everything to fear for her. Perhaps there never was a time
when she stood more in need of friends in England, and had less
reason to expect them ; not because she has justly forfeited them,
but from the nature of the unhappy controversy which has of late
arisen between Great Britain and the Colonies, while the prosperity
of both depends upon mutual affection and harmony."
This prudence and insight into the bearings of the great
cause he espoused was a perpetual check upon the suggestion
of Colonial independence. The propagation of such senti
ments at that time would have been deeply injurious to
American liberty. In all his state papers, therefore, up to
the time of the Congress, when what he had long foreseen be
came patent to the country at large, that petitions were but
a waste of words, and that the " ultima ratio " could alone
decide the question, it will be found that the idea of inde
pendence, which had frequently been charged upon the pop
ular leaders, is repeatedly and explicitly denied as the opin
ion of the Assembly.
Judge Sullivan in his biographical sketch of Samuel
Adams, written a few days after the death of the latter in
1803, having quoted some of the confidential friends of the
deceased in proof of his having been the first man in Amer-
148 * LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
ica who contemplated a separation of the Colonies from Eng
land, adds that his enemies charged him with hypocrisy in
concealing his views in the dawning of the Revolution.
" But in this," continues the writer, " he was justifiable ; for,
unless he could believe that the whole body of the people
could discern and trace political effects from their deep
causes, it would have been folly in him to have exposed his
views. He lived in a world where one man had been burned
for asserting the motion of the planets, which is now known
to every one, and where the originators of new theories have
suffered disgrace for exposing systems which after ages have
respected and honored."
When the news of the revenue bill arrived in Boston,
it was met with a determined spirit of opposition. " The
die is cast," " the Rubicon is passed," cried some. " We
will form an immediate and universal combination to eat
nothing, drink nothing, wear nothing, imported from Great
Britain." " Our strength consists in union. Let us, above
all, be of one heart and of one mind. Let us call on our
sister Colonies to join with us in asserting our rights. If
our opposition to slavery is called rebellion, let us pursue
duty with firmness, and leave the event to Heaven." Oth
ers, among them young Quincy, rashly advocated armed re
sistance. Josiah Quincy, who was one of the political pupils
of Samuel Adams, was then twenty-three years of age. His
talents had already attracted attention, and gave promise of
great future usefulness to his country. " Should we be told
to perceive our inability to oppose the mother country," he
wrote in the Boston Gazette, "we boldly answer that in
defence of our civil and religious rights, with the God of
armies on our side, we fear not the hour of trial ; though
the host of our enemies should cover -the field like locusts,
yet the sword of the Lord and of Gideon shall prevail." *
The Revolution had commenced. Hutchinson dated its
beginning from the previous year ; but now the tone of the
* "Hyperion " (Josiah Quincy) in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 5, 1767.
1767.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 149
press and the public sentiment showed that the faith in the
integrity of Parliament was undermined, and that resistance
was believed to be right and possible. The project of non
importation and non-consumption of English manufactures
had, from the commencement of the disputes, been a favorite
idea with Mr. Adams. He frequently reminded his corre
spondents in London of the alternative to which the taxation
schemes of Parliament must drive the Colonists. In 1764 he * ,\
hinted that if the trade of the Americans was to be taxed,
they would be less able to consume the manufactures of
Great Britain. In a letter to Deberdt, in November, 1765,
he refers to stopping the importation of British goods, which
the Colonies were more and more determined to forego.
Again in December, 1765, in a letter sent to a friend in Eng
land, he says that " an attempt to raise a revenue out of the
trade of the people will reduce them to the necessity of set
ting up manufactures of their own." * " To him," says a
writer, who thoroughly knew his whole political life, " is also
attributed the design of the non-importation system, which
he persuaded nearly all the merchants in the Colony to adopt
and adhere to." Every indication points to Samuel Adams
as the author of this important means of resistance. Town
meetings were now held to encourage the produce and
manufactures of the Province, and to lessen the use of su
perfluities, of which long lists were enumerated. Commit
tees were appointed to obtain subscriptions to these agree
ments, which interdicted the use or purchase of the articles
named. A clause, introduced at the meeting of October
28th, reads :
" And we further agree strictly to adhere to the late regulations
respecting funerals, and will not use any gloves but what are manu
factured here, nor procure any new garments upon such an occasion
but what shall be absolutely necessary." f
* For proof that the American non-importation schemes commenced in
Boston, see Samuel Adams to Dennys Deberdt, May 14, 1768.
t Massachusetts Gazette for Nov. 5, 1767. See Grahame, H. 429, 430.
150 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS.
[Oct., 1767.
At one of the meetings, Otis advised against opposition to
the new duties, and recommended caution. " The King has
the right," he continued, " to appoint officers of the customs
in what manner he pleases, and by what denominations ;.
and to resist his authority will but provoke his displeasure."
The non-consumption agreements were not to go into force
until the close of the year, and meantime an unusual quiet
prevailed. The leaven, however, was working. The agree
ments were to be sent to all the towns in the Province and
also to the other Colonies. Bernard reported that the fac
tion " dared not show its face," and that " the Province
would recover its former reputation " for loyalty. Hutch-
inson wrote, " our incendiaries seem discouraged," and he
circulated the statement that the people of Boston would be
left alone, as the New-Yorkers were all for peace.*
The Legislature was not to meet until January. The pe
tition of the town, prepared by a committee of which Adams,
Otis, and Gushing were members, desiring the Governor
to convene the General Assembly, had been rejected with
contempt. Still the Province remained tranquil ; and even
the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act passed away
in quiet, the usual ceremonies being conducted with strict
propriety, the few placards and effigies exhibited having
been removed by the friends of the people.
The new Ministry entered upon their duties, determined to
maintain the authority of Parliament on the basis of the late
* These agreements, as will hereafter be seen, were not faithfully kept in sev
eral of the Colonies, much to the regret of Mr. Adams, who spared no pains to
maintain a general observance. Even in Boston they were broken, but were
renewed at intervals throughout America, until Congress, in 1774, adopted a
non-importation act embracing the whole continent. In October, 1769, leading
merchants in several Colonies signed such an agreement, and Hutchinson wrote
to Bernard : " The Land Bank movement in this Province, in 1 740, was a pecca
dillo compared with the combinations now afloat in so many Colonies. - That
was thought to deserve an act of Parliament, and all who continued in it were
subjected to the penalties of the statute of premunire. These, therefore, which
are absolutely incompatible with a state of government, can never be over
looked."
Jan., 1768.]
LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 151
Charles Townshend s tax bills. Artful misrepresentations
by Bernard, Hutchinsou, and the crown officers, especially
Paxton, who, with the Commissioners of the Customs, arrived
in November to commence the odious system, had increased
the anger of the Colonial Department, which was still more
inflamed by non-consumption meetings in Boston ; and the
abrogation of the Colonial charters was agitated as a means
of reducing the Americans to obedience, under a uniform
system of government. Lord Hillsborough, now appointed
Colonial Secretary, though professing a regard for the liber
ties of America, was but an enemy in disguise ; and Lord
North, who had been summoned to fill Townshend s place,
was steeled against concessions to the Colonists. The new
year opened with gloomy prospects ; but great events were
to happen in its first month, events which more directly
led to the Revolution than any that had preceded them.
Hillsborough s first act relating to Massachusetts was to
grant a pension of two hundred pounds to Hutchinson, to
be paid annually by the Commissioners of the Customs,
collected of course from the industry of the people. This
act was regarded with special abhorrence. The indepen
dence .of the bench was gone if it received money of the
King. " We shall be obliged," said Andrew Eliot, " to
maintain in luxury sycophants, court parasites, and hungry
dependents, who will be sent over to watch and oppress those
who support them." *
It was at this crisis that the wisdom and genius of Samuel
Adams shone forth, evoked by the perilous necessities of his
countrymen. Bancroft, who has long and carefully studied
the character of Adams, gradually developing its great
points as he advances in his History, thus glances at the
three leaders of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1
" Such were the sentiments of the more moderate among the
patriots. Still the attempt at concerting an agreement not to import
* Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, Dec. 15, 1769.
152 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
had thus far failed; and unless the Assembly of Massachusetts
should devise methods of resistance, the oppressive law would grad
ually go into effect. The hot spirits in that body were ready to
break out into a flame ; there were men among them who would
not count the consequences. Of the country members, Hawley,
than whom no one was abler or more sincere, lived far in the inte
rior ; and his excitable nature, now vehement, now desponding, un
fitted him to guide. The irritability of Otis had so increased that he
rather indulged himself in i rhapsodies and volcanic flashes of
eloquence, than framed deliberate plans of conduct. Besides, his
mind had early embraced the idea of a general union of the British
empire, in which every part of its wide dominions should be repre
sented under one equal and uniform direction and system of laws ;
and though the Congress of New York drew from him a tardy con
cession that an American representation was impossible, yet his
heart still turned to his original opinion, and in his prevailing mood
he shrunk from the thought of independence. The ruling passion
of Samuel Adams, on the contrary, was the preservation of the dis
tinctive character and institutions of New England. He thor
oughly understood the tendency of the measures adopted by Parlia
ment; approved of making the appeal to Heaven, since freedom
could not otherwise be preserved; and valued the liberties of his
country more than its temporal prosperity, more than his own life,
more than the lives of all. The confidence of his townsmen sus
tained his fortitude ; his whole nature was absorbed by care for
the public ; and his strictly logical mind was led to choose for the
defence of the separate liberties of America a position which
offered no weak point for attack. His theory, on which the Colo
nies were to repose until the dawn of better days, as a small but
gallant army waits for aid within its lines, he embodied in the form
of a letter from the Assembly of the Province to their agent." *
The draft of this celebrated letter was submitted by Mr.
Adams on Wednesday, the 6th of January, soon after the
meeting of the Legislature, through the chairman of the
committee on the state of the Province, which had been
appointed in June of the previous year. It has been called
* Bancroft s History, VI. 117-120.
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 153
the most remarkable paper which had yet appeared in
America ou Colonial affairs. Its principles were such that
the House long hesitated to adopt it, and had the original
draft under consideration for seven days, while it was de
bated and revised seven times and every sentence and word
carefully weighed. Though directed to the agent, it was
evidently for the Ministry, who could only be approached
through Deberdt ; and opinions which were unchangeable
and to be published to the world might well be rigidly
considered before they were sent forth in the journals as
the "true sentiments of America," as Mr. Adams after
wards called them. On the afternoon of the 13th, after the
letter had been finally debated and revised, the question was
put whether it should be accepted, and passed in the affirm
ative.*
The letter is too voluminous to admit of more than occa
sional extracts.! It commences by a reference to the rev
enue acts, which had arrived since the last sitting of the
General Court. The equality of constitutional rights in all
parts of his Majesty s dominions is asserted, and the idea of
independence is fully disclaimed as the wish of the Colonists.
" They are far from being insensible of their happiness in being
connected with the mother country, and of the mutual benefit de
rived from it to both. It is therefore the indispensable duty of all
to cultivate and establish a mutual harmony, and to promote the in
tercourse of good offices between them ; and while both have the
free enjoyment of the rights of our happy Constitution, there will be
no grounds of envy and discontent in the one, nor of jealousy and
mistrust in the other.
" It is the glory of the British Constitution that it hath its founda
tion in the law of God and nature. It is an essential natural right
that a man shall quietly enjoy and have the sole disposal of his own
property. This right is adopted into the Constitution. This natu-
* On Samuel Adams s authorship of the letter to Deberdt, see Bancroft, VI.
119 ; Barry s Massachusetts, II. 342 ; and the note on p. 172 of the present
work.
t Bradford s State Papers, p. 124.
154 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
ral and constitutional right is so familiar to the American subjects,
that it would be difficult, if possible, to convince them that any ne
cessity can render it just, equitable, and reasonable, in the nature of
things, that the Parliament should impose duties, subsidies, talliages,
and taxes upon them, internal or external, for the sole purpose of
raising a revenue. The reason is obvious ; because they cannot be
represented, and therefore their consent cannot be constitutionally
had in Parliament. j
" It is observable that, though many have disregarded life and
contemned liberty, yet there are few men who do not agree that
property is a valuable acquisition, which ought to be held sacred.
Many have fought and bled and died for this, who have been insen
sible to all other obligations. Those who ridicule the ideas of right
and justice, faith and truth, among men, will put a high value upon
money. Property is admitted to have an existence even in the sav-^
age state of nature. The bow, the arrow, and the tomahawk, the
hunting and fishing ground, are species of property as important to
an American savage as pearls, rubies, and diamonds are to the Mo
gul, or a nabob in the East, or the lands, tenements, hereditaments^
messuages, gold, and silver of the Europeans. And if property is
necessary for the support of savage life, it is. by no means less so in
civil society. The Utopian schemes of levelling, and a community
of goods, are as visionary and impracticable as those which vest all
property in the Crown are arbitrary, despotic, and, in our govern
ment, unconstitutional.
" The security of right and property is the great end of government.
Surely, then, such measures as tend to render right and property x
precarious tend to destroy both property and governmelatl Tor
these must stand and fall together. It would be difficult, if possible,
to show that the present plan of taxing the Colonies is more favor
able to them than that put in use here before the Revolution. It
seems by the event, that our ancestors were in one respect not in
so melancholy a situation as we, their posterity, are. In those times,
the Crown and the ministers of the Crown, without the intervention
of Parliament, demolished charters and levied taxes on the Colonies
at pleasure. Governor Andros, in the time of James II., declared
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 155
that wherever an Englishman sets his foot, all he hath is the King s ;
and Dudley declared at the Council Board, and even on the sacred seat
of justice, that the privilege of Englishmen not to be taxed without
their consent and the laws of England, would not follow them to
the ends of the earth.* It was also in those days declared in Coun
cil, that the King s subjects in New England did not differ much
from slaves ; and that the only difference was, that they were not
bought and sold. But there was, even in those times, an excellent
Attorney- General, Sir William Jones, who was of another mind;
and told King James that he could no more grant a commission to
levy money on his subjects in Jamaica, though a conquered island,
without their consent by an Assembly, than they could discharge
themselves from their allegiance to the English Crown. But the
misfortune of the Colonists at present is, that they are taxed by Par
liament without their consent. This, while the Parliament contin
ues to tax us, will ever render our case in one respect more
deplorable and remediless under the best of kings than that of our
ancestors was under the worst. They found relief by the interposi
tion of Parliament. But by the intervention of that very power
we are taxed, and can appeal for relief from their final decision to
no power on earth ; for there is no power on earth above them."
The argument then considers taxation as a question of
law and equity. The great value of the American trade is
explained, and the military efforts of the Colonies for their
own protection and the enlarging of the British dominion
fully illustrated.
" This House apprehends that it would be grievous and of dan
gerous tendency if the Crown should not only appoint governors
over the several Colonies, but allow them such stipends as it shall
judge proper at the expense of the people and without their consent.
Such a power under a corrupt administration, it is to be feared,
would introduce an absolute government in America; at best, it
would leave the people in a state of utter uncertainty of their secu
rity, which is far from being a state of civil liberty. The judges
* In a letter to an unknown person in London, Dec. 20, 1765 (see p. 102),
Mr. Adams quotes this remark of Governor Dudley, whom he calls a
" haughty Bashaw."
156 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
in the several Colonies do not hold their commissions during good
behavior. If then they are to have salaries independent of the
people, how easy will it be for a corrupt governor to have a set of
judges to his mind, to deprive a bench of justice of its glory, and the
people of their security. If the judges of England have independ
ent livings, it must be remembered that the tenure of their commis
sions is during good behavior, which is a safeguard to the people."
Of the grievance of a standing army in the Colonies,
which is regarded as a needless expense, Mr. Adams con
tinues :
" Or if it be admitted that there may be some necessity for them
in the conquered province of Canada, where the exercise of the Rom
ish religion, so destructive to civil society, is allowed, surely there
can be no need of them in the bowels of the old Colonies, and even
in cities where there is not the least danger of a foreign enemy and
where the inhabitants are as strongly attached to his Majesty s per
son, family, and government, as in Great Britain itself. There is
an English affection in the Colonies towards the mother country,
which will forever keep them connected with her, to every valuable
purpose, unless it shall be erased by repeated unkind usage on her
part. As Englishmen, as well as British subjects, they have an
aversion to an unnecessary standing army, which they look upon as
dangerous to their civil liberties ; and considering the examples of
ancient times, it seems a little surprising that a mother state should
trust large bodies of mercenary troops in her colonies, at so great a
distance from her, lest in process of time, when the spirits of the
people shall be depressed by the military power, another Caesar
should arise and usurp the authority of his master.
" The act enabling his Majesty to appoint Commissioners of the
Customs to reside in America has also been read in the House
These gentlemen are authorized to appoint as many as they shall
think proper, without limitation. This will probably be attended
with undesirable effects. A host of pensioners, by the arts they
may use, may in time become as dangerous to the liberties of the
people as an army of soldiers ; for there is a way of subduing a
people by art as well as by arms. We are happy and safe under
his present Majesty s mild and gracious administration ; but the
time may come when the united body of pensioners and soldiers
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 157
may ruin the liberties of America. The trade of the Colonies, we
apprehend, may be as easily carried on and the acts of trade as duly
enforced without this commission ; and, if so, it must be a very need
less expense, at a time when the nation and her Colonies are groan
ing under debts contracted in the late war, and how far distant an
other may be God only knows.
The suspension of the legislative authority of the Assem
bly of New York is taken up and treated as " alarming to all
the Colonies. A legislative body, without the free exercise
of the powers of legislation, is to us incomprehensible.
There can be no material difference between such a Legis
lature and none at all."
" What is the plain language of such a suspension ? We can dis
cover no more nor less in it than this : if the American Assemblies
refuse to grant as much of their own and their constituents money
as shall, from time to time, be enjoined and prescribed by the Par
liament, besides what the Parliament directly taxes them, they shall
no longer have any legislative authority ; but if they comply with
what is prescribed, they may still be allowed to legislate, under their
charter restrictions. Does not political death and annihilation stare
us in the face as strongly on the one supposition as the other ?
equally in case of compliance as of non-compliance ?
" The establishment of a Protestant episcopate in America is also
very zealously contended for; and it is very alarming to a peo
ple whose fathers, from the hardships they suffered under such an
establishment, were obliged to fly their native country into a wilder
ness, in order peaceably to enjoy their privileges, civil and relig
ious. Their being threatened with the loss of both at once must
throw them into a very disagreeable situation. We hope in God
such an establishment will never take place in America, and we de
sire you would strenuously oppose it. The revenue raised in Amer
ica, for aught we can tell, may be as constitutionally applied towards
the support of prelacy as of soldiers and pensioners. If the property
of the subject is taken from him without his consent, it is immate
rial whether it is done by one man or five hundred ; or whether it
158 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
[Jan.
be applied for the support of ecclesiastic or military power, or both.
It may be well worth the consideration of the best politician in
Great Britain or America, what the natural tendency is of a vigor
ous pursuit of these measures. We are not insensible that some
eminent men, on both sides the water, are less friendly to American
charters and Assemblies than could be wished. It seems to be grow
ing fashionable to treat them, in common conversation as well as in
popular publications, with contempt. But if we look back a few
reigns, we shall find that even the august assembly, the Parliament,
was in every respect the object of a courtier s reproach. It was
even an aphorism with King James L, that the Lords and Com
mons were two very bad copartners with a monarch ; and he
and his successors broke the copartnership as fast as possible. It
is certainly unnatural for a British politician to expect that even the
supreme executive of the nation can long exist, after the supreme
legislative shall be depressed and destroyed, which may God forbid."
The paper closes with a terse and unanswerable argument
against the dissolution or annihilation of the North Ameri
can Assemblies, and the agent is desired to make known to
his Majesty s ministers the sentiment of the House, and im
plore a favorable consideration of America.
From the adoption of this letter to the middle of Febru
ary, the House were engaged in the consideration of ad
dresses to the Ministry, including Shelburne, Chatham,
Rockingham, Conway, Camden, and the Lords of the Treas
ury, a petition to the King, and a circular letter to be sent
to each House of Representatives or Burgesses on the con
tinent. These were all from the pen of Samuel Adams,
are models of simplicity and elegance of style, and, together
with the letter to the agent, attracted more attention than
any other state papers of the time. They contain similar
sentiments with the letter, and speak the unalterable mind
of Massachusetts on the rights of America.
To the Earl of Shelburne,* after reciting the hardships of
the early settlers of the Colonies, and their allegiance to the
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 137.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 159
Crown, the House claim all the rights of the British Consti
tution, on the ground that no part of the subjects of the same
prince can be justly deprived of the full enjoyment of the
rights of that Constitution, upon which the government
itself is formed, and by which sovereignty and allegiance
are ascertained and limited.
"There are, my Lord, fundamental rules of the Constitution,
which, it is humbly presumed, neither the supreme legislative nor
the supreme executive can alter. In all free states the constitution
is fixed ; it is from thence that the legislative derives its authority ;
therefore it cannot change the constitution without destroying its
own foundation. If, then, the Constitution of Great Britain is the
common right of all British subjects, it is humbly referred to your
Lordship s judgment, whether the supreme legislative of the empire
may rightly leap the bounds of it, in the exercise of power over the
subjects in America, any more than over those in Britain."
The Right Honorable Henry Seymour Conway was borne
gratefully in mind by the House, " for the signal and success
ful exertions " he had made for the Colonists when their lib
erties were in danger. His known attachment to the rights
of the subjects in their just extent induced the Assembly to
implore his aid.* In an eloquent appeal, Mr. Adams as
serts :
"It is the glory of the British Prince, and the happiness of all his
subjects, that their Constitution hath its foundation in the immutable
laws of nature ; and as the supreme legislative as well as the su
preme executive derives its authority from that Constitution, it should
seem that no laws can be made or executed that are repugnant to
any essential law in nature. Hence a British subject is happily
distinguished from the subjects of many other states, in a just and
well-grounded opinion of his own safety, which is the perfection of
political liberty."
The Marquis of Rockingham had expressed his friendship
for the liberties of the Province in a letter to the House,
* Journals of the House for 1768. The True Sentiments of America."
160 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [J an .
communicated through the Speaker, promising not to adopt
a system of arbitrary rule. The Assembly gratefully ac
knowledged his goodness,* reiterating their allegiance to the
Crown, but apprehending the arbitrary rule of the supreme
power of the nation in its unjust system of taxation.
" My Lord, the superintending power of that high court over all
his Majesty s subjects in the empire, and in all cases which can
consist with the fundamental rules of the Constitution, was never
questioned in this Province, nor, as the House conceive, in any other.
But, in all free states, the constitution is fixed ; it is from thence that
the supreme legislative as well as the supreme executive derives
its authority. Neither, then, can break through the fundamental
rules of the constitution, without destroying their own foundation.
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, Lord Camden,
had been a sterling friend of the Colonies during the Stamp
Act agitation. The House, addressing him, appeal to his
influence in their behalf, feeling assured that he still had
their cause at heart.
"This House can speak only for the people of one Province.
But no Assembly on this continent, it is presumed, can long be silent
under an apprehension that, without the aid of some powerful advo
cate, the liberties of America will soon be no more.
" If it is an essential, unalterable right in nature, ingrafted into the
British Constitution as a fundamental law, and ever held sacred and
irrevocable by the subjects within the realm, that what is a man s
own is absolutely his own, and that no man hath a right to take it
from him without his consent, may not the subjects of this Province,
with a decent firmness which has always distinguished the happy
subjects of Britain, plead and maintain this natural constitutional
right ?
" The position that taxation and representation are inseparable
is founded on the immutable laws of nature. But the Americans
had no representation in Parliament when they were taxed. Are
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 142.
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 161
they not then unfortunate in these instances, in having that separated
which God and nature had joined ? Such are the local circumstan
ces of the Colonies at the distance of a thousand leagues from the
metropolis, and separated by a wide ocean, as will forever render a
just and equal representation in the supreme legislative utterly im
practicable."
The next letter was to the Earl of Chatham, the illustrious
champion of American rights in Parliament. To him they
stated their grievances in language whose moderation and
clearness must have powerfully impressed a mind ever sen
sitive to human liberties.
" Surely it is no ill disposition," continues the address,
" in the loyal subjects of a patriot King, with a decency and
firmness adapted to their character, to assert their freedom."
The arguments in the main are similar to those of the pre
ceding ; the inseparability of taxation and representation ;
the impossibility of representation on an equal basis ; the
loyalty of the Colonists to the mother country, and their
rights as guaranteed by the charters granted to their fore
fathers. Remembering the increasing infirmities of the
great statesman, they say :
" Nothing would have prevailed upon the House to have given
your Lordship this trouble but the necessity of a powerful advocate
when their liberty is in danger. Such they have more than once
found you to be ; and as they humbly hope they have never for
feited your patronage, they entreat that your great interest in the
national councils may still be employed in their behalf, that they
may be restored to the standing of free subjects."
The last of the series was directed to " the Right Honor
able the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury." This
board included Lord North, the determined assertor of
coercive measures ; Grafton, First Lord of the Treasury,
the particular object of the keen satire of " Junius "; and
Jenkinson, the proposer of the Stamp Act. In this letter,
which the House kept under consideration for two days, Mr.
Adams, as in all the others, denies the possibility of an
VOL. I. 11
162 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
American representation in Parliament. The dependence
of the Colonies on Great Britain is asserted, and the griev
ance of supporting the administration of justice out of the
Colonial taxation fully set forth.
" By act of Parliament, your Lordships are sensible that the Col
onies are restrained from importing commodities the growth or
manufacture of Europe, saving a few articles, except from Great
Britain. By this policy, the demand of British manufactures from
the Colonies is greatly increased ; and the manufacturers have the
advantage of their own price. Hence it appears, that what is
gained by the subjects in Britain is a loss to those in America;
for there can be no doubt, as this House conceive, but that if the
Colonists were allowed to purchase such commodities at foreign
markets, they might have them at a cheaper rate ; or, which is the
same thing to them, the British manufacturers would be necessi
tated to reduce their price. Thus also, with regard to the many
articles of their produce, which the Colonies are by act of Parlia
ment restrained from sending to foreign ports. This occasions a
great plenty of American exports, and oftentimes a glut at the
British markets, whicli always diminishes the price, and makes a
loss to the American and an equal gain to the subject in Britain.
This regulation, evidently designed in favor of those of his Maj
esty s subjects inhabiting in Great Britain, the House is not at this
time complaining of, but they beg your Lordships consideration,
whether, in addition to these burdens, it is not grievous to their
constituents to be obliged to pay duties on British manufactures
here ; especially considering, that, as the consumers of those man
ufactures, they pay a great proportion of the duties and taxes laid
upon them in Britain. It is computed by a late celebrated British
writer, that the artificial value arising from these duties is not less
than fifty per cent. Your Lordships will then form an estimate of
the part that is paid annually upon the importation into America,
which is generally allowed to be at least two millions sterling. So
great are the advantages arising yearly to Great Britain from the
Colonies, most of which, it is said, were settled and have been
maintained and defended, till within a very few years, solely at
their own expense. This House can affirm for one Province only.
" But the bearing an unequal share of the public burdens, though
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 163
a real grievance, is of but small consideration when compared with
another, in the mentioning of which, the House beg your Lordships
indulgence. The duties levied in America by virtue of the afore
mentioned acts were imposed with the sole and express purpose of
raising a revenue ; and are to be applied, in the first place, for the
making a most certain and adequate provision for the charge of the
administration of justice, and the support of civil government, in
such Colonies where it shall be found necessary ; and the residue is
from time to time to be disposed of by Parliamemt, towards defray
ing the necessary expenses of defending, protecting, and securing
the Colonies. It is humbly submitted whether his Majesty s Com
mons in Britain have not, by these acts, granted the property of
their fellow-subjects in America, without their consent in Parlia
ment. Your Lordships will allow, that it is an unalterable rule in
equity, that a man shall have the free use and sole disposal of his
property. This original principle, to the lasting honor of our Brit
ish ancestors, was in early time ingrafted into the British Constitu
tion, and is the greatest security as well as the brightest ornament
of a British subject. It adds to the real grandeur of the British
Monarch, whose happy subjects have an unshaken opinion of their
own safety, which is the perfection of political liberty. Such a con
stitution shall in future ages be admired when the names of tyrants
and their vassals shall be alike forgot. This Constitution, my Lords,
is fixed : it is from thence that all power in the state derives its
authority : therefore no power can exceed the bounds of it with
out destroying its own foundation. It is conceived that even the
remotest and most inconsiderable subject hath an equitable claim to
the benefit of the fundamental rules of the Constitution ; for all
British subjects are alike free. The blessings of the British Con
stitution will forever keep the subjects in this Province united to
the mother state, as long as the sentiments of liberty are preserved :
but what liberty can remain to them, when their property, the fruit
of their toil and industry and the prop of all their future hopes in
life, may be taken from them at the discretion of others ? They
have never been backward in affording their aid to his Majesty, to
the extent of their ability. They can say without vanity, and they
may be allowed to boast, that, from the days of their ancestors, no
subjects have given more signal proofs of zeal for the service and
honor of their Sovereign, and affection for the parent country. It
164 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
has, till of late, been the invariable usage for his Majesty s requisi
tions to be laid before their own representatives ; and their aid has
not been tributary, but the free and voluntary gift of all. The
change is in its nature delicate and important; your Lordships
will judge whether there be any necessity or pressing reasons for
it. The House are not insensible that the Colonies have their ene
mies, who may have represented them to his Majesty s ministers
and the Parliament as seditious, disloyal, and disposed to set up an
independency on Great Britain ; but they rely upon the candor of
your Lordships judgment. They can affirm, that with regard to
this Province, and, they presume, all the Colonies, the charge is in
jurious and unjust ; the superintending authority of his Majesty s
high court of Parliament, the supreme legislative over the whole
empire, is as clearly admitted here as in Britain, so far as is consist
ent with the fundamental rules of the Constitution ; and it is pre
sumed it is not further admissible there.
" The House are humbly in opinion that a representation of their
constituents in that high court, by reason of local circumstances, will
forever be impracticable and that his Majesty s royal predeces
sors were graciously pleased, by charter, to erect a legislative in the
Province, as perfectly free as a subordination would admit, that the
subjects here might enjoy the unalienable right of a representation ;
and further, that the nation hath ever since considered them as sub
jects, though remote, and conceded to the acts of their subordinate
legislation. Their charter is a check upon them, and effectually se
cures their dependence on Great Britain ; for no acts can be in force
till the King s Governor has given his assent, and all laws that are
made are laid before his Majesty, who at any time, during three
years after they are made, may disannul them at his royal pleasure.
Under this check, the House humbly conceive, a representation in
Parliament cannot be necessary for the nation, and for many reasons
it cannot be eligible to them. All they desire is, to be placed on
their original standing, that they may still be happy in the enjoy
ment of their invaluable privileges, and the nation may still reap the
advantage of their growth and prosperity.
" The House entreat your Lordships patience one moment longer,
while they just mention the danger they apprehend to their liberties,
if the Crown, in addition to its uncontroverted right of appointing a
governor, should also appoint him a stipend at the expense of the
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 165
people, and without their consent ; and also whether, as the judges
and other civil officers of the Province do not hold commissions dur
ing good behavior, there is not a probability that arbitrary rule may
in some time take effect, to the subversion of the principles of equity
and justice, and the ruin of liberty and virtue.
" It is humbly hoped that your Lordships will conceive a favorable
opinion of the people of the Province ; and that you will patronize
their liberties, so far as, in your great wisdom and candor, you shall
judge to be right."
(Signed by the Speaker.)
The petition to the King cannot be overrated as a blend
ing of simple and chaste language.* A close perusal of its
carefully constructed sentences reveals nothing that the
severest critic could wish altered. The Representatives, ad
dressing their " most gracious Sovereign," beg leave to ap
proach the throne, and lay at his Majesty s feet their humble
supplication, f
" Our ancestors, the first settlers of this country, having, with the
royal consent, which, we humbly apprehend, involves the consent of
the nation, and at their own great expense, migrated from the moth
er kingdom, took possession of this land, at that time a wilderness
the right whereof they purchased, for a valuable consideration, of the
Council established at Plymouth, to whom it had been granted by
your Majesty s royal predecessor, King James the First.
"From the principles of loyalty to their sovereign, which will
ever warm the breast of a true subject, though remote, they
acknowledged their allegiance to the English Crown ; and your
Majesty will allow us, with all humility, to say. that they and their
posterity, even to this time, have afforded frequent and signal proofs
of their zeal for the honor and service of their Prince, and their
firm attachment to the parent country.
" With toil and fatigue, perhaps not to be conceived by their
brethren and fellow-subjects at home, and with the constant peril of
their lives, from a numerous, savage, and warlike race of men, they
began their settlement, and God prospered them.
" They obtained a charter from King Charles the First, wherein
* See Bancroft, VI. 123.
t Journal of the House for 1767-68, Appendix. Bradford s State Papers,
p. 121.
166 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [J an .
his Majesty was pleased to grant to them, and their heirs and as
signs forever, all the lands therein described, to hold of him and his
royal successors, in fee and common soccage ; which, we humbly con
ceive, is as absolute an estate as the subject can hold under the
Crown. And in the same charter were granted to them and their
posterity all the rights, liberties, privileges, and immunities of nat
ural subjects born within the realm.
" This charter they enjoyed, having, as we most humbly conceive,
punctually complied with all the conditions of it, till in an unhappy
time it was vacated. But after the Revolution, when King William
and Queen Mary, of glorious and blessed memory, were established
on the throne, in that happy reign, when, to the joy of the nation
and its dependencies, the crown was settled in your Majesty s illus
trious family, the inhabitants of this Province shared in the common
blessing. They then were indulged with another charter, in which
their Majesties were pleased, for themselves, their heirs, and succes
sors, to grant and confirm to them as ample estate in the lands or
territories as was granted by the former charter, together with other
the most essential rights and liberties contained therein ; the princi
pal of which is that which your Majesty s subjects within the realm
have held a most sacred right, of being taxed only by representa
tives of their own free election.
" Thus blessed with the rights of Englishmen, through the indul
gent smiles of Heaven and under the auspicious government of your
Majesty and your royal predecessors, your people of this Province
have been happy, and your Majesty has acquired a numerous in
crease of loyal subjects, a large extent of dominion, and a new and
inexhaustible source of commerce, wealth, and glory."
They then acknowledge " his Majesty s High Court of
Parliament the supreme legislative power of the whole em
pire ; the superintending authority of which is clearly ad
mitted in all cases that can consist with the fundamental
rights of nature and the Constitution." The enforcing of
the late revenue acts, they say, will leave them " only the
name of free subjects "; and they implore his Majesty to take
their unhappy circumstances under his royal consideration,
and afford them relief in such manner as in his Majesty s
great wisdom and clemency should seem meet.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 167
Mrs. Hannah Wells, the daughter of Samuel Adams, used
to relate that, on this or some other occasion, when her
father had been writing at night, and was glancing over the
petition to the King before leaving the house, she remarked
that the paper would doubtless soon be touched by the royal
hand. " It will, my dear," replied he, " more likely be
spurned by the royal foot," showing that although it
may have been the general opinion that his Majesty would
regard their supplications favorably, the writer had but little
faith in the mercy and justice of the King.
No one can read this petition, and the preceding letters,
without a profound impression of the firm loyalty of the Col
onists towards the mother country. As yet the most dis
tant idea of independence was disclaimed. All that the
Americans asked was to be restored to their condition before
the passage of the late revenue acts ; and of the justice of
these requests, time has afforded the most undeniable proofs,
even were they not supported by the reasoning of the Ameri
can patriots and of the most eloquent of British statesmen.
How exactly the private opinions of Samuel Adams accorded
with those expressed in his public writings is revealed by
the subjoined letter to the agent in England, written just
after the above-named state papers had been penned.
Those papers indeed, by a comparison with the extract
from Mr. Adams s letters in 1765, already given, will be
found to agree with his individual views in the minutest
details, and illustrate the entire consistency of the writer s
character.
BOSTON, January 30th, 1768.
SIR,
lam to acknowledge your favor, enclosing the several acts of
Parliament passed in the last session relating to America. The
House of Representatives have written you so fully, in which I
have the good fortune to have my own private sentiments so exactly
expressed as to render it needless for me to say anything in this let
ter. The House have sent a humble petition to his Majesty and
168 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
representations to his ministers, some of which it is hoped have ere
now come into your hands, and others will soon be transmitted
to you. It may seem strange that these addresses do not pass
through the medium of the Governor of the Province ; but it is my
private opinion, that there is a want of confidence between the Gov
ernor and the House, which will never be removed as long as this
gentleman is in the chair. In short, the dependence seems to be
altogether upon those noblemen and others who have heretofore
distinguished themselves as the guardians under his Majesty of the
rights of British American subjects.
You will observe that the House still insist upon that inestimable
right of nature and the Constitution, of being taxed only by repre
sentatives of their own free election ; which they think is infringed
by the late acts for establishing a revenue in America. It is by no
means to be understood that they desire a representation in Parlia
ment, because, by reason of local circumstances, it is impracticable
that they should be equally and fairly represented. There is noth
ing, therefore, the Colonies would more dread.
The few gentlemen in the House who did not give their votes
declared this as a reason, that they feared if the House should
insist that they could not be legally taxed, because they were not
represented in Parliament, it would be construed as if they would be
content to be represented. And I hope you will, as you have oppor
tunity, make it known to the Ministry, that the people here, as they
always have done, will cheerfully afford their utmost aid for the
honor and service of their sovereign, and the interest of the mother
state, to which they are inviolably attached. All they desire is to
be placed on the standing in which they were originally put, and to
have, as free subjects, the honor and privilege of voluntarily contrib
uting to the service of his Majesty at all times, when his Majesty
shall be graciously pleased to order his requisitions to be laid upon
their own representatives.
The House yesterday made you a grant of six hundred pounds
sterling for two years services, and the same sum to Richard Jack
son, Esq., for his services for two years. I have not the honor of a
correspondence with that gentleman, but I think it might not be
amiss that he, as well as you, should be made acquainted that every
member that spoke upon these grants expressed a high sense of the
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 169
merit of both your and his services ; and I have no reason but to
think they spoke the sentiments of the whole House. Neither of
your expenses were considered, as it was thought improper, till the
House should receive your several amounts.
Your acceptance of the enclosed pamphlets will oblige, sir,
Your most humble servant,
SAMUEL ADAMS.
DENNYS DEBERDT, Esq.
It will be observed, that among the calm and earnest
papers which the House had prepared during the month
of January, appealing to the most eminent statesmen and
noblemen of the realm, they had sent no memorial to the
Parliament, thereby clearly indicating their denial of the
right of taxation by that body. Their petition, made di
rectly to the King, recognizes only the immediate authority
of the Throne, whence had emanated their original charter.
The House having adopted the letters and petition, the
next step was to inform the other Colonial governments,
with a view of securing their co-operation. Mr. Adams,
in his account of the proceedings of the House to Lord
Hillsborough,* states that a motion was made, on the 21st
of January, to consider the expediency of writing to the
Assemblies of the other Colonies, " with respect to the im
portance of joining with them, in petitioning his Majesty at
this time." On the day assigned, eighty-two members being
present, the question was debated. The motion failed by a
vote of two to one, on the ground that it would be consid
ered in England as forming a second congress. The House
at this time consisted of about one hundred and ten mem
bers, and the country members especially, with perhaps a
few exceptions, had yet to fully appreciate the impending
danger. The defeat of the resolution was highly gratifying
to Bernard, who probably saw in it the dawn of returning
obedience ; but Samuel Adams was indefatigable in his op
position to the principle of taxation, and the Governor, in a
* Bradford s State Papers, pp. 153, 154. See Bancroft, VI. 125.
\
170 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb.
letter to Lord Hillsborough, testifies to the efforts of Adams
and the few members who worked with him. The results
were soon apparent.* On the 4th of February, a com
plete revolution had been accomplished in the views of the
House, when, eighty-three members being present, the ques
tion was again put, and carried by a large majority. The
former vote was erased from the journals, and a committee,
of which Adams was one, was appointed to prepare a letter
to be sent to each of the other Colonies.
The report was made on the llth, Samuel Adams,
the originator of the measure, being the author of this " mas
terly circular letter," which was accepted almost unani
mously.! The letter, which is directed to " the Speakers
of the respective Houses of Representatives and Burgesses
on this continent," commenced by referring to the late acts
of Parliament.
" As it is a subject in which every Colony is deeply interested,
they have no reason to doubt but your House is deeply impressed
with its importance, and that such constitutional measures will be
come into as are proper. It seems to be necessary that all possible
care should be taken, that the representations of the several Assem
blies, upon so delicate a point, should harmonize with each other.
The House, therefore, hope that this letter will be candidly consid
ered in no other light than as expressing a disposition freely to
communicate their mind to a sister Colony upon a common concern,
in the same manner as they would be glad to receive the sentiments
of your or any other House of Assembly on the continent."
It then recites in brief the representations of the House to
the Ministry in their late appeals, embracing every point of
those papers, and makes an emphatic denial of any disposi
tion to make themselves independent of the mother country.
" The House," they conclude, " is fully satisfied that your As
sembly is too generous and enlarged in sentiment to believe that this
letter proceeds from an ambition of taking the lead or dictating to the
* Bancroft, VI. 125. t Bancroft. Bradford s State Papers, p. 134.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 171
other Assemblies. They freely submit their opinion to the judg
ment of others, and shall take it kind in your House to point out to
them anything further that may be thought necessary." *
The Ministry considered this circular as surpassing all
that had yet been done in opposition to the government.
Their evil estimation of it was increased by the representa
tions of informers and government writers in Boston, who
distorted its effects on the other Colonies, and used it as an
additional incentive for sending an armed force into the
Province. A few years later, Mr. Adams, as " Candidus,"
devotes several columns in the press to a history of this
paper and its results. f
" I have already mentioned the circular letter, written by the
House of Representatives of this Province to the other Colonies,
dated the llth of February, 1768, and the very different treat
ment it met with from the Earl of Hillsborough and the respectable
bodies to whom it was addressed. And also the circular letter
which his Lordship himself was pleased to send to those Colonies,
wherein he recommended tt|fem to treat it with the contempt it de
served. But, as the sediments contained in the letter of the House
were so exactly similar to those of the other Colonies, and the sub
ject of it was of equal importance to them all, it was not in the power
of his Lordship to efface the impressions it made, or to disturb that
harmony which was the happy effect of it. Vis unita fortior. That
union of the Colonies in their common danger, by which they be
came powerful, was the occasion of the greatest perplexity to their
enemies on both sides the Atlantic ; and it has been, ever since,
their constant endeavor by all manner of arts to destroy it. In this,
it must be confessed, they have discovered a unanimity, zeal, and
perseverance, worthy to be imitated by those who are emfearEed in
the cause of American freedom. It is by united counsels, a steady
zeal, and a manly fortitude, that this continent mus^expect to re
cover its violated rights and liberties." ^4
The replies of the other Colonies were all that the warm-
* Bancroft, VI. 125. Grahame, II. 431-432.
t Boston Gazette for September 16, 1771.
172 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb.
est patriot in Massachusetts could desire.* The idea of a
regular correspondence between the several Provinces, in op
position to government, Samuel Adams s favorite measure,
was undoubtedly quickened and directed to practical re
sults by this circular, and in this respect the Ministry might
well have regarded it as dangerous, and tending towards in
dependence, though its immediate object was the reverse of
such a plan, as all the papers of the present session distinctly
assert ; for it was not until midsummer of this year, when it
( was evident that armed force was to be used to crush the
Province into submission, that Samuel Adams resigned the
hope of justice from Parliament, and made American inde
pendence the one aim of his existence.!
* Grahame, IT. 482. Bancroft, VI. 146-150.
t In Tudor s Life of Otis, the series of legislative papers from which extracts
have just been given are claimed as his production. The only ground upon
which such an assumption can be based is the supposition by John Adams,
half a century afterwards, that Otis must have written them (see letter to Wil
liam Tudor, March 7, 1819, in John Adams s Works, X. 367) because he remem
bered Otis to have said that he, having drawn them up, had given them " to
Sam to quieu whew them," an expression which John Adams said he was
unable to explain. He then goes on to quote from the papers, repeatedly giv
ing it as his opinion, that they must have been written by Otis and pruned by
Samuel Adams.
When John Adams wrote the above letter, the third volume of Hutchinson s
History, pointing out Samuel Adams as the principal writer of state papers
for the House of Representatives, had not been published, though it had been
many years in manuscript in England, in the keeping of the Governor s de
scendants. There were periods when John Adams, in the pursuit of his pro
fession as a lawyer, knew but little of the minutiae of the proceedings of the
Assembly, and his respect for the legal abilities of Otis led him repeatedly,
in his old age, to hastily attribute to him writings which, as his contemporary
diary of those times shows, could not have been by Otis. He was thus in error
in pointing to Otis as in part author of the " Appeal to the World"; and as
the writer of the pamphlet in October, 1772, which he remembered as containing
" the essence " of the Declaration of Independence. The first of these, as is
hereafter shown, was by Samuel Adams, as was also that portion of the
pamphlet included under the head of " The Rights of the Colonists as Men,
as Christians, and as Subjects." (Compare Bancroft, VI. 312, 431 ; and Bar
ry s Massachusetts, II. 399, 450.) In 1771, Samuel Adams unquestionably
wrote the masterly letter to Franklin from the Assembly. Otis was then ia
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 173
In Massachusetts the circular letter created no less com
motion than in England. The Governor and his officers re
newed their applications to persons in authority across the
Atlantic, advocating the immediate sending of a fleet and
regiments to counteract the growing freedom of action and
expression in the Province. The Board of Commissioners
of the Revenue sent a powerful memorial to the Ministry,
designed to further these requests. Every act of the Colo
nists, though characterized by moderation and calm good
sense, was distorted into rebellion by these malignant ene
mies of the popular liberties, and the Ministry were at once
ready to proceed with the most rigorous measures, partic
ularly against Massachusetts.
The moving cause of these threatened proceedings could
the House, but certainly could not have had any hand in its composition. Now
had John Adams, in after years, known of this letter, he would have been equally
likely to think that it was by Otis, but perhaps " pruned " by his colleague.
These remarks will apply to very many of the state papers of Samuel Adams.
But against the supposition of John Adams a supposition sustained by
no proof that Otis was the writer of the celebrated letter of the Assembly of
1768, there is positive contemporary evidence that the author was Samuel
Adams. This is asserted by Andrew Eliot, a minister of Boston, a reliable
man, a firm patriot, and thoroughly versed in the political movements of the
town. Bancroft (VI. 119, 120) shows that Samuel Adams wrote the letters,
The facts which would seem to set all controversy at rest on the subject have
come to light since the Life of Otis was published, or those state papers would
scarcely have been there claimed for him.
Neither the style nor the sentiments are those of Otis. The sentiments are
the reverse of Otis s doctrines repeatedly expressed, but are exactly those of
Samuel Adams, as found in all his previous as well as subsequent state papers
and private letters ; while the language is so evidently his, that upon a curi
ous comparison, it would almost appear that he had had his own letters of
1765-6 before him while penning these documents.
They were published in London in 1768, at the instance of Thomas Hollis ;
and as Samuel Adams forwarded them to the agent in the winter of that year,
it is most likely that Hollis, who was the warm friend of education in the Col
onies, was furnished with early copies by Deberdt, who doubtless also exhibited
to him Mr. Adams s private letters, in which these very state papers are repeat
edly alluded to as the " true sentiments " of Massachusetts, by which the title of
Hollis s book, " The True Sentiments of America," may have been suggested.
This title has since been erroneously based upon a political essay, " A Disser-
174 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb.
not long be kept secret from the Colonists. Samuel Adams
in all his writings, private and public, at this time reveals
his firm conviction that the Governor and his minions had
been engaged in misrepresenting the acts and motives of the
Province in their secret correspondence ; and he repeatedly
advocated the removal of Bernard, between whom and the
people he knew all confidence had been destroyed. Time
has proved the correctness of his views. The letters both of
Bernard and Hutchinson, on file at the State-paper Office in
London, are filled with urgent appeals for armed forces to
subdue the spirit of liberty. The determination to exclude
the crown officers from the Council had been particularly
the object of Bernard s correspondence, and the Earl of Shel-
burne having replied that the question of admitting the
tation on the Canon and Feudal Law," by John Adams, which was printed at
the end of the book, and which Hollis had attributed to Gridley on sending it
to Eliot. " The Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law," replies Eliot,
" was not written by the late Mr. Gridley. I have been privately, but authenti
cally, informed that the author was Mr. Adams, (not our Representative, who
penned the address to the King and the letters contained in the first part of
the collection, but) a young gentleman of the law, who hath lately removed
from the country into Boston, and is likely to make a shining figure at the
bar." The state papers in the book, being the avowed opinions of the House
of Representatives, were the " true sentiments " ; to which John Adams s essay
was manifestly an appendix, the effusion of an individual, not the accepted
doctrines of a people.
Some of the papers in the collection are extant in the autograph of Samuel
Adams, evidently original drafts, as shown by the style of the penmanship,
and the erasures and interlineations, which would hardly be found in a copy
of another s production ; and it is yet to be shown that any of them ever existed
in the handwriting of any other person. The " address to the King, and the
letters contained in the first part of the collection," alluded to by Mr. Eliot as
having been written by Samuel Adams, are those adopted by the House during
this session, including that to the agent, and those to the several members of
the Cabinet, extracts from which have already been given. This is direct, con
temporary, and unimpeachable evidence as to the authorship. Moreover, their
style is uniform, and shows the hand of one author. Finally, of the celebrated
letter to Deberdt, Mr. Adams, writing to that gentleman (see p. 167), almost
admits that he was the writer. He speaks of it as one " in which I have the
good fortune to have my own private sentiments so exactly expressed as to
render it needless for me to say anything in this letter."
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 175
Lieutenant-Governor to the Board rested exclusively with
the Council, and signifying his Majesty s approval of the
Governor s conduct, the House requested a copy of the no
bleman s letter which had been read to them. The letter
was at length reluctantly submitted, the Governor stating
that he knew of no letters of his own which he thought
could be of use on this occasion. Mr. Adams was oh the
committee to reply, and the original draft of the answer yet
remains in his handwriting. The unwillingness of Bernard
to exhibit the letter from Shelburne was easily accounted
for, upon finding that his Lordship distinctly alluded to the
Governor s statements in several letters to the Ministry.
These letters had not only maligned the Province generally,
but had singled out Otis and Adams as the " two chiefs of
the faction." The answer to the Governor s speech fully
reviews the tendency of his Lordship s letter, traces his un
favorable disposition against the Province to Bernard s cor
respondence, and does not fail to show his Excellency the
opinion of the House on his conduct.
A writer, over the signature of " A True Patriot," prob
ably Otis, though thought by some to be Joseph Warren,
who had lately become conspicuous as a contributor to the
public press, attacked the Governor, late in February, on
his " enmity to the Province," his " cruelty to a loyal peo
ple," and his " obstinate perseverance in the path of malice."
" But I refrain," so the writer concludes, " lest a full repre
sentation of the hardships suffered by this too long insulted
people should lead them to an unwarrantable revenge." *
The excited tone of the publication points rather to Otis
than to Warren as the author. The Governor, on the fol
lowing day, denounced the article to the Legislature as libel
lous, and demanded the prosecution of the author. The
House refused to take further notice of the publication, on
the ground that it contained nothing that could " aifect the
majesty of the King, the dignity of the government, the
* Boston Gazette, Feb. 29, 1768.
176 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
honor of the General Court, or the true interest of the Prov
ince." *
"The liberty of the press is a great bulwark of the liberty of
the people. It is therefore the incumbent duty of those who are
constituted the guardians of the people s rights to defend and main
tain it. This House, however, as one branch of the Legislature,
in which capacity alone they have any authority, are ready to dis
countenance an abuse of this privilege whenever there shall be
occasion for it. Should the proper bounds of it at any time be
transgressed to the prejudice of individuals or the public, it is their
opinion at present that provision is already made for the punish
ment of offenders in the common course of the law."
The peevishness and vanity of Bernard made him show
great annoyance at the attacks of the press, which a more
dignified character would have passed over in silence.
Towards the close of the session, a committee, consisting
of Otis, Adams, Dexter, and Sayward, reported a series of
resolutions for the encouragement of manufactures in the
Province, which were carried by the vote of all except Timo
thy Buggies, a stanch loyalist, who generally voted against
the measures of the patriots.
"Resolved, That this house will use their utmost endeavors, and en
force their endeavors by example, in suppressing extravagance, idle
ness, and vice, and promoting industry, economy, and good morals in
their respective towns."
" And in order to prevent the unnecessary exportation of money,
of which the Province has of late been so much drained, it is fur
ther resolved, that this House will, by all prudent means, endeavor
to discountenance the use of foreign superfluities, and to encourage
the manufactures of this Province."
After the House had passed a resolution requesting the
executive to appoint a day of fasting and prayer throughout
the Province, the Governor prorogued the Legislature with
a speech, in which he discovered his hatred of the leading
members. Referring to Shelburne s letter, he says :
* Journal of the House, March 3, 1768. Bradford s State Papers, p. 119.
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 177
"Prudent men, moderate men, would have considered it as an
admonition rather than a censure, and would have made use of it as
a means of reconciliation rather than of farther distraction. But
there are men to whose being (I mean the being of their importance)
everlasting contention is necessary. And by these has this letter
been dragged into public Time and experience will soon
pull the mask off those false patriots who are sacrificing their coun
try to the gratification of their own passions I shall defend
this injured country from the imputations which are cast upon it,
and the evils which threaten it, arising from the machinations of a
few, very few, discontented men." *
Such was the royal Governor s estimate of those who con
sidered themselves the keepers of the public liberties, and as
holding them in sacred trust for the millions of posterity.
He continued his importunities for troops ; and the crown
officers availed themselves of the anniversary of the repeal
of the Stamp Act, March 18th, to invent new libels against
the people. As they spread reports of an intended insurrec
tion on that day, the Sons of Liberty were the more deter
mined to preserve order. Rioting had been unknown since
the repeal of the Act. Passive resistance as yet was the
policy, as exemplified in the meeting of the merchants on the
day on which the Court was prorogued, when they had re
nounced by subscription their commerce with England, and
invited the merchants of the whole continent to join them.
The 18th was celebrated with the usual enthusiasm, but
without violence of any kind. The effigies of two of the
crown officers were found suspended on the Liberty Tree at
daybreak, but were instantly taken down by the more mod
erate and prudent. A festival was held at Faneuil Hall,
where toasts were drunk to the freedom of the press, to Paoli
and the martyrs of liberty. The dinner broke up early, and,
though the occasion had generally been celebrated with an
illumination, no bonfire was lighted at night. Hutchinson
recorded at the time that " the mob, if there was one, was
* Journal of the House, March 4, 1768.
VOL. I. 12
178 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
[March, Apr.
only such as was usual on the fifth of November and other
holidays." Yet Bernard represented that " many hundreds
paraded the streets with yells and outcries, which were quite
terrible," and when they passed his house he was afraid they
were breaking in. Asserting that he and the Commissioners
were without protection, and himself without the shadow of
power, and exposed to the " madness of the people," he
again urged the sending of military force ; and while he en
treated that his correspondence might be kept secret, he
artfully protested his innocence among those whom he had
maligned, and wished they might see his letters to the Min
istry as an evidence of his friendship for the Province !
Encompassed by powerful and designing enemies, whose
efforts were to rule by the bayonet, and having lost all confi
dence in Government, in consequence of the corrupt rotten-
borough system of elections to Parliament, the Colonists saw
but faint gleams of hope in the gloomy future. How many
descried the distant light of independence beyond these
clouds, none can tell. Continued oppression must have sug
gested it as perhaps near at hand. Eash writers spoke of
forcible resistance, and it seemed at times that the proper
occasion only was needed to bring on a crisis. But in Bos
ton the public mind was held within the bounds of reason,
and, swayed by the sagacious counsels of the patriot leaders,
the Americans never passed beyond the limits of legal oppo
sition. The press, made eloquent by the pens of gifted
writers, spoke for the people, declaring their unalterable de
termination to refuse the payment of the taxes which a de
praved Parliament had imposed. That Parliament, the
twelfth, which was dissolved in March, was the most cor
rupt that had disgraced England, open to bribes, profli
gate, and shameless. The rights of America, intrusted to
such a body, became a by-word ; and the Colonists, from
regarding the Parliament as the bulwark of their liber
ties, came at last to look upon it as their worst enemy.*
* Bancroft, VTL 137.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 179
The solemn declarations of the press in Boston were ap
proved by the prudent and moderate Dickinson in Pennsyl
vania, whose " Farmer s Letters " had already inspired thou
sands with his own ennobling sentiments. " Almighty God
himself," said he, " will look down upon your righteous con
test with approbation You are assigned by Divine
Providence, in the appointed order of things, the protect
ors of unborn ages, whose fate depends upon your virtue."
The magic of his eloquence met the spirit of Boston ; and
on the 22d of March the people responded to his appeal,
appointing Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Joseph War
ren to express their thanks to the author of the Farmer s
Letters, as the friend of Americans and the benefactor of
mankind.*
No sooner did the Circular Letter arrive in England, than
the Ministry seeing the effect it must have in establishing a
concert of action between the several Assemblies, denounced
it as of " most dangerous and factious tendency, calculated
to inflame the minds of his Majesty s good subjects in the
Colonies, to promote an unwarrantable combination, to ex
cite and encourage an open opposition to, and defiance of,
the authority of Parliament, and to subvert the true prin
ciples of the Constitution." In April, letters were de
spatched to the several Governors in America, directing
each to use his utmost exertions " to defeat this flagitious
attempt to disturb the public peace, by prevailing upon the
Assembly of your Province to take no notice of it, which
will be treating it with the contempt it deserves." f
Such was Lord Hillsborough s estimate of a legal and
patriotic attempt by Massachusetts to obtain the unbiassed
sentiments of her sister Colonies on the gathering dangers
which menaced their liberties. This letter was written in
London on the 29th of April. On the 20th of the same
month, Samuel Adams had forwarded to the agent in Lon-
* Boston Gazette for March 28, 1768.
t Lord Hillsborough s Circular Letter, April 21, 1768.
180 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Apr., May,
don the journals of the House of Representatives for the
last year, with the appendix containing the letters to the
Ministry and others in full.
" The letters and the appendix," he writes, " I hope you have re
ceived ere now. I think they contain the trne sentiments and spirit
of this part of the Province.* The manner and event of their re
ception in England is a matter of great expectation here. I wish
that Great Britain may not be deceived with regard to the Colonies
to her own prejudice, by the false, very false, representations of her
and their enemies on this side the water."
Those "false representations," however, had been con
stantly going forward, and even as he wrote, the plan for
the destruction of the Provincial Legislature was maturing
in England. The pathetic and dutiful petition to the King
was never officially presented by Lord Hillsborough, to
whom the agent intrusted it: but the Council ordered
Bernard to direct the Assembly of Massachusetts to rescind
their Circular Letter ; and, on their refusal, to immediately
dissolve them. Upon their next choice, he was again to
press the matter, and to dissolve them as often as they should
refuse. To complete the new system, General Gage, Com
mander-in-chief of his Majesty s forces in America, was
ordered "to maintain the public tranquillity." Tyranny
seemed to culminate with this novel measure. The Colo
nists felt that the plan to enslave them had been perfected,
and enthusiasts looked forward with certainty to the accom
plishment of " the grand design of God in the settlement of
New England."
* When Hollis had these letters printed in London, he gave them the name
suggested in Adams s letters. The pamphlet has the following title :
The Trve Sentiments of America : contained in a Collection of Letters
sent from the Hovse of Kepresentatives of the Province of Massachvsetts Bay
to several Persons of High Eank in this Kingdom : together with certain Papers
relating to a svpposed Libel on the Governor of that Province, and a Disserta
tion on the Canon and Fevdal Law. London, printed for I. Almon, in Picca
dilly. 1768." 8o. pp. 158.
1768.1 LIFE op SAMUEL ADAMS. 181
At the town elections on the 4th of May, Gushing, Ad
ams, Hancock, and Otis were chosen Representatives for the
ensuing year.
On the 14th of this month, Mr. Adams again addressed
the agent in London, recommending the removal of Gov
ernor Bernard to another government.
" I have no reason to think," he says, " that a cordiality will ever
subsist between the present Governor and the representatives of
the people I now speak my mind with freedom, and, I
hope, with candor and impartiality The Board of Com
missioners are neglected by men of fortune and character, and are
viewed in general in no better light than the late commissioners of
the stamps ; they appear to be a very useless and expensive set of
officers, and the arrival of their appendages from time to time with
large salaries, together with the many officers of inferior class which
they have created since they came here, alarm the people with dis
agreeable apprehensions
" The resolution of the Americans, which had its rise in this town,
not to make use of foreign superfluities, I perceive by the London
prints is disregarded there as a mere puff, because, upon inquiry, it
was found that the merchants had not stopped their orders for such
kind of articles, and these have the usual exportations to America
this spring. But I wish that this matter was considered with a little
more attention ; for, although it is very probable that many persons
may break through their agreements, yet there is no doubt in my
mind that such numbers will adhere to it as will affect the British
manufacturers. There is certainly such a disposition among the
people to furnish themselves with American manufactures as never
was known before ; and there have been late instances of the man
ufacture of a variety of articles much beyond expectation. It is
well known what large quantities of British manufactures are annu
ally consumed in America. Could Great Britain endure a total stop
to this consumption ? or what part of it would she be willing should
be saved ? Will not the making of one piece of woollen cloth encour
age the making of another ? And if this spirit of manufacturing is
excited by resentment, as some of your writers allege, is it natural
to suppose it will stop short of the utmost possibility ? Can any
182 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May,
man in England or America ascertain the bounds? Will it not
affect the mother country in proportion to the extent of it ?
"But there is another consideration of great weight. Let the
importations from Great Britain be ever so large, the trade of
America is so embarrassed and burdened, that it will not afford
the people the ability of wearing fine clothes and paying for them,
so that, in the course of things, the importations must cease through
necessity. I pray God that those who conduct the affairs of the na
tion may be endowed with true wisdom ; that all measures destruc
tive to the common interest may be reversed ; that fomenters of
division on both sides the Atlantic may be detected and punished ;
that Great Britain and the Colonies may thoroughly understand
their mutual interest and dependence ; that harmony may be cul
tivated between them, and that they may long flourish in one undi
vided empire." *
The posterity to which the patriots so often appealed to
witness their loyalty to Great Britain, while loyalty remained
a virtue, and to bear them out in their assertions of the jus
tice of their cause, need but to consult this letter. A more
disinterested and sincere love of country was never breathed.
The calm reasoning which Deberdt was to exhibit to the
Ministry was the basis, as time eventually proved, upon
which alone the Colonies might have been preserved to Eng
land. But the genius of liberty was not comprehended by
the haughty statesmen of the mother country. The dis
passionate appeals of devoted patriotism, which every true
Englishman should have been proud to claim as coming
from fellow-countrymen, rejoicing with Pitt " that the
Americans had resisted," were regarded as the factious
efforts of a " discontented few," who were making conten
tion the stepping-stone to some fancied personal preferment.
The suggestions of Bernard to the Ministry for quartering an
armed force upon the people to reduce them to obedience
were eagerly listened to, and his malicious slanders adopted
as truths.
* Samuel Adams to Dennys Deberdt.
1768.1 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 183
Still Hutcliinson and Bernard continued their secret let
ters to England for a military force ; and these solicitations
were considered while Massachusetts, yet ignorant of the re
ception of her appeals for justice, confidently awaited a favor
able hearing of the petition to the King. The Legislature
met on the 25th, and unanimously elected Thomas Gush
ing Speaker, and Samuel Adams Clerk. The usual sermon
before the Assembly was this year preached by Shute of
Hingham, who denied the absolute authority of Parliament,
and justified resistance to laws not based on equity. Confi
dent in the result of their petition to his Majesty, the two
parties in the House evinced a warmer loyalty than had
been known since the passage of the revenue acts, and,
on the election of councillors, Hutchinson came within three
votes of being restored to that body. He would have been
but for Samuel Adams and James Otis, who were not to
be deceived by his hypocrisy. Bernard considered the re
jection of the crown officers by the House " such a notori
ous instance of undutifulness and insolence " that he had
refused the people s candidates for councillors at each elec
tion since the repeal of the Stamp Act.
" Your Lordship," he wrote to the Earl of Hillsborough, " must
understand that in New England a different mode of election prevails
from what is used in Britain. Here it is not sufficient for a man to
have a greater number of votes than the rest of the candidates ; but
he must also have a majority of the whole number of electors. By
this rule the Lieutenant- Governor has twice out of three times lost
his election. In the present case, in the choice of the first eighteen,
he was the eighteenth in the order of election, but, wanting a major
ity of three of the whole electors, he was to be put up again. In
this interval, the two chief heads of the faction (Otis and Adams)
told the House that the Lieutenant- Governor was a pensioner of
Great Britain, and averred that he had a warrant from the Lords
of the Treasury for two hundred pounds a year out of the new du
ties which they were then opposing. This being urged in a manner
which left no opportunity or time for refutation or explanation,
184 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, June, 1768.
gave a turn against him, so that, upon the second polling, he had ten
votes less than before. This obliged his friends to give up the
cause." *
What " refutation " could have been attempted, it is diffi
cult to see, since Hutchinson soon after confessed, in a let
ter to Pownall, that " but for the warrant, he would have
been elected. " Had the arch traitor to the liberties of his
country been successful through this mistaken friendship of
the House, it would have proved a dangerous blow to the
efforts of the few uncompromising members, whose rule was,
never to look back when once the hand was on the plough.
* Governor Bernard to Lord Hillsborough, May 30, 1768.
CHAPTEK VIII.
Boston to be subdued. Troops and a Fleet ordered to the Town. Ex
asperation of the People. Seizure of Hancock s Sloop Liberty ; Excite
ment on the Wharf. Burning of the Collector s Boat. The King com
mands the Assembly to rescind its Resolutions of the previous Session.
They refuse, and adopt the Letter of Adams to Earl Hillsborough, assign
ing their Reasons. To the same effect he answers the Message of the
Governor, who, in obedience to Royal Instructions, dissolves the Assembly.
Aware of Bernard s Misrepresentations of the Province, they petition the
King for his Removal.
AT last the misrepresentations sent to England by the
Commissioners of the Customs, added to those sent by Ber
nard and Hutchinson, had the desired effect; and. in,.. June,
General Gage was ordered to station a regiment permanently
in Boston, while the Admiralty was directed to send a frig
ate, two sloops, and two cutters, to remain in the harbor, and
the Castle was to be occupied and repaired. This was the
.first palpable use of force against the Colonists, and was
made at a time when they had resorted only to passive re-
; sistance and peaceable opposition by petitions and non-im
portation acts, which were manifestly legal and just. The
fifty-gun ship Romney arrived in May, at the request of the
Commissioners ; and her commander, Captain Corner, im
pressed New England seamen, some of whom were taken
from merchant vessels at sea, on the passage of the war-ship
\from Halifax. The captain was visited by a deputation of
the citizens, to represent the effect of the outrage ; and he
promised that no one should be pressed, " belonging to, or
who were married in the Province, nor any employed in the
v ( trade along the shore or neighboring Colonies." The sub
ject was also considered in the House, soon after its organ
ization, where Mr. Adams was one of a committee to prepare
186 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
a written request to the Governor for his influence to obtain
the release of the impressed citizens. The rough draft of
this is among the Adams papers. The desired relief, how
ever, was not given, and one of the men was rescued from
the hands of his captors. The captain, when an offer of a
substitute was made, to release another, stormed with anger
against the town. " No man," said he, " shall go out of
this vessel. The town is a blackguard town, ruled by mobs :
they have begun with me by rescuing a man whom I pressed
this morning ; and, by the eternal God, I will make their
hearts ache before I leave it." This was the officer who, a
year and a half before, was waited on by a committee of the
town, when he left the station, to express their appreciation
of his kindness and courteous demeanor towards the people.
That committee was composed of Samuel Adams, John
Rowe, and John Hancock.
These events served only to increase the excitement, and
an opportunity for violence was soon offered. The sloop
Liberty, belonging to John Hancock, had lately arrived
from Madeira, loaded with wine. Her owner was hated by
the crown officers for his bold denouncement of the revenue
acts, and his avowed enmity to the Commissioners. For a
false entry, which it was alleged had been made several
weeks before, they resolved to seize the vessel. On the
evening of the 10th of June, when the laboring people, hav
ing quitted their work, were numerous in the streets, Harri
son the collector, and Hallowell the comptroller, repaired to
Hancock s wharf, placed the sloop under the broad arrow, and
to prevent interference decided to moor her under the guns
of the Romney. While signals were made for that purpose,
a crowd collected, among whom was Malcom, an importing
merchant, who with others recommended that the vessel be
allowed to remain at the wharf. An angry altercation en
sued, while the master of the Romney, with a number of
marines, cut the fasts and towed the sloop away. The mas
ter had threatened violence, and repeatedly, in his anger,
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 187
ordered his men to fire upon the people. The gathering
now increased to a mob, many of whom did not understand
what had taken place. Some imagined that the excitement
grew out of another attempt at impressment, and, becoming
furious, followed the officers of the customs as they retired,
pelting them with stones, bricks, and dirt. They broke in
the windows of the officers, " to the value of five pounds,"
much alarming the inmates.*
Samuel Adams, Warren Hancock, and others, were mean
time deliberating together what was to be done. It was
important that the peaceable reputation of the town should
be preserved, in order to keep the enemy in the wrong ; for
though the people had long suffered under the hand of tyr
anny, and the popular rage might well be expected at times
to display itself, still everything was to be gained by contin
ued moderation and by keeping within legal bounds. Fail
ing to find a boat belonging to the Romney, the mob seized
that of the collector, and having dragged it to the Common,
burned it in triumph. It was falsely represented to the
Ministry, in relation to this affair, that the boat was burned
before Mr. Hancock s house. To shield his friend from any
vengeance that this might draw upon him, Mr. Adams, in a
letter to the agent in London, denies the statement.
(t The truth is," he continues, " the barge was burnt on a common
surrounded with gentlemen s seats, and the scene could not be said
to be before Mr. Hancock s door, any more than before the doors of
divers other gentlemen in the neighborhood. The mean insinua
tion that it was done under the influence of Mr. Hancock is so far
from the least shadow of truth, that it is notorious here, that the tu
mult was finally dispelled principally by his exertions, animated by
his known regard to peace and good order." f
* Affidavits quoted in Bancroft, VI. 155- 157.
t Bernard, in his account of the affair to the Earl of Hillsborough, says :
" Whilst the boat was burning, some gentlemen who had an influence over
them persuaded them to depart. This was afterwards put to the vote, where
upon proclamation was made, each man to his tent. Before this, they were
188 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
An hour before midnight the crowd dispersed at the
words, " Each man to his tent," which seems to have been
a watchword between the people and their leaders up to the
commencement of the war.
This disturbance came a propos to the Commissioners,
who joyfully construed it into an insurrection ; and several
of them, to give the appearance of imminent danger, took
refuge at the Castle in the harbor, where they remained
some time.
" We took shelter," say the Commissioners, in their letter*
to Commodore Hood, " on board his Majesty s ship Rom-
ney, and desired Captain Corner to put us ashore at Castle
William, where we now are, and at our request Captain
Corner will continue near the Castle for our protection."
This, however, deceived no one in Boston, and the weak
artifice was not long afterwards repented of by the Com
missioners themselves. Even General Gage admitted that
" dangerous disturbances were not to be apprehended." f
It must have been difficult indeed to construe the tumult
of a crowd, manifestly under the control of the first gentle
men of the Province, into a concerted plan of insurrection,
such as the crown officers industriously represented it.
Samuel Adams took every occasion to undeceive the Min
istry as to the malicious statements of these men. In the
" Appeal to the World," written in the following year, he
says :
" It was, however, far from being so great a riot as the Governor
represents it to be. The collector and comptroller of the customs
indeed represent it as a * numerous mob, but they being particularly
interested, their fears might deceive them. It was not a numerous
mob, nor was it of long continuance, neither was there much mis
chief done. It was occasioned by the unprecedented and unlawful
manner of seizing a vessel by the collector and comptroller, and, con-
harangued by a leader, who, among others, used these words : < We will sup
port our liberties, depending upon the strength of our own arms and God. "
* Seventy Six Society s Massachusetts Papers, p. 87.
t General Gage to Lord Hillsborough, June 17, 1768.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 189
sidering their illegal proceedings in making the seizure, attended
with the most irritating circumstances, which occasioned this mob,
the intolerably haughty behavior which the Commissioners who
ordered this seizure had constantly before discovered towards the
people, the frequent threats which had been given out that the town
should be put under a military government, and the armed force
actually employed as a prelude to it, it cannot be wondered at that,
in a populous town, such high provocation and the sudden exertion
of lawless power, should excite the resentment of some persons be
yond the bounds of reason, and carry them into excess."
While the public mind was at the pitch of excitement
from the seizure and impressment scenes, a placard was
posted about town, calling on the Sons of Liberty to meet
on the following day at " Liberty Hall," the name given to
the space around the "Liberty Tree," a name hateful to
the Loyalists for years afterwards. On account of the rain
the meeting was adjourned to Faneuil Hall; but as that
building could not contain the crowd that assembled, they
proceeded to the Old South, where James Otis, being chosen
moderator, was " ushered into the church by an almost uni
versal clap of hands."* After fully debating the subject at
issue, the meeting was adjourned to the following day, when
Otis addressed the inhabitants, strongly recommending the
preservation of order, and expressing the hope that their
grievances might in time be removed. " If not," he contin
ued, " and we are called on to defend our liberties and priv
ileges, I hope and believe we shall, one and all, resist even
unto blood; but I pray God Almighty this may never so
happen."
>> The result of the first meeting had been the appointment
of a committee of twenty-one, Adams of course being of the
number, with Otis at their head, and including the names
of Warren, Rowe, Dana, Young, Hancock, Church, Tyler r
and Quincy, to wait upon the Governor. They went in pro
cession, " in eleven chaises," to the country-seat of his Ex-
* Letters of Governor Bernard to Lord Hillsborough.
190 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
cellency in Roxbury, where the address was delivered. It
asserted for the town the right of self-taxation, commented
upon the hated Board of Customs and the late impressment
outrages, and demanded the removal of the Romney from
the harbor. Hutchinson says the address was probably
drawn up or at least approved by Otis.
" To contend," it says, " with our parent state is the most shock
ing and dreadful extremity, but tamely to relinquish the only secur
ity we and our posterity retain for the enjoyment of our lives and
properties, without one struggle, is so humiliating and base, that we
cannot support the reflection. It is at your option to prevent this
distressed and justly incensed people from effecting too much, and
from the shame and reproach of attempting too little."
Bernard met the committee politely, but, on the following
day, refused to remove the ship of war.
" I received them," thus he wrote soon after the event, " with all
possible civility, and having heard their petition, I talked very freely
with them upon the subject, but postponed giving a formal answer
till the next day, as it should be in writing. I then had wine handed
round, and they left me highly pleased with their reception, espe
cially that part of them which had not been used to an interview
with me."*
The Governor s pride had been wounded by his humiliat
ing position ; and he had no sooner delivered his reply, inti
mating a desire to effect a reconciliation, than he and all the
crown officers redoubled their efforts to obtain troops, as
serting that a rebellion was at hand, that a great storm was
about to break, and that the leaders of the people would
urge them to open revolt. In the meantime Samuel Ad
ams, Warren, and Church had been appointed by the town
to draw up a narrative of the late occurrences, to be trans
mitted to Deberdt, that the Ministry might not be influenced
entirely by the misstatements.
The usual instructions to the Boston Representatives were
* Bernard to Lord Hillsborough, June, 1768.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 191
this year drawn up by John Adams, the " young gentleman
of the law," lately removed to Boston from Braintree, whom
Andrew Eliot spoke of as " likely to make a shining figure
at the bar." Mr. Adams, in his autobiography, mentions
that " his friends in Boston were very urgent with him to
remove into town." Probably the most solicitous of these
Mends was his kinsman, who took the liveliest interest in
his advancement. It is to be regretted that a blank occurs
in John Adams s diary for nearly the whole of 1768, a
year when the most interesting events of the early Rev
olution happened. He refers to the offers which were in
vain made to him by the royal Governor to accept an office
under the Crown, but no record is found of the struggles of
the patriots against the tightening gripe of tyranny. The
instructions spoke the voice of the town :
" Under all these misfortunes and afflictions, however, it is our
fixed resolution to maintain our loyalty and duty to our most gra
cious sovereign, a reverence and due subordination to the British
Parliament, as the supreme legislative in all cases of necessity for
the preservation of the whole empire, and our cordial and sincere
affection for our parent country, and to use our utmost endeavor for
the perservation of the peace and order among ourselves, waiting
with anxious expectation for a favorable answer to the petitions and
solicitations of this continent for relief: at the same time, it is our
unalterable resolution at all times to assert and vindicate our dear
and invaluable rights and liberties, at the utmost hazard of our lives
and fortunes ; and we have a full and rational confidence that no
designs formed against them will ever prosper." *
The confident expectation that the last winter s petitions
for relief would meet with a favorable reception, as expressed
in the above extract, was shared by nearly the whole Prov
ince ; after all that had occurred, the fatal reality had not
yet impressed itself upon the public mind. The justice of
those appeals was so self-evident, that people were loath to
* Hutchinson s History, III. 490.
192 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
credit the cold-blooded system already pursued in Eng
land.
In less than a week after the adoption of John Adams s
instructions by the town, the news arrived that Massachu
setts had been ordered by the King to rescind its resolutions
of the past winter. The Legislature was still in session, and,
on the 21st of June, the Governor transmitted to the House
the Earl of Hillsborough s letter to him.
" And, therefore," so the mandate ran, " it is the King s pleasure,
that so soon as the General Court is again assembled at the time
prescribed by the charter, you should require of the House of Rep
resentatives, in his Majesty s name, to rescind the resolution which
gave birth to the Circular Letter from the Speaker, and to declare
their disapprobation of, and dissent to, that rash and hasty proceed
ing And if, notwithstanding the apprehensions which may
justly be entertained of the ill consequences of a continuance of this
factious spirit, which seems to have influenced the resolutions of the
Assembly at the conclusion of the last session, the new Assembly
should refuse to comply with his Majesty s reasonable expectation,
it is the King s pleasure that you should immediately dissolve them,
and transmit to me, to be laid before his Majesty, an account of
their proceedings thereon."
A committee, including Samuel Adams, was immediately
appointed to consider the Governor s message, transmitting
this letter, of which his Excellency had at first submitted
only a part.* The Governor, who had grown impatient after
a few days, sent a hasty message, to the effect that he could
not adjourn the General Court until he had received their
answer to the requisition. The affair was in suspense for a
week, and was largely debated. It depended on them to
sustain by their firmness the liberties of America. They
had deliberately adopted the Circular Letter as the unaltera
ble opinion of the Legislature of Massachusetts. The meas
ure had struck their tyrants with consternation, and won
the applause of the entire continent. Connecticut, New
* Journal of the House of Representatives, June, 1768.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 193
Jersey, Georgia, and Virginia had responded, the courage
inspired by the latter raising the hopes of all. Samuel
Adams, as he reflected upon the immense importance of
Virginia s co-operation in the measure, had had good rea
son to regard the result with satisfaction. Using words
which, seven years later, he was to repeat under still more
exciting circumstances, he had cried, " This is a glorious
day ! " and his friend, the consistent and true Samuel
Cooper, replied, " This is the most glorious day ever seen ! " *
Now, to retrace their steps would subject the cause to ridi
cule, and perhaps seal the fate of American liberty. Both
letters from Hillsborough having been placed in their hands,
the committee were ready, after mature deliberation, on the
30th of June, when the Speaker informed the House that
the report was prepared. The galleries were cleared, and
all communication with the other Board or from the out
side was shut off during the debate. f One could wish that
there had been a phonographic reporter in that gallery.
Here was the Legislature of a Provincial town, the political
and commercial centre of New England, coolly bearding the
terrible power of Britain, and convened to consult upon the
question of refusing to comply with a direct command of the
King. The fiery and heated harangues of Otis, and the less
fervid and more deliberate reasoning of Adams, were both
heard, and probably more than one plain farmer from the
interior delivered his sentiments. The journal indicates
simply that the debate was secret. The first business was
the consideration of a letter to Hillsborough, written by Sam-
* Bancroft, VI. 165.
f Journal of the House, June, 1768. While the doors were thus closed, a
committee from the Council applied for admittance to ask the concurrence of
the House in a series of resolutions, desiring the Governor to issue a proclama
tion offering a reward for the discovery of the rioters and their abettors in the
late disturbances, that they might be brought to condign punishment. The
message was not admitted ; and as the House was prorogued on the same day,
and dissolved the next day, no other opportunity occurred for presenting the
resolutions.
VOL. I. 13
194 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
uel Adams, now vindicating his own measure. After being
twice read, it was twice accepted by a vote of ninety-two to
thirteen, and ordered to be fairly copied and forwarded by
the Speaker to his Lordship at the first opportunity.*
The writer reviews the action of the former House, giv
ing a succinct narrative of the circumstances attending
the passage of the Circular Letter, and distinctly asserting
that it was the declared sense of a large majority of the
members :
" It may be necessary to observe that the people in this Province
have attended with a deep concern to the several acts of the British
Parliament, which impose duties and taxes on the Colonies, not for
the purpose of regulating the trade, but with the sole intention of
raising a revenue. This concern, my Lord, so far from being limi
ted within the circle of a few inconsiderate persons, is become uni
versal. The most respectable for fortune, rank, and station, as well
as probity and understanding in the Province, with very few ex
ceptions, are alarmed with apprehensions of the fatal consequences
of a power exercised in any one part of the British empire to com
mand and apply the property of their fellow-subjects at discretion.
This consideration prevailed on the last House of Representatives to
resolve on a humble, dutiful, and loyal petition to the King, the com
mon head and father of all his people, for his gracious interposition
in favor of his subjects of this Province. If your Lordship, whom
his Majesty has honored with the American department, has been
instrumental in presenting a petition so interesting to the well-be
ing of his loyal subjects here, this House beg leave to make their
most grateful acknowledgments, and to implore your continued aid
and patronage.
" As all his Majesty s North American subjects are alike affected
by these parliamentary revenue acts, the former House very justly
supposed that each of the Assemblies on the continent would take such
methods of obtaining redress as should be thought by them respect
ively to be regular and proper. And being desirous that the several
applications should harmonize with each other, they resolved on their
* Journal of the House, June, 1768. Bancroft, VI. 165. Eliot s N. E. Biog.
Dictionary.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 195
Circular Letter, wherein their only view seems to be, to advertise
their sister Colonies of the measures they had taken upon a common
and important concern, without once calling upon them to adopt
those measures or any other.
" Your Lordship surely will not think it a crime in that House to
have taken a step which was perfectly consistent with the Constitu
tion, and had a natural tendency to compose the minds of his Maj
esty s subjects of this and his other Colonies, until, in his royal
clemency he should afford them relief, at a time when it seemed to
be the evident design of a party to prevent calm, deliberate, rational,
and constitutional measures from being pursued ; or to stop the dis
tresses of the people from reaching his Majesty s ear, and, conse
quently, to precipitate them into a state of desperation and melancholy
extremity.
" And the House humbly rely on the royal clemency, that to pe
tition his Majesty will not be deemed by him to be inconsistent with
a respect to the British Constitution, as settled at the Revolution
by William the Third : that to acquaint their fellow-subjects, in
volved in the same distress, of their having so done, in full hopes
of success, even if they had invited the union of all America in one
joint supplication, would not be discountenanced by our gracious
sovereign as a measure of an inflammatory nature." *
The letter was sent by the first conveyance. Much curi
osity was felt to know its contents, as none but members of
the House had heard it read. Bernard shared this curios
ity, as appears by a letter to Hillsborough. Mr. Adams
withheld it from publication as long as he considered that
the public interests were subserved by so doing ; then he
resolved to have it printed in the Boston Gazette. Bernard
thus relates a scene reported to him :
"I informed your Lordship that I had not seen, nor probably
should see, till it is printed, the letter of the House to your Lord
ship, although, I am informed, I am much interested in the contents
of it. But I shall soon have that satisfaction, being informed it is
to be printed next Monday. It seems that this morning the two
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 151.
196 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jnly,
consuls of the faction Otis and Adams had a dispute upon it
in the Representatives room, where the papers of the House are
kept, which I shall write as a dialogue to save paper :
"Otis. What are you going to do with the letter to Lord Hills-
borough ?
"Adams. To give it to the printer to publish next Monday.
" Otis. Do you think it proper to publish it so soon, that he may
receive a printed copy before the original comes to his hand ?
"Adams. What signifies that ? You know it was designed for
the people, and not for the minister.
" Otis. You are so fond of your own drafts that you can t wait
for the publication of them to a proper time.
"Adams. I am Clerk of this House, and I will make that use
of the papers which I please.
" I had this " continues the Governor, " from a gentleman of the
first rank, who I understood was present." *
On the same day with the adoption of the letter, the great
question, whether, in obedience to the royal mandate, the
House would rescind the resolution which gave birth to
their Circular Letter, came up and was decided in the neg
ative by a vote of ninety-two to seventeen. The votes were
by word of mouth, and stand recorded, name by name, in
the journals and in the next Boston Gazette.
Again employing the pen of Samuel Adams, the House
replied to the Governor s message on the opening of the ses
sion. The answer was " twice read and accepted by a great
majority."
" We cannot but express our deep concern, that a measure of the
late House, in all respects so innocent, in most so virtuous and laud
able, and, as we conceive, so truly patriotic, should have been repre
sented to administration in the odious light of a party and factious
measure, and that pushed through by reverting in a thin house to,
and reconsidering, what in a full Assembly had been rejected. It
was and is a matter of notoriety, that more than eighty members
* Bernard to Lord Hillsborough, July 9, 1768. The letter of the House
was published in the Boston Gazette of July 18, 1768.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 197
were present at the reconsideration of the vote against application
to the other Colonies.
" The Circular Letters have been sent, and many of them have
been answered ; those answers are now in the public papers ; the
public, the world, must and will judge of the proposals, purposes,
and answers. We could as well rescind those letters as the re
solves ; and both would be equally fruitless if, by rescinding, as the
word properly imports, is meant a repeal and nullifying the resolu
tion referred to.
" You have also thought fit to inform us that you cannot think
yourself at liberty, in case of the dissolution of this, to call another
Assembly without the express orders of his Majesty for that pur
pose ; and, at the same time, your Excellency has been pleased to
assure us that you have communicated the whole of Lord Hillsbor-
ough s letter and your instructions, so far as relates to the requisi
tion. In all this, however, we cannot find that your Excellency is
more than directed to dissolve the present Assembly in case of a
non-compliance on the part of the House. If the votes of the
House are to be controlled by the direction of a minister, we have
left us but a vain semblance of liberty." *
success of this noble stand of a little province against
the authority of Great Britain, involving as it did a practi
cal illustration of the power of the Colonies united, was for
years afterwards a source of keen pleasure to Mr. Adams.
He occasionally refers to it in his political writings there
after, to animate his countrymen in the great struggle. In
September, 1771, he devotes a large space in the public
press to a graphic narrative of the proceedings of the Legis
lature in regard to the Circular Letter, when, he says, the
House was actuated " by a conscientious and a clear and
determined sense of duty to God, their King, their country,
and their latest posterity. f
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 147.
t " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, Sept. 16, 1771.
198 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July,
" This determination of the House gave general satisfaction, not
only to the people of this Province, but of the other Colonies also,
as well as the friends of liberty in Britain. It was spoken of by all,
except the disappointed few, with great applause. Indeed, the
essential rights of all were involved in the question. A different
determination would therefore have been to the last degree infa
mous, and attended with fatal consequences. Not only the right of
the subjects jointly to petition for the redress of grievances, which
all alike suffer, but also that of communicating their sentiments freely
to each other upon -the subject of grievances and the means of re
dress, which was the sole purport of the Circular Letter, would in
effect have been given up. I have often thought that, in this time
of common distress, it would be the wisdom of the Colonists more
frequently to correspond with, and to be more attentive to, the par
ticular circumstances of each other. It seems of late to have been
the policy of the enemies of America to point their artillery against
one Province only, and artfully to draw off the attention of the
other Colonies, and, if possible, to render that single Province odi
ous to them, while it is suffering ministerial vengeance for the sake
of the common cause. But it is to be hoped that the Colonies will
be aware of this artifice. At this juncture, an attempt to subdue
one Province to despotic power is justly to be considered as an at
tempt to enslave the whole. The Colonies form one political
body, of which each is a member. The liberties of the whole are
invaded. It is, therefore, the interest of the whole to support each
individual with all their weight and influence."
In obedience to the royal mandate, the Governor pro
rogued the House on the day of their refusal to rescind, but
not before they had appointed a committee to prepare a pe
tition to the King, " praying that his Majesty would be gra
ciously pleased to remove his Excellency, Francis Bernard,
Esq., from the government of the Province."
CHAPTER IX.
Massachusetts applauded for her Firmness. The Province still Loyal.
Boston in 1768. Its Eorms of Worship. Eight of Suffrage. Common
School System. Industry. Samuel Adams among the Mechanics.
His Democratic Tendencies. His great Influence. His Capacity for
Work. Anniversary of the Stamp Act. Joseph Warren, his Talents
and Popularity. Adams sees the Necessity of Independence. Affidavits
taken against him and forwarded by the Governor to the Ministry. Otis,
Adams, and Warren mature their Plans. Town Meeting in expectation of
the Troops. The Governor still refusing to assemble the Legislature, a
Convention of Delegates from the Towns is called by popular Voice.
Proceedings of the Convention. Its Objects accomplished. Arrival of
the Troops.
MASSACHUSETTS was now without a Legislature, and as
fully the victim of tyranny as the subjects of the most abso
lute despot in Europe. How long this was to continue was left
to conjecture. It had been resolved by the Ministry that
the Governor should dissolve the Assembly as often as it
should refuse to rescind the obnoxious resolution. From
the other Colonies came expressions of sympathy with the
people of Massachusetts, and the act of arbitrary power had
exactly the opposite effect to that intended. The necessity
of a union of interests for a common cause was seen, and the
refusal to rescind was everywhere applauded. It was indeed
an extraordinary spectacle. No act of rebellion had taken
place ; no insurrection existed ; the feeling of loyalty was
yet firm among the people. They had but peaceably and
legally asserted their charter and constitutional liberties.
Boston, at this time, contained about sixteen thousand
inhabitants, and, as regards its local system, was the most
orderly and best governed town in the world. In whatever
light it is viewed, even now when moral and intellectual ap
pliances have wonderfully advanced the means of human
200 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
[July,
improvement, the capital of New England, as it then existed,
must be regarded as a model. It was a little democracy or
republic within itself, based upon the traditional and natural
rights guaranteed to its founders in the previous century,
who had fled from religious persecution to the wilds of the
Western world for the enjoyment of " freedom to worship
God."
The form of church government of the great majority was
the congregational, each church being supported by the vol
untary contributions of its members ; while the opinion re
mained unaltered, as of old, that each was independent and
in no way under the control of any other. Popery and sla
very were nearly synonymous terms with them, and though
the Church of England was represented in the town they still
opposed prelacy, and were against the establishment of a Prot
estant episcopacy in the Colonies. " The revenue raised in
America, for aught we can tell," said the House in their letter
to Deberdt, already quoted, " may be as constitutionally ap
plied towards the support of prelacy, as of soldiers and pen
sioners "; and they considered it as " alarming to a people
whose fathers, from the hardships they suffered under such an
establishment, were obliged to fly their native country into a
wilderness We hope in God such an establishment
will never take place in America." *
No Roman Catholic church or congregation existed in the
town, the rites and ceremonies of papists being regarded as
the pitiable and worn-out superstitions of the ignorant.
The people were rigid in the performance of religious re
quirements, which had descended in their original strictness
from the early settlers ; and the ministers disseminated the
principles of morality and liberty as equally important,
the Old South, the largest church in the town, being often
the scene of the most exciting demonstrations of the people
in the support of their rights.
The right of suffrage, though involving a small property
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 132.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 201
qualification, was only sufficiently exclusive to produce a
laudable ambition for the acquirement of the requisite pos
sessions. Faneuil Hall was the political head-quarters where
the principles of liberty were freely debated, and there free
dom of thought and speech was never questioned.
A carefully guarded common-school system gave the ben
efit of a practical education to all. The schools were opened
each day with public prayer, and were under the immediate
control of the selectmen, who visited them once a year, gen
erally in June, in company with a committee of the princi
pal gentlemen of the town, and a number of ministers. In
these schools, the apostles equally of religion and liberty,
Mayhew, Chauncy, and Cooper, and the phalanx of patri
ots, the Adamses, Otis, Warren, Hancock, Gushing, and
the rest, received the germs of liberal culture which, devel
oped at Harvard College, enabled them to establish the lib
erties of their country.
There has probably never been in the history of man an
instance of a more perfect democracy, of a society where the
rights of the lower classes were more jealously observed.
It was a society where no titled aristocracy was- acknowl
edged, where sturdy personal independence had never
known any other honors than those cheerfully accorded to
worth and talents. The royal governors alone had some
times worn aristocratic distinctions as representatives of the
King, but the towns people would ill have tolerated among
themselves the badges of a superior class. The working-
men, especially the ship-building mechanics, who were the
most numerous among the inhabitants, and who excelled
the whole world in their skill, loved the honest equality
insured by good citizenship, and yet, with no levelling
schemes, regarded without jealousy the well-earned wealth
of the few opulent citizens whose circumstances gave them
social prominence.
In the shipyards, where the real popular power resided,
Samuel Adams was especially the favorite from among the
202 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug.
champions of the public liberties. He found the people
willing listeners and converts to his doctrines, and, as a most
perfect embodiment of the democratic theory, he exercised
more influence with them than any other man. His good
judgment was often appealed to, and, in many instances,
lawsuits were avoided by making him the umpire. They
placed the most implicit confidence in him as a man and a
patriot, and he never deceived them. No man could less
brook than he the insolence of arbitrary power and the over
bearing manners of the crown officers towards the common
people, among whom he desired always to instil a conscious
ness of superiority over those minions of tyranny, believing
that with such sentiments was connected the successful as
sertion of their liberties. His first public writings reveal this
idea, when he inveighs against the aspiring few who would
" despise their neighbor s happiness, because he wears a
worsted cap or leathern apron "; and, to his latest days, his
sympathies were with the poor and the lowly. Samuel
Adams, during all his life, was their tribune. He was the
true " Father of Democracy " in America, whose voice and
pen were ever employed for the common people ; and he la
bored to build up American liberty, not only by public
measures, but by cultivating an individual independence of
thought among the working-classes as the true basis of na
tional freedom. Careless of personal gain, he seemed to
have been specially ordained for the times in which he lived.
Frugal and temperate in his habits, his wants were few, and
his powers of endurance fitted him for ceaseless industry.
Most of his public papers were written in a study or library
adjoining his bedroom ; and his wife, after his death, related
how, in the stillness of the night, she used, in the Revolution
ary times, to listen to the incessant motion of the pen in the
next room, whence the solitary lamp, which lighted the pa
triot in his labors, was dimly visible. Mr. Joseph Pierce,
who personally knew Samuel Adams, and whose business
obliged him for a long time to pass after midnight by the
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 203
house, related, early in the present century, that he seldom
failed to see the study lighted, no matter how far the night
was gone, " and he knew that Sam Adams was hard at work
writing against the Tories."
The Sons of Liberty celebrated the third anniversary of
the outbreak against the Stamp Act this year with extraor
dinary festivity. The 14th of August falling on Sunday,
the celebration was postponed until the next day. The
account in the Boston Gazette says :
"At the dawn the British flag was displayed on the Tree of Lib
erty, and a discharge of fourteen cannon ranged under the venerable
elm saluted the joyous day. At eleven o clock a very large company
of the principal gentlemen and respectable inhabitants of the town
met at the Hall under the tree, while the streets were crowded with
a concourse of people of all ranks, public notice having been given
of the intended celebration. The music began at high noon, per
formed on various instruments, joined with voices, and concluding
with the universally admired American Song of Liberty. The
grandeur of its sentiment, and the easy flow of its numbers, together
with an exquisite harmony of sound, afforded sublime entertainment
to a numerous audience fraught with a noble ardor in the cause of
freedom. The song was closed with the discharge of cannon and a
shout of joy ; at the same time, the windows of the neighboring
houses were adorned with a brilliant appearance of the fair daughters
of liberty, who testified their approbation by smiles of satisfaction."
Among the fourteen toasts given were " The memorable
14th of August, 1765," " The Farmer," " John Wilkes,"
" The glorious Ninety-two " (non-rescinders), " Pascal Paoli
and his brave Corsicans," and " Magna Charta and the Bill
of Rights" ;-
"Which being finished," continues the Gazette, "the French
horns sounded ; and after another discharge of the cannon, complet
ing the number NINETY-TWO, the gentlemen, in their carriages, re
paired to the Greyhound Tavern in Roxbury, where a frugal and
elegant entertainment was provided. The music played during the
repast," and forty-five patriotic toasts were drunk.
204 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug.
"Upon this happy occasion, the whole company, with the appro
bation of their brethren in Roxbury, consecrated a tree in the
vicinity, under the shade of which, on some future anniversary, they
may commemorate the day which shall liberate America from her
present oppression. Then, making an agreeable excursion round
Jamaica Pond, in which excursion they received the kind salutation
of a friend to the cause by the discharge of cannon, at six o clock
they returned to town, and passing in slow and orderly procession
through the principal streets and round the State House, they re
tired to their respective dwellings. It is allowed that this caval
cade surpassed all that has ever been seen in America. The joy
of the day was manly, and uninterrupted regularity presided through
the whole." *
These annual celebrations were held at the suggestion
principally of Otis and Samuel Adams, who, with the other
leaders, were always personally present. The general plan
was to have a gala day in town until about noon, and then
to complete the festivities by a barbecue at some noted tav
ern in the environs, whose proprietor was known to be
friendly to the cause. After the present year, this celebra
tion was superseded by the more solemn ceremonial of the
anniversary of the Boston Massacre, f
At this time the political writings of Dr. Joseph Warren
had attracted public attention. From the first evidence
of the distinguished ability of Warren, Samuel Adams had
determined, in conformity with his unvarying practice where
genius displayed itself, to engage his talents and enlist his
sympathies in favor of his native country. Judging from
the declarations of John Adams, in relation to this subject,
Warren s first efforts in the public cause were made through
the influence of " the Father of the Revolution." Not that
the generous spirit and noble genius of Warren needed to
be spurred to maintain the great cause of human liberty,
but Adams was twenty years the senior of Warren, who was
* For an account of the celebration, see Boston Gazette of Aug. 22, 1768.
t John Adams s Diary (Works, II. 218).
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 205
but twenty-four years of age at the time of the Stamp Act,
and to him the veteran leader might well act as a guide and
a friend. They were most intimate until the glorious death
of Warren, in 1775. They labored together, and, after the
present year, no man in Massachusetts so fully enjoyed the
confidence of Adams in all political measures as Warren.
As early as 1766, the young statesman had expressed his
views in his private letters. He comprehended the force of
the great truth, that American society exhibited a more
equal division of property than existed in the old country ;
he saw how this tended to an equality of influence and au
thority.
" Until now," Warren said, " the Colonies were ever at variance
and foolishly jealous of each other ; but this Stamp Act has brought
about what the Colonies could never have expected to have brought
about. They are now united for common defence against what
they believe to be oppressors. Nor will they soon forget the weight
which the union gives them. Does not all history teach that the
strength of a country depends on being united? But was it the
object to force the Colonies into the path of rebellion, and then by
military power to reduce them to the state of servitude ? Let it be
considered, that every power in Europe looks with envy on the Col
onies which Great Britain enjoys in America. He must be igno
rant of human nature who does not know, that when the rage of a
people is raised by oppression to such a height as to break out in
rebellion, any new alliance is preferable to the miseries which a
conquered country must necessarily expect. Would no power in
Europe take advantage of such an occasion, and tempt such an alli
ance? Will politic and powerful France be restrained by treaties
to recover so fair a portion of their ancient possessions."
These views were as sound in theory as those of the old
est patriots in the Province. So ripe a judgment, allied to
such brilliant talents, found a friend and kindred spirit in
Adams. But Warren was only one of the many young men
whom Adams led into the arena of patriotism. He was con
stantly on the alert to bring out such characters, and train
208 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
[Aug.
them for the great purpose of liberty. Truly was he called
the " pilot " of the times, and the " director" of the public
affairs. His guiding influence in the Legislature we have
already seen in the important measures originated and con
summated by him. Going back a couple of years to the
time of the Stamp Act, we find an interesting and eloquent
allusion to his greatness at that crisis and thenceforward in
the funeral discourse of the Rev. Mr. Thacher, in which he
gave a truthful sketch of Samuel Adams, collected from the
statements of his fellow-patriots, who still survived in 1803,
and who had intimately known his political course from the
commencement of the Revolution. After alluding to Mr.
Adams s career as a legislator, the writer continues :
" Truly difficult and responsible was the duty of a pilot called to
steer in so violent a tempest! Such, however, was the skill and
dexterity discovered by our departed friend, that even the favorable
and flattering opinion which his fellow-citizens had formed was ex
ceeded by the ability he displayed in directing their affairs. He
became at once the most influential member of the Legislature.
He was the soul that animated that respected body to their most
important resolutions and to their unequivocal opposition to every
unjust claim and innovation made by the corrupt ministers of Great
Britain. In cases where other great and good men were perplexed
and apprehensive that this ardor for liberty would hasten, not de
feat, the design of despotism, this illustrious patriot remained undis
mayed. Aut Ccesar aut nullus, was his maxim. He wished either
to see his country completely emancipated from every unjust, uncon
stitutional claim, or else that it might become the common sepul
chre of its inhabitants. For slavery and dependence he abhorred,
even in their mildest and most polished form."
The town which we have described, and the class of char
acters to which a brief allusion has been made, the British
Ministry, in whom anger had usurped the place of rea
son, were now determined to crush. The exaggerated
statements of the recent occurrences had been received
in England, and "vengeance" was denounced "against
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 207
that insolent town." Any modification or repeal of the
infamous and oppressive revenue acts was scouted at. In
the Council, the petitions had no effect but to increase the
insane rigor against the Colonies, and it was decided to use
force to subdue the inhabitants of Boston. The most sedi
tious were to be made an example to strike terror into the
other Colonies ; for which purpose Hillsborough, far from
being moved by the logical and respectful address of the
House, now sent over orders to inquire " if any persons had
committed acts which, under the authority of the statute
of Henry the Eighth against treason committed abroad,
might justify their being brought to En-gland for trial."
The ancient and legal town meetings were to be terminated.
Two regiments and a frigate were at once to be sent to
Boston.
It was now that Samuel Adams became convinced that
the harsh policy of Great Britain was unalterable. An
army and fleet were on the way to enforce the despotic
measures of Parliament. Petitions and humble protesta
tions had been met only with contempt and renewed tyr
anny. These things had led the patriot slowly and deliber
ately to the conclusion that American independence was a
political and natural necessity. He admitted to a friend, in
1775, that from this moment he struggled unremittingly for
the accomplishment of that object, which absorbed his soul
for eight years, until the great charter of human liberties
was signed. A plain narrative of his career, up to that im
mortal event, will reveal that no one of the galaxy of Revolu
tionary characters wrought so much in attaining that end as
Samuel Adams. JFully aware of the agency of the Governor
and other royal pensioners in bringing an armed force upon
the Province, he took up the subject of the public griev
ances in the Boston Gazette, immediately after his Excel
lency s proclamation treating of the " tumultuous " condi
tion of affairs. The misrepresentations had been received
in Halifax, and Boston was commonly supposed there to be
208 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug.
in a state of insurrection. "If these falsehoods," says
Adams, " make such impressions on the minds of persons so
near us as Halifax, it cannot be wondered at if the mother
country, at the distance of a thousand leagues, should think
we are in a state of confusion."
" When the people are oppressed, when their rights are infringed,
when their property is invaded, when taskmasters are set over them,
when unconstitutional acts are executed by a naval force before their
eyes, and they are daily threatened with military troops, when their
Legislative is dissolved ! and what government is left is as secret as
a Divan, when placemen and their underlings swarm about them,
and pensioners begin to make an insolent appearance, in such
circumstances the people will be discontented ; and they are not to
be blamed ; their minds will be irritated as long as they have any
sense of honor, liberty, and virtue. In such circumstances, while
they have the spirit of freemen, they will boldly assert their freedom ;
and they are to be justified in so doing. I know very well that to
murmur, or even whisper a complaint, some men call a riotous spirit ;
but they are in the right of it to complain, and complain aloud, and
they will complain till they are either redressed or become poor, de
luded, miserable, ductile dupes, fitted to be made the slaves of ....
arbitrary power." *
By such appeals he aroused the people to a full sense of
their danger, and he did not lay by the pen in this cause
until the liberties of his country had been acknowledged by
her oppressors, until America stood before the world as a
recognized power among the nations. Never did man devote
his entire energies to any one great object with more cour
age, sagacity, and determination, than did Samuel Adams
to the achievement of American independence.
" To promote that end," says Bancroft, in his History, " he was
ready to serve and never claim a reward for service ; to efface him
self, and put forward others; seeking the greatest things for his
country, and content with the humblest for himself. Boston gath
ered about him. From a town of merchants and mechanics, it grew
* < Determinatus," in the Boston Gazette, August 8, 1768.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 209
with him to be the hope of the world ; and the sons of toil, as they
took courage to peril fortune and life for the liberties they inherited,
rose to be, and feel that they were, the champions of human freedom.
"With the people of Boston, in the street, at public meetings, at the
shipyards, wherever he met them, he reasoned on the subject that
engrossed his affections." *
In proportion as this man advanced his great idea among
the people, the Governor and crown officers saw his object,
and resolved upon his destruction. A pretext was wanted
to arrest some of the leaders on a charge of treason, for trial
in England, where conviction and execution would certainly
have followed ; but much as victims were desired " to strike
terror into the other Colonies," some appearance of legality
was necessary, and, as yet, the crown lawyers could discover
no act that might be brought under the head of treason.
Above all, they desired to " take off" Samuel Adams, whom
Bernard especially hated. With a view to this, information
was collected secretly, sworn to before Chief Justice Hutch-
inson, and sent by the Governor to the Secretary of State
with a letter, in which he says to the Earl : " I shall enclose
in the cover of this a deposition taken before us, in which
the spirit of the movers of the Boston mobs will be explained,
and the intention of the faction exemplified in one of the
principal and most desperate of the chiefs of the faction."
This affidavit, which is still on file in the London State-paper
Office, was read and noted in Council ; but apparently its
contents were not considered as sufficient to warrant the
" taking off" intended.
"PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAT.
" The information of Richard Sylvester of Boston, in the Province
aforesaid, innholder, taken before me, Thomas Hutchinson, Esq.,
Chief Justice of said Province, this twenty-third day of January, in
the ninth year of his Majesty s reign :
" This informant sayeth, that the day after the boat belonging to
* Bancroft s History, VI. 192-194.
VOL. I. 14
210 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug.
Mr. Harrison was burnt, the last summer, the informant observed
several parties of men gathered in the street at the south end of the
town of Boston, in the forenoon of the day. The informant went
up to one of the parties, and Mr. Samuel Adams, then one of the
Representatives of Boston, happened to join the same party near
about the same time, trembling and in great agitation.* The party
consisted of about seven in number, who were unknown to the in
formant, he having but little acquaintance with the inhabitants, or,
if any of them were known, he cannot now recollect them. The in
formant heard the said Samuel Adams then say to the said party,
* If you are men, behave like men. Let us take up arms immedi
ately, and be free, and seize all the King s officers. We shall have
thirty thousand men to join us from the country. The informant
then walked off, believing his company was disagreeable. The in
formant further sayeth, that after the burning of the boat aforesaid,
and before the arrival of the troops, the said Samuel Adams has been
divers times at the house of the informant, and at one of those times
particularly the informant began a discourse concerning the times ;
and the said Samuel Adams said : * We will not submit to any
tax, nor become slaves. We will take up arms, and spend our last
drop of blood before the King and Parliament shall impose on us,
and settle crown officers in this country to dragoon us. The coun
try was first settled by our ancestors, therefore we are free and want
no king. The times were never better in Rome than when they
had no king and were a free state ; and as this is a great empire,
we shall have it in our power to give laws to England/ The in
formant further sayeth, that, at divers times between the burning of
the boat aforesaid and the arrival of the troops aforesaid, he has
heard the said Adams express himself in words to very much the
same purpose, and that the informant s wife has sometimes been pres
ent, and at one or more of such times, George Mason of Boston,
painter, was present. The informant further sayeth, that about a
fortnight before the troops arrived, the aforesaid Samuel Adams,
being at the house of the informant, the informant asked him what
he thought of the times. The said Adams answered, with great
alertness, that, on lighting the beacon, we should be joined with
* The constitutional tremulousness of hand and voice common to Mr.
Adams and his family is elsewhere described.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 211
thirty thousand men from the country with their knapsacks and
bayonets fixed, and added, l We will destroy every soldier that dare
put his foot on shore. His Majesty has no right to send troops here
to invade the country, and I look upon them as foreign enemies !
This informant further sayeth, that two or three days before the
troops arrived, the said Samuel Adams said to the informant, that
Governor Bernard and Mr. Hutchinson and the Commissioners of
the Customs had sent for troops, and the said Adams made bitter
exclamations against them for so doing, and also repeated most of
the language about opposing the King s troops, which he had used
as above mentioned about a fortnight before. The informant con
tradicted the said Samuel Adams, and attributed the sending troops
to the resolve of the General Court and the proceedings of the town
meeting.*
" Sworn to T. HUTCHINSON."
No other affidavits, if any were taken, are on file against
Mr. Adams, but statements were made by this informant
against Dr. Benjamin Church, Dr. Joseph Warren, and
Thomas Chase of Boston, distiller, to the same purport as
that already quoted. However truthful the information, it
could not have been the serious intention of the patriots to
attempt any organized armed resistance. It would have
been madness at that time. As yet the bond of union be*
tween the Colonies, necessary for successful resistance, had
not been formed. The time to strike was not come. Hot
spirits there were who could not count the consequences,
and, as in all bodies of oppressed people, were prepared to
rush into conflict. Thirty-thousand men, gun in hand,
could undoubtedly have been raised to drive the soldiers
into the sea, but their efforts must have resulted in failure.
Even in 1776, after all hope of redress had left the Amer
icans, and when blood had been spilled, it required constant
exertions to maintain a unanimity in favor of the last ap
peal. To have attempted it as early as the midsummer of
1768 would have retarded American liberty many years.
* London State-paper Office, "America and "West Indies," No. 152.
212 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept.
On the 5th of September, a paper in the form of queries,
signed " Clericus Americamis," appeared in the Boston Ga
zette, taking the ground that, as the late acts implied a leap
ing over all those covenants and compacts which were the
basis of the political union with Great Britain, it was expe
dient for the inhabitants of every town in the Province to
choose representatives for a General Assembly, to petition
for an enlargement of their privileges. The writer having
explained his plans, continues :
" If an army should be sent to reduce us to slavery, we will put
our lives in our hands, and cry to the Judge of all the earth, who
will do right, saying : Behold, how they come to cast us out of
thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. Help us, O
Lord, our God, for we rest on Thee, and in thy name we go against
this multitude ! " *
The author of this is unknown. Bernard, in a letter to
Lord Hillsborough, called it " a system of politics exceeding
all former exceedings." " Some took it," he says, " for the
casual ravings of an occasional enthusiast, but I persuaded
myself that it came out of the cabinet of the faction." f
On Wednesday the Senegal left port, and on the following
day the Duke of Cumberland sailed for Nova Scotia. The
Governor took care that the news should be circulated that
they had gone for troops, and long before night it was known
all over town. A petition for a town meeting was signed on
the 9th, " to consider the most wise, constitutional, loyal,
and salutary measures " as to the expected arrival of the
troops. The next evening, Otis, Samuel Adams, and War
ren met at the house of Warren, now the site of the
American House, to draw up resolves, arrange for the
proceedings, and prepare the order of debate.^ Bernard
says, in one of his letters to Hillsborough, " the faction irn-
* Boston Gazette, Sept. 5, 1768.
t Bernard to Hillsborongh, Sept. 16, 1768.
| Capt. Corner s Diary, kept aboard the war-ship Senegal in Boston Har
bor, now in the London State-paper Office.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 213
mediately took the alarm " on hearing that the troops were
expected ; and the timid Governor, fearful of every event,
distorted the calm and deliberate measures concerted at
Warren s house into " a plan to surprise and take the Cas
tle on the night following " ; but his Excellency s informant
on this occasion evidently allowed his fears or imagination
to guide his report. Insurrection was far from the inten
tion of the patriot trio. In the crisis before them, union first
of the towns of the Province, and afterwards of the Colonies,
was the plan. On Sunday, the Governor, in a panic, ordered
the removal of the old iron " skillet," which from the ear
liest times had stood on Beacon Hill, to be lighted when the
country was to be alarmed. The meeting took place on
Monday, the 12th, at Faneuil Hall, where four hundred mus
kets lay upon the floor. Otis was moderator, and the elo
quent Cooper opened the proceedings with prayer. Gushing,
Samuel Adams, Dana, Rowe, Hancock, Kent, and Warren
were appointed a committee to wait upon his Excellency,
to inquire his reasons for expecting the troops, and " to
humbly request him to issue precepts for a General Assem
bly to be convened with the utmost speed, in order that such
measures might be taken as, in their wisdom, they might
think proper" for the preservation of the rights and liberties
of the people. A committee was also appointed to report
the measures most salutary for the present emergency.
The meeting adjourned, and came together again on the
following day, when the committee reported that the Gov
ernor had no official communication to make upon the sub
ject of the troops, and had refused to issue precepts for an
Assembly. Upon this, the meeting adopted a " Declara
tion," in which it was resolved that the inhabitants of Bos
ton, at the utmost peril of their lives and fortunes, maintain
and defend their rights, liberties, privileges, and immunities.
Otis addressed the meeting, and pointing to the arms, " These
are the arms," said he ; " when an attempt is made upon your
liberties, they will be delivered. Our declaration wants no
214 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
[Sept.
explanation." The Governor s account of the meeting to
the Ministry says :
" When first it was moved that the Governor be desired to call
an Assembly, it was said to be to provide for the safety of the Prov
ince, and put it in a posture of defence ; it was therefore observed
that that would make troops necessary, and it was immediately
struck out. This was overruled, for indeed it was rather premature.
Another, an old man, protested against everything but rising imme
diately, and taking all power into their own hands. One man, very
profligate and abandoned, argued for massacring their enemies.
His argument was, in short, liberty is as precious as life ; if a man
attempts to take my life, I have a right to take his ; ergo, if a man
attempts to take away my liberty, I have a right to take his life.
He also argued, that when a people s liberties were threatened, they
were in a state of war, and had a right to defend themselves ; and
he carried these arguments so far, that his own party were obliged
- to silence him." *
But the object in calling the meeting was not to be at
tained by rash counsels, which served rather to arm the en
emy against them. In the " Declaration " " they intrenched
themselves within the self-evident law, that it is the first
principle in civil society, founded in nature and reason, that
no law of the society can be binding on any individual with
out his consent, given by himself in person, or by his repre-
sentative of his or her own free election." Wisdom and
caution ruled the hour, and no measure was suffered to
prevail which could cause the inland towns to withhold their
cheerful assent from the great experiment which was to be
tried. The Legislature had been arbitrarily dissolved, and
the Governor had refused to call another. Following the
precedent of 1688, the meeting proposed a convention of the
towns of Massachusetts by their representatives ; and for Bos
ton, elected Gushing, Otis, Samuel Adams, and Hancock.
The prevailing rumor of a war with France, and an ancient
* Bernard s letter to Lord Hillsborough.
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 215
precedent in England, was also used to support a vote that
every one of the inhabitants should provide himself with
fire-arms and ammunition.*
The town was still under the greatest excitement. The
loyalists universally condemned the meeting and its objects.
" They have delivered their sentiments," said General Gage,
when he read the proceedings, " in the style of a ruling and
sovereign nation, who acknowledge no dependence. Cap
tain Corner, on board his ship, kept a diary for the greater
part of September, which he forwarded to Commodore Hood.
It tells of " panics at the Castle," of " cabals and menaces,"
news from England of " fifty state prisoners to be sent
home " for trial, " the militia under arms, exercising and
firing," " confusion and alarms," rumors of " an attack
on the Castle," and other exciting details ; but though a
war-ship was stationed to protect the Castle, and the crown
officers appear to have been much frightened, there was
evidently no intention of violence.
The convention, which met on the 22d of September, was
regarded by many with anxiety and alarm. They feared it
might result in such acts as would lead to a forfeiture of
the charter. But the controlling minds had been too long
schooled in prudence to pass the limits which should " keep
the enemy in the wrong "; and though, after the convention
had adjourned, the crown officers exultingly asserted that
the members had committed treason, it was found in Eng
land, after a thorough canvassing of their proceedings, that
they had taken no step without careful deliberation, and
had warily guarded against any infraction of the law.f The
main object, which was the moral effect of an assembly of
the people, held independently of the regular Legislature,
whose action tyranny had clogged, was accomplished ; and,
on future occasions of a similar or more aggravated nature,
the precedent could be used for other conventions with per
haps even greater results.
* Hutchinson s History, III. 205. f Bancroft, VI. 206.
216 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept.
The delegates from sixty towns assembled at Faneuil Hall
on the first day. Before the close of the convention, there
was a representation from ninety-six towns and eight dis
tricts, or nearly every settlement in the Province. Otis,
though he had acted as moderator of the meeting which gave
birth to this assembly, unaccountably absented himself in
the country during the first three days of its sitting.* This
greatly disconcerted his friends, and, consequently, after the
choice of Gushing as moderator, and Adams as clerk, they
remained with open doors the rest of the week, taking no
steps further than to send a message to the Governor, pray
ing " that his Excellency would be pleased to convene the
constitutional Assembly of the Province," thus publishing
to the world that their object was to procure the meeting
of their charter Legislature, at which they might consider
the threatened destruction of their liberties. The Governor
declined to receive their petition, assuming that such an
act would be virtually admitting the legality of the assem
bly. He also addressed them a message against continuing
their session, and urged that instantly and before doing
any business they should break up and separate.
" I speak to you now," he continued, " as a friend to the Province
and a well-wisher to the individuals of it : but if you pay no re
gard to this admonition, I must, as Governor, assert the prerogative
of the Crown in a more public manner. For, assure yourselves
(I speak from instructions) the King is determined to maintain his
entire sovereignty over this province, and whoever shall persist in
usurping any of the rights of it shall repent his rashness."
The continued absence of Otis still retarded the proceed
ings ; for his popularity and position as a leader rendered
it indispensable that he should be there. Without the pres
ence of so important a character, the popular party would
have been regarded by the royalists as divided in counsel,
where unanimity was the basis of success. In the following
week he reappeared, when the proceedings were continued
* Capt. Corner s Diary for Thursday, 22d September.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 21 T
with closed doors.* It was thought by^ members residing
in remote districts, that violent acts were contemplated by
the leaders, a fear perhaps engendered by the false reports
of the crown officers. It was, therefore, not without diffi
culty that the measures of the convention were carried by
their originators, and there is reason to believe that Adams
was not entirely satisfied with the proceedings, although the
petition to the King, written by himself, was probably
adopted through his efforts. A few days after the adjourn
ment, Bernard wrote to Hillsborough :
" Many of the deputies came down with instructions and disposi
tion to prevent the Bostoneers involving the Province in their own
mad devices. Many of them were sensible, from the beginning, of
the impropriety and danger of this proceeding, and were desirous,
by a moderate conduct, to correct the one and ward off the other.
My message, which was said to be very high (though I hope not too
high for the occasion), although it did not disperse them, had the
good effect to keep them in awe. Hence it was that Otis, when he
joined them, was perfectly tame, and his colleague Adams, when he
attempted to launch out in the language used in the House of Rep
resentatives, was presently silenced." f
The stern and inflexible character of Samuel Adams could
ill brook these vacillations of political sentiment. It was
either on this or a similar occasion, during the sitting of the
convention, that he exclaimed, as the words were remem
bered by his daughter : " I am in fashion and out of fashion, as
the whim goes. I will stand alone. I will oppose this tyranny
at the threshold, though the fabric of liberty fall, and I per
ish in its ruins." J For six days the convention was in ses
sion. Besides adopting the petition to the King (that eman
ating from the House of Representatives in the previous
winter), and a letter to Deberdt, also written by Adams, they
carefully disclaimed the assumption by the convention of any
* Bernard to Lord Hillsborough, Sept. 27, 1768.
t Bernard to Lord Hillsborough, Oct. 3, 1768.
J Manuscript Memoir by the daughter of Samuel Adams, 1804.
218 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept., Oct.
legislative and government authority, declared their object to
be the obtaining of relief from the oppressive system of im
posts, custom-house officers, and regular troops, which were
grievous to the Province, and incompatible with its just au
thority, its rights and liberties. In their address, they say :
" We hold that the sovereignty of King George the Third is en
tire in all parts of the British empire. God forbid that we should
ever act or wish anything in repugnation of the same. We appear
as plain, honest men, humbly desiring peace and order ; and while
the people observe a medium between abject submission and a slav
ish stupidity under grievous oppressions on the one hand, and ille
gal attempts to obtain relief on the other, and steadily persevere in
constitutional applications to recover their just rights and liberties,
they think they may promise themselves success."
The object of the convention having been accomplished, it
dissolved ; and in the absence of a charter Assembly, the Gov
ernor and Council remained in charge of the public affairs.
On the day the convention dissolved, the squadron of seven
armed vessels arrived from Halifax with two regiments of
troops. The Council refused to prepare quarters for them,
upon which the fleet, with springs on their cables, was placed
off the wharves, so as to command the town ; and then the
Fourteenth and Twenty-ninth Regiments, with drums beat
ing, fifes playing, and colors flying, were landed on Long
Wharf, and marched to Boston Common, where they paraded
in full uniform, each soldier being provided with sixteen
rounds of shot, and all hostile preparations made as if they
were entering the territory of a foreign enemy. Colonel
Dalrymple, their commander, encamped the Twenty-ninth
Regiment, and demanded quarter of the selectmen for the
Fourteenth. The law would have justified a refusal, but the
compassion of the inhabitants being moved for the soldiers
standing shelterless in the cold night, they were allowed by
the Sons of Liberty to sleep in Faneuil Hall, the first time
that the " Cradle of Liberty," as it came afterwards to be
called, had echoed to the clank of a foeman s tread. The
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 219
menace of military rule served only to exasperate the little
town which it was intended to overawe. The following let
ter illustrates the temper of the people :
BOSTON, Oct. 3, 1768.
SIR,
I am to acknowledge your favor of the 27th June per Blure.
The troops, which you mentioned in your letter to the Speaker,
arrived last week. Barracks are provided for them at the Castle,
which is within the limits of the town, sufficient to contain more than
their number. Governor Bernard, in opposition to the unanimous
advice of his Council, insists upon their being quartered in the body
of the town ; they remain this day unprovided with any other quar
ters. The people, in general, as you may naturally suppose, are
utterly averse to their continuing among them ; yet such was their
humanity towards them that they were careful to shelter them from
the open air for a night or two, even in the City Hall. What will
be the event of, I had almost said the obstinacy of the Governor
against the sense of a provoked people, God only knows. The reve
nue, be it just or not, is not at all affected in this struggle. It has
been paid without interruption during the retirement of the Commis
sioners to the Castle, which was of their own accord, and, some sus
pect, was to make an appearance and a plausible pretence to the
nation. The troops are hitherto orderly. The inhabitants pre
serve their peace and patience. The late convention has no doubt
contributed much towards it. They, however, look upon their
situation, being surrounded with men of war, hostile, at least in
appearance, and the determination of the Governor to quarter sol
diers upon them when there are barracks provided according to act
of Parliament, which was made undoubtedly to prevent such a ca
lamity, to be a new and intolerable grievance. They are resolved
not to pay their money without their own consent, and are more
than ever determined to relinquish every article, however dear, that
comes from Britain, till the acts are repealed and the troops re
moved. May God preserve the nation from being greatly injured,
if not finally ruined, by the vile ministrations of wicked men in
America.
I am, in haste, your most humble servant,
SAMUEL ADAMS.
DENNYS DEBERDT, ESQ
CHAPTER X.
Military Rule in Boston. Adams wares, the People against the Approach^ of .
^.Tyranny. His Essays in the Boston Gazette. Conduct and Influence of
the Soldiery. Meeting of Parliament. The King enraged against the
Town of Boston. Edmund Burke defends Massachusetts. Lord North
and his Policy. Boston to be subjugated and her Leaders tried for Trea
son.
Now that the troops were quartered in Boston, they
found themselves in an orderly town, without an enemy to
fight. The inhabitants, keenly alive to their rights, and yet
careful not to be the aggressors, stood quietly by, and wit
nessed this tyranny, but knew that the time for action was
not yet. To the requisition for allowances for the soldiers
which was laid before the Council, that body replied that
they were ready to comply on their part with the act of Par
liament, if Colonel Dalrymple would on his. But the latter
was too haughty to make any promises. They were willing
to appoint a commissary, if he would " take the risk of the
Province s paying," since the Legislature was dissolved, and
no other power, by the charter, could appropriate the money
of the Province.
General Gage, Commander-in-Chief of the forces in Amer
ica, came to Boston to demand quarters for the troops ; but
the Council still refused until the barracks at the Castle
were filled, and, after trying every plan, the Governor ad
mitted that he was " at the end of his tether," for the law
was unquestionably on the side of the town. Finally, as
the weather was growing inclement, the main guard was
established opposite the State House, which was occupied
by troops, and their cannon were pointed towards the legis
lative hall.*
* Massachusetts Gazette, Nov. 3, 1768.
Oct., 1768] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 221
The Council appealed to the General, in a memorial, to
testify from his own observation, that the town was peace
ful, and desired him to remove the obnoxious regiments to
the Castle or Point Shirley. But, though Gage admitted
the justness of their statements, he declined to remove the
troops. Boston was under a military despotism. The re
fusal to make use of the barracks at the Castle, which were
yet unfilled, and quartering the soldiers on the town, was a
manifest infringement of the act of Parliament, but remon
strances were lost upon the commander.
Mr. Adams viewed the establishment of military power as
the first step in the system which must eventually bring on
a collision. As " Principiis Obsta," he showed the danger
of an armed force among a people.*
ut Where law ends, says Mr. Locke, . tyranny begins, if the law
be transgressed to another s harm. No one, I believe, will deny
the truth of the observation ; and, therefore, I again appeal to com
mon sense, whether the act which provides for the quartering and
billeting the King s troops was not transgressed when the barracks
at the Castle, which are sufficient to contain more than the whole
number of soldiers now in this town, were absolutely refused.
This, I presume, cannot be contested. Should any one say that
the law is not transgressed to another s harm, the assertion, I dare
say, would contradict the feelings of every sober householder in the
town. No man can pretend to say that the peace and good order
of the community is so secure with soldiers quartered in the body
of a city as without them. Besides, where military power is intro
duced, military maxims are propagated and adopted which are
inconsistent with, and must soon eradicate, every idea of civil gov
ernment. Do we not already find some persons weak enough to
believe that an officer is obliged to obey the order of his superior,
though it be even against the law? And let any one consider
whether this doctrine does not directly lead even to the setting up
that officer, whoever he may be, as a tyrant ?
"It is moreover to be observed, that the military government
and civil are so different from each other, if not opposite, that they
* Boston Gazette, Oct. 17, 1768.
222 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
cannot long subsist together. Soldiers are not governed properly
by the laws of their country, but by a law made for them only.
This may, in time, make them look upon themselves as a body of
men different from the rest of the people ; and as they, and they
only, have the sword in their hands, they may sooner or later begin
to look upon themselves as the lords, and not the servants, of the
people. Instead of enforcing the execution of the law, which by
the way is far from being the original interest of soldiers, they may
refuse to obey it themselves, nay, they may even make laws for
themselves, and enforce them by the power of the sword ! Such
instances are not uncommon in history, and they always will hap
pen when troops are put under the direction of an ambitious or cov
etous Governor. And if there is any reason to fear that this may
be the consequence of a transgression of the act of Parliament, it is
a transgression not to the harm of individuals only, but of the
public. It behooves the public, then, to be aware of the danger,
and like sober men to avail themselves of the law while it is in
their power. It is always safe to adhere to the law, and to keep
every man of every denomination and character within its bounds.
Not to do this would be in the highest degree imprudent. When
ever it becomes a question of prudence, whether we shall make use
of legal and constitutional methods to prevent the encroachments
of any kind of power, what will it be but to depart from the straight
line, to give up the law and the Constitution, which is fixed and sta
ble, and is the collected and long digested sentiment of the whole,
and to substitute in its room the opinion of individuals, than which
nothing can be more uncertain. The sentiments of men, in such a
case, would, in all likelihood, be as various as their sentiments in
religion or anything else ; and as there would be no settled rule for
the public to advert to, the safety of the people would probably be
at an end."
In another essay, signed " Cedant Arma Togse," he also
considers the quartering of troops upon the people, and ex
poses its illegality and uselessness in the present instance.
The troops were no sooner established in the town than
they began to desert, about forty having disappeared by
the middle of October ; and their escape was facilitated by
the fact that none of the people would betray them. On the
1768.J LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS, 223
3d, a proclamation was read on King Street (now State
Street) to the troops, offering a reward of ten guineas to
each soldier who should inform of any one attempting to
seduce him from the service. The severest discipline was
enforced, and, at last, a deserter having been captured, he was
shot on the Common, and buried on the place of execution.*
A petition for his pardon was sent to the commanding officer
by some of the first ladies of Boston. On the morning of
the 6th, nine or ten soldiers of Colonel Carr s regiment were
severely whipped on the Common, the punishment being
inflicted by negro drummers. These cruel spectacles were
revolting to the Americans, who had hitherto been strangers
to such horrors. Samuel Adams, whose sensitive and mer
ciful disposition could never harbor the idea of a human
creature being thus lacerated, was inexpressibly shocked
with the barbarities of military discipline, and, in at least
one instance, succeeded in saving from the lash a soldier
who had been sentenced to a degree of punishment nearly
equivalent to death. The wife of the unfortunate man ap
plied to him in her distress, in hopes that the weight of his
character would have some influence with the commander
to avert the penalty. Mr. Adams promised to intercede,
though with what likelihood of success can be imagined,
from his position in opposition to government measures, and
when affidavits were taken against his life for alleged trea
son. His appeal, however, much to his own surprise, was
successful ; the culprit was pardoned solely on his interces
sion, and the grateful woman was ready, would he have per
mitted it, to embrace the knees of her noble advocate. His
daughter, who related this anecdote, believed that the act
was preparatory to some overtures which were afterwards
made to Mr. Adams to secure him for the government cause.
Orders at last arrived for the Commissioners of the Cus
toms, who had remained in the Castle since the September
mob, to return to Boston. Before returning, they desired
* Drake s History of Boston, p. 752.
224 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov.
to obtain from the Council some excuse for their flight : but
the object of their artful departure was fully understood,
and the Council instead of gratifying them, voted that " they
had no just reason for absconding from their duty." The
officers, left to their own discretion, returned on the 10th,
and took an office at Concert Hall on Queen Street, where a
sentinel was posted at the door for their protection. Almost
their first act was to revive the affair of the sloop Liberty ;
and Hancock and Malcom were both arrested, and the for
mer prosecuted for the recovery of the cargo of the sloop
and treble damages. Bail having been given, the prosecu
tions were dropped in the following March by order of the
King s advocate, as there was not sufficient evidence to sup
port the allegations. During the winter, John Adams was
engaged by Mr. Hancock as his counsel and advocate, and
he says there were few days * when he was not summoned
to attend the Court of Admiralty. The Commissioners, now
supported by the troops, resumed their haughty and over
bearing manners, and became even more disgusting to the
inhabitants.
Samuel Adams assailed them in a series of essays pub
lished in the Boston Evening Post, over the signature of
" Candidus." These myrmidons of royalty insolently set
themselves up as beyond the reach of the provincial writers,
and presumed upon the nature of their office and consequent
ability to annoy the merchants in proportion as they were
interfered with. In these essays they are treated without
mercy.f One of the articles concludes thus :
" And I shall here quit him at present, to assure my readers, that
I esteem the liberty of the press (within its proper limits) as the
greatest blessing to the good, and the severest scourge to the licen
tious ; and in no other way will I ever use it, having a thorough
detestation to licentiousness of all denominations ; nor shall threats
from men in power, nor any mean, underhand methods, prevent me
* John Adams s Diary, 1768 (Works, II. 215, 216).
t Evening Post, Dec. 26, 1768.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 225
from exposing the abuse of the power put into their hands. In
time, I will show the conduct of those men in proper colors, choos
ing to finish with them as individuals before I take notice of their
public conduct in a particular manner."
While Boston, as the citadel of American liberty, was the
special object of ministerial vengeance, and the sympathies
and co-operation of the other Assemblies were extended to
Massachusetts, great changes had taken place in the English
Cabinet. Chatham, weighed down by infirmities, had re
signed. Townsheiid was dead, and the Earl of Rochford
had been appointed Secretary of State. Parliament assem
bled on the 8th of November, when the King, in his speech,
alluded to the fresh troubles in America, and levelled his
chief animosity at the town of Boston. He promised, with
the concurrence and support of the Ministry, to defeat " the
mischievous designs of those turbulent and seditious persons
who, under false pretences, have but too successfully deluded
my subjects in America." In the animated debate that fol
lowed, the Bostonians were charged with " defying all legal
authority " ; and one of the lords recommended that the
charter and laws of Massachusetts should be so changed as
" to give the King the appointment of the Council, and to
the sheriffs the sole power of returning juries." This was
carrying tyranny to a point which the most violent had
scarcely contemplated. The independence of juries and the
rights of charters should have been sacred in the eyes of
every Briton. A threat to suspend them in any part of the
British dominions might well have aroused the jealous atten
tion of the English people ; but the menace was scarcely
noticed by them. Samuel Adams marked the words, and
weighed them well. In an essay on the rights of the whole
people he says :
" I know very well that some of the late contenders for a right
in the British Parliament to tax Americans who are not, and cannot
be, represented there, have denied this. When pressed with that
fundamental principle of nature and the Constitution, that what is
VOL. i. 15
226 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [NOV.
a man s own is absolutely his own, and that no man can have a right
to take it from him without his consent, they have alleged, and would
fain have us believe, that by far the greater part of people in Britain
are excluded the right of choosing their own representatives, and
therefore that they are taxed without their consent. Had not this
doctrine been repeatedly urged, I should have thought the bare
mentioning it would have opened the eyes of the people there to see
where their pretended advocates were leading them ; that in order to
establish a right in the people in England to enslave the Colonists
under a plausible show of great zeal for the honor of the nation,
they are driven to a bold assertion, at all adventures, that truly the
greater part of the nation are themselves subject to the same yoke
of bondage. What else is it but saying that the greater part of the
people of Great Britain are slaves ? For if the fruit of all their
toil and industry depends upon so precarious a tenure as the will of
a few, what security have they for the utmost farthing ? What are
they but slaves, delving with the sweat of their brows, not for the
benefit of themselves, but their masters ? And after all the fine
things that have been said of the British Constitution, and the boasted
freedom and happiness of the subjects who live under it, will they
thank these modern writers, these jealous assertors for the honor
of the nation, for reducing them to a state inferior to that of indented
servants, who generally contract for a maintenance, at least, for their
labor?"*
Edmund Burke ably and eloquently defended the action
of Massachusetts during the debate in Parliament. He in
sisted that the order requiring that Colony to rescind her
Circular Letter to the other Assemblies, was absolutely illegal
and unconstitutional ; and Grenville, the originator of the
plan to tax the Colonists, agreed with him in his opinion.
Thus not only was the refusal of Massachusetts to rescind at
the arbitrary mandate of Hillsborough founded in legal and
natural justice, but they were supported in their course by
the finest intellects in England.
"America must fear you before she can love you," said Lord
JSTorth to Alderman Beckford, who recommended a repeal of the late
* " Vindex/ in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 19, 1768.
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 227
act, and a policy of moderation and kindness. " Punishment," he
continued, " will not be extended beyond the really guilty ; and if
rewards shall be found necessary, rewards shall be given. But
what we do, we will do firmly ; we shall go through our plan, now
that we have brought it so near success. I am against repealing
the last act of Parliament, securing to us a revenue out of America.
I will never think of repealing it, until I see America prostrate at
my feet."
In uttering this threat, the Minister denned his policy
throughout his premiership. Courageous, good humored,
and apathetic in temperament, he was devoted to the royal
prerogative, and was strict in the performance of his duties.
Opposed to reforms, and bitterly against concessions to the
Americans, having voted for the Stamp Act and against its
repeal, he was exactly the man to blindly pursue the meas
ures of the headstrong King, and thus, under Providence, to
bring about the liberty of the Colonies. It was in Novem
ber, 1768, that he was determined to see " America at his
feet." In November, 1781, he was fated, as Prime Minister,
to hear of the surrender of Cornwallis, which virtually ended
the war of independence. Then his self-possession deserted
him, and he looked back with horror and chagrin upon the
measures of his administration, and reluctantly yielding to
a vote of censure from the House of Commons for his Amer
ican policy before and during the war, the vanquished peer
retired from the Cabinet, followed by the execrations of his
countrymen.
But Parliament was now blind to everything but the de
termination to subdue the Colonies, and Lord North, who
led the Ministry, having given his ultimatum, the address to
the King was carried in both Houses, pledging the nation to
support his Majesty in all such future measures as should be
found requisite to enforce a due obedience to the laws, to re
store the Coloniul dependence, and " to maintain entire and
inviolate the supreme authority of the Legislature of Great
Britain over every part of the British empire." The die
228 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
was cast ; and the work of subjugation was to be com
menced. The government was preparing to take determined
measures. Lord North demanded united action to awe Bos
ton, the head of the rebellion, into obedience. It was asked
by Grenville, " How do we know parliamentarily that Boston
is the most guilty of the Colonies ? " Some of the peers,
who were opposed to the measures, expressed their horror at
them, and their deep sympathy with the Colonists ; but the
vote in the Commons passed by a majority of twenty-seven.
The first step towards this subjugation of a peaceable and
loyal town was the introduction by Lord Hillsborough, in
the House of Lords, of a series of resolutions condemning the
Assembly of Massachusetts, its Council, and the September
convention ; approving of the military force, and planning a
change in the charter of the Province. Bedford followed
with an address to the King, " to bring to condign punish
ment the chief authors and instigators of the late disorders,"
and, if sufficient ground should be seen, to put them on trial
for treason. The resolutions and address were adopted al
most unanimously.*
* That these measures were inconsistent as -well as unnecessarily harsh is
especially apparent when we reflect upon the riots and confusion in England
itself at this very time, to quell which no especial act was considered to be
necessary,
Dr. Franklin writing from London in May of the same year, says : " Even
this capital, the residence of the King, is now a daily scene of lawless riot and
confusion : mobs patrolling the streets at noonday ; some knocking down all
that will not roar for "Wilkes and liberty ; courts of justice afraid to give
judgment against him; coal-heavers and porters pulling down the houses of
coal-merchants, that refuse to give them more wages ; sawyers destroying saw
mills ; sailors unrigging all the outward-bound ships, and suffering none to sail
till merchants agree to raise their pay ; watermen destroying private boats and
threatening bridges ; soldiers firing among the mobs and killing men, women,
and children ; which seems only to have produced a universal sullenness that
looks like a great black cloud coming on, ready to burst in a general tempest.
What the event will be, God only knows." And again he writes: "I have
seen within a year riots in the country about corn ; riots about elections ; riots
about work-houses ; riots of colliers ; riots of weavers ; riots of coal-heavers ;
riots of sawyers ; riots of Wilkesites ; riots of government chairmen ; riots of
smugglers ; in which custom-house officers and excisemen have been murdered,
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 229
Intimations of the proposed seizing of the popular leaders
had already arrived in Boston. It was known that the
threatened calamities were the result of the repeated misrep
resentations by the Governor and his underlings. " They
expect a voyage to England against their inclinations," wrote
Commodore Hood ; and the crown officers did not conceal
their exultation at the double satisfaction of having the lead
ers hanged for treason, and their own safety provided for by
the presence of troops. At the same time that these coer
cive measures were adopted against Boston for riots hugely
exaggerated by the loyalist writers, an actual spirit of insur
rection and riot was constantly manifesting itself in England,
and yet no troops were quartered upon the turbulent towns.
But the interposition of a wide ocean, it seems, had disfran
chised Britons, and by residing on the opposite side of the
water they had lost the rights and privileges of Englishmen.
The year was closing, and yet the Legislature remained dis
solved. There seemed no probability of relief, and a gloomy
despondency settled upon the Province. But the spirit of
inquiry was abroad. The genius of liberty was not dead nor
asleep. Arbitrary power, indeed, pressed heavily upon the
community, but there was a fire beneath the surface and,
at any moment, there might be an eruption.
Meantime the troops, without an enemy to fight, were
standing proofs of the uselessness of their mission. The
fleet, consisting of eight war vessels, commanded the harbor ;
and the royal regiments had possession of the only land
communication with the town. Red coats, glittering bay
onets, martial music, and all the paraphernalia of war were
constantly paraded in the faces of the exasperated people.
The legislative halls were occupied by armed mercenaries,
and cannon pointed at the doors ; the quiet of the Sabbath
was disturbed, and citizens were challenged at every corner
and the King s armed vessels and troops fired at." But these disturbances
were at home, and among privileged Englishmen. The restiveness of their
Colonists under oppression was another thing.
230 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
as in time of martial law. As the hatred between the peo
ple and the troops daily increased in virulence, complaints
were made that numbers of the inhabitants had been in
sulted and arrested, jostled in the streets, and thrust at
with bayonets. A merchant was struck down in a coffee
house, and some of his friends, who attempted to expos
tulate, were roughly handled. The slaves were excited
against their masters, and the law was openly violated in
innumerable instances. Brawls and revels by night, and
outrages by day, characterized the life of the soldiers ; while,
to scandalize the town and corrupt the morals of the young,
hundreds of abandoned women, who had followed the army
from Europe to Halifax, came thence to Boston. They were
the most dissolute creatures, and many soon found their way
into the alms-house, and thus increased the public burdens.
To keep his countrymen thoroughly aroused to the igno
miny of their position under these outrages, Mr. Adams lost
no opportunity of stinging the public mind to the quick
with cogent essays in the newspapers, which, among the
many acts of tyranny, had not yet been suppressed. His
object was to have it constantly in view, that the military
was under the civil power, and that the British Constitution
was violated by the quartering of troops upon the people.
He demanded to know by what right the towns-people were
constantly challenged :
" There is something in it," said he, " which looks as if the town
was altogether under the government and control of the military
power ; and as long as the inhabitants are fully persuaded that this
is not the case at present, and moreover hope and believe that it
never will, it has a natural tendency to irritate the minds of all who
have a just sense of honor, and think they have the privilege of
walking the streets without being controlled.
" I am informed that not less than nine gentlemen of character,
some of them of the first families in this Province, were stopped and
put under guard the other evening, for refusing to submit to this
1768.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 231
military novelty ; and, still more alarming, that even one of his
Majesty s Council was stopped in his chariot in the daytime when
going out of town, under a flimsy pretence that possibly he might
have concealed a deserter in his chariot, and was treated with inso
lence. The honorable gentleman, I dare say, felt his resentment
kindle ; and every one who hears of so high-handed an insult must
feel anger glowing in his breast. I forbear to mention the constant
practice of challenging, as it is called, the country people when
passing and repassing upon their lawful business through the gates
of the city, where a guard-house is erected upon land belonging to
the public
" Are we a garrisoned town, or are we not ? If we are, let us
know by whose authority and by whose influence we are made so :
if not, and I take it for granted we are not, let us then assert and
maintain the honor, the dignity, of free citizens, and place the mili
tary where all other men are, and where they always ought and will
be placed in every free country, at the foot of the common law of
the land. To submit to the civil magistrate in the legal exercise of
power is forever the part of a good subject; and to answer the
watchmen of the town in the night may be the part of a good citizen,
as well as to afford them all necessary countenance and support.
But to be called to account by a common soldier, or any soldier, is
a badge of slavery which none but a slare will wear.
"Is there any who dares to say that Americans have not the
rights of subjects ? Is Boston disfranchised ? When and for what
crime was it done ? If not, is it not enough for us to have seen sol
diers and mariners forejudged of life, and executed within the body
of the county by martial law ? Are citizens to be called upon,
threatened, ill-used at the will of the soldiery, and put under arrest,
by pretext of the law military, in breach of the fundamental rights
of subjects, and contrary to the law and franchise of the land ? And
are the inhabitants of this town still to be affronted in the night, as
well as the day, by soldiers armed with muskets and fixed bayonets ?
Are these the blessings of government ? Is this the method to rec
oncile the people to the temper of the present administration of gov
ernment in this Province ? Will the spirits of people as yet unsub
dued by tyranny, unawed by the menaces of arbitrary power, submit
232 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
to be governed by military force ? No ! Let us rouse our attention
to the common law, which is our birthright, our great security
against all kinds of insult and oppression, the law, which when
rightly used, is the curb and the terror of the haughtiest tyrant.
Let our magistrates execute the good and wholesome laws of the land
with resolution and an intrepid firmness, aided by the posse comita-
tus, the body of the county, which is their only natural and legal
strength, and they will see their authority revered. The boldest
transgressors will then tremble before them, and the orderly and
peaceable inhabitants will be restored to the rights, privileges, and
immunities of free subjects." *
In the series of writings signed " Vindex," extending
through the month of December, all of far greater length
than can be here introduced, Mr. Adams continued to at
tack the principle and practice of establishing military rule.
In his private conversations among his friends, and wherever
lie could meet any number of his fellow-townsmen, he en
deavored to depict the ruin of liberty under an armed force,
and to inspire them with a sense of the injury they were sus
taining. He held that a standing army within the kingdom
in time of peace, without the consent of Parliament, was
against the law ; that the consent of Parliament necessarily
implied the consent of the people, who were always present in
Parliament either by themselves or their representatives ; and
that the Americans, as they were not and could not be rep
resented in Parliament, were therefore suffering under mili
tary tyranny over which they were allowed to exercise no
control. In one of these essays, he says :
" It is a very improbable supposition that any people can long
remain free, with a strong military power in the very heart of their
country, unless that military power is under the direction of the
people ; and even then it is dangerous. History, both ancient and
modern, affords many instances of the overthrow of states and king
doms by the power of soldiers, who were raised and maintained at
first under the plausible pretence of defending those very liberties
* "Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 5, 1768.
1768.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 233
which they afterwards destroyed. Even where there is a necessity
of the military power within the land, which by the way but rarely
happens, a wise and prudent people will always have a watchful
and a jealous eye over it ; for the maxims and rules of the army
are essentially different from the genius of a free people, and the
laws of a free government The whole continent of Amer
ica is charged by some designing men with treason and rebellion for
vindicating their constitutional and natural rights ; but I must tell
these men on both sides the Atlantic, that no other force but that
of reason and sound argument on their part .... will prevail upon
us to relinquish our righteous claim. Military power is by no
means calculated to convince the understandings of men. It may
in another part of the world affright women and children, and per
haps some weak men, out of their senses, but will never awe a sen
sible American tamely to surrender his liberty. Among the brutal
herd, the strongest horns are the strongest laws ; and slaves, who
are always to be ranked among the servile brutes, may cringe under
a tyrant s brow. But to a reasonable being, one, I mean, who acts
up to his reason, there is nothing in military achievement, any more
than in knight-errantry, so terrifying as to induce him to part with
the choicest gift that Heaven bestows on man." *
Again, in writing on the same subject, in the latter part
of December, he devotes a large space in the Boston Gazette
to the danger of standing armies in any country in tune of
peace.
" A standing army is an army raised and kept within the com
munity to defend it against any sudden attacks. If it be asked who
is to judge when the community is in danger of such attacks, one
would naturally answer, the community itself. For who can be
more proper judges of it than they for whose safety alone, and at
whose expense alone, they are kept and maintained? The people,
while they enjoy the blessings of freedom and the security of their
property, are generally early enough in their apprehension of com
mon danger, especially when it is so threatening as to require the
military aid ; and their judgment of the necessity or expediency of
a standing army is, generally, at least as honest as that of their
* " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 12, 1768.
234 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [1768, 69.
superiors. Indeed, in arbitrary governments, and, alas ! how few are
there in the world that are not so ! the people give up the power
of judging in this matter, as well as in all other matters of public
concern, to their governors, who always sooner or later, instead of
governors, make themselves their masters and tyrants, and even
their executioners ; and this change is commonly brought on by
the means of standing armies. But in free governments the people
have an influence in public affairs, and they always will, so far at
least as to prevent their being ruined by the avarice, ambition, hu
mor, caprice, or violence of one man or a few men whose interest
it may be to ruin them. Thanks be to Heaven, the government of
Great Britain has still its proportion of a democracy ; the people
have their share in the Legislature, and no law can be made nor
any public measures taken, which can effect their interest, without
their consent." *
* " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 26, 1768.
CHAPTER XL
Debates in Parliament on Colonial Affairs. Colonel Barre defends the Col
onists. Passage of Bedford s Address. The leading Patriots to be sent
to England for Trial. Otis and Adams especially marked. Adams at
tacks the Crown Writers. The Boston Press. Newspapers in the last
Century. Their Influence in shaping Public Opinion. Public Meeting
to vindicate the Town. Adams drafts a Petition to the King and a Letter
to Isaac Barre. He appeals to the Sons of Liberty.
THE debate on American affairs was resumed in the House
of Commons in January and February, 1769. Hillsbor-
ough s resolutions and Bedford s address had passed the
Lords by twenty-seven majority ; and now the masters of
English eloquence stood up in the Lower House in defence
of American rights. Even Grenville spoke against the
address, and scoffed at the insane and unjust system. The
debate was long and able. The project of extending the
act of Henry the Eighth to the Colonies, in order legally to
arrest and transport the leaders to England to be tried for
treason, was particularly opposed by the great champion of
America, Edmund Burke. " Suppose," said he, " you do
call over two or three of these unfortunate men, what will
become of the rest ? Let me have the heads of the princi
pal leaders, exclaimed the Duke of Alva : but these heads
proved hydra s heads. Suppose a man brought over for
high treason ; if his witnesses do not appear, he cannot have
a fair trial. God and nature oppose you."
Barre, JLII an eloquent speech, denied that the Americans
were proper objects for taxation, and warned the Commons
that all America, not merely a single Colony, was ripe for
revolt. To prostrate America at the feet of the Ministry,
he said, would prove no easy task ; and he deprecated the
spirit which would wish to see a respectable, free, and hardy
people thus humbled.
236 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
" In such a situation," said he, " she would serve only as a mon
ument of your folly. For my part, the America I wish to see is
America increasing and prosperous, raising her head in graceful dig
nity, with freedom and firmness asserting her rights at your bar,
vindicating her liberties, pleading her services, and conscious of her
merit. This is the America that will have courage to fight your
battles, to sustain you when hard pushed by some prevailing foe,
and by her industry will be able to consume your manufactures, sup
port your trade, and pour wealth and splendor into your towns and
cities. If we do not change our conduct towards her, America will
be torn from our side. I repeat it, unless you repeal this law, you
run the risk of losing America."
Pownall and Dowdeswell were also among the opponents
of the resolves. The former, who had lived in the Colonies,
"
knew the character of the people, their earnest devotion to
their just rights, and their loyalty, which only a long succes
sion of oppressive measures could destroy. " The people of
that country," said he, " and the King s troops are, as it
were, set in array against each other. The sword indeed
is not drawn, but the hand is upon it. The word for ac
tion is not indeed yet given, but mischief is on tiptoe, and
the slightest circumstance would in a moment throw every
thing into confusion and bloodshed." He predicted that the
union between Great Britain and North America would be
broken, if some change of policy did not interpose to re
move this show of military power. But the resolutions and
address were both passed, and Boston was thenceforth to be
the special object of British vengeance.
The policy was now to arrest and bring over the accused
to England for trial ; and this had been suggested by the re
peated letters of Bernard and Hutchinson. Burke regarded
this measure with horror. " At the request of an exasperat
ed governor," he cried, during the late debate, " we are called
upon to agree to an address advising the King to put in
force against the Americans the act of Henry the Eighth.
And why? Because you cannot trust the juries of that
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 237
country ! Sir, that word must convey horror to every feel
ing mind. If you have not a part among two millions of
people, you must either change your plan of government, or
renounce the Colonies forever. "
News had already been received in Boston that on the
arrival of the regiments from Ireland, Gushing, whose posi
tion as Speaker of the House gave him especial prominence
in England, and sixteen others, who had been members of
the convention, were to be arrested. Oliver wrote to Eng
land, that he had long entertained the opinion, "if there
be no way to take off the original incendiaries, they will still
continue to instil their poison into the minds of the people
through the vehicle of the Boston Gazette." That the " tak
ing off" of the "incendiaries" was not consummated, was
owing to the fact, that the most careful examination of their
proceedings, magnified as they were by the letters of the
crown officers, revealed no acts of treason. De Grey and
Dunning, the Attorney and Solicitor General, had declared
that there were not sufficient grounds to fix the charge of
treason upon any of the persons named in the papers laid
before them. The September convention, which had been
specially misrepresented, was particularly scrutinized, but
the result was only to excite the admiration of De Grey, to
see how well the Americans were versed in the crown law ;
and he doubted whether they had been guilty of an overt
act of treason, but " was sure they had come within a
hair s breadth of it." Bernard and Hutchinson, however,
continued to hunt up evidence against the leading patriots,
especially Otis and Samuel Adams. It was on the 23d of
January that an affidavit, already quoted, was taken against
Mr. Adams, and proceedings were at the time instituted
against Edes and Gill, the publishers of the Boston Gazette,
the "trumpeters of sedition," and "the authors of num
berless treasonable and seditious writings." Hutchinson,
while he pretended to be still a friend of the Colonies, wrote
secretly across the ocean, " there must be an abridgment
of what are called English liberties."
238 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
The presence of the troops started into life a number of
writers in defence of the measures of government. One of
these appeared in the Evening Post, in a series of articles
signed " Z. T.," upholding the right of taxing the Colonies,
on the ground that the nation had protected the Americans
at great expense, and that, therefore, they should assume
their portion of the public debt. Mr. Adams, reversing
the signature,* replied in the organ of the patriots, and went
over the entire ground from the commencement of the dif
ficulties with the mother country, taking up in detail the
specious arguments of the crown writers, and logically refut
ing every statement. The essay, which covers a large space
in the Gazette, embraces every disputed point in the con
troversy, and in its conclusions is unanswerable.
. " Our writer says, that if such grants and privileges as are pleaded
by the Colonists (such as charters, &c.) may ever exempt them from
paying such a proportion of taxes, it must be concluded that the
empire is founded on unjust principles, which need a reform in order
to make an equality among the subjects. But he seems to be too
apt to forget that the rights of nature, as well as the Constitution
of Great Britain, exempts the subjects from paying any money at
all, upon any account, without their consent. This is one of the
principles upon which the British empire is founded and has stood
firmly for many ages ; if this writer thinks it needs a reform to
make an equality, surely his proposal, that one part of the empire
should consent that the other should be lords proprietors, has no ten
dency to promote an equality among the subjects. He tells us that
formerly the right of taxation was in the King only. I should
have been glad if he had pointed us to that time. We know that
kings even English kings have lost their crowns and their
heads for assuming such a right. T is true this strange claim has
occasioned much contention, and it always will as long as the peo
ple understand the great charter of nature upon which Magna Charta
itself is founded, No man can take another s property from him
without his consent. This is the law of nature ; and a violation of
it is the same thing, whether it be done by one man who is called a
king, or by five hundred of another denomination."
* " T. Z.," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 9, 1769.
1769.]
LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 239
The government writers, who were most likely some of
the Commissioners of Customs, received liberal pay for their
labors ; and being actuated by no higher motive, they were
not to be convinced by justice or reason. The " Court Ga
zette," as the patriots termed the royalist organ, still sent
forth its articles to deceive the people ; and Samuel Adams,
who has been called " more than a match for them all,"
with a thorough understanding of the question at issue, the
clearest intelligence, and an untiring industry, met them at
every point with convincing arguments and plain state
ments.
The failure to find the Bostonians guilty either of sedition
or treason had spurred Hutchinson to renewed exertions,
and depositions against the leaders continued to be taken.
His object was not unknown to the patriots, some of whom
publicly reproached him for his baseness as a " public in
former." But the Lieutenant-Governor, in his desire for
preferment, was careless of the means he employed. The
debates in Parliament, at the opening of the session, had
been grossly misrepresented by a writer in the " Court Ga
zette." Mr. Adams, in his reply, defended the conduct of
the town in all its struggles against tyranny, especially the
convention of the previous year, exposed the infamy of the
crown informers, and set forth the true condition of the
Province as it should have been stated to the Ministry and
Parliament. The accusations of the Governor against the
Colony had not been sustained by facts, on which Mr. Ad
ams remarks : *
" New vouchers, we are told, are called for from authority. This
is no favorable symptom to the sudden and warm accusers ; for I
believe there are more than one who may find it an Augean enter
prise to support their own representation. For it is certainly be
yond human art and sophistry to prove that British subjects, to
whom the privilege of possessing arms is expressly recognized by
the Bill of Rights, and who live in a Province where the law re-
* " Shippen," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 30, 1769.
240 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
quires them to be equipped with arms, &c., are guilty of an illegal
act in calling upon one another to be provided with them as the law
directs. But if some are bold and base enough, where the interest
of a whole country is at stake, to penetrate into the secrets of the
human breast, to search for crimes, and to impute the worst of mo
tives to actions strictly legal, whatever may be thought of their ex
pediency, it is easy to recriminate in the same way ; and one man
has as good reason to affirm that a few, in calling for a military
force, under pretence of supporting civil authority, secretly in
tended to introduce a general massacre, as another has to assert
that a number of loyal subjects, by calling upon one another to
be provided with arms, according to law, intended to bring on an
insurrection.
" But Boston f may be deprived of all its trade, and made a vil
lage. Sad, indeed ! And so may New York and all the trading
towns on the American continent; and what then? TV r hy then
Bristol and Liverpool and London itself may become villages too.
"Was this said in Parliament, or was the threatening moulded here
to excite ridicule ? Could a British politician, finding public credit
suffering at such a critical season from the unsettled state of Amer
ica, ever imagine that the nation might be remedied by turning our
seaports into villages ? The compiler goes on to inform us that
Governor Bernard has been spoken of with great respect. And so
has Mr. Otis, and compared to the Pyms, the Hampdens, the Ship-
pens, and to the Sir John Barnards of Great Britain. But poor
G. B , it was judiciously observed in the House of Commons,
has had some very uncommon difficulties to contend with. Mr. Otis
and his compatriots have doubtless had none ! no toils, no self-
denials, no threatenings, no tempting baits ! No ! all the virtue is
on one side. Virtue was never known to be separated from
power or profit."
Among the patriots who stood boldly forward in these try
ing times, let us not forget the intrepid Edes and Gill, pub
lishers of that stanch vehicle of free speech, the Boston
Gazette. It was now a well-established weekly newspaper,
having been first issued in 1755, when it was a half-crown
sheet printed on two pages folio. For several years this firm
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 241
were " printers to the Honorable House of Representatives,"
as appears on the title-pages of the records of that body.
The copartnership between the proprietors lasted twenty
years, when, in 1775, Gill retired, and the Gazette was con
tinued by Edes until 1798. Its venerable proprietor died in
1803, in his eightieth year, worn out by age and sickness,
miserably poor, and neglected by those whose blessings he
had helped to secure. From the commencement of the Rev
olution, the Boston Gazette was the chosen mouthpiece of
the patriots. When the attempted enforcement of the writs
of assistance agitated the public mind in 1760, the columns
of the Gazette were headed with a patriotic device, which
remained there through the long period preceding the out
break of hostilities and through the war.
The files which have been preserved offer an interesting
field for the historian and biographer, and furnish a more
truthful picture of the condition of Boston, during the
Revolution, than can be obtained from any other source*
Rightly studied, its pages are a history of that time. The
proceedings of town meetings, legislative state papers, pub
lic resolves, political essays, and occasional narratives of
passing events, transport the reader back to the last cen
tury, and bring the whole public life of the Province before
him. These time-stained columns are the same that were
perused by the citizens of a hundred years ago ; and it is
not difficult* to fancy ourselves in the quaint old town, and
to imagine the comments and discussions arising from the
foreign intelligence and political writings which, once a
week, it placed before its readers.
A free press was the just pride of the Bostonians. Jeal
ous of their liberties, they turned to it early in the Revo
lutionary struggle, to make known their grievances, and
defend their rights. But though an important engine in
the cause, it was feeble compared with the press of to-day.
The editorial leaders, in which great questions are now
handled, seldom appeared; their place being supplied by
VOL. I. 16
242 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
the essays of occasional correspondents, which occupied all
the available space, and formed and directed public opinion.
The columns of the newspapers, throughout the Revolution
ary period, are devoid of articles of general interest. Edito
rial ability, as understood in our day, was unknown, the
communications being addressed " to the printer " or the
publisher by name. There were really, in the present ac
ceptation of the term, no editors beyond the contributors
upon whose favors the influence and circulation of the paper
principally depended. The wide distance intervening be
tween populous centres, added to the imperfect roads and
irregular conveyances, rendered the speedy transmission of
news impossible. The journey from Boston to New Haven
occupied two or three days ; to New York a week or ten
days ; and to Philadelphia eight or ten days. Northward,
where the roads were not of the best, travelling was even
less expeditious, and with Europe, the sole communication
was by means of not very fast vessels, unprovided, of course,
with the appliances and discoveries in seamanship and nav
igation by which modern voyages are so much shortened.
Very late intelligence was therefore not to be expected in
the newspapers of the last century. That active, indefati
gable personage, the reporter, was unknown in the New
England press, nor were the services of such a news-gatherer
required. Events in small communities were soon current
verbally, and if published in the papers, it was more
for their political bearing beyond the theatre of their oc
currence, than to inform the people in the neighborhood.
Though the debates of the House were open to the public
from 1767, and the gallery appears to have been generally
well attended, very few reports were made of debates on mo
mentous questions ; and yet that these questions were fully
discussed is shown by the occasional references to the scenes
in the House by the loyalist writers. A correct report of
the speeches of the leaders in the Colonial Assemblies, from
the year of the Stamp Act to the close of the royal author-
1769.1 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 243
ity, would now be one of the most interesting memorials of
a period when the first principles of American liberty were
developing themselves tinder the progressive tyranny of Eng
land. There must have been many notable instances of
close, nervous reasoning, fervid debate, and flashing elo
quence, which, if preserved in the files of the newspapers
with a tithe of the care now devoted to recording the ha
rangues of politicians, would throw open a curious page of
our country s history.
The first purely political newspaper was the Independent
Advertiser, of which Samuel Adams had been one of the
conductors long prior to the Revolution ; and, until then,
no journal in the Colonies had proclaimed its special cham
pionship of "the rights and liberties of mankind." When
the revenue acts aroused the Colonists to their danger, three
newspapers were published in Boston. The Gazette, al
ready alluded to, had been established some ten years. The
Evening Post, published weekly by Thomas and John Fleet,
was an independent paper, holding its columns open to
both political parties, a privilege of which the loyalists
availed themselves to assail the patriot writers. The latter,
at one time, occasionally sent articles to it, perhaps believing
that the professed independence of character leaned towards
the side of liberty. The Massachusetts Gazette, sometimes
known as " Draper s," or the " Court Gazette," was " pub
lished by authority," in conjunction with the News Letter,
which, at the commencement of the troubles, espoused the
cause of the people. Draper s paper was the organ of the
administration, and had the printing of the acts and procla
mations and the other government business. The ablest
writers in the royal cause contributed to its columns, and
the whole course of the paper was in support of government
officers and measures. The Chronicle, which was pub
lished from 176T to 1770, was of the same stamp. The
Boston Gazette thus remained for some time the sole cham
pion of American freedom in the town. Its publishers
244 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb.
were among the special objects of ministerial displeasure,
and proceedings were instituted against them as the " trum
peters of sedition." Hutchinson complained in a letter to a
friend in England of the influence of the Gazette. " The
misfortune is," said he, " that seven eighths of the people
\ read none but this infamous paper, and so are never unde-
, ceived." *
In the summer of 1770, Isaiah Thomas and his former
master, Fowle, proprietor of the Independent Advertiser,
commenced the publication of the Massachusetts Spy, which,
after a year s course as an independent paper, came out
for the liberty party, received a liberal support from the
Whigs, and was a vehicle for powerful writers against the
administration until 1775, when, a few days previous to the
battle of Bunker Hill, Thomas removed his press and types
to Worcester, where the Spy was again issued for about
a year. The Essex Gazette, the publication of which was
commenced at Salem in the summer of 1768, was also a
stanch patriot paper, and occasionally received contributions
from able pens in Boston ; but the Boston Gazette was
the favorite in the capital, where its columns were regarded
as oracular. Its publication-room in Queen Street was the
resort of the most distinguished political writers. James
Otis, Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, Josiah Quincy, John
Adams, Dr. Cooper, and others who were personally prom
inent without being contributors to the press, frequented
the office, and perhaps glanced over the foreign journals on
the arrival of a packet from England, prior to their regular
publication, or it may be read the proofs of their own writ
ings.
During the month of February, the subject of America
continued to be the theme of discussion in the House of
Commons. Mr. Rose Fuller moved to recommit the ad
dress, foreseeing the dreadful evils to the nation which must
ensue from an attempt to collect a revenue from the Colo-
* Hutchinson to Bernard, Aug. 12, 1770.
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 245
nies. " As for money," said he, " all that sum might be
collected in London at less than half the expense." Phipps
asserted that the proposed measures were more calculated
to raise than quell a rebellion ; and Pownall, with the whole
strength of his reasoning and eloquence, combated the
course pursued against the injured Americans. But the
efforts of these wise and humane statesmen were unavail
ing. Fuller s motion was lost by an overwhelming major
ity : and it was decided that the patriots should be brought
over to be tried for treason before a special commission.
The Bostonians, conscious of the justice of their cause,
freely discussed their rights in the press.
" In the days of the Stuarts," said Samuel Adams, " it was looked
upon by some men as a high degree of profaneness for any sub
ject to inquire into what was called the mysteries of government.
James the First thundered his anathema against Dr. Cowell for his
daring presumption in treating of those mysteries, and forbade his
subjects to read his books or even to keep them in their houses.
In those days passive obedience, non-resistance, the divine, heredi
tary right of kings, and their being accountable to God alone, were
doctrines generally taught, believed, and practised. But behold the
sudden transition of human affairs ! In the very next reign the
people assumed the right of free inquiry into the nature and end of
government, and the conduct of those who were intrusted with it.
Laud and Strafford were brought to the block, and, after the hor
rors of a civil war, in which the best blood of the nation was spilt
as water upon the ground, they finally called to account, arraigned,
adjudged, condemned, and even executed the monarch himself! and
for a time held his son and heir in exile. The two sons of Charles
the First, after the death of Oliver Cromwell, reigned in their turns ;
but, by copying after their father, their administration of govern
ment was grievous to their subjects and infamous abroad. Charles
the Second, indeed, reigned till he died ; but his brother James was
obliged to abdicate the throne, which made room for William the
Third and his royal consort Mary, the daughter of the unfortunate
James. This was the fate of a race of kings bigoted to the greatest
degree to the doctrines of slavery, and regardless of the natural,
246 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
inherent, divinely hereditary, and indefeasible rights of their sub
jects.*
No one doubted in Boston that the military force had
been brought there by the false representations of Bernard
and Hutchinson. Indeed, copies of some of their letters
were received from Mr. Bollan, placing their guilt beyond
question. On the 13th of March a town meeting was called
to see what further measures ought to be adopted to vindi
cate the town from the aspersions cast upon it ; and Otis,
Samuel Adams, Gushing, Dana, Warren, John Adams, and
Samuel Quincy were appointed a committee for that pur
pose. They reported on the 4th of April a petition and ad
dress to his Majesty, which was forwarded with a letter to
Barre*, with the request of the town that he should present
it as soon as it reached his hands. Several of Bernard s
and Hood s letters, which Bollan had obtained through
Beckford, were read at this meeting. In their representa
tion the town complained of the Governor s refusal to in
form them of his statements against them, though their
selectmen had respectfully petitioned him to that purpose.
They had thus been kept in ignorance of the charges which
had brought the troops, contrary, as they conceived, to the
act of Parliament. They therefore prayed not only that the
troops might be removed, but that his Majesty would be
pleased to order that the town might be favored with Gov
ernor Bernard s letter, the memorials of the Commissioners,
and other like papers. They wished to know what charges
were brought against them, and desired to be heard by
counsel. The letter to Barre", and fragments of the peti
tion, are found as original rough drafts among the papers
of Samuel Adams, in his handwriting. The letter defends
at great length the course of the Council after the riots of
the previous year, and vindicates the letter to Lord Hills-
borough. It is indorsed " For Mr. Otis [Moderator of the
* E. A.," in the Boston Gazette, Feb. 27, 1769.
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 247
meeting] ; to be signed and transmitted to Isaac Barre*,
Esq."
But petitions were useless, and it^is surprising that the
Colonists should have attempted them after 1768. Desire
for reconciliation and unshaken loyalty were, however, still
the prevailing sentiments. Even the respectful remon
strance of New York was rejected, a vote not to receive it
having passed the Commons at the instance of Lord North,
despite the renewed appeals of Barre*, who warned them
that the whole continent of America would rise in arms, and
the Colonies be lost to England forever. Ignorance of the
true bearing of the subject and a mistaken national pride
ruled the hour, and blindly led the King, Ministry, and Par
liament to the consummation of a policy which, in a few
years, fatally realized the predictions of the wisest and great
est on both sides of the Atlantic. Almost at the very time
that far-seeing English statesmen were warning the nation
of the inevitable result of these coercive measures, Samuel
Adams, on the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act,
which was still duly celebrated, thus addressed his country
men :
TO THE SONS OF LIBEKTY.
" DEARLY BELOVED,
" Revolving time hath brought about another anniversary of the
repeal of the odious Stamp Act, an act framed to divest us of our
liberties and to bring us to slavery, poverty, and misery. The res
olute stand made by the Sons of Liberty against the detestable pol
icy had more effect in bringing on the repeal than any conviction in
the Parliament of Great Britain of the injustice and iniquity of the
act. It was repealed from principles of convenience to Old Eng
land, and accompanied with a declaration of their right to tax us ;
and since, the same Parliament have passed acts which, if obeyed
in the Colonies, will be equally fatal. Although the people of
Great Britain be only fellow-subjects, they have of late assumed a
power to compel us to buy at their market such things as we want
of European produce and manufacture ; and, at the same time, have
248 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
taxed many of the articles for the express purpose of a revenue ;
and, for the collection of the duties, have sent fleets, armies, commis
sioners, guardacostas, judges of admiralty, and a host of petty offi
cers, whose insolence and rapacity are become intolerable. Our
cities are garrisoned ; the peace and order which heretofore digni
fied our streets are exchanged for the horrid blasphemies and out
rages of soldiers ; our trade is obstructed ; our vessels and cargoes,
the effects of industry, violently seized ; and, in a word, every species
of injustice that a wicked and debauched Ministry could invent is
now practised against the most sober, industrious, and loyal people
that ever lived in society. The joint supplications of all the Colo
nies have been rejected ; and letters and mandates, in terms of the
highest affront and indignity, have been transmitted from little and
insignificant servants of the Crown to his Majesty s grand and au
gust sovereignties in America.
" These things being so, it becomes us, my brethren, to walk wor
thy of our vocation, to use every lawful mean to frustrate the
wicked designs of our enemies at home and abroad, and to unite
against the evil and pernicious machinations of those who would
destroy us. I judge that nothing can have a better tendency to this
grand end than encouraging our own manufactures, and a total dis
use of foreign superfluities.
" When I consider the corruption of Great Britain, their load of
debt, their intestine divisions, tumults, and riots, their scarcity of
provisions, and the contempt in which they are held by the nations
about them ; and when I consider, on the other hand, the state of
the American Colonies with regard to the various climates, soils,
produce, rapid population, joined to the virtue of the inhabitants, I
cannot but think that the conduct of Old England towards us may
be permitted by Divine Wisdom, and ordained by the unsearchable
providence of the Almighty, for hastening a period dreadful to
Great Britain.
"A SON OF LIBERTY.*
"PROVIDENCE, March 18th, 1769."
This address was found early in the morning of the 18th
of March, posted on the Liberty Tree of Providence, and
* Providence Gazette for March 18, 1769; and Boston Gazette for March
27, 1769. Bancroft, VI. 267.
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 249
another in the most public part of the town. It was sent
by Mr. Adams to Providence for the annual celebration, and
appeared on the same morning in the Providence Gazette.
Throughout the other Colonies the flame of liberty burned
steadily and brightly. The deepest sympathy was mani
fested for the oppressed Bostonians. The British claims of
power had been everywhere denied. Georgia sided with
the policy of Massachusetts and Virginia ; New York had
asserted its legislative rights ; and in Philadelphia, at a
meeting in honor of the late successes of General Paoli, the
patriot Corsican, the Massachusetts Ninety-two, the town
of Boston, Mr. Gushing, Mr. Otis, and Mr. Adams were
toasted.
The plans for reducing the refractory Americans to obedi
ence were modified by the visible injuries brought upon
commerce through the non-importation agreements. It was
seen that the stringent enactments against the Colonists
were injuring only the British merchants. The importations
from England into America decreased greatly in a single
year. The total produce of the new taxes for the first year
was less than one tenth of the attendant military expenses,
while the actual revenue, after deducting the full expendi
tures, amounted -to only a pitiful sum. Even now, the
headstrong Ministry would not have yielded an inch, had
not the loud complaints of the merchants finally caused Lord
Hillsborough to lay aside for a while the plan of altering the
charter of Massachusetts, and to send to General Gage dis
cretionary orders to withdraw the troops from Boston. But
the fatal assertion of the right of taxation remained, and the
troops still insulted the people with their presence.
Mr. Adams entered the lists about this time in defence of
the Rev. Dr. Chauncy, who had been bitterly attacked in a
New York paper by the Rev. Mr. Seabury of the Church of
England in that city.* The controversy seems to have
grown out of some inadvertent statement, alleged to have
* "A Layman," in the Boston Gazette for March 27, 1769.
250 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, Apr.
been made by Dr. Chauncy in one of his religious pam
phlets, respecting the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel. Dr. Chauncy, besides being an earnest patriot, was,
like most of the Bostonians, an uncompromising enemy of
the plan of establishing an episcopate in America ; and it
was probably in one of his publications on this subject that
he gave offence to Mr. Seabury. In retaliation the Boston
minister was assailed in no dignified terms, and Mr. Adams
became the champion of his friend ; for the two were on
the most intimate terms. At some length he mercilessly
analyzed the production of the New York writer, who, ac
cording to Mr. Adams, "had managed his cause with the
heart, though he had evidently discovered that he wanted
the head, of a Jesuit." The clergyman is handled with
sarcastic severity, yet with due regard to his cloth. Dr.
Chauncy himself, probably, did not exceed his friend in his
decided opposition to all schemes for the appointment of
bishops in America.
Mr. Adams soon after attacked General Gage and Gov
ernor Bernard for their misrepresentations of the town to
the Ministry, and, by a concise narration of the facts, showed
the untruthfulness of those statements. "No man s sta
tion," said he, " ought to exempt him from being called
upon by a loyal people, either to make good or retract his
charge against them."
" When contests run high, the proverb, however homely it may
be, will be allowed by impartial men to be just, that one story is
good till another is told.* If good King David was in haste .when
he once said that all men were liars, yet surely the General has
studied mankind more thoroughly than to suppose it altogether im
possible for a governor of a province to misrepresent and abuse the
people, even to the ear of majesty itself. The history of his own
times may confute such an opinion ; and should it finally appear, by
the statements of facts sent home in the last ship by his Majesty s
Council and the town of Boston, that Governor Bernard is an in
stance of the truth of it, I would only ask, upon a candid supposition
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 251
that the General grounded his letters upon what such a Governor
told him, what reparation he can make without publicly acknowl
edging his mistake ? If the General has characterized the town and
Province upon his own observation, I appeal to the candid world,
whether the bare affirmation of a gentleman, unsupported by any
evidence, can be deemed sufficient to blast the reputation of a Prov
ince."*
* "A Bostonian," in the Boston Gazette for April 24, 1769.
CHAPTER XII,
The Colonial Policy modified. The late Duties taken off, save as to the Arti
cle of Tea. The Right of Taxation still claimed. Governor Bernard
recalled. Meeting of the Massachusetts Legislature. Adams drafts a
Remonstrance against the Presence of the Troops. The Governor adjourns
the Legislature to Cambridge. The Virginia Resolutions are received.
The Assembly prepare similar ones, and readopt those of Adams, written
in 1765. He publishes them in the Gazette. The Consequences. Ad
ams s Opinion of the partial Repeal of the Revenue Acts. Progress of
the Non-importation Schemes. Governor Bernard sails for England, and
is created Baronet of Nettleham.
THE principle of representation, which had been shame
fully violated in England in the rejection of Wilkes by Par
liament, was producing as wide-spread an excitement there
as in the Colonies. The fact that the opposition to the rev
enue law was extending throughout the American continent
began at last to warn the Cabinet when petitions and remon
strances were unavailing ; and on the ground that the duty
on the British manufactures of glass, paper, and painters
colors was contrary to the true principles of commerce, it
was repealed, leaving the one article of tea as an assertion
of the right of taxation. A circular was sent by Lord Hills-
borough to the Colonies, intimating that the duties would
be taken off as a measure of expediency from all articles
enumerated in the late act, excepting tea. Bernard, who
was at length seen to be ill suited to conciliate the people
among whom he had been placed, was directed to return to
England, the Ministry having promised the English mer
chants, so obnoxious had his name become, that he should
not be employed again in the Colonies ; although, to indorse
his measures as those of the administration which he rep
resented, he was created a baronet.
This evidence of the royal approbation of Bernard s course
May, 1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 253
gave great offence in Boston, and showed the patriots that
they had little to hope from the miscalled clemency of the
King and Ministry. In a sarcastic address to his Excel
lency, Mr. Adams held up the appointment to ridicule, and
pointed out the injuries done to the Province by the newly
made baronet.
"Your promotion, sir, reflects an honor on the Province itself;
an honor which has never been conferred upon it since the thrice-
happy administration of Sir Edmund Andros, of precious memory,
who was also a baronet. Nor have the unremitted endeavors of
that very amiable and truly patriotic gentleman to render the most
substantial and lasting services to this people, upon the plan of a
wise and uncorrupt set of m rs, ever been paralleled till since
you adorned the ch r Pity it is that you have not a pen
sion to support your title. But an Assembly well chosen may supply
that want even to your wish. Should this fail, a late letter, said to
have strongly recommended a tax upon the improved lands of the
Colonies, may be equally successful with the other letters of the like
nature, and funds sufficient may be raised for the use and emolu
ment of yourself and friends, without a dependence upon a mili
tary establishment supported by the Province at Castle William.
" I am, sir, with the most profound respect, and with the sincerest
wishes for your further*exaltation, the most servile of all your tools.
"A TORY."*
The relief promised in the circular was only partial.
The principle of taxation remained the same, whether one
or a hundred articles were taxed. The implied concession,
therefore, only the more plainly discovered the ultimate de
termination to raise a revenue from the Colonies. If the
duties were removed from certain articles merely as a mat
ter of expediency, and one article was reserved for taxation
to maintain the right, that reserve covered everything pos
sessed by the Americans. The denial of a right of taxation
had lain at the bottom of the contest from the commence
ment. In 1764, Samuel Adams had asserted that if taxes
* Boston Gazette for May 1, 1769.
254 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May,
could be legally levied in any shape, the right could be made
to extend to land and its produce, and, in short, to all prop
erty. The whole people had now become thoroughly im
bued with the theory that taxation and representation are
inseparable. To continue one article, therefore, as dutiable
argued a hopeless ignorance of the American character and
feelings, which must have convinced far-seeing men that
England would not yield without a resort to force.
" I am sorry," said Samuel Adams about this time, " that some
of the most valuable privileges of this Province should prove so
great difficulties to Governor Bernard, but can by no means wish
them annihilated for the sake of giving him ease. I never heard
that they were quite so offensive to any of his predecessors, and can
not think they ever will be to so much as one of his successors.
The Province has been, and may be again, quietly and happily gov
erned, while these terrible difficulties have subsisted in their full
force. They are, indeed, wise checks upon power in favor of the
people ; but power, vested in some men, can brook no check. To
assert the most undoubted rights of human nature and of the British
Constitution they deem faction ; and having embarrassed a free gov
ernment by their own impolitic measures, they fly to the military
power, which, with equal justice and spirit, was said, in the late de
bate in the House of Commons, to be the last resource of ignorant
despotism. But force is no very suitable means of changing the
sentiments of the people ; it is rather adapted to rivet and confirm
them. Arms ought to be very cautiously employed, even against
faction, which they have often increased rather than quelled. The
present uneasiness in America has been falsely and insolently called
by this odious name, Can any man suppose the almost universal
complaints of a people to deserve this appellation ? As well might
the general uneasiness that introduced the Revolution by William
the Third, and that settled the succession in the illustrious House of
Hanover, be called a faction." *
When Massachusetts had been nearly a year without a
Legislature, the Governor issued writs in the name of the
King, calling a session of the General Court under the usual
* " Shippen," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 30, 1769.
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 255
charter provisions. The election for Eepresentatives, on the
5th of May, resulted in the choice of Otis, Gushing, Samuel
Adams, and Hancock, who received each more than five
hundred votes out of five hundred and eight that were cast.
The selectmen had waited upon General Mackay, who com
manded in Boston, and desired him to withdraw his soldiers
from the town during the election. The General replied
that he had no authority to remove the troops, but would
confine them to their barracks. This was not entirely satis
factory, but it was something to know that even this degree
of respect to the elective franchise could be legally exacted.
Three days after the election, the town, through John Ad
ams, instructed their Representatives to require the removal
of the troops, to maintain freedom of debate, to oppose the
raising of money for the payment of the troops, and to make
diligent inquiry for Bernard s letters misrepresenting the
town to the Ministry.*
The troops had arrived in September of the previous year,
and after the prorogation of the Assembly, so that no oppor
tunity had occurred for legislative remonstrance against
their presence. It was customary on assembling to first
elect a Clerk, who, being sworn, received the votes for
Speaker, and declared the choice. On the 31st of May the
members, as soon as they were sworn, made it their instant
business to oppose the breach of their privileges, and re
quested the removal of the troops.
" An armament by sea and land, investing the metropolis, and a
military guard with cannon pointed at the very door of the State
House, where this Assembly is held, is inconsistent with that dig
nity as well as that freedom with which we have a right to deliber
ate, consult, and determine We have a right to expect that
your Excellency will, as his Majesty s representative, give the ne
cessary and effectual orders for the removal of the above-mentioned
forces, by sea and land, out of this port and the gates of the city,
during the session of the said Assembly." f
* Boston Gazette, May 15, 1769. t Journal of the House for 1769.
256 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May, June,
The remonstrance, which was written by Samuel Adams,
as two drafts in his autograph indicate, was in pursuance of
that of the town at the late election ; but the Governor re
fused where the military commander had conceded, and
waived the subject by denying that he had any authority
over the ships or troops, and affirmed that he could give no
orders for their removal.* On the following day, after dis
approving of no less than eleven Councillors, he briefly
reminded the House to be diligent in the transaction of
general business ; his whole course indicating a haughty
disinclination to enter into any discussion of rights and
privileges. A committee, consisting of Otis, Adams, Haw-
ley, Hancock, Preble, and Warren, was appointed to con
sider the Governor s last message. They reported on the
second. Their draft was not accepted, and the same com
mittee were directed to prepare an answer to the Governor s
denial of any authority to remove the troops. This subject
was under consideration from day to day, until the thir
teenth, when the answer was reported, that the King was
the supreme executive power through all parts of the Brit
ish empire, and that the Governor of the Province, being
the King s lieutenant and captain-general and commander-in
chief, in as full and ample a manner as the Lord-Lieutenant
of Ireland or any other of his Majesty s lieutenants, it in
dubitably followed that all officers, civil and military, within
the Colony were subject to the order, direction, and control
of his Excellency. The injustice and illegality of a military
government in the Province is then discussed at length. f
The Governor thereupon adjourned the Legislature to Cam
bridge, on the ground that as the House refused to proceed
to business while virtually under military duress, they could
urge no such objection to the place whither he removed
them.J Almost at the same time that Bernard had refused
to remove the troops, because he lacked the authority, he
was corresponding with General Gage in New York on the
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 168. t Ibid., p. 169. | Ibid., p. 171.
1769.]
LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 257
subject, and, with the advice of Hutchinson and Oliver, gave
it as his opinion that the removal of the troops would have
very dangerous consequences, and prove ruinous to the
cause of the Crown, though he thought that perhaps one
regiment at the Castle and another in the town might be
sufficient. And this was when Gage, who had received dis
cretionary power, had written to Bernard for his opinion
as to whether it would be safe to effect a total removal.
While cannon remained pointed at the doors of the State
House, the Assembly had refused to proceed with their busi
ness. But as if in defiance of their honest objections, the
very night after the adjournment to Cambridge, the cannon
were taken away.* Such unworthy rancor could not but
generate the bitterest feelings. The authority of the Gov
ernor to hold an Assembly in any other place than Boston
had been disputed by the House in 1728 ; and when, after
wards, instructions from England were urged as a reason
for the continued session at Cambridge, a long controversy
was caused by the refusal of the House to proceed to busi
ness under any such mandate. In the present instance,
the Assembly went to Cambridge, protesting, however,
against being thus made to give way to armed force, and
obliged to assemble away from the ancient and usual place.
They soon after replied Samuel Adams again answering
for the House to the Governor s message urging them to
hasten their proceedings, to save time and money :
* No time can be better employed than in the preservation of
the rights derived from the British Constitution, and insisting upon
points which, though your Excellency may consider them as non-
essential, we esteem its best bulwarks. No treasure can be better
expended than in securing that true old English liberty which gives
a relish to every other enjoyment." f
Bernard had meanwhile received his recall to England, in
accordance with the new policy of the Cabinet ; and as this
* Message of the House (Bradford s State Papers, p. 173).
t Bradford s State Papers, p. 173.
VOL. i. 17
258 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
was the season for the annual granting of the Governor s sal
ary by the Assembly, as stipulated by the charter, his Excel
lency informed the House of his removal and approaching
voyage, and urged upon them his support, intimating that
he would join in no legislative business until his demand for
a year s salary in advance had been complied with. But the
House refused to pay for services which, as they said, they
had no reason to expect would ever be performed, as they
believed he would not be continued in office ; and remind
ing him that he had been paid to August next, expressed
their willingness to " support the dignity of government "
(quoting Bernard s own words in his demand for salary)
when his Majesty should be pleased to appoint another Gov
ernor. Towards the close of the last year s Assembly, a
committee, including Otis, Adams, Hancock, and Bowers,
had been appointed to prepare a petition to the King for the
removal of Bernard. The prorogation prevented a report ;
but on the 27th of the present month, after a lapse of a year
within two days, the Committee on the State of the Province
submitted a petition to his Majesty, in which, after setting
forth the Governor s falsifications, they humbly entreat that
his Excellency may be forever removed from the government
of the Province. The petition was presented by the agent
in the following September, with a request for further time
to obtain proofs against the late Governor. He was allowed
until February, when the agent asked for a continuation.
Bernard presented a counter petition, and the hearing took
place on the 28th of February, 1770, before the Council, who
dismissed the petition, with the opinion that its charges were
groundless, vexatious, and scandalous.*
Early in the session the noble resolves of Virginia had
been received, as passed by that Assembly on the 16th of
* The Governor published his defence in pamphlet form, a copy of which is
found among Mr. Adams s papers, the margins completely filled with notes in
his handwriting, evidently preparatory to publication. But the misrepresen
tations of Bernard were sufficiently exposed by Samuel Adams subsequently
in the " Appeal to the World."
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 259
May. They were communicated to the House by the Speak
er, and must have been received with the warmest emotions
of pleasure by those who knew how to appreciate the value
of a union of the Colonies on questions affecting their gen
eral welfare. A committee " to consider the state of tho
Province " seems to have been in existence for several ses
sions. It was renewed each year, and, of course, included
the leading members. Mr. Adams, on the 19th of June,
was specially added to this committee ; * and a few days later
they reported a series of resolutions, embodying word for
word three of those of Virginia on taxation, intercolonial
correspondence, and trial by jury of the vicinage. Going
back to the admirable platform laid down four years previ
ously by Samuel Adams, as the basis for the Colonial legisla
tion, they resolved :
" That this House do concur in and adhere to the resolutions of
the House of Representatives in the year one thousand seven hun
dred and sixty-five, and particularly in that essential principle, that
no man can be justly taxed by, or bound in conscience to obey any
law to which he has not given his consent in person or by his rep
resentative." t
In this resolution, says Hutchinson, J " was more fully
expressed than had ever been before the sense of the House
that no laws, made by any authority in which the people had
not their representatives, could be obligatory on them." The
resolutions of 1765 asserted nearly as much, though not so
directly ; but decided expressions at that time did not carry
with them such weight and significance with the Ministry
as now, when the legal opposition to parliamentary oppres
sion had been construed into open rebellion, requiring to be
met with an armed force.
There were now four regiments in Boston, whose useless-
* Journal of the House for 1769.
t For this resolution, as originally reported, see Boston Gazette, July 3, 1769.
J Hutchinson s History, III. 241.
260 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July,
ness among a peaceable population was so apparent, that or
ders came from the Ministry for the removal of at least two
of them to Halifax. Hutchinson says that one of these had
already sailed, and the other was embarking, when the re
solves of the House were published in the Boston Gazette of
July 3d, having been sent to the printers by Mr. Adams.*
These had passed unanimously in a full House, one hun
dred and nine members being present. Their appearance
in the Gazette was made an excuse by the Governor, in a
consultation with Commodore Hood, to detain this regiment,
lest that the other Assemblies would adopt the resolutions ;
and an express was sent to General Gage at New York for in
structions. Many took alarm at this, and the publication of
the resolves was stopped in papers where they had not yet
appeared ; another express was sent to overtake and recall
the first, or to acquaint the General that the difficulty was
removed ; and the House, on a revision of their resolutions,
altered the obnoxious one, which reads on the journals :
" Resolved, as the opinion of this House, that the sole right of
imposing taxes on the inhabitants of this, his Majesty s Colony of
the Massachusetts Bay, is now, and ever hath been, legally and con
stitutionally vested in the House of Representatives, lawfully con
vened according to the ancient and established practice, with the
consent of the Council, and of his Majesty, the King of Great Brit
ain, or his Governor for the time being." f
The alteration by the House having removed the appre
hensions of the royalists, the other regiment sailed for Hali
fax, leaving the Fourteenth and Twenty-ninth quartered up
on the town. The ill-feeling between them and the people
increased, and affrays were frequent. Mr. Adams contin
ually reminded his friends that these mercenaries were
amendable to the laws of the Province, officers as well as
privates. " It was soon found," says Hutchinson, " that
i
* Hutchinson s History, III. 242.
t Journal of the House, July 7, 1769. Bradford s State Papers, p. 176.
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 261
prosecutions of soldiers for a breach of law were as easily
carried on as against any other persons ; and that all re
ports against them more easily obtained credit." *
" Soldiers," said Mr. Adams, " are used to obey the absolute com
mands of their superiors ; it is death for them in the field to dispute
their authority or the rectitude of their orders ; and sometimes they
may be shot upon the spot without ceremony. The necessity of
things makes it highly proper that they should be under the abso
lute control of the officer who commands them, who saith unto one
come, and he cometh, and unto another go, and he goeth. Thus,
being inured to that sort of government in the field and in time of
war, they are too apt to retain the same idea when they happen to
be in civil communities and in a time of peace ; and even their offi
cers, being used to a sort of sovereignty over them, may sometimes
forget that when .quartered in cities they are to consider themselves
and their soldiers in no other light than as a family in the commu
nity, numerous, indeed, but like all other families and individuals,
under the direction of the civil magistrate and the control of the
common law. Like them they are to confine their own rules and
maxims within their own circle ; nor can they be supposed to have
a right or authority to oblige the rest of the community or any indi
viduals to submit to or pay any regard to their rules and maxims,
any more than one family has to obtrude its private method of econ
omy upon another.
It is of great importance, and I sincerely conceive it ought to be
the first care of the community, when soldiers are quartered among
them, by all means to convince them that they are not to give law,
but to receive it. It is dangerous to civil society when the military
conceives of itself as an independent body, detached from the rest of
society, and subject to no control. And the danger is greatly in
creased, and becomes alarming, when society itself yields to such an
ill-grounded supposition. If this should be the case, how easy would
it be for the soldiers, if they alone should have the sword in their
hands, to use it wantonly, and even to the great annoyance and ter
ror of the citizens, if not to their destruction. What should hinder
them, if once it is a given point that society has no law to restrain
them, and they are disposed to do it ? And how long can we im-
* Hutchinson s History, III. 241.
262 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [July,
agine it would be, upon such a supposition, before the tragical scene
would begin ? and especially if we consider further how difficult it
is to keep a power in its nature much less formidable and confess
edly limited within its just bounds ? That constitution which ad
mits of a power without a check admits of a tyranny ; and that
people who are not always on their guard to make use of the rem
edy of the constitution, when there is one, to restrain all kinds of
power, and especially the military, from growing exorbitant, must
blame themselves for the mischief that may befall them in conse
quence of their inattention ; or, if they do not reflect on their own
folly, their posterity will surely curse them for entailing upon them
chains and slavery." *
The session of the Legislature was drawing towards a
close, and Bernard met with a refusal whenever he entreated
the Assembly to advance him a year s unearned salary.
They assured him of their satisfaction that his Majesty had
been pleased to order a true state of the Province to be laid
before him ; " for we have, said they, " an abundant reason
to be assured that when his Majesty shall be fully acquainted
with the great and alarming grievances which his truly loyal
subjects here have suffered through your administration, and
the injury they have suffered in their representation, he will,
in his great clemency and justice, frown upon and forever
remove from his trust all those who, by wickedly informing
his ministers, have attempted to deceive even his Majesty
himself." f
The Governor next demanded, on the authority of the
Billeting Act, the amount of expenditures incurred by
quartering the troops on the Province. Samuel Adams
again replied for the committee of which he was a member.
After proving that the Governor and Council were power
less to draw money from a Colonial treasury, and laying
bare the infamy of the act, the answer concludes :
" And if the present system of measures should be much further
* Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 12, 1768.
t Journal of the House for 1769.
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 263
pursued, it will soon be very difficult, if possible, to distinguish the
case of widows and orphans in America, plundered by infamous in
formers, from those who suffered under the administration of the
most oppressive of the Roman provinces at a period when that once
proud and haughty republic, after having subjugated the finest king
doms in the world, and drawn all the treasures of the East to im
perial Rome, fell a sacrifice to the unbounded corruption and venal
ity of its grandees. But, of all the new regulations, the Stamp Act
not excepted, this under consideration is the most excessively un
reasonable. For, in effect, the yet free representatives of North
America are called upon to repay of their own and their constitu
ents money such sum or sums as persons over whom they can have
no check or control may be pleased to expend ! As representa
tives, we are deputed by the people, agreeable to the royal charter
and laws of this Province. By that charter, and the nature of our
trust, we are only empowered to grant such aids, and * levy such
taxes for his Majesty s service as are reasonable ; of which, if we
are not free and independent judges, we can no longer be free rep
resentatives, nor our constituents free subjects. If we are free
judges, we are at liberty to follow the dictates of our own under
standing, without regard to the mandates of another ; much less can
we be free judges, if we are but blindly to give as much of our own
and our constituents substance as may be commanded or thought fit
to be expended by those we know not. Your Excellency must
therefore excuse us in this express declaration, that as we cannot
consistently with our honor or interest, and much less with the duty
we owe our constituents, so we shall NEVER make provision for the
purposes in your several messages above mentioned." *
Bernard was now repulsed at every point. His haughty
bearing and supercilious airs were thrown away on the As
sembly, who despised him for his mean treachery and peev
ish cowardice. In his attempt to obtain a year s salary for
merely nominal services, he had been foiled by the sturdy
determination of the House, and " this answer," Hutchinson
observes condolingly, " was just what his friends had pre
dicted," who had advised him against communicating his
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 186.
264 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [July,
recall to the House. He had attempted to coerce them by
threatening a refusal of his assent to any act which was not
preceded by a .grant of the advance salary ; and they replied,
" we have a just right to expect that your Excellency will
give some assent to all such resolves and acts that may be
laid before you as will be for the interest of the people and
the real service of the Crown." He had passed by their mes
sage at the opening of the session with a brevity amounting
to insolence, but coolly reminded them that the business of
the Province was in arrears.
" We agree with you, sir," they answered, " that the business of
the Province is got into such an arrear that it will require the ut
most diligence to get it done within the usual time generally allotted
to this session. Who brought the Province under this difficulty,
your Excellency can be at no loss to determine. Had the Assem
bly been called in the fall of the year past, there would have been
no cause of such complaint."
These replies are from the joint answers of both Houses
to his opening speech. His last letter to Lord Hillsborough
scarcely conceals his chagrin and rage.
" On Tuesday, July 4th," he says, " the committee of both Houses
presented a joint answer to my speech at the opening of the session.
The barefaced chicanery and falsity of this writing, as well as the
style, which is well known, make it evident it was wrote by Adams,
and yet it was sent to the Council to originate with them."
To the last reply of the House, refusing absolutely to pro
vide for the support of the troops with the people s money,
Bernard responded with a threat to lay their conduct before
the King, when he immediately prorogued the Court " to the
usual time of its meeting for the winter session."
The circular to the Colonies, from the Earl of Hillsbor
ough, having arrived, with the proposition to repeal the du
ties on all articles but tea, which was reserved to save the
right, the merchants of Boston held a meeting on the 26th
of July, to express their dissatisfaction with the terms of the
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 265
repeal. The duties had been taken off from glass, paper, and
colors, as being " contrary to the true principles of com
merce " ; but while the one article of tea was left for taxa
tion, the pernicious principle still remained. Hutchinson
says of these merchants meetings, that from early in 1768,
others, not engaged in mercantile pursuits, had mixed with
them, and he names James Otis and Samuel Adams as es
pecially influential in obtaining their resolutions.* In the
present instance, it was voted unanimously that the removal
of the duties from certain specified articles would by no
means relieve the trade from its difficulties, and was, as they
apprehended it, a measure intended only to quiet the manu
facturers in Great Britain, and prevent the fitting up of those
manufactures in the Colonies. It was also voted to strictly
adhere to the agreement entered into in August last, and send
no orders for any goods contrary to said agreements, unless
all the revenue acts were repealed. f As before, certain arti
cles were excepted, which it was thought might be imported,
without in any measure interfering with the intent and design
of the agreement. The better to enforce this, the inhabi
tants of the town were recommended to make no purchase
from violators of the agreement, and the names of the recu
sant importers were published. Two principal merchants,
whose greed exceeded their patriotism, were visited by a
committee appointed by the townspeople to consider the acts
of trade, and compelled to sign an agreement to sell none of
their goods until the expiration of the time fixed upon for
non-importation. Among those who refused to submit to
such measures were a son of Bernard and two sons of
Hutchinson, all of whom were expecting to reap handsome
profits from the distresses of the country. Hutchinson him
self, as charged by Hancock at a public meeting at Faneuil
Hall, was engaged in importation with his sons. To defeat
* Hutchinson s History, III. 201.
t Resolutions adopted at the merchants meeting of July 26, reported in the
Boston Gazette for July 31, 1769.
266 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July,
their designs, a paper was carried from house to house
throughout the town, and was almost unanimously signed,
not to purchase of them.
Similar means were resorted to in the other Colonies,
where the insidious nature of the reserved right of taxation
was fully understood.
"The Colonies," thus Mr. Adams wrote in the public press, "have
since had a temporary relief from the alternative before mentioned
(of resistance or slavery), by the public-spirited proposal of the mer
chants in the several governments to withdraw their commercial
connections with the merchants and manufacturers of Great Britain ;
which is esteemed by all judicious and well-disposed persons as a
noble sacrifice of their own private rights, and a well-chosen expe
dient for the recovery of the public rights of their country. It is
not to be wondered at that this salutary measure should be violently
opposed by the cabal and their abandoned instruments."
This was intended to apply to Bernard particularly, who,
as it afterwards appeared, had written to the Ministry that
the signers in Boston did not intend to comply with the
agreement, and that there were still remaining enough of
the most reputable merchants, non-subscribers, to defeat the
scheme, even if the subscribers were to keep their promise.
He displayed his malignity to the last, and having done his
best to ruin the Province, and to reap all possible personal
benefit from its destruction, took his departure on the last
day of July for England. He left the Lieutenant-Governor
Hutchinson to administer the government, of whom he wrote,
that he " well understood his system "; * and, as events
proved, Hutchinson, who was the superior of his predecessor
in all mental acquirements, was precisely the man to inflame
the growing dissatisfaction of the people against the mother
country. The occasion of Bernard s departure was made a
public gala-day. Bells were rung, flags were hoisted, can
non fired from the wharves, and a huge bonfire kindled upon
* Bancroft, VI. 303.
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 267
Fort Hill. " He was to have sent home whom he pleased,"
said the Boston Gazette in the following week ; " but the die
being cast, poor Francis Bernard was the rogue to go first. "
By the same vessel which carried Bernard to England,
Mr. Adams wrote to the agent, sending him the petition of
the House for the removal of the Governor from his position
forever, and also a letter on the same subject, signed by the
Speaker. He concludes with the following allusion to Ber
nard s standing with the people of the Province :
" Such a measure unanimously voted in a full House, consisting
of one hundred and nine members, forty of whom by the charter
make a quorum, is sufficient to justify what I wrote you formerly,
that I thought it impossible he should ever recover the affections
of the people. Indeed, it never appeared to me that the conciliat
ing their affections was any part of his view. If he had had this
in contemplation, he would never have attached himself to a small
party, of which the people, even the better sort of them, had the most
contemptible idea. Whether the Governor herein discovered that he
had conceived a deep-rooted prejudice against the people, or that he
was totally ignorant of the only method to secure his own happiness
and promise his Majesty real service in the Province, I will not
pretend to say. This, I believe, must be acknowledged by all,
that the surest refuge of a monarch himself is, under God, in the
bosom of his subjects."*
Bernard arrived safely in England ; and though he never
returned to America, he retained, for upwards of a year, the
title of Governor of Massachusetts. For nine years he had
ruled the Province, and in that time had been the chief in
strument to prejudice the Ministry against the Colonies.
His name was a byword and the detestation of every honest
American until long after the War of Independence ; and
even the title which rewarded his machinations against the
people, whom he should have tried to protect and conciliate,
was a matter of derision, and served only to perpetuate his
infamy.
* Samuel Adams to Dennys Deberdt, July 31, 1769.
CHAPTER XIII.
Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinsbn. His Character. Assumes the Govern
ment of the Province. Anniversary of the Stamp Act. Patriotic Cele
bration. Samuel Adams s Disregard of Wealth. His Scanty Means of
Support. His House in Purchase Street. Economy and Thrift of his
Wife. James Otis and the Commissioners. The Affray at the British
Coffee House. Adams supports the Cause of his Friend in the Press.
He opposes London Tradesmen arriving to violate the Non-importation
Agreements. Hutchinson and his Sons prevented from selling Tea.
HUTCHINSON was now at the head of affairs in the Prov
ince. Under other circumstances, his name might have
been recorded among the most honorably distinguished of
New England ; but his timid, nervous temper unfitted him
for the momentous times of the Revolution. " Born and
bred in the Province," he yet failed to understand the char
acter of his countrymen, in whose cause he had no faith ; and
he believed, from the first, that the power of England would
at any time be exerted to force the patriots into submission.
A coward by nature, he lacked the firmness to make his real
opinions known ; and while he was persistently advising the
sending of troops, the abridgment of the people s liberties,
and a general system which would enslave them, he did not
scruple to deny his secret correspondence, and repeatedly
asserted that his letters were " full of tenderness for the
Province." Samuel Adams saw through his character long
before the Revolution, and marked him as the most danger
ous man in the country. His sole objects were the acquisi
tion of riches, and to gain the approbation of the great and
powerful, to attain which the sacrifice of the liberties of
his country and the lives of her best citizens was accounted
as nothing. That fatal voluminous letter-book, which was
found after his departure for England, is a perpetual record
Aug., 1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 269
of his treachery, meanness, and falsehood. An author, and
careful of his style when addressing the great, he wrote the
first draft of his correspondence in rough notes, which, when
digested and corrected, he transcribed in a fair hand. These
original drafts, which are in a perfect state of preservation,
reveal in every page his hostility to his native Province.
He repeatedly begs that his letters may be kept secret, and
then artfully recommends a variety of plans to subvert the
popular liberties and to transport the principal " incendia
ries " to England for trial. Among his low tricks to deceive
the people was the writing of letters favorable to the Prov
ince, addressed to influential persons in England, which he
would hand round to be read, but which were never sent to
their alleged destination. He was one of the ablest men in
New England, and his History of Massachusetts placed him
among the first of her authors. He had shown zeal and in
tegrity at an earlier time in several public capacities, was
an upright judge of grave deportment, and an industrious
legislator. It was when the great issues of the Revolution
came up, and men were summoned to take sides, that he be
came at once the enemy of the Province, the destroyer of
his own fortunes, and a principal means by which England
lost her Colonies.
The anniversary of the outbreak against the Stamp Act was
this year celebrated with great display, the 14th of August
being " the day of the union and firmly combined associa
tion of the True Sons of Liberty. " * The people having
assembled at eleven o clock at Liberty Tree,, a number of
patriotic toasts were drunk, when the Sons repaired to Dor
chester, where, three hundred and fifty in number, they dined
at Robinson s Liberty-Tree Tavern with their invited guests,
among whom were Mr. Dickinson, brother of the author of
the celebrated Farmer s Letters, and Joseph Reed of Phila
delphia, with whom Samuel Adams became acquainted and
conversed. John Adams, who was present, says in his diary :
* Boston Gazette for August 21, 1769.
270 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug.
" We had two tables laid in the open field by the barn, with
between three and four hundred plates, and an awning of
sail-cloth overhead, and should have spent a most agreeable
day, had not the rain made some abatement of our pleas
ures." * Public celebrations such as these were among the
most efficient methods adopted by the patriots to keep alive
and disseminate the fire of liberty. John Adams says, that
" their promoters were James Otis and Samuel Adams," and
adds, " they tinge the minds of the people ; they impregnate
them with the sentiments of liberty ; they render the people
fond of their leaders in the cause, and averse and bitter
against all opposition." Such of the Boston papers as were
engaged on the popular side contained accounts of the af
fair. The dinner at Robinson s must have been a jovial oc
casion. Liberty songs were sung, a variety of flags were
flung to the breeze, music enlivened the scene, and at proper
intervals cannon were fired. Among other provisions, three
large pigs were barbecued for the dinner. Forty-five reg
ular toasts were drunk with cheers and discharge of cannon.
Among these were, by name, the English statesmen who had
espoused the American cause, and the champions of freedom
the world over. A few will illustrate their general tone :
" May the detested names of the very few importers every
where be transmitted to posterity with infamy " ; " May Sir
Francis Bernard of Nettleham, Baronet, the Commissioners,
and others his confederates, the infamous calumniators of
North America, soon meet with condign punishment " ;
" The speedy removal of all taskmasters and the redress
of all grievances " ; " Strong halters, firm blocks, and sharp
axes to all such as deserve either." These toasts were evi
dently prepared by the " promoters " of the festival the day
before the celebration.
" About five o clock," says the Boston Gazette,! in its ac
count of the affair, " the company left Mr. Robinson s in a
* John Adams s Works, II. 218.
t Boston Gazette for August 21, 1769.
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 271
procession that extended near a mile and a half, and before
dark entered the city, went around the State-House, and
retired each to his own house." Hancock left the ground
at the head of the line in his chariot, and another chariot
brought up the rear. John Adams records, that, " to the
honor of the Sons, he did not see one person intoxicated dur
ing the festival or near it." The Gazette thus concludes
its account : " The amusements of the day were conducted
with that propriety and exact decorum which gentlemen ever
observe. All gentlemen of distinction from other Colonies,
known to be in town, had cards. Should this account over
take the Baronet of Nettleham on this side of T-b n, he
and Lord H h are at liberty to write seventy-seven
columns of their High Dutch and low diabolical commen
taries 4 about it and about it ! " This last remark is ac
counted for in a note in the same paper, explaining the
mention of moderate drinking at the dinner, to the effect
that in the letters of Bernard, known in Boston as " the
budget of Nettleham epistles," relating to the celebration of
the previous year, that dignitary had inquired " how forty-
nine drams could be drunk in the morning, and ninety-two
in the afternoon, consistently with temperance."
A review thus far of the course of Samuel Adams shows
him to have entirely devoted his time and energies to the
public. History hardly furnishes an example of a man so
completely lost to self and the natural desire, common to
all, of improving their pecuniary condition. He was so re
gardless of wealth or the means of attaining it, that those
about him censured him for it. His friend John Adams re
peatedly alludes to this singular disregard of riches, a trait,
by the way, which made Samuel Adams a source of curious
wonder to his more thrifty kinsman. One day in June, in
the next year, when a serene summer sky spanned a land
scape in which waving fields and rustling orchards formed to
some extent, as now, the pleasant scenery about New Eng
land s capital, the two friends rode out together in a chaise,
272 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug.
and conversed of their personal affairs. They often called
each other " brother," and the relationship implied was in
after years supposed by strangers to exist in reality.
" My brother Samuel Adams," thus the lawyer and patriot wrote
that day in his diary, " says he never looked forward in his life ;
never planned, laid a scheme, or formed a design of laying up any
thing for himself or others after him. I told him I could not say
that of myself: If that had been true of me you would never have
seen my face. And I think this was true ; I was necessitated to
ponder in my youth, to consider of ways and means of raising a sub
sistence, food, and raiment, and books and money to pay for my ed
ucation to the bar. So that I must have sunk into total contempt
and obscurity, if not perished for want, if I had not planned for
futurity ; and it is no damage to a young man to learn the art of
living early, if it is at the expense of much musing, and pondering,
and anxiety." *
The only means of subsistence which Samuel Adams had
for his family was the pittance he occasionally received
from the Assembly for his services as their Clerk. Without
that, it is hard to see how he could have lived. He still
owned his house in Purchase Street ; and a considerable por
tion of the grounds which had belonged to his father s es
tate remained in his possession until 1802, shortly before
his death. But so entirely did he give himself up to the
public good, laboring day and night in the righteous cause
of his country, that no attempt at any other occupation could
have succeeded. The great struggle for liberty was a pas
sion with him, an inborn, unquenchable flame ; and he fol
lowed it with all the ardor of an inspired apostle of Free
dom, losing sight of personal advancement and comfort,
forgetful of the ordinary pursuits which occupy the minds
of men, and only like others in his practical ability. He
was truly and really contented with poverty, which, as he
used to say to those who advised him to take more care for
his personal and family concerns, brought him no present
* John Adams s Works, II. 238.
1769.]
LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
273
anxieties or forebodings for the future. He could live hap
pily in poverty. His wife and children understood him, and
idolized him as their protector, adviser, and companion,
whose genial, courageous disposition knew not despond
ency, and preserved a warm sunshine in the hearts of all
who shared his society.
And to the uncomplaining cheerfulness of a brave New
England woman, who could meet the duties and privations
of her humble household with a generous devotion to the
views of her husband, is largely due the benefits which his
exertions secured for his countrymen. Those who remem
bered Mrs. Adams have spoken of her as a noble instance of
the blending of womanly grace and dignity with the energy
which characterized her sex throughout the Revolution. In
to that little home, during the darkened hours of the strug
gle, privation and even distress often entered. But there the
admirable traits of the true wife were displayed, and with
it a consciousness of duty that rose superior to the shades of
adversity. She knew how to make the most of their slender
means, and so economically did she manage, that none who
visited at the house could detect, from outward evidences,
the lack of any essential comfort.
The ill-feeling between the Commissioners of the Customs
and the people daily increased. They hated the sight of
each other, the one party being constantly reminded of an
odious surveillance for the collection of an illegal tax, and
the other conscious of the disgust they excited among the
inhabitants while fattening on the spoils of this oppression,
in the pursuit of which they were supported by the military
arm. Their letters, which were laid before Parliament,
defaming the town, had just been published ; and Otis, whose
mental condition now rendered him peculiarly sensitive to
their attacks, was wrought to frenzy by the calumnies against
him. More than any of the leaders, he had looked forward
with longing to a reconciliation with the government, and,
while he expressed his abhorrence of the acts of trade, he
VOL. I.
18
274 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept.
was sincere in his loyalty and ardent affection for England.
Though he had begun the active opposition to Britain s arbi
trary rule, he had nevertheless cautioned his party against
some of their more decided measures, and did not entirely
agree with the principles of the other patriots. Had the
right of taxation been surrendered by Parliament, and the
Colonies restored to their condition at the close of the French
War, no man in America would have so largely enjoyed the
political results accruing from a renewal of friendly feeling
as James Otis. His fine legal acquirements and oratory
would have given him the leading position in Massachusetts,
a position which neither Samuel Adams, Hawley, nor
Thacher could have attained. And had Otis s theory of a
representation in Parliament been adopted, he undoubtedly
would have stood in the British House of Commons as the
most conspicuous and eloquent American representative.*
The statements, therefore, of Bernard and the Commission
ers, charging him with words of a treasonable nature, stung
him to madness.
On the 1st day of September, James Otis and Samuel
Adams, who, as we have seen, had not escaped the calumni
ating pens of the crown officers, went to Concert Hall, where
the Commissioners still had their office, and had a confer
ence with each of those officers. Early the next morning,
Otis met them alone at the British Coffee-House. The cause
and end of these conferences were generally unknown in the
town, but they excited much speculation.
The next evening Samuel and John Adams, with a few
friends, supped with Otis, where the time was spent prepar
ing articles for the next day s newspaper. John Adams,
who records the fact in his diary, calls it " working the po
litical engine."
" Otis," he says, " talks all ; he grows the most talkative man
alive ; no other gentleman in company can find a space to put in a
* See Chap. IV. Compare John Adams s Diary (Works, II. 163).
17&9.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 275
word. As Dr. Swift expresses it, he leaves no elbow-room. There
is much sense, knowledge, spirit, and humor in his conversation, but
he grows narrative, like an old man ; abounds in stories."
The next evening there was a meeting of the club at
Dr. Perkins s, where Otis introduced a gentleman from
Georgia.
" Otis," continues John Adams, " indulged himself in all his airs,
attacked the selectmen, Inches and Pemberton, for not calling a
town meeting to consider the letters of the Governor, General,
Commodore, Commissioners, Collector, Comptroller, &c. Charged
them with timidity, haughtiness, arbitrary dispositions, and insolence
of office. But not the least attention did he show to his friend the
Georgian. No questions concerning his Province, their measures
against the revenue acts, their growth, manufactures, husbandry,
commerce. No general conversation concerning the continental
opposition ; nothing but one continued scene of bullying, bantering,
reproaching, and ridiculing the selectmen, airs and vapors about his
moderatorship and membership, and Cushing s speakership. There
is no politeness nor delicacy, no learning nor ingenuity, no taste or
sense, in this kind of conversation." *
In this frame of mind the overwrought imagination of
Otis prompted him to hurl defiance at the creatures whose
calumnies had helped to drive him to desperation. Proba
bly the article which appeared in the Gazette he prepared
at his house the night previous. Over his own signature
he launched his indignation against the Commissioners by
name, denouncing their false representations of himself, and
asserting that for their " personal abuse of himself satisfac
tion had been personally demanded, due warning given, but
no sufficient answer returned." f The same paper and the
Evening Post contained other documents, such as corre
spondence with the Collector, and extracts from the letters
of the Commissioners to the Ministry.
About seven o clock the next evening, Otis, quite alone,
* John Adams s Diary ("Works, II. 219-221).
t Boston Gazette, Sept. 4, 1769. Tudor s Life of Otis. Bancroft, VI. 310
276 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept.
went into the British Coffee-House, where he found seated
Robinson, one of the Commissioners, and a number of offi
cers of the army, navy, and revenue. After a short alterca
tion, an assault was commenced by Robinson with a cane,
when a fight ensued, and, the lights being extinguished in
the confusion, the friends of Robinson attacked Otis, severely
handling him, as shown by his wounds on the following day.
A young man named Gridley, who was passing, came to the
assistance of Otis, but was also beaten and put out of the
house. The disgraceful scene was terminated by a separa
tion of the combatants, and Otis, bruised and bleeding, was
led to his home.* In the disturbed state of the town, this
affair caused much excitement. Both sides had their ver
sion of the story ; but the commonly received account was,
that Otis had been set upon with a view to his assassina
tion. A suit was instituted against Robinson, who left the
country, bonds having been given by his father-in-law, a
merchant named Boutineau. Fitch, John Adams, and Blow
ers were retained as counsel for Otis. In the preliminary
examination, it appeared that swords were drawn by the offi
cers, who fell upon Otis, with cries of " God damn him ! "
" Kill him ! kill him ! " and it was stated that wagers had
been previously made upon the issue ; young Gridley testi
fied that there was foul play, and that he protested during
the scene against the dirty usage which Mr. Otis received.
Bludgeons and a scabbard were found on the floor after the
struggle, and the whole proceeding was regarded as cow
ardly and brutal on the part of the crown officers.
Samuel Adams, ever careful of his friend s welfare, re
viewed the examination at considerable length in the press,
showing that foul play was practised ; that Otis had chal
lenged Robinson to go abroad or withdraw to a private place,
and there decide the controversy between them.f Robinson
* Tudor s Life of Otis. Drake s History of Boston. Articles in the Boston
papers on the subject.
t "An Impartialist," in the Boston Gazette, Sept. 25, 1769.
1769.]
LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
2TT
stated that he had laid aside his sword when he saw his ad
versary without one. But the surgeons, Drs. Perkins and
Lloyd, who attended Otis, pronounced the wound in his fore
head to have been made by an edged weapon, and Mr. Ad
ams held that Robinson had either misstated the facts or that
some one else had attacked Otis with a sword. At the trial,
the jury found two thousand pounds sterling damages for
the plaintiff and costs of suit. This sum Otis generously re
fused to take upon Robinson s expressing sorrow for his con
duct, confessing himself the agressor, and asking pardon of
the injured men through Boutineau, who, being a lawyer,
managed the case for the defendant. Thirty pounds each
for the counsel, the doctor s bills, and the cost of court were
paid by Robinson ; but, as the release stipulated, " not a far
thing for the use of the said James Otis, he having (as be
fore observed) a most thorough contempt for a pecuniary
recompense when a better can be obtained." * The injuries
received by Otis probably assisted in the destruction of his
intellect, which had already shown symptoms of failure in
a variableness of opinion and an uncertainty of conduct,
which, henceforth increasing, incapacitated him for calm de
liberation. The only other effect of the fray was to increase
the quarrels between the people and the officers, and to in
tensify the opposition to government. The revenue act was
more fiercely attacked, and the public mind wrought to ex
asperation by the contributors to the press.
" Let me ask the cabal," said Samuel Adams, " whether the Col
onies in general are perfectly reconciled to this act. They now see
the contrary with grief and despair, and they may ere long see it
with terror and amazement. The Colonies are more than ever
united in a determined opposition to these acts, and I hope in God
they will continue their opposition to them till they are all repealed ;
till the locusts and caterpillars, which now swarm among us, are
driven off like chaff, and every American grievance is redressed.
* Tudor s Life of Otis, p. 505 (Appendix).
278 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
" Let any one imagine the distress of these people, a free city
I mean once free, and still entitled to its freedom reduced to
the worst of tyranny, an aggravated tyranny ! Was not an army of
placemen and pensioners sufficient, who would eat us up as they eat
bread, but an army of soldiers must be stationed in our very bow
els ! Where is the Bill of Rights, Magna Charta, and the blood of
our venerable forefathers ? In this dilemma, to what a dreadful al
ternative were we reduced, to resist this tyranny, or submit to
chains ! The one might have been done with the greatest ease, for
what was a handful of troops to subdue a large country ! Surely
two or three regiments could never have been intended to extermi
nate the inhabitants of this Province, and it could not have been
expected that such a petty armament could produce any other effect
than that of inspiring the people with resentment. Those who
imagined, that the inhabitants of Boston would oppose the landing
of the King s troops knew very little of their temper or design ;
and yet, I believe, the thought of finally submitting to chains was
never suffered to harbor in their hearts. God forbid that free coun
tries should ever again yield to tyranny ! This has long been the
unhappy fate of the world, while it was overspread with ignorance
and enveloped in darkness. Mankind, I hope, are now become too
enlightened to suffer it much longer." *
Bernard having written to England that the most respect
able of the merchants would not hold to their non-importa
tion agreements, and that the subscriptions would come to
naught, encouragement was given to British merchants to
engage anew in the colonial trade. By intelligence received
in September, it was known to Mr. Adams that " a factor,"
as he expressed it, " from London was 4aily expected in the
next ship, and, as it was said, under ministerial favor, with
a very large importation of British manufactures." This
was regarded as an attempt to force the obnoxious goods
upon the inhabitants, and a direct issue was thus to be made
between the supporters of this importation scheme and the
virtuous determination of the people not to purchase. The
suspicion entertained by Mr. Adams that these goods came
* "Alfred," in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 2, 1769.
1769.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 279
under " high authority " was not without foundation, for the
military officers had been preparing to protect the factors on
their arrival. He also knew that many of the proscribed ar
ticles were imported in the names of the military officers,
ostensibly for the use of the soldiers.
" Good God," he wrote, " how much longer is it expected that
the patience of this injured country shall hold out ? Have we not
already been sufficiently provoked? Is it possible that any man
should have the effrontery, against the united resolutions of a conti
nent, to import and vend its bane ? Unparalleled presumption !
Shall a stranger dare to be the tool of the cabal, and the instrument
of oversetting a measure upon the success of which the hopes of mil
lions are suspended ? What a degree of intolerable vanity and in
solence is here ! Shall this man avail himself, and make a precedent
for others to avail themselves of the sacrifice which our own mer
chants and tradesmen have voluntarily made for the public good, and
hereafter wrest that part of the trade out of their hands, whenever
the safety of the country shall admit of its being again carried on ?
What man will purchase goods of such a bold intruder ? Who will
not look upon him as a public enemy, and treat him with the marks
of contempt and hatred ? But, contemptible and odious as he must
appear, yet, in comparison with these few natives of the country
and, blessed be God, there are but few who can pride themselves
in the importations they have made, and impudently boast of their
success, in comparison, I say, with such parricides as these, a
stranger must, in an impartial eye, appear even innocent." *
On that very day, the expected ships arrived. The tocsin
had not been sounded an hour too soon. Bryant, the factor,
landed on the 4th, and a meeting of the merchants was im
mediately convened ; and having obliged Greene and Boyl-
ston, the owners, to engage to house all their goods and de
liver the key to the committee, " they called before them a
young fellow who belonged to England, and brought about
a thousand pounds sterling in goods for sale, and required
him to send his goods back again." f The unhappy Lieu-
* "Alfred," in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 2, 1769.
t Hutchinson to Bernard, Oct. 5, 1769.
280 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
tenant-Governor wrote in rueful plight, and doubtless fore
saw what might befall his own adventure in the interdicted
articles.
On the same day the town held a meeting, at which Gush
ing, Samuel and John Adams, Otis, Dana, Hancock, Hen-
shaw, Jackson, Kent, and Warren were appointed a commit
tee to vindicate the town from the false representations
contained in the letters of Bernard, Gage, Hood, and others,
authentic copies of which had been transmitted to the select
men.* The meeting then took up the subject of those who
had broken the non-importation agreement, and the names
of four, "few indeed, to the honor of the town," were placed
upon the records as infamous, " that posterity may know
who those persons were that preferred their little advantage
to the common interest of all the Colonies in a point of the
greatest importance." These proceedings having been pub
lished in the next day s paper, Hutchinson added, by way of
postscript to his letter to Bernard :
" I am now able to send you this day s paper, with the infamous
vote of the town of JBoston. It was approved, and some said my sons
had given up their goods ; but Adams, Kent, and others replied,
that it was not voluntary; they should have done it before.f I
know that I should have been afraid to put such a question as mod
erator, or sign it as town clerk. I have been in pain for your son,
but am now in hopes he may stand it out." J
The names of Hutchinson s two sons were also recorded
by the town as infamous, though, by their father s direc
tions, they had given up eighteen chests of tea ; but the
meeting had no faith in their sincerity. Another ship ar
rived on the 15th, and a similar disposition was made of the
goods, while the troops, however much their officers may
* Boston Town Records, Oct. 4, 1769.
t These two sons kept a shop in which their father was interested. Several
weeks previously, Mr. Adams as " Populus " in the Boston Gazette had publicly
warned them by name as " bringing up the rear in the ignoble list of importers."
J Hutchinson to Bernard, Oct. 5, 1769.
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 281
have desired to act, stood idle spectators, knowing that their
hands were tied, for they could not legally interfere. In the
midst of these proceedings, a letter was received from New
York, inviting Boston to continue the non-importation agree
ment until all the revenue acts were repealed, and by the
great influence of Molineux, Otis, Samuel Adams, and Wil
liam Cooper, the new form was adopted by the merchants.*
Hutchinson, who kept a daily record by letter of everything,
thus expressed to Bernard his rage and chagrin :
" I cannot but be of the opinion that an act subjecting every per
son who had been concerned in any of these combinations, and who
held any sort of office of honor or trust, and did not in any such way
or manner as should be directed, disclaim, &c., should forever after
be disqualified, would make a number of these people, and, among
the rest, Cooper, Adams, &c., tremble ; though I don t think this half
enough for so atrocious a crime ; and for any persons who should
hereafter be concerned, no penalty is too great.
" If Parliament does not before the holidays show their indigna
tion against this defiance of their authority, I shall think I am mis
taken, and that it is not such an offence as it has always appeared to
me to be. At least, processes ought to be made out for the appre
hension of all who have been concerned and who do not immediately
disclaim.
"The merchants, in their meeting referred to in the foregoing,
voted to continue their agreement for non-importation until all the
revenue acts be repealed, and a subscription is now carrying about ;
but it seems that they have thought proper not to suffer their pro
ceedings to be printed until they know that they shall succeed in
their subscriptions. A rigorous spirit in Parliament will yet set us
right : without it, the government of this Province will be split into
innumerable divisions. Every town, every parish, and every par
ticular club or connection, will meet, vote, and carry their votes into
execution just as they please." f
* Bancroft, VI. 311. t Hutchinson to Bernard, Oct., 1769.
CHAPTER XIY.
Report of the Town s Committee. Adams writes the " Appeal to the World."
Its Effect. Treatment of an Informer. John Mein and his Publica
tions. Increasing Animosity between the Troops and the People. Ad
ams warns the Agent in London. Liberty in the other Colonies. Adams
declares that the Troops must quit the Town. Assembling of Parliament.
Lord North becomes Prime Minister. Spirit of the New England
Women. Public Disturbances. The Governor desires Bloodshed.
The Case of Richardson.
WHEN two weeks had passed since the appointment of the
committee to vindicate the town from the aspersions of Ber
nard and the crown officers, a town meeting was called on
the 18th, and the report, with some slight alterations, was
unanimously adopted.* This paper, which was printed by
order of the town, was the afterwards celebrated " Appeal
to the World," and was written by Samuel Adams. It re
ceived a wide circulation in America. f Copies were sent to
the leading friends of the Colonies in England, where it was
republished. The vigor of its style, the plain reasoning
which unmasks the character of the writers against the
Province, the boldness of the vindication, yet tempered with
the calm confidence of a just cause, gave it a prominence
which had only been equalled by the " True Sentiments of
America," by the same hand in the previous year. It was
read in England during the height of the Wilkes excitement,
and when the public mind was prepared by the writings of
* Boston Town Records, Oct. 18, 1769.
t An Appeal to the World ; or a Vindication of the Town of Boston, from
many False and Malicious Aspersions contain d in certain Letters and Memo
rials, written by Governor Bernard, General Gage, Commodore Hood, the
Commissioners of the American Board of Customs, and Others, and by them
respectively transmitted to the British Ministry. Published by order of the
Town. Printed and sold by Edes and Gill, in Queen-Street, Boston, 1769.
8. pp. 37.
Oct., 1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 283
" Junius " to listen with peculiar interest to an appeal for
American rights, which, on the principle of representation,
were alike invaded in both countries. The work goes over
the ground covered by previous essays and letters of Mr. Ad
ams, relative to the misrepresentations of the crown officers
and their animosity to the Province. Bernard s letters to
the Earl of Shelburne and Lord Hillsborough are considered
at great length ; each statement is dissected, and the exag
gerations clearly proved.
The consequent ordering of troops to coerce a loyal peo
ple disclosed a purpose which the pamphlet declares to be
" dangerous and abhorrent to the British Constitution and
the spirit of a free government, namely, to support the civil
authority. A measure which has caused continual terror to
his Majesty s peaceable subjects here, and has been pro
ductive of more disturbance and confusion than has been
known in the memory of any now living, or than is record
ed by any historian, even the most partial, against this
country."
The Governor s nervous timidity, which was constantly
wishing for an armed force to protect him, is exposed, as
well as his exaggerations relative to the meeting in June,
1768, under " Liberty Tree."
" He always discovered," says the Appeal, " an aversion to free
assemblies : no wonder tlien that he should be so particularly dis
gusted at a legal meeting of the town of Boston, where a noble free
dom of speech is ever expected and maintained; an assembly of
which it may be justly said, to borrow the language of the ancient
Roman, with a little variation, ( Sentire quae volunt et quae sentiunt
dicere licet, they think as they please, and speak as they think.
Such an assembly has ever been the dread, often the scourge, of
tyrants."
Of the proceedings adopted at the town meeting of Sep
tember 12th in the previous year, the Appeal says :
" The resolves and determinations of this meeting, as the Gover
nor says, were published to the world ; and they remain in the rec-
284 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
ords of the town, that posterity may judge of them. The town
has seen no reason since to revoke these resolves, notwithstanding
they have been sentenced as very dangerous resolves, procured by
mad people, by so exquisite a judge in matters which regard civil
government, as well as so polite a gentleman, as General Gage. The
Governor himself has been since respectfully requested by the se
lectmen, in behalf of the town, to show in what respect the resolves
and proceedings of this very meeting had militated with law, but
he declined it ; and we believe he declined it, because he was not
able to do it. Spirited, indeed, they were, but not too spirited for
the times. When the Constitution is threatened, the principles of
the Constitution must, if ever, be asserted and supported. The Gov
ernor, indeed, takes notice of our claim to a certain clause in the
Bill of Rights, as * a large stride ; but as we are free British sub
jects, we claim all that security against arbitrary power to which we
are entitled by the law of God and nature, as well as the British
Constitution. And if a standing army may not be posted upon the
subjects in one part of the empire in time of peace, without their
consent, there can be no reason why it should in any other ; for all
British subjects are, or ought to be, alike free.
u Notwithstanding the town have been obliged in justice to them
selves to say thus much in their own vindication, we should yet be
glad that the ancient and happy union between Great Britain and
this country, which Governor Bernard has labored so industriously
to interrupt, might be restored. Some have indeed flattered them
selves with the prospect of it, as intelligence is said to have been re
ceived from Administration that all the revenue acts would be
repealed. But as it since appears, by Lord Hillsborough s own
account, that nothing more is intended than the taking off the duties
on paper, glass, and painters colors, upon commercial principles
only, if that is all, it will not give satisfaction. It will not even re
lieve trade from the burdens it labors under : much less will it re
move the grounds of discontent which runs through the continent
upon much higher principles. Their rights are invaded by these
acts : therefore, until they are all repealed, the cause of their just
complaints cannot be removed. In short, the grievances which lie
heavily upon us we shall never think redressed, till EVERY act
passed by the British Parliament for the express purpose of raising
1769.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 285
a revenue upon us without our consent is repealed ; till the Amer
ican Board of Commissioners of the Customs is dissolved, the troops
recalled, and things are restored to the state they were in before the
late extraordinary measures of administration took place."
The temper and style of the Appeal, which occupies twen
ty-nine pages of the records, may be gathered from these ex
tracts. The town endeavored by this vindication to place
itself plainly in the right before the world ; and for that
purpose there is no attempt to convey a meaning by covert
expressions. It was a candid, outspoken announcement of
the sentiment of Boston touching their just rights ; and its
solemn warning, which it was intended the British Ministry
should peruse, that they should never consider their wrongs
redressed until the whole assumed right of taxation was re
nounced, might have warned any far-seeing statesman of
the approaching crisis, but an overruling Providence or
dained it otherwise. The town appointed a committee to
transmit the Appeal to persons of influence in England ;
and Mr. Adams, who was a member, prepared a letter which
was signed by the committee, and forwarded with the pam
phlet. It emphatically repeats what measures of relief are
expected, and enumerates particularly the repeal of the rev
enue act, the removal of the troops, and the restoration of
affairs to the state they were in before the late measures of
administration. Hutchinson, who had particularly assisted
in misleading opinion in England, saw in the Appeal an addi
tional instance of sedition ; and he forthwith sent it to Ber
nard, who, as fresh from the Province, was an oracle on
American affairs, and had the ear of the Ministry.*
* The Appeal to the "World has been erroneously ascribed to James Otis
In 1819, fifty years after it was written, John Adams thought it not improb
able that Otis and Samuel Adams might have composed it together ; and the
biographer of Otis also claims it as their joint production, probably on the
same authority. Independent of the fact, that a careful examination of the
Appeal shows no resemblance to the style of Otis, while it has exactly and un
mistakably that of Adams, the condition of Otis just previous to this time,
286 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
" The thing," said he, " is calculated to take the vulgar and mis
lead others who are not acquainted with the facts ; but it is so
shamefully evasive and fallacious, that I cannot but hope you will
furnish some person of leisure with the true state of facts, that it
may be answered. I have no doubt that they design to publish it
in England ; and they would suffer no copies to go out until the
vessels which were then ready had sailed. I was obliged to
employ Frank to procure me one from a journeyman who then
worked in the press. I send another, as the former may have
miscarried. It was offered to the town by Adams, and probably
most of it is his performance. But there are some parts appear to
me the work of another hand ; what relates to the Council is prob
ably the production of a gentleman who was then of the Council." *
as disclosed in the diary of John Adams and the letter of Hutchinson soon
after, renders it impossible that he could have been even partly its author.
The title of the paper, " Appeal to the World," had long been a favorite
and peculiar expression with Samuel Adams. As " Determinatus," in the
Boston Gazette, Aug. 8, 1768, he says when treating this very subject of mis
representations by the crown officers :
" / appeal to the world upon this short but full narration of the facts, wheth
er," &c.
And in the same paper, as " Shippen," Jan. 30, 1769, while vindicating
the town against its false accusers :
" Without saying anything more on this point, we may venture to appeal to
the candid world where the ingratitude lies."
And again as "A Bostonian," April 24, 1769 :
" If the General [Gage] has characterized the town and Province upon his
own observation, / appeal to the candid world whether the bare affirmation," &c.
All these instances occur before the Appeal to the World appeared, and
reveal the hand of one writer discussing the same theme, the vindication of
the town.
In May, 1773, writing to Arthur Lee, he again uses the expression. Sending
to his friend the printed proceedings of the town at a late election, he says :
" They may be looked upon as fresh appeals to the world." The Appeal was re
ported to the town by Samuel Adams in person, so Hutchinson wrote at the
time, which is a strong indication that he was its author. But when to these
evidences we add the fact that fragments of the original manuscript, with the
erasures, interlineations, and corrections, still exist in the handwriting of Sam
uel Adams, the question would seem to be set at rest, especially as no portion
of the paper has ever been found in the hand of any other person. For Sam
uel Adams s authorship, see Bancroft, VI. 312.
* Hutchinson to Bernard, October, 1769.
1769.]
LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS.
28T
Hutchinson had come to know the peculiar style of Ad
ams almost as well as though the writings had been his own.
He had his spies too, who kept him informed as to the au
thorship of pieces in the public press ; and the government
employed a number of informers, whose business it was to
watch the movements of the popular leaders, and report all
they saw and heard. These were sometimes detected by the
people, and, in such cases, suffered rough treatment from
them. An instance occurred on the 28th of October, when
an informer against a quantity of smuggled wine, brought
from Rhode Island, was tarred and feathered, and carted in
the evening through the streets for three hours, attended by
a vast concourse of people, who obliged the wretched man
to carry a large glass lantern, and, under the Liberty Tree,
" made him swear never to be guilty of a like crime in fu
ture." Passing the office of the Chronicle, a government
paper published by Mein and Flemming, the procession was
fired upon, when the crowd broke in the doors, and the in
mates would probably have shared the fate of the informer,
but for their speedy flight.* The senior partner in this pub
lishing firm was John Mein, a Scotchman, who had been
brought up a bookseller, and had come to Boston in 1764
from Glasgow. His paper remained neutral at the com
mencement of the stamp and revenue troubles ; but in the
summer of 1769, he found it for his interest to take the gov
ernment side, and in August he endeavored to dissuade
the merchants from adhering to their non-importation agree
ments by misrepresenting the signers. Mr. Adams publicly
warned him against " this opposition to an awakened, an en
lightened, and a determined continent " ; and at last, when
the publisher ventured to caricature the leading patriots,
he was attacked on Pope-day in King Street, near his office,
and driven to the main guard for protection. The people
followed and demanded that he should be surrendered to
* Drake s Boston, p. 776. Bancroft, VI. 313. Barry s Massachusetts,
II. 400.
288 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov.
them; but lie finally escaped in disguise, and soon after
sailed for England.*
The inactivity forced upon the troops, amid all these com
motions, was humiliating ; but they could only chafe and
exhibit their anger by occasional frays with the people.
The leaders constantly endeavored to impress them with the
fact that they were useless appendages of illegal power, and
subservient to the civil magistrate. A captain in the Twen
ty-ninth Regiment, who gave directions to his soldiers, " If
they touch yoii, run them through the body," was indicted
for the speech, and early in November the grand jury found
a true bill against Bernard, General Gage, and others, for
" slandering the town of Boston." " Surely," said Mr. Ad
ams, as he mused upon the possibility of some sanguinary
event, " no Provincial magistrate could be found so steeled
against the sensations of humanity and justice as wantonly
to order troops to fire on an unarmed populace, and (more
than) repeat in Boston the tragic scenes exhibited in St.
George s Field. I shudder at the thought ! " f
The event, however, which was to seal in blood the deliv
erance of the town from the immediate presence of these
mercenaries was but a few months distant. How far they
were fallen into contempt with the people, and how the per
sistent oppression of the mother country was cementing the
determined bitterness of the opposition, may be inferred
from the following letter.
BOSTON, NOT. 16, 1769.
SIR,
I received your favor by Mr. Reed, whose good sense, agreeable
conversation, and polite behavior entitle him to very great respect
and esteem among the best part of the world.
It is with astonishment and indignation that Americans contem
plate the folly of the British Ministry, in employing troops which
have heretofore been the terror of the enemies to liberty, only to
parade the streets of Boston, and by their ridiculous merry-andrew
* Drake s Boston, p. 774. Buckingham s Reminiscences, I. 214.
t "Alfred," in the Boston Gazette for Oct. 2, 1769.
1769.]
LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS.
289
tricks to become the objects of the contempt of even women and
children. If the noble Corsicans were not worthy the least of their
attentions, surely they ought to have been alarmed at the large
strides which the French and Spaniards, the inveterate foes to Brit
ain, are making towards the recovery of their lost territories in
America. One winter more trifled away, or worse than trifled, in
fruitless endeavors to enslave a people who are more than ever re
solved to be free, may afford those powers the opportunity of com
pleting a plan already begun, and to finish a stroke in America
which may awaken the attention of Britain in vain. We tremble
for her fate ; we wish her prosperity ; we hope she will soon employ
herself to much nobler purposes than picking up pins and pebbles.
Those who have succeeded in their endeavors to alienate the affec
tions of her Colonies have served her enemies in the very point
they could have wished for. Britain may fall sooner than she is
aware ; while her Colonies, who are now struggling for liberty, may
survive her fate, and tell the story to their children s children. I
conclude in great haste.
Your friend and humble servant,
SAMUEL ADAMS.
DENNYS DEBERDT, Esq.
There was a spirit of prophecy in this letter, as events
proved. It now seems scarcely credible that the government
should have been unmindful of the dangers which are here
pictured. The downfall of British rule in America was ar
dently desired by every trading rival in Europe, and the peril
increased as the absurd contest was prolonged. Her com
mercial monopoly had been long regarded with a jealous
eye ; and nations eagerly watched the progress of a sys
tematic folly which, as all but the infatuated King and Min
istry saw, led plainly to a great catastrophe. A convention
had already been entered into between France and Spain,
with the ultimate view of crippling the British Colonial
strength, towards which the first step was made early in
1771, by an attack by the Spanish forces upon the Falkland
Islands.* Yet, amid these hostile indications, the taxation
* See Grahame s History, II. 426, 456 ; Bradford s State Papers, p. 296.
VOL. i. 19
290 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov., Dec
policy was pursued. The revenue to be derived was but
trifling. It was the arbitrary right alone for which the con
test was waged, risking the loss of the " brightest jewel in
the crown." That right would never be conceded, and
would be resisted to the last.
Deberdt, who still served the Province as the agent of the
Assembly, endeavored to obtain additional evidence against
Bernard to support the petition of the House for his removal.
The letter spoken of above was probably on that subject, as
was one to Gushing, received by the same ship, to which
Hutchinson thus alludes :
" The remonstrance of the House I knew would be odious to you.
Undress it, and let the facts appear naked, and you are not accused
of doing anything which it would not have been culpable in you to
have left undone. The Speaker, a day or two ago, opened a letter
which he received by the last ship from Deberdt, and began to read
it in company. Deberdt says, that if the Speaker will furnish him
with evidence of any damage the Province has sustained by your
acts of oppression, he will bring an action against you, now you are
in England. He was going on ; but Adams, who sat by, told him he
believed it was a private letter, and then he stopped." *
If the voluminous evidence contained in the Appeal to
the World, exposing the false representations of Bernard and
others, was not to be regarded as proof against the Gov
ernor, it would be useless indeed to have gone through the
farce of taking affidavits which would be spurned by the royal
Council. The damage sustained by the Province through
the subversion of its liberties could never be brought to the
eyes of the Ministry, who ignored the British rights claimed
by the Americans, and had no word but sedition for their
efforts in support of those rights. The petition was rejected
as " groundless, vexatious, and scandalous," and all the evi
dence in the world would not have prevented this result.f
* Hutchinson to Bernard, November, 1769.
t Opinion of the Ministry in Council of the petition of the House against
Oov. Bernard.
1769.1
LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
291
The great principles upon which the claims of the Ameri
can people were based were never recognized by Hillsbor-
ough, whose contempt for the motives which actuated the
opposition, unchangeable from the first, was strengthened
by the advice of Bernard, who was at his side, and by the
letters of Hutchinson, who plied the Baronet with corre
spondence, which he knew would be shown to the Ministry,
and perhaps aid in his own advancement.
While Boston was thus boldly facing the awful power
of England, the generous enthusiasm of liberty animated
the other Colonies, but with a general tendency to concil
iation. South Carolina steadily adhered to the non-im
portation agreement, and appointed a standing executive
committee. Georgia supported the correspondence and res
olutions of Massachusetts. North Carolina adopted in her
Assembly the protest of Virginia. The Legislature of New
York moved for a general representative body to be com
posed of delegates from each Province. Virginia had the
pledge by its Governor of the royal word, renouncing all in
tention of taxing the Colonies. Maryland s Lieutenant-Gov
ernor " advised " to give up the tax, and the Philadelphia
merchants were still for non-importation, but under less
stringent restrictions. The only matter of complaint among
them all was the tax upon tea ; all other obnoxious meas
ures, such as the Billeting Act, having been abandoned.
Upon the principle involved in the assumed right to tax the
Colonies rested the whole issue between them and Great
Britain. The spirit, however, which still looked hopefully
for redress prevailed less in Massachusetts, where the con
tinual broils between the Bostonians and the troops nursed
the rancor of both parties.
The Massachusetts Legislature was to meet on the 10th
of January, one day after the assembling of th*e British
Parliament. Would the little body of Provincial statesmen
still refuse to legislate, while arbitrarily removed from their
ancient and legal seat of government ? Would wise coun-
292 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
sels prevail in Parliament, and the just rights of America be
admitted ? The new year was to decide forever the fate of
the Colonies, and involve results more momentous than the
most far-seeing could estimate in their effect upon Great
Britain. A crisis seemed to impend on both sides of the
Atlantic. In Massachusetts, the plan for the approaching
session was probably prepared. It was to demand the re
moval of the troops, and to offer an uncompromising oppo
sition to any legislation, should the Lieutenant-Governor
persist in illegally convening the Assembly at Cambridge.
Towards the close of the year Hutchinson wrote to Lord
Hillsborough :
" The time approaches to which the Assembly stands prorogued.
As I have received no instructions from England to the contrary,
nobody doubts its sitting to do business. I have evidence of the
declaration of one or more of the members of this town, that the
first attempt shall be for a vote to insist upon the troops being re
moved out of the town. I am taking every prudent measure in my
power to prevent the attempt from succeeding in the House, and do
not despair of defeating it."
To the same nobleman he writes immediately after, having
apparently received additional information.
" Adams has declared the troops must move to the Castle, and
that it must be the first business of the Court to remove them out
of the town."*
If the design of this was to have Samuel Adams or others
transported to be tried for treason, the idea had been met
more than half-way from England. " The talk is strong of
bringing them over and trying them by impeachment," said
Mauduit in London. " Do you write me word of their be
ing seized, and I will send you an account of their being
hanged." f
The public liberties were at this time contested in England
* Hutchinson to Bernard, Dec. 20, 1769.
t Israel Mauduit to Hutchinson, London, Nov. 19, 1769.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 293
with unusual violence and acrimony. The whole nation
was convulsed with the struggle between the House of Com
mons and the Middlesex electors, and reflecting men consid
ered that the crisis involved the stability of the government.
Parliament met on the 9th of January, when the troubles in
Ireland, the revenue difficulties in America, and the disfran-
chisement of Wilkes, together occupied their entire atten
tion. A great contest had been going on between the aris
tocracy and the returned wealthy nabobs from Hindostan,
desirous of obtaining seats and influence in the British Leg
islature, on the one side, and the popular element declaring
for free speech, a free press, and unrestricted rights, on the
other. Wilkes, who but for his expulsion from the House
would have sunk into insignificance, became by his represen
tation of the prevailing sentiment the most prominent man
in the kingdom. The debate, which embraced the popular
liberties in England and the American policy, was led by
Chatham in the House of Lords, where he now reappeared
after two years absence, and combated with marked elo
quence the address to the King against the Colonies, in
which he was joined by Lord Camden, who " proclaimed to
the world " his opposition to " this illegal and unconstitu
tional vote." In the House of Commons Barre* stood up, as
usual, as the defender of American rights. Lord North re
plied that he would never acquiesce in the absurd opinion
that all men are equal. The character of the debates, as
well as the votes, showed that America had little to hope
for, and that the determination to crush out the principle of
constitutional liberty had suffered no change since the pre
vious winter.
Late in January the Duke of Grafton suddenly resigned
his position as Prime Minister, and Lord North, whose pol
icy towards the Colonies was well known, assumed the reins
of government. He knew the will of his master, George the
Third ; but his subsequent course proved that both he and
the stubborn King did not know the character of the Ameri-
294 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
can people, when they ignorantly hugged the idea of driving
them into a compliance with an infamous tyranny. Lord
North was actuated by a violent hatred of popular rights,
and a blind resolution to enforce obedience to illegal legisla
tion, before relaxing such assumed power ; and in these feel
ings he was confirmed by the King, whose knowledge of
America was probably confined to the distorted accounts
coming to him through his servants in the Colonies.
The commencement of the year in Massachusetts was sig
nalized by a new exercise of arbitrary power. When Ber
nard left the Province for England, in the previous summer,
the Legislature stood adjourned to the 10th of January, 1770 ;
and, as we have seen by Hutchinson s letter already quoted,
it was to have met then. But a few days previous to that
time, instructions were received from the Earl of Hillsbor-
ough, directing the Lieutenant-Governor to prorogue the
Court to meet at some future time at Cambridge. This out
rageous treatment of a popular legislative body, whose move
ments, as stipulated by charter, were only dependent upon
the directions of a Governor paid by the people, was proba
bly by Bernard s advice, who had in November received the
Appeal to the World, and, with the Ministry, had perused
the newspaper reports of the non-importation agreements.
The measure, then, was retaliatory, and of course had ex
actly the reverse of the intended effect. Hutchinson, on
receiving the order, issued a proclamation conformable to its
directions. On the 10th he wrote :
" The letters by the November packet came to hand the 3d in
stant in the evening ; and the next morning I prorogued the Court
to the second Wednesday in March. Some of the distant members
will be on their journey before the proclamation reaches them ; and
if the packet had not had a better passage than common, my orders
would have found the Court sitting. I thought when I wrote you,
some time since, that a proclamation would cause a great clamor,
and therefore wished the Court might meet. There is less than I
expected. As far as I can yet judge, the party seem to be rather
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 295
mortified and humbled by it than enraged. I am convinced that it
is the right measure. I am waiting for orders, which are to follow.
. . . . Vindex is undoubtedly from Adams. It appears not only
by the style, but from his having discovered just the same sentiments
in company immediately after the prorogation of the Court." *
In the piece referred to by the Lieutenant-Governor, the
validity of the instruction from Hillsborough for the proro
gation was denied, and the text of the argument was the
passage in the charter giving to the Governor for the time
being the power to adjourn, prorogue, or dissolve the As
sembly.
" The power delegated by this clause to the Governor," continues
Mr. Adams, " was undoubtedly intended in favor of the people.
The necessity and importance of a Legislative in being, and of its
having the opportunity of exerting itself upon all proper occasions,
must be obvious to a man of common discernment. Its grand ob
ject is the redress of grievances, and for this purpose it is adjudged
that parliaments ought to be held frequently. The people may be
aggrieved for the want of having a good law made, as well as re
pealing a bad one ; so they may be by the maleconduct of the Exec
utive in its manner of administering justice wrongfully under color
of law. In all these cases, and many others, the necessity of the
frequent interposition of the Legislative evidently appears ; and if
either of them much more if all of them should at any time be
justly complained of by the people, the adjourning, proroguing, or
dissolving the Legislative at such a juncture must be the greatest
of all grievances. There may be other reasons for the sitting of an
American Assembly besides the correcting any disorders arising
from among the people within its own jurisdiction. Some of the
acts of the British Parliament are generally thought to be grievous
in their operation and dangerous in their consequences to the lib
erties of the American subjects. An American Legislative, there
fore, in which the whole body of the people is represented, ought
certainly to have the opportunity of explaining and remonstrating
their grievances to the British Parliament, and the full exercise of
that invaluable and uncontrollable right of the subject to petition
* Hutchinson to Bernard, Jan. 10, 1770.
296 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan,
the King as often as they judge necessary, till they are removed.
To postpone a meeting of this universal body of the people till it is
too late to make such application must be a frustration of one grand
design of its existence, and it naturally tends to other arbitrary ex
ertions. I have often thought that, in former administrations, such
delays to call the General Assembly were intended for the purpose
above mentioned ; and if others should have the same apprehension
at present, I cannot help it, nor am I answerable for it. It may
not be amiss, however, for every man to make it a subject of his
contemplation. We all remember that, no longer ago than the last
year, the extraordinary dissolution by Governor Bernard, in which
he declared he was merely ministerial, produced another assembly,
which, though legal in all its proceedings, awaked an attention in
the very soul of the British Empire." *
With the close of the year the non-importation expired by
limitation ; and induced by the increased price of tea, some,
who had reluctantly entered into the stipulation rather than
face public resentment, now commenced to sell. Among
these were Thomas and Elisha, the sons of the Lieutenant-
Governor, who hastened with the new year to make secret
sales, having broken open the warehouse of which they had
given the town committee the key three months before.
Hutchinson, whose besetting sin was covetousness, could not
withstand the temptation offered by the enhanced prices ;
and his sons, who were his agents, probably renewed their
business at his advice. They had solemnly agreed to make
no more sales until a general importation should commence,
which could only be when the obnoxious duties were entirely
repealed. The example was particularly dangerous, consid
ering the family position of the recusants ; for, if they were
allowed to make sales with impunity, their great profits
would be a powerful stimulant to others in humble circum
stances. Mr. Adams, as " Determinatus," attacked them
and members of other Tory families for their breach of
faith.
* " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 8, 1770.
1770.]
LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 297
" It is no wonder then," he says, " that it was opposed with so
much vehemence at first by the cabal, who knew full well that their
places and their pensions and all the delectable profits which they
expected to reap, and are now actually reaping at the expense of the
people in the town and country, would entirely cease, if these acts,
by means of which their places, pensions, and profits arise, should be
repealed. When they could no longer, with any face, call it the
last efforts of a dying faction] (for the measure was so rational and
pacific that it soon spread far and wide, and was cheerfully adopted
by all the disinterested friends of the country throughout the conti
nent,) they put on the appearance of the Sons of Liberty, and now
their cry is, Where is that liberty so much boasted of and contended
for ? We hear them very gravely asking, ( Have we not a right to
carry on our own trade and sell our own goods if we please ? Who
shall hinder us ? This is now the language of those who had be
fore seen the axe laid at the very root of all our rights with appar
ent complacency. And pray, gentlemen, have you not a right, if
you please, to set fire to your own houses because they are 9/our
own, though in all probability it will destroy a whole neighborhood,
perhaps a whole city? Where did you learn that in a state or
society you had a right to do as you please, and that it was an in
fringement of that right to restrain you? This is a refinement
which, I dare say, the true Sons of Liberty despise. Be pleased to
be informed that you are bound to conduct yourselves as the society
with which you are joined are pleased to have you conduct, or, if
you please, you may leave it. It is true, the will and pleasure of
the society is generally declared in its laws, but there may be ex
ceptions, and the present case is without doubt one. Suppose there
was no law of the society to restrain you from murdering your own
father ; what think you ? if either of you should please to take it
into your head to perpetrate such a villanous act, so abhorrent to
the will of the society, would you not be restrained ? And is the
liberty of your country of less importance than the life of your
father ?
" But what is most astonishing is, that some two or three persons,
of very little consequence in themselves, have dared openly to give
out that they will vend the goods they have imported, though they
have solemnly pledged their faith to the body of merchants that they
should remain in store till a general importation should take place !
298 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
Where then is the honor, where is the shame, of these persons, who
can look into the faces of those very men with whom they have con
tracted, and tell them, without blushing, that they are resolved to
violate the contract ! Is it avarice ? Is it obstinacy, perverseness,
pride, or from what root of bitterness does such an unaccountable de
fection from the laws of honor, honesty, and even humanity spring ?
Is it the authority of an unnatural parent, the advice of some false
friend, or their own want of common understanding and the first
principles of virtue, by which these unhappy young persons have
been induced or left to resolve upon perpetrating that at the very
thought of which they should have shuddered. By this resolution
they have already disgraced themselves : if they have the hardiness
to put the resolution into practice, who will ever hereafter confide
in them ? Can they promise themselves the regards of the respect
able body of merchants whom they have affronted ? Or can they
even wish for the esteem of their country which they have basely
deserted ; or worse, which they have attempted to wound in the
very heart ? If they imagine they can still weary the patience of
an injured country with impunity, if I will not utter it, would
not the grateful remembrance of unmerited kindness and generosity,
if there was the least spark of ingenuity left, have influenced to a far
different resolution ? If this agreement of the merchants is of that
consequence to ALL AMERICA which our brethren in all the other
governments, and in Great Britain itself, think it to be, if the
fate of unborn millions is suspended upon it, verily it behooves
not the merchants only, but every individual of every class, in city
and country, to aid and support them, and peremptorily to insist
upon its being strictly adhered to ! " *
This and all other appeals had no effect upon men actu
ated by greed, and lost to any appreciation of the spirit which
animated the more patriotic dealers. On the 16th, a meet
ing of merchants was called, who proceeded in a body to
Hutchinson s residence in Garden Court, and demanded that
the goods should be restored. The assemblage, which was
swelled by accessions from the other inhabitants, gathered in
front of the house. Hutchinson threw up the window, and
* " Determinates," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 8, 1770.
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 299
" warned them of their illegal, riotous proceedings, and re
quired them to disperse." "We have come to treat with
your sons," was the reply, "who have violated their con
tract to which their honor was pledged." Hutchinson re
sponded that " a contract without a valuable consideration
was not valid in law." But, after all, he considered it best to
comply ; and on the following day he agreed with William
Phillips, the moderator of the meeting, to deposit a sum of
money in place of the tea that had been sold, and that the
rest should be returned, to which the meeting assented. No
sooner had this arrangement been perfected than his Honor
repented of the concession, and was accused by his friends
of cowardice. He never forgave himself for it, and laments
it in his History, as " having been done without sufficiently
considering the consequences." He wrote apologetical let
ters to England, hoping " that a single error in judgment
would not cancel more than thirty years laborious and
disinterested services in support of government." To Sir
Francis Bernard, he says of the merchants meeting :
" Justices of peace, selectmen, representatives, constables, and
other officers, who ought to have discountenanced this meeting,
made a part of it. Some of your friends and mine wish matters
had gone to extremities, this being a good time as any to have
called out the troops." *
A Revolutionary anecdote illustrating Samuel Adams s
skill in dealing with mankind has been handed down as oc
curring either at the above-named meeting, or another shortly
before it. The object was to bring all the dealers into the
non-importation scheme ; but a Scotchman, a large importer,
refused to join the association. Though many were enraged
at the persistency of the merchant, Mr. Adams, who was
present, discouraged angry words, for the suaviter in modo
was a prominent trait in his energetic character. The com
mittee from the meeting, who had been directed to call on
the stubborn Scotchman, and had been repelled by him,
* Hutchinson to Bernard, Jan. 21, 1770.
300 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
were deputed to visit the recusant again, but they returned
with the same answer ; when Mr. Adams arose and moved
that the Assembly (of about two thousand persons) should
resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, and wait
upon Mr. Mac at the close of the meeting, to urge his
compliance with the general wish ; which being agreed to
without a dissenting voice, they proceeded to transact the
business before them. The sagacious patriot knew that the
man in question had personal friends present, some of whom
immediately slipped away to inform him that the whole body
would shortly wait upon him. The result was as Mr. Adams
had anticipated. In the midst of their deliberations on other
subjects, in rushed Mr. Mac all in a foam, and, bowing
to the chairman and to Mr. Adams, told them that he was
ready and willing to put his name to the non-importation
pledge. Another account says that he was hiding in an ob
scure position in the hall, when he heard his name called
among the recusants, followed by the proposition to visit
him en masse ; upon which he sprang out of his retreat, rap
idly repeating in a squeaking voice and with a Scotch accent,
" Mr. Moderator, I agree ! I agree ! " This unexpected in
terruption in a foreign brogue, from a diminutive, grotesque
figure, covered with a reddish smoke-dried wig, drew all eyes
upon him ; and his sudden conversion, and the manner in
which it was obtained, brought forth thunders of applause.
Mr. Adams pointed to a seat near him, with a polite, conde
scending bow of protection, and so quieted the alarm of the
discreet Scotchman.*
The blood-thirsty suggestion in Hutchinson s letter to
Bernard was a true index to the disposition of the crown
officers. Their object was to see employment given to the
troops, whose inactivity was as humiliating to them as it was
irritating to the soldiers. Hutchinson used every effort to
suppress the meetings of the merchants, to one of which
* Magoon s Orators of the Revolution, pp. 107, 108 ; and another version as
related by Mrs. Hannah Wells.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 301
he sent a letter, requiring them in his Majesty s name to dis
perse. The refusal was in Hancock s handwriting, and he
put the autograph carefully by, to be used against the writer
when he should be tried for his treasonable practices. The
spirits of the people suffered no depression from these at
tempts, but rather rose with the occasion. They must have
foreseen that the frequent frays with the troops would lead
at last to some tragedy ; and though many despised the mil
itary power, knowing that in an extremity an overwhelming
force could be obtained from the country to exterminate the
invaders, yet the constant threat revealed the nearness of
bloodshed. Conflicts, resulting in bruises and wounds on
both sides, were taking place in New York, where tl^e sol
diers, after repeated repulses from the people, succeeded in
cutting down the liberty pole. In every Colony a bold front
was presented. Hutchinson thought that the commotion in
Massachusetts, in 1740, (probably referring to the affair of
the Land Bank, to which he had been a bitter opponent,)
was a peccadillo compared to the combinations now afloat in
so many Colonies.
" That," he said, " was thought to deserve an act of Parliament,
and all who continued in it were subjected to the penalties of the
Act of Premunire. These, therefore, which are absolutely incom
patible with a state of government, can never be overlooked. Here
they are declared to be legal. The town of Boston say so in their
last meeting. At Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, the au
thorities sit still and rather approve of them." *
The news of the conflicts in New York encouraged the
people of Boston, and the utmost vigilance was exercised to
enforce the agreements against both the importation and
consumption of tea. Spirited resolutions had already been
adopted at a meeting of citizens in Faneuil Hall, " to totally
abstain from the use of tea "; and now, in the month of Feb
ruary, the mistresses of four hundred and ten families formed
* Hutchinson to Bernard, October, 1769.
302 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb.
an association to drink no more tea until the Revenue Act
was repealed. A few days later on the 12th a hundred
and twenty young ladies followed the example of the ma
trons, subscribing to a league, and binding themselves by
an agreement in which they say :
" We, the daughters of those patriots, who have, and do now ap
pear for the public interest, and in that principally regard their pos
terity, as such do with pleasure engage with them in denying
ourselves the drinking of foreign tea, in hopes to frustrate a plan
which tends to deprive a whole community of all that is valuable
in life."
This was no common deprivation ; for, in that day, more
than at present, tea-drinking parties among the ladies were
a source of peculiar social enjoyment. The importance at
tached by the government to that one article, as a test of the
principle of taxation, indicates how extensive was the use of
tea in the Colonies. From this time forth, until the close
of the royal authority in Massachusetts, tea was regarded as
the bane of popular liberty. Few families had the hardihood
to make use of it, and a jealous watch was maintained to
prevent its selling. The importers had no peace. People
pointed them out as proscribed men, and boys hooted at
them in the streets, while their customers were interrupted
passing to and from their shops and houses.
The result was the shedding of the first blood in Boston.
On the 22d of February, a party of boys set up a large wood
en head and a board, on which were painted the figures of
four of the importers, in front of the house of Theophilus
Lillie, one of the violators of the agreement. A post was
also planted, with a hand pointing towards his door. Rich
ardson, a well-known informer, who lived near by, vainly
endeavored to persuade a countryman and others to drive
their carts against it. The by-standers, becoming incensed
at these attempts, interfered; and the informer retreated
towards his own house, where some insulting language fol-
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 303
lowed on both sides. Some of the boys threw missiles at
him, compelling him to shut himself in, upon which he
opened a window, and fired with his gun upon the crowd,
severely wounding a son of Captain John Gore and mortally
wounding another boy, Christopher Snyder, about eleven
years of age, who died on the following evening. " The boy
that was killed," observes Hutchinson, in his History, " was
the son of a poor German. A grand funeral was, however,
judged very proper for him." * The man who could cringe
to the powerful, and saw virtue only in wealth and station,
evidently estimated the value of the life in proportion to the
financial condition of the bereaved family. He had yet to
learn the significance of the democratic philosophy, whose
doctrines were revolutionizing a continent and brushing
away the flimsy distinctions of birth and money. The fu
neral, which took place on the 26th, was attended by a great
procession of young and old, marching in solemn order from
Liberty-Tree to the Town-House, and thence to the burying-
ground.f
It has been said in palliation of Richardson s crime, that
he was grossly insulted by the populace, causing him to fire
in a moment of rashness. An impartial view of the case ad
mits of but one conclusion. Having gained his house he was
not in danger, and the vindictive firing from a window, while
it could not possibly intimidate the crowd, would rather exas
perate them the more, and was as likely to kill the innocent
as the guilty. Besides, by taking the law into his own hands,
he volunteered a direct issue with the people ; and that he
went out of his way to encounter them, when justly excited
by the illegal attempts against their rights, is shown by his
interference with the only peaceable methods by which they
could express their detestation of those who had violated the
non-importation agreements. Immediately after the murder,
* Hutchinson s History, III. 269.
t Boston papers, during February, 1770. Drake s History of Boston, p.
776. Bancroft, VI. 333.
304 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Feb. Apr., 1770.
the house was broken open, and Richardson and one "Wil-
mot, whom they found with a heavily loaded gun, were
arrested and taken before a number of Justices at Faneuil
Hall, where an examination took place in the presence of at
least a thousand people, resulting in the committal of both
to prison ; and but for the interposition of some gentlemen
of influence, the prisoners would have been torn to pieces on
their way to the jail. In the trial, which took place in April
following, Josiah Quincy and Blowers appeared for the de
fence, and Samuel Quincy and Robert Treat Paine of Taun-
ton for the crown. "Wilmot was acquitted, but Richardson
was found guilty of murder. Hutchinson, who was Chief
Justice, considering the case as one of justifiable homicide,
refused to sign the warrant for his execution ; and two years
afterwards, on application to the King, he was pardoned.
If Richardson was justifiable in his vengeful shooting into a
crowd, it is difficult to see how the Americans throughout
the continent were right in the vindication of their liberties.
He had unnecessarily courted their resentment, and com
menced the difficulty which ended in his murderous act.
Death, however, would perhaps have been too severe a
penalty under the circumstances ; and the extreme verdict
of murder gave the Executive no alternative between ex
ecution and pardon,
CHAPTER XY.
Justice of the American Cause. Loyalty and Moderation of the Colonists.
The Issue forced upon them. Remonstrances against the Presence of
Troops in Boston. Indications of an approaching Collision between them
and the Citizens. The Soldiers impatient for Blood. Affrays at the
Hope-walks. The Soldiers are beaten and seek for Vengeance. Blood
shed preconcerted among them. Scenes on the Evening of the 5th of
March. Brutality of the Troops. Gathering of the People. The " "Red
Cloak and White Wig." The Massacre in King Street.
WHOEVER will reflect upon the series of events occurring
between the winter of 1768 and the spring of 1770 will find
a loyal and sensitive people, proud of their British birth and
freedom, and ever ready to support and defend their sover
eign, wrought to indignation by a system of the grossest in
justice and infringements on their chartered rights. Smart
ing under injurious misrepresentations made by the instru
ments of their oppression, they had seen their dutiful peti
tions spurned by those whose pride it should have been to
protect them ; and when a persistence in the acts of tyranny
and the insulting conduct of the crown officers had led to a
series of peaceful measures for redress, measures which the
Attorney and Solicitor General of England, after the severest
scrutiny, had pronounced to be legal and containing no overt
act of treason, they had been accused of sedition ; and an
infamous act of Henry the Eighth was dug up from the ob
livion of the past, to transport them to England to be tried
for their lives, away from their friends and witnesses. A
succession of fatal stabs had been dealt to the most precious
privilege of British subjects. The great principle of the ille
gality of taxation without representation the most estima
ble of all the British rights guaranteed by Magna Charta
had been struck down ; and to crown all, an armed force,
VOL. i. 20
306 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
that favorite weapon of tyrants, had been quartered upon
the people to enforce their obedience to a system which the
most illustrious statesmen of England had viewed with grief
and horror, and had denounced as unjust with all the force
of eloquence and reasoning. A more righteous cause never
animated human breast than theirs. They demanded sim
ply the privileges belonging to all other subjects of Great
Britain, privileges which no one pretended to deny to such
as resided in England. It was little to ask, but it involved
their liberties and those of their posterity forever. Those
great intellects in the British Parliament, whose sagacious
minds reached far into the future, saw and knew the justice
of the demand ; and the most magnificent bursts of Parlia
mentary eloquence which adorn the pages of English history
are those arising from the generous advocacy of American
rights.
We must thus look back from the point we have reached
in order properly to estimate the position of the people of
Boston at this juncture. They had right on their side, and
their opposition was always carefully kept within the limits
of the law. Not one act had been committed that could af
ford their enemies the slightest hold upon them. Read any
account, and when sifted to the truth, it will appear that
nothing was done hastily, nor was any measure accomplished
which Britons should not have felt proud of, as evincing a
spirit and loyalty combined honorable to their race. To
have tamely submitted without remonstrance to the insane
policy inaugurated by Grenville would have been to give
the lie to their ancestry, and to put to shame the efforts of
their great advocates in Parliament. Exasperated by the
presence of the soldiers, whose bloodthirsty desires were
well known, and sensible that all conciliatory means had
been exhausted, the people of Boston cannot be blamed for
viewing the troops as foreign enemies ; and when we con
sider the aggravating events of the past two years, it is a
matter of surprise that bloody meetings did not occur shortly
after the arrival of the military.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 307
Bruising affrays between the soldiers and the people had
become common occurrences, and had stung the minds
of both to a pitch where a fatal collision could not much
longer be averted. Should it occur, upon whom should the
blame be placed ? Each party cordially hated the other.
The presence of the soldiers caused the strife, and upon those
who had sent for them should rest the responsibility. If, in
the frequent fist and cudgel encounters in different parts of
the town, that party who controlled the murderous weapons
of death should slaughter the others, however much exasper
ated, what other word but " massacre " could suit the case ?
And this is especially so, if the most irrefragible evidence
exists that the military had repeatedly expressed their savage
wish for an opportunity to fire upon the people. The events
which occurred early in March, 1770, have been recounted
by more than one recent narrator as having been produced
by the assaults of the people upon the soldiers, who fired in
self-defence. The proofs to the contrary are voluminous.
That the soldiers, disgusted with their long inaction, and
maddened by their inability to interfere with the legal pro
ceedings of the townspeople, were impatient to fire, there is
abundant evidence. The letters of General Gage, reporting
the language of Col. Dalrymple, those of Hutchinson, and
many affidavits, show the anxiety of the soldiery to be let
loose upon the citizens ; and such desires were constantly
sharpened by the results of their broils with the working-
men, who were always eager to test the assumed physical
superiority of their antagonists, and were misled by impru
dent and headstrong advisers, who knew how to inflame
the passions of their hearers, and who considered that
the cause would be assisted by precipitating a collision.
For such men prudence is stupid inaction ; and the far-
seeing caution which waits calmly for events, the tameness
of submission. Knowing the rancor existing between the
people and the soldiers, the officers could have kept their
men w.ithin the barracks at proper hours. The shedding of
308 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
blood might thus have been prevented, but a lack of care on
both sides hastened the event. The first affair of any im
portance occurred on Friday, the second day of March,
There now remained the Fourteenth and Twenty-ninth Reg
iments in the town, the latter of whom had been stationed
near Gray s and Mr. Neill s rope walks, where the workmen
were generally high-spirited young men, and ready at all
times for a brush. The proximity of the barracks to this
place soon brought the hands and the troops into hostile
positions. Two of the soldiers had previously encountered
one of the ropewalk men near the foot of King Street, where
he knocked them down for some insult. Several of the sol
diers armed themselves with clubs and swords, and proceed
ed to Gray s ropewalk, vowing revenge. The result of their
visit is given in the affidavits taken several days later to trace
the origin of the massacre which soon after occurred.
(No. 5.)
" I, Nicholas Feriter, of lawful age, testify that on Friday, the 2d
instant, about half after eleven o clock, A. M., a soldier of the 29th
Regiment came to Mr. John Gray s ropewalks, and, looking into one
of the windows, said, "By God, I ll have satisfaction!" with many
other oaths ; at the last he said, he was not afraid of any one in the
ropewalks. I stepped out of the window and speedily knocked up
his heels. On falling, his coat flew open, and a naked sword ap
peared ; which one John Wilson, following me out, took from him,
and brought into the ropewalks. The soldier then went to Green s
barrack, and in about twenty minutes returned with eight or nine
more soldiers armed with clubs, and began, as I was told, with three
or four men in Mr. Gray s warehouse, asking them why they had
abused the soldier aforesaid ? These men in the warehouse passed
the word down the walk for the hands to come up, which they did,
and soon beat them off. In a few minutes the soldiers appeared
again at the same place, reinforced to the number of thirty or forty,
armed with clubs and cutlasses, and headed by a tall negro drummer
with a cutlass chained to his body, with which, at first rencounter, I
received a cut on the head; but being immediately supported by
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 309
nine or ten more of the ropemakers, armed with their wouldring-
sticks, we again beat them off. And further I say not."
(No. 6.)
"I, Jeffrey Richardson, of lawful age, testify and say that on Fri
day, the 2d instant, about eleven o clock, A. M., eight or ten soldiers
of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, armed with clubs, came to Mr. John
Gray s ropewalks, and challenged all the ropemakers to come out and
fight them. All the hands then present, to the number of thirteen
or fourteen, turned out with their wouldring-sticks, and beat them off
directly. They very speedily returned to the ropewalk, reinforced to
the number of thirty or forty, and headed by a tall negro drummer,
again challenged them out ; which the same hands accepting, again
beat them off with considerable bruises. And further I say not."
(No. 8.)
" I, John Hill, aged sixty-nine, testify that in the forenoon of Fri
day, the 2d of March current, I was at a house, the corner of a pas
sage-way leading from Atkinson s Street to Mr. John Gray s rope-
walks, near Green s Barracks, so called, when I saw eight or ten
soldiers pass the window with clubs. I immediately got up and
went to the door, and found them returning from the ropewalks to
the barracks ; whence they again very speedily reappeared, now in
creased to the number of thirty or forty, armed with clubs and other
weapons. In this latter company was a tall negro drummer, to
whom I called, You black rascal, what have you to do with white
people s quarrels ? He answered, I suppose I may look on/ and
went forward. I went out directly, anti commanded the peace, tell
ing them I was in commission. But they, not regarding me, knocked
down a ropemaker in my presence ; and two or three of them beat
ing him with clubs, I endeavored to relieve him ; but on approach
ing the fellows who were mauling him, one of them with a great club
struck at me with such violence, that had I not happily avoided, it
might have been fatal to me. The party last mentioned rushed in
towards the ropewalks, and attacked the ropemakers nigh the tar-
kettle, but were soon beat off, drove out of the passage-way by which
they entered, and were followed by the ropemakers, whom I persuad
ed to go back, and they readily obeyed. And further I say not." l
1 Depositions in the Appendix of A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massa
cre in Boston, etc.
310 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
Mr. Gray, the proprietor, here interposed, and subse
quently called on. Colonel Dalrymple in relation to the affair.
The commander admitted that Mr. Gray s account agreed
with what he had heard from his own people, but that one
of the hands in the ropewalk had been the aggressor by
using some coarse language to a soldier. The offending
journeyman, William Green, was thereupon discharged as
an example to the rest. 1 The soldiers, however, considered
that the honor of their regiment was tarnished, and they
prepared for revenge on the following Monday, and made
bludgeons for the contest. On Sunday evening some of
them went about among their particular acquaintances, ad
vising them not to be abroad on Monday night, as there was
to be bloodshed. In most of these instances they gave the
warning impressively, and repeated it a number of times,
urging the listeners to remain within doors, and conveying
the idea that some tragedy was in preparation. Threats
were made that they " would wet their swords or bayonets
in New England people s blood." 2 Mr. Adams, who was
well qualified to know, was afterwards convinced, and so
stated publicly, that a sanguinary scene had been precon
certed among the soldiers. 3
There had been a fall of snow during Monday, the 5th,
but as night approached the sky was clear, and the moon in
its first quarter 4 shed a white sheen upon the frosted streets
and house-tops. Many people were abroad in clusters, as
though expecting some event. As darkness came on., " par
ties of soldiers were driving about the streets," 5 an unusual
thing at that hour ; they should have been confined to their
barracks. Some of them, as they hurried along, struck the
inhabitants indiscriminately with their sheathed cutlasses and
Affidavit of John Gray (No. 9).
Affidavit of Daniel Calfe (No. 40).
Samuel Adams s writings as " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, during
th
winter of 1771.
K. T. Paine at the trial of the soldiers.
Hutchinson s History, III. 271.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 311
sticks, and seemed anxious to provoke an affray. 1 A num
ber of them came out of Boylston s Alley into the street,
rushing with uplifted weapons upon unoffending people ;
others hastened through King Street and Cornhill towards
Murray s Barracks, with drawn swords and cutlasses, making
at spectators at their doorways, shouting and ready for a
conflict, abusing the citizens, and threatening their lives.
Persons walking the streets were attacked, and affrays en
sued. 2 The loud defiance and furious behavior of the sol
diers, which was like that of madmen, caused some boys to
ring the bell quickly at the head of King Street. The people
thus alarmed, gathered with clubs and sticks, shouting,
" Town-born, turn out ! " Ensign Mall, at the gate of the
barrack-yard, urged the soldiers forward. " Turn out," he
cried, " I will stand by you ; kill them ; stick them ; knock
them down ; run your bayonets through them ! " 3 " Damn
your blood," said a soldier to a knot of citizens near the bar
rack-gate, " I will walk a lane through you all " ; and kneel
ing on one knee, with his musket ready, he was only prevent
ed from firing by a lieutenant, who interfered, and pushed
him towards the barracks. 4 " Where are the damned cow
ards ? Where are your Liberty boys ? " was the cry, as a
gang of thirteen or fourteen soldiers appeared in King
Street, near the watch-house. 5 Another party of five passed
on, cursing and shouting, " Where are they ? cut them to
pieces ! " 6
" The soldiers are in Cornhill and Dock Square, with their
drawn cutlasses, cutting and slashing everybody in their
way," said one in distress ; " the inhabitants want help ;
pray, gentlemen, run ! " 7 "Do you intend to murder peo
ple ?" asked a man from on board a vessel in the town
Bancroft, VI. 337. 2 Several affidavits in the Short Narrative.
James Kirkwood s affidavit (No 36).
Dr. Hiron s testimony at the trial.
William Le Baron s affidavit (No 26), and William Tyler (No. 24).
Nathaniel Thayer s affidavit (No. 28).
John Coburn s affidavit (No. 33).
312 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
dock. " Yes, by God, root and branch," replied a soldier,
and followed up the threat with a blow from his club. 1
A barber s apprentice, from among the crowd of boys in
King Street, observing Captain Goldfinch crossing, called
out, " There goes a mean fellow, who has not paid my mas
ter for dressing his hair last night ! " 2 Upon this, the sentry
left his post at the custom-house, and followed the lad into
the street, saying, " Show your face." " I am not ashamed
to show my face to any man," he answered ; when the sol
dier gave him a sweeping stroke on the head with his mus
ket, making him reel, stagger, and cry. 3
In Dock Square, " a tall gentleman in a large white wig
and red cloak " appeared, and, standing in the midst of the
people, spoke to them briefly, so that " they were whist for
some time." 4 It has never been ascertained who he was,
nor did those who listened to his speech ever give any clew
afterwards to its purport.// The loyalists subsequently en
deavored to show that his remarks and actions were of an
incendiary character ; and Judge Oliver in his charge to the
jury, at the trial, made " the tall man with the red cloak and
white wig " the special subject of his animadversion. If the
people knew him, their secret died with them. The Tories
generally believed it to have been Samuel Adams ; and one
of their writers, in a controversy with him during the trial,
pointedly threatens to bring out facts to prove who the per
son was, if he desired it ; 5 which Mr. Adams, in his reply as
" Vindex," invites him to do, because it had been injuriously
asserted that, owing to the peculiarity of his dress, he must
have been one " holding office in the town." The red cloak
was frequently worn at this time by gentlemen of the Prov
ince ; and Copley s painting of Adams, taken soon after this
1 Samuel Atwood s affidavit (No. 35).
2 Evidence in Preston s Trial.
3 Bartholomew Broaders s affidavit (No. 38).
* Evidence at the trial, quoted by " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec.
24, 1770.
6 " Philanthrop," in the Evening Post, December, 1770.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 313
time, represents him in red clothing; but Samuel Adams
was not a tall man, but of about medium stature. Hancock
and he were both then " in office," as members of the Legis
lature, and Hancock was the taller of the two. One of the
lieutenants of the Fourteenth, in conversation with Joseph
Allen, pointed to Molineux as the real author of the troub
les, but gave no reason for the opinion. Mr. Adams says, in
reply to a loyalist writer on the subject, " As it is not known
what the tall gentleman with the red cloak said to the people,
whether he gave them good or ill advice, or any advice at
all, we may probably form some conjecture concerning it
when his person is ascertained." The writer leaves no
chance to fix the identity upon himself or others. Whoever
he was, the influence of this mysterious personage was ex
erted to disperse the people and restore peace, and not to
excite the populace as has been represented. None of the
crown witnesses were able to give the slightest hint as to the
tenor of his remarks, except that they were followed by a
space of quiet. There is testimony to prove that a promi
nent citizen urged the officers to order their soldiers into the
barracks, and upon their promise to do so, the same person
advised the people to disperse, upon which the cry of
" Home ! home ! " was raised ; but others shouted, " Hurrah
for the main guard ! there is the nest ! " and some started
in that direction at the head of King Street. *
A sentinel was stationed at the door of the custom-house,
situated at what is now the corner of State and Exchange
Streets. A party of mischievous boys gathered round, and
pelted him with snowballs, and pushed each other towards
him, fully believing that he would not dare to fire without
the civil authority. Even while he loaded and primed his
musket, and knocked the breech upon the stone steps to
settle the charge, they shouted, " Fire, and be damned ! "
" The lobster dare not fire ! " laughing, huzzaing, and pip
ing the boatswain s whistle through their fingers. " If you
1 Testimony of Dr. Hiron at the trial. Richard Palmes s affidavit (No. 53).
314 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
come near me," said he, "I will blow your brains out;
stand off "; l and he called for the main guard to turn out,
while a servant ran to the guard-house near by, and said,
" They are killing the sentinel, turn out the guard."
Preston, who was captain of the day, at once detached
seven or eight men of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, headed by
a corporal, and followed himself with a drawn sword. They
went down upon the run, swinging their guns and rushing
through the people with fixed bayonets, pushing to and fro,
cursing and shouting, " Make way, damn you, make way."
As the people stood aside to let them pass, Fosdick remained
and faced them. " Damn you, stand out of the way," said
the soldiers. " I will move for no man under heaven," was
the sturdy response ; " I have offended no one." And they
passed by him, and, arriving at the sentry-box, formed in a
semicircle around it. 2 As they hurried on, a gentleman
who knew Preston said, " For God s sake, keep your men in
order, and mind what you are about." 3 The Captain, with
out replying, commanded his men to prime and load, and,
afterwards going before them, put up their levelled pieces to
an upright posture. 4 Not more than two hundred persons
were in the street as the soldiers charged by ; and, at their
appearance, this number had so far dispersed that not more
than fifty or sixty remained in King Street, some standing
on the door-sills of the opposite houses.
" I took Captain Preston by the coat," are the words of
Henry Knox in his affidavit, " and told him for God s sake
to take his men back again ; for if they fired, his life must
answer for the consequence. He replied he was sensible
of it, or knew what he was about, or words to that purpose,
and seemed in great haste and much agitated." 5 Richard
i Affidavits of William Tant (No. 45), Thomas Cain (No. 46), Daniel
Usher (No. 71), Joshua Simpson (No. 65).
1 Nathaniel Fosdick s affidavit (No. 51).
3 William Wyat s affidavit (No. 54).
* Peter Cunningham s affidavit (No. 47).
6 Affidavit of Henry Knox (No. 55).
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 315
Palmes, seeing the muskets breast high, with bayonets fixed,
approached Preston, and asked him if they were loaded. His
answer was that they were, with powder and ball. " I hope,"
continued Palmes, " you do not intend to fire on the inhab
itants." " By no means," replied Preston. 1
After the arrival of the troops at the sentry-box, the peo
ple had remained quiet until they saw the loading of the
muskets, when a number of them, mostly boys, gave three
cheers, and calling the soldiers " cowardly rascals " for
" bringing arms against naked men," passed along in front,
some of them striking the muskets as they went by, and dar
ing the soldiers as " bloody backs " and " lobster scoundrels "
to fire. " Lay aside your guns, and we are ready for you ;
fire if you dare ! " " You dare not fire ! " 2 The boys
laughed, shouted, whistled, and hurrahed, and a few snow
balls were thrown at the soldiers. Among these were Mont
gomery and Kilroy, who had been of the party beaten by the
rope walk-hands on the previous Friday. A stick was thrown,
striking the gun of the former, when the order to present
was given, and Simpson, who knew what the next word was
likely to be, stooped low to avoid the discharge. Then a
voice, believed by some to be Preston s, though the fact was
never proved, cried, " Fire ! " 3 and, stepping aside, Mont
gomery discharged his gun, and shot Attucks, a negro, who
had until recently been a slave in an interior town, and was
particularly noisy during the evening. The order to fire
was repeated in a loud voice, " Damn your blood, fire !
be the consequence what it will." A shot from Kilroy
quickly succeeded, though Langford, the watchman, who
looked him full in the face, besought him to hold. The sol
dier pointed his piece, and fired directly for the head of
Samuel Gray, who was passing towards where Attucks had
fallen ; and Gray, after struggling, turned round upon his
1 Richard Palmes s affidavit (No. 53). 2 Preston s Case.
8 Josiah Simpson s affidavit No. (65).
4 William Wyat s affidavit (No. 54).
316 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
heel and fell dead. 1 The remainder of the squad fired in
succession upon the people, one aiming at a boy, who was
running for safety. 2 In all, three persons were killed, and
eight wounded ; and of the eleven, but one had taken any
part in the disturbance.
"I hear," wrote the Lieu tenant- Govern or, " of but one of the dead
or wounded who attacked or insulted the soldiers. The rest seem
to be innocent passengers or spectators. It s a great wonder many
more were not killed." 3
The soldiers immediately reloaded their muskets, and
now, infuriated with the sight of blood, were preparing to
fire again, when checked by their commanding officer. 4 The
Twenty-ninth Regiment marched into King Street, and
formed in three divisions, the front one as for platoon
firing. 5 Soldiers of the Fourteenth at Green s Barracks, on
hearing the firing, gave three cheers, and ran with their
muskets to King Street, some of them saying, " This is all
that we want," 6 " This is our time." " Dogs were never so
greedy for their prey." 7 " I wish," said the surgeon of the
Fourteenth, " that, instead of five or six, they had killed five
hundred." 8 " Damn you," said one of the soldiers, " I
would kill a thousand of them." The snow lay nearly a
foot deep, 9 and was "crimson" with the blood of the slain.
Several ran forward to the assistance of the wounded ; and,
as they stooped to remove them, the troops prepared to fire
again, but were restrained. 10
Instantly the alarm was sounded. The town drums beat,
Charles Hobby (No. 44).
Ebenezer Bridgman s testimony at the trial.
Hutchinson to some person unknown, March, 1770.
Preston s Case. 5 Richard Palmes (No. 53).
Affidavit of Mary Gardner (No. 86).
William Fallass (No. 85). 8 Ephraim Fenno (No. 91).
Dimond Morton (No. 62), and John Wilson (No. 66).
10 Affidavit of Samuel Condon (No. 48); Benjamin Burdick (No. 43);
Thomas Cain (No. 46) Bancroft, VI. 340.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 317
and the bells in the churches were rung. " The soldiers are
rising ! to arms ! to arms ! " was the cry. " Turn out with
your guns," "Town-born, turn out! " "Language," said
Warren, two years later, as he described the scene, " is too
feeble to paint the emotion of our souls when our streets
were stained with the blood of our brethren, when our
ears were wounded with the groans of the dying, and our
eyes were tormented with the sight of the mangled bodies of
the dead Our hearts beat to arms ; we snatched our
weapons, almost resolved by one decisive stroke to avenge the
deaths of our slaughtered brethren." l
Upon the fearful clangor of bells and drums the popula
tion rushed forth, and the usual stillness of the night was
converted into a tumultuous confusion as they pressed to
wards the scene of slaughter. Artisans from the ship-yards,
shopmen, ropewalk-hands, gentlemen, sailors, men of all
classes and avocations, goaded to madness, ran through the
snow-clogged, frozen streets, ready for the conflict. But the
character of Boston vindicated itself even in that awful hour.
" Propitious Heaven," continues Warren, " forbade the bloody
carnage." Patriots stood firm and self-possessed, and still
turned for justice to the law before adopting sterner meas
ures. The Lieutenant-Governor was called, and repairing
to the Council Chamber, from the balcony he desired the
surging throng to hear him speak. He requested them to
disperse, promising to inquire into the affair in the morn
ing ; that " the law should take its course " ; that he would
"live and die by the law." He was requested to order
the troops to their barracks. "It is not in my power," an
swered Hutchinson ; " I have no command over the troops.
It is with Colonel Dalrymple, and not with me." A gentle
man asked him to look out of the window facing the main
guard, to see the position of the soldiers, who were drawn
up, apparently ready to fire again on the people. " After a
1 Warren s Oration, delivered March 5th, 1772, to commemorate the bloody
tragedy of the 5th of March, 1770.
318 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
good deal of persuasion," his Honor did so, and then desired
Colonel Carr to send the troops to their barracks in the same
order they were then in ; and soon after, they shouldered
arms, and were marched to the guard-room and barracks. 1
Pacified for the time by the confinement of the soldiers, and
the assurances of Hutchinson that instant inquiries should
be made by the county magistrate, the body of the people
retired, leaving about a hundred to keep watch on the exam
ination, which proceeded until three o clock on the following
morning. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Preston,
and the soldiers concerned in the firing were committed to
prison. 2
1 Kichard Palmes s affidavit. 2 Hutchinsoa s History, HI. 273.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Town and County Authorities apply to Hutchinson for the Removal of the
Troops. They are unsuccessful. Town Meeting at Faneuil Hall. A
Committee, headed by Adams, appear before Hutchinson and the Council, and
renew the Demand. Hutchinson desires to parley, and makes an Evasive
Reply. Adams reports to the People at the Old South, who intrust him
with the Final Issue. Memorable Scene in the Council Chamber. Ad
ams overawes the Governor, and the Troops are sent to the Castle. " Sam
Adams s Regiments." Trial of the Soldiers. Adams causes John Adams
and Quincy to be retained as their Counsel, and Paine to conduct the Pros
ecution. Controversy between " Vindex " and " Philanthrop."
THE selectmen and the justices of the county waited upon
Hutchinson early the next morning at the Council Chamber,
where they assured him that nothing would satisfy them but
positive orders that the troops should be removed from the
town. Hutchinson repeated his words of the night before,
that the power to remove the troops did not rest with him,
but that he would send for Colonels Dalrymple and Carr,
and advise with them in Council.* The people meantime
had assembled at eleven o clock at Faneuil Hall, and de
spatched a messenger to the Council Chamber, desiring the
attendance of the selectmen, who were still awaiting an an
swer from the Lieutenant-Governor. On their arrival, the
meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Cooper,
who had been specially sent for, when Samuel Adams ad
dressed the assembly with a nervous, impressive energy, pe
culiar to himself. f A committee of fifteen was appointed to
inform his Honor, the Lieutenant-Governor, of the unani
mous opinion of the meeting, that the inhabitants and sol
diery could no longer dwell together in safety, and that
blood and carnage could be prevented only by their instant
* Massachusetts Gazette, March 8, 1770.
t Sketch of Samuel Adams, by his grandson, S. A. Wells, in the Biogra
phy of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. 1829.
320 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
removal.* Headed by Samuel Adams, the committee pro
ceeded to the Council Chamber, and laid the demand before
his Honor, to whose desire for a parley they replied briefly
that the people not only of Boston, but of all the country
round, were determined the troops should be removed.
Hutchinson reminded them that an attack on the King s
troops was treason, and involved a forfeiture of the lives and
estates of all concerned. The committee, who had not
come for words, merely reiterated their demand, and with
drew into another room, awaiting an answer. f Hutchinson,
after some discussion with the Council and Dalrymple, re
plied that he regretted the " unhappy differences " which had
arisen, but that as the commanding officers of the troops re
ceived their orders from the General at New York, it was
not in his power to countermand those orders. The Twenty-
ninth R-egiment, which had been particularly concerned in
the late differences, Dalrymple had signified to him should
be placed without delay in the Castle, until orders could be
received from the General for both regiments. The com
manding officer had also promised that the main guard
should be removed, and the Fourteenth Regiment be placed
under restraint.:}:
At three o clock the people convened to hear the report
of the committee ; but as Faneuil Hall would not contain the
throng which had been pouring into town all day across the
Neck, they adjourned to the Old South Meeting-house. An
anxious multitude filled the street between the State House
and the church. Then the committee, led by Samuel Ad
ams, his head bared in reverence to the occasion, and his
gray locks flowing in the wind, issued from the Council
Chamber. " Make way for the committee," was the cry,
* Boston Town Records, March, 1770.
t Bancroft, VI. 342. Hutchinson, III. 274.
J Reply of the Lieutenant-Governor to the Committee (Boston Town Rec
ords, March 6, 1770).
Bancroft, VI. 343.
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 321
as the masses parted on either side to give them room.
None but the committee knew the purport of the answer,
and on that answer none doubted that the issue of peace or
bloody strife was suspended. The public indignation was
ready to burst forth in one wild tumult of revenge for long-
suffered injuries, a revenge which the soldiers and citizens
alike knew was in the power of the populous and determined
Province. On reaching the church, the committee were
ushered into the presence of a densely-packed audience, fill
ing the body of the edifice, and crowding into all the galler
ies ; and to that eager assemblage Adams read the response
of the Lieutenant-Governor, which had been delivered to
him in writing. This he pronounced insufficient. A mo
ment of silence ensued, and then the question was put by
the chairman whether the answer was satisfactory, and a
unanimous " No " was thundered forth from three thousand
mouths, with an emphasis that must have made the rafters
of " Dr. Sewall/s meeting-house " tremble with the pealing
enunciation. One voice only responded " Ay ! " and the
circumstance was recorded by the town clerk, that there
was " one dissentient" * A new committee was immediately
raised, of which Samuel Adams was the prolocutor, to make
the final demand for the total evacuation of the town by
the troops. The committee again repaired to the Coun
cil Chamber, where Hutchinson and the Council, the two
Lieutenani^Colonels, and the commander of the " Rose "
war-ship, then on the station, were assembled awaiting the
result.
It was now late in the afternoon, and at that season dark
ness was at hand. The Council Chamber presented a mem
orable scene, such as that generation of Americans had
never witnessed. " The great town of Boston," as the cap
ital of New England had been called by geographers, was
then the centre of population and wealth in that part of
the continent, and all the formality and majesty of govern-
* Boston Town Kecords, March 6, 1770.
VOL. i. 21
322 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
ment was there exhibited. The full pageant of the royal
authority, civic and military, was now displayed, rendered
the more impressive by the declining light of a winter s day,
dimly struggling through the ancient windows.
John Adams, who was not present at this interview, thus
refers to the Council Chamber, as it suggested itself to him
after forty-seven years had elapsed :
" Now for the picture. The theatre and the scenery are the same
with those at the discussion of the Writs of Assistance. The same
glorious portraits of King Charles the Second, and King James the
Second, to which might be added, and should be added, little miser
able likenesses of Governor Winthrop, Governor Bradstreet, Gov
ernor Endicott, and Governor Belcher, hung up in obscure corners
of the room. Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, Commander-in-
Chief in the absence of the Governor, must be placed at the head
of the Council-table. Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple, Commander-
in-Chief of his Majesty s military forces, taking rank of all his Ma
jesty s Councillors, must be seated by the side of the Lieutenant-
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province. Eight-and-
twenty councillors must be painted, all seated at the Council-board.
Let me see, what costume ? What was the fashion of that day
in the month of March ? Large white wigs, English scarlet-cloth
coats, some of them with gold-laced hats ; not on their heads indeed
in so august a presence, but on the table before them or under the
table beneath them. Before these illustrious personages appeared
SAMUEL ADAMS, a member of the House of Representatives and
their clerk, now at the head of the committee of the great assembly
at the Old South Church." *
Such is the grouping for a national painting, as suggested
by the venerable ex-President in April, 1817.
Samuel Adams, as chairman of the committee, addressed
himself to the Lieutenant-Governor in the name of the town,
his voice rising in clear and audible tones. John Adams
says, " He represented the state of the town and the country,
the dangerous, ruinous, and fatal effects of standing armies
* John Adams to William Tudor (Works, X. 249).
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 323
in populous cities in time of peace, and the determined
resolution of the public that the regular troops, at all
events, should be removed from the town." Gordon, de
scribing the scene, says that Adams continued talking in
such a resolute tone and with such strong implications as
to communicate his own nervous trembling to Colonel Dal-
rymple.* " It is the unanimous opinion of the meeting,"
said Adams, " that the reply to the vote of the inhabitants
in the morning is by no means satisfactory ; nothing less
will satisfy them than a total and immediate removal of the
troops." Hutchinson had already intimated that one regi
ment, the Twenty-ninth, should be removed. He now re
plied, repeating his former statement : " The troops are not
subject to my authority ; I have no power to remove them."
The mighty spirit of the Revolution then arose to the coun-
tenance of the " great incendiary." Drawing himself up to
his full height, determination, as often in times of public
exigency, flashing from his clear blue eye, he stretched forth
his arm, " which slightly shook with the energy of his soul,"
and, gazing steadfastly upon the Lieutenant-Governor, re
plied : " If you have the power to remove one regiment, you
have power to remove loth. It is at your peril if you refuse.
The meeting is composed of three thousand people. They
are become impatient. A thousand men are already arrived
from the neighborhood, and the whole country is in motion.
Night is approaching. An immediate answer is expected.
Both regiments or none ! "f Hutchinson saw that a crisis
had arrived which no subterfuge could evade. The issue was
fairly presented, and a direct answer demanded. The irres
olute Chief-Magistrate, surrounded by the insignia of power,
was no match for the iron man of the people who confronted
* History, I. 328.
t Bancroft, VI. 344. Andrew Oliver s Deposition. Life of Elbridge Gerry,
I. 360. Boston Patriot for July 26, 1826. Manuscript Sketch of Samuel
Adams by his daughter, Mrs. Hannah Wells, 1804. Hutchinson to Bernard,
March 18, 1770. Barry s History of Massachusetts, 11.417. John Adams to
William Tudor and Jedediah Morse.
324 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
him. He quailed before the greatness, the majesty, of patri
otism. Adams never despised him more than at that mo
ment.
" You compare him," said he, not long afterwards, to his friend
James Warren, "to Julius Caesar, that public executioner of his
country s rights. He has, it is true, Caesar s ambition and lust of
power ; but who ever yet suspected that he had Caesar s courage ?
Recollect the time when he was obliged to abandon the troops by
which he had hoped to awe the people. It was then, if fancy de
ceived me not, I observed his knees to tremble. I thought I saw
his face grow pale (and I enjoyed the sight) at the appearance of
the determined citizens peremptorily demanding the redress of
grievances." *
The whole assemblage of royalty, in fact, stood abashed
before the patriot. The Lieutenant-Governor now applied
to his Council for advice. " They are not," responded Ty
ler, " such a people as formerly pulled down your house,
who conduct the present measures. No ; they are people
of the best characters among us, men of estates, men of
religion. They have formed their plan for removing the
troops out of town ; and it is impossible they should remain
in it. The people will come in from the neighboring towns ;
there will be ten thousand men to effect the removal of the
troops, be the consequence what it may." f Dalrymple,
who stood near, repeated the assurance that it was " impos
sible to go any further lengths in this matter." Gray and
Irving, of the Council, recommended the removal ; and the
word was at last given. J
The committee, having received the decision of the Lieu-
tenant-Governor, returned to the meeting, bearing the
promise of Colonel Dalrymple, " that he would begin the
preparation in the morning, and that there should be no
unnecessary delay until the whole of the two regiments were
* Samuel Adams to James Warren, March 25, 1771.
t Gordon s History, I. 288, 289.
J Bancroft, VI. 345, 346.
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 325
removed to the Castle." * The report being read, " the in
habitants," so say the records, " could not but express the
high satisfaction which it afforded them," which, we may
presume, means that they burst into a storm of joyous ap
plause.
It was then resolved to establish a strong night-watch
" for the protection of the town "; and the committee, who
had just returned from the interview at the Council Cham
ber, having offered their services for that night, they were
authorized to detail such of the people as they should think
proper, and also to appoint the watches for the ensuing
nights. Besides Adams, this committee consisted of John
Hancock, William Molineux, William Phillips, Dr. Joseph
Warren, Joshua Henshaw, and Samuel Pemberton. Hav
ing agreed upon a place of rendezvous, in case of any dis
turbance in the night, and taking some account of how the
town s people were armed, the meeting adjourned. f
The effect of this victory of a plain democratic committee,
asserting their rights before the representative of majesty,
encouraged the spirit of freedom, by showing that deter
mination and persistency of purpose could accomplish im
portant results. That a repeated refusal to remove the
troops would have produced bloodshed, and perhaps have
hastened the separation from Great Britain, must be in
ferred from the spirit manifested by the populace. Warren,
a few years later, asserted that " It was Royal George s
livery alone that saved the soldiers from annihilation ; and
calm reason dictated a method of removing the troops more
mild than an immediate recourse to the sword."
" I have the strongest reason to believe," he continues, " that I
have mentioned the only circumstance which saved the troops from
destruction. It was then, and now is, the opinion of those who were
best acquainted with the state of affairs at that time, that, had thrice
that number of troops belonging to any power at open war with us
* Boston Town Records. t Idem.
LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
been in this town in the same exposed condition, scarce a man would
have lived to have seen the morning light."*
" If the troops had not been removed," wrote Hutchinson
soon after these events, " we should have been to this time in
a perfect convulsion, unless they had been overpowered and
destroyed." f "A gentleman of the Council told me," said
a correspondent of Hutchinson s, " that he had no doubt that
ten thousand men would have marched from this Province
(New Hampshire) to Boston, had there been occasion." J
The account that Lord North received of the scene in the
Council Room impressed him so, that he always afterwards
referred to the troops then in Boston as " Sam Adams s
Regiments"
The Governor s apprehensions of violence were this time
well founded. The language and bearing of Samuel Adams
in the Council Chamber had penetrated deep into the mind
of Hutahinson. " It was a strong expression," he says, " of
that determined spirit which animated all future meas
ures." That determined spirit, as manifested in Adams,
meant American Independence, which had become a fixed
idea in his mind, since the commencement of military rule.
It was still his policy to express in all his writings a hope
of conciliation, but final separation was now the moving
spring of his actions, and he made advances towards that
point with a resolute purpose and unalterable will, guarded
always by the sagacity and caution which tempered every
movement. The ball had been in motion since the summer
ot 1768. Every step taken from that time was so much
space lessened between the idea and its accomplishment.
His every act thenceforth, properly studied, reveals the all-
absorbing purpose. Prudence, indeed, demanded a keen
inspection of the approaches to the great goal, a thorough
knowledge and schooling of the popular mind, patience to
* Warren s Oration, March 5, 1772.
t Hutchinson to some person unknown, March, 1770.
J Nathaniel Rogers, in Portsmouth, to Hutchinson, March 12, 1770.
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 327
await the bringing up of less ardent temperaments, firmness
to restrain the rash, fortitude to abide the issue, genius to
invent and control great measures, which should gradually
produce the coveted result. But through all he never
doubted the ability of the country to conquer in the end.
Repeatedly, between 1768 and 1775, he refers to the future
in a manner showing that, should events precipitate the
crisis, he considered the country able to meet it.
The week was occupied in the transportation of the troops
and their equipages ; and meantime, the town, not satisfied
with their tardy action, appointed the former committee to
inquire explicitly when the removal would be completely
effected ; to which Dalrymple replied, " That no man of the
Twenty-ninth Regiment was now in town, and that between
Thursday night and Friday mbrning not one of the Four
teenth, except himself, should remain."* The night-watch
continued in organization, under the town s committee, until
every soldier had left for Castle William. " The whole mi
litia of the city," says John Adams, " was in requisition, and
military watches and guards were everywhere placed. We
were all upon a level ; no man was exempted ; our military
officers were our superiors. I had the honor to be sum
moned in my turn, and attended at the State-House with
my musket and bayonet, my broadsword and cartridge-box,
under the command of the famous Paddock. "f
Before the departure of the troops, the funeral of the slain
took place ; and as this was during the continuance of the
public watch kept by the citizens, the latest sentiment of the
soldiers was one of rage and humiliation. The assemblage
was the largest that had ever been known. The bells of
Boston and the neighboring towns were tolled, and many
of the shops were shut. The four hearses, arriving from
different localities, formed a junction in King Street, upon
the spot where the tragedy occurred, whence the procession
* Boston Town Records, March 12, 1770.
t John Adams s Works, X. 251.
328 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
marched six deep through the main street to the middle bur
ial-ground, where the bodies were deposited in one grave.*
Knowing that false accounts would reach England, the
town appointed a committee, consisting of James Bowdoin,
Joseph Warren, and Samuel Pemberton, to prepare a narra
tive of the Massacre, which was sent to the principal friends
of America ; while the committee who had appeared before
Hutchinson in the Council Chamber addressed Thomas
Pownall in London, through the pen of Mr. Adams, briefly
detailing the circumstances of the affair, and desiring him to
prevent any ill impressions upon the minds of the Ministry,
until the full narrative could be forwarded by the next con
veyance, f The affidavits accompanying the narrative were
taken openly before two justices of the peace, and in the
presence of men representing all parties. Colonel Dalrymple
was duly notified to attend the captions, and no unbiassed
person questioned the fairness of the proceeding. A num
ber of ex parte affidavits, taken in secret .and sent to Eng
land to give a different coloring to the circumstances, and a
grossly false statement, called " The Case of Captain Thomas
Preston," attempted to prejudice the government still fur
ther against the town ; but the falsity of these representa
tions were afterwards shown by Mr. Adams in his corre
spondence with Dr. Franklin, and even Preston himself
admitted that his statement had been at different times
altered after it left his hands.
The opposition to the soldiery had thus far been confined
strictly to legal measures on the part of the town. Even the
shedding of innocent blood had resulted in no retaliation,
save the peremptory demand for the removal of the troops,
which the royal authorities had not dared to refuse. But
the town determined that the supremacy of the law should
still further be maintained. It was resolved to bring the
soldiers to trial; and, at the urgent solicitation of Samuel
* Boston newspapers, March 12 and 15, 1770.
t ^Narrative of the Boston Massacre, p. 7.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 329
Adams and his associates, John Adams and Josiah Quincy
consented to become the counsel for the prisoners.* The
task, which was a severe ordeal for such men in such times,
required great self-sacrifice and a degree of magnanimity
on the part of these patriotic lawyers which cannot be ap
preciated at this distant day. The consent of Quincy was
obtained " in Mr. Adams s house, where an interview was
had for the purpose." Samuel Adams was particularly de
sirous that the town should be absolved from any charge of
unfairness, and that every opportunity of defence should be
furnished to the accused. In John Adams and Quincy he
knew that the best legal ability would be theirs, and that
whatever might be the event, the world should bear witness
to the general desire for strict justice and the integrity of
American juries, which had been questioned. That perfect
impartiality might be maintained, he states that the town at
its annual meeting, shortly after the Massacre, voted to re
strain their committee from publishing the official narrative
in Boston, lest it should unduly prejudice those who might
become jurors on the trial, until the trial should be over,
a restraint which they continued at their meeting in May.f
It was published, however, against the wishes of Mr. Adams,
who desired that it should first see the light in England ;
and the Legislature made an appropriation to enable the
town to charter a vessel for the express purpose of convey
ing it thither. In the absence of the King s attorney, it
was necessary to obtain some eminent lawyer to conduct the
* Bancroft, VI. 350.
t Samuel Adams, as " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 31, 1770. Yet
Hutchinson, in a letter probably to Bernard, accuses the town of "carrying on
the prosecution of poor Preston and his soldiers with inimitable thirst for
their blood " ; and relates how Samuel Adams at the head of a committee, and
followed by a vast concourse of people, appeared before the Judges of the Supe
rior Court, and harangued them (the Judges) until they altered their deter
mination of putting off the trial. The town was resolved that the trial should
proceed in regular course ; but that they thirsted after the blood of the prison
ers is sufficiently disproved by the action above stated, as well as by the fact
that the most eminent legal counsel was engaged for them.
330 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
prosecution, and through the instrumentality of Samuel Ad
ams * the services of Robert Treat Paine were secured,
the exertions of Adams being directed to arraying on both
sides the chief talent of the Province in a case involving the
character of his native town. The trial, which he attended
day by day, taking notes of all the proceedings, was held in
October and November before the Superior Court, and re
sulted in the acquittal of Preston, who had every indulgence
shown him by the citizens, and who probably did not order
the troops to fire. The soldiers were ably defended by their
two distinguished advocates. Six were brought in " not
guilty " ; and two, Montgomery and Kilroy, were found
guilty of manslaughter ; but praying the " benefit of clergy,"
they were branded in the hand in open court, and dis
charged.
During the trial, for reasons already given, Mr. Adams
refrained from writing upon the subject ; but, immediately
after, he commenced a series of reviews of the testimony,
ably and clearly analyzing it, and drawing upon his own
notes for facts. They extended through December, 1770,
and January, 1771. Most of them, are very lengthy, and
some occupy nearly all the available space of the Boston
Gazette. Using the signature of " Vindex," f he shows the
evident falsity of much of the testimony in favor of the sol
diers, and the certain design on their part to bring the ill
feeling between themselves and the people to a bloody issue
at the first opportunity. A crown writer in the Evening
Post, as " Philanthrop," attempted to measure swords with
* Sketch of R. T. Paine in Biography of the Signers.
t That the facts in the case might become generally known among the
friends of America in England, Mr. Adams enclosed these essays to his corre
spondents there, to Stephen Sayre among others (see Adams to Sayre,
Jan. 12, 1771). What Hutchinson thought of the writer is shown in his letter
to Mr. Whately in London, Jan. 25, 1771. When the proofs were sent to
Mr. Adams from the printers, the original generally accompanied them,
which accounts for several of his " Vindex" manuscripts being found among
the Adams papers.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 331
him ; but the contest, if such the unequal match could be
called, was of short duration. In one of these articles, after
critically reviewing the statements of certain witnesses, he
turns to the reasoning of his antagonist in the loyalist paper,
where the writer had published a lengthened argument in
favor of the measures of government, warning his readers
not to be duped " by an artful use of the words liberty and
* slavery in an application to their passions," and that the
true patriot would be " very cautious of charging want of
ability or integrity to those with whom any of the powers of
government are entrusted." The idea of peaceful acquies
cence in any arbitrary illegal act of government was abhor
rent to the mind of Samuel Adams. True democratic feel
ing was a part of his very existence. Rulers, he held, are
but the servants of the people, whose delegated power ought
to be exercised only while it was not prostituted. Taking
issue with " Philanthrop," who urged passive obedience, Mr.
Adams says :
" But the true patriot will constantly be jealous of those very
men, knowing that power, especially in times of corruption, makes
men wanton, that it intoxicates the mind; and unless those with
whom it is entrusted are carefully watched, such is the weakness
or perverseness of human nature, they will be apt to domineer
over the people, instead of governing them according to the known
laws of the state, to which alone they have submitted. If he finds,
upon the best inquiry, the want of ability or integrity, that is, an ig
norance of, or a disposition to depart from, the Constitution, which is
the measure and rule of government and submission, he will point
them out and loudly proclaim them. He will stir up the people in
cessantly to complain of such men, till they are either reformed or
removed from the sacred trust, which it is dangerous for them any
longer to hold. l Philanthrop may tell us of the hazard of disturb
ing and inflaming the minds of the multitude, whose passions know
no bounds. A traitor to the Constitution alone can dread this.
The multitude I am speaking of is the body of the people no con
temptible multitude, for whose sake government is instituted, or
rather who have themselves erected it, solely for their own good,
332 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
to whom even kings, and all in subordination to them, are, strictly
speaking, servants and not masters.
" Philanthrop, I think, speaks somewhat unintelligibly when he
tells us that the well-being and happiness of the whole depends up
on subordination, as if mankind submitted to government for the
sake of being subordinate. ,In the state of nature there was subor
dination. The weaker was by force made to bow down to the more
powerful. This is still the unhappy lot of a great part of the world
under government So among the brutal herd the strongest horns
are the strongest laws. Mankind have entered into political socie
ties rather for the sake of restoring equality, the want of which in
the state of nature rendered existence uncomfortable and even dan
gerous. I am not of levelling principles ; but I am apt to think that
constitution of civil government which admits equality in the most
extensive degree consistent with the true design of government is
the best ; and I am of this opinion, because I believe, with Philan
throp and many others, that man is a social animal. Subordination
is necessary to promote the purposes of government, the grand de
sign of which is that men might enjoy a greater share of the bless
ings resulting from that social nature and those rational powers
with which indulgent Heaven has endowed us than they could in a
state of nature. But there is a degree of subordination which will
be forever abhorrent to the generous mind, when it is extended to
the very borders, if not within the bounds of slavery, a subordina
tion which is so far from conducing to the welfare and happiness
of the whole, that it necessarily involves the idea of that worst of
all the evils of this life, a tyranny, an abject servility, which in
stead of being essential to our existence as a people, disgraces the
human nature, and sinks it to that of the most despicable brute." *
On the very day of the Massacre, the " American ques
tion " was brought up in Parliament for debate, when Lord
North asked leave to bring a bill into the House of Com
mons, in conformity with the promise in Lord Hillsborough s
circular, repealing the duties upon glass, paper, and paint
ers colors, but retaining the duty of three per cent upon
* " Vindex," in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 21, 1771.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 333
tea. The alarming state of trade and the decline of com
merce was the subject of a petition from the mercantile
classes, which difficulties were held to be based upon the ob
noxious American duties. The Premier, while he depreca
ted the behavior of the Americans, expressed his determina
tion "to compel observance of the laws and to vindicate
the rights of Parliament." A splendid galaxy of talent
argued in favor of America. Pownall supported the petition
of the merchants and traders, but desired to have the article
of tea included in the repeal of the enumerated articles;
and was followed in the same strain by Conway, Barre, and
Sir William Meredith. Besides these, Sir George Saville,
" the spotless," Dowdeswell, Dunning, Trecothick, Bedford,
and Beauchamp, all argued for the entire repeal of the du
ties ; but though strongly opposed in both Houses, the bill
was carried by large majorities, and on the 12th of April re
ceived the royal assent. Thus the original principle, from
which had grown all the trouble between the two countries,
was affirmed, and the barrier to reconcilation made higher
and stronger.
CHAPTER XVII.
The Legislature meets at Harvard College. Controversy with the Lieuten
ant-Governor. Josiah Quincy. His Character and Talents. Drafts
the General Instructions to the Boston Eepresentatives. Hancock pettishly
determines to resign his Seat in the Assembly. Adams dissuades him.
Exertions of Adams to bring forward promising Young Men in the Public
Cause. Quincy s Admiration and Respect for him. Failure of the Non
importation Agreement. Letter of Adams to Franklin on Colonial Affairs.
His Remarkable Reply to the Speech of Hutchinson, who writes to England
accusing him of Treason. Castle William taken from the Keeping of the
Provincial Authorities. Adams publicly denounces the Act.
THE Legislature of Massachusetts had now been sus
pended since July of the preceding year. The Lieutenant-
Governor had received orders from the Ministry, leaving it
discretionary with him whether to convene the Court at
Boston or Cambridge ; but he fixed upon the latter place,
although he knew from experience that the leading members
would be opposed to it, and a needless controversy ensue.
They met on the 15th in the Chapel of the College, and
thence repaired to the " Philosophy Room/ where Hutchin
son awaited them, and delivered his speech. With his usual
duplicity, he stated that he had received such instructions,
by the last two packets from England, as made it necessary
to meet the Assembly at Cambridge. A committee, headed
by the Speaker, but of which Samuel Adams was the osten
sible chairman, immediately drew up a remonstrance against
the injustice, inconvenience, and unconstitutionality of hold
ing the Assembly in Harvard College. The Lieutenant-
Go vernor, in reply, still pleaded instructions, and stood upon
his reserved rights as Commander-in-Chief ; whereupon the
Council joined the House in its remonstrance. But, though
the controversy lasted several days, it was to no purpose ;
and the Legislature continued to meet at Cambridge.
March, 1770.]
LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 335
Hutcliinson had thoughts of holding the session at Salem.
" The further from Boston," said he, " the better."
"The House," he continued, "will be sour and troublesome
enough ; but all they can do will be a .perfect trifle compared with
the trouble the town of Boston gives me I would give
up all if the town could be separated from the rest of the Prov
ince. I do not see how that can be done ; but something may and
must be done to humble the leaders of the people of the town, and
so keep the inhabitants in order. I have tried the Council, and rep
resented to the Judges the illegality of the town acts ; but they say
there is no possibility of helping it. The body of the people are all
of a mind, and there is no stemming the torrent. It is the common
language of Adams and the rest that they are not to be intimidated
by acts of Parliament, for they will not be executed here; and
should there be an act of Parliament to vacate the charter, as the
lawyer told the Judge of the Superior Court, the people would not
Bubmit to it. I do not see what should prevent the new councillors
from being as obnoxious as the Commissioners. We are most cer
tainly every day confirming ourselves in our principles of independ
ence ; and tells me he is fully convinced that nothing but
sharp external force will bring Boston into a state of due subordi
nation I am sure you will not suffer what I write to come
back again, even by rumors." *
Most of the papers during this session were written by
Samuel Adams. Fragments of some of them, evidently
original drafts, are extant in his handwriting, and the style
and language are unmistakably his. He was also the
working member of nearly all the committees, though the
name of Cushing (Speaker of the House) was usually placed
first, as Bradford says, " was then the usage," making that
officer the " nominal chairman." Adams was, as heretofore,
the leader, and conducted the Legislature in the most impor
tant of its measures. He was seconded by Major Hawley
and probably two or three others, whose names appear on
committees, among them, Leonard, Sheafe, and Bowers.
* To a friend in London, March, 1770.
336 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [April,
The answer of the House to one of the messages of the Gov
ernor, relating to a trivial disturbance that had occurred at
Gloucester, is conceived in tones unusually bold. It reviews
the condition of the Province, inveighs against the grievance
of a military force posted among the people, and refers
pointedly to the singular neglect by the Lieutenant-Gov
ern or to allude to the late Massacre in .his message at the
opening of the session. Regarding public disturbances it
continues :
" It may justly be said of the people of this Province, that they
seldom, if ever, have assembled in a tumultuous manner, unless they
have been oppressed. It cannot be expected that a people accus
tomed to the freedom of the English Constitution will be patient
while they are under the hand of tyranny and arbitrary power. They
will discover their resentment in a manner which will naturally dis
please their oppressors ; and in such a case, the severest laws and
the most rigorous execution will be to little or no purpose. The
most effectual method to restore tranquillity would be to remove
their burdens, and to punish all those who have been the procurers
of their oppression."
After expressing the hope that the military would be
removed from the Province, until which tyranny and confu
sion would prevail, the injustice of removing the Assembly
" driven from its ancient and legal seat" to Cambridge
is represented, and it concludes as follows :
"These alarming considerations have awakened and fixed our
attention ; and your Honor cannot think we can very particularly
attend to things of lesser moment within the jurisdiction of the
executive courts, at a time when, in faithfulness to our constituents,
our minds are necessarily employed in matters which concern the
very being of the Constitution." *
During a part of this session, Gushing was incapacitated
by illness from filling his position, and Hancock was elected
* Journal of the House, April 23, 1770.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 337
Speaker pro tern. Hutchinson rejected him, when Colonel
Warren was chosen and accepted. About the same time the
sum of ninety pounds was voted to Samuel Adams " for his
services as Clerk of this House during the several sessions
of the General Court during the current year." *
The House, in their remonstrance, having resolved that
their determination to proceed to business was by no means
to be considered thereafter as a renunciation of their claim
to the legal right of sitting in General Assembly at the
Court Hoiise in Boston, and the elections drawing near,
Hutchinson dissolved the Assembly on the 26th of April.
At the same time he observed that some parts of their remon
strance extended to the authority of the King and Parlia
ment, and that he should lay it before his Majesty. " I
shall do it," he adds, " without any comment ; it needs
none." f
But the House had no reason to doubt the justness of
their proceedings ; and Hutchinson, in convening them at
Cambridge, had not only violated their charter rights, but
had made the discretionary letter from the Ministry, the lan
guage of which he kept secret, an excuse for the gratification
of his personal resentment. In that arbitrary and needless
act he had willingly followed the advice of Bernard, who
continued his interference in the affairs of the Province, his
course in Massachusetts having been fully approved by the
Royal Council. Hutchinson artfully pretended to be led by
him, hoping thereby to reach the goal of his ambition, the
office of Governor.
"The Court," he wrote, "has been sitting at Cambridge ever
since the 15th, refusing to do any business, and urges me to remove
them to Boston, but I shall not do it. I hope no copy of my Lord
Hillsborough s letter to me of the 9th of December will be suffered
to be made public, nor of mine to his Lordship in answer; for I
* Journal, April 17 -20, 1770.
t Message to the House, April 26, 1770. Hutchinson s History, HI. 508.
VOL. i. 22
838 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [April, May,
have followed your advice, and they do not know that I had any
sort of discretion left in the matter." *
On the 26th of April the news of the Boston Massacre ar
rived in England, and renewed efforts were made in the
House of Commons in behalf of America. Even Grenville
redeemed his former course by speaking against the action
of soldiers in violation of the civil authority. The debate
extended into May, when Burke and Wedderburne attacked
the administration. But resolutions of censure were defeat
ed by immense majorities, and the policy of the King and
Lord North was sustained.
In Boston the annual May elections came round ; and on
the 8th, out of five hundred and thirteen votes polled for
Representatives, Adams and Gushing had all but three, Han
cock all but two, and Bowdoin, who was now for the first
time a candidate for the House in place of Otis, lacked sev
enty-four, f The four members elect received on the 15th
the town s instructions from the pen of Josiah Quincy, whose
genius, young as he was,* had already made a conspicuous
figure. Warmly attached to the cause of America, and
even now noted for oratorical and literary talents as well
as legal attainments, there seemed scarcely any honorable
position which he might not have filled, had he survived
the Revolution. Like Joseph Warren, he was the ardent
admirer of Samuel Adams, who affected of all things the
companionship of brilliant young men, into whose keeping
he knew the destinies of the country were eventually to fall.
When any of them were going abroad, he often gave them
letters of introduction to distinguished men with whom he
was in correspondence, and Quincy thus gained the society
of Dickinson and Read in Philadelphia a few years later.
He sometimes revised the political writings of Quincy, whose
* Hutchinson to some person unknown, March 25, 1770, copied in the Boston
Gazette for June 5, 1775, and in Almon s Remembrancer, for 1775, 2d ed., p.
181.
t Boston Town Records, May, 1770
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 339
manuscripts still bear the inscription, in the autograph of the
author, directed to the printer, " Let Samuel Adams, Esq.,
correct the press," and he was ever ready with advice and
encouragement to advance the worthy ambition of all, when
directed in the path of their country s welfare. Those who
shared his confidence knew how lightly he valued the breath
of applause, and how willing he was to allow others to ap
pear in his own measures and actions ; looking himself only
to the results, careless of any credit that might be due to the
conception. Warren, Quincy, Hancock, Church, Gerry, and
many others of their age, regarded him as their political
father ; but Warren claimed his closest friendship and confi
dence.
The instructions were the most spirited and eloquent that
had yet been produced. Hutchinson says, they " not only
afforded a strong presage of the measures of the House, but,
in words more open and express than .had ever before been
ventured on, indicated to government in England the design
of a general revolt, and excited, together with the message
from the House of Representatives at the close of the last
session, the first measures taken with an apparent design to
guard against it.* In the legislative paper referred to, the
House had presented a firm and determined, but dignified
review of the public grievances, and had unsparingly ex
posed the artfulness of Hutchinson. Quincy s instructions
reflected the impetuous ardor of the young patriot, who
looked with impatience upon the wrongs of his country, and
could ill brook the cautious delay which must precede suc
cess. He points out the " unwarranted and arbitrary exac
tions, .... grievances, and discontents which, convulsing
every part of the British Empire, forbode a day of trial in
which, under God, nothing but stern virtue and inflexible
fortitude can save us from miserable destruction
The dreadful catastrophe threatens universal havoc, and
presents an awful warning to hazard all, if peradventure we,
* Hutchinson s History, III. 290.
340 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Afay,
in these distant confines of the earth, may prevent being to
tally overwhelmed and buried under the ruins of our most
established rights. For many years past we have with sor
row beheld the approaching conflict." The writer recom
mends resistance, " even unto the uttermost " ; points out to
the attention of the representatives the several public griev
ances ; urges them to arouse a military spirit in the people,
to cultivate a firm and lasting union with the other Colonies ;
and finally reminds them that " the further nations recede
and give way to the gigantic strides of any powerful despot,
the more rapidly will the fiend advance to spread wide deso
lation ; and then, should no attempt be made to stay his
ravaging progress, the dogs of war, let loose and hot for
blood, rush on to waste and havoc. " *
There is perhaps no trait in the character of Samuel
Adams more pleasing than this thoughtful care for the
advancement of others. By this is meant, not only the
general desire for the happiness of his countrymen, by the
establishment of their liberties, founded in courage and vir
tue, but a whole-souled interest in the personal success of
those whose talents or virtues made them worthy of his sym
pathies. Towards young men, who manifested generosity of
sentiment or natural qualities likely to make them? useful
in the cause if properly developed, his great heart warmed
with a liberal and genuine affection. He lost no opportu
nity of bringing them out, and encouraging their love of
country and readiness to sacrifice all to its salvation. He
was himself a continual illustration of his own teachings,
regardless of wealth and personal honors, and setting an ex
ample of patriotism, Spartan in its character and ennobling
to human nature. Among the laboring people he was ever
a welcome guest. Utterly devoid of aristocratic tendencies,
he could sympathize and associate with them, and always
took the warmest interest in their social affairs. His
thoughts were with and for " the people," that is, the middle
* Hutchinson s History, III. 508-515.
1770.] LIFE op SAMUEL ADAMS. 341
and lower classes. He personally instructed a poor boy
who was apprenticed to him as a servant, and gave him a
place in his own pew at church. In his writings relative to
the Massacre, he shows himself to have been intimately ac
quainted with the circumstances of the bereaved families,
who were all in the humblest walks of life. " The ship
wrights and mechanics," says Eliot, whose personal knowl
edge of Samuel Adams extended through many years in
Boston, " were his firm friends through all the scenes of the
Revolution, believing that to him, more than to any other
man, they owed their independence." * Not only do his con
temporaries record his influence in shaping the course of
prominent young men, but his letters are perpetual proofs
of his genial interest in their welfare. Instances are too nu
merous for insertion here, even from among such fragments
of his vast correspondence as have been collected. A few,
however, will illustrate. One is to a young gentleman who
had set out on his travels, and had enjoyed at home the
friendship of Mr. Adams.
BOSTON, Nov. 28, 1770.
MY DEAR SIR,
When you embarked for London I promised you I would write by
the next ship. I did not write ; but it was owing to incessant avo
cations at Cambridge, and not to an unmindfulness of my promise, or
a want of attention to fulfil it. I hope you are safe arrived ; you
are then a sojourner in one of the most opulent and most luxurious
cities in the world. Music is your dear delight ; f there your taste
will be improved. But I fear that discord will too often discompdse
you, and the rude clamors against your country will vex you. I
rely upon it, that your own good sense will dictate to you that which
will sufficiently vindicate your country against foul aspersion, when
ever you may meet with it ; and I cannot entertain the least doubt
but you are possessed with all that patriotic zeal which will forever
* Eliot s N. E. Biographical Dictionary.
t It has been stated by some who knew Mr. Adams, that he was a great
lover of music, for which he had a cultivated and correct taste. John Adams
(Works, X. 251) refers to the " charming voice " of his kinsman.
342 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [May,
warm the breast of an ingenuous young gentleman. Such a zeal,
tempered with a manly prudence, will render you reputable in po
litical circles of men of sense. I am sure you will never condescend
to be a companion of fools. After telling you what I know will be
agreeable to you, that your friends are all well, you must allow me
to plead haste, and conclude at present with my best wishes for your
prosperity.
Adieu,
MR. JOSIAH WILLIAMS. SAM. ADAMS.
A special favorite with Mr. Adams was his nephew, Mr.
Joseph Allen, who was a frequent visitor at his house, and
used, in after years, to remember the unwearied industry
of his uncle in maintaining a voluminous private corre
spondence throughout the country, and with the friends of
America in England. Mr. Allen afterwards filled a number
of public offices, was a clerk of the courts, a councillor, a
member of Congress, and twice one of the Presidential Elec
tors. Born in 1749, he was now just of age, and about
entering into mercantile business in the town of Leicester,
where he received the following letter :
November 7, 1771.
DEAR KINSMAN,
As you are just now setting out on the journey of life, give me
leave to express to you my ardent wish that you may meet with all
that prosperity which shall be consistent with your real happiness.
I cannot but think you have a good prospect ; yet your path will, in
all probability, be uneven. Sometimes you must expect, like all
other travellers, to meet with difficulties in the road. Let me there
fore recommend to you the advice of one of the ancients, a man of
sterling sense, though a heathen : " Aequam memento rebus in arduis
servare mentem" In the busy scenes of life you may now and then
be disposed to drive on hard, and make rather too much haste to be
rich. You will then be upon your guard against temptation, which,
if yielded to, will poison the streams of all future comfort. You
will then in a more particular manner impress upon your mind the
advice of an inspired writer, to "maintain a conscience void of
offence." I do not flatter you, when I say, you have hitherto
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 343
supported a good reputation. You will still preserve it unsullied,
remembering that a good name is your life.
Adieu,
S. ADAMS.
A letter to John Hancock shows how delicately Adams
was at times obliged to handle his capricious friend, whom
he had himself first brought into public life, and whose petu
lance occasionally got the better of his natural generosity.
A few days after the May election, Hancock, offended by
some disparaging remark which had come to his ears, re
solved to withdraw from the Boston delegation in the As
sembly. The announcement caused Mr. Adams no little
anxiety, for the retirement at this crisis of so popular and
wealthy a member of the liberty party could not but injure
the cause, and give room for exulting remarks from the
enemies of the country. He therefore writes him :
BOSTON, May 11, 1770.
DEAR SIR,
Your resolution yesterday to resign your seat gave me great
uneasiness. I could not think you had sufficient ground to deprive
the town of one whom I have a right to say is a most valuable
member, since you had within three of the unanimous suffrages of
your fellow-citizens, and one of the negative votes was your own.
You say you have been spoken ill of. What then ? Can you think
that while you are a good man, that all will speak well of you ? If
you knew the person who has defamed you, nothing is more likely
than that you would justly value yourself upon that man s censure
as being the highest applause. Those who were fond of continuing
Mr. Otis in that seat were, I dare say to a man, among your warm
est friends. Will you then add to their disappointment by a resig
nation, merely because one contemptible person, who perhaps was
hired for the purpose, has blessed you with his reviling ? Need I
add more than to entreat it as a favor, that you would alter your
I am, with strict truth,
Your affectionate friend and brother,
SAM. ADAMS.
344 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Ma y, June,
This note, to which were probably added verbal persua
sions between that time and the meeting of the Legislature,
had the desired result, and Hancock was sworn in with the
Boston delegation. Had he withdrawn, while Otis, a wreck,
was in the country, the moral effect would have been dis
heartening. His reputation would have been missed,
though not his pen; for Hancock, often as he appears on
committees, seldom, if ever, contributed to the preparation
of state papers. Otis, though Adams s tender solicitude for
him never failed, could now only lend the weight of his
name to measures for the public safety.
On the last Wednesday in May the General Court com
menced its session at Cambridge, when Adams and Gushing
were, as usual, unanimously elected Clerk and Speaker.*
The controversy between the House and the Governor on
the illegality of holding the General Court out of Boston
was immediately recommenced ; the House resolving that
they proceeded to the election of councillors only from
necessity, protesting against its being drawn into a prece
dent at any time thereafter, or considered as a voluntary
receding from their constitutional claim. In their message
to the Lieutenant-Governor they remonstrated " against
holding the Assembly in any other place than the town-
house in Boston." The contest was stoutly maintained,
apparently exhausting the arguments on both sides ; Hutch-
inson (whose zeal was excited by the notice that he was to
receive the appointment of Governor), citing authorities,
and bringing to bear his most potent reasoning to support
his position, and the Assembly meeting him at every point,
and sturdily refusing to proceed to business by a vote of
ninety-six to six. During this session, Bowdoin having
been elected to the Council, John Adams for the first time
joined the Assembly, and was sworn in by Hancock and
Samuel Adams. f The names of both " the Adamses " occur
throughout the sessions of this year upon committees for pre-
* Journal of the House, May 30, 1770. t June 6, 1770.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 345
paring answers and remonstrances, the policy being the
same as in the former session. The Lieutenant-Go vernor
despairing of effecting any change, prorogued the Court on
the 25th of June.
Among Samuel Adams s papers are found detached por
tions of a letter in his handwriting to Benjamin Franklin,
prepared for a committee, of which he was one, appointed
by the town to disabuse the minds of influential persons in
England of the false statements sent on by the crown
officers as to the Massacre and subsequent events. It is
dated in Boston on the 13th of July, and Franklin is urged
to exert himself and obtain a suspension of public opinion,
until the town could have an opportunity of knowing what
was alleged against it and of answering for itself. It pro
tested against the determination of Parliament to admit
garbled extracts from such letters as were received from
America by the administration and to conceal the names of
the writers.
"How deplorable, then," said Mr. Adams, "must be our condi
tion, if ample credit is to be given to their testimony against us by
the government at home, and if the names of our accusers are to be
kept a profound secret, and the world is to see only such parts or
parcels of their representations as persons who perhaps may be
interested in their favor shall think proper to hold up. Such con
duct, if allowed, seems to put it in the power of a few designing men
to deceive a nation to its ruin. The measures which have been
taken in consequence of intelligence managed with such secrecy
have already, to a very great degree, lessened that mutual confi
dence which had ever subsisted between the mother country and
the Colonies, and must, in the natural course of things, totally alien
ate their affections towards each other, and consequently weaken,
and in the end destroy, the power of the empire. It is in this
extended view of things that our minds are affected. It is from
these apprehensions that we earnestly wish that all communications
between the two countries of a public nature may be unveiled
before the public, with the names of the persons who are concerned
therein. Then, and not till then, will American affairs be under the
346 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [July,
direction of honest men, who are never ashamed or afraid of the
light.
" If this writer of those letters shall appear to be innocent, no harm
can possibly arise from such a measure ; if otherwise, it may be the
means of explaining the true cause of the national and Colonial mal
ady, and of affording an easy remedy ; and therefore* the measure
may be justified and applauded by all the world."
Mr. Adams then takes up the Case of Captain Preston,
which had appeared in the London papers, and, he asserts,
is replete with falsehood, and could never be " supported by
the testimony of any man of tolerable reputation." This
part of the letter, which is very elaborate, goes over the
ground covered by " Vindex " in his articles in the Boston
Gazette, during the past winter, in one of which Mr. Adams
stated that it had been asserted in the London newspapers
that the people of Boston had " seized upon Captain Preston,
and hung him like Porteus upon a sign-post."
A more reasonable proposal than that of the town, to have
the representations of the loyalists made public, that they
might know by whom and of what they were accused, could
not be imagined. Its justice was unquestionable ; yet the
letters were jealously kept secret, and the action of the gov
ernment was based upon their statements.
The Legislature, met again at the Chapel of Harvard Col
lege on the 25th of July, when the Lieutenant-Governor,
who had summoned them to the Council-Chamber up stairs,
read a carefully prepared address, reviewing the whole con
troversy relative to convening the Court out of Boston.
Flattering himself that they would no longer insist upon the
illegality of his action, he threatened a further prorogation,
should they persist in their refusal to proceed with the busi
ness of the session.* This, however, the House had made
their first duty on assembling. The next day, he wrote to
Lord Hillsborough :
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 237.
1770.J LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 347
11 1 met the Assembly yesterday at Cambridge. I shall enclose
the speech I made then. If they will not go to business, I must pro
rogue them further, and give myself no further concern about them.
Their constituents are the only sufferers ; and when they feel their
sufferings to a little degree beyond what they do at present, I think
they will, in many towns, express their dissatisfaction at the beha
vior of their representatives. In the mean time I shall treat them
with moderation and firmness. I am very sure if the members of
Boston were out of the House, I should have a majority in favor of
government."
On receiving the Lieutenant-Governor s message, the
House appointed a committee to reply, and merely met and
adjourned each day, until the 30th, when the answer was
reported. It was written by Samuel Adams, as is sufficient
ly indicated by the style, which no one acquainted with his
writings could mistake ; moreover, his original rough draft
is still preserved. Hutchinson, who was aware of the fact,
wrote to England, denouncing him as the author, and de
scribing the " treatise, a name he afterwards applied to it,
as " seditious," " criminal," " daring," and " hinting at a
revolt." It was indeed a bold, nervous composition, wor
thy of the mind that conceived it. One of the character
istics of Samuel Adams s writings, and the most interest
ing one after their unadorned simplicity, is their logical
strength, and the acuteness which saw at once the weak
side of an argument, went directly to the point, and ex
posed all fallacies with clearness and force. No sophis
try or art could confuse him or lead him astray. He
looked intuitively into the designs of his adversaries, and
laid them open with unsparing hand. Having reiterated
their former resolution not to proceed to business while
the Court was held "out of the town of Boston," the
House continue :
"After the most attentive and repeated examination of your
speech, we find nothing to induce us to alter our opinion, and very
little that is new and material in the controversy. But as we per-
348 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [July,
ceive it is published, it may possibly be read by some who have
never seen the reasons of the House ; and as there are specious
things contained in it which may have a tendency to make an un
happy impression on some minds, we have thought proper to make
a few observations upon it.
" You are pleased to say, you meet us at Cambridge, because
you have no reason to think there has been any alterations in his
Majesty s pleasure, which you doubt not was determined by wise
motives, and with a gracious purpose to promote the good of the
Province. We presume not to call in question the wisdom of our
Sovereign, or the rectitude of his intentions : but there have been
times when a corrupt and profligate administration have ventured
upon such measures as have had a direct tendency to ruin the inter
est of the people, as well as that of their royal master.
" The House have great reason to doubt whether it is, or ever
was, his Majesty s pleasure that your Honor should meet the Assem
bly at Cambridge, or that he has ever taken the matter under his
royal consideration ; because the common and the best evidence in
such cases is not communicated to us.
" It is needless for us to add anything to what has been hereto
fore said upon the illegality of holding the Court anywhere except
in the town of Boston. For, admitting the power to be in the Gov
ernor to hold the Court in any other place when the public good
requires it, yet it by no means follows that he has a right to call
it in any other place when it is to the manifest injury and detri
ment of the public.
" The opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor General has very little
weight with this House in any case, any further than the reasons
which they expressly give are convincing. This Province has suf
fered so much by unjust, groundless, and illegal opinions of those
officers of the crown, that our veneration or reverence for their opin
ions is much abated. We utterly deny that the Attorney and Solic
itor-General have any authority or jurisdiction over us, any right
to decide questions in controversy between the several branches of
the Legislature here. Nor do we concede, that even his Majesty
in Council has any constitutional authority to decide such questions,
or any other controversy whatever, that arises in this Province, ex
cepting only such matters as are reserved in the charter. It seems
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 849
a great absurdity, that when a dispute arises between the Governor
and the House, the Governor should appeal to his Majesty in Coun
cil to decide it. Would it not be as reasonable for the House to
appeal to the body of their constituents to decide it ? Whenever a
dispute has arisen within the realm between the Crown and the two
Houses of Parliament, or either of them, was it ever imagined that
the King in his Privy Council had authority to decide it ? How
ever, there is a test, a standard common to all, we mean, the
public good. But your Honor must be very sensible that the ille-
gality of holding the Court in any other place, beside the town of
Boston, is far from being the only dispute between your Honor and
this House. We contend that the people and their representatives
have a right to withstand the abusive exercise of a legal and con
stitutional prerogative of the Crown. We beg leave to recite to
your Honor, what the great Mr. Locke has advanced in his Treatise
of Civil Government upon the like prerogative of the Crown. The
old question, says he, * will be asked in this matter of prerogative,
"who shall be judge when this power is made a right use of?"
And he answers : * Between an executive power in being with such
a prerogative and a legislative that depends upon his will for their
convening, there can be no judge upon earth, as there can be none
between the legislative and the people, should either the executive
or legislative, when they have got the power in their hands, design
or go about to enslave or destroy them. The people have no other
remedy in this, as in all other cases where they have no judge on
earth, but to appeal to Heaven. For the rulers, in such attempts,
exercising a power the people never put into their hands (who can
never be supposed to consent that anybody should rule over them
for their harm), do that which they have not a right to do. And
when the body of the people or any single man is deprived of their
right, or under the exercise of a power without right, and have no
appeal on earth, then they have a liberty to appeal to Heaven when
ever they judge the cause of sufficient moment. And, therefore,
though the people cannot be judge, so as to have, by the constitution
of that society, any superior power to determine and give effective
sentence in the case ; yet they have, by a law antecedent and par
amount to all positive laws of men, reserved that ultimate determi
nation to themselves which belongs to all mankind, where there lies
350 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July, Ang,
no appeal on earth, viz. : to judge whether they have just cause to
make their appeal to Heaven. We would, however, by no means,
be understood to suggest, that this people have occasion at present
to proceed to such extremity.
" The House are still ready to answer for all the ill consequences
which can be justly attributed to them ; nor are they sensible of any
danger from exerting the power which the charter has given them,
of doing their part of the business in their own time. That the
Province has enemies, who are continually defaming it and their
charter, is certain ; that there are persons who are endeavoring to
intimidate the Province from asserting and vindicating their just
rights and liberties, by insinuations of danger to the Constitution, is
also indisputable. But no instance happened, even in the execrable
reign of the worst of the Stuart race, of a forfeiture of a charter,
because any one branch of a legislative, or even because the whole
government under that charter, refused to do business at a partic
ular time under grievous circumstances of ignominy, disgrace, and
insult ; and when their charter had explicitly given to that govern
ment the sole power of judging of the proper season and occasion
of doing business. We are obliged, at this time, to struggle with all
the powers with which the Constitution has furnished us, in defence
of our rights, to prevent the most valuable of our liberties from
being wrested from us by the subtle machinations and daring en
croachments of wicked ministers. We have seen of late innumer
able encroachments on our charter : Courts of Admiralty extended
from the high seas, where by the compact in the charter they are
confined, to numberless important causes upon land ; multitudes of
civil officers, the appointment of all which is by charter confined to
the Governor and Council, sent here from abroad by the Ministry ;
a revenue not granted by us, but torn from us ; armies stationed
here without our consent ; and the streets of our metropolis crim
soned with the blood of our fellow-subjects. These and other
grievances and cruelties, too many to be here enumerated, and too
melancholy to be much longer borne by this injured people, we have
seen brought upon us by the devices of ministers of state. We
have seen and heard, of late, instructions to governors which threat
en to destroy all the remaining privileges of our charter. In June,
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 351
1768, the House by an instruction were ordered to rescind an excel
lent resolution of a former House on pain of dissolution : they re
fused to comply with so impudent a mandate, and were dissolved :
and the Governor, though repeatedly requested, and although the
exigencies of the Province demanded a General Assembly, refused to
call a new one until the following May. In the last year, the Gen
eral Court was forced to give way to regular troops, illegally quar
tered in the town of Boston, in consequence of instructions to crown
officers, and whose main guard was most daringly and insultingly
placed at the door of the State-House ; and afterwards they were
constrained to hold their session at Cambridge. The present year
the Assembly is summoned to meet, and is still continued there in a
kind of duress, without any reason that can be given, any motive
whatever that is not as great an insult to them and breach of their
privilege as any of the foregoing. Are these things consistent with
the freedom of the House ? or could the General Court s tamely sub
mitting to such usage be thought to promote his Majesty s service ?
Should these struggles of the House prove unfortunate and ineffectual,
this Province will submit, with pious resignation, to the will of Prov
idence ; but it will be a kind of suicide, of which we have the utmost
horror, thus to be made the instruments of our own servitude." *
Hutchinson replied, taking up the positions of the House
one by one, and commenting particularly on their having
called the instructions an " impudent mandate" " It may
not," he says, " be presumed you would have done this, had
you known it to be an order from his Majesty. I wish how
ever that you had spared this coarse and indecent epithet.
.... The freedom you have used with the characters of
the Attorneys and Solicitors General will, I fear, likewise
bring dishonor upon you." He argued with ability and at
great length upon his favorite subject of holding the Court
away from Boston ; and seeing the impossibility of effecting
any practical result, he again prorogued the Assembly to
the 5th of September.! He congratulated himself, how-
* Journal of the House, July 31, 1770. Hutchinson s History, III. 525.
Bradford s State Papers, p. 240.
t Hutchinson, III. 534. Bradford, p. 249. Journal of the House, Aug. 3.
352 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug.
ever, upon having in some measure weakened the opposition,
and hoped for still greater advances. To a friend in Lon
don he wrote the next day :
" The House having persisted in their refusal to do business, I
have prorogued them to a farther time, having gained over, in this
short session, enough of the Council to prevent Bowdoin from ob
taining a vote for an address which he had prepared conformable to
the sentiments of the faction of the House ; and I hope to keep a
party there strong enough to defeat his future attempts. Neither
Worthington, Murray, Ruggles, nor any member capable of oppos
ing Adams, &c., came to the session. Many, if not a majority of the
members, wish to go to business, but are afraid. I will have a full
House another session, and have yet encouragement that I shall
carry the point then, notwithstanding the unanimity now.
" I did not design to enter into any argument with them, but I
found it necessary to undeceive the people, and, since my speech, I
perceive a great alteration among them, and it will certainly have a
good effect. The answer, drawn by Adams, breathes the seditious
spirit which has appeared in Edes and Gills s paper. The rudeness
to the King, to the House of Commons, to the Ministers of State,
the declarations of independence, the menaces of an appeal to
Heaven, and the people s no longer bearing with their injuries with
out seeking redress, plainly hinting a downright revolt, are so
criminal and at the same time so daring, that some notice will be
taken of it, if the nation is to be aroused by anything." *
And two days later : " Worthington, Buggies, Murray,
nor any other persons not afraid of Adams and the Boston-
eers, would attend. If I could persuade a few to exert them
selves, the point would be carried in the House another
session." f It was true that the attendance, at least at the
commencement of the past session, had been limited. At
first only about forty members were present, as shown by
the records. The frequent adjournments interfered with
the pursuits of those from distant parts of the Province, and,
* Hutchinson to Bernard, August 3, 1770.
t Hatchinson to Bernard, August 5,. 17 70.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 353
since the prorogation at the close of June, a full House
could not be expected, especially at a season when time was
precious in the farming districts.
" The impudent mandate," as the House called the in
struction to rescind the Circular Letter of 1768, it now
appeared by Hutchinson s late reply to the message of the
House came from the King himself, as did " every order
from the Secretary of State." Mr. Adams took the ground
that instructions even from secretaries of state, if illegal and
subversive of charter rights, were open to comment.
" It may have been," he says, " too much the practice of late for
some plantation governors like VERRES, either ancient or modern, to
oppress and plague the people they were bound to protect, and, per
haps, in obedience to orders that have come from secretaries of
state. These orders truly were to be treated with as profound
veneration, without the least inquiry into their nature and tendency^
as ever a poor deluded Catholic reverenced the decree of Holy
Father at Rome. While such a disposition prevailed, O how or
derly were the people ! how submissive to government ! But when
once a statute or the Constitution was pleaded, which it was as dan
gerous for the people to look into as it would be for an Italian, after
the example of the noble Bereans, to search the Scriptures, the Sec
retary of State was to be informed that the people were become re
bellious ; as they said of St. Paul for preaching doctrines opposite
to the humor of the Jewish masters, that he turned the world up
side down. The whole ministerial cabal was summoned, opinions
were called for and taken, and, however ludicrous, to say the best
of them, those opinions were, if the people did not swallow them
down as law and reason, they were told that the freedom they used
with the characters of great men, forsooth, would bring dishonor
upon them ; and standing armies were sent to convince them of the
reasonableness of these opinions ! *
During the summer, the non-importation agreements had
been observed with less stringency than before. Throughout
the continent, with the exception of New York, as the agita-
* "A Chatterer," in the Boston Gazette, Aug. 20, 1770.
VOL. I. 23
354 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept.
tion of that particular topic ceased or had temporarily given
place to more exciting events, the importations had been to
some extent renewed ; and even in New England, where,
perhaps, a more rigid observance was looked for than else
where, they had amounted to nearly half as much as usual.*
The hardships of a union which was not universally kept
finally had its effect in New York, where the agreement was
broken, though not without a close contest among the mer
chants ; and in July large orders went to England for all
kinds of merchandise, excepting the article of tea, upon
which the duty was still maintained. Abhorrence at this
conduct was at first manifested in America ; but in England,
where the Ministry, and especially Lord North, had expected
such a result, the joy was unbounded. The merchants con
sidered it as the renewal of commercial intercourse and per
haps the first step towards a permanent reconciliation.
The apparent change in public opinion, at least among
the merchants in Boston, was watched with exultation by
the loyalists, who regarded it as the earnest of still further
successes. The defection, in different parts of the coun
try, on the non-importation scheme, was supposed to have
been caused by emissaries of the Ministry, and for a while
the plan succeeded but too well. But even while the action
of the New York merchants was producing a commotion
throughout the continent, an order had arrived in Boston
marking the beginning of martial law in Massachusetts, and
the commencement of the system of measures which showed
that the Ministry were now convinced that the Colonists
were aiming at independence, and would not be satisfied
with the mere abstract rights for which they had been con
tending. That this supposition on the part of government
was ill founded was as true as that Hutchinson and the
crown officers had been unwearying in their efforts to poison
the minds of men in England against the Americans. With
the exception of Samuel Adams, who, from the arrival of
* Bancroft, VI. 365, 366.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 355
the troops in the fall of 1768, had made American Independ
ence the one aim of his life, none of the leaders nor the peo
ple themselves were prepared for or desired a separation from
the mother country.* But the idea had been fast gaining
ground in England, and decisive measures were now to be
used.
An order had been adopted by the King in Council, in
July, which made Boston Harbor " the rendezvous of all
ships stationed in North America," while the fortress was to
be garrisoned by regular troops, and put into a respectable
state of defence.f The Lieutenant-Go vernor now received
instructions from General Gage to deliver Castle William to
Colonel Dalrymple, : a manifest violation of the charter of
the Province, which expressly provided that the Castle and
forts should be in command of the Governor ; and moreover
the Castle had been built, repaired, and garrisoned solely
at the expense of the Province. So unparalleled was the
usurpation, that when the order arrived, Hutchinson, with
all Ms supple servility to arbitrary mandates, hesitated as to
his course in the matter .f The transfer however was made.
The particulars of this affair cannot be more plainly narrated
than was done in the letter of Hutchinson himself, written a
few days after the Castle had been surrendered.
" The King s order for the withdrawal of the garrison from the
Castle came to hand by express Saturday, the 8th, towards even
ing. I kept the express that night in my house at Milton, and sent
a servant to the Castle for Dalrymple to come to me early the next
morning. We then settled this point, that nothing should be done
which could infer my giving up the right which the Governor has
by commission and charter, to the ordering in general all forts within
the Province ; and I was to write what was necessary to the Gen
eral upon this subject. We then agreed to meet early the next
morning at the Secretary s house in Boston. I there gave him an
order to Phillips to take off the sentries in the pay of the Prov-
* Bancroft, VI. 192. t Bancroft, VI. 369.
} Hutchinson to General Gage, Sept. 9, 1770.
356 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept.
ince, and to admit such of the regulars as Colonel Dalrymple should
direct.
" As soon as Dalrymple had left the town I went to Council, and
having cleared the chamber of the clerks, &c., I enjoined the mem
bers secrecy upon their oaths, until they should be dismissed or I
should discharge them. I then directed the order of his Majesty in
Council to be read to them, and read myself that part of my Lord
Hillsborough s letter which required me immediately to put that
part of the order which concerned me in execution. I told them I
did not need their advice, whether to obey the King s order or not,
but I thought so much respect was due to them as to let them know
it before it was made public ; as it soon must be by the execution
of it. They were all struck when they heard the order. Pitts said,
perhaps it was executed already. I made no reply. It was not
suggested that I could refuse obedience, but I was asked whether,
by charter, the command of the Castle was not with me. I told
them I should give up no right which they had by charter. The
Governor was to commit the custody and government of forts to
such persons as to himself should seem meet. It now seemed meet
to me to commit the Castle to Colonel Dalrymple, to be garrisoned
by the regulars. What induced me to this, I was not liable to be
questioned or called to account for. There was then considerable
debate about the arms, ammunition, &c., which some thought ought
to be removed. Of this, I told them, I was the sole judge. When
ever they were wanted for his Majesty s service, I should employ
them. After about two hours, about one o clock, I released them
from their obligation to secrecy, and dismissed them, and my car
riage being at the door, I went immediately to the Neck, where I
had ordered my barge to be ready.
"As soon as I came to the Castle, I went into Phillips s room, who
could not have been more affected under sentence of death, and the
whole garrison was in tears. I sent for the keys ; and Colonel Dal
rymple coming up to the state-room, attended by his officers, I deliv
ered them to him, and committed to him the custody and government
of the Castle, by virtue of the power and authority given me by his
Majesty s commission to govern the Province according to charter,
and in obedience to his Majesty s command signified to me, &c.
u I went in the evening to Milton, where I spent the next day,
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 357
being Tuesday ; but on Wednesday morning I had repeated mes
sages to acquaint me with the rage many people were in. That
Adams, in particular, was inflaming the minds of the people, de
claring that I had broken the charter by giving up the Castle ; and
it was reported that I had been waylaid, and was missed on my
return from the Castle, and many other threatening speeches were
brought to me ; and in the afternoon my brother vehemently pressed
my going to the Castle and sending my children to town ; and the
Secretary and Treasurer, who were with him, though not alike ap
prehensive of danger, thought it best. I had before recovered my
papers, and in the evening I took boat at Dorchester, two or three
miles from my house, and went to the Castle ; and you will believe
I could not help thinking of you and my passage to the same place
five years before. I went the next day to town upon some ordinary
business of Council, and returned in the evening to the Castle, assign
ing this reason, that it was necessary to have a full inventory of the
stores, ammunition, arms, &c., and tarried until Saturday, receiving
intelligence from time to time of the state of the town.
" There happened during this time to be a very grand meeting of
merchants and tradesmen upon the subject of importation, when Ad
ams made an attempt to inflame them, declaring I had given up the
Castle and would give up the charter ; but some of the merchants
declared that was not the business of the meeting, and repeatedly
stopped him from going on. This, my friends thought, was a sort
of trial of the strength of the faction, and that this incendiary would
not be able to accomplish his purpose." *
This letter is an interesting narrative of the Lieutenant-
Governor s own part in the transaction, and in that respect
bears truth on its face ; but it displays the nervous coward
ice of the man who was continually agitated with the fear
of personal harm, when nothing was further from the inten
tions of the people. Their forbearance had been signally
demonstrated after the recent Massacre, when law asserted
its supremacy over an exasperated populace.
Another trait in the letter is the ill-concealed desire of
self-laudation in the writer, whose anxiety to shine as a reso-
* Hutchinson to Bernard, Sept. 15, 1770.
358 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept., Oct.
lute and determined officer is apparent. He knew that Ber
nard showed his letters to Lord Hillsborough, who in turn
submitted^ them to the inspection of the King. His d*arling
ambition was to receive his commission as Governor of the
Province, and his letters were all adroitly tinged with the
coloring which he conceived suited to that end. The har
angues by Samuel Adams were founded in justice ; and
whether the reports of his inflaming the minds of the people
were true or not, it was time that the public should be
awake to this fatal stab at their liberties. The seizure of
the Castle was the first step in the system of armed coer
cion. Samuel Adams saw in it another approach towards
the goal for which his soul longed ; for, to his imagination,
the dawning tints of American Independence were already
discernible in the political horizon.
During the excitement produced by this act, the Legislature
met at Cambridge, to which place it had been adjourned for
September. A committee, with Mr. Adams among the num
ber, immediately waited upon the Lieutenant-Governor, and
desired him to move the General Court to Boston. A day
of solemn fasting, prayer, and humiliation was appointed and
observed, and thence, until the close of October, the House
and Council were engaged with Hutchinson in lengthy dis
cussions on the late surrender of the Castle to the royal
troops. On the 13th, the House, in a message, desired the
Lieutenant-Governor to inform them whether he still held
command of Castle William. Hutchinson answered, that in
withdrawing a garrison which had been paid by the Prov
ince, and substituting one paid by the King, in pursuance
of instructions from him, no part of the charter rights of the
Province had been given up. The House replied in the lan
guage of their committee, of which Samuel Adams was
chairman :
" This answer appears to the House to be somewhat equivocal.
For your Honor may possibly differ with the House in your con
struction of the clause in the charter which we have recited. By
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 359
this clause, the Governor of the Province is undoubtedly vested
with the command of that fortress. Your Honor may have been
instructed to transfer that command to his Majesty s chief military
officer in America or any other person. If that be the case, the
power which is vested in you by the charter is superseded by in
structions. A doubt in the House, respecting a matter of so very
interesting a nature to the Province, is the occasion of this repeated
message to your Honor, to request that you would, in an explicit
manner, assure us whether you still hold the command of his Maj
esty s Castle William." *
To this the Lieutenant-Governor again returned an equiv
ocal answer, in much the same dictatorial and cavalier
terms he had used to the Council in breaking the news of
his instructions. The House seeing that every legal effort
to inquire into their rights was to be hopelessly repulsed,
ceased to press the subject ; but the Council made one more
effort to obtain an authentic copy of Hillsborough s letter
concerning the Province, or Council, in order to " vindicate
their character, and to prevent any infringement on the
charter rights of the Province." The Governor replied that
he was " strictly forbidden to give a copy of said letter,
report, or order, or even to mention them, by speech or mes
sage, to either House." The Council then prepared a long
and able report respecting the misrepresentations concern-
- ing the Board made to the Ministry ; and by vote this was
forwarded to Mr. Bollan, their agent in London, together
with a full statement of the seizure of the Castle and other
infringements on the public liberties.
Finding that nothing was to be gained by the ordinary
methods of legislative inquiry of the Lieutenant-Governor as
to the principles involved in the change at the Castle, Mr.
Adams resorted to the press, and discussed the subject in a
series of articles. One of these, after referring to a previous
essay on the same topic, continues :
"In imitation of some of my brethren, I solemnly warned my
* Journal of the House, Oct. 23, 1770.
360 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
readers, by way of application, of the danger of certain instructions,
or, as they were termed, ministerial mandates/ we had about that
time been told of, which appeared to me to be equal to that of reve
nue acts or standing armies to enforce them. I little thought that
these instructions or mandates, call them what you will, would, in
their effects, have made so rapid a progress in so short a time, as I
find they have, since the present administration began. For I per
ceive that our House of Representatives have plainly told the Lieu-
tenant-Governor that merely in obedience to instructions, he has
made an absolute surrender of Castle William to his Majesty s
forces, with a most express resignation of his power of garrisoning
the same to Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple. And, to prove it, they
recite his Honor s orders, under his own hand, to Captain Phillips to
deliver that fort into the hands of the commanding officer of his
Majesty s regular forces, then upon the island, to be garrisoned by
such detachment as he should order ! To this, indeed, his Honor
says, ( there is nothing in the orders I gave to Captain Phillips
which does not perfectly consist with my retaining the command
of the Castle, and my right to exchange the present garrison for the
former, or any other, as I shall think proper. But I must confess,
it is mysterious to me how his Honor can retain the right to dismiss
Colonel Dalrymple and his detachment when he pleases, or ex
change the present garrison for any other, as he shall think proper,
after having delivered the fort, without any reservation, into the
hands of Colonel Dalrymple, in consequence of express orders
from another, to be garrisoned by such detachment as he shall order,
I am not so certain that his Honor, who pays a sacred regard to
instructions, will easily be persuaded to exchange the present gar
rison for the former or any other, however necessary such exchange
may be, without first having leave from the Right Honorable the
Earl of Hillsborough, as full and express as the orders he received
from his Lordship to place the present garrison there. Others may
reconcile an absolute delegation of power, without any reserve, by
the express orders of a superior, with a right retained in the person
who is thus ordered to delegate, to exercise the same power when
he pleases. I have not that intuitive knowledge which some men are
said to be blessed with, and, therefore, it will not be thought strange
if I do not see clearly through this mystery in politics. The House
further observe that, * as his Honor has heretofore repeatedly de-
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 361
clared that lie has no authority over the King s troops in the Prov
ince, it was absurd to suppose he could have command of a fort thus
unreservedly surrendered to, and in full possession of, such troops,
which appears to be a just conclusion. For can any one believe
that Colonel Dalrymple will hold himself obliged to march the
King s troops under his command out of that fort, in obedience to
the orders of one who has no authority over them ?
" Think not, Messrs. Printers, that I am now finding fault ; for if
his Honor has, in this instance, divested himself of a power of gov
erning which is vested in him by the charter for the safety of the
Province, as wiser heads than mine have determined, who will dare
to find fault ? It was done by virtue of instructions, and we are
told that instructions from a minister of state come mediately from
the K ; and his Honor knows that instructions, whatever coarse
epithet may have been bestowed upon them, are founded in very
wise reasons, and ought not to be treated with contempt. Holt,
Somers, and others, who near eighty years ago laid their heads
together to form our charter, were certainly wise and great men ;
and King William, who gave it, was as certainly a wise and good
king. But does not the wisdom of my Lord of H h far exceed
theirs ? Pray, does not every measure which he has advised fully
evince this, to the conviction of all but a few factious fellows here
and there ? The friends of government are willing to submit what
judgment they have to such profound wisdom ; and what if our old
fashion charter should be pared down by instructions, and a power
or two of the G r, vested in him for the safety of the people,
should even be annihilated by them, we are only to believe there are
very wise reasons for it, and we shall find that all is for the best."
Mr. Adams then speaks of the depositions taken of persons
who were present at the surrender of the Castle, and dis
cusses, at some length, the right of the Lieutcnant-Governor
to deliver the fort in obedience to instructions violating the
charter.
" I may venture to say," he continues, " there has not been an
instance of this kind since the date of our charter, and in the opin
ion of judicious and unprejudiced persons, it is a matter of very
great moment. Our enemies may now have the pleasure of seeing
362 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct., 1770.
the principal fort and key of the Province in the hands of persons
who have not the least dependence upon it ; the capital environed
with ships of war; the General Assembly removed from its an
cient seat into the country ; and the College, which has been liber
ally supported by the people for the education of our youth, has
been made a seat of government, under a pretence, as it is said, of a
prerogative in the Crown to take up any public buildings, all by
virtue of instructions, which we are implicitly to believe are founded
in wise reasons ; while the people throughout the Province, whether
they are sensible of it or not, are every day contributing to a reve
nue raised by the act of a Legislature in which they are not, and
cannot be, represented, and against their most earnest petitions and
warmest remonstrances ! Surely these are not the blessings of
adm n, for which we are this week to return to Almighty God
our unfeigned thanks." *
*"A Chatterer," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 3, 1770. The last sentence
refers to a public fast or thanksgiving which had been proclaimed.
CHAPTER XYIII.
Correspondence with Arthur Lee. Franklin and Lee. The Non-importation
Agreements broken. Decline in the Opposition to the Measures of Parlia
ment. Death of Deberdt. Franklin elected Agent. Adams drafts a Let
ter of Instructions from the Assembly to Dr. Franklin, and proposes Inter-col
onial Committees of Correspondence. Correspondence with Stephen Sayre,
Dr. Lucas, and John Wilkes. Massachusetts becomes quiet. Hutchin-
t son receives his Commission as Governor. Meeting of the Legislature
and renewed Controversies. Adams effects a Change in Political Lan
guage to undermine the Idea of Parliamentary Supremacy. The Govern
or s Salary to be made independent of the Legislature, and payable by the
Crown. The House desire Information, and are peremptorily prorogued.
IT was in this year that Arthur Lee began to correspond
with Mr. Adams. He was a young lawyer, who, leaving his
native Virginia at an early age, had been educated at the
University of Edinburgh. In 1766, locating himself at Lon
don, he commenced the study of the law in the Temple. He
became the intimate friend of Sir William Jones ; and as
much by his character, talents, and literary acquirements, as
by his connection with the distinguished family whose name
he bore, gained a wide influence in England and America in
the cause of freedom. Mr. Adams, always desirous of keep
ing in communication with gentlemen abroad whose sympa
thies were with the Americans, applied to Mr. Lee through
a mutual friend, Mr. Stephen Sayre, and his suggestion
was immediately accepted. The correspondence was con
tinued through the Kevolution ; and how faithfully it was
maintained is shown by their printed letters. Valuable
information and hints passed between them on all important
public matters for a period of thirteen years.*
The death of Dennys Deberdt, who had long and ably
served the Assembly as their agent, brought on the election
* See the correspondence from 1771 to 1783, in K. H. Lee s Life of Arthur Lee.
364 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
of a successor ; and the question coming up on October 23d,
Mr. Adams and about one third of the House* voted for
Arthur Lee ; but Benjamin Franklin, then in London,
received the majority of suffrages, and became thenceforth
the advocate of Massachusetts in England, where he was
already acting for other Provinces. Arthur Lee was ap
pointed his substitute in case of his death or absence.
Franklin was ardently desirous of a reconciliation.! Re
garding the idea of a revolt and civil war with reluctance,
his enlarged views and boundless benevolence turned away
from the thought of a dismemberment of the nation. It is
probable that the choice of Dr. Franklin did not entirely
satisfy Mr. Adams. If he had ever known Franklin person
ally, it was many years before, when the present issues
had not arisen. He was not prepared to admit that even
Franklin s sincerity of purpose and wisdom were the only
requisites to face the determined oppressors of his country,
and he may have thought that the official positions of father
and son, the one being Deputy-Postmaster of America,
and the other the royal Governor of New Jersey, together
with Franklin s constant desire to restore harmony, might
incline him to concede too much to the demands of govern
ment. Arthur Lee soon began to entertain suspicions of
Franklin, and communicated his reasons to Samuel Adams
during the next year, $ and, however ill-founded these opin
ions afterwards proved to be, they probably added to such
doubts as might have arisen in the mind of Mr. Adams,
whose anxiety in the cause made him at times over-cautious
in whom to confide. But he soon became a warm admirer
of Franklin, and a perfect understanding existed between
them thereafter. Their mutual friend, Samuel Cooper,
writing to Franklin on this subject, says :
* Sanrael Adams to S. Sayre, Nov. 16, 1770. Gushing appears to have
favored the choice of Sayre. See his letter to Sayre, Nov. 6, 1770.
t Compare Grahame s History, II. 426, 461, 462, and Franklin s Works,
edited hy Sparks, I. 378-390; V. 1-82.
J Arthur Lee to Samuel Adams, June 10, 1771.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 365
" I have the pleasure to find that a confidence in your abilities and
principles is far from being diminished in our House of Commons,
and to assure you that one of the members for this town, Mr. Sam
uel Adams, a correspondent of Dr. Lee s, who had the chief hand in
a letter from the House to you, which I perceive by your reply gave
you uneasiness, has lately expressed the warmest esteem for you as
an important and thorough friend to the rights of America. This
gentleman I regard for his uncommon zeal and activity in support
of these rights ; but I have repeatedly found occasion, in a friendly
manner, to blame his excessive jealousy in a cause peculiary dear
to him ; which has sometimes led him to treat not in the kindest
manner some of its faithful advocates, and particularly Governor
Pownall." *
Not only in private conversation, but in the press, Mr.
Adams afterwards paid deserved tribute to the " penetrating
genius " and " extended views " of Franklin. f Through the
Eevolution they worked and corresponded together, and early
in the present century there remained some of Franklin s
letters to Samuel Adams, which have been carelessly de
stroyed or lost with other valuable papers.
The disaffection throughout the continent in regard to
the non-importation agreement was an increasing source of
pleasure to the loyalists in Boston, and of equal mortification
to the stanch friends of liberty. During the summer, soon
after the first symptoms of breaking the compact appeared,
there had been a meeting of merchants in Boston, at which
it was voted to tear the yielding letter of the New York mer
chants in pieces and throw it to the winds. But, as the
year wore away, the observance of the agreement, even in
* Cooper to Franklin, Nov. 10, 1770 (Franklin s Works, VIH. 99). This
allusion to Pownall may refer to a town meeting held in July of this year, and
mentioned by Hutchinson in a letter to Commodore Hood, July 11, 1770.
He says : " At a meeting yesterday the spirit rose very high. Independence
was a word much used. They expressed also resentment against Pownall for
advising them to avoid severity in their pursuit against Preston."
t Samuel Adams, in the Boston Gazette for Sept. 20, 1773; and Bancroft
VI. 469.
366 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov.
Massachusetts, fell rapidly away, until it seems to have been
generally disregarded.* Hutchinson had predicted this, and
wrote as early as July :
" If Philadelphia should follow the example of New York, I think
Boston will hold out no longer. If it should not, I doubt whether
there is firmness enough in the merchants to oppose the populace.
The tea will be supplied. There will not be a pound less imported,
but it will come from Holland instead of England." +
And a month later, he wrote :
"The distresses of the town of Boston have not yet opened its
eyes. They do not consider that it is only a few of the merchants
in England who are losers by their non-importation, and that the
tradesmen and manufacturers do not feel it. The infamous Moli-
neux and Young, with Cooper, Adams, and two or three more, still
influence the mob, who threaten all who import ; but it seems im
possible that it should hold out much longer. Many, who at first
were zealous among the merchants against importing, are now as
zealous for it." $
In a few months the Lieutenant-Governor B surmise was
verified. Samuel Adams did not flag in his exertions to
stem the tide, but they were to no purpose. In November,
he wrote to a correspondent in Charleston, South Carolina,
in reply to a letter on public affairs :
"The non-importation agreement, since the defection of New
York, is entirely at an end. From the beginning I have been ap
prehensive that it would fall short of our wishes. It was continued
much beyond my expectation. There are here, and I suppose every
where, men interested enough to render such a plan abortive.
Through the influence of the Commissioners and Tories here, Boston
has been made to appear in an odious light, but I would not have
you to believe it to be the true light. The merchants, in general,
* Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, Jan. 26, 1770 (Massachusetts Historical
Society s Collections, 4th Series, IV. 457).
t Hutchinson to Lord Hillsborough, July 26, 1770.
J Hutchinson to Bernard, Aug. 28, 1770.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 367
have punctually abode by their agreement, to their very great pri
vate loss. Some few have found means to play a dishonorable game
without detection, though the utmost pains have been taken. The
body of the people remained firm until the merchants receded. I
am very sorry the agreement was ever entered into, as it has turned
out unfortunate. Let us then even forget that there has been such
a futile combination, and awaken our attention to our first grand
object. Let the Colonies still convince their implacable enemies
that they are united in constitutional principles, and are resolved
they will not be slaves ; that their dependence is not upon mer
chants, or any particular class of men, nor is their dernier resort a
resolution barely to withold commerce with the nation that would
subject them to despotic power." *
Though many desponded at this crisis, Mr. Adams was
only nerved to still greater efforts, and the moment his exer
tions had brought about another opportunity, he was pre
pared to revive the scheme, which he ultimately did with
perfect success. " I knew," said Andrew Eliot, " our mer
chants, &c., could not hold out much longer, and therefore
thought it best when the Parliament repealed all the duties,
except that on tea, to put on a show of good humor, and to
import everything but that article. This would have saved
appearances, whereas now I fear we shall be thought entirely
vanquished." f But this was not the policy of Samuel Adams
and his inflexible friends, who saw clearly the danger of
receding in the least from the original principle. An ac
knowledgment of the right to tax one article was virtually
acknowledging the right to tax all, and would ignobly have
terminated the contest upon which the liberties of a conti
nent were staked.
The Legislature continued sitting through October and
November. The Province was gradually growing more
quiet, and a less determined spirit was manifested than had
been shown in the previous session. The temporary calm
* Samuel Adams to Peter Timothy, Nov. 21, 1770.
t Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, Jan. 26, 1771.
368 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov.
which was settling over political affairs boded no good to the
public liberties. The project of producing divisions, by ar
raying the Colonies against each other, was already started
by the Ministry.*
" It is the Machiavelian doctrine," said Mr. Adams, as he pene
trated their arts, " divide et impera, divide and rule. But the peo
ple of this Province and of this continent are too wise, and they are
lately become too experienced to be catched in such a snare. While
their common rights are invaded, they will consider themselves as
embarked in the same bottom ; and that union which they have
hitherto maintained against all the efforts of their more powerful
common enemies will still cement " them.f
But not only this danger of division threatened the cau.se.
The breach of the non-importation scheme pointed to still
greater concessions. " New York," Eliot wrote, " throws
the blame on us, and accuses this town of treachery. The
zeal of the populace, by which they had been restrained a
great while, gradually abated. There are many of them
uneasy, and grumble, but all is quiet. There is no disposi
tion to mobs, none are tarred or feathered ! the Commission
ers are not molested, Yindex writes, Philantro [sic] is about
to write. The Colonies are divided and jealous of each
other." : "I hope," wrote Hutchinson, " for more ease,
at least for a season, and that some intemperate spirits who
have been the cause of this Colony s making so conspicuous
a figure, and taking so great a share in the disorders of
America, are losing their influence, but I may be mis
taken." The removal of the troops from the town had
" smoothed the way for conciliation," || and the quiet which
* Barry s History of Massachusetts, II. 435.
t "Vindex," in the Boston Gazette for Dec. 31, 1770. The "Machiavel
ian doctrine " alluded to seems to have made an impression on Hutchinson.
See his History, III. 331, note.
J Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, Jan. 26, 1771.
Hutchinson to Bernard, October, 1770.
Bancroft, VI. 350.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 369
reigned in the Province might have promoted such meas
ures ; but the Ministry still looked towards setting the Colo
nies against each other, and the tax upon tea still remained.
In the House, too, the tone was by no means so high as
heretofore. In the June session, when the question of pro
ceeding to business, while convened at Cambridge, had come
up, ninety-six out of one hundred and two members had
voted against proceeding. Now, when only eighty-eight
members could be gathered, owing to the frequent proroga
tions, they were more equally divided. At the opening of
the session, it was resolved that the House proceed to pub*
lie business from absolute necessity only ; and Samuel Adams
drew up a protest against the " constraint the General
Assembly was held under to proceed to business out of the
Town-House in Boston." In the records kept by Samuel
Adams himself, it appears that, " previous to this deter
mination which involved in it the grand question whether
to continue the stand they had made or not, it was moved
and ordered that the matter be decided by yeas and nays ;
and the members being accordingly called upon seriatim to
give their voices, it was carried by fifty-nine to twenty-
nine." * This indicates a discussion on this all-important
subject ; and that the debate was more than usually exciting
may be inferred from the decided style of the notice. The
vote shows that the old unanimity did not exist, and that
the House was getting weary of the dispute which was led
by Mr. Adams. This immovable determination on the one
side, and a desire to have done with the dispute and yield
the point to the Lieutenant-Governor on the other, continued
into the next year, and produced unhappy dissensions in the
patriot party, the stern and stanch Whigs siding with
Adams, who eventually carried his point. Samuel Adams
during the session was chairman of the important commit
tee " to consider the state of the Province," of which, as we
have seen, he had been the leading member for several
* Boston Gazette for Oct. 15, 1770.
VOL. i. 24
370 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nor.
years. His name also appears on numerous other commit
tees in connection with those of John Adams, James Warren,
Hawley, Pickering, Hancock, Leonard, Heath, and others,
whom Hutchinson mentions as particularly active on the
popular side.* One of the subjects of controversy between
the House and the Governor was the use of the words " in
General Court assembled," which the House declared to
be necessary to render effectual the acts passed by that
body. His Honor took exceptions, and the principal reply
of the House, which was written by John Adams, who was
chairman of the committee, conclusively establishes the
legality and necessity of the words.
Soon after the appointment of Dr. Franklin, a long and
comprehensive letter of instructions was prepared by Mr.
Adams, and accepted by the House, denning their views of
the condition of public affairs. His original draft, from
which the following extracts are taken, f is dated Nov. 6, but
probably the material had been previously arranged. Ex
tending over many pages of manuscript, it embodies all the
grievances complained of in previous papers, for the re
dress of which they require Franklin s utmost attention and
application. The subjects, treated at great length and in
detail, include the quartering of troops on the people in a
time of profound peace, and the establishment of an uncon
trolled military tyranny ; the policy of arbitrary instruc
tions, violating the charter of the Province ; the removal
of the Legislature from Boston ; the secrecy preserved in
relation to the intended measures of government, as ordered
by the Ministry, thus preventing the Province from knowing
who were their accusers or what was alleged against them ;
the sending to England of false relations of speeches and
proceedings of the Assembly under the Province seal ; the
secret examination of witnesses against the people ; and the
* Hutchinson s History, III. 338.
t The letter was published, with slight variations, in the Boston Gazette,
July 22, 1771. See Bancroft, VI. 375.
VfftT] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 371
total rescinding of some of the most essential clauses of the
charter, which " must soon tear up the very foundation of
civil government."
The enormous extension of the jurisdiction of the Court
of Admiralty is also considered, whereby " the most unrea
sonable and unjust distinction is made between the sub
jects in Britain and America, as though it was designed to
exclude us from the least share in that clause of Magna
Gharta which has for centuries been the noblest bulwark
of English liberties, and which cannot be too often repeated,
6 No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or deprived of
his freehold, or liberties, or free customs, or be outlawed,
or exiled, or any otherwise destroyed, nor will we pass upon
him, nor condemn him, but by the judgment of his peers
or the law of the land.
The threatened bestowal by the King of large salaries upon
the Attorney-General, Judges, and Governor of the Prov
ince, and the consequent dependence for their support upon
the Ministry instead of upon the people, is regarded as a
grievance still more aggravated and insupportable. The let
ter asserts that making those officers independent of the
Province for their support would introduce an arbitrary
administration into the Province and even into the courts
of law, and explains how " the Assembly is in all reason
sufficiently dependent already upon the Crown," to prove
which the course of provincial law-making is fully set forth.
" Surely," continues the letter, " the Parliament cannot even wish
for greater checks, both upon the legislative and executive of a
Colony, unless we are to be considered as bastards and not sons.
A step further will reduce us to an absolute subjection. If Admin
istration is resolved to continue such measures of severity, the Col
onies will in time consider the mother state as utterly regardless of
their welfare. Repeated acts of unkindness on one side may, by
degrees, abate the warmth of affection on the other ; and a total
alienation may succeed to that happy union, harmony, and confi
dence which had before always subsisted and we sincerely wish
372 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov.
may always subsist. If Great Britain, instead of treating us as
their fellow-subjects, shall aim at making us their vassals and slaves,
the consequences will be that, although our merchants have receded
from their non-importation agreement, yet the body of the people
will vigorously endeavor to become independent of the mother coun
try for their supplies, and, sooner than she may be aware of it, may
manufacture for themselves. The Colonies, like healthy young sons,
may have hitherto been cheerfully building up the parent state ; and
how far Great Britain will be affected, if they should be rendered
even barely useless to her, is an object which we conceive is at this
very juncture worth the attention of a British Parliament.
"Your own acquaintance with this Province, and your well-
known warm attachment to it, will lead you to exert all your
powers in its defence ; and as the Council have made choice of Mr.
Bollan for their agent, you will no doubt confer with him, and
concert such measures as will promote our common interest. Your
abilities we greatly confide in ; but if you shall think it for the
advantage of the Province to consult with and employ counsel
learned in the law, the importance of your agency will be a motive
sufficient for us to acquiesce in such expense, on that account, as
your own judgment shall dictate to you to be necessary."
Franklin continued to serve until the commencement of
the coercive measures which led to actual hostilities between
the two countries, lending his great abilities to the attain
ment of conciliation while a hope of such a result could be
entertained, and suffering with equanimity the assaults of
falsehood and ribaldry.* Hutchinson afterwards sent the
letter, as published in the Boston Gazette, to Pownall, nam
ing Samuel Adams as the author, and denouncing him as
the " all in all," the great incendiary leader of Boston. f
The next step after the election of an agent was the ap
pointment of a committee of correspondence to communicate
with him and with the Speakers of the several Assemblies. J.
* Bancroft, VI. 490-499.
t Hutchinson to Pownall, late in July or early in August, 1771.
$ Journal of the House, Nov. 7, 1770.
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 373
From the very first this plan of joint action on the part of
the Colonies had been a favorite idea with Mr. Adams. In
1764, he had advised a united application for the redress of
grievances, and his Circular Letter in 1768 was a repetition
of the same idea. Bradford, the historian, the contemporary
of Adams, says : " Mr. Adams procured a vote that the
Speaker should correspond with agents in England on the
subject of parliamentary claims to legislate for the Colo
nies ; and also with the Legislative Assemblies of the other
Colonies." * He says this was in 1768 ; but he evidently
refers to the committee now under consideration, as no such
corresponding body was appointed earlier. The conclusion
that Adams originated this committee is favored by the fact
that his draft of the letter of instructions to the agent was
prepared before the following motion creating that com
mittee was made in the House :
"Upon motion, ordered, that Mr. Speaker, Mr. Hancock, Mr.
Hall, Mr. Samuel Adams, and Mr. John Adams be a committee of
correspondence to communicate such intelligence as may be neces
sary to the agent and others in Great Britain, and also to the Speak
ers of the several Assemblies through the continent, or to such
committee of correspondence as they have or may appoint. Said
committee from time to time to report the whole of their corres
pondence to the House of Representatives, and to confer with such
committee as the Honorable Board have appointed to correspond
with their agent, as far as they shall judge it necessary.f
The only other letter sent to Franklin during the year
was written on the 17th of December, and was acknowledged
by him in February, 1771 4 Even if the plan of commu
nicating with the other Assemblies was consummated, none
of the letters have been preserved. It is probable, however,
* Alden Bradford s Biographical Notices of Distinguished Men in New
England, p. 22.
t Journal of the House, Nov. 7, 1770. Barry s Massachusetts, II. 435.
John Adams s Works, II. 235.
J Franklin s Works, edited by Sparks, VII. 501.
374 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nor.
that, by the advice of some, who remembered tne resent
ment occasioned by the Circular Letter of 1768, this part of
the duty was not discharged. But if an official communica
tion was thus prevented, Mr. Adams certainly endeavored to
supply the omission by his own private correspondence with
prominent politicians in the sister Colonies and in England,
especially since the non-importation agreements were failing
in nearly every part of the country.* Throughout 1771, the
popular cause was sustained with less energy than at any
time before, and government had sanguine hopes of a speedy
pacification of America. Hutchinson, commenting upon the
tendencies of this committee, says :
" Thus the Governor was wholly excluded from the share which,
by the Constitution, was assigned him in all acts of government.
Both Council and House of Representatives, by committees, kept
an authority in being, when, by prorogation and perhaps dissolu
tion, their own powers were at an end. Nothing could be more un
constitutional and unwarrantable. It was not in the power of the
Lieutenant- Governor to prevent such votes of Council or House.
They passed suddenly, without previous notice of the intention.
Government in England might well be alarmed. The Governor
was instructed not to consent to any votes for paying such agents
for their services, and when their appointments were offered to be
registered at the public offices they were refused. They appeared,
notwithstanding, as agents, were heard and attended to on many
occasions." t
This was the first committee of correspondence appointed
in America, and set the example for that extraordinary sys
tem, which was eventually to organize the continent for
resistance, and after the Revolution was imitated in Eng
land for the redress of grievances. J
* New York alone until now had been perfectly true to its engagement.
Bancroft, VI. 365.
t Hutchinson s History, III. 318. For Samuel Adams s proceedings, in
relation to a special agency for a limited term, proposed by the Governor, see
Hatchinson to Lord Dartmouth, October, 1773, Chap. XXVII. post.
J Francis Dana to Elbridge Gerry, Paris, Feb. 26, 1780. John to Samuel
1770.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 375
" Our House of Representatives," wrote Mr. Adams to a friend
in South Carolina, " have appointed a committee to correspond with
our friends in the other Colonies, and American manufactures
should be the constant theme." *
Shortly before the adjournment, the House made one
more effort, through a committee of which Samuel Adams
was chairman, to draw the Lieutenant-Governor forth from
his determined silence on the surrender of the Castle ; but
his Honor gave them no satisfactory reply, and the subject
was not renewed. Almost the last act of the session was to
address the Lieutenant-Governor, through a committee of
which Samuel Adams was chairman, desiring his Honor to
place the militia on a better footing, to fill the vacancies in
the several regiments, and revive military discipline.! A
bill to that effect was objected to by Hutchinson, and the
Legislature was then adjourned to the next spring.
Mr. Adams s means of obtaining information were not
limited to America, as may be seen by the following extract
from a letter received by him, about this time, from the hon
est-hearted and patriotic London banker, Stephen Sayre, af
terwards elected Sheriff of London by the supporters of the
Bill of Rights.:]:
" My worthy friend, Mr. Richard Gary, advises me that he has
reason to believe that you would not be displeased with such intel
ligence as I might sometimes give you relative to public affairs, and
confirms me in my former opinion, that you highly deserve the con
fidence of every friend to liberty. I have already done myself the
honor of addressing you as the Father of America ; and if you wish
to know the most secret transactions of your enemies here, I shall
Adams, Paris, Feb. 23, 1780. Sparks s Diplomatic Correspondence, III. 383.
J. T. Austin s Life of Gerry, I. 299, 300.
* Samuel Adams to Peter Timothy, Nov. 21, 1770.
t The original draft of this and the preceding paper are preserved in the
hand-writing of Samuel Adams. Bradford s State Papers, pp. 287 - 289.
J Arthur Lee to Samuel Adams, June 23, 1773. For facts relative to Mr.
Sayre, who was a native of Virginia, see W. B. Eeed s Biography of Joseph
Keed, I. 27 ; John Adams s Works, II. 325.
376 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov., Dec.
be proud of the opportunity to inform you in every particular as
soon as matters transpire. I shall never deceive you in matters of
fact, or hint suspicions without the best foundation. " *
To this Mr. Adams replied :
" The people here are indeed greatly tenacious of their rights,
and I hope in God they will ever firmly maintain them. Every
attempt to enforce the plan of despotism will certainly irritate them.
While they have a sense of freedom, they will oppose the efforts of
tyranny ; and although the mother country may at present boast of
their superiority over them, she may perhaps find the want of that su
periority when, by repeated provocations, she shall have totally lost
their affections. All good men surely wish for a candid harmony be
tween the two countries. Great Britain can lose nothing which she
ought to retain by restoring the Americans to their former state,
and they, I am satisfied, will no further contend. While the struggle
continues, manufactures will still increase in America, in spite of all
efforts to prevent it ; and how far Great Britain will be injured by
it ought certainly to be considered on your side of the Atlantic."
To the same person, a week later, he says of Hutchinson :
" Aut Ccesar, aut nullus, is inscribed on the heads of some men
who have neither Caesar s learning nor courage. Caesar three times
refused the crown ; his heart and his tongue evidently gave each
other the lie. Our modern great man would fain have it thought
that he has refused a government which his soul is every day pant
ing after, and without the possession of which his ambition and lust
of power will perpetually torment him. It has been his principle
from a boy, that mankind are to be governed by the discerning few,
and it has been ever since his ambition to be the hero of the few.
" It is the business of America to take care of herself; her situa
tion, as you justly observe, depends upon her own virtue. Arts and
manufactures, aided by commerce, have raised Great Britain to its
present pitch of grandeur. America will avail herself of imitating
her. We have already seen her happy, and, as we have a prospect
of war, I hope I may safely tell you that our young men begin to
be ambitious of making themselves perfect masters of the art mili-
* Stephen Sayre to Samuel Adams, Sept. 18, 1770.
1770.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 377
tary. Amidst the innumerable evils which we complain of from
the bad policy of your Ministry, this is the happy effect of Britain s
transplanting arms into America. " *
Into whatever insignificance John Wilkes might have
sunk, had he not been buoyed above obscurity by perse
cution, lie was at this time the embodiment of constitu
tional liberty in England. Disfranchised without color of
law, burdened with fines, and outlawed, he yet held in his
keeping the principles of representative government. He
had at the close of 1770 so far triumphed as to be elected
an alderman, and the sturdy Londoners considered him as
their political champion, and by their support expressed an
honest abhorrence of titled tyranny. In America, the name
of Wilkes, surrounded by the halo of patriotism, was the fa
vorite toast. The enthusiasm felt for him, if less excited
than in England, was equally deep seated. He was shortly
to become Lord Mayor of London, and was now the most
conspicuous person in the kingdom ; and viewing his posi
tion from this stand-point, he was truly a representative
man. A people, seeing their dearest privileges trampled
under foot, had rallied to the support of -their liberties
struck down in him. The following letter from Samuel
Adams expresses the sympathy felt in America for the
principles supported in the person of Wilkes.
BOSTON, Dec. 27, 1770.
Sm,
Having been repeatedly solicited by my friend, Mr. W. P., I
embrace this opportunity of making my particular compliments to
you in a letter which he will deliver. My own inclination has
coincided with his request ; for I should pride myself much in a
correspondence with a gentleman of whom I have long entertained
so great an opinion. No character appears with a stronger lustre
in my mind, than that of a man who nobly perseveres in the cause
of public liberty and virtue through the rage of persecution. Of
this you have had a large portion, but I dare say you are made
* To Stephen Sayre, Nov. 16 and 23, 1770.
378 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
better by it ; at least, I will venture to say that the sharpest perse
cution for the sake of one s country can never prove a real injury to
an honest man.
In this little part of the world, late happy in its obscurity, the
elysium to which patriots were formerly wont to make their peace
ful retreat, even here the stern tyrant has of late lifted up his iron
rod, and he makes his incessant claim as lord of our soil. But I
have a firm persuasion in my mind, that in every struggle this
country will approve herself as glorious in defending and maintain
ing her freedom as she has heretofore been happy in enjoying it.
Were I a native and an inhabitant of Britain, and capable of
affording the least advice, it would be to confirm the Colonists in
the fullest exercise of their rights, and even to explore for them
every possible avenue of trade which should not interfere with her
own manufactures. From the Colonies, when she is worn with age,
she is to expect renewed strength. But the field I am now enter
ing is too large for the present. May Heaven forbid that it should
yet be truly said of Great Britain, Quern Deus vult perdere, &c. !
I am, with strict truth, sir,
Your most humble servant,
SAMUEL ADAMS.
To JOHN WILKES, Esq.
No reply to this letter has ever been found, and it is
likely that none was written. Though Wilkes pretended to
the deepest admiration of the Americans, " the courage
and noble spirit of our American brethren," to use his
own words, he cared nothing for their interests ; and, it
would appear from Stephens s Life of Home Tooke, actually
hated and despised them.*
There seemed to be now " a pause in politics," f and the
Province remained in the same unusual state of quietude
when the new year opened. The non-importation agree
ments, as we have seen, were at an end, though an almost
universal desire to encourage home industry, in accordance
with a resolution passed by the last Assembly, prevailed
* See Grahame s History, II. 439.
f Samuel Cooper to Dr. Franklin, Jan. 1, 1771.
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 379
among tne towns. Meetings of the wives and daughters of
the yeomanry, where a generous rivalry was manifested to
excel in spinning skeins of yarn, were common ; while for
the forbidden tea was substituted an herb of home growth,
which came into general use.* Preston s trial was over ; and
Mr. Adams, as " Yindex," nearly alone occupied the field
of the Boston Gazette, in a long-continued controversy with
Sewall, as " Philanthrop," in the loyalist paper. Hutchin-
son attributed the quiet to the late changing of the garrison
at Castle William, which had evidently, he said, produced a
great effect upon the people. f To a friend in England he
wrote :
^ " You wish to hear how our affairs stand from time to time. "We
have not been so quiet these five years. Our incendiaries of the
lower order have quite disappeared. A Doctor Young, whose name
has often appeared in the newspapers, has taken passage for North
Carolina. He may have a chance among the Regulators there.
I hope many of the most flaming zealots who have been at the head
of affairs see their mistake. They say that this change will divert
Parliament from showing resentment for past offences. I tell them
that it may cause a more moderate chastisement, but that it is im
possible they should wholly escape."
And a few days later, he says :
" The people about the country have certainly altered their con
duct, and in this town, if it were not for two or three Adamses,
we should do well enough. I don t know how to account for the
obstinacy of one [John Adams], who seemed to me, when he began
life, to promise well. The other [Samuel Adams] never appeared
different from what he does at present, and, I fear, never will.
The name of Vindex, which he has assumed, is characteristic ; but,
as it is the custom now for people to give their children two or three
names, I could wish he would add Malignus and Invidus, to
make his names a little more significative." $
* Boston newspapers. Barry s Massachusetts, II. 436.
t Hutchinson to a person unknown.
J Hutchinson to Thomas Whately, Jan. 25, 1771.
380 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March,
Hutchinson, who had been anxiously vibrating between
hope and fear, now received his commission as Governor of
the Province, and his brother-in-law, Andrew Oliver, who
had been Stamp Distributor in 1765, and was forced by the
populace to resign, succeeded to the Lieutenancy.* The
appointments, as might have been expected, gave great of
fence ; yet, considering the zeal in a bad cause which Hutch-
inson had displayed, the Ministry could scarcely have chosen
another man, or one more fitted to consummate their appar
ent desire to exasperate the people. Hutchinson, who had
reached the goal of his ambition, the highest office he could
attain in America, was delighted beyond measure with his
honors ; and very soon the Episcopal clergy of Boston, who,
were all loyalists, waited upon him with congratulatory ad
dresses, f Those of some Congregational ministers were of
an opposite tenor, the writers probably feeling that if the
occasion demanded any notice at their hands it was to show
that they and their churches disapproved of the appoint
ment. J Hutchinson, having written to the Earl of Dun
more in acknowledgment of the receipt of his Majesty s
commission appointing him " Captain General and Governor-
in-chief of this his Majesty s Province," turned to the duties
of his high office, and looked forward to a brilliant and suc
cessful administration. He wrote to General Gage in New
York, informing him of his appointment, and desiring to
cultivate correspondence and harmony. The rumor, which
afterwards proved to be well-founded, that the Governor was
to receive his support directly from the Crown, had for some
time been in circulation. The charter, wisely guarding the
liberties of the little democratic communities, provided that
the Governor should rely for his salary exclusively upon
the free grants of the Assembly ; and the dangerous prece
dent had been already pointed out to Franklin, in the letter
* The commissions are published in the Boston papers for March 14, 1771.
t Boston Gazette, March 18, 1771.
Hutchinson s History, III. 334.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 381
of the House, as one of the grievances to be brought before
the Ministry. Just as the packet was sailing for England,
Mr. Adams enclosed in another letter a few hasty lines to
Stephen Sayre on the subject.
BOSTON, Jan. 12, 1771.
SIR,
I wrote you per Captain Hall, who sailed about ten days ago,
and then enclosed some papers, published in the Boston Gazette,
upon the subject of the late trial of the soldiers. I now send you
duplicates, together with others on the same subject since published.
I perceive that Mr. Hutchinson is appointed Governor here, and it
is said he is to have an independent salary ! Is not this perfect des
potism ? What can the people of Britain mean by suffering their
great men to enslave their fellow-subjects ? Can they think that
the plan is confined to America ? They will surely find themselves
mistaken.
I am, in haste, sir, your assured friend,
SAM. ADAMS.
STEPHEN SAYRE, Esq.
On the 5th of March, the first anniversary of the Boston
Massacre was celebrated in a manner calculated to impress
the people with the events of that memorable occasion. The
bells were tolled at noon and evening ; and, after dark, fig
ures to represent the slain were exhibited from a window in
the north part of the town.* During the day, the younger
Lovell, Usher of the Grammar-School, delivered an oration
at the Old South Church. Mr. Adams was this year on the
town s committee to arrange for future celebrations. His
exertions on a larger scale did not prevent him from serving
with Hancock and others of the leading patriots as Selectman,
School Examiner, Fire Warden, and in other similar offices, f
About this time the town received a letter from the cele
brated Irish patriot, Dr. Lucas of Dublin, in answer to one
sent him by the committee appointed in the previous year
* Boston Gazette, March 11, 1771. Hutchinson, III. 335.
t Boston Town Kecords for 1771 ; and Boston Gazette, March 25, 1771.
382 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [March, April,
to transmit the account of the Massacre to Europe. It was
read in the town meeting on the 18th of March ; and though
no copy of it can be found, its tenor may be gathered from
the short sketch in the Gazette.
" The Doctor sympathizes with his American fellow-sufferers, and
enumerates so many and audacious instances of military barbarity,
insolence, and unbounded licentiousness as demonstrates that law
is indeed the will of the Ministry for that kingdom. He laments
the ignorant difference in religion, and consequent want of unanim
ity in the people, which renders them an easy prey to any kind of
forces that would enslave them ; professes a high esteem for America,
and still hopes the unanimous efforts of her wise and virtuous chil
dren will have much effect towards a general restoration of consti
tutional liberty." *
Dr. Lucas seems greatly to have resembled Samuel Adams
in certain traits of character and in the circumstances of his
life. He was known as an effective political writer, conduct
ing the Freeman s Journal in Dublin, to which Yelverton,
Flood, Grattan, and other distinguished men were contribu
tors. From his first entrance into the political arena, no
promises nor offers could seduce him from the cause of the
people, which he maintained with inflexible energy until his
death. He was a man of remarkable powers and ceaseless
activity, taking the lead in watching and defending the civil
liberties of the nation. In October, 1761, while in the Irish
Parliament, he was one of a committee which brought in a
bill to limit the duration of Parliament, a favorite and
constitutional measure which he had recommended. The
Parliament of Ireland, unlike that of Great Britain, contin
ued in existence until dissolved by the death of the monarch.
It was the desire of Lucas to imitate the English Septennial
Bill, but at first the effort failed, much to the regret of the
people, who were earnest for its success. In 1767, however,
an octennial bill was passed.f During the session of 1771,
* Boston Gazette, March 25, 1771.
t Plowden s Ireland, London, 1809, 80, H. 144, 155.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 383
Dr. Lucas died ; and, in consideration of his distinguished
patriotism, the University of Dublin, at the request of the
Corporation, provided an apartment and commons in the Col
lege for the gratuitous education of his son. That he was
known and appreciated in Boston may be inferred from the
letter sent him after the Massacre, and by the appellation of
" the famous Dr. Lucas " in the Gazette. The town appointed
a committee to reply to his letter ; which explains the fol
lowing draft by Samuel Adams, found among his papers :
BOSTON, 1771.
SIR,
Your letter of the 1st of September has been laid before the
town of Boston at their annual meeting, and attended to with great
satisfaction ; and we are appointed a committee to return you a re
spectful answer Accordingly, we take this opportunity, in behalf
of the town, to acknowledge the kind sentiments your letter ex
presses towards us, and to entreat you to employ your abilities for
our advantage whenever a favorable opportunity may present. We
are very sensible that you have an arduous task in resisting the tor
rent of oppression and arbitrary power in Ireland, a kingdom where
the brutal power of standing armies and the more fatal influence of
pensions and places has left, it is to be feared, hardly anything more
than the name of a free constitution. We wish you strength and for
titude to persevere in patriotic exertions. Your labor will meet
with its immediate and instant reward, in the most peaceful and
happy reflections of your own mind, amidst the greatest discourage
ments ; and be assured that the man who nobly vindicates the
rights of his country and mankind shall stand foremost in the list of
fame.
We are, &c.,
To DK. LUCAS, Dublin.
Early in April the General Court met at Cambridge, when
Governor Hutchinson officially informed the House of his
appointment, and intimated his desire " to join cheerfully at
all times with the other branches of the Legislature in such
measures as may tend completely to restore and constantly
884 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [April,
to maintain that state of order and tranquillity upon which
the prosperity of the Province so much depends." The
House, however, had in mind a subject which was deemed
of more importance than the exchange of hollow felicita
tions. They sent to his Excellency a verbal message on the
first day of the session, requesting him to remove the Gen
eral Court to its ancient and usual seat, the Town-House in
Boston, and in a few days the message was repeated. The
Governor refused in a brief reply, stating that one of the
obstructions to the desired removal was the denial by the
House of the right reserved by the Crown to convene the
Court in such place as was thought proper. " If every other
impediment," he continues, " was out of the way, whilst you
continue to urge that, by law, the Court must be held in
Boston, I may not ask his Majesty s leave to carry you there.
I should give up to the House of Representatives a right
which would have remained in the Crown, if no notice had
been taken of it in the charter." *
Samuel Adams was chairman of the committee appointed
to reply ; and two drafts, differing but slightly, are extant in
his handwriting. The answer, which was to both speeches,
was not reported until nearly three weeks had elapsed.
What debates occurred in the interval, or what opposition
was shown to the adoption of the report, or by whom, can
never be known, though the proceedings of the summer
session throw an inferential light on the subject. In his
opening speech, the Governor had alluded to the late aggres
sion to which Spain had been prompted, in conformity with
her treaty with France, to commence hostilities against Eng
land, the very danger Samuel Adams had foreseen more
than a year before. In the midst of peace, a Spanish force
from Buenos Ayres had violently dispossessed the English
of their settlement at Port Egremont in the Falkland Isl
ands. A war seemed probable, and the Earl of Hillsbor-
ough had written to Hutchinson that, in such case, a plan
* Journal of the House, April 5, 1771.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 385
of augmentation of his Majesty s forces in America had been
determined upon ; and the Governor thereupon issued his
proclamation to that effect. But, as he had hinted in his
speech, that it was probable satisfaction might have been
made, the House quietly informed him that the plan of
augmentation had been receded from, which rendered any
further consideration of the subject on their part unneces
sary. It is certain that any effort to raise troops in Massa
chusetts to fight the battles of Britain would now have been
futile. Nor would the House have voted for any increase
of the royal forces in the Province, especially after the
contemptuous silence Hutchinson had preserved during the
last session on their application for a reorganization of the
militia. The spirit which, thirteen years before, had planted
the British flag in triumph on the ramparts of Louisburg,
had conquered Canada, and added lustre to the national
arms, was fast fading before the mercenary, thankless policy
of the government. This threatened quarrel with Spain,
though followed by an equivocal apology from the aggres
sors, averting hostilities, should have warned British politi
cians of the dangers which menaced their commerce, and the
possible calamities which might result from a continued
exasperation of three millions of loyal and faithful subjects.*
But a stubborn determination to crush out all opposition,
to see " America prostrate at their feet," blinded the gov
ernment to all other considerations. Their pride, aroused
by opposition, would not permit them to abandon the head
strong assertion of an erroneous principle to which King
and Ministry were alike committed. Meanwhile the states
men of rival powers looked on with amazement and secret
pleasure.
" We owe our gratitude," continues the answer to the Governor,
" to his Majesty for his repeated assurances expressed to your Excel
lency by the Secretary of State, that the security of his dominions
* Compare Samuel Adams to Deberdt, Nov. 6, 1769, ante, p. 289.
VOL. i. 25
386 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [April,
in America will be a principal object of his most gracious care and
attention. This Province has frequently in times past expended
much blood and treasure for the enlargement as well as support of
those dominions. And when our natural and constitutional rights
and liberties, without which no blessing can be secured to us, shall
be fully restored and established upon a firm foundation, as we
shall then have the same reasons and motives therefor as heretofore,
we shall not fail to continue those exertions with the utmost cheer
fulness and to the extent of our ability.
" As your Excellency has no particular interior business of the
Province to lay before us, it would have given us no uneasiness if
an end had been put to the present Assembly, rather than to have
been called to this place ; and we are unwilling to admit the belief
that when the season for calling a new Assembly, agreeable to the
charter, shall arrive, your Excellency will continue an indignity and
a grievance so flagrant, and so repeatedly remonstrated by both
Houses, as the deforcement of the General Assembly of its ancient
and rightful seat."
The answer then glances at the Governor s announcement
of his appointment, and reminding him of his birth and
education in the Province, where his fellow-subjects had for
many years bestowed upon him the highest honors in their
gift, represents that as a motive for him to employ his
powers for his Majesty s real service and the best interests
of the people.
" The duties of the governor and the governed are reciprocal ;
and by our happy Constitution their dependence is mutual. Noth
ing can more effectually produce and establish that order and tran
quillity in the Province so often disturbed under the late unfortunate
administration, nothing will tend more to conciliate the affections of
this people, and insure to your Excellency those aids which you
will constantly stand in need of from their representatives, than, as
a wise and faithful administrator, to make use of the public power
with a view only to the public welfare. And while your Excellency
Shall religiously regard the Constitution of this Province ; while
you shall maintain its fundamental laws, so necessary to secure the
public tranquillity, you may be assured that his Majesty s faithful
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 387
Commons of this Province will never be wanting in their utmost
exertions to support you in all such measures as shall be calculated
for the public good and to render your administration prosperous
and happy." *
The Governor soon after manifested his disapproval of the
words, " his Majesty s Commons," by which he supposed
they must intend the House of Representatives.! In his
History he twice refers to this change in the style of the
House, which accorded with the language of the newspapers,
and was intended, as he correctly surmised, to give more im
portance to that branch as a supreme, independent legisla
tive power. " Mr. Adams s attention to the cause in which
he was engaged," says Hutchinson, " would not suffer him
to neglect even small circumstances which could be made
subservient to it. From this attention, in four or five years,
a great change had been made in the language of the Gen
eral Assembly." J The Governor then enumerates some of
the instances where Adams had used the knife freely on
such of the forms of expression previously used in legislative
documents as appeared to sanction the assumption of au
thority by Parliament in matters purely relating to the
internal affairs of the Province. These verbal changes,
emanating from the shrewd political manager, are apparent
in most of the state papers from 1767 to the close of the
royal government in the Province.
But a more important and alarming topic than any that
had yet appeared now presented itself. Mr. Adams had
already received information, by private letters from Eng
land, of the intended payment of the Governor s salary by
the Crown, instead of by the free grants of the people. The
letter to Franklin, in the previous year, had touched upon
this subject ; and among the earliest business of this session
* Original drafts by Samuel Adams. Bradford s State Papers, p. 296.
Journal of the House, April 24, 1771.
t Bradford s State Papers, p. 299. Hutehinson, III. 337.
J Hutchinson, III. 413.
383 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [April, 1771.
was the passage of the bills granting the usual sums for the
Governor s salary and to carry on the public affairs. When
three weeks had passed, upon inquiry of the Secretary of
the Province, it did not appear that the Governor had ap
proved of the bills ; and as a similar one had been neglected
during the previous session, the House, in a message written
by Samuel Adams, desired an explanation, being apprehen
sive, they stated, that the Governor was acting under some
restraint, and that provision had been made for his official
salary independent of the Assembly.* Hutchinson gave an
evasive reply, saying that he should assent to or reject the
bills, as it should appear to him his duty required, and
thereupon prorogued the Assembly.-)-
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 298. Autograph drafts by Samuel Adams.
t Bradford s State Papers, p. 299.
CHAPTER XIX.
The Spirit of Opposition subsides. Counsels of the Moderate Party. John
Adams retires from the Cause. Otis is jealous of Samuel Adams, and re
tards Public Measures. Adams stands alone. He is opposed by Hancock
and Otis, who for a while carry the House. Painful Position of Adams.
His Brotherly Care for Otis. Exultation of the Loyalists. He turns to
the Press to stem the Tide. He prepares a Protest against holding the
Session at Cambridge, and at last secures its Passage in the House. Han
cock and his Party for a while silenced. Adams drafts a Letter of Instruc
tions from the House to Dr. Franklin. The Governor denounces Adams
as the Director and Principal Incendiary.
a*
THERE was an interval of about a fortnight between the
prorogation and the May elections for the Legislature. The
political heats had subsided, and public affairs were discussed
with unusual moderation. Hutchinson, a close observer of
every event, says that he had all the respect he could desire
shown him personally, as well as in his public character,
" from the most valuable part of the town." * " Perhaps,"
said Andrew Eliot, " it might be as well not to dispute in
such strong terms the legal right of Parliament. This is a
point that cfinnot easily be settled, and had therefore best be
touched very gently. It cannot be supposed that the Par
liament will give up their right of taxation in express terms ;
it will be prudence for them never again to exercise it. If
the Colonies dispute their right of legislation, which hath
always been submitted to, particularly with respect to the
regulation of trade, it may raise a new ferment, and may
create suspicions that nothing will satisfy but absolute inde
pendence. At present, things are very quiet." f These were
not the counsels that led to American Independence ; but
they were entertained by men equally sincere and patriotic
* Hutchinson to Col. "Williams, April 5, 1771.
t Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, April 25, 1771.
390 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May,
with Mr. Eliot. James Otis, now a ruin of his former great
ness, had a temporary return of reason, and his townsmen
readily reinstated him in the political field, where he had
once been the leading spirit, but could now only retard and
distract the public interests.* John Adams, after a few
months service in the Legislature, had retired from public
life, ceasing even to write in the cause, and evidently dis
gusted with the apparent subsidence of patriotic spirit. f
Indignant at the insults to which he had exposed himself
in an unsuccessful attempt to secure the election of Samuel
Adams as Register of Deeds, he now returned to Braintree,
and devoted himself to the practice of his profession. In his
Diary, he says :
" I have acted my sentiments with the utmost frankness at the
hazard of all, and the certain loss of ten times more than it is in the
power of the people to give me, for the sake of the people ; and now
I reap nothing but insult, ridicule, and contempt for it, even from
many of the people themselves.
" However, I have not hitherto regarded consequences to myself.
I have very cheerfully sacrificed my interest and my health and
ease and pleasure, in the service of the people. I have stood by
their friends longer than they would stand by them. I have stood
by the people much longer than they would stand by themselves.
But I have learned wisdom by experience. I shall certainly be
come more retired and cautious ; I shall certainly mind my own
farm and my own office." J
Standing alone, Samuel Adams now prepared, with all
the powers of his resolute soul, to revive the spirit of oppo
sition, and sustain it in the approaching session. At the
annual election on the 7th of May, he had been chosen a
member of the Legislature with Hancock, Gushing, and Otis.
There would be every difficulty to encounter. The Gov
ernor and his friends, seeking to destroy the influence of
Adams in the Assembly, witnessed with eager pleasure the
* Bancroft, VI. 403. t John Adams s Works, II. 257, 282.
:J Ibid, II. 259, 260.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 391
brightening prospects of loyalty, and were sagacious enough
to improve an occasion more opportune than any which had
presented itself since the commencement of the revenue
troubles. The event proved how well founded were their
expectations ; but their advantage was not to be of long
duration, though the patriot cause was indeed for a time
divided against itself. Otis, who was guarded with brotherly
care by Samuel Adams, was so irritable and weak as to har
bor jealousy of the great influence of his friend, and did not
hesitate to place obstacles in the way of success, thereby
encouraging a concession to the demands of government.*
Gushing lacked the necessary qualifications for an important
emergency, and could never aspire to leadership. Hawley,
between the sessions, lived far in the interior of the State,
but even his presence afforded generally only sound advice on
questions of law. Able, sincere, and of spotless character, he
was nevertheless unfitted to guide, and his excitable nature
wavered between vehemence and despondency. f Hancock,
never an adviser or writer, brought to the House, as it
proved, qualities calculated rather to impede than advance
the principles upon which the public liberties had been
built. At this time, Mr. Adams, to influence the inland
counties, where the election seemed to be doubtful, wrote
a series of articles in the public press, commencing a week
prior to the contest and extending to the last week in May.
Aware of the efforts of Hutchinson and his satellites to sub
vert the elections and place their own agents in the Assembly,
and of the Governor s plausible professions^ he warns his
readers against the danger, and points out the inevitable re
sults. On the general condition of public affairs, he says :
* Hutchinson, III. 339. Bancroft, VI. 403. Barry, II. 438. On Mr.
Adams s " constant guardianship of James Otis," see an article in the Boston
Patriot, July 26, and in the Independent Chronicle, July 29, 1826, written by
one who had been a friend and contemporary of Samuel Adams.
t Bancroft, VI. 118. The name of Hawley does not appear during this
session upon any important committee, if he was a member of the House.
| Bancroft, VI. 402. Compare John Adams s Diary (Works, II. 284).
392 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [May,
" The troops of the King of Great Britain which occupy Castle
William may be viewed in the same light, and are as dangerous to
our constitutional freedom, as so many Swiss, French, Spanish, or
Russians ; because they are not raised, paid, and regulated by our
Representatives. And our King has no more right to send those
troops into that Castle than he has to send them into Hanover or
Portugal, without a previous contract for the purpose. I fear that
some of you, known and respected friends to liberty, may be a little
surprised at the second assertion. The treatment we have lately
received has not yet quite destroyed the affection for Great Britain,
and the confidence in her justice, which have permitted certain
things to become habitual in this Province, though incompatible
with the rights of it. That affection and that confidence is your only
ground of surprise ; you cannot furnish any other.
" I know also that some among us who are to be pitied, and others
who are to be despised, will fret and rave. Ignorance in the first,
and rapacity in the last, will furnish fuel for anger. This placed,
pensioned, or expecting tribe may tell us that the new block-houses
upon the western part of Castle Island are built out of love to the
Province, especially to the towns of Boston and Dorchester ; though
if the French king s troops had erected them by his order, it would
be readily allowed to proceed from a spirit of jealousy or insult. I
cannot make such distinctions. I thank God that I feel so much
true loyalty that I can be grieved at the jealousy, and so much true
freedom that I can feel resentment at the insult, of this plan of forti
fication.
" Few words are necessary now to express my idea of our proper
condition. "We are either a State, as entirely independent of Great
Britain as any other on earth which makes use of her protection, or
we are her free Colonies. In both these cases her conduct towards
us should be identically the same.
" I have said we live under a government of three branches, Wis
dom, Goodness, and Power to execute their resolutions. A man of
truly inflexible integrity, Governor Phips, Heaven bless his de
parted spirit, was of that opinion. T is true he is now sneered
at by shallow-pated sycophancy ; but his opinion is not less founded
wpon the solid rational principles of the British and similar American
Constitution, for the sneers of such. Behold, my dear countrymen,
the mystery of government ! It was instituted for the happiness of
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 393
the people. The two representative bodies of Wisdom and Good
ness shall point out that happiness. The I, the one individual
of Power, shall frustrate their unanimous decisions. Whence
does this arise ? Either from an abominable vain conceit in this
individual that he is possessed of superior wisdom and good
ness to these two united bodies, or from the influence of pri
vate instructions, received by the way of the Thames, the Seine,
or Tiber, from Westminster, Paris, or Rome, t is of no impor
tance which, or from some other motive equally injurious in its
consequences." *
The second of this series of articles (that of May 6),
which contained a warning against the machinations of the
Governor and his friends, Hutchinson sent to Bernard.
" Our sons of sedition," he writes, " are afraid of a change
of members in many towns, and make a strong effort in the
newspapers to prevent it. In this week s paper you see the
black art of Adams." |
On the 29th of May the General Assembly met at Cam
bridge, when Adams was, as usual, elected Clerk. He was
now unaided by a single member of the Boston delegation
on the floor of the House. Loyalty prevailed, and the de
cided patriots were in a minority. ^ The tone of the Assem
bly was instantly made manifest. Before proceeding upon
the next business in order, a remonstrance on the subject of
the removal of the General Assembly back to its original
seat was agreed upon. This had now been persisted in for
three years, the House having proceeded to business each
year under protest. At the session of November, 1770, it
will be remembered, the vote on this question was not so
unanimous as before. This year, the loyal sentiment had
so far increased, that the House, in April, had been almost
equally divided between the friends of government and the
opposition. || But at the present session there was a balance
* "An Elector in 1771," in the Boston Gazette, May 20, 1771.
t Hutchinson to Bernard, May 10, 1771.
t Bancroft, VI. 405. See ante, p. 369.
|| John Adams s Diary (Works, II. 263).
394 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [May,
in favor of timidity, artifice, and trimming. The principle
involved in the dispute with Hutchinson on the removal of
the Assembly was of the first importance. It included the
acknowledgment or denial of the mischievous right claimed
by the Crown of infringing on a clause in the charter of the
Province specifying where the General Court should hold
its sessions. To yield that was to give up all that had been
asserted against the violations of the charter. For to con
cede any part was to concede the whole. It was from this
point of view that the stubborn struggle in the House, on
the removal, assumed such importance, and that it was re
garded as of paramount interest in asserting the royal pre
rogative, is evident from the undeviating determination of
the Governor to keep them at Cambridge until the point of
right was yielded. He was now sanguine that the members
would hold out no longer. The test was made at once.
After the remonstrance had been agreed upon, the House
proceeded to the election of Councillors before presenting it.
Otis, who had been awaiting his opportunity, now moved to
strike out that clause in the remonstrance which might be
construed into a denial of the right of removing the Assem
bly. The motion, despite the exertions of Adams and the
few who still clung to the old principles, was carried ; and
the Governor, delighted with this favorable indication, which
made the removal only an "inconvenience," sent back a gen
tle answer, assuring them of his efforts to set aside all obsta
cles to their removal back to Boston, but that he must have
his Majesty s leave.* We can imagine the chagrin of Samuel
Adams at these proceedings. All that he had been contend
ing for since the spring of 1770, when the Court had been
removed, was renounced after a brief battle, and the arbi
trary right in government to break the charter at pleasure
admitted. Willing to put the test more directly, in hopes
of bringing round a sufficient number for a majority, as he
had done in 1768, at the time of the vote against the adop-
* Bradford s State Papers, p. 301. Hutchinson, III. 339.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 395
tion of the Circular Letter, he offered a resolution to do no
business except in the town of Boston, at the same time
speaking against the Governor. John Adams, in his Diary,
thus refers to the scene which ensued :
" John Chandler, Esq., of Petersham, came into P. s in the even
ing from Boston yesterday, and gave me an account of Mr. Otis s
conversion to Toryism. Adams was going on in the old road, and
Otis started up, and said they had gone far enough in that way ;
the Governor had an undoubted right to carry the Court where he
pleased, and moved for a committee to represent the inconveniences
of sitting there, and for an address to the Governor. He was a
good man ; the ministers said so ; the justices said so ; and it
must be so ; and moved to go on with business ; and the House
voted everything he moved for. Boston people say he is dis
tracted," &c. *
Hutchinson, alluding to this, writes :
" Mr. Samuel Adams moved the House to come into a resolve to
do no business except in the town of Boston, and expressed an opin
ion of the Governor not very favorable. Mr. Otis opposed the mo
tion, and expressed a very favorable opinion of the Governor, and
his belief of the same opinion in the people, and added that he was
clear in opinion that the Governor had good right to carry the
Assembly to Housatonic. if he thought fit ; and many other mem
bers declaring they had been of that mind the last year, the motion
did not obtain. This afforded hope of conciliation in this particular
point, but subsequent proceedings in the session destroyed it. Mr.
Otis, in his calm moments, had always disavowed any design of a
general revolt or of attaining to a state of independency. He was
also evidently dissatisfied with the great influence which Mr. Adams
had obtained ; and there was a prospect of his being serviceable in
preventing the opposition from going to that extreme which some
of them then most evidently intended ; but the unhappy state of his
mind soon rendered him of no importance." f
Again, in a letter to one in England, a few days after, he
s:
John Adams s Works, II. 266. t Hutchinson s History, ILL 339.
396 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. - [June,
" Otis, in a speech the first day after his election, gave his opinion
to the House, that we had a very good Governor, and that he was
sure the people in all parts of the Province thought so. He con
demned the proceedings of the House the last year, and acknowl
edged the right of the Governor to carry them to Housatonic, in the
western extreme of the Province; was sensible that it would be
inconvenient, and that he would not do it, and hoped he would carry
them back to Boston. This gave a shock to the party, and the
House voted to go on with their business as usual, without a divis
ion or opposition." *
" The House of Representatives having in the most explicit man
ner acknowledged my right to convene the Court where I think
proper, they have strengthened government, and given me more
weight in the Province than they had intended. The people, being
made sensible that I claimed no more than the just prerogatives in
this instance, think more favorably of me and of the principles I
avow in other points in difference. The return of the Court to
Boston, in consequence of this concession, will give me further
weight, and, it may be, enable me to obtain other points equally
reasonable for them to concede." f
Thus the Governor admitted the importance of the con
cession, by stating his intention of removing the Court to
Boston in consequence, and he considered it the introduction
to further advantages. But, besides the opposition of James
Otis and of that considerable body of the House who had
needed only this dangerous example to give utterance to opin
ions which many had secretly entertained since the com
mencement of the removal dispute, Adams had now also
to encounter the enmity of John Hancock, who, about this
time, began to oppose his measures for the public safety.
This was a matter of much more importance than the action
of Otis, whose course, much as it assisted temporarily to
encourage the government party, could scarcely be consid
ered that of a responsible agent. But Hancock, owing to
his wealth and great influence in Boston, was powerful for
* Hutchinson to a person unknown, June 5, 1771.
t Hutchinson to Bernard, June 5, 1771.
1771 -J LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 397
good or evil. Among all those whom Samuel Adams had
enlisted in the patriot service, none had been attended by
him with such assiduity as Hancock, whose vanity and petu
lance often made it necessary to humor his caprices, while a
natural generosity counterbalanced, among those who knew
him best, his frequent vacillations. At a later period, he
could make profuse sacrifices of wealth for his country, and
was most liberal in his expenses for public purposes. He
was fond of dress and personal display, scattered largesses
with open hand, was quickly offended among his friends,
implacable to his enemies, and intensely fond of popular ap
plause. Such a character might easily become an idol with
the people, and, backed by a large fortune, reach the pinna
cle of his aspirations ; * but whoever should attempt to
guide him in the existing crisis must be possessed of rare
powers of persuasion and forbearance. The immediate cause
of the present variance is not traceable to any particular
circumstance, but it undoubtedly grew out of the discussion
on the removal in the former session, and probably com
menced to display itself about the same time with the
unhappy conduct of Otis. Later in the year, Hancock s
resentment was excited against Otis, on some personal
ground, when he pursued him with more rigor than to
Adams seemed warrantable, though in a conversation on
that subject, wherein Adams expressed his sympathy for the
condition of Otis, and defended his private character, he did
not express the least unfriendliness towards Hancock. f As
late as the 5th of April, 1771, Hutchinson, writing to a
friend in England, mentioned Hancock as one of those of
any consideration who still held out against him. Between
that and the 5th of June, the removal excitement occurred
* Compare Mrs. Mercy Warren s History of the American Revolution, I.
212, The authoress wrote from a personal acquaintance with John Hancock.
t There is among the Adams papers a curious memorandum of a conver
sation between Harrison Gray, Jr., Samuel Adams, and Mr. John Cotton, on
the subject of Otis s habits and conduct, and Hancock s recent treatment of
him. It is dated Dec. 8, 1771.
398 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
in the House, and on the last-mentioned date, Hutchinson
again writing in relation to his having rejected Hancock a
few days before, when chosen by the Legislature as a Council
lor, says :
" I can mention to you what will appear improper in a public
letter. I was much pressed by many persons well affected in gen
eral to consent to the election of Mr. Hancock, his connections being
large, which are strongly prejudiced against me for the frequent re
fusals to accept of him in office. They assured me he wished to be
separated from Mr. Adams, another Representative of the town, an
incendiary equal to any at present in London, and, if I would admit
him to the Council, they had no doubt there could be an end to the
influence he has by means of his property in the town of Boston.
As there had been no advances on his part, I could not think it
proper for me to follow their advice. I have now reason to think
that, before another election, he will alter his conduct so far as to
justify my acceptance of him, which certainly will take off that
sourness of temper from many people which his negatives occasion ;
and unless you think it a step not advisable, I believe I shall accept
of him. Having from year to year the general votes both of Coun
cil and House, the constant refusal is more disagreeable to the
people." *
From this it is evident that the gentlemen who applied to
the Governor to urge his acceptance of Hancock as Coun
cillor must have had this interview before the Legislature
met, which was on the 29th of May. It was therefore
before that time that the coldness between the two Repre
sentatives commenced, as the dislike expressed by Hancock
of the policy of his colleague is mentioned as already exist
ing at that time. Hutchinson states that " Hancock ex
pressed his dissatisfaction with the party and with their
extending their designs further than appeared to him war
rantable." f It would seem that the plan proposed in the
letter, from which an extract is given above, was tried, and
* Hutchinson to a person unknown, June 5, 1771.
t Hutchinson s History, III. 346.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 399
that an interview for that purpose occurred between the
Governor and Hancock. To quote Hutchinson again :
" The Governor very willingly signified to him, that the repeated
denials of consent to his election into public offices had not pro
ceeded from any degree of ill will towards him, or from any excep
tion to his general character, but altogether from the part which he
had taken in opposition to that authority which the Governor, from
his office and fidelity to the trust reposed in him by the King, was
bound to support ; and that, upon a change of sentiments in Mr.
Hancock, everything past would be entirely forgotten, and it would
be a pleasure to the Governor to consent to his election to the
Council, where he could more easily take such share in the public
affairs as he thought fit, than he could do in the House, business in
the latter requiring a more close and constant attention. This he
declared to be neither his object nor inclination ; but he intended
to quit all active concern in public affairs, and to attend to his pri
vate business, which, by means of his attention to the public, had
been too much neglected. The disunion, however, which lasted
several months, checked the progress of measures in opposition to
government." *
Thus deserted at a crisis of peculiar difficulty, and left
almost alone to sustain the question of an inviolate charter,
Samuel Adams was for a while unahle to stem the tide ; but
he bided his time. He had seen the non-importation scheme
come to nought among the merchants, yet he never de
spaired, and found in difficulties only incentives for in
creased efforts. He was one of the committee to bear to
the Governor the unworthy report, wounding the cause in
the house of its friends, and destroying in an hour what it
had taken years to construct.! But he gathered his re
sources, and falling back upon his own powers, stood ready
to improve the first opportunity to retrieve the action of the
House. He saw the fatal spirit of concession which was
* Hutchinson s History, III. 346, 347.
t Journal of the House, May 29, 1771.
400 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
establishing the Governor s influence over the members,*
and while with undaunted resolution he sought for the means
of checking the contagion, his peculiarly sensitive mind was
keenly alive to his own position and the ill-concealed joy of
the Loyalists and wavering members of his own party. Men
in the Province who brought to mind the greatness of his
character and services looked on with surprise, and even
some known to be favorable to government pointed to the
scenes in the Assembly, and observed his fortitude. John
Adams, who had bid " farewell to politics," f was away in
York, busily attending to his profession.
" Sparhawk," he writes, after a conversation, a few weeks later,
with the grandson of Sir William Pepperell, "mentioned the in
trepidity of Samuel Adams, a man, he says, of great sensibility,
of tender nerves, and harassed, dependent, in their power. Yet
he had borne up against all; it must have penetrated him very
deeply," &c. t
The Governor improved the occasion with his writers
in the Massachusetts Gazette and Evening Post, to cast
abroad among the people the idea that there was now gen
eral satisfaction with the policy of government, that the fac
tion was at an end, and that the people were " returning to
their right senses." His Excellency, who well understood
the power of the press, kept a corps of writers whose effu
sions displayed a plausibility worthy a better cause. It was
important to counteract their effect, and Adams now entered
the field as " Candidus," and, in a series of essays, endeav
ored to show that the spirit of liberty had not subsided into
an ignoble contentment. In one of these, he replies to Dra
per s, or the court, Gazette :
" l Benevolus, in Mr. Draper s Gazette, seems to have no doubts
in his mind but that a general air of satisfaction, arising from the
* John Adams s Works, II. 278. See also Samuel Adams as " Candidus,"
in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 14, 1771. Chap. XX. post.
t John Adams s Works, II. 227. J John Adams s Works, II. 285.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 401
accounts given in the last Monday s papers of the present state of
our public affairs, will show itself universally through the Province/
I have no inclination to disturb the sweet repose of this placid gen
tleman ; but I must confess I see no cause for such a general air of
satisfaction from those accounts, and I will venture to add that there
is no appearance of it in this town. Does Benevolus think it is
possible for the good people of this Province to be satisfied, when
they are told by the Governor, as. appears by the last Monday s
papers, that he is restrained from holding the Court in its ancient,
usual, and most convenient place, without his Majesty s express
leave ? Does not the charter say that the Governor shall have the
power of acting in this matter l as he shall judge necessary ? Is it
not of great importance to the welfare of the Province that the
Governor should be vested with such a power, and that he should
exercise it without restraint ? While he is, or thinks himself, fet
tered by an absolute instruction to hold the Assembly out of the
town of Boston, to the inconvenience of the members and the injury
of the people, as the present House of Representatives express it,
can he be said to have the free exercise of all the powers vested in
him by the charter, which is our social compact ? Will it yield such
a general satisfaction to the people as l Benevolus expects, to see
their Governor thus embarrassed in his administration, and to hear
him expressly declaring that he must ask leave and be determined
by the judgment of another in a matter in which it is his indispen
sable duty to act with freedom and by the determination of his own
judgment ? Is not this power devolved upon him by the Consti
tution of the Province for the good of the people ? Is it not a
beneficiary grant, and therefore a right of the people? And if
instructions may control him in the exercise of one charter right,
may they not control in the exercise of any or every one ? And
yet * Benevolus would fain have it thought that there is a general
satisfaction in the town of Boston arising from this account, and
doubts not but it will run through the Province.
" Surely Benevolus must either be totally inadvertent to the
accounts of the state of our public affairs as given to us in the last
Monday s papers, or he must have altogether confided in the ac
counts of a confused writer in the Evening Post, who, in the old
style of the hackneyed writers iii Bernard s administration, tells us
VOL. I. 26
402 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
that faction is now at an end, and, with an awkward air of gravity,
insinuates that the people, after having nobly struggled for their
freedom, are, under the benign influence of the present administra
tion, returning to their right senses. A firm and manly opposition
to the attempts that have been made and are still making to enslave
and ruin this continent has always been branded by writers of this
stamp by the name of a faction. Governor Bernard used to tell
his Lordship that it was an * expiring faction ; with as little reason
it is now said to have given up the ghost. Gladly would some,
even of the clergy, persuade this people to be at ease, and for the
sake of peace under the administration of a son of the Province,
to acquiesce in unconstitutional revenue acts, arbitrary ministerial
mandates, and absolute, despotic, independent governors, &c., &c.
But the time is not yet eome ; and I am satisfied that, notwith
standing the address of a few who took the opportunity to carry it
through, while only the small number of twenty-four were present,
there is in that venerable order a great majority who will not go up
to the house of Rimmon or bow the knee to Baal."*
Adams was on the committee appointed by the House to
answer the Governor s speech at the opening of the summer
session. The report was submitted on the 14th of June.
Besides taking up the subjects mentioned in the address, it
refers to the Provincial militia, a bill for the better regula
tion of which had been rejected by his Excellency in No
vember of the previous year. The House insisted that the
subject required serious attention, and pointed to the desire
of the people to excel in the military art, and their readiness
to appear upon musters ; and they promised themselves that
the military sentiment of the country would again be as
conspicuous as it was in the days of their forefathers, and
thereby promote his Majesty s real service and the safety of
the Province. This desire to cultivate a military spirit had
often occupied the attention of Adams, as shown by the
address of the House a year before on this subject, written
by him, and also by his letters about this time. He attached
* " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette for June 10, 1771.
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 403
all due importance to it, and personally encouraged it among
young men.
The Governor had been sanguine that the conduct of Otis
would result favorably to his plans for obtaining from the
House a final concession of the point in dispute ; " but sub
sequent proceedings in the session," he says, " destroyed
this hope." * These " subsequent proceedings " occurred
in about three weeks after the scene in the Legislature. It
was now found that a counter-influence had become strong
enough to secure the appointment of a committee to pre
pare a protest, in which the House resumed its old ground
against holding the session at Cambridge. The hand of
Samuel Adams, who was the author of the protest,! is man
ifest in this, though, to secure its success, his own name ap
pears last on the committee, being preceded by those of
Otis, Denny, and Hancock, the first and last of whom, since
the late proceedings, could have taken no part in the meas
ure. The protest, which is for the most part in the language
already quoted from " Candidus," $ points out the danger
of superseding the charter by arbitrary instructions, which
reduced the Governor to a mere machine, and of depriving
the Assembly, not only of every charter right, but of all
freedom. It then, in the most explicit manner, speaks out
" against all such doctrines, principles, and practices as tend
to establish either ministerial or even royal instructions as
laws within the Province." It was ordered to be entered on
the journal as against " an intolerable grievance which ought
speedily to be redressed." Its style is shown by a few of the
opening paragraphs.
" History furnishes us with an instance of an act of Parliament
passed, giving the force of laws to the King s proclamations ; but
this, being directly subversive of the Constitution, was soon repealed.
Yet, since that period, an act has been labored for to give the force
of law to the King s instructions to the Governors of the Colonies.
* Hutchin son s History, HI. 339. t See Bancroft, VI. 403.
J See pp. 400 - 402.
404 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
And, though it was not effected, some Governors have appeared to
consider such instructions as laws, not only to themselves, but to the
people : whereas nothing can be more clear than that neither proc
lamation nor instruction ought to have any such force, either in
regard to the Governor or the subject here.
" And although it may be within the prerogative of the Crown,
in case of plain necessity, to summon a Parliament to some other
place than Westminster ; and so of a Governor of this Province, in
like cases of plain necessity, to convoke a General Assembly to
some other place than Boston, its accustomed ancient place, and
where alone provision is made for it, yet, if a British King should
call a Parliament, and keep it seven years in Cornwall, however
his Ministry, as usual, might shift for themselves, their master and
his affairs would be irretrievably embarrassed and ruined; and a
Governor of this Province, who, in order to harass the General
Assembly into unconstitutional and unconscionable measures, should
convene and hold them in the county of Berkshire or Lincoln, would
render himself and his administration justly ridiculous and odious.
" There is nothing more plainly to be distinguished than power,
right, and prerogative. It is the King s prerogative to pardon all
crimes from trespass to high treason ; but if the King should pardon
all criminals, there would be an end of his government. The Com
mons have the sole right to give and grant, or refuse to grant, taxes ;
but if they should refuse to give anything, there would be also an
end of government. Should a King call a Parliament but once in
seven years, and, on its meeting, instantly dissolve it, and so repeat
edly, a few such repetitions would ruin him, and be deemed a total
dissolution of the social compact. Should a Governor of this Prov
ince annually convene a General Assembly, and before or immedi
ately after the election of Councillors dissolve such Assembly, as the
conduct would be similar, the inferences and consequences must also
be alike. For such exercise of the prerogative could not be deemed
mistakes, but must be construed as voluntary and corrupt abuses of
the prerogative, and a total perversion of the powers of which it
consists." *
The fact that the Governor s salary was to be paid thence-
* Journal of the House, June 19, 1771. Bradford s State Papers, p. 302.
Hutchinson, III. 540.
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 405
forth by the Crown, independent of the free grants of the
people, had become publicly known, and was particularly
dwelt upon in the protest. The Governor, who felt it neces
sary " to make some answer to so strange an instrument,"
states that the " protest was strongly opposed in the House,
and after it was carried some of the principal members de
spaired of success in opposing any other measure, and
remained silent the rest of the session. It was considered
by government in England as a greater insult than had been
offered at any time, and this remark was made, that 4 the
same men who denied the right of the King to "instruct his
Governor would soon deny the right of appointing him. " *
Instances are not wanting throughout the life of Samuel
Adams, where his powers of persuasion, which were very
great, had the effect of changing an opposition into a de
cided adoption of his own views. The protest was printed
in the Boston press, and, with the newspaper containing it,
Hutchinson sent word to Lord Hillsborough explaining that,
in consequence, he had not adjourned the Court to Boston
as he had intended.! So important indeed did he consider
it, as indicating a reaction from the late gratifying tone of
the House, that he made it the subject of a special message
at the close of the session, combating its doctrines as calcu
lated to " retard that quiet and contentment which, he
doubted not, the gentlemen of the House in general who
voted for it wished to see fully restored." J
The adoption of the protest, hotly contested as it was,
offered encouragement for still further advances, and it was
now the turn of the government party to look with appre
hension to the result. The opposition to the measures of
Samuel Adams and his friends was completely silenced, nor
were Hancock and his party able again to distract the har
mony of the House, until, with a sufficiency of newly elected
* Hutchinson s History, III. 343, 344.
t Hutchinson to Lord Hillsborough, June 22, 1771.
J Bradford s State Papers, p. 212.
406 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
members, at the opening of the April session in the follow
ing year, the attempt was renewed, aided by a secret under
standing with Hutchinson. These well-laid plans, however,
were unsuccessful, though by great activity, as will presently
appear, they were nearly accomplished. How interesting
must have been the exertion of those influences by the con
trolling mind which had wrought such a change ; but it
was a maxim with Adams never to remain inactive, if more
was to be achieved.
Accordingly, on the 27th of June, we find the resolution
creating a committee of correspondence to communicate
with the " agent and others in England, the Speakers of
the several Assemblies throughout the continent," which
had passed in November, 1770,* again introduced and car
ried, and the Speaker, Adams, Otis, Hancock, and Heath,
appointed members. f The exact words of Adams s previ
ous resolution were readopted. A letter from Franklin, ac
knowledging that of the House, written in the previous year,
had been received a fortnight before, and Adams was one of
the committee to reply. $ The pen was again placed in his
hand, and on the 29th his draft of a letter of instructions to
the agent was accepted. Acknowledging the receipt of
Franklin s letter of February 5, the importance of which
claimed the fixed attention of the House, the letter (now
copied from the original rough draft) continues :
" We cannot think the doctrine of the right of Parliament to tax
us is given up, while an act remains in force for that purpose, and
is daily put in execution ; and the longer it remains, the more dan
ger there is of the people s becoming so accustomed to arbitrary and
unconstitutional taxes as to pay them without discontent ; and then,
as you justly observe, no minister will ever think of taking them
off, but will rather be encouraged to add others. If ever the Pro
vincial Assemblies should be voluntarily silent, on the Parliament
taking upon themselves a power thus to violate our constitutional
* See, ante, p. 373. t Journal of the House, June 27, 1771.
t Journal, June 29, 1771. Bancroft, VI. 406.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 407
and charter rights, it might hereafter be considered as an approba
tion of it, or at least a tacit consent that such power should be exer
cised at any future time. It is therefore our duty to declare our
rights, and our determined resolution at all times to maintain them.
The time we know will come when they must be acknowledged and
secured to us and our posterity.
" We sincerely feel the effects, not of a revenue raised, but a trib
ute exacted without our free consent or control ; pensioners and
placemen are daily multiplying, and a fleet and standing armies are
posted in North America for no other apparent or real purpose than
to protect the exactors and collectors of the tribute for which they
are maintained, and many of them in pomp and pride to triumph
over and insult an injured people, and suppress, if possible, even
their murmurs. And there is reason to expect that the continued
increase of their numbers will lead to a proportionable increase of
tribute to support them. What will be the consequence ? Either,
on the one hand, an abject slavery in the people, which is ever to
be deprecated, or a determined resolution openly to assert and
maintain their rights, liberties, and privileges. The effect of such
a resolution may for some time be retarded by flattering hopes and
prospects ; and while it is the duty of all persons of influence here
to inculcate the sentiments of moderation, it will be, in our opinion,
equally the wisdom of the British administration to consider the
danger of forcing a free people by oppressive measures into a state
of desperation.
" We have reason to believe that the American Colonies, how
ever they may have disagreed among themselves in one mode of
opposition to the arbitrary measures, are still united in the main
principles of constitutional and natural liberty; and they will not
give up one single point in controversy of any consequence, though
they may take no violent measures to obtain them. The taxing
their property without their consent, and thus appropriating it to
the purposes of their slavery and destruction, is justly considered as
contrary to, and subversive of, their original social compact, and
their intention in uniting under it. They cannot therefore readily
think themselves obliged to renounce those forms of government to
which alone, for the advantages implied or resulting, they were will
ing to submit. We are sensible, as you observe, that the design of
our enemies in England, as well as of those who reside here, is to
408 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
render us odious as well as contemptible, and to prevent all concern
for us in the friends of liberty in England, and perhaps to detach
our sister Colonies from us, and prevent their aid and influence in
our behalf, when the subject of oppressing us further and depriving
us of our rights by various violent measures should be carried into
execution. In this, however, we flatter ourselves they have failed.
But should all the other Colonies become weary of their liberties,
after the example of the Hebrews, this Province will never submit
to the authority of an absolute government."
The letter then passes to the consideration of the inten
tion to render the Governor and other royal officers depend
ent only on the Crown for support, of which Mr. Adams had
been privately informed nearly a year before, and to which
Franklin had lately called the attention of the House.
" The charter of this Province," says the letter in reply, " recog
nizes the natural right of all men to dispose of their own property ;
and the Governor here, like all other governors, kings, and poten
tates, is to be supported by the free grants of the representatives of
the people. Every one sees the necessity of this, to preserve the
balance of power and the freedom of any state. A power without
a check is subversive of all freedom. If, therefore, the Governor,
who is appointed by the Crown, shall be totally independent of the
free grants of the people for his support, where is the check upon
his power ? He becomes absolute, and may act as he pleases. He
may make use of his power, not for the good of those who are under
it, but for his own private, separate advantage, or any other pur
pose to which he may be inclined or instructed by him upon whom
alone he depends. Such an independency threatens the very being
of a free Constitution, and if it takes effect will produce and firmly
establish a tyranny upon its ruin.
" Let us then consider the power the Governor already has, and
his Majesty s negative on all our acts, and judge whether the pur
poses of tyranny will not be amply answered ! Can it be expected
that any law will pass here but such as will promote the favorite
design ? And the laws already made, as they will be executed by
officers altogether dependent on the Crown, will undoubtedly be per
verted to the worst of purposes. The Governor of the Province
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 409
and the principal fortress in it are probably already thus supported.
These are the first fruits of the system ; if the rest should follow, it
would be only in a greater degree a violation of our essential, natu
ral rights. To what purpose, then, will it be to preserve the old
forms without the substance ? In such a state, and with such pros
pects, can Britain expect anything but a gloomy discontent in the
Colonists? Let our fellow-subjects, then, recollect what would
have been their fate long ago, if their ancestors had submitted to
the unreasonable and uncharitable usurpations, exactions, and impo
sitions of the See of Rome, in the reign of Harry the Eighth. And
here it may be asked, what would have been our fate, if our ances
tors had submitted to the unreasonable and uncharitable usurpations,
exactions, and impositions of the British Parliament in the reign of
William the Third ? What we are, and what we should have been,
furnish reflections for a volume. Soon would they have sunk into a
state of abject slavery to that haughty power which exalteth itself
above all that is called GOD : but they had the true spirit of liberty,
and by exerting it they saved themselves and their posterity.
" It is, therefore, with entire approbation that we observe your
purpose freely to declare our rights, and to remonstrate against the
least infringement of them. The capital complaint of all North
America hath been, is now, and will be, until relieved, a subjuga
tion to as arbitrary a tribute as ever the Romans laid upon the
Jews or their other colonies. The repealing these duties in part
is not considered by this House as a renunciation of this measure.
It has rather the appearance of a design to soothe .us into security
in the midst of danger ; any species of tribute unrepealed will stand
as a precedent to be made use of hereafter, as circumstances and
opportunity may admit. If the Colonists acquiesce in a single
instance, it will in effect be yielding up the whole matter in con
troversy. We therefore desire that it may be universally under
stood, that although the tribute is paid, it is not paid freely ; it is
exacted and torn from us against our will ; we bear the insult and
the injury for the present, grievous as it is, with great impatience,
hoping that the wisdom and prudence of the nation will at length
dictate measures consistent with natural justice and equity. For
what shall happen hi future, we are not answerable. Your obser
vation was just, that it was certainly as bad policy, where they
410 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [June,
attempted to heal our differences by repealing part of the duties
only, as it is bad surgery to have splinters in a wound which must
prevent its healing or in time occasion it to open afresh."
The Governor had already refused his consent to a bill,
granting a salary to Franklin as agent of the Assembly, a
course which he persisted in to the last. This subject is
treated in the letter, which holds that, if whatever was to be
transacted between the Assemblies of the Colonies and the
government was to be done by agents appointed by and
under the direction of the three branches, it would be utterly
impracticable for an Assembly ever to lay their grievances
before their sovereign.
Other letters were written to Franklin during the year,
but this alone has come to light. A month afterwards it
was published by Mr. Adams in the Boston Gazette,* as was
also that of November, 1770. Hutchinson sent the papers
to England, with a letter to Pownall.
" I enclose to you," he says, " Sir Francis Bernard s newspapers,
that you may see and communicate information when it may be
proper. Such a correspondence between the House and their agent
will keep us in a perpetual flame. The heads of the people are not
without apprehension that printing their letters to their agent, which
refer to his letters to them, may be of prejudice to him ; but they
are forced to take every measure to keep up the spirit of opposition
here. The House never ordered these letters to be published, but
the Clerk [Samuel Adams] who drew the letters, and who draws
most of the seditious papers in the newspapers, inserted these
among the rest. I doubt whether there is a greater incendiary in
the King s dominions, or a man of greater malignity of heart, or
who less scruples any measures ever so criminal to accomplish his
purposes ; and I think I do him no injustice, when I suppose he
wishes the destruction of every friend to government in America.
This is the man who is of the committee, and the instar omnium with
which the agent [Dr, Franklin] corresponds, and from which he
takes his directions in the recess of the Court. The doctrine ad
vanced in these letters, of independence upon Parliament, and even
* See the Boston Gazette for July 22 and July 29, 1771.
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 411
upon the King, to whom they deny the right of supporting or even
instructing his Governor, must rouse the people of England, and
they will sooner or later express their indignation." *
Such is the character of Samuel Adams, as given by his
enemy, who found him the great obstacle in the path of tyr
anny, "the all in all" of the Massachusetts Assembly.
As an offset to this perversion of his views and measures, let
us turn to the record of another contemporary writer, the
sister of James Otis, Mrs. Mercy Warren, who knew and
appreciated his greatness, and whose husband, James War
ren of Plymouth, was one of Adams s stanchest friends and
co-workers.
" Early nurtured in the principles of civil and religious liberty,
he possessed a quick understanding, a cool head, stern manners, a
smooth address, and a Roman-like firmness, united with that saga
city and penetration that would have made a figure in a conclave.
He was at the same time liberal in opinion, and uniformly devout ;
social with men of all denominations ; grave in deportment ; placid,
yet severe ; sober and indefatigable ; calm in seasons of difficulty ;
tranquil and unruffled in the vortex of political altercation ; too firm
to be intimidated, too haughty for condescension, his mind was
replete with resources that dissipated fear, and extricated in the
greatest emergencies. Thus qualified, he stood forth early, and con
tinued firm through the great struggle, and may justly claim a
large share of honor due to that spirit of energy which opposed the
measures of administration, and produced the Independence of
America. Through a long life he exhibited, on all occasions, an
example of patriotism, religion, and virtue, honorary to the human
character." f
* Hutchinson to Pownall, July, 1771. Bancroft, VI. 375,406. Dr. Cooper
to Franklin, Nov. 10, 1770 (Franklin s Works, VIII. 98-100).
t Mrs. Mercy Warren s History, I. 211, 212.
CHAPTER XX.
Hutchinson announces Arbitrary Instructions received from the King.
Adams replies for the Assembly. The Court adjourned. Arthur Leo
unjustly suspects Franklin. He afterwards frankly owns his Error.
Arrival of the Fleet. Adams counsels Union of the Colonies, and an
Assemblage of Deputies. His Political Essays denying the Supreme
Authority of Parliament.
BUT two weeks had elapsed after the adoption of Samuel
Adams s protest, when a new phase in the governmental
system was brought to light, showing that the doctrine of
the protest, drawing the line between the just uses of a pre
rogative and its abuse, had need to be insisted upon. Hutch
inson informed the Assembly on the 4th of July, that, in
obedience to his Majesty s instructions, he could not here
after give his consent to the annual bills levying a tax upon
the incomes of crown officers in the Province. The tax was
trifling, and amounted to but a small sum in the aggregate,
but the Governor, in defiance of law and ancient usage, neg
atived the bill. This was but one of the many forms in
which the studied art of British politicians had determined
to secure a compliance with the right of Parliament to raise
a revenue in America. Mr. Adams, for a committee, of
which James Otis was nominally the chairman, responded
on the following day.*
" The reason you are pleased to assign for withholding your assent
to the tax bill is surprising and alarming. We know of no Commis
sioners of his Majesty s Customs nor of any revenue his Majesty has
a right to establish in North America ; we know and feel a tribute
levied and extorted from those who, if they have property, have a
right to the absolute disposal of it.
* Bancroft, VI. 404. Journal of the House, July 5, 1771. Bradford s State
Papers, p. 307.
July, 1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 413
" By the royal charter it is, expressly granted that the General
Assembly shall have full power and authority to impose and levy
proportionable and reasonable assessments, rates, and taxes upon
the estates and persons of all and every the proprietors and inhab
itants of this Province. Hence it plainly appears that the power of
raising and levying taxes is vested in the General Assembly ; and
that power which has the sole right of raising and levying taxes has
an uncontrollable right to order and direct in what way and man
ner, and upon whom, such taxes shall be raised and levied. There
fore for your Excellency to withold your assent to this bill, merely
by force of instruction, is effectually vacating the charter, and giving
instructions the force of laws within this Province. And we are
constrained to say, that your Excellency s present determination is
to be governed by them, though this should be the consequence.
We must further observe, that such a doctrine, if established, would
render the representatives of a free people mere machines ; and they
would be reduced to this fatal alternative, either to have no taxes
levied and raised at all, or to have them raised and levied in such
way and manner and upon those only whom his Majesty pleases.
"As to the operation of law, mentioned in your Excellency s
message, the law of this Province, at least in this respect, has
rightly operated as it ever ought to. And we know no reason nor
any semblance of reason why the Commissioners, their superior or
subordinate officers, who are equally protected with the other inhab
itants, should be exempted from paying their full proportion of
taxes for the support of government within this Province."
The session was then brought to a close with a message to
the two Houses, from the Governor, already referred to,
taking ground against the protest of the Assembly. The
Court was adjourned to September 14, to meet at Cam
bridge ; but further prorogations followed, and no meeting
took place until the spring of the next year.
Mr. Adams immediately turned to the press, resolved that
the aim of government to conceal the insidious steps of tyr
anny with an appearance of public satisfaction should not
succeed. Particularly he endeavored to preserve a union
of sentiment among the Colonies, without which the efforts
414 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [July,
of Massachusetts would prore futile.* He continued his cor
respondence with Arthur Lee in London, whose last letter,
dated in March, he had lately received. After, alluding to
the recent political disturbances in London, and the libera
tion from imprisonment of the Lord Mayor, he continues :
" Mr. Hume, if I mistake not, somewhere says, that if James the
Second had had the benefit of the riot act and such a standing army
as has been granted since his time, it would have been impracticable
for the nation to have wrought its own delivery and establish the
constitution of 88. If the people have put it in the power of a
wicked and corrupt Ministry to make themselves absolute lords and
tyrants over them, by means of a standing army, we may at present
pity them under the misfortune ; but future historians will record
the story with astonishment and indignation, and posterity, who will
share in the fatal effects of their folly and treachery, will accuse
them. Has there not, for a long time past, been reason to appre
hend the designs of a restless faction to oppress the nation ; and, the
more easily to effect their purposes, to render the King s government
obnoxious, and, if possible, put an end to a family which has hereto
fore supported the rights of the nation, its happiness, and grandeur ?
" In this Colony we are every day experiencing the miserable
effects of arbitrary power. The people are paying the unrighteous
tribute (I wish I could say they were groaning under it, for that
would seem as if they felt they are submitting to it), in hopes that
the nation will at length revert to justice. But before that time
comes, it is to be feared they will be so accustomed to bondage as
to forget they were ever free." f
Nearly at the same time Adams received a letter from
Lee, informing him of the intention of Hillsborough, as
advised by Bernard, to change the mode of electing the
Council, but the Port Egremont difficulties with Spain had
temporarily delayed it.
" I am the more suspicious," said Mr. Lee, " that the measure is
* Bancroft VI. 407. Barry s Massachusetts, II. 443.
t Adams to Lee, July 31, 1771 (K. H. Lee s Life of Arthur Lee, H.
174, 175).
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 415
suspended only, that I find Lord Hillsborough takes great pains to
persuade and to assure your countrymen that, as long as they con
tinue quiet, nothing will be done to their prejudice. As treachery
and imposition is his forte, there is most danger when his professions
are warmest. Besides, as he certainly intended mischief, he is more
strongly induced to exercise those arts, in order to quiet the alarm
which such an intention going forth would necessarily produce. He
possesses, too, a perverse spirit, that thinks he is doing nothing if
he is not doing mischief. You may conceive, sir, whether such a
temper, perpetually acted upon by the implacable hatred of Ber
nard, is likely to abandon a favorite system of tyranny and revenge
without any apparent reason. I am therefore of opinion that the
fire still subsists, though covered with deceitful ashes ; and such, I
can assure you, are the sentiments of the best friend you have here,
Col. Barre." *
It was in this letter that Mr. Lee expressed those suspi
cions of Dr. Franklin s course as agent to which allusion
has already been made. In his zeal, he mistook the objects
and policy of Franklin, and construed his efforts towards
re-establishing a friendly feeling between the mother country
and the Colonies into " temporizing in American affairs,"
and he believed him to be either the instrument or the dupe
of Hillsborough s treachery. " I feel it not a little disagree
able," he continues, " to speak my sentiments of Dr. Frank
lin, as your generous confidence has placed me in the light
of a rival to him. But I am so far from being influenced
by selfish motives, that, were the service of the Colony ten
times greater, I would perform it for nothing, rather than
you and America, at a time like this, should be betrayed by
a man who it is hardly in the nature of things to suppose
can be faithful to his trust." f But afterwards, as Lee be
came more familiar with Franklin, he honestly changed his
opinion, and during Weddeburne s attack upon the agent
before the Privy Council, Lee assisted with his eloquence in
reply. " Dr. Franklin," he says, "bore it all with a firm-
* Lee to Adams, June 10, 1771 (Life of Lee, I. 215-219). t Ibid.
416 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Aug.
ness and equanimity which conscious integrity can alone
inspire." And as the Ministry deprived Franklin of, his
office as Postmaster of America, Lee adds : " The same cause
which renders him odious to them must endear him to
you." *
During the month of August the patriots had reason to
see that the policy of coercion, though in abeyance for a
while, had not been abandoned. On the 12th they beheld a
fleet of twelve war vessels, carrying two hundred and sixty-
two guns,. anchor in the harbor. This was in pursuance of
the order making Boston the rendezvous of the North Amer
ican fleet ; and although the threatened trouble with Spain
was alleged as a reason for this extraordinary armament, it
was evident that an intimidation of the people was intended.
The danger was every day drawing nearer, and as the relent
less policy discovered itself, Samuel Adams became more ex
plicit, and sounded the alarm to his countrymen. Review
ing the principles which had actuated the British American
Provinces, since the time of the Stamp Act, in successful
struggles against slavery, " which," says the writer, " will
undoubtedly be recorded by future historians to their im
mortal honor," he warns them against the fatal delusion that
the lurking poison was eradicated, while any article remained
under the ban of taxation.
" It is by no means sufficient to console us, that the duty is re
duced to the single article of tea, which, by the way, is not a fact ;
but if it should be admitted, it is because the Parliament for the
present are pleased to demand no more of us. Should we acqui
esce in their taking three pence only because they please, we at
least tacitly consent that they should have the sovereign control of
our purses, and when they please they will claim an equal right,
and perhaps plead a precedent for it, to take a shilling or a pound.
At present we have the remedy in our own hands. We can easily
avoid paying the tribute by abstaining from the use of those articles
by which it is extorted from us." f
* Lee to Adams, Feb. 8, 1774 (Life of Lee, I. 240).
t " Candidas," in the Boston Gazette, Sept. 9, 1771.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 417
This advice he carried into practice in his own house
hold. Tea was interdicted almost from the first hint that
the administration would persist in taxing that one article.
Nor did he stop here. He showed a marked preference for
all things of special American manufacture. He neither
wore English cloth himself, nor permitted any article of
English industry to be used in his family if it could possi
bly be avoided. " It behooves every American," he used to
say, " to encourage home manufactures, that our oppressors
m&yfeel through their pockets the effects of their blind folly."
It became at length the custom among the ladies of Boston
to make up spinning parties at their houses on alternate
nights ; and at these reunions there was an entire abstinence
from tea, while, as the work went on, the discussion of the
all-engrossing topics of the day was varied with singing and
playing on the spinnet, which then held the place of the
piano-forte.
Again, upon the infringements of the charter of Massa
chusetts by the Ministry, in arbitrarily dissolving and con
trolling the Assembly :
"The charter may be taken away in parts, as well as in the
whole ; and it seems by some later ministerial mandates and meas
ures as if there was a design to deprive us of our charter rights by
degrees. An attempt upon the whole, by one stroke, would perhaps
be thought too bold an undertaking. His Lordship could not indeed
have chosen a more effectual step to deprive us of the whole bene
fit of a free constitution, than by attempting to control the debates
and determinations of the House of Representatives, which ought
forever to be free, and suspending the legislative power of the
Province for their refusing to obey any mandate, especially when
it was not only contrary to their judgments and consciences, but, as
it appeared to them, absurd. It is a pitiful constitution indeed,
which, so far from being fixed and permanent as it should be,
sacred and unalterable in the hands of those where the community
has placed it, depends entirely upon the breath of a minister or of
* "Candidas," in the Boston Gazette, Sept. 16, 1771.
VOL. i. 27
418 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Sept.
any man. But it is to be feared from this, as well as other more
recent instances, that there is a design to raze the foundations of
the Constitutions of these Colonies, and place them upon this preca
rious and sandy foundation." *
Arthur Lee had hinted to him in one of his letters the
possibility of an impeachment of the Ministry at some future
time, to which Mr. Adams replies :
" I was pleased with the petition and remonstrance of the city of
London. But are not the Ministry lost to all sensibility ? Do they
not, like the Egyptian tyrant, harden their hearts against the just
complaints of the people? May God grant the nation that pru
dence, strength, and fortitude by which they may be animated to
maintain their own liberties at all events ! By your last letter
you resolve wisely, * if ever the spirit of impeaching should rise in
Britain. But how is it possible such a spirit should rise? In
all former struggles the House of Commons has naturally taken
sides with the people against oppressing ministers and favorites.
Whether this is the case at present or not, is no secret to the
world. We have indeed heard little of the business of impeaching
since the Revolution ; its corrupt ministerial influence has been
gradually and too insensibly increasing since that era, and is now
become so powerful as to render it impracticable to have one cap
ital object of the people s just vengeance impeached.
"If it should ever become a practicable thing to impeach a
corrupt administration, I hope that minister who advised to the
introduction of an arbitrary government into America will not be
overlooked. Such a victim, I imagine, will make a figure equal to
Lord Strafford in the reign of Charles, or many others in future
times." f
The arrival of the fleet convinced Mr. Adams that the
time for remonstrances and patriotic appeals to the people
was past, and he revolved within him a project for definite
action. A year passed before it was brought to maturity,
* "Candidas," in the Boston Gazette, Sept. 23, 1771.
t Adams to Lee, Sept. 27, 1771.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 419
but then it kindled a flame which was never subdued until
American liberty was acknowledged. The Society of the
Bill of Rights in England was in active existence for the
support of principles as dear to that part of the Kingdom as
were those maintained by their brethren in America.
" The grievances of Britain," he wrote to Arthur Lee, " as well
as ours, as you observe, spring from the same root of bitterness,
and are of the same pernicious growth. The union of Britain and
America is therefore by all means to be cultivated. If in every
Colony societies should be formed out of the most respectable in
habitants, similar to that of the Bill of Rights, who should once in
the year meet by their deputies, and correspond with such a society
in London, would it not effectually promote such a union ? And
if it was conducted with a proper spirit, would it not afford sufficient
reason for the enemies of our common liberty, however exalted, to
tremble ? This is a sudden thought, and drops undigested from my
pen. It would be an arduous task for any man to undertake to
awaken a sufficient number in the Colonies to so grand an under
taking. Nothing however is to be despaired of." *
" The body of the people are uneasy at the large strides that are
made and making towards an absolute tyranny. Many are alarmed,
but are of different sentiments with regard to the next step to be
taken. Some, indeed, think that every step has already been taken
hit one. The ultima ratio would require prudence, unanimity, for
titude. The conspirators against our liberties are employing all
their influence to divide the people ; partly by intimidating them,
for which purpose there is a fleet with an admiral lying within gun
shot of the town, and the capital fort within three miles of it is gar
risoned by the King s troops ; and partly by arts and intrigue,
flattering those who are pleased with flattery, forming connections
with them, introducing levity, luxury, and indolence, and assuring
them that if they are quiet the Ministry will alter their measures.
This is the general appearance of things here, while the people are
anxiously waiting for some happy event from your side the water.
For my own part, I confess, I have no great expectation from
thence. I have long been of opinion that America herself, under
God, must finally work out her own salvation." f
* Adams to Lee, Sept. 27, 1771. t Adams to Lee, Oct. 31, 1771.
420 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
His political writings at this time were very numerous,
and embraced all the subjects in controversy. In private
letters abroad, and among the other Colonies, and in the
press, he continually rang the alarm-bell, and combated
" the disposition in all the Colonies to let the controversy
with the Kingdom subside," * of which Hutchinson was
writing home with great satisfaction. To give more than
occasional extracts would be inconsistent with the character
of these volumes. One letter of considerable length thus
concludes :
" We are told that the justices of the Superior Court are also to
receive fixed salaries out of this American revenue ! Is it possible
to form an idea of slavery more complete, more miserable, more dis
graceful, than that of a people where justice is administered, govern
ment exercised, and a standing army maintained at the expense of
the people, and yet without the least dependence upon them ? If
we can find no relief from this infamous situation, I repeat it, if
we can find no relief from this infamous situation, let the Ministry,
who have stripped us of our property and liberty, deprive us of our
understanding too, that, unconscious of what we have been or are,
and ungoaded by tormenting reflections, we may tamely bow down
our necks with all the stupid serenity of servitude to any drudgery
which our lords and masters may please to command. I appeal to
the common sense of mankind to what a state of infamy and misery
must a people be reduced to have a Governor by the sole appoint
ment of the Crown, under the absolute control of a weak and arbi
trary minister, to whose dictates he is to yield unlimited obedience
or forfeit his political existence, while he is to be supported at the
expense of the people by virtue of an authority claimed by strangers
to oblige them to contribute for him such an annual stipend, however
unbounded, as the Crown shall be advised to order ? If this is not
a state of despotism, what is ? Could such a Governor, by all the
arts of persuasion, prevail upon a people to be quiet and contented
under such a mode of government, his noble patron might spare
himself the trouble of getting their charter vacated by a formal de
cision of Parliament or in the tedious process of law. Whenever
* Hutchinson to Pownall, Oct. 14, 1771.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 421
the relentless enemies of America shall have completed their
system, which they are still, though more silently, pursuing by
subtle arts, deep dissimulation, and manners calculated to deceive,
our condition will then be more humiliating and miserable, and
perhaps more inextricable too, than that of the people of England
in the infamous reigns of the Stuarts, which blacken the pages of
history.*
Another of these essays, the original draft of which, in
the handwriting of Mr. Adams, has been preserved,! was
sent by the Governor to the Earl of Hillsborough, whom he
always supplied with files of the newspapers, and he adds as
a postscript to his letter, " Candidus, in the late papers, is
Adams the Representative." $ The paper was adapted, if
anything would, to dispel the "quiet" upon which Hutch-
iiison was felicitating himself, and may here be given entire
as a specimen of the series of " Candidus," extending through
the files of the Gazette from the summer of 1771 to the close
of the following year. Adams at times changed the signa
ture, but generally adhered to the one now used for several
years. These essays are varied to suit the circumstances
of the moment, sometimes being devoted to close and argu
mentative reasoning upon the powers of Parliament, and
exhibiting an acquaintance with the opinions of lawyers
and writers on government, who are extensively quoted ;
and at others rising into fervid appeals to the sensibility
and patriotism of his countrymen, arousing them to the fact
that the policy of their tyrants was in reality more alarm
ing when covert and insidious than when open and over
bearing.
* " Candidus," in the Boston Gazette, Oct. 7, 1771.
t The better to insure secrecy as to authorship, and prevent his hand
writing from getting by any accident into the possession of his enemies, Mr.
Adams sometimes took the precaution of having the original drafts of his com
positions returned to his study from the printing office. They still bear the
marks of handling by the printer, and the interlineations and erasures by their
author.
J Hutchinson to Hillsborough, Oct. 15, 1771.
422 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct
" Ambition saw that stooping Home could bear
A master, nor had virtue to be free.
" I believe that no people ever yet groaned under the heavy yoke
of slavery but when they deserved it. This may be called a severe
censure upon by far the greatest part of the nations in the world
who are involved in the miseries of servitude. But however they
may be thought by some to deserve commiseration, the censure is
just. Zuinglius, one of the first reformers, in his friendly admoni
tion to the republic of the Switzers, discourses much of his coun
trymen s throwing off the yoke. He says that they who lie under
oppression deserve what they suffer and a great deal more, and he
bids them perish with their oppressors. The truth is, all might be
free, if they valued freedom and defended it as they ought. Is it
possible that millions could be enslaved by a few, which is a notori
ous fact, if all possessed the independent spirit of Brutus, who, to his
immortal honor, expelled the proud tyrant of Rome and his royal
and rebellious race ? If, therefore, a people will not be free, if they
have not virtue enough to maintain their liberty against a presumptu
ous invader, they deserve no pity, and are to be treated with contempt
and ignominy. Had not Caesar seen that Rome was ready to stoop
he would not have dared to make himself the master of that once
brave people. He was, indeed, as a great writer observes, a smooth
and subtle tyrant, who led them gently into slavery ; and on his
brow o er daring vice, deluding virtue smiled. By pretending to
be the people s greatest friend, he gained the ascendency over them ;
by beguiling arts, hypocrisy, and flattery, which are often more fatal
than the sword, he obtained that supreme power which his ambi
tious soul had long thirsted for. The people were finally prevailed
upon to consent to their own ruin. By the force of persuasion, or
rather by cajoling arts and tricks, always made use of by men who
have ambitious views, they enacted their Lex Regia, whereby quod
placuit principi legis habuit vigorem, that is, the will and pleasure
of the prince had the force of law. His minions had taken infinite
pains to paint to their imaginations the godlike virtues of Caesar.
They first persuaded them to believe that he was a deity, and then
to sacrifice to him those rights and liberties which their ancestors
had so long maintained with unexampled bravery and with blood
and treasure. By this act they fixed a precedent fatal to all poster
ity. The Roman people afterwards, influenced no doubt by this
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 423
pernicious example, renewed it to his successors, not at the end of
every ten years, but for life. They transferred all their right and
power to Charles the Great. In eum transtulit omne suum jus et
potestatem. Thus they voluntarily and ignominously surrendered
their own liberty, and exchanged a free constitution for a tyranny.
" It is not my design to form a comparison between the state of
this country now and that of the Roman Empire in those dregs of
time, or between the disposition of Csesar and that of . The
comparison, I confess, would not, in all its parts, hold good. The
tyrant of Rome, to do him justice, had learning, courage, and great
abilities. It behooves us, however, to awake, and advert to the
danger we are in. The tragedy of American freedom, it is to be
feared, is nearly completed. A tyranny seems to be at the very
door. It is to little purpose, then, to go about coolly to rehearse the
gradual steps that have been taken, the means that have been used,
and the instruments employed to encompass the ruin of the public
liberty. We know them and we detest them. But what will this
avail, if we have not courage and resolution to prevent the com
pletion of their system ?
" Our enemies would fain have us lie down on the bed of sloth
and security, and persuade ourselves that there is no danger. They
are daily administering the opiate with multiplied arts and delu
sions, and I am sorry to observe that the gilded pill is so alluring
to some who call themselves the friends of liberty. But is there f^
danger when the very foundations of our civil Constitution tremble ?
When an attempt was first made to disturb the corner-stone of the
fabric, we were universally and justly alarmed. And can we be
cool spectators when we see it already removed from its place?
With what resentment and indignation did we first receive the intel
ligence of a design to make us tributary, not to natural enemies,
but infinitely more humiliating, to fellow-subjects ! And yet, with
unparalleled insolence, we are told to be quiet when we see that
very money which is torn from us by lawless force made use of still
further to oppose us, to feed and pamper a set of infamous wretches
who swarm like the locusts of Egypt, and some of them expect to
revel in wealth and riot on the spoils of our country. Is it a time
for us to sleep when our free government is essentially changed, and
a new one is forming upon a quite different system ? A govern
ment without the least dependence on the people, a government
424 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
under the absolute control of a minister of state, upon whose sover
eign dictates is to depend not only the time when, and the place
where, the Legislative Assembly shall sit, but whether it shall sit
at all ; and if it is allowed to meet, it shall be liable immediately to
be thrown out of existence, if in any one point it fails in obedience
to his arbitrary mandates.
" Have we not already seen specimens of what we are to expect
under such a government, in the instructions which Mr. Hutchinson
has received, and which he has publicly avowed and declared he is
bound to obey ? By one he is to refuse his assent to a tax bill un
less the Commissioners of the Customs and other favorites are
exempted ; and if these may be freed from taxes by the order of a
minister, may not all his tools and drudges, or any others who are
subservient to his designs, expect the same indulgence ? By another,
he is forbid to pass a grant of the Assembly to any agent but one to
whose election he has given his consent ; which is, in effect, to put
it out of our power to take the necessary and legal steps for the re
dress of those grievances which we suffer by the arts and machina
tions of ministers and their minions here. What difference is there
between the present state of this Province, which in course will be
the deplorable state of America, and that of Rome under the law
before mentioned ? The difference is only this, that they gave their
formal consent to the change, which we have not yet done. But let
us be upon our guard against even a negative submission, for, agree
able to the sentiments of a celebrated writer, who thoroughly under
stood his subject, if we are voluntarily silent as the conspirators
would have us to be, it will be considered as an approbation of the
change. By the fundamental laws of England the two Houses of
Parliament, in concert with the King, exercise the legislative power ;
but if the two Houses should be so infatuated as to resolve to sup
press their powers, and invest the King with the full and absolute
government, certainly the nation would not suffer it ! And if a
minister shall usurp the supreme and absolute government of Amer
ica, and set up his instructions as laws in the Colonies, and their
governors shall be so weak or so wicked as, for the sake of keeping
their places, to be made the instruments in putting them in execu
tion, who will presume to say that the people have not a right, or
that it is not their indispensable duty to God and their country, by
all rational means in their power, to resist them !
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 425
" Be firm, my friends, nor let unmanly sloth
Twine round your hearts indissoluble chains ;
Ne er yet by force was freedom overcome,
Unless corruption first dejects the pride
And guardian vigor of the free born soul ;
All crude attempts of violence are vain.
Determined hold
Your INDEPENDENCE ; for, that once destroyed,
Unfounded freedom is a morning dream.
" The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitu
tion are worth defending at all hazards ; and it is our duty to de
fend -them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair
inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for
us with toil, and danger, and expense of treasure and blood, and
transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an
everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened
as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence
without a struggle, or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false
and designing men. Of the latter, we are in most danger at pres
ent. Let us therefore be aware of it. Let us contemplate our fore
fathers and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed
to us from the former for the sake of the latter. Instead of sitting
down satisfied with the efforts we have already made, which is the
wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times more than ever calls
for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and persever
ance. Let us remember that if we suffer tamely a lawless attack
upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom !
It is a very serious consideration, which should deeply impress our /
minds, that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers in the f*
evmt! -CASWDUB."*
The extent of the parliamentary power over the Colonies
was a subject which had not yet been discussed in the public
press. The proper consideration of it required an extensive
reading of writers on government, which few in the Colony
possessed, and the Governor had carefully avoided introduc
ing the question into any of his messages, probably fearing
that any assertions of his would be considered as calling for
* Boston Gazette, Oct. 14, 1771.
426 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
[Oct.
a reply on the part of the House, and that this response
would adduce all possible proofs against the assumed suprem
acy. Most of the writers on the side of liberty had confined
their remarks to denunciations of the measures of the gov
ernment and appeals to the patriotic sentiments of their
countrymen. Mr. Adams, as we have seen, had for a long
time explicitly denied the right of the Ministry or Parlia
ment to impose taxes upon the Colonists or to assume con
trol of their Legislature ; but the complete denial of their
authority had never been made. He had been an earnest
reader of all the works that could be obtained to throw light
on the subject, for the purpose of fortifying his positions
whenever it might be neceesary to consider it in the House.
He had been, in fact, seeking for an opportunity to raise this
question in the Legislature, but he warily avoided precipi
tancy, and bided his time. In 1765, under the excitement
of the Stamp Act, the Legislature, by the pen of Samuel
Adams, had asserted that there were limits to parliamentary
authority and denied the necessity of submission to an act
as a preliminary to its repeal.* The opportunity to raise
this momentous question in the House did not offer until
January, 1773, when he conducted the memorable and de
cisive controversy with the Governor on that subject, which
was thenceforth never revived by the servants of the Crown.
But preparatory to that contest, which his penetration dis
cerned to be at no great distance, he opened the discussion
in an essay, of which the autograph manuscript is yet entire,
published in the Boston Gazette. It embodied the main
points of the subsequent controversy, and was followed by
other articles of the same tenor in the following year. Itjs_
evident that, from the fall of 1771, he was desirous of having
the discussion of parliamentary authority begun, as an ac-
* As early as 1758, Mr. Adams had denied the right of Parliament to
interfere in the internal affairs of the Colony, and upon that had based his
opposition to the seizure of his father s estate. The germ of the idea was
exhibited in his college thesis in 1743.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 427
companying measure with the Committee of Correspondence,
with which he determined to arouse anew the spirit of the
Province. Hutchinson, who instantly saw the danger, al
ready anticipated and predicted the impending contest, but
it was not until Mr. Adams in the " Rights of the Colo
nists," in November, 1772, had even more plainly denied
the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain to make
and establish laws for the Province,* that the Governor
deemed it advisable to open the controversy. Now, how
ever, he hastened to send this alarming essay to England,
as an indication of what was to be expected. He says to
Richard Jackson, to whom the Gazette was enclosed :
" You may depend upon it, that the leaders of the people are in
earnest, and flatter themselves they shall maintain their ground
and make further advances until they have rejected every act of
Parliament which controls the Colonies. The paper which I en
close to you speaks their real sentiments, and is the language of the
Chief Incendiary of the House. If they meet with nothing to deter
them, it is not improbable that the next session may obtain a vote
for a message or declaration in the very terms of the exception
able declaration in the paper." f
The first of these essays was based upon Hutchinson s
History of Massachusetts, whose positions Mr. Adams at
tacks, supporting his assertions with quotations from the
great authors on government, whose works were in his
library.
" The writer of the History of Massachusetts Bay tells us that
our ancestors apprehended the acts of trade to be an invasion of
the rights, liberties, and properties of the subjects of his Majesty in
the Colony, they not being represented in Parliament ; and, accord
ing to the usual sayings of the learned in the law, the laws of Eng
land were bounded within the four seas, and did not reach America.
However, they made provision by an Act of the Colony, that they,
* See the Governor s Speech to the House of Representatives, Jan. 6, 1773
(Bradford s State Papers, p. 336).
t Hutchinson to Jackson, October, 1771.
428 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.
[Oct.
i. e. the acts of trade, should be strictly attended from time to
time. The passing of this law of the Colony, and thus making it
an act of their own Legislature, he says, plainly shows the wrong
sense they had of the relation they stood in to England. And he
further adds, that though their posterity have as high notions of
English liberties as they had, yet they are sensible that they are
Colonists, and therefore subject to the control of the parent state/
As I am not disposed to yield an implicit assent to any authority
whatever, I should have been glad if this historian, since he thought
proper to pronounce upon so important a matter, had shown us
what was the political relation our ancestors stood in to England,
and how far, if at all, their posterity are subject to the control of
the parent state. If he had vouchsafed to have done this when he
published his History, he would have rendered the greatest service
both to Great Britain and America, and eased the minds of multi
tudes who have been unsatisfied on points of such interesting impor
tance.
^/"Mr. Locke, in his treatise on government, discovers the weak
ness of this position, that every man is born a subject to his prince,
and therefore is under the perpetual tie of subjection and allegiance ;
and he shows that express consent alone makes any one a member
of any commonwealth. He holds that submission to the laws of
any country, and living quietly and enjoying privileges and protec
tion under them, does not make a man a member of that society or
a perpetual subject of that commonwealth, any more than it would
make a man subject to another in whose family he found it conven
ient to abide for some time, though, while he continued under it, he
were obliged to comply with the laws, and submit to the govern
ment he found there. Every man was born naturally free ; noth
ing can make a man a subject of any commonwealth but his actually
entering into it by positive engagement and express promise and
compact.
"If the sentiments of this great man are well grounded, our his
torian, before he asserted so peremptorily that the ancestors of this
country, as colonists, were subject to the control of the parent state,
should have first made it appear that by positive engagement, or
express promise or compact, they had thus bound themselves.
" Every man being born free, says another distinguished writer,
* the son of a citizen, arrived at the years of discretion, may examine
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 429
whether it be convenient for him to join in the society for which he
was destined by birth. If he finds that it will be no advantage
for him to remain in it, he is at liberty to leave it, preserving, as
much as his new engagements will allow him, the love and grati
tude he owes it.* He further says, * there are cases in which a
citizen has an absolute right to renounce his country and abandon
it forever, which is widely different from the sentiment of the his
torian, that * allegiance is not local, but perpetual and unalienable/
And among other cases in which a citizen has this absolute right,
he mentions that when the sovereign or the greater part of the
nation will permit the exercise of only one religion in the state,
which was the case when our ancestors forsook their native country.
They were denied the rights of conscience. They left it, however,
with the consent of the nation ; it is allowed by this historian that
they departed the kingdom with the leave of their prince. They
removed at their own expense, and not the nation s, to a country
claimed and possessed by independent princes, whose right to the
lordship and dominion thereof has been acknowledged by English
kings ; and they fairly purchased the lands of the rightful owners,
and settled them at their own and not the nation s expense. It is
incumbent, then, upon this historian to show by what rule of equity
or right, unless they expressly consented to it, they became subject
to the control of the parent state. The obligation they had been
under to submit to the government of the nation, by virtue of their
enjoyment of lands which were under its jurisdiction, according to
Mr. Locke, began and ended with the enjoyment. That was but
tacit consent to the government ; and when by donation, sale, or
otherwise, they quitted the possession of those lands, they were at
liberty, unless it can be made to appear they were otherwise bound
by positive engagement or express contract, to incorporate into any
other commonwealth, or begin a new one in vacuis locis, in any part
of the world they could find free and unpossessed. They entered
into a compact, it is true, with the King of England, and, upon cer
tain conditions, became his voluntary subjects, not his slaves. But
did they enter into any express promise to be subject to the control
of the parent state ? What is there to show that they were any way
bound to obey the acts of the British Parliament but those very acts
themselves ? Is there anything but the mere ipse dixit of an histo-
* Mr. Vattel, Law of Nature and Nations.
430 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Oct.
rian who, for aught any one can tell, designed to make a sacrifice to
the ruling powers of Great Britain, to show that the parent state
might exercise the least control over them as colonists, any more
than the English Parliament could exercise control over the domin
ions which the kings formerly held in France, or than it can now
over the inhabitants of the moon, if there be any ?
"By the charter of this Province the legislative power is in the
Governor, who is appointed by the King, the Council, and House
of Representatives. The legislative of any commonwealth must
be the supreme power. But if any edict or instruction of anybody
else, in what form soever conceived, or by what power soever
backed, can have the force and obligation of a law in the Province,
which has not its sanction from that legislative, it cannot be the
supreme power. Its laws, however salutary, are liable at any time
to be abrogated at the pleasure of a superior power. Nobody can
have a power to make laws over a free people but by their own
consent, and by authority received from them. It follows, then,
either that the people of this Province have consented and given
authority to the parent state to make laws over them or that she
has no such authority. No one, I believe, will pretend thajLlhe
parent state receives any authority from the people of this Prov
ince to make laws for them, or that they have ever consented she
should. If the people of this Province are a part of the body pol-
iticof Great Britain, they have, as such, a right to be cons~ulTecl in
the making of all acts of the British Parliament, of what nature
soever. If they are a separate body politic, and are free, they have
a right equal to that of the people of Great Britain to make laws
for themselves, and are no more than they subject to the control of
any Legislature but their own. The lawful power of making laws
to command whole politic societies of men belongs so properly unto
the same entire societies, that for any prince or potentate of what
kind soever upon earth to exercise the same of himself, and not by
express commission immediately and personally received from God,
or else from authority derived at the first from their consent upon
whose persons they impose laws, is no better than mere tyranny.
Laws, therefore, they are not, which public approbation hath not
made so. * This was the reason given by our ancestors why they
should not be bound by the acts of Parliament, because, not being
* Hooker s Eccl. Pol.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 431
represented in Parliament, the public approbation of the Province
had not made them laws. And this is the reason why their pos
terity do not hold themselves rightly obliged to submit to the reve
nue acts now in being, because they never consented to them. The
former, under their circumstances, thought it prudent to adopt the
acts of trade by passing a law, of their own, and thus formally con
senting that they should be observed. But the latter, I presume,
will never think it expedient to copy after their example. The his
torian tells his reader that They (the people of this Province)
* humbly hope for all that tenderness and indulgence from a British
Parliament which the Roman Senate, while Rome remained free,
showed to Roman colonies. Why the conduct of Rome towards
her colonies should be recommended as an example to our parent
state, rather than that of Greece, is difficult to conjecture, unless it
was because, as has been observed, the latter was more generous
and a better mother to her colonies than the former. Be that as it
may, the Colonists have a right to expect from the parent state all
possible tenderness, not only as they sprang from her, and are sub
jects of the same King, but as they have greatly contributed to her
wealth and grandeur. And we are willing to render to her respect
and certain expressions of honor and reverence, as the Grecian col
onies did to the city from whence they derived their origin, as Gro-
tius says, so long as the colonies were well treated. By our compact
with our King, wherein is contained the rule of his government and
the measure of our submission, we have all the liberties and immu
nities of Englishmen to all intents, purposes, and constructions
whatever ; and no King of Great Britain, were he inclined, could
have a right, either with or without his Parliament, to deprive us
of those liberties. They are originally from God and nature, rec
ognized in the charter, and entailed to us and our posterity. It is
our duty, therefore, to contend for them whenever attempts are
made to violate them.
" He also says, that the people of Ireland were under the same
mistake with our ancestors ; that is, in thinking themselves exempt
from the control of English acts of Parliament. But nothing drops
from his pen to show that this was a mistake, excepting that par
ticular persons in Ireland did penance for advancing and adhering
to those principles. The same mighty force of reasoning is used to
prove that this Colony was mistaken, viz. : * They suffered the loss
432 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov.
of the charter/ Such arguments may serve to evince the power of
the parent state, but neither its wisdom nor justice appears from
them. The sense of the nation, however, was very different after
the Revolution. The House of Commons voted the judgment
against the charter a grievance ; and a bill was brought in, and
passed that House, for restoring the charters, among which that of
this Province was expressly mentioned ; notwithstanding the mis
take above mentioned was one great article of charge against it.
But the Parliament was prorogued sooner than was expected, by
reason of the King s going to Ireland.
" Our historian tells his readers, by way of consolation, that it
may serve as some excuse for our ancestors, that they were not
alone in their mistaken apprehensions of the nature of their subjec
tion ; and he appears to be mighty glad that * so sensible a gentle
man as Mr. Molineux, the friend of Mr. Locke, engaged in the
cause. But we want no excuse for any supposed mistakes of our
ancestors. Let us first see it proved that they were mistakes. Till
then, we must hold ourselves obliged to them for sentiments trans
mitted to us so worthy of their character and so important to our
security. And we shall esteem the arguments of so sensible, and it
might justly be added so learned a gentleman as Mr. Molineux,
especially as they had the approbation of his friend Mr. Locke, to
be valid, while we see nothing to oppose them but the unsupported
opinion of Mr. Hutchinson.
"VALERIUS POPLICOLA."*
As was the custom, Hutchinson, in November, issued his
annual proclamation for a day of thanksgiving, and the
clergy of the Province were directed to read from the pul
pit, as a cause for gratitude, " that civil and religious lib
erty were continued." The artful attempt, however, was as
transparent as the assertion was false and hypocritical ; and
its failure is thus alluded to by Mr. Adams in a letter to
Arthur Lee :
"This, I imagine, was contrived to try the feelings of the people;
and if the Governor could dupe the clergy, as he had the Council,
and they the people, so that the proclamation should be read as
* Boston Gazette, Oct. 28, 1771.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 433
usual in our churches, he would have nothing to do but acquaint
Lord Hillsborough that the people in general acquiesced in the
measures of government since they had appeared to admit with
himself, that notwithstanding the faction and turbulence of a party,
their liberties were continued and their trade enlarged. I am at a
loss to say, whether this measure is more insolent to the people or
affrontive to the majesty of Heaven, neither of whom, however, a
modern politician regards, if at all, so much as the smiles of his
noble patron. But the people saw through it in general, and openly
declared that they would not hear the proclamation read ; the con
sequence of which was, that it was read in only two of all the
churches in this town, consisting of twelve, besides three Episcopal
churches ; there, indeed, it has not been customary ever to read
them. Of those two clergymen who read it, one of them being a
stranger in the Province, and having been settled but about six
weeks, performed a servile task about a week before the usual time,
when the people were not aware of it. They were, however, much
disgusted at it. The other is a known flatterer of the Governor,
and is the very person who formed the fulsome address of which I
wrote you some time ago. He was deserted by a great number of
his auditory in the midst of his reading." *
The subject of this proclamation, by which the people
were to have been tricked into an acknowledgment of the
government system, was extensively commented upon by
Mr. Adams in the press, where he denounced the measure
and exposed its pernicious tendencies.
" However mysterious," he says, " fawning priests and flatterers
may affect to think it, kings and governors may be guilty of treason
and rebellion, and they have in general, in all ages and countries,
been more guilty of it than their subjects. Nay, what has been
commonly called rebellion in the people has often been nothing else
but a manly and glorious struggle in opposition to the lawless power
of rebellious kings and princes, who, being elevated above the rest
of mankind, and paid by them only to be their protectors, have been
taught by enthusiasts to believe they were authorized by God to
enslave and butcher them. It is not uncommon for men, by their
* Adams to Lee, Nov. 13, 1771.
VOL. i. 28
434 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Nov.
own inattention and folly, to suffer those things which an all-gra
cious Providence designed for their good to become the greatest
evils. If we look into the present state of the world, I believe this
will hold good with regard to civil government in general ; and the
history of past ages will inform us, that even those civil institutions
which have been best calculated for the safety and happiness of the
people have sooner or later degenerated into settled tyranny, which
can no more be called civil government, and is, in fact, upon some
accounts, a state much more to be deprecated than anarchy itself.
It may be said of each that it is a state of war ; and it is beyond
measure astonishing that free people can see the miseries of such a
state approaching to them with large and hasty strides, and suffer
themselves to be deluded by the artful insinuations of a man in power
and his indefatigable sycophants into a full persuasion that their lib
erties are in no danger. May we not be allowed to adopt the lan
guage of Scripture, and apply it upon so important a consideration
that, seeing, men will see and not perceive, and hearing, they will
hear and not understand ! "
/ _ He then^cites the biblical instance of Jeroboam, the son
/of JSebat^ whose treason in making his people sin against the
Supreme Being he compares to the late occurrences in the
Province, and warns the people against the insidious procla
mation by which the pulpit was to have been made a covert
means of strengthening the power of the royal Governor.
" Even in these enlightened times," he continues, " the people in
some parts of the world are so bewitched by the enchantments of
priestcraft and kingcraft as to believe that, though they sin against
their own consciences in compliance with the instruction of the one
or in obedience to the command of the other, they shall never suffer,
but shall be rewarded in the world to come for being so implicitly
subject to the higher powers ; and the experience of the world tells
* us that there are, and always have been, various ways of rewarding
them for it in this world. On the contrary, if they hesitate to de
clare a blind belief in the most palpable absurdities in government
and religion, they are sure to fall into the immediate hands of spir
itual inquisitors, to be whipped and tortured into an acknowledgment
of the error or threatened with the further pains of eternal damna
tion, if they persist in their contumacy.
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 435
" Thanks be to God, there is not yet so formidable a junction of
the secular and ecclesiastical powers in this country, and there is
reason to hope there are but few of the clergy who would desire it.
Yet such is the deplorable condition we are in, and so notorious is
it to all, that should any man, be he who he may, tell me that our
civil liberties were continued, or that our religious principles were
not in danger, I should detest him, if in his senses, as a perfidious
man. And if any clergyman should, in compliance with the humors
or designs of a man in power, echo such a false declaration in the
church of God, he would, in my opinion, do well seriously to con
sider whether an excessive complaisance may not have betrayed
him into the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, in lying against the Holy
Ghost ! This is a most weighty consideration, but the times require
plain dealing. We hope and believe, nay we know, that there are
more than seven thousand who will never bow the knee to Baal, or
servilely submit to tyranny, temporal or spiritual. But are we not
fallen into an age when some, even of the clergy, think it no shame
to flatter the idol, and thereby lay the people as in the days of Jero
boam, the son of Nebat, under a temptation to commit great wicked
ness and sin against God ? Let us beware of the power of flattery.
If the people are tainted with this folly, they will never have virtue
enough to demand a restoration of their liberties in the very face
of a tyrant, if the necessity of the times should call for so noble an
exertion. And how soon there may be such necessity, God only
knows. May he grant them fortitude, as well as sound prudence,
in the day of trial ! He who can flatter a despot, or be flattered by
him, without feeling the remonstrances of his own mind against it,
may be remarkable for the guise and appearance of sanctity ; but he
has very little, if any, true religion. If he habitually allows him
self in it, without any remorse, he is a hardened, impenitent sinner
against God and his country. Whatever his profession may be, he
is not fit to be trusted, and, when once discovered, he will never be
trusted by any but fools and children. To compliment a great man,
to the injury of truth and liberty, may be, in the opinion of a very
degenerate age, the part of a polite and well-bred gentleman. Wise
men, however, will denominate him a traitor or a fool." *
Through November, December, and January, Mr. Adams
* "Candidas/ in the Boston Gazette, Nov. 11, 1771.
436 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec. 1771.
wrote incessantly as " Candidus," arguing with the crown
advocates, and attacking them at every point. These hire
lings, who received their cue from the Governor, availed
themselves of the long season of quiet to disseminate their
principles wherever the papers in government interest could
reach.
CHAPTER XXI.
Hancock still opposes the Measures of Adams. Political Divisions among the
Patriots. The King desires to separate Hancock from the Popular Party.
Adams alone continues his " Virulence." His Celebrity as a Political
Writer. Testimony of John Adams, Bernard, Sullivan, and Hutchinson.
The Patriot Party lessens in Numbers and Influence. Hancock leaves
the Patriot Club, and seeks New Associates. John Adams avoids Politics
and Town Meetings. Adams and Joseph Warren stand together.
Warren pronounces the Annual Oration.
THE enmity of John Hancock to Samuel Adams, which
originated during or shortly before the last session, still con
tinued. Eliot, a contemporary, and personally acquainted
with them, was thoroughly versed in public affairs, and as
one of the founders of the Massachusetts Historical Society
was interested in everything relating to the events of the
Revolution. Speaking of this disagreement, he states that
the friends who remained with and supported Mr. Adams
were the " sternest republicans, and those, perhaps, who
first dared to view our independence as near." * Of this,
however, there can be no doubt ; not only does it appear
from Hutchinson s letters already quoted, but the writings
of Adams all through this period, though for the good of
the cause they make no allusion to persons, disclose the con
dition of the Province and the subsidence of the spirit of
opposition since the last Legislature, and the division in the
party. So far, in fact, had affairs gone, that influential men
in England, who were informed by the Loyalists in Boston of
the affair, looked forward with confidence to bringing Han
cock over to their side ; but the friends of liberty never
allowed the quarrel to proceed to that length. We have
already seen, in the Governor s own account, that he ap-
* Eliot s N. E. Biographical Dictionary, p. 10.
438 LIFE OF SAMUFJ, ADAMS. [Dec.
preached Hancock with such views ; but whether during the
last session, when the latter had become dissatisfied with the
policy of Adams, or later in the year, is not stated. In one
of his letters, as early as October, he says :
" The letter by the August packet did not come to hand until last
evening. I value your correspondence so much that I will not omit
the first opportunity of acknowledging the receipt of your letters, as
one means of making them more frequent. Your opinion and mine
agree exactly upon the rules by which I am to govern myself as to
the place of meeting the Assembly. I shall know how their extrav
agant behavior, at the close of the last session, was resented in Eng
land, before I shall meet them again at any place.* Your intimation
that measure would be approved by the highest authority, I
take very kind, and shall remember that it is in confidence. To
answer the purpose proposed, I must have from home some assur
ance of breaking his connections, before I can give my consent to his
election. He is quiet at present, and so are most of the party. All
of them, except Adams, abate of their virulence. Adams is the
writer in the incendiary newspaper, and, I have no doubt, wishes to
see the continent strike off their dependence upon Great Britain,
and would push the Colonies into a rebellion to-morrow, if it was jn
his power." f
How exultingly he regarded the flattering conditon of the
Province appears by the following extract from another let
ter, written shortly afterwards. For a few months, before
and after this time, the cause of American liberty had but
slight encouragement. The truth is, that at this period of
depression Samuel Adams was the Atlas of freedom in Mas
sachusetts. Singly he met the champions of tyranny ; and
while others held back and counted the cost, this intrepid
patriot pressed onward and never wearied in the great
battle.
" At present," says Hutchinson, in the letter above referred to,
* Referring to Mr. Adams s protest of June 19 of this year. See, ante,
pp. 403, 404.
t Hutchinson to Pownall, Oct. 17, 1771.
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 439
8 Hancock and Adams are at great variance. Some of my friends
blow the coals, and I hope to see a good effect. They follow the
opposition in England in everything they are able to do. I com
pare this to the quarrel between Oliver and Wilkes. Otis was car
ried off to-day in a post-chaise, bound hand and foot. He has been
as good as his word, set the Province in a flame, and perished in
the attempt. I have taken much pains to procure writers to answer
the pieces in the newspapers which do so much mischief among the
people, and have two or three engaged with Draper, besides a new
press, and a young printer who says he will not be frightened, and
I hope for some good effect." *
Certainly the zeal of the Governor could not be ques
tioned. No man could exceed him in his constant watch
fulness, his exertions to affect the public mind, his crafty
correspondence with the powers in England, or in the use
of all means, however minute in detail, to serve the ends of
government. The short extract from his letter to Bernard
just given is a complete index to his mind. As he increased
his efforts, he was met at every point by Adams, who was
determined to keep alive the spirit of freedom, until the
times were ripe for maturing his " great invention," the
plans for which he was already arranging in his mind. One
of the tribe of " ministerial writers," whom Hutchinson had
thus " taken pains to procure," signed himself " Chronus " ;
and to him, the ablest among the number, Mr. Adams gave
his special attention as most worthy his pen. From his con
troversy with " Chronus " a few selections only can be given.
" No methods," he says, " are yet left untried by the writers on
the side of the Ministry to persuade this people that the best way
to get rid of our grievances is to submit to them. This was the
artifice of Governor Bernard, and it is urged, with as much zeal as
ever, under the administration of Governor Hutchinson. They
would fain have us endure the loss of as many of our rights and lib
erties as an abandoned Ministry shall see fit to wrest from us, with
out the least murmur. But when they find that they cannot silence
* Hutchinson to Bernard, Dec. 3, 1771.
440 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
our complaints and soothe us into security, they then tell us that
* much may be done for the public interest by way of humble and
dutiful representation, pointing out the hardship of certain meas
ures. This is the language of Chronus in the last Massachusetts
Gazette. But have we not already humbly petitioned the King for
the redress of our grievances and the restoration of our liberties ?
Have not the House of Representatives done it in the most dutiful
terms imaginable ? Was it not many months before that petition
was suffered to reach the royal hand ? And after it was laid before
his Majesty, was he not advised by his Ministers to measures still
more grievous and severe ? Have any lenient measures been the
consequence of our humble representations of the hardship of cer
tain measures/ which were set forth by the House of Assembly in
the most decent and respectful letters to persons of high rank in the
administration of government at home ? Did not the deputies of
most of the towns and districts in this Province meet in convention
in the year 1768, when Bernard had, in a very extraordinary man
ner, dissolved the General Assembly ? Did they not, I say, in the
most humble terms petition the Throne for the redress of the intol
erable grievances we then labored under? Has not the town of
Boston most submissively represented the hardship of certain
measures to their most gracious sovereign, and petitioned for right
and relief? Was not petitioning and humbly supplicating the
method constantly proposed by those very persons whom Chronus/
after the manner of his brethren, styles t pretended patriots/ and
constantly adopted, till it was apparent that our petitions and repre
sentations were treated with neglect and contempt ? till we found
that even our petitioning was looked upon as factious, and the effects
of it were the heaping of grievance upon grievance ? Have not the
people of this Province, after all their humble suppplications, been
falsely charged with being * in a state of disobedience to all law and
government ? And, in consequence of petitioning, has not the cap
ital been filled with soldiers to quiet their murmurs with the bayonet,
and to murder, assassinate, and plunder with impunity ? Have we
not borne for these seven years past such indignity as no free people
ever suffered before, and with no other tokens of resentment on our
part than pointing out our hardships, and appealing to the common
sense of mankind, after we had in vain petitioned our most gracious
sovereign? And now we are even insulted by those who have
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 441
brought on us all these difficulties, for uttering our just complaints in
a public newspaper ! Pointing out the hardships of our sufferings,
and calling upon the impartial world to judge between us and our
oppressors, and protesting before God and man against innovations
big with ruin to the* public liberty, is called by this writer ( a stub
born opposition to public authority, and * a high-hand opposition
and repugnancy to government !
" For God s sake, what are we to expect from petitioning ? Have
we any prospect in the way of humble and dutiful representation ?
Let us advert to the nation of which this writer says we are a part.
Are not they suffering the same grievances under the same admin
istration ? Have not they repeatedly petitioned and remonstrated
to the Throne, and pointed out the hardships of certain measures
to the King himself? And has not his Majesty been advised by his
ministers to treat them as imaginary grievances only? And yet,
after all, against repeated facts and common experience to the con
trary, we are told that * much might be done for the public interest
by way of humble and dutiful representation. If there were even
now any hopes that the King would hear us while his present coun
sellors are near him, I should be, by all means, for petitioning
again ; but every man of common observation will judge for himself
of the prospect." *
Samuel Adams stood at the head of the political essayists
of New England as regards clearness and force of reasoning,
vigor of style, and entire devotion to the public liberties.
Long before the Revolution he had taken a resolute position
against the first signs of encroachment on the Colonial rights
by the British government, at a time when the teachings of
the press, confined to small communities, were regarded as
oracular. As the century advanced, and the Revolution
drew near, he was quick to seize upon that powerful engine
for shaping public opinion ; and when the intention of enforc
ing the acts of Parliament by military power became appa
rent, and he determined to labor for absolute independence,
he saw that the press would be of the greatest service in im
perceptibly educating the people to the familiar contempla-
* " Candidas," in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 2, 1771.
442 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
tion of such an event. The fifth and sixth volumes of
Bancroft s History form a monument to the extraordinary
skill, industry, and ability of Adams as a public writer.
Years before the Stamp Act, the historian says he was
" famed as a political writer, employing wit and sarcasm as
well as energy of language and earnestness," and " no one
had equal influence over the popular mind." * With how
much address he pursued his " black art," as Hutchinson
termed it in his letters to the Ministry, the occasional
extracts given in the present work will exhibit. The Gov
ernor, in his secret correspondence, was continually forward
ing to the administration evidence against the " Chief Incen
diary," whose " art and skill, by exercising his talents in the
newspapers," gave his Excellency so much concern. " Ad
ams," said he, " draws most of the seditious papers in the
newspapers." Speaking of a recent state document he says :
" The answer, drawn by Adams, breathes the seditious spirit
which has appeared in Edes and Gill s paper, " the Boston
Gazette. f It has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained
who were " the two or three writers " the Governor had
hired to answer these essays, as stated in his letter of De
cember 3, already quoted. The names assumed by some
of the principal antagonists of Adams, were " Benevolus,"
" Probus," " Philanthrop," and " Chronus," all of whom were
vigorous and ingenious reasoners. " Philanthrop " was the
Attorney-General of Massachusetts, Jonathan Sewall,J a
* Bancroft, V. 196; VI. 430.
t See Hutchinson s letters to Hillsborough, Dartmouth, etc.
J There is satisfactory evidence of this. John Adams says in his Diary
(Works, II. 251), " You will see a Philanthrop/ for propagating as many lies
and slanders against his country as ever fell from the pen of a sycophant,
rewarded with the places of Solicitor-General, Attorney-General, Advocate-
general, and Judge of Admiralty, with six thousands a year." Andrew
Eliot, in a letter to Thomas Hollis (Jan. 26, 1771), alludes to "Philanthrop"
as a writer for government ; and Hollis, who had good means of information,
mentions in a note to this letter that the supposed writer was Jonathan
Sewall. Writing to John Adams from Boston (July 21, 1786), Samuel Adams
fiays : " Jonathan Philanthrop, whom you well knew, with many others, took
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 443
man of great legal attainments, and one of the best contro
versialists in the Province. Writhing under the plain logic
and outspoken truths boldly proclaimed in the Gazette,
Hutchinson recorded that at the commencement of the Rev
olution Adams had been " for near twenty years a writer
against government in the public newspapers, at first but an
indifferent one ; long practice caused him to arrive at great
perfection, and to acquire a talent of artfully and fallaciously
insinuating into the minds of his readers a prejudice against
the character of all whom he attacked, beyond any other
man I ever knew." * Hutchinson s predecessor liked him
no better. " Bernard," said one who knew them both,
" used to damn that Adams. Every dip of his pen stung
like a horned snake." f Adams sinned in dissecting and
laying bare to the world the designs of Parliament, and in
mercilessly exposing the practices of the Loyalists from
Hutchinson down to the Commissioners of the Customs.
Nothing escaped his penetration, and the Tories hated him
for that reason above all other men. " None of these gov
ernment men," says Sabine, " were so effective as popular
writers as Samuel Adams, and his single pen was probably
a match for them all." This was after an examination of
the papers of the refugee families in Nova Scotia, where yet
remains much valuable material for historical purposes.
Governor Bernard, in 1769, sent a series of Evening Posts
to the Earl of Hillsborough if " for the sake," he writes, " of
a very active part, and they were very successful in promoting the designs of
the British government before the war." This association of the names leaves
no doubt that Samuel Adams knew that Sewall and " Philanthrop " were one.
John Adams always supposed that Sewall was his antagonist as " Massachu-
settensis " in 1775 ; and by the above quotation it would appear that his kins
man was of the same opinion. It is now known that Judge Leonard was the
writer.
* Hutchinson s History, III. 295.
t John Adams s Works, II. 425. These contemporary authorities thus
establish Samuel Adams as a writer on popular liberties as early as 1744-45,
daring the reign of George the Second.
J Bernard to Hillsborough, Feb. 25, 1769.
444 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
a periodical paper published in it, and continued. It was
first published at New York, where it is continued. It has
been also, I understand, regularly sent to London, and pub
lished there. It is composed by Adams and his assistants."
" His pen," says James Sullivan, who was for many years famil
iar with the writings of Samuel Adams, " was no less powerful than
his tongue. A mind well stocked with the sentiments of a Locke, a
Sydney, and other great men who had contended against monarch-
ial and ecclesiastical tyranny, with an education which had given it
the entire possession of all the principal systems and abuses of the
ancient Grecian and Roman republics, as well as of the despotisms
of the world, was capable of carrying conviction to the hearts of all
who had not been bribed against their own freedom, or who had not
suffered themselves to be betrayed by the allurement of avarice
and ambition, or by the impression of fear His exertions all
tended to a separation. By his speeches and Gazette productions a
large majority was produced and maintained in Massachusetts in
opposition to the claims of the Ministry."
John Adams was always vividly impressed with the ex
traordinary effect of the literary productions of his kinsman,
which he remembered for their power in producing and sus
taining the Revolution. Whenever he had occasion in after
years to refer to Samuel Adams, these voluminous but then
generally forgotten writings seem to have come up in his
recollection as inseparably associated with the man. " With
out the character of Samuel Adams, * he says, " the true
history of the American Revolution can never be written.
For fifty years his pen, his tongue, his activity, were con
stantly exerted for his country without fee or reward. Dur
ing that time he was almost an incessant writer. But where
are his writings ? Who can collect them ? * and if collected,
* The letters of the royal Governors to the Ministry, and the statements of
informers, together with what has been found of his original drafts of political
essays, have afforded a clew to the recovery of a portion of his works. The
bulk, as John Adams truly said, can never be recognized. How many signa
tures he adopted during the long period between the commencement of the
revenue system and the Declaration of Independence, it is impossible to say.
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 445
who will ever read them? " Referring to Samuel Adams s
Boston instructions of 1764, he says : " Those instructions
are a sample of the simplicity, purity, and harmony of style
which distinguished all the productions of Mr. Adams s
pen." And again: "A collection of his writings would be as
curious as voluminous. It would throw light upon Ameri
can history for fifty years. In it would be found specimens
of a nervous simplicity of reasoning and eloquence that
have never been rivalled in America." * And in a letter to
Samuel Adams, written in Paris, in 1783 : " I want to come
home for many reasons, one of which lies with very great
Twenty-five have been collected, of his use of which there is absolute proof.
Others, appended to articles plainly in his style, are rejected for want of positive
evidence of his authorship. Some of his essays over one signature extend,
in consecutive series, through several years, the argument being maintained
right and left with his various Loyalist assailants, while, with different
names, he kept up contests simultaneously with others of the crown writers on
distinct subjects. All this time his pen was employed on the state papers of
the Legislature and other public bodies, and in his extensive correspondence
with patriots in the other Colonies and with gentlemen in England. His
writings over the following signatures have been collected :
Determinatus, Vindex,
Principiis Obsta, A Chatterer,
T. Z., An Elector in 1771,
A Layman, Au American,
A. B., A.,
Ccdant Arma Togae, Valerius Poplicola,
E. A., A Son of Liberty,
A Bostonian, Shippeu,
A Tory, Z.,
Populus, Observation,
An Impartialist, Sincerus,
Alfred, A Religious .Politician.
Candidus,
Extracts from most of these series appear in this work. Many are of great
length. If published entire, together with the arguments of his antagonists,
they would present a formidable array of controversial papers, embracing all
the issues between Great Britain and the Colonies, and showing the gradual
progress of events which culminated in American Independence.
* John Adams s Works, I. 673, 674.
446 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
weight upon my mind ; it is to persuade you to make a col
lection of your writings, in which I think the new world
deeply interested and the old one too." As early as 1765,
in his Diary, he describes Otis, Gushing, and Adams at the
Club, where his kinsman had introduced him, and records
that Adams had " the most correct, genteel, and artful pen "
of all the distinguished characters in that body ; and, in
1774, he again points out Adams as " the most elegant
writer" of any who had figured in his time. There are
other instances where he refers to the literary celebrity of
Samuel Adams, evidently reflecting the general opinion of all
parties prior to and during the Revolution. In fact, though
Otis, Thacher, and Mayhew, at the time of the Stamp Act,
and Joseph Warren, John Adams, Quincy, Cooper, Young,
Chauncy, and others, at a subsequent period, all wrote
against the British government, we need go no further than
to these unqualified and concurrent assertions of John
Adams and Hutchinson in estimating Samuel Adams as
the one particular essayist who excelled them all, not only
as the earliest, but as^ the most powerful and voluminous
writer on American politics.
But, though the productions of Adams in defence of Colo
nial rights had long been known, his Revolutionary essays
proper commenced in the winter of 1768, a year before the
first of the celebrated " Junius " letters appeared in London.
" Junius " wrote for three years, terminating his famous
onslaughts upon the Ministry in January, 1772. During the
whole of that period Adams was bending to his task in New
England, scattering abroad the seeds of democracy to achieve
far different results. To some extent there is found in the
two writers the same clearness, precision, force of style, and
impressiveness of manner ; but while the object of " Junius "
was not so much to conduct a train of logical argument as
to inflame the passions by vigorous attacks, couched in
nervous and felicitous language, the essays of Adams are
remarkable for their uncontrovertible reasoning. His de-
1771.] LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. 447
ductions were never assailed with success, and those who.
encountered him always retired discomfited. His strength
was not in imagery and word-painting, but rather in his vig
orous grasp of thought and subtle analysis, and his direct
manner of cutting into the heart of subjects. Despite the
armor of pretended contempt with which the Loyalists at
times shielded themselves, he generally probed to the quick,
and stung the more keenly from the very absence of orna
ment. A severe simplicity of language, which disdained
the studied contrivances of speech, left nothing to be inferred
and compelled a reply. The patriotic writings of Dickinson,
in Pennsylvania, were no less potent to indoctrinate the
people with the spirit of liberty ; and Samuel Adams, his
most ardent admirer, repeatedly acknowledged the effect of
the Farmer s Letters. Dickinson wrote to preserve har
mony with the mother country, as well as to assert the
natural rights of Americans. Adams aimed to create the
sentiment of patriotism, which he foresaw would be wanted
ere long in the violent disruption of the Colonies from Great
Britain. Admirable judgment as well as skill is evinced
in these essays. The same wise caution which pervaded all
political proceedings under his direction is apparent in his
writings, so that the most critical examination finds no in
stance of unguarded zeal or rashness, which might give the
Loyalists an advantage in their controversies with him. His
maxim was, " Keep your enemy in the wrong."
Continuing his argument with " Chronus," Mr. Adams
seems to have occupied the columns of the Gazette almost
exclusively. From these copious writings it is impossible
to insert more than occasional extracts, nor can space be
allotted to the equally lengthy arguments of his opponents.
Some of his essays, however, cannot be dissected without
destroying the context, and from among these a few of the
shorter ones, with the advice of a distinguished scholar, are
given entire, even at the risk of filling the pages with quo
tations to the sacrifice of narrative. The following was
448 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. [Dec.
written almost in mid-winter, when the political aspect was
as gloomy as the bleak New England landscape at that
season ; when public spirit seemed to have succumbed to
the unremitting exertions of the Governor and his em
ployees to conceal the policy of government under a deceit
ful guise of gentleness ; while a large fleet was wintering in
the harbor, and every precaution had been taken to intimi
date the people by an exhibition of power. It was several
months before the meeting of the Legislature. The Gover
nor carried everything he pleased in his Divan, but his
proclamation had exposed him. " Should he once," said
Mr. Adams, " lose the reputation which his friends have
with the utmost industry been building up for him among
the clergy for these thirty years past, as a consummate saint,
he must fall like Samson when his locks Were shorn." * The
Commissioners of the Customs, who now more than ever
had a wide influence in the affairs of government, held their
consultations at" Butcher s Hall," as their head-quarters in
State Street were called, and had come to the conclusion,
with all the insolence of supreme rulers, that the House of
Representatives " should rescind " its famous protest of the
June session, in which Mr. Adams had, for the while, rudely
destroyed the fond hopes of the Loyalists. Outside of Bos
ton an appearance of contentment met the wishes of the
Governor, and he still transmitted to England pleasing ac
counts. If ever the pen of the patriot was needed it was
now, and no man more clearly than Samuel Adams saw
through the fatal veil of fancied security.
* Samuel Adams to Arthur Lee, Nov. 13, 1771. The arrogant and domi
neering spirit displayed by the British Ministry, as well as by their agents in
Massachusetts, in an assumed absolutism over the Provincial authorities is
pointedly alluded to in a letter written Jan. 14, 1772. "Is it not," he says,
" a strange mode of expression, of late years made use of, that Administration
intends that this law shall be enacted or that repealed ? It is language adapted
to the infamy of the present times by a nation which boasts of the freedom
and independency of her Parliaments. I believe almost any of the American
Assemblies would highly resent such an imperious tone."
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 449
" Whene er from putrid courts foul vapors rose,
With vigorous wholesome gales
The winds of opposition fiercely blew,
Which purged and cleared the agitated state.
" If the liberties of America are ever completely ruined, of which,
in my opinion, there is now the utmost danger, it will in all proba
bility be the consequence of a mistaken notion of prudence which
leads men to acquiesce in measures of the most destructive ten
dency for the sake of present ease. When designs are formed to
raze the very foundation of a free government, those few who are
to erect their grandeur and fortunes upon the general ruin will em
ploy every art to soothe the devoted people into a state of indo
lence, inattention, and security, which is forever the forerunner of
slavery. They are alarmed at nothing so much as attempts to
awaken the people to jealousy and watchfulness ; and it has been
an old game, played over and over again, to hold up the men who
would rouse their fellow-citizens and countrymen to a sense of their
real danger, and spirit them to the most zealous activity in the use
of all proper means for the preservation of the public liberty, as
* pretended patriots, intemperate politicians, rash hot-headed men,
( incendiaries, * wretched desperadoes, who, as was once said of the
best of men, would turn the world upside down, or have done it
already. But he must have a small share of fortitude indeed, who is
put out of countenance by hard speeches without sense and meaning,
or affrighted from the path of duty by the rude language of Billings
gate. For my own part, I smile contemptuously at such unmanly
efforts. I would be glad to hear the reasoning of Chronus if he
has a capacity for it ; but I disregard his railing, as I would the
barking of a l cur dog.
"The dispassionate and rational Pennsylvania Farmer* has told
us that a perpetual jealousy respecting liberty is absolutely requi
site in all free states. The unhappy experience of the world has
frequently manifested the truth of his observation. For want of
this jealousy the liberties of Spain were destroyed by what is called
a vote of credit ; that is, a confidence placed in the King to rais&
money upon extraordinary emergencies in the intervals of Parlia
ment. France afterwards fell into the same snare ; and England
itself was in great danger of it in the reign of Charles the Second,.
* John Dickinson, author of the Farmer s Letters.
VOL. I. 29
450 LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. pec.
when a bill was brought into the House of Commons to enable the
King to raise what money he pleased upon extraordinary occasions,
as the Dutch war was pretended to be : and the scheme would
doubtless have succeeded to the ruin of the national liberty, had it
not been for the watchfulness of the intemperate patriots, and
* wrong-headed politicians, even of that day.
" How much better is the state of the American Colonies soon
likely to be than that of France and Spain ; or than Britain would
have been in, if the bill before mentioned had passed into an act ?
Does it make any real difference whether one man has the sovereign
disposal of the people s purses or five hundred ? Is it not as certain
that the British Parliament have assumed to themselves the power
of raising what money they please in the Colonies upon all occa
sions, as it is that the Kings of France and Spain exercise the same
power over their subjects upon emergencies ? Those Kings, by the
way, being the sole judges when emergencies happen, they gene
rally create them as often as they want money. And what security
have the Colonies that the British Parliament will not do the same ?
It is dangerous to be silent, as the ministerial writers would have us
to be, while such a claim is held up ; but much more to submit to
it. Your very silence, my countrymen, may be construed a submis
sion, and those who would persuade you to be quiet intend to give
it that turn. Will it be likely, then, that your enemies who have
exerted every nerve to establish a revenue raised by virtue of a
supposed inherent right in the British Parliament, without your con
sent, will recede from the favorite plan when they imagine it to be
completed by your submission ? Or, if they should repeal the ob
noxious act upon the terms of your submitting to the right, is it not
to be apprehended that your own submission will be brought forth
as a precedent in a future time, when your watchful adversary shall
have succeeded and laid the most of you fast asleep in the bed of
security and insensibility. Believe me, should the British Parlia
ment, which claims a right to tax you at discretion, ever be guided
by a wicked and corrupt administration, and how near they are
approaching to it, I will leave you to judge, you will then find
one revenue act succeeding another, till the fatal influence shall ex
tend to your own Parliaments. Bribes and pensions will be as fre
quent here as they are in the unhappy kingdom of Ireland, and you
and your posterity will be made, by means of your own money, as
1771.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 451
subservient to the will of a British Ministry or an obsequious gov
ernor as the vassals of France are to that of their Grand Monarch.
What will prevent this misery and infamy but your being finally
obliged to have recourse to the ultima ratio ? But is it probable
that you will ever make any manly efforts to recover your liberty
after you have been inured without any remorse to contemplate
yourselves as slaves ? Custom/ says the Farmer, gradually recon
ciles us to objects even of dread and detestation. It reigns in noth
ing more arbitrarily than in public affairs. When an act injurious
to freedom has once been done, and the people bear it, the repeti
tion of it is more likely to meet with submission. For as the mis
chief of the one was found to be tolerable, they will hope that the
second will prove so too ; and they will not regard the infamy of
the last, because they are stained with that of the first.
" The beloved patriot further observes, in mixed governments the
very texture of their constitution demands a perpetual jealousy.
For the cautions with which power is distributed among the several
orders imply that each has that share which is proper for the gen
eral welfare, and, therefore, that any further imposition must be
pernicious/ The government of this Province, like that of Great
Britain, of which it is said to be an epitome, is a mixed govern
ment. Its Constitution is delicately framed ; and, I believe, all must
acknowledge that the power vested in the Crown is full as great as
is consistent with the general welfare. The King, by the charter,
has the nomination and appointment of the Governor ; but no men
tion being therein made of his right to take the payment of his
Governor upon himself, it is fairly concluded that the people have
reserved that right to themselves, and the Governor must stipulate
with them for his support. That this was the sense of the contract
ing parties appears from practice contemporary with the date of the
charter itself, which is the best exposition of it, and the same prac
tice has been continued uninterruptedly to the present time. But
the King now orders his support out of the American revenue.
Chronus himself acknowledges that he is thereby rendered more
independent of the people. Consequently, the balance of power, if
it was before even, is by this means disadjusted. Here, then, is an
other great occasion of jealousy in the people. No reasonable man
will deny that an undue proportion of power added to the monarch
ical part of the Constitution, is as dangerous as the same undue pro-
452 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [1771.
portion would be, if added to the democratical. Should the people
refuse to allow the Governor the due exercise of the powers that
are vested in him by the charter, I dare say they would soon be
told, and very justly, of * the mischief that would be the consequence
of it. And is there not the same reason why the people may, and
ought to, speak freely and loudly of the mischief which would be
the consequence of his being rendered more independent of them, or
which is in reality the same thing, his becoming possessed of more
power than the charter vests him with ? For the annihilating a
constitutional check in the people, which is necessary to prevent the
Governor s exercise of exorbitant power, is in effect to enable him
to exercise that exorbitant power, when he pleases, without control.
A Governor, legally appointed, may usurp powers which do not
belong to him, and it is ten to one but he will if the people are not
jealous and vigilant. Charles the First was legally appointed King;
the doctrines advanced by the clergy in his father s infamous reign
led them both to believe that they were the Lord s anointed, and
were not accountable for their conduct to the people. It is strange
that Kings seated on the English throne should imbibe such opin
ions ; but it is possible they were totally unacquainted with the his
tory of their English predecessors. Charles, by hearkening to the
counsel of his evil ministers, which coincided with the principles of
his education and his natural temper, and confiding in his corrupt
judges, became an usurper of powers which he had no right to ;
and, exercising those powers, he became a tyrant; but the end
proved fatal to him, and afforded a solemn lesson for all succeeding
usurpers and tyants. His subjects, who made him King, called
him to account, dismissed, and punished him in a most exemplary
manner ! Charles was obstinate in his temper, and thought of
nothing so little as concessions of any kind. If he had been well
advised he would have renounced his usurped powers. Every wise
governor will relinquish a power which is not clearly constitutional,
however inconsiderable those about him may persuade him to think
it ; especially if the people regard it as a part of a system of oppres
sion and an evidence of tyrannical designs. And the more tenacious
he is of it, the stronger is the reason why * the spirit of apprehen
sion should be kept up among them in its utmost vigilance.
" CANDIDUS." *
* Boston Gazette, Dec. 9, 1771.
1772;] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 453
Another essay, in which Mr. Adams denied the right of
Parliament to legislate for the Colonies, was published in
January, 1772.
" I have observed," he says, " from Baron Montesquieu, that the
British Constitution has liberty for its direct object ; and that the
Constitution of this Province, according to Mr. Hutchinson, is an
epitome of the British Constitution ; that the right of representa
tion in the body that legislates is essential to the British Constitu
tion, without which there cannot be liberty ; and Chronus himself
acknowledges that the Americans are incapable of exercising this
right. Let him now draw what conclusion he pleases. All I in
sist upon is, that the conclusion cannot be just, that the Parliament s
laying duties upon trade, with the express purpose of raising a rev
enue, is not repugnant to, or subversive of, our Constitution. This
doctrine, though long exploded by the best writers on both sides of
the Atlantic, he now urges ; and he is reduced to this necessity, in
order to j ustify or give coloring to his frequent bold assertions, that
no one has attempted even to infringe our liberties, and to his un
generous reflections upon those who declare themselves of a dif
ferent mind, as pretended patriots, over zealous, intemperate
politicians, men of no property, who expect to find their account
in perpetually keeping up the ball of contention. But after all that
Chronus and his associates have said, or can say, the people of
America have just grounds still to complain that their rights are
violated. There seems to be a system of tyranny and oppression
already begun. It is therefore the duty of every honest man to
alarm his fellow-citizens and countrymen, and awaken in them the
utmost vigilance and circumspection. Jealousy, especially at such a
time, is a political virtue : nay, I will say it is a moral virtue ;
for we are under all obligations to do what in us lies to save our
country. Tyrants alone, says the great Vattel, will treat as sedi
tious those brave and resolute citizens who exhort the people to
preserve themselves from oppression, in vindication of their rights
and privileges. A good prince, says he, will commend such virtu
ous patriots, and will mistrust the selfish suggestions of a minister
who represents to him as rebels all those citizens who do not hold
out their hands to chains, who refuse tamely to suffer the strokes of
arbitrary power.
454 LIFE OP SAMUEL ADAMS. [Jan.
" I cannot help observing how artfully Chronus expresses his
position, that the Parliament s laying duties upon trade, with the
express purpose of raising a revenue, is not repugnant to our Con
stitution. It has not been made a question, that I know of, whether
the Parliament hath a right to make laws for the regulation of the
trade of the Colonies. Power she undoubtedly has to enforce her
acts of trade. And the strongest maritime power, ceteris paribus,
will always make the most advantageous treaties, and give laws of
trade to other nations, for whom there can be no pretence to the
right of legislation. The matter, however, should be considered
equitably, if it should ever be considered at all. If the trade of the
Colonies is protected by the British navy, there may possibly be
from thence inferred a just right in the Parliament of Great Britain
to restrain them from carrying on their trade to the injury of the
trade of Great Britain. But, this being granted, it is very different
from the right to make laws, in all cases whatever, binding upon
the Colonies, and especially for laying duties upon trade for the ex
press purpose of raising a revenue. In the one case, it may be the
wisdom of the Colonies, under present circumstances, to acquiesce in
reasonable restrictions, rather than lose their whole trade by means
of the depredations of a foreign power. In the other, it is a duty
they owe to themselves and their posterity by no means to acquiesce ;
because it involves them in a state of perfect slavery. I say perfect
slavery, for, as political liberty in its perfection consists in the peo
ple s consenting, by themselves or their representatives, to all laws
which they are bound to obey, so perfect political slavery consists in
their being bound to obey any laws for taxing them to which they
cannot consent. If a people can be deprived of their property by
another person or nation, it is evident that such a people cannot be
free. Whether it be by a nation or a monarch is not material : the
masters indeed are different, but the government is equally despotic ;
and though the despotism may be mild, from principles of policy, it
is not the less a despotism.
" Chronus talks of Magna Charta as though it were of no
greater consequence than an act of Parliament for the establish
ment of a corporation of button-makers. Whatever low ideas he
may entertain of that great charter, and such ideas he must enter
tain of it to support the cause he hath espoused, it is affirmed by
Lord Coke to be declaratory of the principal grounds of the funda-
1772.] LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 455
mental laws and liberties of England. It is called Charta Liberia-
turn Regni, the Charter of the Liberties of the Kingdom, upon great
reason, says that sage of the law, because, liberos facit, it makes and
preserves the people free. Those, therefore, who would make the
people slaves would fain have them look upon this charter in a light of
indifference which so often affirms sua jura, suas libertates, their own
rights, their own liberties. But if it be declaratory of the principal
grounds of the fundamental laws and liberties of England, it cannot
be altered in any of its essential parts without altering the Constitu
tion. Whatever Chronus may have adopted from Mr. Hume, Vat-
tel tells us plainly and without hesitation that the supreme legisla
tive cannot change the constitution ; that their authority does not
extend so far ; and that they ought to consider the fundamental
laws as sacred, if the nation has not in very express terms given
them power to change them. And he gives a reason for it solid
and weighty ; for, says he, the constitution of the state ought to be
fixed. Mr. Hume, as quoted by * Chronus, says the only rule of gov
ernment is the established practice of the age upon maxims univer
sally assented to. If, then, any deviation is made from the maxims
upon which the established practice of the age is founded, it 
