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GRE4l^RICANS
HISTORY

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Great Americans of History

SAMUEL ADAMS

A CHARACTER SKETCH

SAMUEL FALLOWS, D.D., LL.D.

Ex-Supt. of Public Instruction of Wisconsin; Ex-Prcs. Illinois Wcslcyan University, and
Chancellor of The University Association.

WITH SUPPLEMENTARY ESSAY, BY

G. MERCER ADAM _

Late Editor of "Self-Culture" Magazine Ere,. F.tg.

» 9 o > 3 ■* 3 :> :> ,

TOGETHER WITH

ANECDOTES, CHARACTERISTICS, AND CHRONOLOGY
BY

L. B. VAUGHAN and OTHERS.

H. G. CAMPBELL PUBLISHING CO.

MILWAUKEE.
1903.

THE LIBRARY OF
CONGRESS.

Two Copies Receive*

SEP 23 1903

Copyn^i^t Entry
CLASS Q^ XXc. No

COPY B.

GREAT AMERICANS OF HISTORY SERIES.

Thomas Jefferson, by Edward S.
Ellis, A. M., Author of "The
People's Standard History of the
United States," etc. With Sup-
plementary Essay by G. Mercer
Adam, Late Editor ot "Self-Cult-
ure" Magazine, with an Account
of the Louisiana Purchase, to-
gether with Anecdotes, Charac-
teristics, Chronology and Say-
ings.

Jamks Otis, by John Clark Rid-
path, LL. D., Author of "Rid-
path's History of the United
States," etc. With Supplemen-
tary Essay by G. Me-Vcer Adam,
Late Editor of "Self-Culture"
Magazine; together with Anec-
dotes, Characteristics, and Chro-
nology.

John Hancock, by JohnR. Musick,
Author of "The Columbian His-
torical Novels," etc. With Sup-
plementary Essay by G. Mercer
Adam, Late Editor of "Self-Cul-
ture" Magazine; together with
Anecdotes, Characteristics, and
Chronology.

Samuel Adams, by Samuel Fallows,
D. D., LL. D., Ex-Supt. of Pub-
lic Instruction of Wisconsin;
Ex-Pres. Illinois Wesleyan Uni-
versity. With Supplementary
Essay by G. Mercer Adam, Late
Editor of "Self-Culture" Maga-
zine; together with Anecdotes,
caiaracteristics,and Chronology.

Benjamin Franklin, by Frank
Strong, Ph. D., Lecturer on
United States History, Yale Uni-
versit:^, New Haven. Conn. With

. Su»plemen1a.l ^s^ay 0^ G. Mercer

• Adiim, Lat**:dit«r o£ " Self-Cul-

; iu^" M^g^zfne/ ejc., and a
Character Study by Prof. Charles
K. Edmunds, Ph. D. ,ot Johns Hop-

. kins ITiiiverslty : together with
,♦. ^^ntecOcftes, Chat^«1?aristics, and
' • ilcaivonojogy. . . ; •

^<3HN AjMMS, by IJaKmel Willard,
LL, D., Author of ^'Synopsis of
History," etc. With Supplemen-
tary Essay by G. Mercer Adam,
Late Editor of "Self-Culture"
Magazine; together with Anec-
dotes, Characteristics, and Chro-
nology.

^i.oo per Volume.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON, by Edward
S. Ellis, A. M., Author of " The
People's Standard History of the
United States," etc. With Sup-
plementary Essay by G. Mercer
Adam, Late Editor of "Self-Cul-
ture" Magazine, etc.; together
with Anecodotes, Characteris-
ti ;s,and Chronology.

George Washington, by Eugene
Parsons, Ph. D., Lecturer on
American History, etc. With
Supplementary Essay by G. Mer-
cer Adam, Late Editor of "Self-
Culture" Magazine; and an Ar-
ticle by Prof. Henry Wade
Rogers, LL. D., of Yale Univer-
sity; together with Anecdotes,
Characteristics,and Chronology.

John Randolph, by Richard Heath
Dabney, M. A., Ph. D., Professor
of History, University of Vir-
ginia. With Supplementary
Essay by G. Mercer Adam, Late
Editor of "Self-Culture" Maga-
zine; together with Ancedotes,
Characteristics, and Chronology.

Daniel Webster, by Elizabeth A.
Reed, A. M., L. H. D., Ex-Pres.
Illinois Woman's Press Associa-
tion. With Supplementary Es-
say by G. Mercer Adam, Late Edi-
tor of "Self-Culture" Magazine;
together with Anecdotes. Char-
acteristics, and Chronology.

Henry Clay, by H. W. Caldwell,
A. M., Ph. B., Professor of Ameri-
can History. University of Ne-
braska. With Supplementary
Essay by G. Mercer Adam. Late
Editor of "Self-Culture" Maga-
zine; together with Ancedotes,
Characteristics, and Chronology.

ABRAHAM Lincoln, by Robert Dick-
inson Sheppard, D. D., Professor
of American and English His-
tory, Northwestern University.
With Supplementary Essay by G.
Mercer Adam, Late Editor of
"Self-Culture" Magazine, etc.,
also Suggestions from the Life
of Lincoln by Prof. Francis W.
Shepardson, Ph. D., ot the Uni-
versity of Chicago. Together
with Anecdotes, Characteristics,
and Chronology.

^l2.oo per Set.

G. CAMPBELL PUBLISHING CO.,

Milwaukee.

mmmmimimm

SAMUEL FALLOWS D.D.LL.D.

CHANCELLOR, THE UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATION.

\f V

THERE is, properly speaking, no ancient history, no
medieval history, no modern history. History is one.
The ages are all nnited. Assyria, Babylon, Egypt,
Palestine, Greece, Rome, Holland, France, Spain, Ger-
many and England, all have to do with the practical life of
Americans to-day. Lessons of importance can be learned
from each of them to help us act intelligently in perform-
ance of the duties devolved upon us.

It has been well said, "There is no romance like
the romance of history. Indeed in a large sense history
is romance; for life itself is strange and mysterious; and
all its happenings are filled with dramatic elements
which need but the touch of imagination to glow, as
the dull carbon flashes into light when quickened by the
electric current.

"All the years have voices for them that will hear;
and even the simple annals of common place events have
in them the heart of epic possibilities."

English and American history are full of dramatic
incidents. The important epochs in both nations have
been distinctly marked by stirring scenes and events.

The English Revolution under Cromwell, that greatest

6 SAMUEL ADAMS.

of Britian's rulers was the forerunner of the American
Revohition.

Charles the First who, unfortunately, lived again in
spirit in George the Third, was brought to the scaffold for
trampling upon the liberties of his English subjects.

Out of the conflict with this Monarch, who was not a
King by divine right, but by the forebearance and long
suffering of a down trodden people, sprang the Puritan
Age. From this were born New England, the English
influence in America, and the English Settlements of the
American Colonies.

The inhabitants of the four New England Colonies,
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode
Island, in 1750 were most of them the great grandsons
and great great grandsons of the thousand Puritans who
crossed the ocean between 1620 and 1640 and settled
New England. Scarcely two men in a hundred were of
other than English blood.

These men in general owned the ground on which
they lived. Nearly every one could read and write and
above all, could think.

The white people in the Southern States were also dis-
tinctively English, although they represented the Caval-
ier type of character in contrast with the Puritan type of
the New England inhabitants.

And while there must be a due acknowledgement of the
powerful influences exerted by the Revolutionary men
of the South in the development of American thought
and life, the palm must be conceded to New England.
And to-day "complex as our population has become,

SAMUEL ADAMS. 7

while it is true that we are New Ireland and New Ger-
many and New France, it is still New England in the
broadest sense of that term, which dominates and pre-
scribes the institutions which shape this great republic
and the ideas that control its destiny."

We may add in confirmation of the truth of this state-
ment the keen observation of the philosophical De
Tocquevellewho says, ''The civilization of New England
has been like a beacon light upon a hill, which, after it
has diffused its warmth immediately around it, also tinges
the distant horizon with its glow."

The Teutonic people handed down to their English
descendants the "Folkmote," which appeared later in
the New England town-meeting.

Each New England town was called by Gordon, a
writer at the time of the Revolution, "an incorporated
Republic." All the people of the town were warned to
attend a meeting when called upon by selectmen, who
might act upon their own authority, or upon the applica-
tion of a certain number of townsmen.

All of the people were on a level of political equality.
Each individual had the right of delivering his own
opinion, no matter how poor and humble. These New
England town-meetings played a most important part
in the history of American Independence.

Massachusetts, then including Maine, contained 210,-
000 inhabitants, and numbered more than two hundred
towns. In these particulars she was the foremost of all
the American colonies. While her own soil suffered lit-
tle as compared with the Center and South from military

8 SAMUEL ADAMS.

devastation, she was the foremost in making sacrifices for
the common good.

New England had a population a little more than one-
third of the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies, and yet
she furnished 118,251 of the 231,791 continental troops
called into service.

Massachusetts contributed more than one-fourth of the

King Charles I.

number, or about 69, 907 men. In the same iproportion
she furnished money and supplies. This colony had a
people that were welded together in their thoughts,
habits and associations. The Tories were not very num-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 9

erous within her bounds as there were comparatively but
few of them in any of the New England Colonies, but

they were very active.

''Boston led Massachusetts and Massachusetts led the
thirteen colonies." This city was the center of attack
by George the Third and his ministers. Instead of using
the term American or New Englander, many of the Eng-
lish writers used to speak of "Bostoneers," as though the
fight were to be carried on against the people of that city

alone. .

We are ever to keep in mind that the American Rev-
olution was the revolt of Englishmen against the despot-
ism of the English Crown. "The conflict of the Boston
town meetings," says Edwin D. Mead, ''and the Vir-
ginia House of Burgesses with King George was pre-
cisely a repetition of the old conflict between Parliament
and King Charles, an uprising of Englishmen against
lawlessness and tyrannical assertion of prerogative."

It was the old English liberties that Patrick Henry
was defending when he made his ringing assertion.
^'Charles the First had his Cromwell." These liberties
were just as much assailed in England as in Amer-
ica then.

Divine Providence raised up Cromwell and his follow-
ers in the Old World to fight for law and liberty there.
The same Providence sent brave John Winthrop and his
devoted band to the New World to provide a home for
their brethren should they fail in their momentous strug-

gle.

Before Massachusetts was five years old, and before it

SAMUEL ADAMS.

numbered five thousand souls, it was ready for war with
King Charles. For when it heard that a royal gover-
nor was to be sent from England in opposition to its
charter, it appropriated six hundred pounds to fortify its
harbor.

It was not the English Nation that was in opposition
to the American Colonies. It is the supreme mistake of

history to have that
impression prevail.
Ivouis the Fourteenth
could arrogantly say,

^m ^'The State, it

IS my-

self;" but he was not the
French people, he was
their bitterest foe. The
satellites that swarmed
round his throne and
wrested their means of
sensual luxury from the
toil and blood of the
millions of France, were
not the French people.
Charles the First who,
preceding him, wished
to be an English Louis the Fourteenth, and George the
Third, who, "industrious as a beaver and obstinate as a
mule," ardently desired, foreigner though he was, to be
the English State, were not the English people.

The merchants and traders that selfishly sided with
Parliament for the restriction of the American trade

Louis XIV.

SAMUEL ADAMS. it

were not the English Nation. Nor were those church-
men, that would have crushed out non-conformity, and
imposed a haughty, mitred prelacy upon unwilling and re-
monstrating religionists, the English people.

The gallant British tars went round the world in the
old oaken walls of England, singing,

"Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves,
Britons never, never will be slaves."

The American Colonists, with the iron of the Eng-
lish common people in their blood, sent back the defiant
shout to King George and the men about him whom he
had bought and corrupted, "Britons never, never will be
slaves." And they made good that proud English boast
in the formation of the United States of America.

It was the narrow-minded, illiberal, selfseeking, rul-
ing class that brought upon England her difficulties and
caused the separation.

When Grenville was defeated as minister, Townshend
was appointed in his stead.

Smarting under his defeat, Grenville sneered out from
his place to the treasury bench.

"You are cowards; you are afraid of the Americans;
you dare not tax America." Stung by this taunt,
Townshend started passionately from his seat exclaiming:
"Fear! Cowards! Dare not tax America! I dare tax
America."

"This boyish bravado, " which reflected however the
fixed purpose of George the Third, "ushered in the Bill
which was to cost England thirteen Colonies, add one
hundred millions to her National debt, and fix a stigma

SAMUEL ADAMS.

formally years upon her national fame." But Grenville
and Townsliend and I^ord North with others of their
kind were not the true exponents of English thought
and feeling.

Almost every man whose opinion had real worth was
on the side of the struggling patriots.

The noblest of English statesmen like Chatham and

Pitt and Burke, with
Walpole and Fox,
had not lost the spir-
it of Cromwell and
Milton, nor forgot-
ten the treachery of
the Stuarts.

They knew they
were contending for
the rights of Eng-
lishmen at home, for
proper parliamentary
representation, when
pleading for the
rights of Americans
abroad.

Great cities like
Manchester and Shef-
field had no representatives in parliament, while "rot-
ten boroughs" which had scarcely any or no inhabi-
tants sent up members to be the willing tools of George
the Third.

The new whigs, as they were termed, headed by Chat-

Lord North.

SAMUEL ADAMS.

ham were laboring heart and soul for reform. Josiah
Quincy Jr. heard Chatham's memorable speech in the
house of Lords on January 20, 1775, on the recalling of
the troops from Boston. He said: ' 'My Lords, these three
millions of whigs — three millions of whigs, my lords,
with arms in their hands, are a very formidable body.
It was the whigs, my lords, that set his majesty's
royal ancestors on
the throne of Eng-
land. I hope my
lords, there are yet
double the number
of whigs in England
that there are in
America.

''I hope the whigs
of both countries
will join and make a
common cause.

"Ireland is with
the Americans to a j

man. The whigs of "

that country will,and ^°^^^^ ^^^p°^"' ^^'^ °^ ^^^°'■^•

those of this country ought to think the American cause
their own.

"They are allied to each other in sentiment and inter-
est, united in one great principle of defense against tyr-
anny and oppression."

In the House of Commons, Pitt exclaimed, "I rejoice
that America has resisted." "Thank God," exclaimed

SAMUEL ADAMS.

Walpole, on hearing the news of Burgoyne's surrender at
Saratoga, "Old England is safe."

Boston, the largest city in America in 1 740, was con-
sidered, as we have seen, the storm center of the Revolu-
tion, and the moving spirit in the stirring events taking
place, was Samuel Adams, justly termed ''The Father of
the Revolution."

Says Wendell Phillips, "A demagogue rides the storm,

he has no ability to create
one. He uses it narrowly,
ignorantly, and for selfish
ends."

Not a demagogue, but
a true statesman was Sam-
uel Adams. He not only
created a storm such as
had never before been
seen in the realm of
George the Third, but he
triumphantly rode it.

He did not use it nar-
rowly, but for the good of
a continent and the world.
He did not use it ignorantly, but with a wisdom never
before surpassed. He did not use it selfishly, for no pa-
triot was more disinterested in the services he rendered
his country.

For the conspicuous position which he was to occupy
before the world he brought a rare combination of ster-
ling qualities. He possessed natural wit and genuine

William Pitt.

SAMUEL ADAMS. 15

eloquence that fitted him for any audience. He wielded
a ready pen and could put into clear, compact and
sturdy English, easily comprehended by the common
mind, his calm or burning thoughts.

He conducted the first political newspaper published in
Boston which, long before the Revolution, proclaimed it-
self the champion of the rights and liberties of mankind.

He mastered thoroughly the principles of the English
Constitution, and in his fearless application of them to
the poor and lowly, to those ^ 'who wore a leathern cap
or a worsted apron," he received the proud appellation of
"The Tribune of the people."

Keen intelligence, a fascinating personality, persuasive
talk, indomitable courage, spotless integrity, unwearied
energy, unselfish devotion, broad sympathy, with an un-
shaken faith in God and the divine decrees, were among
the elements of his massive strength and commanding
influence.

He had, too, the peculiar instinct of genius that led
him to acts, which, as Voltaire said, "foolish men call
rash, but wise men brave."

The sternness of his purpose and the austerity of his
religiousness won for him the name of "The I^ast of the
Puritans." It was a happy conjunction to link the two
names together, "The Father of the Revolution" and
"The Last of the Puritans," in the one who best em-
bodied the spirit of the American contest for political
and religious freedom.

"Sam Adams," says Edwin D. Mead, "was simply
a man of the English Commonwealth moved another

SAMUEL ADAMS.

century down the line of history. He was simply an-
other John Hampden, or better a John Pym, doing his
work under American conditions a hundred years
later."

But though he was deemed strait-laced in his theolog-
ical belief, he was just as liberal in his political creed.
He was at once a Jeffersonian and a Calvinist.

There were men
who found fault with
him because of his
broad, democratic
principles, and be-
cause of his tenacity
and energy in main-
taining them. But
"white livered indif-
ference is always dis-
gusted and annoyed
with earnest convic-
tion."

He was the anima-
ting spirit of that
band of immortal
Americans of whom
we shall never grow
weary of speaking.
All were indebted to him, for sympathy, counsel or the
helping hand extended to them. Among them were:

*'James Otis, so vehement, so wild in his support of
liberty, the British called him mad, yet the purest of

John Hancock.

SAMLEL ADAMS. 17

patriots, and possessed of soul-stirring eloquence: John
A dams,ardent, eloquent, learned. John Hancock, whose
vvealth and social position and lavish hospitality gave
him great influence:

"Joseph Warren, the skilful physician, chivalric in
spirit, magnetic in social life, with judgment beyond his
years: Josiah Quincy, the Boston Cicero,and Paul Revere,
the ingenious goldsmith, ready to engrave a lampoon,
rally a caucus, or in his capacity of dentist, fit teeth for
any wdio needed that service, which he warranted they
could TALK with, if they could not eat with them."

It w^as of these and others, like William Phillips, the
merchant prince, and Thomas Gushing, afterwards a
somewhat zigzag statesman, that the Tories wrote to
Pmgland, "The young Bostonians are bred up hypo-
crites in religion and pettifoggers at law; the demons of
folly, falsehood, madness and rebellion having entered in-
to the Boston saints, along with their chief, the angel of
darkness." (Samuel Adams.)

Governor Bernard wrote with a strong expletive, —
"Samuel Adams! every dip of his pen stings like a
horned snake." There was no doubt about the reality
of the feeling of the governor, whatever may be urged
against the accuracy of his zoological illustration.

Admiral Montague forcibly expressed the wishes of
many of the King's supporters, when he wrote:

"I doubt not but that I shall hear Mr. Samuel Adams
is hanged or shot before many months are at an end. I
hope so at least."

In personal appearance, Samuel Adams was but little

i8 SAMUEL ADAMS.

above tlie medium heiglit,but his erect carriage gave him
the appearance of being tall.

He had a florid complexion, clear dark blue eyes, and
heavy, almost bushy, eyebrows. He had a countenance
that was both benignant and majestic, which always
attracted while it impressed strangers.

Though cordial in manner there was always a little
formality about him.

He wore to the end of his life, the tie-wig, cocked hat,
knee-breeches, buckled shoes and red cloak.

He would have worn them, according to the custom of
the times, had he been elected President, unlike Thom-
as Jefferson, whom he greatly admired. (It will be re-
membered that Mr, Jefferson was the first President of
the United States who wore trousers instead of knee-
breeches, in token of his pronounced democratic sympa-
thies.)

The ancestors of Samuel Adams were English, with
possibly a mixture of Celtic blood, through remote
Welsh progenitors.

The founder of the Adams family in America, so nu-
merous and so renowned, was Henry Adams, who settled
at an early date near Mount Wollaston, in Quincy, Mas-
sachusetts. Joseph Adams, of Braintree, and John Ad-
ams, a sea captain, were his grandsons.

Joseph Adams was the grandfather of President John
Adams, and John was the grandfather of Samuel Adams,
the subject of this sketch. Thus John Adams and Sam-
uel Adams were cousins.

The second son of Captain John Adams was Samuel

SAMUEL ADAMS. 19

Adams, who was born in Boston, May 6, 1689. At the
age of twenty-four he was married to Mary Fifield.
Twelve children proceeded from this union, of whom
three only survived their father.

Samuel Adams, our Revolutionary hero, their most
illustrious child, was ^

born in Purchase I

Street, Boston, Sep-
tember 16, 1722.
There is but little
account given of his
mother, except that
she w^as strictly de-
votional according to
the puritan stand-
ards. She left a last-
ing impress upon the
boy Samuel, through
her rigidly pious
character, giving him
that moral stamina
for which he was so
conspicuous. The
sober cast of his na- ""''' ^"^^^ ^^^^^^' ^°^'°^-

ture was also derived from her. His father was a man
who paid close attention to business affairs, and so ac-
cumulated an ample fortune.

He bought, in 171 2, a fine estate in Purchase Street,
which extended to the low water line of the harbor.
Upon it had been erected a large and substantial man-

20 SAMUEL ADAMS.

sion, which, fronting the water, commanded an excel-
lent view.

He was possessed of eminent qualities, and was high-
ly esteemed in the community in which he lived.

He was ardently fond of politics, and was interested in
all matters of public concern.

''He became justice of the peace, deacon of the Old
South Church, then an office of dignity, select man, one
of the important committee of the town to instruct the
representatives to the Assembly, and at length entered
the Assembly itself."

He was one of the founders of ''The Calker\s Club"
(or Caulker's), about the year 1724, a political organiza-
tion, largely representing the shipping interests, de-
signed "to lay plans for introducing certain persons into
places of trust and power."

From this term, "calkers," by an easy corruption,
one of the best known terms in American politics, the
"caucus," has come. Young Adams, who was familiar-
ly known to his contemporaries as "Sam" Adams, at-
tended school in the w^ooden structure in School Street,
just in the rear of King's Chapel. The story is told
that such was his regularity or punctuality in going to
school that the laborers regulated their hours of work by
him.

Whatever may be its truth, he must have been an in-
dustrious and studious boy, for he was prepared to en-
ter Harvard College at the age of fourteen. He had
the benefit of the instruction of Mr. Lovell, a celebra-
ted teacher of the Latin or Grammar School of Boston,

SAMUEL ADAMS. 21

where so many boys, who afterwards became famous,
received their education.

His college course was a brilliant one. Only once
during his four year's attendance was he subjected to
reproof for oversleeping himself and missing prayers,
which then were held at what would now appear to be
an unseasonable hour.

Class rank in Harvard College was then determined
by social position and w^ealth, so totally different from
the present grading in this most venerable seat of learn-
ing. In a class of twenty-two Adams ranked fifth.

He was especially fond of the Latin and Greek authors,
as the numerous quotations from the classics in his writ-
ings attest. He never deplored, as Charles Francis Ad-
ams has done in our day, that he paid so much atten-
tion to these Dead Languages and so little to the living
German and French tongues.

While at the University he w^as serious and secluded,
although not unsociable. But he made a business of
study and not an amusement.

When he was graduated, with honor in 1740, John
Adams w^as five years old, and Josiali Quincy and Joseph
Warren were yet unborn.

James Otis was graduated three years, and Josiah
Quincy twenty-three years after Adams.

John Adams completed his college course fifteen years
after the graduation of Samuel.

The youthful Adams was both remarkable for the up-
rightness of his demeanor and for the frugality of his
habits, while at college.

22 SAMUEL ADAMS.

The writer of this sketch once heard a former Profes-
sor of Harvard, whose name is one of the most honored
in American ecclesiastical and educational circles, say,
with marked emphasis, "God save Harvard from being a
University of rich men's sons."

But if all the sons of the rich patrons of this great in-
stitution were like Sam Adams, the fear, contained in
the prayer, of possible spendthrift habits, wildness of
life and inattention to- study, w^ould not be realized.

Out of the stipend allowed him by his father, Adams
saved a sum sufficient to publish an original pamphlet,
entitled, "Englishmen's Rights." Surely coming events
were casting their shadows before.

The key-note of his long life of over eighty years was
thus sounded early, and never changed — "Englishmen's
Rights."

Nay, the few fragments that remain written in a boy's
hand in his school books, were on liberty.

His favorite topic for debates in college societies was
liberty. Three years after graduation, he received in
1743 the degree of Master of Arts from Harvard. The
thesis from which he wrote on that occasion was the
significant one,

"Whether it be lawful to resist the Supreme Magis-
trate, if the Commonwealth cannot otherwise be pre-
served ?' '

Liberty! liberty! liberty! was thus his ruling idea.

The new governor, Shirley, the appointee of George
the Second, and the dignitaries of the land, including
the Crown officials, were among the large audience as-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 23

sembled to hear the youthful and bold speaker strike the
key-note of "incipient treason."

What was thought of this address is not recorded,
neither has the manuscript of the thesis been preserved.

The year that Samuel Adams entered Harvard was
the same in which the Earl of Chatham entered Parlia-
ment, so that he must have witnessed the whole of that
great statesman's splendid career.

This distinguished Englishman exerted a profound
influence upon the life and character of the liberty-lov-
ing young American, whose name was afterwards to be-
come a household word throughout the English speak-
ing world, as familiar as his own.

Samuel Adams was first designed by his parents for
the ministry. But a wide study of history and govern-
mental subjects led him in the direction of the law and
politics.

His mother, however, disapproved of the law, which,
in those days, was hardly recognized as a profession. It
was not looked upon with particular favor by parents
who aspired for an honorable career for their children.

He, therefore, entered the mercantile profession, and
engaged in the service of Thomas Gushing, a prominent
Boston merchant. But he had "neither taste nor tact
for business" we are told, and soon relinquishe4 it.

His father's fortune having become diminished through
unfortunate plans and investments, Samuel became asso-
ciated with him in his malting enterprise.

Upon the death of his father in 1 748, he was solely
interested- in the management of the malt-house.

24 SAMUEL ADAMS.

This afforded great merriment to the satirists and
lampooners of the da}', \vho dubbed him, ''Sam, the
Maltster."

We are told that Admiral Coffin, in quite a different
spirit, was fond of relating that he had often carried
malt on his back from I\Ir. Adams' brewery.

But having- no aptitude for trade, no love for its com-
petitions, and no desire for its gains, he did not make a
successful maltster. Public affairs, too, began to absorb
his time and attention.

He was, doubtless, held up to view by his critics as a
forceful illustration of a man who, in minding other
people's business, was neglecting his own. But the com-
mon good very often demands the sacrifice of private
interests.

On October 17, 1749, he married Elizabeth Checkley,
the daughter of the Rev. Samuel Checkley. This min-
ister w^as his father's most intimate friend, and a gentle-
man of great intelligence and ability. The mother of
Miss Checkley was the little Elizabeth Rolfe, who so
marvelously escaped from the Indians at the Haverhill
massacre, the story of which is narrated in the latter
part of this sketch.

Mrs. Elizabeth Adams is described ''as a woman of
rare beauty and piety, as well as elegance of person and
manner."

She died after a brief but happy wedded life of eight
years, leaving two children.

Samuel Adams put un record in the family Bible this
tribute to her memory:

SAMUEL ADAMS. 25

"To her husband she was as sincere a friend as she
was a faithful wife. Her exact economy in all her rela-
tive capacities, her kindred on this side as well as on her
own admire.

"She ran her Christian race with remarkable steadi-
ness, and finished in triumph. She left two small chil-
dren. God grant they may inherit her graces."

The year following his wife's death an incident oc-
curred which attracted wide- spread attention, and which
had an important bearing upon future events.

Samuel Adams' father, years before, had been interest-
ed, with other prominent persons, in a Land Bank
scheme to help the public finances, which w^ere seriously
affected by the injurious legislation of the British Par-
liament.

By an arbitrary act, Parliament dissolved the Bank
in 1743, which was the chief cause of the monetary
embarrassment of the elder Adams.

It was, doubtless, this arbitrary proceeding which
prompted Samuel Adams to write the startling thesis,
before mentioned, on receiving his master's degree that
same year.

Ten years after his father had been in his grave, and
seventeen years after the affair had taken place, Mr.
Adams was greatly startled to read in the Boston News
Letter of August, 1758, that the property he had inher-
ited would be sold at auction ''under the hand and seal
of the Hon. Commissioners for the more speedy finishing
the Land Bank or Manufactory scheme."

Mr. Adams gave notice the following week to the

26 SAMUEL ADAMS.

Sheriff, of his determination to resist any such illegal
and unwarrantable act. Very prudently this officer
took no further action, and the estate was undisturbed.

But the occurrence gave Mr. Adams his first opportu-
nity to avow openly his opposition to the exercise of ar-
bitrary Parliamentary rule in the Colony.

From 1756 to 1764 Samuel Adams was annually elect-
ed one of the tax collectors.

The financial difficulties which beset the people on
every hand, doubtless prevented them from making
prompt payments.

But the humanity of Samuel Adams and his want of
business vigor, made him a very poor tax collector.
The arrearages in consequence amounted to quite a sum.

Many of the Tories made this deficiency a ground of
accusation against the honesty of Mr. Adams. Govern-
or Hutchinson, in his History, termed it a "defalcation."

But the candid judgment of those who have thorough-
ly investigated the matter, is conclusive, that his "ill
success as a collector was excusable if not unavoidable."

More than one eminent man has failed in an uncon-
genial sphere of work, who has achieved a signal suc-
cess when the proper opportunity has been given him.
Providence very clearly designed Samuel Adams for
something else than "sitting at the receipt of custom,"
however important that may be.

Like Matthew the Publican, "Samuel the Publican,"
as his political adversaries humorously called him, had
another place to fill as The Apostle of American Free-
dom.

SAMUEL ADAMS. 27

The fall of Quebec, through the intrepid General
Wolfe and his brave command, which meant the des-
truction of the power of France on this continent had an
important bearing, in at least two particulars, upon the
position of affairs in Massachusetts.

The colonial troops had shown themselves possessed
of military prowess while
fighting by the side of the
regular troops of Great Brit-
ain against Montcalm. This
gave them self-confidence —
' 'the iron string to which all
hearts vibrate." To it the
brave, stout hearts of

"The Continentals
In their ragged regi-
mentals,"

vibrated gloriously a few

years afterwards when they Generauames woife.

were pitted against the best soldiery of England.

The seven years war had left the Mother Country with
an enormous debt. Her victories on land and sea over
her enemies had brought into her possession all French
America and all India.

To maintain her naval supremacy which she had won,
particularly over her defeated rival, France, meant a
vast financial responsibility.

Grenville, then the prime minister, began to exact
vigorously the neglected customs and imposts.

The contraband trade which had been carried on be-

28 SAMUKL ADAMS.

tweeii the New England ports and the French West In-
dies was serionsly cnrtailed.

This trade, which was really sningglino-, was an al)-
solnte necessity to the colonists, on acconnt of the nn-
jnst restrictions which Parliament had i)nt np(jn thcni,
by demanding that all commerce shonld pass directly
through English hands.

''Writs of assistance," as they were termed, were or-
dered by Grenville for use in America. By these writs,
authority was granted to the officers of customs, giving
them authority to search the houses of persons suspected
of smuggling.

This intrusion into private houses w^as considered a
great outrage, and the people indignantly resented it.

James Otis, the younger, was at this time the official
adviser of the government as Advocate-general, an hon-
orable and lucrative position. It was his duty as a
crown officer to defend the case of the officers of cus-
toms. He, however, refused to do so, and at once re-
signed his commission.

He took the part of the colonists, and in this most
memorable period in America's history became one of
its foremost characters.

The thrilling speech he delivered on this occasion has
been preserved for us in the notes taken by John Adams,
who was present with Samuel Adams on that eventful
day. For nearly five hours the learned, bold and eloquent
orator was on his feet. In impassioned language he de-
nounced taxation without representation, — the future
watchwords of the American cause; for from that day,

SAMUEL ADAMS. 29

^'Taxation without representation is tyranny," was the
rallying cry of the masses of the people.

Early in 1765 Grenville introduced into Parliament
the Stamp Act bill, notice of which had been given
some time before. While in some portions of the colon-
ies the prospective scheme had not been received with
disfavor, it met in Boston the most determined opposi-
tion. One year before Patrick Henry's famous Virginia
Resolutions appeared, which set all the country in a
blaze, Samuel Adams had given his views upon this
crucial question.

On the twenty-fourth of May, 1764, he submitted to
the town meeting of Boston a paper which contained
the first public denial of the right of Parliament to put
the Stamp Act scheme into effect.

It is the first public document that can be directly
traced to his pen, although there is not the slightest
doubt that he had written in the same direction before.

On a paper yellow with age, in a neat, firm hand-
writing, we can read the very opening sentences of the
great book of Freedom, which America was so soon to
write by her statesmen and heroes for all the world to
read. Adams says:

"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 Free Subjects to
the miserable state of tributary Slaves ? We claim Brit-
ish rights not by charter only ! we are born to them."

The same document contained the first suggestion of
a union of the colonies for the redress of their grievances

SAMUEL ADAMS.

in the instructions given. It reads as follows:

"As his Majesty's other Northern 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 Province ; that by
the united Application of all who are Aggrieved, all
may happily attain Redress."

One of the measures proposed by the crown w^as to

pay the Judges out
of the royal treasury,
instead of having
them paid as hereto-
fore by the general
Assembly. This
would have made the
judiciary the mere
creatures of the king.
Samuel Adams as-
serted in this histor-
ical paper the impor-
tant position that the
judges should con-
tinue to be depend-
ent for their salaries upon the Assembly.

He also intimated that if the proper measures were
not taken, it would be deemed necessary to import no
goods from Britain, in order to retaliate upon British
manufacturers.

At this period Adams was forty- two years of age, in
the very prime of life, although his hair was beginning

Old State House, Boston, in front of which
occurred the "Boston Massacre."

SAMUEL ADAMS. 3^

to turn gray. He had also a kind of tremulousness of
the head and hands, which seemed to indicate the ad-
vance of a premature old age. But he had not impaired
his constitution with any excesses. His frame was as
sound as oak. There was no tremulousness in his heart
every beat of which was for the liberties of the people.

He had met with misfortunes. Business had failed.
His patrimony had nearly all gone. Death had invaded
his home. His fair fame was under a cloud on account
of his arrearages as tax collector. But he had a mind
conscious of rectitude, a sublime faith in God, and an
unfaltering hope in the future. So without desponden-
cy and full of cheer he continued in his noble career.

When the legislature met in June, 1764, James Otis
prepared a memorial to be sent to the agent of the col-
ony in England, containing almost the very words of
the suggestions of Samuel Adams. This memorial was
to be given to the English public.

Following also the spirit of the instructions contained
in the document prepared by Adams, a committee was
appointed to send an address to the Assemblies of the
sister colonies, advising united action to maintain their
common rights.

On December 6, 1764, Samuel Adams married for his
second wife Elizabeth Wells, daughter of Francis Wells,
Esq., an English merchant. This gentleman had come
over, some years before, in his own ship, ^^ye Hampstead
galley," with his family and possessions.

The second Mrs. Adams was in every respect a help-
meet to her husband, walking side by side with him

32 SAMUEL ADAMS.

through forty years of an eventful life. She was a wom-
an of refinement and culture, full of sympathy and
warm appreciation. With all her other accomplishments,
she possessed a genuine New England genius for econo-
my, making the best possible use of a slender income.

As Prof. Hosmersays: "It indeed required no common
virtue to do this, for while Samuel Adams superintended
the birth of the child Independence, he was quite care-
less how the table at home was spread, and as to the
condition of his own children's clothes and shoes.
More than once his family would have become ob-
jects of charity if the hands of his wife had not been
ready and skilful."

Mrs. Adams maintained a hospitable, genial home,
where no stranger ever dreamed that any essential com-
forts of life were missing.

George the Third, turning his back upon Pitt, list-
ened to the advice of Bute, who has been termed an un-
principled Scotch adventurer. Through him the Sugar
Bill was re-enacted, which imposed a duty upon sugar,
coffee, indigo and the like, imported into the colonies
from the West Indies.

This was followed by the passage of the Stamp Act,
Grenville's scheme, which declared that no legal in-
strument of writing should be valid unless it bore a
government stamp. Among its provisions were the
charge of two pounds sterling for a diploma or certifi-
cate of a college degree.

Beckford, Conway, Jackson and Col. Barre strenuous-
ly opposed Grenville and his measure in Parliament.

SAMUEL ADAMS.

The speech of Col. Barre on this occasion, is a marvel
of fervid eloquence, and known to every American
school boy of proper age and training.

The passage of the Bill was the entering wedge which
severed the colonies from allegiance to the throne.

In Virginia the indignant utterances of Patrick Henry

Auchmuty House, Boston. Associated with Stamp Act. Safety
Committee met here.

burst forth, which were like the blasts of a martial
trumpet sounding the approaching Revolution.

The excitement was intense in Boston, and the indig-
nation in the Province beyond words to express.

A riot broke out on the twelfth of August, in which
the infuriated people burnt in effigy I^ord Bute and Oli-

34 SAMUEL ADAMS.

ver, the Stamp distributor, besides doing damage to
property.

Samuel Adams and his compatriots promptly de-
nounced these proceedings, but with unwavering deter-
mination opposed the execution of the obnoxious act.

Mr. Adams drew up the fourteen Resolves of the
Boston Assembly, affirming the unlawfulness of the ac-
tion of Parliament, and asserting the inalienable rights
of the colonists as British subjects.

These were termed by the king's minions in England,
"the ravings of a parcel of wild enthusiasts," but they
made a profound impression on the whole Province.

Gloom and despondency settled over Massachusetts.
Business was at a stand still. But still the people would
not yield. Newspapers bore a death's head in the place
where a stamp was required by law.

At length, in England, early in January, 1766, a bill
was introduced into the House of Commons for the re-
peal of the Act. William Pitt, Col. Barre and Edmund
Burke supported the measure. The latter statesman
made his first appearance as the champion of the right,
and won, by his marvelous eloquence, an abiding place
in the hearts of the American people.

On the eighteenth of March, 1766, the Stamp Act
was repealed, and the warehouses of London were illu-
minated, and the shipping in the Thames made gay
with flags.

The welcome news of the repeal of the Stamp Act
reached Boston on the i6th of May, 1766. The rejoic-
ing was most enthusiastic.

SAMUEL ADAMS.

The ships in the harbor were gaily decorated with
their colors. Guns were continuously fired. Blazing
bonfires were kindled. The church bells poured out

I The TIMES arc
JDrecsbliiJ
TUoIct«l
DolLia-LES

•Umiiy, Othier^i. I165 THE ^^'^ " '^

PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL;

AND

WEEKLY ADVERTISER.

EXP IRl NG: in Hopes of a Returrectiontc Lite a^aia.

□ am forry to be
obliged to ac-
quaint my read-
ers that as the
Stamp Act is
feared to be obligatory
upon us after the jirft of
November ensuing (The
Fatal To-morrow), The
publifherofthis paper, un-
able to bear the Burthen,
has thought it expedient
to ftop awhile, in order to

deliberate, whether any
methods can be found to
elude the chains forged for
us, and efcape the infup-
portable f lavcry, which it
is hoped, from the laft
reprelentation now made
again ft that act, may be
effected. Mean while I
muft earneftly Requeft
every individual of my
Subrcribers. many of
whom hava been long be-

hind Hand, that they
would immediately dif-
charge their refpective
Arrears, that I may be
ab!<?, not only to fui)port
myfelf during the Inter-
val but be better prepar-
ed to proceed again with
this Paper whenever an
opening for that purpofe
appears, which I hope
will be foon.
WILLIAM BRADFORD.

Reduced Fac-Slmile of the Pennsylvania Journal, wltli emblematic

heading, published October 31, 1765, following the

passage of the Stamp Act.

their joyous peals. Bands of music played in the street.
Steeples and housetops were adorned with flags. Salvos
of artillery boomed from Fort Williams. Fireworks
surpassing anything before known in New England
were set off on the common. Men, women and children
were thrilled with the excitement of the occasion.

They were ''mad with loyalty," said Samuel Adams,

36 SAML'KL ADAMS.

speakint^ afterwards of the occasion. lUit this far see-
ing patriot did not share the exultation of the Boston
people. There was a sting in the repeal.

In the Declaratory Act was contained the statement
that Parliament had the authority "to bind the Colonies
and people of America in all cases whatsoever." Pitt
himself, in order to carry the bill, inserted this condi-
tion. Adams knew that serious trouble was sure to arise
in the days to come, when the king should assert in other
ways the principle thus laid down. It did come.

Pitt and Camden had gained the admiration of the
colonists for their brave and powerful denunciation of
the Stamp Act. But these men had made a distinction
between taxation and legislation.

They held that while Parliament could not tax, it
could legislate. But Samuel Adams stood firm on the
principle that the Parliament had no power whatever to
interfere in the affairs of the Provinces. They owed al-
legiance to the king, but not to the Parliament. They
were thus prepared to meet with continued opposi-
tion the measures already being devised by the Par-
liamentary leaders to oppress the colonists.

When the election for representatives was held in
Boston, in May, 1766, Samuel Adams, Thomas Cush-
ing, James Otis, and a new member destined to play an
important part in the coming days, were chosen.

This member was John Hancock. Just preceding the
election a Mr. John Rowe, an influential merchant, who
had been active on the side of liberty, was talked of for
the fourth member.

SAMUEL ADAMS. 37

Samuel Adams very skilfully lumiiiialed another per-
son, by asking, with his eyes looking in the direction of
Mr. Hancock's house,

"Is there not another John that may do better ?"

The hint took.

My. Hancock had been left with a vast fortune for
those days, amounting to more than $350,000. Adams
knew that such a man, backed by such an inheri-
tance, would be of great benefit to the struggling cause.

He knew, also, of the commanding influence that a
person of Mr. Hancock's dignified bearing and engaging
manners would exert upon the people. Mr. Adams
never lost an opportunity of bringing forward I^Ir. Han-
cock to popular notice, and of helping him to win
official position.

Another important accession was made this year to
the Assembly in the person of Joseph Hawley, from
Northampton, Connecticut.

He was a man of great purity of character and of
keen intellect. He also possessed a profound knowledge
of legal affairs which was of marked benefit to the patri-
otic movement.

Samuel Adams and Hawley were fast friends, thor-
oughly appreciating one another, and mutually helpful
in the arduous work they had in hand.

While Thomas Gushing was annually chosen speaker,
Samuel Adams was made clerk. This position gave
him about a hundred pounds a year, which meager sti-
pend was often his only means of support.

And while James Otis was still the idol of the people,

38 SAMUEL ADAMS.

Samuel Adams was the patient, persevering, ever watch-
ful leader. His conspicuous ability in drafting docu-
ments became more and more apparent, and not a paper
of any note was put forth which was not written by his
pen.

During the debates in the Assembly, Hawley took the
position of a bold and far-seeing statesman.

He said, "The Parliament of Great Britain has no
right to legislate for us."

James Otis at once rose in his seat, and bowing to-
wards Hawley, exclaimed, "He has gone farther than I
have yet done in this house." But Hawley was only
affirming, as we have seen, the sentiments which Samuel
Adams for some time had held.

Out of the egg of tyranny, which Mr. Adams had
known to be concealed in the "declaratory act," was to
come forth a brood of obnoxious measures which were to
rouse the colonies to open revolt.

Townshend, a brilliant, but an unscrupulous and un-
wise statesman, brought forth a bill in Parliament, as
before noticed, for levying . duties upon tea, glass, paper,
painter's colors etc., which should be imported by the
colonies.

The indignation which had flamed out against the
Stamp Act again broke forth.

Josiah Quincy, twenty-three years of age, said with
the impetuosity of youth,

"IvCt us make an armed resistance against the minis-
try."

"No," said Samuel Adams, "we are not prepared for

SAMUEL ADAMS. 39

that. We will do something better. We will neither
import nor consume any British product."

Adams prepared a remarkable series of papers during
the winter of 1767-8, maintaining his position.

Faneuil Hall, Boston.

A Circular I^etter, of which he was the real author,
although it has been claimed James Otis wrote it, was
sent to "Each House of Representatives or Burgesses on
the Continent."

Lord Hillsborough, the English Secretary of State for
the American Department, wrote to have the measure
rescinded. He declared it to be "a flagitious attempt to
disturb the public peace."

40 SAMUEL ADAMS.

General Gage, commander of the Royal troops in
America, was significantly directed "to maintain the
public tranquility."

But the Assembly did not rescind their action. The
people would not buy and use English goods. They
would not pay the duties that were imposed.

A sloop, owned by Mr. Hancock, was seized for not
complying with the revenue laws. The collector, comp-
troller and inspector were roughly handled by an infuri-
ated concourse of people, and a serious riot was barely
avoided.

A great crowd gathered in Faneuil Hall, and over-
flowed to the Old South. James Otis was received with
a storm of applause, and made moderator by acclama-
tion. He electrified the surging thousands w^ith his
magnificent eloquence, declaiming against the wrongs in-
flicted upon them, and against the appearance of the Eng-
lish manofwar,"J?w;2;/^jK,"wdiich was then in the /larbor.

One man. Governor Bernard, was very largely respon-
sible for the evil consequences of the untimely a.nd un-
just actions of the English Parliament. While he un-
doubtedly had many good qualities, and while allowance
must be made for his early training and surroundings,
he was clearly guilty of falsification and of stirring up
needless strife.

He was a graduate of Oxford, a warm friend of Har-
vard College, an elegant scholar, and a charming con-
versationalist. Up could com]><)Se elegies in Latin and
Greek, and repeat from memorv, on his own statement,
the whole of Shakespeare. He was as fond of science

SAMUEL ADAMS. 41

as of literature. But he was as much out of place as
Governor of I^Iassachusetts as "a Cardinal's hat in a
Quaker meeting house."

There was no harmony whatever between him and
the common people. He hated thoroughly republican
institutions. He contemptuously termed the local self-
government "a trained mob."

He saw in every movement of the people an effort to
shake off allegiance to the English crown, when all that
was meant was a due assertion of their inherent rights as
English subjects.

The most persistent and unscrupulous misrepresenta-
tions were made by him and his political friends for
years to the king and Parliament, regarding the alleged
traitorous designs of "the pestilent Bostonians," whom
they continually called "anarchists and rebels."

Bernard referred to Samuel Adams, John Hancock
and others, as "the faction which harasses this town; and
through it the whole continent is directed by three or
four persons, bankrupts in reputation as well as proper-
ty."

While he was writing to England that these malcon-
tents were stirring up the populace to riots and treason-
able acts, Adams and his compatriots, with the new
grievances and fresh aggressions in the passage of the
Revenue Acts of 1767 to contend with, were doing all
in their power to restrain their followers from lawless
deeds.

They sent the word through the ranks, regarding the
obnoxious revenue officials, "Let there be no mobs, no

42 SAMUEL ADAMS.

riots. Let not the hair of their scalps be touched."

No Englishman loved the old flag more than they.
The history of the mother country was their history.
Its glory was their glory. The English constitution
was the aegis of their rights and liberties, both civil and
religious.

They had no desire for separation,- least of all any ex-
pectation of it.

No man had a profounder respect for the Constitu-
tion, and a more ardent attachment to the land of his
ancestors, than Samuel Adams. Early in 1768 he uttered
these strong words which, we must believe, came from
the depths of a sincere soul:

"I pray God that harmony may be cultivated between
Great Britain and the Colonies, and that they may long
flourish in one undivided empire."

It was liberty within the sacred law of England for
which he strove.

But very soon after this he completely changed his
views. Samuel Adams has been charged by the Tories
with duplicity. Professor Hosmer thinks he must have
had some twinges of conscience, "when at the very time
in which he had devoted himself body and soul, to
breaking the link that bound America to England, he
was coining for this or that body phrases full of rever-
ence for the king, and rejecting the thought of independ-
ence."

But it was the logic of events that hurried him on,
and made him appear to think one way and act another.
If the king had yielded there would have been no inde-

Samuel Adams in Middle Life.

44 SAMl'i:i. ADAMS.

pendence. Samuel Adams was but an illustration of Em-
erson's sayino-, '*No man has a rio-ht to be consistent with
himself." A consistent man may l)e most inconsistent. 'J'o
])e consistent with his better self and with the laws of
the universe, he must change his views with advancing
knowledge and increasing experience.

Adams himself vigorously stated his position, when
the town meeting of Boston had called a convention on
September 22, 1768, because Governor Bernard had re-
fused to convene the legislature.

Otis was absent during the first three days. Some of
the members began to hold back from the course the
"Bostoneers" had marked out for them.

Then said the sturdy pioneer of freedom, "I am /;/
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 perish in its ruins."

Governor Bernard brought not only the armed vessel
^^Romney^^^ to the harbor, but also the I4tli and 29th regi-
ments, which have come down in history as "the Sam
Adams Regiments," for so they were designated by Lord
North.

Their appearance led up to tragic events, and rapidly
hastened the crisis which Adams clearly foresaw was
coming. These regiments, seven hundred strong, land-
ed on a quiet Sabbath morning, and marched to the
Boston Common with drums beating and colors flying,
as though entering an enemy's country.

The people viewed them with indignation and execra-
tion, as they virtually turned Boston into a camp. Fan-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 45

eiiil Hall and the State House afforded them quarters,
with the tents on the common, as the inhabitants refused
to give them shelter or food.

Cannon were planted at different points, and sentinels
challenged the citizens as they passed.

Samuel Adams wTote the following week to Deberdt,
in England:

"The inhabitants preserve their peace and quietness.
However, they are resolved not to pay their money with-
out their own consent, and are more than ever deter-
mined to relinquish every article, however dear, that
comes from Britain. May God preserve the nation from
being greatly injured, if not ruined, by the vile ministra-
tions of wicked men in America."

An effort was now made by Parliament to revive a
long obsolete statute of Henry the Eighth, by which the
ringleaders might be sent to England on the charge of
treason.

"The talk is strong of bringing them over and trying
them by impeachment," wrote Mauduit, from London,
to Hutchinson. ''Do you write me word of their be-
iug seized, and I will send you an account of their being
hanged."

In the House of Commons Banc stood up, as usual,
as the defender of American rights. Lord North replied
that he would never acquiesce in the absurd opinion"that
all men are equal."

Burke pronounced the idea of revivi ug that old stat-
ute as "horrible." He indignantly asked, "Can you
not trust the juries of that country? If you have not a

46 SAMUEL ADAMS.

party among two millions of people, you must either
change your plans of government, or renounce the col-
onies forever."

A majority voted in favor of the resolution on the
26th of January, 1769. The resolution, however, was
never carried into effect.

Parliament at length took off the tax upon all the ar-
ticles except tea. This, as we shall see, did not pacify
Samuel Adams and his friends.

Meanwhile, a great controversy was taking place on
the whole question at issue. On the anniversary of the
repeal of the Stamp Act, Samuel Adams madman appeal
to the Sons of L<iberty, as they had been called since
Colonel Barre's address in Parliament, in which the
name had been given them.

This appeal was found posted on the Liberty Tree in
Providence, Rhode Island, on the eighteenth of March,
1769. It was afterwards printed in the papers.

It was the first public announcement by Mr. Adams
of a hint at independence. In the closing paragraph he
says: "I cannot but think that the Conduct of Old England
towards us may be permitted by Divine Wisdom and or-
dained by the unsearchable providence of the Almighty,
for hastening a period dreadful to Great Britain."

Governor Bernard departed from Boston for England
amid the rejoicings of the populace, and Ivieutenant
Governor Hutchinson became the Acting Governor.

Samuel Adams was a perpetual thorn in his side.
''Use no tea," said Mr. Adams. "To retain the duty on
tea means the right to tax the colonies."

SAMUEL ADAMS. 47

A great meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, where it
was unanimously resolved to abstain totally from its
use. Four hundred and ten women, mistresses of house-
holds, pledged themselves to drink no more tea until the
revenue act was repealed. A few days later one hun-
dred and twenty young ladies formed a similar league.

The first bloodshed took place in Boston on the twen-
ty-second of February, 1770. A crowd of boys gathered
round an importer and jeered and taunted him. Some
one friendly to him fired among them. One boy, Chris-
topher Gore, who afterwards became Governor of Massa-
chusetts, was wounded, and another, Christopher Snyder,
the son of a poor German, was killed.

The presence of the troops in Boston was a constant
source of irritation to the people. The Massachusetts
Assembly refused to appropriate a single dollar for their
maintenance, and demanded their removal from the city.
On the second of March, 1770, a rope maker had come
into collision with a soldier, and struck him. Out of
this grew a bitter feud between the soldiers and the
rope makers, in which thty came fo blows.

On the evening of the fifth of March, a sentinel near
the custom-house struck, with his musket, a boy who
had spoken insolently to a captain of the 14th regi-
ment, as he was walking in the street.

To a crowd which had collected, the boy pointed out
his assailant. Immediately a mob made for him, and
he retreated up the custom-house steps.

Captain Preston, the officer of the guard, went to the
rescue of the sentinel with eight armed men. The mob,

48 SAMUEL ADAMS.

although they knew the guns were loaded and ready for
firing, pressed up to their very muzzles, striking them
with sticks, and at the same time hurling balls of ice
and imprecations at the soldiers.

One of the soldiers who was struck fired, and six of
his companions also discharged their guns.

The leader of the crowd, a tall and powerful mulatto,
named Crispus Attucks, and two others were killed, and
eight wounded.

The bells of the city rang out an alarm. Thousands
of infuriated people were gathered in the streets. Shouts
and cries rent the air.

Revenge ! revenge ! was on every lip.

It seemed as though a terrible scene of blood would
be enacted, which was barely averted by the appear-
ance of Governor Hutchinson, who promised the multi-
tude that justice should be done.

When morning came, Hutchinson was asked by the
selectmen of Boston to remoxe the troops. He replied,
as he had before, that he had no power to command
their removal.

To Faneuil Hall the people flocked. They filled the
building, and surged around it in the street. After sol-
emn and earnest prayer by Dr. Cooper, Samuel Adams
addres.sed the meeting. A committee of fifteen was ap-
pointed to demand from Hutchinson their instant re-
moval. Samuel Adams, though not at the head of the
committee, was their spokesman.

Hutchinson yielded enough to say that, though he
could receive an order from no one but General Gage,

50 SAMUEL ADAMS.

he would respect the desire of the magistrates, and, if
possible, would send one regiment from the city, the
29th. Back to the meeting, which had assembled in the
renowned Old South Church, went the committee to
make their report. The multitudes in the street opened
for them to pass through, as the cry was uttered, "Make
way for the Committee."

Samuel Adams, with bared head and with gray locks,
although he was but forty-eight, bowed on one side and
then on the other, and repeated the words:

"Both regiments or none ! both regiments or none !"

When the answer of the Ivieutenant Governor had
been given to the meeting in the church, there went up
from a thousand tongues in the excited assembly, "Both
regiments or none !" *'Both regiments or none !"

Another committee was then chosen, composed of
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, William Molineaux,
William Philips, Joseph Warren, Joshua Henshaw and
Samuel Pemberton.

This was a band of men worthy of the great occasion,
in patriotism, ability, wealth and influence. The message
they were commissioned to bear to Hutchinson was,
*'Both regiments or none !"

Although Samuel Adams was second on the commit-
tee, he was again to be the spokesman. He had won
the title now of "The Father of America," and it was
felt that none was better qualified than he to enforce
their unyielding demands.

Into the Council Chamber these detennined patriots
went. Upon its walls hung the full length portraits of

SAMUEL ADAMS. 51

Charles the Second, and James the Second, robed in the
royal ermine, the representatives of the absolutism that
was soon to pass away. Confronting them were the
smaller portraits of Belcher and Bradstreet, and Endi-
cott and Winthrop, the representatives of the reign of
the common people, soon to begin.

Before the I^ieutenant Governor and the members of
his Council, all resplendent with gold and silver lace,
scarlet cloaks and imposing wigs, surrounded by the
officers of the British Army and Navy in their brilliant
uniforms, stood these plainly attired men.

Plainly attired, with the exception, perhaps, of John
Hancock, for it is probable "the rich, luxurious chair-
man did not forget, even on an occasion like this, to set
off his fine figure with gay velvet and lace, and a gold-
headed cane."

Samuel Adams, clearly and calmly, stated the demands
of the people. "It is the unanimous opinion of the
meeting 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 previously intimated, as stated, that
one regiment — the Twenty-ninth — should be removed.
This he repeated, adding, "The troops are not subject
to my authority ; I have no power to remove them.'*

Drawing himself to his full height, his clear blue eyes
flashing, with outstretched arm, "which shook slightly
with the energy of his soul," and gazing steadfastly at
Hutchinson, Adams replied ;

52 SAMUEL ADAMS.

"If }ou have the power to remove one rcgitiient, yoti
have power to remove both. It is at your peril if )ou
refuse. The meeting is couiposed of three thousand
people. They are becoming impatient. A thousand
men are already arrived from the neighl:)orhood, and the
whole country is in motion. Night is approaching.
An immediate answer is expected. Both regiments or
noncP^

The irresolute chief magistrate, surrounded as he was
by the insignia of power, was no match for the iron man
of the people. "He quailed before the majesty, the
greatness of patriotism." The troops were withdrawn.

Adams said afterwards to James Warren, of Hutchin-
son : "I observed his knees to tremble. I thought I saw
his face grow pale, and I enjoyed the sight."

Hutchinson soon after this became Governor. In
some of his measures he had secured the sanction of
Hancock and Otis. But Samuel Adams sturdily refused
to yield one iota to his views.

When the patriot cause seemed all imperiled, Adams
stood like a granite rock for its principles, and used all
his powders in its defense. He was now writing for the
newspapers, now earnestly declaiming in the Boston
Town Meeting, now among the people, talking with
them face to face, now at the head of his party in the
House.

He seemed to be almost omniscient and omnipresent,
rallying the disheartened, encotn-aging the timid, and
strengthening the fearful ones, in the American ranks.

He answered the arguments of Governor Plutchinson

SAMUEL ADAMS. 53

for tlie supremacy of the Parliament, in a docnment
which has ])ecome forever memorable. He foni^ht the
Governor successfully as to the payment of his own sal-
ary, and the salaries of the Judges of the Superior Court
by the Crown, independent of the Provinces.

He, without doubt, brought to a practical result the
idea of the intercolonial Committees of Correspondence,
if he did not wholly originate it.

As early as 1766, he suggested such a plan to a friend
in South Carolina, but it was not then feasible. He re-
turned to it again in 177 1, but although a necessity, the
time was not yet ripe for it.

Wlien he urged the measure upon his associates in
October, 1772, they were not prepared for such an ad-
vance movement, and tried to dissuade him from it.
Hancock said it was premature, rash and insufficient.

Still the patriotic Puritan persevered, and on the
second of November, 1772, moved at a town meeting in
Boston that a Committee of Correspondence be appoint-
ed to consist of twenty-one persons, to correspond with
the other towns of the Province.

His plan was to have all the towns in Massachusetts
engaged in this correspondence, then to have the As-
sembly adopt the scheme, and invite the other colonies
to unite in it.

The resolution was carried, and the Committee ap-
pointed. On the next day it began its labors under the
leadership of its moving spirit.

Before the plan could be submitted to the Provincial
Assembly, a resolution proposing a general correspond-

54 SAMUEL ADAMS.

ence between the colonies was adopted by the General
Assembly of Virginia.

Thus Massachusetts and Virginia had the equal honor
of leading off in this most important action.

The controversy on the question of the tax on tea still
continued. The people resolved that the ships which
brought over the tea should not land.

The vessels with tea which arrived at New York and
Philadelphia, went back to England with their cargoes.
Tea was stored at Charleston, but not a pound was per-
mitted to be sold.

In Boston, Governor Hutchinson and his friends de-
termined to land the tea in defiance of public feeling.
This resulted in the famous "Boston Tea Party."

At great mass meetings in Faneuil Hall it was re-
solved, on motion of Samuel Adams — "The Man of the
Town Meeting" — that the tea brought to port in the
several ships should neither be landed nor sold.

On a cold, moonlight night, on the sixteenth of De-
cember, a crowd of seven thousand persons filled the
Old South and the streets adjoining. The Church was
dimly lighted by candles. The audience packed within,
were waiting for the report from the Governor on the
pending questions. It was unfavorable. Then Samuel
Adams, the moderator, rose, and in a firm voice said:

"This meeting can do nothing more to save the coun-
try." They were the preconcerted signal words for what
was to follow.

Sixty persons, disguised as Indians, rushed on board
two vessels in the harbor, laden with tea. These "Mo-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 55

hawks" tore open the hatches, and, in the course of two
hours, broke open three hundred and forty-two chests of
tea, and threw their contents into the water.

Ijong Wharf. Scene of the Destruction of Tea, Hosion Harbor.

A recent historian has said, there is nothing i v our
annals "of which an educated American shoul 1 feel
more proud," than the event of which the words of
Samuel Adams were the signal, "This meeting can do
nothing more to save the country."

There is a story told, that when the "Mohawks"
marched back through the town to the stirring music of
the fife and drum, they jocosely accosted Admiral Mon-
tague, who was lodging in town.

He answered them gruffly in return, and said:

"Well, boys, you've had a fine, pleasant even'ng for

56 SAMUEL ADAMS.

your Indian caper, haven't you? But mind, you've got
to pay the fiddler yet."

"Oh, never mind ! old Admiral !" shouted Pitt, the
leader, "never mind, squire; just come out here, if you
please, and we'll settle the bill in two minutes."

The admiral did not go out.

The ministry resolved to punish Boston severely for
the destruction of the tea. The act affected unfavorably
even the faithful Colonel Barre. It may have been that
vsomething a little stronger than tea had been imbibed
by him, when he rose in Parliament to make an address,
in which he said:

"I think Boston ought to be punished. She is your
oldest Son.''^ Tlie report said, "Here the House laughed,"
and we now langli with it. But the good Colonel was
very soon, and ever afterwards, on the right side.

The Parliament now passed the Boston Port Bill, by
which that harbor was closed to commerce of all kinds,
(knernor Hutchinson having resigned, went to Ivngland
where he was well received. Along with some unenvia-
ble traits in his character, he evinced many that were
most admirable. He tried to serve two masters — the
King and the American people — to the best of his ability.
Hence, he tried the impossible, and in consequence
failed, (jcneral Gage succeeded him, and presented in
his mild temper and mediocre ability, a marked contrast
to his predecessor.

The Governor received word from the ministry to
bring to punishment the leaders in the tea movement
for High Treason. Samuel Adams was specially desig-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 57

nated as one who should be immediately apprehended.
But the Governor did not deem it prudent, for the time
being, to resort to such an extreme measure.

Meanwhile Mr. Adams was working heart and soul
wdth the Committee of Correspondence, to prepare for
the Congress, which had been proposed by Virginia, and
which was also his own cherished and daring purpose.
Governor Gage had prorogued the General Court from
Boston to Salem, where it met early in June.

The Tories who were present at this Assembly con-
ducted themselves in a most offensive manner towards
the patriots, being emboldened by the presence in the
town of General Gage and his attendant soldiers.

One of their number, richly dressed in a gold-laced
coat, with frills and other adornments, was sitting in the
chair which Samuel Adams w^as to occupy as clerk.

When Mr. Adams entered he showed no disposition to
vacate it.

"Mr. Speaker, where is the place for your clerk ?''
said Mr. Adams, looking hard at the interloper and his
friends about liiuL

The Speaker pointed to the desk and chair.

"Sir," said ]\Ir. Adams, "my company will not be
pleasant to the gentlemen who occupy it. I trust they
will remove to another part of the house."

They removed. *

Mr. Adams had carefully prepared the way for the
election of delegates to meet the delegates of other Col-
onial Assemblies on the first of vSeptcmber, at Philadel-
phia, or some other place to be agreed upon.

58 SAMUEL ADAMS.

With consummate skill he had lulled the Tory oppo-
sition to sleep.

On the seventeenth of June, one hundred and twenty-
nine members were present. A resolution was present-
ed to appoint James Bowdoin, Thomas Gushing, Samuel
Adams, John Adams and Robert Treat Paine as such
delegates.

Instantly the House was in a great uproar. Strenu-
ous efforts were made by opponents to stave off the pro-
ceedings. Some of the Tory members attempted to
leave the Hall. Samuel Adams went to the door, locked
it, and put the key in his pocket.

One of these Tory members, however, on the plea of
sickness, managed to get out, and at once informed
General Gage of what was going on. The Governor
hurriedly prepared a message of prorogation and sent it
by his Secretary. Thundering at the door the Secretary,
Thomas Flucker, Esq., demanded admission in vain.
After the election had taken place, he was permitted to
enter and read the message.

But "the horse was stolen, and General Gage locked
the barn door with great vigor."

A critical moment in affairs soon after came, when a
great town meeting was held in Boston, to consider
whether it would not be best to make a small concession
to the Crown, "like payment for the tea, with an admis-
sion that its destruction had been a mistake." Even
Josiah Quincy and Benjamin Franklin thought such a
step would be proper and desirable.

But Samuel Adams, with an unyielding will carried

SAMUEL ADAMS.

the day, and, by a large majority, the meeting deter-
mined that they would continue "steadfast in the way of
well-doing."

Samuel Adams now went about as a proscribed man.
His friends were in constant fear of his arrest, and of his
prominent supporters. He was urged on every hand to
be on his guard. But Gage took no action, feeling that
any attempt at seizure now w^ould be very imprudent.

The efforts made to bribe Mr. Adams by great gifts
and advancements which were freely offered were re-
jected by him with indignation and scorn.

Neither threats nor coaxings could make him swerve
in the least. It were
easier to turn the
sun from his course
than this Fabrician
hero from the path
of honor.

Samuel Adams, ac-
companied by the
three delegates, who
were to represent
Massachusetts, met
in the historic Car-
penter's Hall, Philadelphia, on the fifth of Septem-
ber, 1774. Fifty-three delegates were in attendance.
From among their number Peyton Randolph, of Vir-
ginia, was chosen as chairman, and Charles Thomson,
Secretary. "Samuel Adams was, without doubt, the
most conspicuous, and also the most dreaded, member

The State House, Philadelphia, in 1776.
From an Old Print of the Period,

60 SAMUEL ADAMS.

of that body." He was known to be a marked object
tor tlie vengeance of the king, and to be radical in his
political views.

At the beginning^ of the session, however, he made a
masterly stroke of policy, by movino that the Rev. Mr.
Duche, an Episcopal clergyman of Philadelphia, shonld
offer prayer. When it is remembered that Samnel Ad-
ams was the sternest of Pnritans, and hated prelacy with
a perfect hatred, we can realize the depth of his devotion
to the pnblic good. Professor Hosmer says: "P^ew acts
in his career, probably, cost him a greater sacrifice,
and few acts were really more effective. If Prynne, in
the Long Parliament, had asked for the prayers of Land,
the sensation conld not have been greater. It electrified
friends and foes. Before such a stretch of catholicity,
the members became ashamed of their divisions, and a
spirit of harmony, quite new and beyond measure, salu-
tary, came to prevail."

Mr. Adams' influence was great in this Congress.
Galloway, an able lawyer, who had just before been
Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, says:

"Samuel Adams eats little, drinks little, sleeps little,
and thinks much, and is most indefatigable in the pur-
suit of his object. It was this man who, by his superior
application, managed at once the faction in the Congress
at Philadelphia, and the faction in New England."

His great wisdom was conspicuous in appearing to
surrender the leadership to others, in order to win them
over to the views for which he and New England stood.
In Patrick Henry and the Lees of Virginia, he found

SAMUEL ADAMS. 6!

congenial spirits, who heartily seconded him in his com-
prehensive plans.

The several State papers, embracing the Declaration
of Rights which this Congress pnt forth, were marked
by snch profound wisdom and signal ability, that they
elicited the enthusiastic approbation of the Earl of
Chatham. He said in the House of Lords:

"I must declare and avow that in all my reading and
study of history— (and it has been my favorite study — I
have read Thucydides, and have studied and admired
the master states of the world) — that for solidity of
reasoning, force of sagacity and wisdom of conclusion,
under such a complication of circumstances, no nation
or body of men can stand in preference to the general
Congress at Philadelphia."

This Congress manifested conserv^atism, decorum,
firmness and loyalty. It was not prepared to take the
advanced steps Sauuiel Adams was prepared to take, but
it gave general satisfaction to the American people.
When Congress adjourned it was to meet on the twenti-
eth of May following, 1775.

Before the next meeting some most important events
were to occur.

On the sixth of March, 1775, Warren delivered his
great oration on the fifth celebration of the Boston mas-
sacre in the Old South.

Three hundred soldiers from the eleven regiments
which Gage now had in Boston, were there. Samuel
Adams, who was the moderator of the meeting, invited
them all to take front seats.

62 SAMUEL ADAMS.

During the delivery of the address Warren noticed
that a British officer seated on the pulpit stairs held up
in his open palm a number of pistol balls. Without
breaking in the least his flow of language, Warren quiet-
ly dropped his handkerchief upon them.

It is almost marvelous that an outbreak did not result.
But if the troops were not prepared to charge, neither
was the wise and prudent Adams ready for any prema-
ture movement.

But he had, in every manner possible, been getting
ready for the inevitable struggle. With his patriotic
friends he had been urging the colonists to practice daily
in military exercises, to manufacture arms and gunpow-
der, and to enroll companies of militia, which were to be
ready at a moment's notice to respond on the call of
danger.

These were the minute 7nen^ who very soon were to
march so triumphantly into history.

General Gage, after the meeting of the Provincial
Congress of Massachusetts (the first in America), which
made elaborate preparations to raise an army to meet
with armed resistance the aggression of the king, deter-
mined to arrest Hancock and Adams. He had been
urged by letters from England to do this at once, and as re-
inforcements of soldiers were now on the way, he deemed
the fit time had come to seize these arch-enemies of the
crown.

Adams and Hancock, for greater safety, had gone to
lycxington, and were stopping at the house of the Rev.
Jonas Clark, in that village.

SAMUEL ADAMS.

Late in the evening of the eighteenth of April, 1775,
Gage secretly despatched eight hundred men, under the
command of Lieutenant Col. Smith and Major Pitcairn, to
Lexington, to lay hold upon the patriots, and also to

Buckman Tavern, Lexington, Mass. Headquarters of the Minute Men.

destroy the ammunition which the colonists had collect-
ed together at Concord, a few miles from Lexington.

Around the house of Mr. Clark were a sergeant and
eight men, belonging to Jonas Parker's company of mil-
itia, which had marched to Lexington Green.

But General Gage had been again outwitted. He
thought the going of the regulars would be a complete
surprise to Adams, Hancock and all the rest. But Wil-
liam Dawes and Paul Revere rode with all speed to Lex-

SAMUEL ADAMS.

ington, and spread the alarm tliroiijjh all the country.
From the signal lanterns in the belfry of the old North
Church the lights flashed out, to warn the country
around.

Paul Revere galloped up to Clark's house about one

ClarU House. Lexington, where Adams and Hancook were when notified
by Paul Revere of the coming of the British.

o'clock in the morning of the 19th, and found the guards

without and the people within fast asleep.

"Wake up! wake up!" he shouted. "Wake up!"
''Don't make so much noise," said the Sergeant,

"you'll disturb the family."

"Noise!" cried Paul Revere, "you'll have noise enough

before long. The regulars are coming out."

SAMUEL ADAMS. 65

Adams and Hancock hastily rose, ran out, and made
their way across the fields to Woburn.

Immediately afterwards, Pitcairn with the advance
guard reached Lexington.

Seventy men were drawn up to oppose him.

Pitcairn rode forward, and shouted with a strong ex-
pletive,

"Disperse! disperse! disperse, you rebels! Down with
your arms and disperse. ''

They refused to obey. The order to fire was given.
Eight citizens were killed and many wounded.

The war for liberty was begim.

The Americans had "put the enemy in the wrong."
The regulars had fired first. Lexington's sad green was
stained with the first blood of the Revolution. But as
the firing was heard by the two escaping men, Adams
stopped, threw up his arms, and exclaimed in a voice of
patriotic rapture, "Oh, what a glorious morning for
America is this!"

It was a glorious morning, for it witnessed the display
of great moral sublimity in the stand these few noble
men took, believing themselves to be in the right,
against the greatest power on the globe.

Well does George William Curtis say:

"American valor a hundred years ago is as consecrat-
ing as Greek valor twenty centuries ago.

"What was there in the cause or character of the heroes
which should make Marathon or Plateo more romantic
than Lexington or Concord ?

"Leonidas and the Greeks stood in the pass at Ther-

66 SAMUEL ADAMS.

mopylae: John Parker and his townsmen on Lexington
Green.

"They both stood for liberty and for us.

"Yet how many a youth who dreams of old renown,
and burns to see the fields that brave men have immor-
talized, remembers that here at hand in his own country,
he has the scene of all that kindles his imagination.

* 'How is Leonidas nobler, or more poetic, than the
minute man who lives forever in the noble statue of
French fronting the old bridge ?

"In the final, consecrating grace of any scene upon the
globe, namely, the display of the highest human hero-
ism, our own soil is as rich as any upon which the sun
shines."

While Samuel Adams believed that with the battles
of Lexington and Concord the Revolution had really
begun, others did not: He knew the struggle would not
be an easy one. Suffering and hardship must inevitably
come. But he was prepared for any sacrifices, for he
felt convinced that the Americans would succeed if they
remained true to their cause.

"For my own part," he had written long before this,
"I have been wont to converse with poverty; and, how-
ever disagreeable a companion she may be thought to be
by the afiluent and luxurious, who were never acquaint-
ed with her, I can live happily with her the remainder
of my life, if I can thereby contribute to the redemption
of my country."

Samuel Adams found himself still alone among the
leading statesmen of America, when he again took his

3
3

Crq

-1
o
c

68 SAMUEL ADAMS.

seat ill the Continental Con,^:rcss on the nineteenth of
May, 1775, and advocated tlie entire independence of the
Colonies. Even John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
were not ready for snch a step.

These, with the rest of the delegates, were looking for
conciliation, compromise, and a restoration of the state
of things existing before the dispntes began.

By many, Samnel Adams was looked npon ''as a des-
perate and fanatical adventnrer with nothing to lose,
and his advocacy of a scheme was often an injury to it/
It took time before jnstice conld be done both to his
character and repntation.

John Adams also snffered a good deal of odium, and
was very sensitive in consequence; but his kinsman paid
but little attention to what he knew were unjust impu-
tations, and went on his way unmoved.

The Presidency of the Continental Congress was given
to John Hancock, upon the retirement of Peyton Ran-
dolph from the chair, to attend the session of the Vir-
ginia Legislature.

This great honor, conferred both upon Massachusetts
and Hancock, was secured by the untiring labor of both
the Adamses. These two men also brought about the
the most important action of the Continental Congress
in the appointment of Washington as Commander-in-
Chief of the army.

John Adams made the nomination and Samuel Adams
seconded it. John Hancock was greatly disappointed,
for, it would seem, he had expected the position for
himself. John Adams thus describes what took place:

SAMUEL ADAMS. 69

"When Congress had assembled I rose in my place.

Mr. Washington, who happened to sit near the

door, as soon as he heard me allude to him, from his
usual modesty, darted into the library-room.

"]\Ir. Hancock heard me with visible pleasure, but
when I came to describe Washington for the commander,
I never remarked a more sudden and striking change of
countenance. Mortification and resentment were ex-
pressed as forcibly as his face could exhibit them. IMr.
Samuel Adams seconded the motion, and that did not
soften the president's physiognomy at all."

On the fifteenth of June, 1775, George Washington
was duly elected by a unanimous vote on the formal
motion of Thomas Johnson, of Maryland, Commander-
in-Chief.

General Gage, on the twelfth of June, 1775, issued a
proclamation, declaring all Americans in arms to be
rebels and traitors, and oflTering a free pardon to all, ex-
cepting ''Samuel Adams and John Hancock, whose
Offences arc of too flagitious a Nature to admit of any
other Consideration than that of condign Punishment."

On the seventeenth of June, 1775, occurred the fa-
mous battle of Bunker Hill, in which there was abso-
lutely no victory for either side.

In this engagement Dr. Warren fell. He had just
been appointed Major General, and was killed by a mus-
ket ball soon after the enemy had scaled the redoubt on
Breed's Hill, as it was termed. He was the man wdioni
Samuel Adams is believed to have loved above all others.

He wrote as follows to his wife from Philadelphia,

70 SAMUEL ADAiviS.

when the news reached him: "The Death of our truly
amiable and worthy Friend, Dr. Warren, is great afflict-
ing; the Language of Friendship is, how shall we resign
him; but it is our Duty to submit to the Dispensations
of Heaven, 'whose ways are ever gracious, ever just.^
He fell in the glorious Struggle for public Liberty."

On the re-interment of Warren, after the British evac-
uation, the orator said: ''Their kindred souls were so in-
tertwined, that both felt one joy, both one affliction."

The sorrow Adams felt at the loss of his beloved
friend, was buried deep in his heart, though his usual
reticence did not permit him to pour forth in impas-
sioned words his grief to his fellow men.

Through the influence of Samuel and John Adams,
Charles Lee was appointed second in command to Wash-
ington, which action afterwards proved to be a very
great mistake. Lee, to say the least of him, was "an
eccentric, selfish marlplot, who so nearly wrecked the
cause he assumed to uphold."

After the Battle of Bunker Hill, in July, 1775, Con-
gress sent a most loyal petition to the king, along with
a conciliatory address to the people of Great Britain.

But they firmly announced, "We have counted the
cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as vol-
untary slavery." The ring of Samuel Adams' deter-
mination was heard in these stirring words.

On the first of August, 1775, the Continental Con-
gress adjourned to meet again on the fifth of September
following. Samuel Adams, the proscribed patriot, set
out with his fellow delegates for Boston.

72 SAMUEL ADAMS.

He was at once made Secretary of State, but leaving
his public functions in the hands of a deputy, lie set out
on the twelfth of September for Philadelphia, riding
three hundred miles on horseback.

Adams found the jealousy towards New England,
greater than ever on the part of the Proprietary and
some of the Southern Colonies. As there seemed but
little prospect of a declaration of independence on their
part, he began to conceive the idea of separate indepen-
dence for New England, believing if this were accom-
plished, complete independence of all the rest might af-
terwards follow.

Then came days of weary waiting and severe trial.
Hancock turned his back upon the two Adam.scs, and
affiliated with the aristocratic members from the middle
and southern colonies. The battle became a fierce one on
the subject so dear to the heart of Samuel Adams — the
independence of the colonies.

John Adams, who had come round to SamueVs way
of thinking, was absent. Hancock, Gushing and Paine
would render no help, and so almost alone, the heroic
New Englander had to carry on the struggle. But he
gained, as adherents, a few advanced men like Wythe,
of Virginia, Roger Sherman and Oliver Wolcott of Con-
necticut, Ward of Rhode Island, and Chase of ]Maryland.
These men stood by him nobly.

The Quakers of Philadelphia had issued an address
in which unqualified submission was strongly urged.
Samuel Adams was never more energetic in his lan-
guage than in the reply which he made. It was no

SAMUEL ADAMS. 73

time now, lie believed, to mince matters, as the follow-
ing extract will show:

*"But,' say the puling, pusillanimous cowards, 'we
shall be subject to a long and bloody war if we declare
independence.' On the contrary, I affirm it the only
step that can bring the contest to a speedy and happy
issue. By declaring independence we put ourselves on a
footing for an equal negotiation. Now we are called a
pack of villainous rebels, who, like the St. Vincent's In-
dians, can expect nothing more than a pardon for our
lives, and the sovereign favor, respecting freedom and
property, to be at the king's will. Grant, Almighty
God, that I may be numbered with the dead before that
sable day dawns on North America."

But the most triumphant moment of his life was about
to come. One by one the men whose names are written
high up on America's roll of honor were won to his
views. The logic of events was on his side.

After a long debate, the Declaration of Independence
was signed on the fourth of July, 1776. The fierce
struggle on the floor of Congress was ended.

John Hancock wrote down his name in a bold, dash-
ing hand, saying:

''There, I have written it that George the Third might
read it without his spectacles. "

Somebody said, "Now we must all hang together."

"Yes," answered Dr. Franklin, with grim humor, "or
we shall all hang separately."

Fat Mr. Harrison, of Virginia, said to lean little El-
bridge Gerry, of Massachusetts:

74 SAMUEL ADAMS.

**When it comes to hanging, I shall have the advan-
tage of you."

*'How do you make that out," said Mr. Gerry.

"Because my neck will probably be broken at the first
drop, whereas you may have to dangle for half an hour."

Samuel Adams was not one of the Committee to draft
the Declaration of Independence, because he was a
member of another Committee, considered as important.
This was the Committee, consisting of one from each
colony, to prepare a plan of Confederation.

A characteristic anecdote is told of Mr. Adams, when,
on the eighth of May, 1776, the sound of heavy artillery
was heard down the Delaware. This booming of can-
non was known to proceed from gunboats that had been
sent to protect the river from British cruisers.

As the sound of the first gun burst upon the ear of
Congress, Samuel Adams sprang upon his feet, and cried
out with exultation, to the infinite astonishment of a
few timid members:

''Thank God ! the game's begun, none can stop it
now !"

Throughout the Revolutionary war Samuel Adams
remained in Congress, except one year, and rendered
signal service during its continuance. He never lost
heart, even amid the gloom at the close of the year 1776.
He was not in favor of the resolution of Congfress on the
twelfth of December of that year to adjourn from Phila-
delphia to Baltimore.

He wrote in one of his letters at this time: "I do not
regret the part I have taken in a cause so just and inter-

cfq"
5.
5*

CI.
CD

3
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76 SAMUEL ADAMS.

esting to mankind. The people of Pennsylvania and
the Jerseys seem determined to give it up, but I trust
that my dear New England will maintain it at the ex-
pense of everything dear to them in this life."

He was accused of being an enemy of Washington, and
Hancock, who had become deeply hostile to his former
friend, circulated, if he did not originate the slander.
Mr. Adams indignantly wTote:

''The Arts they make us of are contemptible. Last
year, as you observe, I was an Knemy to George Wash-
ington. This was said to render me odious to the People.
The Man who fabricated that charge did not l)elieve it
himself."

He was never concerned in the Conway cabal.

The cautious method of Washington was criticised by
Samuel Adams and others. The great General who was
to win the battles of the Revolution by "P^abian policy,"
had not become fully known to his contemporaries.
Samuel Adams afterwards did him full justice.

In 1779, Mr. Adams was appointed one of the Com-
mittee to prepare a State Constitution for Massachusetts.
Samuel Adams and John Adams were appointed a Sub-
Committee to draft the Constitution, which, with some
amendments, was adopted by the Constitutional Con-
vention.

In 1787 he was elected a member of the Massachusetts
Convention for the ratification of the Federal Constitu-
tion. With this Constitution Samuel Adams was not
altogether satisfied. He did not favor, about the period
of 1780, the establishment of Departments of State,

SAMUEL ADAMS. 77

the Navy, etc., presided over by Secretaries. He pre-
ferred the form of Committees as the executive machin-
ery of Congress. This was a mistake.

He was slow to yield to the conferring of great pow-
ers on a body so far removed from the people as was
contained in the Federal Constitution, without some
important amendments. The ideas of the Town meet-
ing still continued dominant with him.

He was a thorough believer in Mr. Jefferson's maxim,
"Where annual election ends tyranny begins." Like
Mr. Jefferson, he was also profoundly convinced of the
importance of preserving the independence of the sev-
eral States.

He loved to be in closest touch with the common
people, and this confidence in their strong good sense,
was adroitly used to hasten his vote on the ratification
of the Constitution.

The leading mechanics of Boston held a meeting at
"The Green Dragon Inn" to pass resolutions in favor of
the Constitution, They deputed Paul Revere to take
them to Mr. Adams.

"How many mechanics," said Samuel Adams, "were
at the Green Dragon ?"

"More than it could hold," was the answer.

"And where were the rest, Mr. Revere?"

"In the streets, sir."

"And how many were in the streets ?"

"More, sir, than there are stars in the sky."

Mr. Adams delayed no longer, but voted in the affir-
mative.

SAMUEL ADAMS.

John Fiske says that had it not been for the delay of
Samuel Adams in voting, he would have been chosen
Vice President under Washington, instead of John
Adams, and thus would have been the successor of
Washington as second President of the United States.

Birthplace of Paul Revere, Boston.

The amendments, Mr. Adams proposed, were rejected
by the Convention, though afterwards accepted by the
Nation as a part of its fundamental law.

Mr. Bancroft dispels the misunderstanding regarding
the relation of Samuel Adams to the adoption of the
Constitution, in a private letter to Professor Hosmer.
He says:

SAMUEL ADAMS. 79

"He never was opposed to the Constitution; he only
waited to make up his mind."

It now seems quite clear, from all we can learn, that
his friends were right when they said:

"Samuel Adams saved the Constitution in Massachu-
setts," for when he voted 'aye," it was ratified, though
by the barest majority.

Senator Hoar, ''who, so well, represents a vigorous
and victorious Nationalism," has not erred in his esti-
mate of the character of Samuel Adams, when he calls
him, "the greatest of our Statesmen, in the soundness
and sureness of his opinions, and in the strength of
original argument by which he persuaded the people to
its good."

In 1788 he was defeated for Congress by Fisher Ames,
although a strong plea had been made for him by his
friends, who placed him justly side by side with Wash-
ington, and called him the "American Cato."

The bitterness of the Federal party now became very
great, and continued to the day of his death. The Fed-
eralists could not forgive his alliance with Jefferson and
his friendliness towards the French Revolution. A note
is still preserved in which he is threatened with assas-
sination.

In 1789 Mr. Adams was elected Lieutenant Governor
of Massachusetts, with Hancock as Governor, and was
regularly chosen to that office until 1794, when he was
elected Governor of the State on the death of Hancock.

A full reconciliation had been effected between these
two men, chiefly through the christian magnanimity of

8o SAMUEL ADAMS.

Mr. Adams, and once more their hearts beat together in
brotherly nnison.

Samnel Adams, with the Pnritan spirit in him, was
opposed to the theatre, and tried to make of Boston ''a
Christian Sparta," while Cjoverncjr of the vState, by pre-
venting theatrical exhibitions.

b'or fonr snccessive years he was elected ( xovernor by
large majorities. Bnt in 1797, being seventy-five years
of age, he declined a re-election, and retired to private
life.

His last days were spent in obscnrit\', and in great
pecnniary distress. Bnt it was a touching scene, wlien

tjC^mk

Sif?nature of Samuel Adams, written in 1«01.

in the year 1800, General vStrong, riding at the head of a
great military procession, passed throngh Winter Steeet,
and stopping before the venerable patriot's house, salu-
ted the aged hero, with bared head, and thus publicly
expressed his reverence. The soldiers presented arms,
and the people stood uncovered and silent.

To the last of his life he w^as interested in the com-
mon schools, the Palladium of American liberties. In
the school room his form became familiar, and troops of
children knew him as their friend.

Though stern in character, he was social, sympathetic
and kind in disposition, blending in harmony, traits that
were seemingly opposite in their nature.

His last letter was one of rebuke to Thomas Paine.

SAMUEL ADAMS.

He said: "Do you think that your pen, or the pen of any
other man, can unchristianize the mass of our citizens?"

But the Puritan who could request that an Episcopal
clergyman should open the first Congress with prayer,
and that ministers of various denom-
inations should open each day the
Massachusetts Legislature with de-
votional exercises, was no bigot.

On Sunday morning, the second
of October, 1803, ^^^ passed away,
at the age of eighty-two. Through
political animosity there was great
difficulty in securing a suitable
escort for his funeral. This was
at last overcome. The shops were
closed; flags in the harbor were at half-mast; bells were
tolled ; minute guns were fired from Fort Independence,
as with military parade and the reverberation of muffled
drums, the funeral procession went slowly on.

In a plain coffin, the body of the great Puritan was
carried past the Old South, where he had worshipped
during the last ten years of his life, around the Old State
House, up Court Street into Tremont Street, and thence
to the Granary Burying Ground. There, in the Check-
ley tomb was deposited the mortal remains of "The
Father of the American Revolution," of whom Clymer,
of Pennsylvania, declared a century ago.

"All good Americans should erect a statue of him in
their hearts."

CtC^Tz^

SAMUEL ADAMS.

(1722-1803) .

By G. Mercer Adam.*

OF the figures of interest in the historic group of Revoki-
tionary patriots one of the chief is Samuel Adams, of
Boston, Mass., cousin of President John Adams, and with the
latter one of the active agents in bringing about American
independence. His share in the movements of the time that
led to the separation of the American Colonies from the
Motherland was an early as well as an active one. Early
in his career the rebel showed itself in his attitude towards
the Crown, and as an agitator none of the men of his era was
more disturbing or more persistently opposed the authorities
in Boston who represented the king and did his behest and
those of the English Parliament in the New World. In
town-meeting he was constantly to be found, where he in-
stilled in the people what in the royal mouth were pestilent,
seditious principles, in his opposition to English legislation
for the Colonies, such as Grenville's hated Stamp Act and
the obnoxious "Writs of Assistance," empowering the offi-
cers of the law to enter and search houses suspected of con-
cealing smuggled or contraband goods. Here Adams de-
nounced "taxation without representation," and the imposts

•Historian, Biographer, and Eusayist, Author of a "Precis of English History,"
a "Continuation of Grecian History," etc., and for many years Editor of Self-
Culture Magazine.— The Publishers.

SAMUEL ADAMS. 83

of the English government designed with the double motive
of exacting tribute from the Colonies and tyrannously
thwarting them in their efforts after independence, with
continued liberty and freedom. Here, too, and in the Massa-
chusetts Assembly, when he became a member of that body,
did he fulminate against Tory men in the district, clamor
for the removal of the English soldiery, and, when petitions
to the Crown were unavailing, urged the cooperation of the
other Colonies to withstand royal aggression and unite in
the now clamorous cause of Independence. In the earlier
town-meetings, Adams's services were important in drafting
instructions against Parliamentary Taxation and on the
rights and privileges of the Provinces, as well as, later on,
in inditing the remonstrances of the Assembly of Massa-
chusetts addressed to the English ministry and to the local
governor, with petitions to the king, besides letters and re-
ports to the other provincial Assemblies, urging the political
necessity of Independence, and expressing the true senti-
ments and attitude of the Colonies in regard to English
rule. In these multiform duties, as well as in his varied
and long-continued services in organizing associations on
behalf of the popular cause, and in addressing bodies of
patriots, such as "The Sons of Liberty" and Continental
Non-importation Leagues, formed for the purpose of uniting
the Colonies in their opposition to the importation or use of
English manufactures, imported tea, aifd other dutiable arti-
cles of commerce, Adams's labors were ceaseless and untir-
ing, and were at length fraught with gratifying success.

To-day, in the present era of good feeling and the heartily
recognized kinship between the two countries and peoples,

84 SAMUEL ADAMS.

one can hardly realize the irritation and estrangement of that
early period in Colonial history, and one is somewhat in-
clined to consider Samuel Adams not only as an unmitigated
rebel, but as a man of contumacious mood and ill-regulated
feelings, whom no one could a})pease or get pleasantly on
with, and that no character of rule, however benign, would
satisfy. It is true, there is that element in his composition
which is more the mark of the agitator and breeder of sedi-
tion than of the calm, dispassionate, or even the calculating
statesman ; but the man was on fire for a cause, and his
soul burned within him as he brooded over the wrongs of
the Colonies and desired for them freedom from the ex-
asperating yoke of the Motherland. From the first he seems
to have meditated war, and to have wrought himself up into
belief in it, as the only solvent for his country's troubles ;
while in pressing on to this extreme issue he saw that Eng-
land's humiliation would surely come, and that independence
for the American Colonies w^ould thus be secured. How
far this w^as the result of practical foresight, or an issue tow-
ard which he had early bent his mind and sought gratifica-
tion in persistently advocating, are to-day questions some-
what difficult to answer. Doubtless, both had weight, spur-
red on by the dominance of the idea of Separation constantly
in his mind, and by his ever active, bitter and vindicative
hatred of England and of England's dominion in the New
World. Ingrained in the man was his dislike of the Tories,
who returned his hostility in kind, as well as his aspersions
on their oppressive modes of government. Implacable and
unappeasable as he was, the Tories soon saw that they could
do nothing with him, not even by way of bribes or by

SAMUEL ADAAIS. 85

threats ; while he treated them in the most contemptuous
manner and deemed their rule as fit only for slaves. Not a
little of his early hatred of them arose from his own misad-
ventures as a young man in business and the wreck of his
father's estate, especially his banking interests, which suf-
fered from governmental restrictions and heavy taxation,
which brought him into financial embarrassment and finally
into the hands of the sheriff. Nor did he fare better as a
tax collector, for his easy going ways and dislike of ''put-
ting on the screws" in the way of taxation of the people
brought him into trouble and led to Governor Hutchinson's
accusation of defalcation ; while in reality the shortage in
his accounts was due to his leniency as a collector, and, as
we have said, to his unwillingness to resort to harsh methods
of wringing the tax-levy moneys from the townspeople.
His care for the latter and interest in them was always
great, and rather than impoverish the taxes laid upon them
by Tory administrations, he was willing to come short of
his duty and bear the odium of seeming wrongdoing as the
result of his sympathy and leniency. His indifference to his
own personal interests and disregard of fortune was equally
a characteristic of the man ; while as a patriot he showed his
incorruptibility by refusing money and other offers of re-
ward from representatives of the Crown rather than prove
vmtrue to the popular cause which he so incessantly lab-
ored for and held so dear. Nor did he flinch when de-
nounced as a rebel, and when threatened with imprisonment
and exportation to London, there to be punished for his
disloyalty and many fulminations against the king and his
government, had he been captured on perilous and disturb-

86 SAMUEL ADAMS.

ing occasions when his seditious speech was most violent
and his other incitements to rebelHon were ahke vociferous
and fearless. That he was not hanged, beheaded, or other-
wise made away with for his disaffection to England and for
his contumacy as an inciter of rebellion, was certainly not
his fault, for no one of the Revolutionary Fathers was more
outspoken in his treason to the Crown, or more persistent in
the many years before Independence came in the cause of
liberty and freedom in the New World. With his own peo-
ple— those at least whom he could trust — Samuel Adams
was alike respected and beloved, and over them he exerted
an influence beyond that of many of the leaders of the time,
who were less acrimonious in speech, more circumspect in
their attitude towards the representatives of royalty in New
England. He stood staunchly for the rights and privileges
of the people, and in the journals of the era none was more
zealous or more influential in advocating and upholding the
popular cause. In this and in numberless other ways he
was looked upon as a man of sound conviction and earnest
mood, as well as a true and fearless patriot, who well earned
the regard of all, with the distinctive appellation of "the
tribune of the people." His patriotic enthusiasm was most
exuberant, and his earnestness influenced many towards him
and his cause who might otherwise have remained indif-
ferent, or, on the other hand, have gone over to the enemy,
or acquiesced in the status quo.

But it is time to see a little more closely into the doings
of this man, and to follow his career from birth up, that
we may better realize the mission he undertook and trace
his influence upon the age that preceded revolution and

SAMUEL ADAMS. 87

finally ushered in the era of Independence. Samuel Adams
was born at Boston, Mass., on the i6th of September, 1722.
His father was by occupation a maltster, yet, socially, a
rnan of some consequence in the community, being possessed
of both influence and wealth. He, it seems, had a passion
for politics, and was instrumental in organfzing the Caulk-
er's Club in Boston, a quasi-political assembly which em-
braced many men of note in the town, and from whose meet-
ing together we derive the familiar word "caucus." From
him, young Samuel inherited his taste for politicar gather-
ings and his aptitude in the management of them; while
from his mother, Mary Fifield, he derived much of his earn-
est mood, persuasive manner, and not a little of his sturdy
moral character. His progenitors were English ; one, Henry
Adams, having come from Devonshire in the seventeenth
century, whose two sons were respectively the grandfathers
of Samuel Adams, and of the latter's cousin, John Adams,
the second U. S. President.

Samuel Adams was educated primarily at the Boston
Latin School, whence, in 1736, he passed to Harvard Col-
lege, from which he received, in 1740, his M. A. degree, and
on the occasion delivered before the graduating class and
the authorities of the institution an essay, which thus early
showed the political drift of his thoughts, on the theme:
''Whether it be lawful to resist the supreme Magistrate, if
the Commonwealth cannot otherwise be preserved." The
design of his parents, on the youth's leaving college was to
have him study for the Congregational ministry ; but this, it
seems, was not to the young man's own liking, and for a
time he served as a clerk in a store, though he soon found

88 SAMUEL ADAMS.

that he had no aptness for business Hfe. While he lost
what capital had been given him by his father and fell back
on a maltster's occupation in the establishment of the elder
Adams. Meanwhile, he gratified his taste for writing by
contributing to the newspapers of the day, and at the
same time taking a lively interest in politics. In 1748, his
father died, and the latter's estate having suffered loss
through a disastrous banking speculation, the son accepted
the appointment of tax collector for the town of Boston and
entered upon the duties of the office. He, nominally at least,
continued the connection with his late father's malting busi-
ness, and in the following year, when twenty-seven years of
age, he married Elizabeth Checkley, the winsome daughter
of the minister of the New South Church, and made for a
time a happy home for himself. Eight years later, this
lady, who made her husband an excellent wife, died, and,
in 1765, Adams married Elizabeth Wells, who also proved
a faithful and sympathizing wife, and did much to aid her
now active husband in his laborious and patriotic work.
In both of these marriages the wives had to contend with
straitened means, and had also to share in the obloquy which
fell upon Adams from incensed Tory sources, as a conse-
quence of his political hostility to Tory rule, and to the
increasing English aggression, in the methods employed to
control and coerce the American Colonies.

At this era, when George III had come (A. D. 1760) to
the English throne and the political development of the
Kingdom was actively manifesting itself, the great struggle
with the American Colonies had its origin. When the
King assumed the crown, the Seven Years' War had nearly

SAMUEL ADAMS. 89

run its course, and the great question as to which power,
France or England, should become master of North Ameri-
ca and of India had been all but settled by the capture of
Quebec (1759), and by Clive's victories at Arcot and Plassy.
The success of the British arms and of imperial policy at
this period was in considerable measure due to one of
England's greatest statesmen, WilHam Pitt, afterwards Earl
of Chatham. In 1756, Pitt was made Secretary of State,
and during the Seven Years' War his vigorous and large-
minded policy, as war minister, did much to restore Eng-
land's military fame abroad and add to the laurels of the
nation. His steady advocacy of the rights of the people,
his passionate and almost resistless eloquence, and his mar-
vellous power to animate and inspire a desponding nation,
earned for him the title of "the great Commoner." Unfor-
tunately, this able and safe minister was driven from office
by the machinations of the "King's Party" in the Cabinet,
led by the Scotch Tory, Lord Bute, supported by the King,
who was his political pupil. Bute, for a time, became Eng-
lish prime minister, but with the peace Treaty of Paris, in
1763, which inadequately compensated England for her vast
expenditures during the Seven Years' War, he became so
unpopular that he resigned and was succeeded by George
Grenville and his ministry, which, as we shall see, became
seriously involved in difficulties with the North American
Colonies on the question of taxation.

Out of these difficulties was to arise, as all know, the
great struggle between popular and autocratic principles of
government in England as well as in the New World.
The Seven Years' War, which had been waged chiefly for

90 SAMUEL ADAMS.

the protection of the Colonial dependencies, had left a heavy
burden of debt upon England. To meet this debt, in part,
Grenville, then English prime minister, proposed to levy
a Stamp Tax upon the American Colonies, now, as we know,
thirteen in number, with a population of two million whites
and half a million blacks. But the Colonists objected to
being taxed without their consent, and without representa-
tion in the British Parliament, and declared that they were
sufficiently oppressed by the burden of Customs' duties al-
ready imposed upon them. The Stamp Act, it need hardly
be said, was nevertheless passed, in spite of the protest of
the Colonial Assemblies; but the obnoxious measure met
with such opposition in America that, at Pitt's urgent soli-
citation, it was withdrawn. Parliament, however, passed
another Act declaring its authority over the Colonies in
matters of legislation and taxation, and this naturally in-
creased the soreness of feeling in America against the
mother country. The irritation was far from being allayed
when a subsequent English administration imposed various
small but vexing Customs' duties on American imports, but
chiefly upon tea. In retaliation, the Colonists determined
not to use this article. The spirit of resistance was soon
now to take a determined form; for, on the one hand, the
King and his ministers stubbornly insisted on England's
right to derive some benefit from her Colonies; while, on
the other hand, the Colonists as stubbornly held to the prin-
ciple of no taxation without representation, and upheld the
rights of their own Assemblies. Meanwhile, the Grenville
ministry had passed away, with its successors under the
leaderships of Lord Rockingham and the Duke of Grafton,

SAMUEL ADAMS. 91

and was followed by die administration of Lord North.
Pitt, who had now become Earl of Chatham, was for a
time a member of the Grafton ministry, but resigned on the
plea of ill-health. Partly recovering his strength, he be-
came a vehement opponent of Lord North's government.
Throughout the trouble with the American Colonists he was
a staunch supporter of their cause, and in Parliament elo-
quently denounced arbitrary measures against them.

While these events were transpiring in England, Samuel
Adams had been at Boston a most interested observor of
them, as well as a more or less outspoken denouncer of
English aggression, and especially of the policy of the
Home Gov^nment in its efforts to control American trade
and levy taxes upon the Colonists. The control of Ameri-
can trade was sought to be gained by the revival of old
English Navigation Acts, and by levying prohibitory duties
upon articles imported for use in the Colonies. American
protest against these levies was shown, at first, by disre-
gard of them, and afterwards by evading their collection
illegally through smuggling, and, later on, by the non-use of
the articles of commerce on which the duties were placed.
Adams not only counselled, but delighted in counselling, the
New England people to take these means of defying or
evading the law. To such an extent did he go in his em-
bittered talk against England, as well as in provoking a
collision between the traders and the authorities in Boston,
that the English governors were repeatedly horrified at
Adams's seditious attitude, while again and again were they
ordered to arrest the offender and send him for trial and
punishment to the motherland. In spite of, or rather in

SAMUEL ADAMS.

defiance of, these personal threats of the Crown, through
its representatives in the Colony of Massachusetts, Adams
continued on his rebel course, and at this time took violent
ground against the issue of the ''Writs of Assistance," so
patriotically denounced by James Otis, and against Gren-
ville's Stamp Act, his opposition to the latter being forcibly
expressed in the draft he penned of the Assembly's Resolu-
tions, as well as in the address he caused to be sent to the
Assemblies of the sister Colonies pleading for united action
in resisting England's encroachments on the inalienable
rights of the American people.

The effect of the addresses sent to the sister Colonies in
adding to the volume of outcry against the Stamp Act- was
immediate; while it was gratifying to Samuel Adams to
find that the seeds of sedition he had been sowing by means
of his voluminous correspondence and active agitation was
producing fruit over the country in stiffening the resistance
of the people to what was deemed an unjust and grievious
tax. Under the influence of the orator, Patrick Henry, the
Virginia Assembly, in 1765, passed a series of bold resolu-
tions protesting against the hated measure and asserting the
right, as Virginia's own, to lay taxes upon the Colony. In
Massachusetts, opposition to the levying of the tax led to
open violence and to a series of riots, house-sackings, and
other disturbances which greatly alarmed the authorities and
frightened the acting governor ; while the passing of the Act
led to the summoning of a Congress at New York, in Octo-
ber, 1765, which drew up petitions to the English govern-
ment, and a "Declaration of Rights and Grievances of the
Colonies in America." This Congress brought together

SAMUEL ADAMS. 93

representatives of nine of the Colonies, among whom were
a number of prominent men, such as James Otis, John
Dickinson of Pennsylvania. Livingston of New York, Rut-
ledge of South Carolina, and other patriots. In the Massa-
chusetts Assembly, to which body Samuel Adams had now
been elected, resolutions were also drawn up protesting
against the unlawful impost of the English Parliament and
claiming for the colony the rights of freemen and British
subjects. When the Act became operative, it was found,
however, that the Colonists, as in other cases, evaded the
law and tabooed the stamps ; while litigants who were re-
quired to use them on legal documents adjusted their dif-
ferences by arbitration and so avoided the use of the stamp.
So serious was the crisis that the Courts were for the time
closed and all business at the Custom houses was suspended.
The newspapers printed a death's head or skull and bones
where the stamp should be affixed. In other ways were the
Colonies stirred up by this irritating method of laying
taxes on them, till at last the volume of protest had its
effect and the Stamp Act was repealed. Its repeal re-
moved the difficulty, however, without removing the cause,
since the English ministry found other methods of raising
a revenue in the Colonies, so far, at least, as to meet some
of the cost of the military expenditure of England in the
country. This was eflfected by means of Revenue Acts, a
scheme resorted to by Minister Townshend, who had de-
clared in Parliament that "if the taxation of America is
given up, England is undone." This new scheme of taxa-
tion was met in New England pretty much as the Stamp
Act impost had been met, not only by united and more per-

94 SAMUEL ADAMS.

emptory protest, but by common agreement not to import
or use the taxed articles. The result was, that England
found that the cost of collecting the new revenue duties
equalled the gross sum obtained from them, and no financial
advantage whatever accrued. Thus, the new attempt to
coerce the Colonies was to England a disappointment as
well as a failure, while it provoked renewed strife in New
England and still further inflamed the spirit of hostility
and sedition, now generally manifesting itself.

Another trouble now arose, in the opposition, chiefly in
Boston, to the presence of English troops in barracks, and
especially to their being billeted on the citizens, and made
use of to overawe those attending the Massachusetts' Assem-
bly and to break up so-called seditious rneetings. This
new tyranny, as Samuel Adams deemed it, he hotly de-
nounced, not only because he hated the red coats as mer-
cenaries of the English Crown, but because he refused to
allow the public money of the Colony to be spent on their
maintenance in the country. When they were used to in-
terrupt or close his meetings, or when they fell foul of
bodies of citizens and came to blows with them, as at "the
Boston Massacre," Adams became wrathful in the extreme
and loudly demanded their instant removal. Governor
Hutchinson at first refused to accede to the request for their
removal, alleging — probably honestly — want of authority to
do so; but in answer to further clamor he consented to
withdraw one regiment, when Adams took sturdy ground
and insisted on the removal of "both regiments or none!"
Unwillingly the Governor at length complied, and a patriot
night-watch, composed of armed citizens, was substituted

SAMUEL ADAMS. 95

for the troops. Toward the soldiers who had taken part in
the so-called "Boston Massacre," Boston acted with clem-
ency and discretion, and at their trial, it will be remembered,
they had for counsel our hero's cousin, John Adams, of
Braintree, Mass.

In 1773, the Colonists were finally estranged from the
mother country by the arrival in Boston harbor of three
ship-loads of taxed tea, which the Colonists, incited by
Samuel Adams, refused to receive; and as the English
Governor (Hutchinson) would not consent to the tea be-
ing returned to England, the whole cargo, at a signal given
by Adams, was thrown overboard into Boston bay by pat-
riots in the disguise of Mohawk Indians. For this lawless
act the English government closed the port of Boston and
took away the old charter of Massachusetts. In addition
to abolishing the liberties of the people of the Colony, Eng-
land sent out more troops, and on their arrival, together
with a change in the governorship, from that of Hutchinson
to the regime of Governor Gage, the Colonists banded them-
selves together for armed resistance. The wish of Adams'
heart was now about to be gratified, and at this period an-
other effort was made, by offers of bribes and high position,
to conciliate him ; but Gage failed in this as his predecessor
had done. To this new offer of the olive leaf held out by
the Governor, Adams replied with dignity as well as with
earnestness : "Sir, I trust I have long since made my peace
with the King of Kings. No personal consideration shall
induce me-^to abandon the righteous cause of my country.
Tell Governor Gage it is the advice of Samuel Adams to

96 SAMUEL ADAMS.

him, no longer to insult the feelings of an exasperated
people."

After this, Adams, in the eyes of the Governor and the
Tories of the Colony, became practically a proscribed man ;
and under the Tory ban with him, to some extent, was his
fellow-patriot, John Hancock, whom Adams, some years be-
fore, had induced to espouse and support with his large
means the popular cause. At this era, when Boston had
fallen far from royal favor, the town of Salem became for
a time the capital of Massachusetts Colony and the meeting
place of the legislature. Here, it was thought, under Gage's
regime, that a Tory administration would prove more ac-
ceptable to the people ; but in this the authorities of the time
were wrong, for not only did the patriots present themselves
in force and carry forward their plans, but the sister Col-
onies more heartily still joined Massachusetts in resisting
subjection and responding to the resolutions passed by the
Assembly summoning a Continental Congress.

This first Continental Congress, convened at Philadelphia
on September 5, 1774, and included among its delegates
Samuel and John Adams from Massachusetts, John Jay
from New York, Patrick Henry and George Washington
from Virginia, together with other influential men who were
to figure in the coming hostilities in the field, or in the coun-
cils of the incipient nation when Revolution had brought
about Union and Independence. The people now stood
together for resistance, and all the Colonies but Georgia sent
representatives to the Congress. In the latter, resolutions
were first passed approving of the attitude of Massachu-
setts in resisting the aggression of the mother country in

SAMUEL ADAMS. 97

imposing tyrannous laws on the Colony and in opposing
the encroachments and other annoying acts of Gage and his
predecessors in the royal government of the time. Then
came a series of addresses and remonstrances, and a Declar-
ation of Rights, setting forth the grievances which the
several Colonies had to complain of and the privileges they
claimed as freemen, opposed to coercive statutes and to an-
noying restrictions on their commerce. Before it ad-
journed, Congress formed an Association pledged to the
non-importation of taxed articles from England, and recom-
mending the several Colonies to pass local legislation effec-
tively to debar the incoming of dutiable articles or their
use by the people. The reply of the English Government
to this attitude of the Colonies, in spite of the protests of
Pitt and other conciliationists in England, was to declare
Massachusetts in a state of rebellion and to ban all the
Colonies from trade with Britain and the West Indies and
from engaging in the Newfoundland fisheries.

In the doings of Congress, Adams took an interested part,
though chiefly at work on committees and undertaking an
extended correspondence with fellow-patriots over the
country. His attitude at this time .may be seen by his ad-
dress in Congress, where he passionately exclaimed: *T
should advise persisting in our struggle for liberty, though
it were revealed from heaven that nine hundred and ninety-
nine were to perish, and only one in a thousand survived
to retain his liberty. One such freeman must possess more
virtue, and enjoy more happiness, than a thousand slaves;
and let him propagate his like, and transmit to them what
he hath so nobly preserved." Affairs were now fast drift-

98 SAMUEL ADAMS.

ing beyond the point where talk was to influence either for
coercion or for concihation, and the whole machinery of
the royal government in New England was stopped. In
Boston, heated meetings were convened and addressed by
Adams and by Dr. Joseph Warren. At one of the gather-
ings, held in the Old South Church, soldiers were present
to fire on Adams, on Hancock, and on other inciters of re-
bellion, if provocation occurred and a melee ensued. Muni-
tions of war were meanwhile being secreted by the patriots
at various parts of New England, and soldiers were sent by
Governor Gage to Lexington and Concord to endeavor to
capture and destroy them. This happened in the spring of
1775, and at Lexington the first shots in the war were fired
between the Colonists and a body of English troops.
Trouble also came in another quarter, for Congress, while
in session at Philadelphia, had invited the Canadians to
join the American people in throwing ofif allegiance to
Britain; but Canada remained loyal and refused to rally to
the standard of revolt. This neutral attitude gave umbrage
to the American Colonists and they then sought to invade
Canada and wrest it from the British Crown. In 1775, two
expeditions were fitted out for the purpose, one of which
seized the forts on Lake Champlain, the gateway of Canada,
and, thinking that the Canadians would ofifer no resistance,
they proceeded to invest Montreal. Another expedition ad-
vanced upon Quebec. Montreal, being indififerently gar-
risoned, surrendered to an American force, but the attack
on Quebec failed after some weeks' seige. The American
General, Montgomery, who had formerly fought under
Wolfe, was killed in storming the citadel on the 31st of

SAMUEL ADAMS. 99

December, and the American campaign came to a speedy
end.

Before this happened, an adjourned meeting of the Con-
tinental Congress took place (May, 1775), at Philadelphia,
and a Provincial Congress met in Massachusetts. In the
latter, provision was made to enrol the ^'minute men,^' as
they were called, who were to respond to the summons of the
State in any emergency call. In the former, now under the
presidency of John Hancock, an important action was taken
by John Adams, seconded by his counsin, Samuel Adams,
namely, to appoint George Washington of Virginia, as
commander-in-chief of the American army (June, 1775).
Later, Charles Lee was mistakenly, as subsequently was
proved, named second in command. In the same month,
the English Governor of Massachusetts, General Gage, is-
sued a proclamation avowing all citizens in arms rebels and
traitors, though offering pardon to all who would lay down
their arms and express fealty to the Crown, save John Han-
cock and Samuel Adams, whose offences were deemed too
flagitious to admit of aught but condign puishment. Mean-
while, the Governor and the English troops were practically
shut up in Boston, for the whole country was now astir
and the Massachusetts' capital was beseiged by the patriot
forces. On June 17, the British made a sortie from Bos-
ton and the battle of Bunker Hill was fought. Here the
patriots were repulsed, while in the engagement Dr. Warren
fell, though the loss was more serious on the whole to the
English. The gauntlet of defiance was now thrown down
by the Colonists, for New York at once called out her mili-
tia, and steps were taken to organize a National Government
L.ofC.

loo SAMUEL ADAMS.

and to raise an American Continental army. Later in the
year, the fitting out of the nucleus of a naval defence force
and the commissioning of privateers were authorized. The
Continental Congress also took determined and urgent ac-
tion, in organizing a Committee of Foreign Correspondence,
the beginnings of American relations with foreign powers,
to whom, ere long, ambassadors were sent to represent the
new-born Republic. Congress at the same time threw open
the interdicted ports of the New World to foreign com-
merce, ordered an issue of Continental paper money and
called for national loans to meet the country's expenditures,
organized a national postal service, and established courts
for the adjudication of maritime questions. In the follow-
ing year (1776), after all efforts towards reconciliation with
England had failed and news came that the mother country
now treated the Colonies as in open and armed rebellion.
Congress took the momentous step of suppressing in Amer-
ica the entire authority of the English Crown and declared
Independence. Now were Samuel Adams' dearest wishes
and desires fulfilled, in that allegiance to Britain was by
this Third Continental Congress declared at an end, and
the United Colonies had assumed the powers of sovereign
states, under the proud title of "The United States of
America."

While these great acts were transpiring, Adams contin-
ued zealously to play his prominent role as ''father of the
American Revolution," and in that capacity he delivered
at Philadelphia, in August, 1776, a notable oration on the
new-born American Independence, which will be found
appended to the present sketch of the patriot. At this time,

SAMUEL ADAMS. loi

he was not only a member of the Congress that declared In-
dependence, though he did not happen to be on the Com-
mittee that drafted the immortal document which Jefferson
penned ; but he was also Secretary of State in Massachu-
setts and a member of its Legislative Council, and took an
active part in bringing the State militia into an efficient con-
dition to prosecute the war with England, as well as to ad-
vise and counsel the War Committee and give assistance to
the Committee that dealt with naval matters. So enthus-
iastic was he in these practical affairs, and so keen for vic-
tory for the American army in the field, that he wrote many
addresses to the people of Pennsylvania counselling them
against the Quaker doctrine, then prevalent, of submission
to England, and thus further brought upon himself the
bitter hatred of the Tories and other Loyalists throughout
all the Colonies by his unflinching attitude as a patriot and
his extreme disaffection toward the mother country, w^hich
he sought not only to defeat in the war, but to humiliate, as
events later on proved, by an unconditional surrender.

We need hardly rehearse here the later events of the
struggle, as they are so well known to all. It will suffice
briefly to say that New York was occupied by General
Howe, in 1776, and in the following year Lord Cornwallis
defeated Washington at Brandywine, and took Philadel-
phia. A month later, however, the tide of fortune turned
in favor of the Colonists ; for France lent them her aid, and
the English general, Burgoyne, was forced to surrender,
with 6,000 men, at Saratoga. This disaster led the English
to see that the war with their kinsmen in America was a
mistake, and overtures of peace were talked of in Parlia-

I02 SAMUEL ADAMS.

ment. But the entry of France into the quarrel brought
about a renewal of hostilities, urged on by the Earl of
Chatham, who though he had opposed the taxation of the
Colonies, as we have related, would not hear of the dismem-
berment of the Empire. While making a powerful speech
in the House of Lords, against a proposal to make peace
with America, the venerable statesman fell in a fit upon the
floor, and died a month afterwards. The struggle hence-
forth with the Colonies went on with slackened energy,
for war had broken out with France, Spain, and Holland,
owing to England's persistence, in that she deemed her right
to search the vessels of neutral nations; and England, hav-
ing these combined powers against her, had to limit her
land operations to the Southern States. There, in 1781, as
all know, the English arms met with a crowning disaster.
Lord Cornwallis, for a time successful in the Carolinas,
had withdrawn his forces to Yorktown, Va., to await sup-
plies and reinforcements from New York. While there, a
French fleet entered the Chesapeake and shut him in from
the sea. Washington, and the French general, Lafayette,
then surrounded Cornwallis on land, when he was forced
to capitulate. This event, we need hardly add, brought the
war to an inglorious close for England, though the misfor-
tune was relieved for her by victories at sea over the fleets
of France and Spain. Two years afterwards, by the Peace
of Versailles (1783), Britain recognized the Independence
of the United States of America.

This signal achievement was, as it were, the coping-
stone of American nationality which Samuel Adams lived to
lay on the edifice which he helped so much to construct.

SAMUEL ADAMS. 103

Henceforth he could take his ease, in the decHning years
of his career, and muse with satisfaction on the labors of his
hands and brain. He lived for twenty years after England's
recognition of Independence, and for a period he was suc-
cessively Lieutenant-Governor and Governor of his native
State (Mass.), retiring to private life in 1797, and dying
at Boston on the 3rd of October, 1803, bearing to the grave
the veneration and respect due to a notable and illustrious
American and devotee of Libertv.

SAMUEL ADAMS'S ORATION ON AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE,

Delivered at Philadelphia in August, 1776.

Countrymen and Brethren : — I would gladly have de-
clined an honor to which I find myself unequal. I have
not the calmness and impartiality which the infinite impor-
tance of this occasion demands. I will not deny the charge
of my enemies, that resentment for the accumulated in-
juries of our country, rising to enthusiasm, may deprive
me of that accuracy of judgment and expression which men
of cooler passions may possess. Let me beseech you, then,
to hear me with caution, to examine your prejudice, and to
correct the mistakes into which I may be hurried by my zeal.

Truth loves an appeal to the common sense of mankind.
Your unperverted understandings can best determine on sub-
jects of a practical nature. The positions and plans which
are said to be above the comprehension of the multitude

I04 SAMUEL ADAMS.

may be always suspected to be visionary and fruitless. He
who made all men, hath made the truths necessary to human
happiness obvious to all.

Our forefathers threw off the yoke of Popery° in reli-
gion; for you is reserved the levelling the popery of poli-
tics. They opened the Bible to all, and maintained the ca-
pacity of every man to judge for himself in religion. Are
we sufficient for the comprehension of the sublimest spirit-
ual truths, and unequal to material and temporal ones?
Heaven hath trusted us with the management of things
for eternity, and man denies us ability to judge of the pres-
ent, or to know from our feelings the experience that will
make us happy. "You can discern," say they, ''objects
distant and remote, but cannot perceive those within your
grasp. Let us have the distribution of present goods, and
cut out and manage as you please the interests of futurity."
This day, I trust, the reign of political protestantism ° will
commence. We have explored the temple of royalty, and
found that the idol we have bowed down to has eyes which
see not, ears that hear not our prayers, and a heart like the
nether millstone. We have this day restored the Sovereign,
to whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in
Heaven, and with a propitious eye beholds his subjects as-
suming that freedom of thought and dignity of self-direc-
tion which He bestowed on them. From the rising to the
setting sun may His kingdom come.

Having been a slave to the influence of opinions early
acauired and distinctions generally received, I am ever in-
clined not to despise but to pity those who are yet in dark-
ness. But to the eye of reason what can be more clear than

SAMUEL ADAMS. 105

that all men have an equal right to happiness? Nature
made no other distinction than that of higher or lower de-
grees of power of mind and body. But what mysterious
distribution of character has the craft of statesmen, more
fatal than priestcraft, introduced?

According to their° doctrine, the offspring of a success-
ful invader shall, from generation to generation, arrogate
the right of lavishing on their pleasures a proportion of the
fruits of the earth, more than sufficient to supply the wants
of thousands of their fellow-creatures ; claim authority to
manage them like beasts of burthen ° ; and without super-
ior industry, capacity, or virtue, — nay, though disgraceful
to humanity by their ignorance, intemperance, and brutality,
— shall be deemed best calculated to frame laws and to
consult for the welfare of society.

Were the talents and virtues which Heaven has bestowed
upon men given merely to make them more obedient
drudges, to be sacrificed to the follies and ambitions of the
few? Or were not the noble gifts so equally dispensed with
a divine purpose and law that they should as nearly as pos-
sible be equally exerted, and the blessings of poverty be
equally enjoyed by all? Away, then, with those absurd sys-
tems, which, to gratify the pride of a few, debase the great-
est part of our species below the order of men. What an
affront to the King of the universe, to maintain that the
happiness of a monster sunk in debauchery and spreading
desolation and murder among men, of a Caligula, a Nero,
or a Charles, ° is more precious in His sight than that of
millions of His suppliant creatures, who do justice, love
mercy, and walk humbly with their God! No! in the

io6 SAMUEL ADAMS.

judgment of Heaven there is no other superiority among
men than a superiority in wisdom and virtue. And can
we have a safer model in forming ours? The Diety, then,
has not given any order or family of men authority over
others, and if any men have given it, they only ° could
give it for themselves. Our forefathers, 'tis said, consented
to be subject to the laws of Great Britain. I will not, at
present, dispute it, nor mark out the limits and conditions
of their submission ; but will it be denied that they contract-
ed to pay obedience, and to be under the control of Great
Britain, because it appeared to them most beneficial in their
then present circumstances and situations? We, my coun-
trymen, have the same right to consult and provide for our
happiness which they had to promote theirs. If they had
a view to posterity in their contracts, it must have been to
advance the felicity of their descendants. If they erred in
their expectations, and prospects, we can never be con-
demned for a conduct which they would have recommended
had but they foreseen our present condition.

Ye darkeners of counsel, who would make the property,
lives, and religion of millions depend on the evasive inter-
pretations of musty parchments ; who would send us to an-
tiquated charters, of uncertain and contradictory meaning,
to prove that the present generation are not bound to be
victims to cruel and unforgiving despotism, tell us whether
our pious and generous ancestors bequeathed to us the mis-
erable privilege of having the rewards of our honest indus-
try, the fruits of those fields which they purchased and bled
for, wrested from us at the will of men over whom we have
no check? Did they contract for us that, with folded arms.

SAMUEL ADAMS. I07

we should expect that justice and mercy from brutal and
inflamed invaders which have been denied to our supplica-
tions at the foot of the throne ? Were we to hear our char-
acter as a people ridiculed with indifference? Did they
promise for us that our meekness and patience should be
insulted ; our coasts harassed ; our towns demolished and
plundered, and our wives and offspring exposed to naked-
ness, hunger, and death, without our feeling the resent-
ment of men, and exerting those powers of self-preserva-
tion which God has given us? No man had once a greater
veneration for Englishmen than I entertained. They were
dear to me, as branches of the same parental trunk, and
partakers of the same religion and laws ; I still view with re-
spect the remains of the constitution ° as I would a life-
less body which had once been animated by a great and
heroic soul. But when I am roused by the din of arms;
wdien I behold legions of foreign assassins, paid by English-
men to imbrue their hands in our blood ; when I tread over
the uncoffined bones of my countrymen, neighbors, and
friends ; when I see the locks of a venerable father torn by
savage hands, and a feeble mother, clasping her infants to
her bosom, on her knees imploring their lives from her own
slaves, whom Englishmen have allured to treachery and
murder; when I behold my country, once the seat of in-
dustry, peace, and plenty, changed by Englishmen to a
theatre of blood and misery. Heaven forgive me if I cannot
root out those passions which it has implanted in my bosom,
and detest submission to a people who have either ceased to
be human, or have not virtue enough to feel their own
wretchedness ° and servitude.

io8 SAMUEL ADAMS.

Men who content themselves with the semblance of truth,
and a display of words, talk much of our obligations to
Great Britain for protection ! Had she a single eye to our
advantage ? A nation ° of shopkeepers are very seldom
so disinterested. Let us not be so amused with words ; the
extension of her commerce was her object. When she de-
fended our coasts, she fought for her customers, and con-
voyed our ships loaded with wealth which we had acquired
for her by our industry. She has treated us as beasts of
burthen, whom the lordly masters cherish that they may
carry a greater load. Let us inquire also against whom she
has protected us ; against her own enemies with whom we
had no quarrel, or only on her account, and against whom
we always readily exerted our wealth and strength when
they were required. Were these Colonies backward in
giving assistance to Great Britain when they were called
upon in 1739 to aid the expedition against Carthagena ° ?
They at that time sent three thousand men to join the
British army, although the war commenced without their
consent. But the last ° war, 'tis said, was purely Ameri-
can. This is a vulgar error, which like many others has
gained credit by being confidently repeated. The disputes
between the courts of Great Britain <ind France related to
the limits of Canada and Nova Scotia. The controverted
territory was not claimed by any in the Colonies, but by the
Crown of Great Britain. It was, therefore, their own quar-
rel. The infringement of a right which England had, by
the treaty of Utrecht, of trading in the Indian country of
Ohio, w^as another cause of the war. The French seized
large quantities of British manufacture, and took posession

SAMUEL ADAMS. 109

of a fort which a company of British merchants and factors
had erected for the security of their commerce. The war
was, therefore, waged in defence of lands claimed by the
Crown and for the protection of British property. The
French at that time had no quarrel with America; and, as
appears by letters sent from their commander-in-chief to
some of the Colonies, wished to remain in peace with us.
The part, therefore, which we then took, the miseries to
which we exposed ourselves, ought to be charged to our
affection for Britain. These Colonies granted more than
their proportion to the support of the war. They raised,
clothed, and maintained nearly twenty-five thousand men,
and so sensible were the people of England of our great
exertions that a message was annually sent to the House
of Commons purporting, ''That his Majesty being highly
satisfied with the zeal and vigor with which his faithful
subjects in North America had exerted themselves in de-
fence of his Majesty's just rights and possessions, recom-
mended it to the House to take the same into consideration
and enable him to give them a proper compensation."

But what purpose can arguments of this kind answer?
Did the protection wq received annul our riglits as men,
and lay us under an obligation of being miserable?

Who among you, my countrymen, that is a father, would \
claim authority to make your child a slave because you had
nourished him in his infancy ?

'Tis a strange species of generosity which requires a re-
turn infinitely more valuable than anything it could have
bestowed; that demands as a reward for a defence of our
property a surrender of those inestimable privileges, to the

no SAMUEL ADAMS.

arbitrary will of vindictive tyrants, which alone give value
to that very property.

Political right and public happiness are different words
for the same idea. They who wander into metaphysical
labyrinths, or have recourse to original contracts, to deter-
mine the rights of men, either impose on themselves or mean
to delude others. Public utility is the only certain criterion.
It is a test which brings disputes to a speedy decision, and
makes it appeal to the feelings of mankind. The force of
truth has obliged men to use arguments drawn from this
principle, who were combating it, in practice and specula-
tion. The advocates for a despotic government, and non-
resistance to the magistrate, employ reasons in favor of
their systems, drawn from a consideration of their tendency
to promote public happiness.

The Author of Nature directs all his operations to the
production of the greatest good, and has made human virtue
to consist in a disposition and conduct which tends to the
common felicity of His creatures. An abridgement of the
natural freedom of man, by the institution of political so-
cieties, is vindicable only on this foot °. How absurd,
then, is it to draw arguments from the nature of civil so-
ciety for the annihilation of those very ends which society
was intended to procure. Men associate for their mutual
advantage. Hence the good and happiness of the members,
that is, the majority of the members of any state, is the
great standard by which everything relating to that state
must finally be determined ; and though it may be supposed
that a body of people may be bound by a voluntary resigna-
tion (which they have been so infatuated as to make) of all

SAMUEL ADAMS. iii

their interests to a single person, or to a few, it can never
be conceived that the resignation is obUgatory to their pos-
terity, because it is manifestly contrary to the good of the
whole that it should be so.

These are the sentiments of the wisest and most virtuous
champions of freedom. Attend to a portion on this subject
from a book in our defence written, I had almost said, by
the pen of inspiration, "I lay no stress," says he, "on char-
ters; they derive their rights from a higher source. It is
inconsistent with common sense to imagine that any people
would ever think of settling in a distant country, on any
such condition, or that the people from whom they withdrew
should forever be masters of their property, and have power
to subject them to any modes of government they pleased.
And had there been express stipulations to this purpose in
all the charters of the colonies, they would, in my opinion,
be no more bound by them than if it had been stipulated
with them that they should go naked, or expose themselves
to the incursions of wolves and tigers."

Such are the opinions of every virtuous and enlightened
patriot in Great Britain. Their petition to Heaven is,
"That there may be one free country left upon earth, to
which they may fly when venality, luxury, and vice shall
have completed the ruin of liberty there."

Courage, then, my countrymen! Our contest is not only
whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall
be left to mankind an ayslum on earth for civil and religious
liberty. Dismissing, therefore, the justice of our cause as
incontestable, the only question is. What is best for us to
pursue in our present circumstances?

112 SAMUEL ADAMS.

The doctrine of dependence upon Great Britain is, I be-
lieve, generally exploded ; but as I would attend to the
honest weakness of the simplest of men, you will pardon
me if I ofifer a few words on this subject.

We are now on this continent, to the astonishment of
the world, three millions of souls united in one common
cause. We have large armies well disciplined and appoint-
ed, with commanders ° inferior to none in military skill,
and superior in activity and zeal. We are furnished
with arsenals and stores beyond our most sanguine expec-
tations, and foreign nations are waiting to crown our suc-
cess with their alliances. There are instances of, I would
say, an almost astonishing Providence in our favor; our
success has staggered our enemies, and almost given faith
to infidels ° ; so that we may truly say it is not our own
arm which has saved us.

The hand of Heaven seems to have led us on to be, per-
haps, humble instruments and means In the great Providen-
tial dispensation which is completing. We have fled from
the political Sodom ; let us not look back lest we perish and
become a monument of infamy and derision to the world.
For can we ever expect more unanimity and a better pre-
paration for defense; more infatuation of counsel among
our enemies, and more valor and zeal among ourselves?
The same force and resistance which are sufficient to procure
us our liberties, will secure us a glorious independence and
support us in the dignity of free, Imperial States. We
cannot suppose that our opposition has made a corrupt and
dissipated nation more friendly to America, or created In
them a greater respect for the rights of mankind. We can,

SAMUEL ADAMS. 113

therefore, expect a restoration and establishment of our
privileges, and a compensation for the injuries we have re-
ceived from their want of power, from their fears, and not
from their virtues. The unanimity and valor which will
affect an honorable peace can render a future contest for
our liberties unnecessary. He who has strength to chain
down the wolf, is a madman if he lets him loose without
drawing his teeth and paring his nails.

From the day on which an accommodation ° takes place
between England and America on any other terms than as
independent states, I shall date the ruin of this country.
A politic minister will study to lull us into security by
granting us the full extent of our petitions. The warm
sunshine of influence would melt down the virtue which the
violence of the storm rendered more firm and unyielding.
In a state of tranquility, wealth and luxury, our descendants
would forget the arts of war and the noble activity and zeal
which made their ancestors invincible. Every art of cor-
ruption would be employed to loosen the bond of union
which renders our resistance formidable. When the spirit
of liberty which now animates our hearts and gives success
to our arms is extinct, our numbers will accelerate our ruin,
and render us easier victims to tyranny. Ye abandoned
minions of an infatuated ministry, if peradventure any
should yet remain among us — remember that a Warren and
a Montgomery are numbered among the dead! Contem-
plate the mangled bodies of your countrymen and then say,
what should be the reward of such sacrifices? Bid not
our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and
plough and sow and reap, to glut the avarice of the men

114 SAMUEL ADAMS.

who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our
blood, and hunt us from the face of the earth ! If ye love
wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than
the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We
ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the
hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon
you, and may posterity forget that ye were our country-
men.

To unite the Supremacy of Great Britain and the -Liberty
of America is utterly impossible. So vast a continent and
at such a distance from the seat of empire, will every day
grow more unmanageable. The motion of so unwieldy a
body cannot be directed with any dispatch and uniformity,
without committing to the Parliament of Great Britain pow-
ers inconsistent with our freedom. The authority and force
which would be absolutely necessary for the preservation of
the peace and good order of this continent would put all our
valuable rights within the reach of that nation.

As the administration of government requires firmer and
more numerous supports in proportion to its extent, the bur-
thens imposed on us would be excessive, and we should have
the melancholy prospect of their increasing on our posterity.
The scale of officers, from the rapacious and needy com-
missioner, to the haughty governor, and from the governor
with his hungry train to perhaps a licentious and prodigal
viceroy, must be upheld by you and your children. The
fleets and armies which will be employed to silence your
murmurs and complaints must be supported by the fruits
of your industry."

And yet, with all this enlargement of the expense and

SAMUEL ADAMS.

115

powers of government, the administration of it at such a
distance and over so extensive a territory, must necessarily
fail of putting the laws into vigorous execution, removing
private oppressions, and forming plans for the advance-
ment of agriculture and commerce, and preserving the vast
empire in any tolerable peace and security. If our poster-
ity retain any spark of patriotism, they can never tamely
submit to any such burthens. This country will be made
the field of bloody contention till it gains that independence
for which nature formed it. It is, therefore, injustice and
cruelty to our offspring, and would stamp us with the char-
acter of baseness and cowardice, to leave the salvation of
this country to be worked out by them with accumulated
difficulty and danger.

Prejudice, I confess, may warp our judgments. Let us
hear the decisions ° of Englishmen who cannot be suspect-
ed of partiality : "The Americans," they say, "are but
little short of half our number. To this number they have
grown from a small body of settlers by a very rapid in-
crease. The probability is that they will go on to increase,
and that in fifty or sixty years they will be double our num-
ber and form a mighty empire, consisting of a variety of
states, all equal or superior to ourselves in all the arts and
accomplishments which give dignity and happiness to human
life. In that period will they be still bound to acknowledge
that supremacy over them which we now claim ? Can there
be any person who will assert this or whose mind does not
revolt at the idea of a vast continent, holding all that is
valuable to it, at the discretion of a handful of people on the
other side of the Atlantic? But if at that period this would

ii6 SAMUEL ADAAIS.

be unreasonable, what makes it otherwise now ? Draw the
line if you can. But there is still a greater difficulty.

"Britain is now, I will suppose, the seat of liberty and
virtue, and its legislature consists of a body of able and in-
dependent men, who govern with wisdom and justice. The
time may come when all will be reversed ; when its excellent
constitution of government will be subverted ; when, pressed
by debts and taxes, it will be greedy to draw to itself an in-
crease of revenue from every distant province, in order to
case its own burdens ; when the influence of the crown,
strengthened by luxury and by an universal profligacy of
manners, will have tainted every heart, broken down every
fence of liberty, and rendered us a nation of tame and con-
tented vassals ; when a general election will be nothing but
a general auction of boroughs, and when the Parliament, the
grand council of the nation, and once the faithful guardian
of the state and a terror to evil ministers, will be degen-
erated into a body of sycophants, dependent and venal, al-
ways ready to confirm any measures, and little more than
a public court for registering royal edicts. Such, it is pos-
sible, may sometime or other be the state of Great Britain.
What will at that period be the duty of the colonies? Will
they be still bound to unconditional submission ? ]\Iust
they always continue an appendage to our government, and
follow it implicitly through every change that can happen
to it? Wretched condition, indeed, of millions of freemen
as good as ourselves ! Will you say that we now govern
equitably and that there is no danger of such revolution ?
Would to God this were true! But will you not always
say the same? Who shall judge whether we govern equi-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 117

tably or not? Can you give the Colonies any security that
such a period will never come ?" No ! The period, coiuitry-
men, is already come! The calamities were at our door.
The rod of oppression was raised over us. We were roused
from our slumbers, and may we never sink into repose until
we can convey a clear and undisputed inheritance to our
posterity. This day we are called upon to give a glorious
example of what the wisest and best of men were rejoiced
to view only in speculation. ° This day presents the world
with the most august spectacle its annals have ever unfolded
— millions of freemen deliberately and voluntarily forming
themselves into a society for their common defence and
common happiness. Immortal spirits of Hampden, Locke,
and Sidney! Will it not add to your benevolent joys to
behold your posterity rising to the dignity of men, and
evincing to the world the reality and expediency of your sys-
tems, and in the actual enjoyment of that equal liberty which
you were happy, when on earth, in delineating and recom-
mending to mankind !

Other nations have received their laws from conquerors ;
some are indebted for a constitution to the sufferings of
their ancestors through revolving centuries. The people of
this country alone have formally and deliberately chosen a
government for themselves, and with open and uninfluenced
consent bound themselves to a social compact. Here no
man proclaims his birth or wealth as a title to honorable
distinction or to sanctify ignorance and vice with the name
of hereditary authority. He wdio has most zeal and ability
to promote public felicity, let him be the servant of the
public. This is the only line of distinction drawn by na-

ii8 SAMUEL ADAMS.

ture. Leave the bird of night to the obscurity for which
nature intended him, and expect only from the eagle to
burst the clouds with his wings and look boldly in the face
of the sun.

Some who would persuade us that they have tender feel-
ings for future generations, while they are insensible to the
happiness of the present, are perpetually foreboding a train
of dissensions under our popular system. Such men's rea-
soning amounts to this : give up all that is valuable to
Great Britain, and then you will have no inducements to
quarrel among yourselves ; or suffer yourselves to be chained
down by your enemies, that you may not be able to fight
with your friends.

This is an insult on your virtue as well as your common
sense. Your unanimity this day and through the course of
the war is a decisive refutation of such invidious predic-
tions. Our enemies have already had evidence that our
present constitution ° contains in it the justice and ardor of
freedom, and the wisdom and vigor of the most absolute
system. When the law is the will of the people, it will be
uniform and coherent ; but fluctuation, contradiction, and in-
consistency of councils must be expected under those gov-
ernments where every revolution in the ministry of a court
produces one in the state. Such being the folly and pride
of all ministers, that they ever pursue measures directly
opposite to those of their predecessors.

We shall neither be exposed to the necessary convulsions
of elective monarchies, nor to the want of wisdom, forti-
tude, and virtue to which hereditary succession is liable. In
your hands it will be to perpetuate a prudent, active, and

SAMUEL ADAMS.

just legislature, which will never expire until you your-
selves lose the virtues which give it existence.

And, brethren and fellow-countrymen, if it was ever
granted to mortals to trace the designs of Providence, and
interpret its manifestations in favor of their cause, we may,
with humility of soul, cry out ''Not unto us, not unto us,
but to thy Name be the praise." The confusion of the de-
vices among our enemies, and the rage of the elements
against them, have done almost as much toward our success
as either our councils or our arms.

The time at which this attempt on our liberties was made,
when we were ripened into maturity, had acquired a know-
ledge of war, and were free from the incursions of enemies
in this country, the gradual advances of our oppressor, en-
abling us to prepare for our defence, the unusual fertility
of our lands and the clemency of the seasons, the success
which at first attended our feeble arms, producing unanimity
among our friends, and reducing our internal foes to ac-
quiescence— these are all strong and palpable marks and
assurances, that Providence is yet gracious unto Zion, that
it will turn away the captivity of Jacob.

Our ° glorious reformers, when they broke through the
fetters of superstition, effected more than could be expect-
ed from an age so darkened. But they left much to be
done by their posterity. They lopped off, indeed, some of
the branches of popery, but they left the root and stock
when they left us under the domination of human systems
and decisions, usurping the infallibility which can be attri-
buted to revelation only. They dethroned one ursurper
only to raise up another. They refused allegiance to the

120 SAMUEL ADAMS.

Pope, only to place the civil magistrate in the throne of
Christ, vested with authority to enact laws, and inflict pen-
alties in his kingdom. And if we now cast our eyes over the
nations of the earth, we shall find that instead of possessing
the pure religion of the Gospel, they may be divided either
into infidels, who deny the truth, or politicans, who make
religion a stalking horse for their ambition, or professors,
who walk in the trammels of orthodoxy, and are more at-
tentive to traditions and ordinances of men than to the or-
acles of truth.

The civil magistrate has everywhere contaminated religion
by making it an engine of policy ; and freedom of thought
and the right of private judgment, in matters of conscience
driven from every other corner of the earth, direct their
course to this happy country as their last asylum. Let us
cherish the noble guests, and shelter them under the wings
of an universal toleration. Be this the seat of unbounded
religious freedom. She will bring with her in her train, in-
dustry, wisdom, and commerce. She thrives most when
left to shoot forth in her natural luxuriance, and asks from
human policy only not to be checked in her growth by arti-
ficial encouragements.

Thus, by the beneficence of Providence, we shall behold
our empire arising, founded on justice and the voluntary
consent of the people, and giving full exercise of those fa-
culties and rights which most ennoble our species. Besides
the advantages of liberty and the most equal constitution,
heaven has given us a country with every variety of climate
and soil, pouring forth in abundance whatever is necessary
for the support, comfort, and strength of a nation. With-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 1 21

in our own borders we possess all the means of sustenance,
defence, and commerce ; at the same time, these advantages
are so distributed among the different states of this con-
tinent, as if nature had in view to proclaim to us ! — be united
among yourselves, and you will want ° nothing from the
rest of the world.

The more Northern States most amply supply us with
every necessary, and many of the luxuries of life : with iron,
timber, and masts for ships of commerce or of war; with
flax for the manufactory of linen, and seed either for oil
or exportation.

So abundant are our harvests that almost every part raised
more than double the quantity of grain requisite for the
support of its inhabitants. From Georgia to the Carolinas
we have, as well for our own wants as for the purpose of
supplying the wants of other powers, indigo, rice, hemp,
naval stores and lumber.

Virginia and Maryland teem with wheat, Indian corn,
and tobacco. Every nation whose harvest is precarious,
or whose lands yield not those commodities which we cul-
tivate, will gladly exchange their superfluities and manu-
factures for ours.

We have already received many and larger cargoes of
clothing, military stores, etc., from our commerce with for-
eign powers, and, in spite of tlie efforts of the boasted navy
of England, we shall continue to profit ° by this connec-
tion.

The want of our naval stores has already increased the
price of these articles to a great height, especially in Britain.
Without our lumber, it will be impossible for those haughty

122 SAMUEL ADAMS.

islanders to convey the products of the West Indies to their
own ports ; for while they may with difficulty effect it, but
without our assistance their resources must soon fail. In-
deed, the West India Islands appear as the necessary ap-
pendages to this our empire. They must owe their support
to it, and ere long, I doubt not, some of them will from
necessity wish to enjoy the benefit of our protection. °

These natural advantages will enable us to remain inde-
pendent of the world, or make it the interest of European
powers to court our alliance and aid in protecting us against
the invasions of others. What argument, therefore, do we
want to show the equity of our conduct ; or motive of in-
terest to recommend it to our prudence? Nature points out
the path, and our enemies have obliged us to pursue it.

If there is any man so base or so weak as to prefer a depen-
dence on Great Britain, to the dignity and happiness of liv-
ing a member of a free and independent nation, let me tell
him that necessity now demands what the generous principle
of patriotism should have dictated.

We have now no other alternative than independence, or
the most ignominous and galling servitude. The legions of
our enemies thicken on our plains ; desolation and death
mark their bloody career ; whilst the mangled corpses of our
countrymen seem to cry out to us as a voice from heaven :
''Will you permit our posterity to groan under the galling
chains of our murderers ? Has our blood been expended in
vain ? Is the only reward which our constancy till death has
obtained for our country, that it should be sunk into a deeper
and more ignominious vassalage? Recollect who are the
men that demand your submission ; to whose decrees you are

SAMUEL ADAMS.

123

invited to pay obedience. Men who, unmindful of their
relation to you as brethren, of your long implicit submis-
sion to their laws, of the sacrifice which you and your fore-
fathers made of your natural advantages for commerce to
their avarice — formed a deliberate plan to wrest from you
the small pittance of property which they had permitted you
to acquire. Remember that the men who wish to rule over
you are they who, in pursuit of this plan of despotism, an-
nulled the sacred contracts which had been made with your
ancestors ; conveyed into your cities a mercenary soldiery
to compel you to submission by insult and murder — who
called your patience, cowardice ; your piety, hypocrisy."

Countrymen, the men v/ho now invite you to surrender
your rights into their hands, are the men who have let loose
the merciless savages to riot in the blood of their brethren ;
who have dared to establish popery triumphant in our land ;
who have taught treachery to your slaves, and courted them
to assassinate your wives and children.

These are the men ° to whom we are exhorted to sacri-
fice the blessings which Providence holds out to us, — the
happiness, the dignity of uncontrolled freedom and inde-
pendence.

Let not your generous mdignation be directed against any
among us, who may advise so absurd and maddening a
measure. Their number is but few and daily decreases ;
and the spirit which can render them patient of slavery, will
render them contemptible enemies.

Our Union is now complete; our Constitution composed,
established, and approved. You are now the guardians of
your own liberties. We may justly address you as the

124 SAMUEL ADAMS.

Decemviri did the Romans, and say: "Nothing that we pro-
pose can pass into a law without your consent. Be your-
selves, O Americans, the authors of those laws on which
your happiness depends.'^

You have now in the field armies sufficient to repel the
whole force of your enemies and their base and mercenary
auxiliaries. ° The hearts of your soldiers beat high with
the spirit of freedom; they are animated with the justice of
their cause ; and while they grasp their swords, can look up
to heaven for assistance. Your adversaries are composed of
wretches who laugh at the rights of humanity, who turn
religion into derision, and would for higher wages direct
their swords against their leaders or their country. Go on
then, in your generous enterprise, with gratitude to heaven
for past success and confidence of it in the future. For my
own part, I ask no greater blessing than to share with you
the common danger and common glory. If I have a wish
dearer to my soul than that my ashes may be mingled with
those of a Warren or a Montgomery, it is that these Ameri-
can States may never cease to be free and independent!

SAMUEL ADAMS. ,z;

ANECDOTES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ADAMS.

ADAMS AND GOVERNOR GAGE.

Governor Gage arrived in Boston in May, 1774, and
presnming upon the truth of a maxim which originated
among British politicians, and was generally believed
there, that "every man has his price,'' offered a heavy
"consideration," through Colonel Fenton, his agent, to
Samuel Adams.

But those minions of regal power and rotten aristoc-
racy were destined to learn that there is such a thing as
patriotism, which thrones cannot awe nor bribes corrupt.

Colonel Fenton waited upon Mr. Adams, and ex-
pressed to him the great desire of the British Govern-
ment to settle the troubles in the colonies peacefully.

He said to him that he had been authorized by Gov-
ernor Gage to assure him, that he was instructed by the
Home government to confer upon him such rewards as
would be satisfactory, on condition that he would engage
to cease his opposition to the measures of the British
Crown.

He added that it was the advice of Governor Gage to
Mr. Adams not to incur the further displeasure of the
king, as his conduct had already made him liable to trial
for treason. But, he added further, if Mr. Adams would
change his political course, he would not only receive
great personal advantage, but would make his peace
with the king.

Mr. Adams, glowing with indignation at such attacks
upon his honor and patriotism, first deinanded of the

126 SAMUEL ADAMS.

messenger, Kenton, a solemn pledge that he would re-
turn to Gage his reply just as it was given. He then
rose up, and in a firm manner, said:

''I trust that I have long since made my peace with
the King of kings. No personal consideration shall in-
duce me to abandon the righteous cause of my country.

"Tell Governor Gage it is the advice of Samuel Ad-
ams, to him, no longer to insult the feelings of an ex-
asperated people."

ADAMS AND HANCOCK.

Another sagacious movement on the part of Samuel
Adams, and one of the most profitable deeds of his patri-
otic life, was his winning the very rich and accomplished
John Hancock to the popular cause. The means of ac-
complishing this have never been made known, but as
to the author of the achievement there is no doubt. The
cause of freedom throughout the world is greatly indebt-
ed to both men. One gave to it his great mind, and the
other his splendid fortune; one obtained cotemporary
fame, the other, like all heroes of the highest order re-
posed on posterity.

But it is easy to suppose, that the watchful and dili-
gent votary of liberty felt no little complacency in gain-
ing so potent an auxiliary to the cause he so dearly
loved.

One day John and Samuel Adams were walking in
the Boston Mall, and when they came opposite the state-
ly mansion of Mr. Hancock, the latter, turning to the
former, said, with emphasis;

SAMUEL ADAMS. 127

^'I have done a very good thing for our cause in the
course of the past week, by enlisting the master of that
house in it. He is well disposed, and has great riches,
and we can give him consequence to enjoy them."

And Mr. Hancock did not disappoint his expectations;
for when they gave him the "consequence," so genial to
his nature, by making him President of Congress, he put
everything at stake, in opposition to British encroach-
ments.

THE PROSCRIPTION OF ADAMS AND HANCOCK.

June 12, 1775, Gage proclaimed martial law. In this
proclamation was the famous proscription of Hancock
and Adams, "in which his Majesty's gracious pardon was
offered to all persons who should forthwith lay down
their arms and return to the duties of peaceable subjects,
excepting only from the benefit of such pardon, Samuel
Adams and John Hancock, whose offenses are of too fla-
gitious a nature to admit of any other than condign
punishment."

This proscription but added new lustre to the patri-
ots' names, giving them enviable distinction and undy-
ing fame.

In the Boston "6^(^^<?//^," June 24, 1775, appeared a
rhymed version, of which we give one stanza:

"But then I must out of this plan lock
Both Samuel Adams and John Hancock,
For these vile traitors (like bedentures),
Must be tricked up at all adventures,
As any proffer of a pardon
Would only tend these rogues to harden."

128 SAMUEL ADAMS.

I.OYAI.TY TO NON-IMPORTATION.

In the Boston ^'^ Gazette ^""^ September 9, 1771, over the
signature, "Candidas," Mr. Adams expresses his inflex-
ible determination and singleness of vision.

"Should we acquiesce in their taking threepence only
because they please, we at least tacitly consent that they
should have sovereign control of our purses, and when
they please they will claim an equal right, and, perhaps,
plead a precedent from it to take a shilling or a pound.

"At present we have the reins in our own hands; we
can easily avoid paying tribute by abstaining from the
use of those articles by which it is extorted from us."

This advice he carried into practice in his own house.
Tea was interdicted almost from the first hint of persist-
ent taxation. A marked preference was shown for every-
thing of American manufacture.

Mr. Adams never wore nor permitted his family to
wear English cloth. "It behooves every American," he
went on to say, "to encourage home manufactures, that
our oppressors may feel through their pockets the effects
of their blind folly."

ADAMS' NEW CI.OTHES.

As an instance of the popular esteem in which Mr.
Adams was held, his daughter relates that before his de-
parture for Congress in 1774, as the family were assem-
bled at supper, a knock at the door announced a well-
known tailor, who, refusing to answer any questions,
insisted on measuring Adams for a suit of clothes ; he
was followed by a fashionable hatter, then by a shoe

SAMUEL ADAMS. 129

maker, and several others on similar errands. A few
days after a large trunk, addressed to Mr. Samuel Ad-
ams, was brought to the house and deposited in the
doorway.

It contained a complete suit of clothes, two pairs of
shoes in the best style, a set of silver shoe-buckles, a set
gold knee-buckles, a set of gold sleeve-buttons (still pre-
ser\'ed by a descendant and namesake), an elegant
cocked hat, gold-headed cane, red cloak^ and other
minor articles of wearing apparel.

The cane and sleeve-buttons (which Mr. Adams wore
when he signed the Declaration of Independence), bore
the device of the Liberty cap. — Harper^ s Magazine^
July, i8j6.

A MIXTURE OF TKA.

In the fall of 1776, when Mr. John Adams and Mr.
Samuel Adams were both in Philadelphia, the former
sent his wife, by Mr. Gerry, a pound of green tea as a
choice present, paying for the same upwards of forty
shillings. Through some mistake on the part of the
messenger, the canister was given to Mrs. Samuel in-
stead of to Mrs. John.

On hospitality intent, the former invited the latter,
with some friends, to a tea-drinking. Mrs. John praised
the tea which Mrs. Samuel's sweetheart had sent her,
and grumbled not a little in her next letter to John that
he should not have been as attentive as his kinsman.
The cream of the joke appeared, however, when Mrs.
John discovered it was her own tea with which she had

130 SAMUEL ADAMS.

been so bountifully entertained. Of course, when the
error was discovered, Mrs. Samuel returned all that re-
mained.

ADAMS' SOCIAL CHARACTER.

Mr. Adams has been represented as austere, strait-
laced and puritani-
cal, permitting neith-
er levity nor amuse-
ment in his house-
hold. But this is in-
correct as to his
home life.

He delighted in
young society and
the sports of children;
had always pleasant
w^ords for them, and
was one of those be-
nignant characters
whom children ap-
proach with confi-
dence and love.

His own recrea-
tions were few — either riding with a friend into the
country, or sailing in the harbor, it may be to test one
of his friend Hancock's newly launched ships; perhaps
an excursion to Harvard College, his beloved Alma Ma-
ter, or to the light house; a rough jaunt over sharp
rocks to the point of the island opposite Nantucket,where
there was a hideous cave containing marine curiosities.

Statue of Adams, Adams Square, Boston.

SAMUEL ADAMS. i^i

His only personal accomplishment was singing, for
which he possessed both fine natural taste and "the
voice of an angel." His two children, whose education
he himself superintended, idolized him as an affectionate,
tender father and wise friend.

FEARLESSNESS AND BOLDNESS.

Samuel Adams was fearless of all combinations of hu-
man power. Pure and exalted patriotism was the bold-
est feature in his character.

Of him it may be truly said, that the fear of man
never fell upon him; it never entered into his thoughts
much less was it seen in 'his actions.

He was by original temperament mild, conciliating
and candid; and yet he was remarkable for an imcom-
promising firmness.

Grattan said of Fox: "He stood against the current of
the court; he stood against the tide of the people; he
stood against both united.

"He was the isthmus lashed by the weaves of democ-
racy, and by the torrent of despotism, unaffected by
either and superior to both; the Marpesian rock that
struck its base to the centre, and raised its forehead to
the skies."

And such was Samuel Adams. He was the most pu-
ritanic of all our statesmen. Others were endued with
the more splendid gifts, and more flexile powers of pop-
ular harangue; but he, above all his contemporaries,
glorified with his incorruptible poverty the Revolution
which he was the first to excite and the last to abandon.

132 SAMUEL ADAMS.

BREADTH OF VIEW.

It has been said of Abraham Lincohi that he saw
through his lawyer's brief, ''the general principles of the
divine administration." And so in all the petty disputes
over charters and taxes, Samuel Adams kept in view
Milton's true ideal of a "Just Commonwealth."

It was certainly an historic anomaly, when, to quote
from Burke's great speech on American taxation, "So
paltry a sum as three-pence in the eyes of the financier,
and so insignificant an article as tea, in the eyes of the
philosopher, should have shaken the pillars of a com-
mercial empire, that circled the whole globe."

But both Edmund Burke and Samuel Adams knew
that it was not paltry taxes that gave offense, but taxes
imposed at the zvrong end of the line. It was not par-
liamentary authority that maddened, but government
without the consent of the governed.

The revolution was a battle where

"English law and English thought
'Gainst the self-will of England fought."

"The king and the parliament," as one has said, "were
the Revolutionists, not our fathers." They were the
true heirs of Simon de Montfort, wdio laid the founda-
tions of the House of Connnons, and of the archbishop,
Stephen Langton, w'ho headed the barons at Runnymede.
— Dr. John Henry Barrows.

INTEGRITY.

Integrity was not uncommon during our Revolution,
but in Samuel Adams it was proverbial. He might

SAMUEL ADAMS. 133

have declared at any time, without fear of contradiction,
with Cardinal de Retz:

"In the most difficult times of the Republic I never
deserted the State; in her most prosperous fortune I
never tasted of her sweets; in her most desperate circum-
stances I knew not fear."

ADAMS AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER.

As an orator, Samuel' Adams was peculiarly fitted for
the times in which he had fallen. His eloquence was
characteristic of its author, full of massive simplicity
and pungent common sense.

He moved much among the masses of mankind, and
knew how to sway their thoughts. This Apostle of Lib-
erty, like the heralds of salvation, began first to preach
to the common people, and ultimately attained an in-
fluence that made despots tremble on their thrones.

One great secret of the power of his popular address,
probably lay in the unity of his purpose and the energy
of his pursuit.

He passionately loved freedom, and subordinated ev-
erything to its attainment. This kind of inspiration is
a necessary pre-requisite to eminent success.

Samuel Adams had more logic in his composition
than rhetoric, and was accustomed to convince the judg-
ment rather than inflame the passions; and yet, when the
occasion demanded, he could give vent to the ardent and
patriotic indignation of which his heart was often full.

Whenever he arose to address a popular assembly,
every murmur was hushed at the first flash of that

134

SAMUEL ADAMS.

"sparkling eye beneath a veteran brow." Expectation
was on tip-toe for something weighty from his lips, and
was seldom disappointed.

"Eloquence," said Bolingbroke, "must flow like a
stream that is fed by an abundant spring, and not spout

'^l

i/^

h-^^"

Revolutionary Soldiers' Monument, Lexington. Mass.

forth a little frothy water on some gaudy day, and re-
main dry the rest of the year." — Magoon^^^ Orators of the
Revohition?'*

Dr. Barrows says: "Samuel Adams wielded a sinewy
logic which reminds us both of Junius and of Webster.
A Tory wit lampooned him as a sachem of vast elocu-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 135

tion, 'the words of whose mouth were sufficient to fill
the mouths of millions in America.' "

The encomium which Ben Jonson pronounced on
Lord Bacon's speaking may be justly applied to Samuel
Adams- "There happened in my time one noble speak-
er who was full of gravity in his speech. His language
was nobly censorious.

"No man ever spoke more neatly, more freely, more
wei<.htily, or suffered less empthiess, less idleness in
wha't he uttered. No member of his speech but consist-
ed of his own graces. . , ^ , •

"His hearers could not cough or look aside from him
without loss. He commanded when he spoke, and had
his judges angry and pleased at his devotion.

"No man had their affections more in his power.
The fear of every man that heard him was, lest he
should make an end."

KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN NATURE.
A marked peculiarity of Samuel Adams was his pro-
found and accurate acquaintance with the nature of man.
He had studied its secret springs, and could move them

at pleasure.

He knew that the human heart is like the earth.
"You may sow it, and plant it, and build upon it in all
manner of forms; but the earth, however cultivated by
man, continues none the less spontaneously to produce
its verdures, its wild flowers, and all varieties of natural

fruits." . , ,. . ,

The identity of this planet on which we live is not

136 SAMUEL ADAMS.

more perpetual than that of human nature. Its latent
impulses we must know. Its spontaneous productions
we must learn to employ, if we would toil among man-
kind with success.

RULING PASSION AND AIM.

The love of justice was his ruling passion; it was the
main-spring of all his conduct. He made it a matter of
conscience to discharge every duty with scrupulous fidel-
ity and scrupulous zeal.

The freedom and prosperity of his country; the imion
of all her sons in a common and national fraternity; and
the advancement of moral truth, harmony and virtue,
were the grand objects of his unremitted pursuit.

HOPEFULNESS AND PIETY.

During the most gloomy period of our national strug-
gle, when others were desponding, he always kept up
cheerful spirits, gently rebuked the fears of others, and
expressing his unwavering reliance upon the protection
of an overruling Providence, who, he had felt assured
from the first w^ould conduct the country through all its
trials to deliverance and prosperous repose.

As a patriot, he toiled incessantly, without complaint;
as a religious man, he trusted in God, and was not con-
founded.

DETERMINATION.

When Mr. Galloway and some of his timid adherents
were for entering their protest in Congress against an
open rupture with Britain, Samuel Adams, rising slowly

SAMUEL ADAMS. i.?7

from his seat, said: "I should advise persisting in our
struggle for liberty, though it were revealed from heaven
that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to perish, and
only one freeman of a thousand survive and retain his

liberty. . ,

"That one freeman must possess more, virtue and en-
joy more happiness than a thousand slaves Let him
propagate his like, and transmit to them what he had
so nobly preserved."

THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE.

Plain, quiet, indigent, sagacious, patriotic old Puritan
as he was, now melting his stern soul into unwonted
tears of jov, and pacing the "Common" with exu ting
step, because that morning he had won that chivalrous
young aristocrat, John Hancock, to the defense o the
popular cause; and now glancing, with a sly twinkle ,n
his eve, at fiery resolutions pendant from the "Tree of
Liberty," purporting to have been produced by the
serene goddess herself, and which, he well knows, first
saw the light by his solitary lamp; and, anon, ensconced
behind the deacon's seat in "Old South," with an im-
mense throng crowding the double galleries to the very
ceilino-, he stealthily passes up a pungent resolution
which kindles some more excitable mouth-piece, and
finally inflames the heaving and swelling mass ^^'lth
spontaneous cries, ^^Boston harbor a tea-pot to-mght —
why, he was, indeed, a power behind the throne; greater
than the throne, he ruled the winds that moved the
viZM^s.—Magoon, '^ Orators of the Revolution:'

138

SAMUEL ADAMS.

AN EBULLITION OF LOYALTY.

Before his father's death and his assumption of the pa-
ternal business of brewing and making, young Adams was
an accountant for a short time in the house of Thomas
Gushing, whose son, of the same name, was in after years
speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, of
which Samuel Adams was clerk. Thus the elder Gushing
and the elder Adams were fellow merchants and actors in
the stirring times when, by pitting themselves against the
valor of French soldiers, the colonists were commencing to
learn their own strength, while the two sons were leaders in
the era when that same strength and fertility of resource
were pitted against the mother country. The elder Adams,
as one of the most successful business men of his day, was
the advocate of a popular currency wdiich Great Britain
could not control and, although a staunch upholder of the
mother country against France, was, at the same time, keen-
ly alive to the material interests of Massachusetts and the
Golonists in general. It was in his character as a popular
leader that the son desired to emulate the father, and both
the elder Gushing and the elder Adams early gave him up as
a commercial subject. As has been stated, when he took
his Master's degree at Gambridge, then being just of age,
he had enunciated, in his graduating thesis, the right of
resistance to preserve the life of the commonwealth. It
may be that the bitter fight led by his father against the
Tories, who finally succeeded in destroying the home cur-
rency put forth by the Land Bank Scheme, had something
to do with the rebellious attitude assumed by the young
collegiate. It is perhaps more probable that the essay was

SAMUEL ADAMS.

139

a temporary ebullition of bold general sentiment, and that
Samuel Adams did not then have even a dim vision of phy-
sical resistance to King George. At all events, several years
thereafter he and some of his political friends formed a
club for the discussion of public affairs, by debate and in
the columns of the newly established "Public Advertiser,"
and Samuel Adams, putting forth a rather heavy essay on
"Loyalty and Sedition," writes :

"It has been a question much controverted in the world
what form of government is best and in what system lib-
erty is best consulted and preserved. I cannot say that I
am wholly free from that prejudice which generally pos-
sesses men in favor of their own country and the manners
they have been used to from their infancy. But I must de-
clare for my own part, that there is no form of civil gov-
ernment, which I have ever heard of, appears to me so well
calculated to preserve this blessing-, or to secure to its sub-
jects 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. "^

"From this happy constitution of our mother country,
ours in this is copied or rather improved upon. Our invalu-
able charter secures to us all the English liberties, besides
which we have some additional privileges which the com-
mon people there have not. Our fathers had so severely
felt the effects of tyranny and the weight of the bishop's

140

SAMUEL ADAMS.

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."
The balance of the peroration was devoted to a plea for
virtue without which constitutional government and the
liberties enjoyed under it were mockeries.

MORI-: ABOUT COPLFa's PORTRAIT.

Reference has been made to the portrait of Samuel Adams
which is the frontispiece of this sketch. Copley, a famous
portrait painter of the early revolutionary times, attended
the investigation of the massacre by the civil authorities
and testified against the soldiers. The bearing of Air.
Adams in the subsequent movements of the patriots intensi-
fied the artist's admiration for the leader, which, in part,
may account for the strength and animation of the portrait.
Prof. Hosmer, whose great-great-grandfather was an as-
semblyman and staunch supporter of Adams, while the lat-
ter was warring against Hutchinson and the British regi-
ments, thus describes the likeness: 'Tor this portrait he
has chosen to give Samuel Adams as he stood in the scene
with Hutchinson in the council chamber. Against a back-
ground suggestive of gloom and disturbance, the figure looks
forth. The face and form are marked by great strength.
The brow is high and broad and from it sweeps back the
abundant hair, streaked with gray. The blue eyes are full
of light and force, the nose is prominent, the lips and chin,

SAMUEL ADAMS. 141

brought strongly out as the head is thrown somewhat back,
are full of determination. In the right hand a scroll is
held firmly grasped, the energy of the moment appearing
in the cording of the sinews as the sheets bend in the pres-
sure. The left hand is thrown forth in impassioned ges-
ture, the forefinger pointing to the provincial charter, which,
with the great seal affixed, lies half unrolled in the fore-
ground. The plain dark red attire announces a decent and
simple respectability. The well-knit figure looks as fixed
as if its strength came from the granite on which the
Adamses planted themselves when they came to America;
the countenance speaks in every line the man."

ONE COOL PATRIOT.

Naturally during the progress of the shooting aft'ray
which history designates as the Boston Massacre, the citi-
zens were generally in a state of wild excitement. When a
crowd is thus fired upon, it seldom happens that the real
participants are those who suft'er most. So of the three
w^ho w^ere killed in the Boston Massacre only one, the mul-
atto Attucks, appears to have taken any part in the attack
on the soldiery.

The one cool patriot when the firing commenced, was
standing in his own doorway at the corner of King and
Congress streets. To him the result of the British vol-
ley w^as too balls in the arm. Turning slowly to the group
of friends who were w^th him he is said to have placidly
remarked, "I declare, I do think these soldiers ought to be
talked to."

1^2 SAMUEL ADAMS.

With other good citizens he doubtless had confidence in
the talking abilities of Sam Adams, and subsequent events
proved that the British soldiers and their captain were not
only arrested but were talked to through Father Adams.

WHAT ADAMS SAID AT LEXINGTON.

After the adjournment of Congress, on April 15, 1775.
Samuel' Adams, with his moneyed, bold, and aristocratic
friend of the historic signature, went to the house of Rev.
Jonas Clark, at Lexington. Alessrs. Adams and Hancock,
as the most dangerous of the rebels, were to be apprehended
and sent to England to be tried for treason. At this time
General Gage had two main objects in view — to seize the
Concord stores of ammunition waiting for the minute men
and to capture these fire-brands of men.

At midnight of the i8th Paul Revere, having barely
eluded the British regulars at Boston, dashed up to Mr.
Clark's house and requested the sergeant of the eighth, men
who were guarding Adams and Hancock, to admit him.

Revere was finally admitted and within about an hour
the militia were mustered on the meeting-house green and
scouts sent out to learn about the regulars under Major
Pitcairn. In the presence of Adams, Hancock, and Rev. Mr.
Clark the muskets of the embattled farmers were loaded
with powder and ball.

By sunrise the continentals had stood their ground at
Lexington until the enemy ''had been put in the wrong,"
according to Adams' statesmanlike advice, by firing upon
them first ; a score of American martyrs offering them-
selves as a sacrifice to the wisdom of that principle.

SAMUEL ADAMS. 143

As the victorious regulars advanced toward Mr. Clark's
house, Adams and Hancock retired through the sunny glist-
ening fields toward Woburn, an adjacent village.

"This is a fine day !" Adams exclaimed to one of his com-
panions.

"Very pleasant, indeed," was the answer.

"I mean," replied the patriot, "This day is a glorious day
for America !"

And throughout the uncertainties and calamities of the
succeeding years Samuel Adams never lost faith in the truth
of that outburst. The story has been often told, but usually
the patriotic portion of the conversation is solely given, the
commonplace preliminary marks being omitted.

THEY HOPED AGAINST HOPE.

While preparations were being made through the Com-
mittee of Correspondence, of which Adams was secretary,
for the selection of delegates to a continental congress, Gov-
ernor and General Gage appointed Salem, instead of Boston,
as the meeting place of the General Court, or legislature.
The Hub, according to Gage and the Tories, was the
central hot-bed of all that was bad, and as the King had
open designs against the person of Adams, the hottest hot-
head of all the Bostonians, and now the popular idol, it was
deemed suspicious by the Whigs that the assembly should
be prorogued to meet at Salem. The date was June 7,
and Adams, who had been unusually busy with affairs of
the Committee of Safety, was late in arriving.

"He is afraid to trust himself outside of Boston," whis-
pered the Tories.

144 SAMUEL ADAMS.

"He has been seized by Gage's troops,'' murmured the
Whigs.

It was upon this occasion that the gold-laced Tory seat-
ed himself in the chair reserved for Adams, the secretary,
and was so unceremoniously ejected by the sarcasm of the
patriot. Certain it was that upon that particular occasion
his absence would have been more pleasant than his com-
pany.

ADAMS AND THE TEA-PARTY.

The events leading up to the meeting in the Old South
Church, when Samuel Adams gave the signal for the de-
struction of the proscribed tea in Boston Harbor, were dom-
inated by the subject of this sketch. He is supposed to have
prepared the placard inviting the public of Boston and
neighboring town to be present November 3, 1773, at Lib-
erty Tree, to witness the oath of the consignee to reship
their tea to London, the manifesto ending, "Show me the
man that dares take this down." Adams, LTancock, and
others were there, but the tea merchants were elsewhere.
A favorite meeting place for informal conference was the
printing office of Edes & Gill on Court street and a room
over it. The town-meeting and the Man of the Town Meet-
ing demanded more and more strenuously with the approach
of the three tea-ships to Boston Harbor that the consignees
resign, but withoiU effect. Then the Committee of Corre-
spondence, embracing what were then Boston and the ad-
joining towns, dispatched to the Whig leaders throughout
the province their joint pledge to resist the landing of the
hated stuff. The letter was written bv Mr. Adams, his style

SAMUEL ADAMS.

being seen in such as this : "We think, gentlemen, that we
are in duty bound to use our most strenuous endeavors to
ward off the impending evil, and we are sure that upon a
fair and cool inquiry into the nature and tendency of the
ministerial plan, you will think this tea now coming to us
more to be dreaded than plague and pestilence."

"The first of the three ships loaded with tea arrived No-
vember 28. It was the "Dartmouth," Captain Hall, and its
Quaker owner was induced not to enter the vessel until the
30th. On the afternoon of the preceding day a grand meet-
ing was held in Faneuil Hall, at which Samuel Adams
moved : "As the town have determined at a late meeting
legally assembled that they will to the utmost of their power
prevent the landing of the tea, the question be now put —
whether this body are absolutely determined that the tea
now arrived in Captain Hall shall be returned to the place
whence it came."

By the time the motion was unanimously carried, the
crowd had reached such proportions that, in order to ac-
commodate it, an adjournment was effected tO' Old South
Church. There Mr. Adams' motion was again carried, and
the following question was then put and unanimously an-
swered in the affirmative : "Is it the firm resolution of this
body that the tea shall not only be sent back, but that no
duty shall be paid thereon?"

It was at this point that Young, one of the committee ap-
pointed under the call of the meeting "for the purpose of
consulting, advising and determining upon the most proper
and effectual method to prevent the unloading, receiving,

,46 SAMUEL ADAMS.

or vending of the detestable tea" claimed that ''the only way
to get rid of it was to throw it overboard."

Copley, the artist who painted the portraits of Adams
and Hancock, was the son-in-law of Robert Clarke, one of
the richest and most prominent of the tea-merchants. With-
in the following two weeks which preceded the arrival of the
other tea-ships and the carrying out of Young's suggestion,
Copley essayed the role of mediator, but with what success
all now know.

ADAMS-OTIS SET-TO.

Massachusetts took the lead in uniting the Colonies by the
famous circular letter which proposed a general course of
action in opposing oppressive measures of royalty. Although
on the face of it, the movement was a simple effort at joint
petition, the mother country saw the danger to her su-
premacy in any form of Colonial union. The governor was
directed to order the assembly to rescind the letter and the
British ship ''Romley," from Halifax, soon appeared in Bos-
ton Harbor to give emphasis to his demand. The assembly
through its spokesmen, Adams and Otis, emphatically re-
fused to rescind the letter, demanding at the same time that
the British ship should be removed from Boston Harbor
and the British governor from Massachusetts soil. Adams
and Otis were named as the arch-rebels in the gubernatorial
letters of those days dispatched to the Colonial Secretary,
just as, at a later date, Adams and Hancock were held up
as the prime conspirators.

Governor Bernard had no more love for Adams and Otis,
at this time, than had Governor Gage for Adams and Han-
cock at a later date ; and Hillsborough, the Colonial Secre-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 147

tary in far-away London, held no easy office as the buffer
for these warring factions.

Doubtless, also, Adams and Otis had their quarrels, the
latter being a man of both brilliant and fiery parts. It is
known that they disagreed over such large measures as the
proposed policy of Colonial representation in the imperial
parliament and in all probability they quarrelled over small
matters also.

Although Governor Bernard cannot be considered an un-
biased testifier, he relates that the two rebels had a smart
set-to about the publication of the letter to Lord Hills-
borough, which, written by Samuel Adams and approved by
the assembly, had been sent on to the Colonial office without
being submitted to the Governor. Its contents were known
to the Whig assembly, but not to the Tories or to the public
at large, and before the document reached London its author
determined (with the assembly prorogued by the governor
and the British warship still in Boston harbor) that it was
time to let the world know what the letter to Hillsborough
contained.

On this point of disagreement between Otis and Adams,
Governor Bernard writes to Lord Hillsborough :

"I informed your Lordship that I had not seen, nor prob-
ably should see, till it is printed, the letter of the House to
your Lordship, although I am informed that I am much
interested in the contents of it. But I shall soon have that
satisfaction, being informed it is to be printed next Mon-
day.

"It seems that this morning the two consuls of the faction
— Otis and Adams — had a dispute upon it in the Represen-

148 SAMUEL ADAMS.

tatives' 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
Hillsborough ?"

''Adams — To give it to the printer to publish next Mon-
day."

"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 understand was present."

It may be added that the letter referred to was published
in the Boston Gazette of July 18, 1768. It was a forcible
defense of the Circular Letter, based simply on the right of
petition — an established right of all Englishmen — and con-
cluded as follows : "And the House humbly rely on the
royal clemency that to petition his Majesty will not be deem-
ed 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, involved 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

SAMUEL ADAMS. 149

our glorious sovereign as a measure of an inflammatory
nature."

ADAMS AND SLAVERY.

Several years before the town of Boston, through its
representatives in the assembly, recommended the total aboli-
tion of slavery in the province of Massachusetts (1776), a
female slave named "Surry" was given to Mrs. Adams.

When she acquainted her husband of the fact he at once
said: "A slave cannot live in my house. If she comes,

she must be free." , , c 1

"Surry" accordingly came into the family of Samuel
Adams, but as a free woman. There she lived under the
kindest of treatment for nearly fifty years. She m turn
rendered the most affectionate service to every member of
the family. When slavery was formally abolished in the
State, the usual papers, provided by law, were made out for
her to sign These, however, she indignantly threw into the
fire, considering the proposed proceeding a reflection on
the good faith of Mr. Adams, who personally had set her
free many years before, and remarking with spint that she
had lived too long to be thus trifled with. During her vol-
untary service of nearly half a century in the family of Mr.
Adams, "Surry" never left Boston but twice. Her first de-
parture was when the British troops occupied the city and
her second, during the gubernatorial administration of Mr.
Adams when small-pox was epidemic in the town.

The main facts of the above story are upon the testimony
of a niece of Mr. Adams, who was a little girl when "Surry"
was freed, and the gentleman who communicated it justly
remarks- "It serves to show the unity of Samuel Adams

I50 SAMUEL ADAMS.

character and that the love of hberty, for which he strove
so early and with so much zeal and constancy, was at home
with him and indeed a part of his very being."

ETERNAL VIGILANCE, ETC., ETC.

No man in America could more heartily subscribe to the
sentiment that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"
than Samuel Adams, and no measure tending to uphold it so
taxed his resources as the maintenance of the non-importa-
tion agreements. If the merchants had been all Whigs his
would have been a fair-weather course, but many of them,
notably the son of ex-Governor Bernard and the sons of
Governor Hutchinson, were Tories.

There were also several obstinate Scotchmen who gave
him not a little trouble. One of them, John Mein, was
publisher of the "Chronicle" as well as a large importer of
the best books of the day. He was the founder of circulat-
ing libraries in London and an enterprising and intelligent
merchant. But notwithstanding the intelligent portion of
the community appreciated the good points of Merchant
Mein his persistent violation of the general pact among the
patriots, coupled with the ridicule which he cast at them
through the columns of his newspaper, eventually worked
his exile from America. At length he became so obnoxious
that he was assaulted by a crowd upon the street, fired a
pistol among them and driven to the protection of the Brit-
ish troops. Soon afterwards he escaped in disguise to Eng-
land.

Another of his countrymen, through the persuasive tac-
tics of Mr. Adams, gracefully yielded to the logic of events

SAMUEL ADAMS. 151

and doubtless had his reward — though history saith not.
He had also stubbornly refused to be a party to the non-
importation agreement, holding that his importing business
was his own concern and that he would do with it as he
chose. How the little man with a reddish, smoke-dried wig
and a squeaking voice was brought into the non-importation
agreement through the ingenuity of Mr. Adams is elsewhere
told under the head of "Samuel Adams and the Scotch-
man."

ADAMS WROTE THE ROYAL PETITION.

In 1768 Samuel Adams dispatched a series of remark-
able petitions to the King of England and members of his
ministry, setting forth the grievances under which the Col-
onists suffered, but sending forth no seditious whisper or
desire for independence. Some have claimed the author-
ship for Otis, although the clear-cut style and moderate sen-
timents all point to Adams.

Definite testimony on this point has been given by Mrs.
Hannah Wells, daughter of Samuel Adams, who once said
that she remembered the time when her father was busy
with the actual composition of the petition to the King. It
was impressed upon her mind because one day, as a little
girl, she said to him in an awe-struck voice that the very
paper he was writing would soon be touched with the royal
hand.

"It will, my dear," he replied, "more likely be spurned by
the royal foot."

But whatever value or interest the story may have, to be
historically accurate it must be stated that neither the royal

152 SAMUEL ADAMS.

hand nor foot had the opportunity to spurn the petition,
since it was never officially presented.

THE AMERICAN EISIJER OF MEN.

President John Adams was one of the many brilliant stars
collected by the perseverance and genius of Samuel Adams
into the galaxy of American patriots. In fact, to the other
appellations of the latter Adams may aptly be added 'The
American Fisher of Men." In 1765 he drew into his net,
the young but rising lawyer of Braintree, his cousin, John
Adams. As chairman of the committee to present a me-
morial to the Governor for the opening of the provincial
courts and to protect against the general paralysis of pub-
lic and business life because of the Stamp Act, he appointed
the future president of the United States as one of the
three counsel to legally uphold the memorial mentioned.
This was really John Adams' entry into public life, as
Samuel Adams intended that it should be. The young
lawyer was thirteen years the junior of the American Fisher
of Men and long afterwards wrote as follows: ''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 de-
signs of Great Britain, and to fix his affections and reflec-
tions on the side of his native country. I could enumerate a
list, but I will confine myself to a few. John Hancock, after-
wards President of the Congress and Governor of the State ;
Dr. Joseph Warren, afterward Major-General of the militia

SAMUEL ADAMS.

of Massachusetts and the martyr of Bunker Hill ; Benjamin
Church, the poet and the orator, once a pretended if not a
real patriot, but afterwards a monument to the frailty of
human nature; Josiah Quincy, the Boston Cicero and great
orator of the body meetings/'

John Adams has this also to say about the club to which,
or to its successor, he was soon introduced by his kinsman:
*'The Caucus Club meets at certain times in the garret of
Tom Dawes, the adjutant of the Boston regiment. He has
a large house and a movable partition in his garret, which
he takes down, and the whole club meets in one room.
There they smoke tobacco till you cannot see from one end
of the garret to the other. There they drink flip, I sup-
pose, and there they choose a moderator who puts questions
to the vote regularly ; and selectmen, assessors, collectors,
wardens, fire-ward, and representatives are regularly chosen
before they are chosen in the town. They send committees
to wait on the Merchant's Club and to propose and join in
the choice of men and measures."

The scope of the club's activities was afterwards broad-
ened so as to embrace the general colonial affairs which agi-
tated the country, and which its members had no small share
in agitating. The membership was also increased so as to
include not only John Adams, but Hancock, Cushing, Otis
and other solid and brilliant patriots. The meetings were
held more openly, sometimes in the parlor of Mr. Samuel
Shed, a respectable Milk street grocer.

John Adams again places the club members before us,
saying of Samuel, its guiding spirit: "Adams, I believe,
has the most thorough understanding of liberty and her re-

154 SAMUEL ADAMS.

sources in the temper and character of the people, though
not in the law and the constitution ; as well as the most ha'b-
itual, radical love of it of any of them, as well as the most
correct, general and artful pen. He is a man of refined pol-
icy, steadfast integrity, exquisite humanity, genteel erudi-
tion, 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."

This club was from all accounts one of the most catching
drag-nets for men who were useful to the cause of inde-
pendence, which Sani. Adams ever put out.

WORDS OF THE INSPIRING PROPHET.

Not one of the great men who' witnessed the gradual dis-
ruption of the States from the mother country was so con-
fident from the first that the divorce would finally be com-
plete as Samuel Adams, and not one — not even Washington
himself — was more undaunted in spirit after the begin-
ning of histilities. Adams did for the statesmen of the
country, for the public men and public sentiment, what
Washington did for the soldiers actually in the field — sus-
tained them with his own unconquerable spirit through
every period of natural depression and gloom.

The year following the Declaration of Independence was
especially dark. Congress itself, with no safe abiding place,
had been reduced to twenty-eight members and had resolved
to adjourn to Lancaster, Pa. Some of the leaders accident-
ally met, however, and it is needless to say that their gen-
eral facial hue was dark and their aspect had far more

SAMUEL ADAMS. 15?

length than breadth. Samuel Adams, however, was bright
and cheerful. Despite the gloomy outlook, despite the lugu-
brious views expressed then and there by his several col-
leagues, he was still ready to shout that Lexington was a
glorious day ! He listened patiently to the dark bitter end
and then said : "Gentlemen, your spirits appear to be heav-
ily oppressed with our public calamities. I hope you do
not despair of our final success?"

The burden of the answer was that ''the chance was des-
perate."

Mr. Adams replied: "If this be our language, it is so,
indeed. If we wear long faces, they will become fashion-
able. The people take their tone from ours, and if we de-
spair can it be expected that they will continue their efforts
in what we conceive to be a hopeless case? Let us banish
such feelings and show a spirit that will keep alive the con-
fidence of the people, rather than damp their courage. Bet-
ter tidings will soon arrive. Our cause is just, and we shall
never be abandoned by Heaven while we show ourselves
worthy of its aid and protection."

These words have the ring of a man who feels that a just
cause places a leader, by the favor of God, above the natural
depression of the average mortal. They also have the
grand ring of the prophet and were thus deeply treasured
by the friends of the sturdy patriot, when a few days after
they were uttered better tidings did arrive in the news from
Saratoga.

ADAMS' TREASON SWORN TO.

'Torn with conflicting emotions"— Adams' newspaper
writings, his pubic speeches and petitions to royal governors,

156 SAMUEL ADAMS.

royal ministers and royalty itself prove that he was thus
sadly afflicted, and that during the few years preceding and
following the Boston Massacre he was mentally on the rack.
As events of usurpation transpired, his attitude toward the
mother country changed, and the modern stickler for politi-
cal consistency would have an easy time shredding the repu-
tation of Samuel Adams. In the heat of private discourse
the best of earnest men often word their sentiments in forms
which they would not care to have electrotyped abroad.
Governor Bernard was diligent in collecting all of these
chance words which could injure Adams and in promptly
dispatching them to the colonial office in London.

One of these gubernatorial collections is in the form of an
affidavit, sworn to by a Boston tavern keeper, Richard Syl-
vester, and taken before Chief Justice, afterward Governor
Hutchinson. The Stamp Act had been repealed, but the re-
lief measure had been followed within the year by the exter-
nal duty on tea and other articles. Through the famous
Circular Letter of Adams the union of the Colonies was
threatened and British troops were on the way from Hali-
fax to awe the Bostoneers into withdrawing all her meas-
ures of opposition to the royal decrees.

The tavern keeper says that upon one occasion during this
critical period he observed a crowd of men in the street at
the south end of the town. About the same time Mr. Adams
joined the gathering "trembling and in great agitation," and
the informant heard him exclaim : 'Tf you are men, be-
have like men ! Let us take up arms immediately and be
free, and seize all the King's officers. We shall have thirty
thousand men to join us from the country." The tale-bearer

SAMUEL ADAMS. 157

adds that he then walked off, "believing his company disa-
greeable."

Upon another occasion, before the arrival of the troops
while Mr. Adams w^as at the tavern of the informant, he
is said to have delivered himself of the following: "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 country was first set-
tled by our ancesters ; 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."

At other times before the arrival of the troops, not only
the inn-keeper himself, but his wife and the painter, George
Mason, had heard Mr. Adams make such remarks. Espec-
ially about a fortnight before the soldiers came the inform-
ant had asked Adams what he thought of the times and the
latter had answered, with great alertness, that, on lighting
the beacon, 'Sve should be joined by thirty thousand men
from the country, with their knapsacks and fixed bayonets,"
and added : "We will destroy every soldier that dare put
his foot on shore. His Majesty had no right to send troops
here to invade the country, and I look upon them as foreign
enemies !'^

Again two or three days before the troops arrived Mr.
Adams had said to the informant that Governor Bernard,
Mr. Hutchinson and the Commissioners of the Customs had
sent for the military force and repeated the same bitter Ian-

158 SAMUEL ADAMS.

guage against opposing the King's soldiers. The tavern
keeper contradicted Mr. Adams and attributed the sending
of the troops to the resolve of the General Court and the
proceedings of the town meeeting.

ADAMS AND HIS HOUSEHOLD.

! The family estate left to Samuel Adams through the
death of his father, in 1748, consisted of a good dwelling
house and several outbuildings (including an old and dis-
used malt-house) and a fine orchard and garden. On one
of the front door steps were cut the letters S. A. and M. F.,
the latter standing for Mary Fifield, his mother. It is said
the initials were cut there in 1713, the year of the marriage
of Samuel Adams the elder, and were not obliterated by
wear until at least a century thereafter.

At the time of the Revolutionary war the household of
the second Samuel Adams consited of his good wife and
helpmate — she who made it possible for him to devote him-
self with such a single head and heart to public affairs ; his
daughter Hannah, about twenty years of age, and his son,
Samuel, five years her senior. There were also Surry, the
freed negro woman and devoted servant; a boy who made
himself generally useful, and whom Mr. Adams was edu-
cating, and last, but far from least, a tremendous New-
foundland dog named "Queue," to whom the sight of a red-
coat was more infuriating than a red rag to a bull, and who
lived to bear the scars of many wounds inflicted by British
clubs and bullets. The son mentioned had received an edu-
cation at Harvard, through his father, and a professional
training through his father's friend and family physician.

SAMUEL ADAMS. 159

the brilliant and brave Dr. Joseph Warren. Young Adams
entered practice, became a surgeon in the Revolutionary
War and died as the result of exposure and disease while
in the service of his country.

Here in the family homestead Mr. Adams passed a life
of simple activity, burning the midnight oil for many years
in the preparation of that ante-Revolutionary literature
which did so much to give birth to the United States of
America. Here also he daily said grace at his simple meals
or led in the nightly Bible readings. The house was, fur-
ther, a favorite resort for young people, for whom Mr.
Adams always had the kindest of words springing from the
most spontaneous sympathy. When with the young, in fact,
whether his own or other children, he entered into their feel-
ings more as a champion than an elder. His home life was
another proof added to the mass of testimony deduced from
the lives of men whose stern bravery is based on principle —
namely, that beneath the apparent hardness of the surface
there is always a warm mellow subsoil of sympathy, tender-
ness, and love.

JOHN Randolph's tribute to adams.

It is fitting here to make the record that it was John Ran-
dolph, the meteoric, brilliant, erratic, and disease-racked
statesman, who brought the death of Samuel Adams formal-
ly before Congress. He was then thirty years of age and
Adams had just passed away at the age of eighty-one.

Mr. Randolph said in part: "It cannot indeed but be a
matter of deep regret that one of the first statesmen of our
country has descended to the grave full of years and full of

i6o SAMUEL ADAMS.

honors; that his character and fame are put beyond the
reach of that time and chance to which everything mortal is
exposed. But it becomes this House to cherish a sentiment
of veneration for such men, since such men are rare, and to
keep ahve the spirit to which we owe the constitution under
which we are now deHberating.

'This great man, the associate of Hancock, shared with
him the honor of being proscribed by a flagitious Ministry
whose object was to triumph over the Hberties of their coun-
try by trampHng on those of her Colonies. With his great
compatriot, he made an early and decided stand against
British encroachment, whilst souls more timid were trem-
bling and irresolute. It is the glorious privilege of minds of
this stamp to give an example to a people and fix the destiny
of nations."

SAMUEL ADAMS. i6i

A RECORD OF "THANKS."

The papers of Samuel Adams' day contained many
political satires, directed at different parties, according
to the political bias of the papers, usually personal, often
disrespectful, even irreverent, sometimes witty, but gen-
erally finding their point in local fitness and the relish
which personality always gives to newspaper squibs. In
Rivington's Royal ^^Gazette^^^ on the occasion of a day of
general thanksgiving being appointed by the Massachu-
setts Congress, appeared the following:

"THANKS UPON THANKS.

("A Grace for the Port of Boston.)

"Thanks to Hancock for thanksgiving:
Thanks to God for our good living:
Thanks to Gage for hindering evil:
And for source of discord civil,
Thanks to Adams and the devil."

NO FAITH IN THE KING.

Whatever may have been the private views of Mr.
Adams with regard to the ultimate future and indepen-
dence of the colonies, no one can read the letters and
petitions to the government, framed and many of them
penned by Samuel Adams, up to 1769, and fail to ob-
serve and admire the clearness and moderation with
which the grievances are stated, as well as the firmness
with which their rights are asserted.

Yet an incident related by Mrs. Hannah Wells, Mr.
Adams' daughter, shows how little faith he himself had
in the mercy or justice of the king.

The young girl remarked, as she glanced over the pe-

J ^2 SAMUEL ADAMS.

titioii to the king, "That paper will soon be touched by
the royal hand." Her father quickly replied, "It will,
my dear, more likely be spurned by the royal foot."

SAMUEL ADAMS AND THE vSCOTCHMAN.

As an instance of Samuel Adams' skill in dealing
with mankind, an anecdote related by his daughter is
worth noting. At a meeting of the Assembly, where
over two thousand persons were present, a committee re-
ported that one Mr. Mac , a stubborn Scotch-
man and a large importer, had refused to come into the
non-importation association. An angry spirit was mani-
festing itself, when Mr. Adams, with that siiaviter in
modo which always distinguished him, arose and moved
that the Assembly resolve itself into a committee of the

whole house, wait on Mr. Mac , and urge his

compliance. This was met by an affirmative, and, the
business of the day proceeding, when suddenly from an ob-
scure corner, not relishing such a possibly massive argu-
ment, came a squeaking voice in a Scotch accent, "Mr.
Moderator, I agree ! I agree !" This imexpected inter-
ruption from the diminutive, grotesque figure, in a red-
dish smoke-dried wig, drew all eyes upon him. His
sudden conversion, and the manner in which it was ob-
tained, brought thunders of applause.

Mr. Adams, with a polite, condescending bow of pro-
tection, pointed to a seat near by, and quieted the dis-
creet and frightened Scotchman.

LIBERTY TREE AND LIBERTY HALL.

Lafayette said, when in Boston, "The world should

SAMUEL ADAMS. 163

never forget the spot where once stood Liberty Tree, so
famous in your annals." The open space at the four
corners of Washington, Essex and Boylston Streets,
was once known as Hanover Square, from the royal
house of Hanover, and sometimes as the Elm Neigh-
borhood, from the magnificent elms with which it
was environed. It was one of the finest of these that
obtained the name of Liberty Tree, from its being used
on the first occasion of resistance to the obnoxious
Stamp Act.

At daybreak on the 14th of August, 1765, nearly ten
years before active hostilities broke out, an efiigy of
Mr. Oliver, the Stamp officer, and a boot, with the devil
peeping out of it — an allusion to Lord Bute — was dis-
covered hanging from Liberty Tree. The images re-
mained hanging all day, and were visited by great num-
bers of people, both from the town and the neighboring
country. Business was almost suspended. Lieutenant-
Governor Hutchinson ordered the sheriff to take the
figures down, but he was obliged to admit that he dared
not do so.

As the day closed the effigies were taken down, placed
upon a bier, and, followed by several thousand people
of every class and condition, were borne through the
city and then burned, after which much riotous conduct
on the part of the crowd occurred.

In 1766, when the repeal of the Stamp Act took place, '
a large copper plate was fastened to the tree, inscribed
in golden characters: "This tree was planted in the year
1646; and pruned by order of the Sons of Liberty, Feb.

164 SAMUEL ADAMS.

i4tli, 1766.' The ground immediately about Liberty
Tree was popularly known as Liberty Hall.

In August, 1767, a flagstaff had been erected, which
went through and extended above its highest branches.
A flag hoisted upon this staff was the signal for the as-

s-^mbling of the Sons of Liberty In August, 1775,

tne name of Liberty having become offensive to the
Tories and their British Allies, the tree was cut down
by a party led by one Job Williams. — kS. A. Drake^
''^ Old Landmarks of Boston ^^ ch. //.

CONTINENTAL MONEY.

Samuel Adams, with one of his colleagues, occupied
the commonest lodgings in Philadelphia, and lived in
the most frugal style.

The value of the Continental money may be inferred
from a letter to Mrs. Adams early in 1779, which sa}s:

"I was asked four hundred dollars for a hat, three
hundred for a pair of leather breeches, one hundred and
twenty-five for a pair of shoes, and a suit of clothes six-
teen hundred."

PORTRAIT OF SAMUEL ADAMS.

The question was asked, "Who will paint Samuel
Adams at the head of ten thousand freemen and volun-
teers, with his quivering, paralytic hands, in the council
chamber, shaking the souls of Hutchinson and Dalrym-
ple, and driving down to the Castle the two offending
regiments, which Lord North ever afterwards called
Sam Adams' regiments."

SAMUEL ADAMS.

i6,-

This is tlie very moment Joliii Singleton Copley has
seized to paint the portrait of Adams for John Hancock,
which now hangs in Faneuil Hall. The engraving from
this painting is published as a frontispiece to this sketch.

Paul Revere's House, Watertown. Mass.
First Continental Notes were Printed Here by Paul Revere.

A STORY OF SAMUEL AND JOHN ADAMS.

History hardly furnishes an example of a man so com-
pletely 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, repeatedly alludes to this singular disregard of
riches, a trait, by the way, in which Samuel Adams was a

,66 SAMUEL ADAMS.

source of curious wonder to his more thrifty kinsman.
One day in June, in the next year, when a serene sum-
mer sky spanned a landscape in which waving fields and
rustling orchards formed to some extent, as now, the
pleasant scenery about New England's capital, the two
friends rode out together in a chaise, and conversed of
their personal affairs.

They often called each other "brother," and the rela-
tionship implied was in after years supposed 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 anything 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 con-
sider of ways and means of raising a subsistence, food
and raiment, and books and money to pay for my educa-
tion 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."

LITTLE ELIZABETH ROLFE AND THE INDIANS.

The mother of Miss Elizabeth Checkley, the first wife

SAMUEL ADAMS. 167

of Samuel Adams, was the daughter of the Rev. Benja-
min Rolfe, of Haverhill, Massachusetts. A great Indian
massacre took place in this village in the early New
England days.

The inhabitants were surprised by the attack of their
savage foes. More than a hundred men, women and
children were tomahawked by their merciless foes.

The father of little Elizabeth was killed while defend-
ing his home. Elizabeth and her young sister would
have shared his fate had it not been for the ready wit of
a maid servant.

When the alarm was given she rushed down into the
cellar with the two children, took an empty tub that
was standing there, put it in a corner, then charging
them on their lives not to make the least noise,
turned it over them. And although the Indians went
through the house and down the cellar, they did not
discover the frightened occupants in their place of safety.
For although their hearts were beating violently with
fear, they kept "as still as a mouse," and so were saved.

THE LAST OF THE PURITANS.

It" is said that one of the reasons given for calling
Samuel Adams "The Last of the Puritans," was the fact
that he, was the last man so far as known, in New
England who wore the Continental costume.

THE NAMES OR APPEELATIONS GIVEN TO
SAMUEIv ADAMS.

Sam the Maltster. Sam the Publican. The Boston

1 68 SAMUEL ADAMS.

Tribune. The Man of the Town Meeting. The Puri-
tan Patriot. The Great Debater. The Brain of the
Revohition. The Palinnrus of the Revolution. The
Chief Incendiary in his Majesty's Dominions. The First
of Politicians. The Cromwell of America. The Apos-
tle of Liberty. The Father of the Revolution. The
Father of America. The Last of the Puritans.

THE STORY OF SAMUEL ADAMS.

FOR A SCHOOL OR CLUB PROGRAMME.

Each numbered paragraph is to be given to a pupil or
member to read in a clear, distinct tone.

If the School or Club is small, each person may take

three or four paragraphs, but should not be required to

recite them in succession.

r. Samuel Adams was born in Boston, Massachusetts, Septem-
ber i6, 1722. His remote ancestors were Welsh.

2. Henry Adams, who came from Devonshire, England, had two
grandsons. One of these, Joseph Adams, was the grandfather of
President John Adams, the other John Adams, a sea captain, was the
grandfather of Samuel Adams, the great statesman.

3. The father of Samuel Adams, who bore the same name, was
a man of wealth and influence. He was a leader of men, and held
several important offices of trust and honor.

4. His father was very fond of politics, and founded the "Caulk-
er's Club," from which the word, "Caucus," has been derived.

5. Samuel Adams inherited from his father his political tastes
and aptitudes.

6. His mother's name was Mary Fifield. She was a pious and
devoted woman, and imparted to Samuel his sturdy, moral character,

7. Samuel first studied in the Boston Latin School, then was
graduated from Harvard College in 1740. He was there a close stu-
dent of the Greek and Latin authors, and often quoted from them in
his writings.

8. What was afterwards said of Lord Macaulay was true of
Samuel Adams. "He was as much at home with Cicero and Atticus as
with the statesmen of his own day."

SAMUEL ADAMS. 169

g. He was especially fond of the writings of John Locke, whose
famous essays on "The Human Understanding," and on "The Princi-
ples of Free Government," very greatly shaped his career.

10. When he took his Master's degree he chose as a theme,
"Whether it be lawful to resist the Supreme Magistrate if the Com-
monwealth cannot otherwise be preserved." W^e see that "Just as the
twig is bent, the tree's inclined."

11. Though it was his intention at first to enter the ministry, he
abandoned the idea, and entered into mercantile life.

12. He soon found himself unfitted for business, and began to
devote himself to politics, and the contribution of articles on political
subjects to the newspapers of Boston.

13. His father, whom he greatly admired, respected and loved,
died in 1748. He then carried on the malting business in his father's
stead, and was called by his political enemies, "Sammy, the Maltster."

14. When he was appointed, soon after, tax collector for the
town of Boston, he was nicknamed by the wits of the time, "Sammy,
the Publican."

15. He married, October 17, 1749, Elizabeth Checkley, a woman
of marked personal beauty, grace of manner, and sterling character.

16. He now developed his powers in political affairs. "He had
all the courage and indomitable perseverance of his cousin, John Ad-
ams, but without his bluntness of manner."

17. "As an adroit political manager he was not surpassed by
Jefferson, whom he resembled in his thorough going democracy."

18. He formed a private political club in Boston, of which he
was the ruling spirit.

19. It became the secret source from which proceeded the
steady and persistent resistance to British aggression.

20. This resistance, beginning in Boston, soon embraced all
New England, and finally the whole country.

21. It was in his forty-second year that his great political power
began, and in the same year, his first wife having died in 1757, he
married Elizabeth Wells, the daughter of Francis Wells, Esq., of
Boston.

22. She was a woman most admirably fitted in every way to
sympathize with him, and assist him in his great life work.

23. He drafted the resolutions, in 1764, against Grenville's
Stamp Act. The next year he was elected to the Legislature of
IMassachusetts, and officiated as clerk until 1774.

24. During this eventful year he drew up the remarkable State
Papers, which have given him undying fame.

25. When the king sent troops into Boston, contrary to the will
of its citizens, Samuel Adams on the platform, in the work-shops.

SAMUEL ADAMS.

in the homes of the people, and on the streets, denounced the out-
rage.

26. He declared that every soldier who set foot in Massachu«
setts ought to be shot down.

27. He said, "The king has no right to send troops here to in-
vade the country; if they come, they will come as foreign enemies.
We will not submit to any tax or become slaves.

28. "We will take up arms and spend our last drop of blood, be-
fore the King and Parliament shall impose on us, or settle Crown
officers independent of the Colonial Legislature, to dragoon us."

29. He said a little later, "We are free, therefore, and want no
king. The times were never better in Rome than when they had no
king, and were a free State."

30. After the tragic Boston Massacre, he went as the represen-
tative of the people to Governor Hutchinson, and compelled him by
the force of his manner and his stern, unequivocal language to re-
move the hated troops from Boston.

31. In 1772, he moved the appointment of a "Committee of Cor-
respondence," which organized the American Revolution, for it led
directly up to the Continental Congress.

32. In 1773, he gave the signal for the destruction of the tea in
the Boston harbor, and the Boston Tea Party went forever into his-
tory.

33. He left General Gage in the lurch at Salem, by locking the
door of the building where the General Court was in session, and car-
rying through the election of delegates to the Continental Congress.

34. He again left General Gage in the rear when Hancock and
himself went over the hills and valleys, out of the reach of the regu-
lars, at Lexington, April 18, 1775, to their immortal work in securing
the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

35. For eight years he took an active and important part in the
work of the Congress; and then went to the discharge of his political
duties in his own beloved Massachusetts.

36. As a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Conven-
tion, of the Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution, as Lieuten-
ant Governor and Governor, he faithfully performed his part.

37. He was gathered at last to his fathers, like a shock of corn
fully ripe in his season, on the second of October, 1803, and all that
was mortal of him was laid away to rest in the Granary Burying
Ground, in the city for whose welfare and glory he had labored near-
ly three score years.

38. The mother of George the Third, said to him on his acces-
sion to the throne, "George be kingP

39. There was one man over whom he could not be king, with
his own and his mother's idea of royalty, and he was Samuel Adams.

SAMUEL ADAMS. 171

40. James Parton says: "Lord North fought the American Rev-
olution from the Stamp Act to the surrender of CornwalUs, with a
bought majority in the House of Commons."

41. Samuel Adams spurned the tempting offer of a British peer-
age, refused a place among its august aristocracy, and a salary of
two thousand guineas a year from the king.

42. When the king could neither bribe nor intimidate our hero
and his fellow patriots, then he wanted war.

43. When the news of the rebellion reached him, he rubbed his
hands exultingly and said, "Now the die is cast, four regiments will
bring the Americans to their senses."

44. Poor George! he never came to his senses, even when "Sam
Adams' Conspiracy," as he termed it, had so wonderfully succeeded.

45. It broke the heart of Lord North when the news of the sur-
render of Cornwallis reached him, but as Dr. Barrows says: "It could
not fracture the skull of George the Third."

46. The Massachusetts Senate, in 1804, had an acrimonious de-
bate over the resolutions offered to the memory of Samuel Adams,
and cut out their most expressive, eulogistic features.

47. John Adams wrote, that for thirty years a systematic course
had been pursued to run Samuel Adams down.

48. But Massachusetts has made full amends for the wrong
done her noblest son.

49. In her State House, his marble face looks down upon the
beholder in its Doric Hall, where stand the statues of Andrew and
Sumner, of Lincoln and Washington.

50. Massachusetts was empowered, with the other States, some
time ago, to place in the old hall of the House of Representatives,
the statues of her two representative men.

51. The two men she selected as the most representative of that
grand Puritan Commonwealth, were John Winthrop. the first Govern-
or of the old Bay Colony, and Samuel Adams.

52. In Dock Square, Boston, now called Adams Square in his
honor, has been erected the bronze copy of Miss Whitney's noble
statue in Washington, of the people's uncompromising champion.

53. There he stands, with folded arms, defiantly waiting an an-
swer from Governor Hutchinson to his unwavering demand, ''Both
regimejtts or none T'

54. Though neglected and traduced so long, by those who ought
never to have forgotten his transcendent services to his country, Jef-
ferson regretted that he could not call the aged statesman to the
foremost place in his own administration.

55. The ablest thinkers and leaders of American thought have
been adding, during these later years, to his justly deserved renown.

172 SAMUEL ADAMS.

56. George W. Curtis said of him: "He lifted the Continental
Congress in his arms, and hurled it beyond the irrevocable line of
Independence."

57. Garfield declared him to be the greatest embodiment of the
Revolutionary ideas. Winthrop says he conquered the British Cabi-
net and king with a Puritan Town Meeting.

58. Dr. John Henry Barrows says: "More than any other patriot,
he toiled to root in the minds of the people those convictions of hu-
man right which blossomed into martial heroism at Lexington and
Bunker Hill."

59. John Fiske says: "He was second only in the history of the
American Revolution to Washington himself.

60. Professor Hosmer maintains "That as far as the genesis of
America is concerned, he can be more properly called 'The Father
of America' than Washington himself."

PROGRAMME FOR A SAMUEL ADAMS EVENING.

1. Instrumental Music — Variations of Patriotic Airs.

2. Recitation— "Puritan Politics in England and New England."
Edward Everett Hale. (See Old South Leaflets, Fifth Series, 1887.)

3. Essay — Repeal of the Stamp Act, (See Speeches of Sum-
ner, p. 335.)

4. Vocal Solo — "Star Spangled Banner," or other Patriotic Song.

5. Essay — Story of the Boston Massacre. (See Atlantic Monthly,
Nov., 1863, pp. 607-8-9, for an excellent account, or any good general
History of the United States.)

6. Anecdotes of Samuel Adams.

7. The names given to Adams; and the names under which he
wrote.

8. Brief Discussion on George the Third and his Ministers.

9. Question Box.

10. "America" — Sung by all present.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW.

What have y oil to say about history? What about the 7-omance of
history? What was the forertinner of the A7nerican Revolution?
Who were the i7t habitants of the A^ew Eng/and Colonies? Who of
the Southern States? What has been the influence of New England
in the United States? Of the Town Meeting? What proportion of
troops did New England firnish during the Revolutionary War?
I f liat p?-oportion Massac h usetts ?

II hat important fact must he kept in mind regarding the A??ieri-
can Revolution ? Wliat was the real attitude of the English nation
towards the Colonies? Na7ne some despotic 7nonarchs? Na7}ie so7ne
E7iglish7nen opposed to the Colonies? Na7ne the great English states-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 173

men who were in favor of them ? What are some quotations from
their speeches and sayings ?

What are some of the characteristics of Samuel Adams as a states-
man in contrast with a demagogue? What were some of his qualities?
M' hat two names given to Samuel Adams were linked together?
I Vhy ? I Vho were some of the co-patriots of Samuel A dams ? I Vhat is
said of them?

What was the personal appearance of Samuel Adams? His man-
7ier? His dress? Who were his ancestors? Who the founders of the
family in Massachusetts? When and whe7-e was he born? What
was the influence of Samuel Adams mother? What is said of his
father ? J IViat story is told of the Punctuality of young A dams ? J I 'hat
of interest was there in his College life? What was the topic of his
master s oration?

Who was his first wife, and what were her cha?'acteristics?
What led up to the co7ttemplated selling of his property at auctio?t?
What kind of a Tax Collector was Samuel Adams? What are the
facts regarding his alleged defalcation? What were ''Writs of As-
sistance?" What was ''The Stajup Act Bill?" Who was the second
wife of Samuel A dams ? 1 1 'hat were her characteristics ?

J I 'hat was ' ' The Sugar Bill?' ' 1 1 'ho opposed Grenville ? What
was the effect of the passage of the Stamp Act? What was the effect
of its repeal?

U7iat was Samuel Adams relation to fohn Hancock? Who was
Governor Bernard? What we?-e his characteristics? Who was fo-
seph Haw ley ? What have you to say about the consistency of Samuel
Adams? What was the attitude of the best English statesmen regard-
ing the trial of Sainucl Adams for treason? What were the causes
leading tip to "The Boston Massacre?" What were the principal
features of that important incident?

What were the principal features of "The Boston Tea Party?"
What were the interesting features of the meeting of the General
Court at Salem ? JlV/at was the feeling of Parliament regarding the
destruction of the tea? ]]'hat stroke of policy was made by Samuel
Adams in the Congress at Philadelphia? Who supported Adams in
his plans? What is the substance of the Earl of Chatham' s tribute to
the Continental Congress?

What are the Principal features connected with the address of
Jf^arren, March 6, 177 j? JfVio were the Minute Men? What were
the principal events leading up to the Battle of Lexington ? I Vhat did
William Dawes and Paul Revere do? What is the substance of the
language of George William Curtis o?t the Battle of Lexington ?

What was the attitude in general of the Congress towards Sam-
uel Adams in the early days of 177^ ?

What wej-e the principal features of the appointment of IVash-
ington as Commander-in-Chief? When was the Battle of Bunker
Hill fought ? What was the relation of Samuel Adams to Dr War-
ren ? What was the character of General Charles Lee ?

174 SAMUEL ADAMS.

JV/iaf was the substmice of Samuel Adams' reply to the Quakers
of Philadelphia? What were the principal features connected with
the signing of the Declaration of Independence?

What are the facts relating to the supposed entnity of Samuel
A dams to 1 1 ^ashington ? II 'hat 7vere the principal features of Samuel
Adams' j-elation to the Federal Constitution? Wliat was his j-elation
to7ua?-ds Hancock at the close of his life? What was his ?-elation to
the common schools? What was his relatiojt to the theatre? What
honor did General Strong pay him? When and where did he die?
What were the principal features of his funeral? Where was he
buried?

What is the story of the attempt of Goi'crnor Gage to bribe Sam-
uel Adams? What is said of the proscription of Adams and Han-
cock? What was Samuel Adatns' loyalty to non-importatio7i? What
is the story of Adams' new clothes? What is the story of the mixtu?-e
of tea ? llViat was Adams' social character? What was his fearless-
ness and boldness ? His hopefulness and piety ? His deterinination ?
What was he as a ''power behijtd the throjie?'' What is the story of
Adams and the Scotchman?

What was his breadth of view? His integrity ? His knowledge
of human nature? Ruling passion and aim? What were his qualities
as a public speaker? What is the story of little Elisabeth Rolfe and
the Indiatis? What arc some of the names'given to Samuel Ada?ns?

SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY.

/. The character and services of the Earl of Chatham.

2. The character and services of William Pitt.

J. The administration of Gover7ior Bernard.

^. The adjuinistratiott of Governor Hutchinson.

J. The different kinds of Colonial Govenwients.

6. The Charter of Massachusetts Bay.

y. The Boston Massacre.

8. The trial of the officers and soldiers involved in the Boston
Massacre.

g. The Destruction of the Tea.

10. Representative men iit Boston History.

11. Samuel Adams as a Writer.

12. Sa7nuel Ada?ns as a Speaker,
ij. Samuel Adams as a Politician.
14. The Town Meeting.

IJ. The year lyyy.

16. History in the Boston Streets.

In the study of these a7id kindred subjects, "The Old South Leaf-
lets,'' prepared by Edwin D. Mead, and published by D. C. Heath &■*
Co., are most cordially reconwietided. They are full of valuable infor-
mation.

SAMUEL ADAMS. 175

CHRONOLOGICAL EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF SAMUEL ADAMS.

1722 Born in Boston, September 16.
1736 Enters Harvard College.

1748 Helps found ''The Public Advertiser.''

1749 Marries Elizabeth Checkley, October 17.
1763-65 Serves as Tax Collector.

1764 Drafts the Report of Instructions of the Boston Town Meeting,

on Parliamentary Taxation, May 24.

Originates the first plan to unite the Colonies against Parlia-
mentary Oppression.

Marries Elizabeth Wells for his second wife, December 6.

1765 Passage of the Stamp Act by Parliament, March. -'Sons of

Liberty" organized, probably Aug. 12. Adams drafts Instruc-
tions of Boston Town Meeting on Parliamentary Represen-
tation, Sept. 18. Boston Town Meeting elects Adams a
Member of the Massachusetts Legislature, Sept. 27.
Drafts the famous Massachusetts Resolves on the Inherent
Rights and Privileges of the Province, Oct. 29, Adams
writes Remonstrance of the Assembly against the Issue of
Moneys for Repairing Forts and Fortifications, November 4.

1766 Meeting of Massachusetts Legislature in which Adams acts on

Important Measures, Jan. 15 to Feb. 24. Re-Elected to the
Legislature May 6. Repeal of the Stamp Act, March 18.

1767 Adams Elected Clerk of the Legislature, May 27.

1768 He writes the Assembly's Letter to Deberdt on ';The True Sen-

timents of America," Jan. 13. He writes other imjDortant Ad-
dresses of the Assembly to the Ministry, their Petition to the
King, a Circular Letter to other Provincial Assemblies, Janu-
ary and February. Adams writes Reply of the Assembly to
the Governor's Message, June 30. Adams concludes that
American Independence is a Political and Natural Necessity.

1769 Richard Sylvester makes deposition against Samuel Adams for

Treason, Jan. 23. Address to "The Sons of Liberty," by Ad-
ams, March 18. Adams re-elected to the Legislature, May 5.
Re-elected Clerk. Writes Remonstrance of the House against
the Presence of the Troops, May 31. Adams, with James
Otis, holds Conference with the Commissioners of the Cus-
toms, Sept. I.

1770 The Boston Massacre, March 5. Adams compels Hutchinson to

withdraw the Troops, March 6. Adams Re-elected to the
Legislature, May 8. He persuades Hancock to remain in the
Boston Delegation, May 11. Adams elected Clerk, May 30.
He writes the Replies of the Legislature to Hutchinson, etc.,
October. He writes the Letter of Instructions of the House
to Franklin, Nov. 6.

1771 Adams Re-elected to the Legislature, May 7. Re-elected

Clerk, May 29. Adams appointed one of a Committee on

176 SAMUEL ADAMS.

Correspondence, June 27. He drafts a Letter of Instructions
to Franklin in London, June 29. He replies for the Assem-
bly to Governor Hutcfiinson, regarding Arbitrary Instruc-
tions received from King George, July 5. He writes various
articles for the "6^rt^<?/'/<?" advising the Union of the Colonies
and an Assembly of Deputies, Sept. and Oct. He denies Par-
liamentary supreme authority over the Colonies, in various
articles and essays, Oct., Dec, and Jan. 1772.

1772 Adams victorious over the opposition to his measures in the

Legislature, April 8. Re-elected to the Legislature against
great opposition, May 6. He drafts for the Committee of
the House, "The Rights of the Colonies," Nov. 20.

1773 Adams replies to Hutchinson on the supremacy of Parliament,

Jan. 26. Adams writes a rejoinder to Hutchinson's reply on
Parliamentary supremacy, March 2. Virginia organizes a
Continental Committee on Correspondence, March 12.
Adams re-elected to the Legislature, May 6. Re-appointed
clerk. May 26. Adams' Resolutions, confirming action of
Virginia, passed, May 28. Adams denounced by Hutchinson
to the ministry, Oct. g. Adams composes a letter to the
other Colonies, for the Boston Committee of Correspondence,
Oct. 21. The signal for the "Boston Tea Party" jiven by
Adams, Dec. 16.

1774 The Committees defended by Adams against the Governor's

opening address, Feb. 5. Letter by Adams to the other
Provinces, and instructions to P>anklin, March 28. Adams
re-elected to the Legislature, May 10. Adams prepares a
letter to the Committees of the other Colonies on the Tea
Question, May 12.

"A Continental Non-Importation League," proposed at a town
meeting presided over by Adams, May 13. Adams moves
resolutions to appoint five delegates to a Continental Con-
gress at Philadelphia, June 17. The Government tries in
vain to corrupt Adams, July. Adams journeys to the Con-
gress at Philadelphia, Aug. 10-29.

Continental Congress meets at Philadelphia, Sept. 5. Adams
re-elected to the Legislature, Sept. 21. Continental Con-
gress having dissolved, Adams returns to Boston, Oct. 26.
Meeting of the Provincial Congress, in which Adams urges
active measures, Nov. 23.

1775 Massachusetts declared by England to be in a state of rebel-

lion, Jan. Adams sends letter to the friends of liberty in
Canada, Feb. 21. Adams drafts a letter to the Mohawks,
March 22. The British set out to seize Adams and Hancock
at Lexington. Battle of Lexington, April 18, 19. Adams
and Hancock go to the Second Continental Congress at
Philadelphia, April 19 to May 10. Second Continental Con-
gress meets. Adams urges an immediate Declaration of In-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 177

dependence, May 10, etc. General Gage offers pardon to all
except Adams and Hancock, June 12. Washington elected
Commander-in-Chief on nomination of John and Samuel Ad-
ams, June 15. Continental Congress adjourns. Funds for
the Army carried by Adams to General Washington, August
i-ii. Adams becomes member of the Council and is elected
Secretary of State, Aug. 15. Continental Congress meets.
Adams renders active service, Sept. 13, etc.

1776 Adams proposes to try a separate Confederacy, with New

England alone, if necessary, Jan. Adams advocates the dis-
arming of the Tories, and urges retaliation against British
outrages, Jan. 2 to March 14. Adams re-elected a delegate
to Congress, Jan. iq.

Adams publishes addresses to the people of Pennsylvania on
the Quaker doctrine of submission, Feb. 3, etc. He supports
the resolutions for an independent government. May 10.

Declaration of Independence discussed and adopted, July 2-4.
Returns to Congress, Oct. 24. Appointed chairman of Com-
mittee on the State of the Northern Army. He advises giv-
ing Washington dictatorial powers, Dec.

1777 Congress reduced to twenty members. Adams still full of

hope, Sept. and Oct. The Articles of Confederation signed,
Nov. 15. Adams arrives in Boston, Dec. 4.

1778 Adams takes his seat in Congress, and is made chairman of the

Marine Committee, May 21. Adams is re-elected delegate
to Congress, Nov., Dec.

1779 Adams returns to Boston, and resumes the duties of Secretary

of State, June 20. He urges sending troops to aid Rhode
Island and Connecticut, July. He is elected representative
from Boston to the State Constitutional Convention, August.
He becomes member of the Council, Sept. 9. Adams, with
others, draft a Constitution, by order of the Convention held
at Cambridge, Sept. i, etc.

1780 Adams, in an address for the Convention, explains the Consti-

tution, Feb. He becomes an incorporator of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, May 4. He goes with El-
bridge Gerry to Philadelphia, and secures re-inforcements
for the Highlands which are in danger from the British, June,
etc._ Adams and Gerry take their seats in Congress, June 29.
He is defeated as candidate for Secretary of State at home,
October,

1781 Adams not in favor of the creation of Secretaries of War, Fi-

nance and Foreign Relations, with separate departments.
Adams takes final leave of Congress and returns to Boston,
April. He declines an election to Congress. Serves again
as President of the Massachusetts Senate, Feb. 20. He
drafts resolutions expressing the determination of Massachu-
setts to continue the war until independence is secured, July

178 SAMUEL ADAMS.

Adams is defeated as candidate for Governor. He is re-
elected to the Senate, April.
1784 Adams does not favor the Order of the Cincinnati, April. He
is re-elected to the Senate of Massachusetts, and again
chosen President, April. He is elected to Congress, but de-
clines, November.

1786 Is re-elected to the Senate, but declines a seat in the Council,

April, May.

1787 Writes the declaration of the Senate regarding Shay's rebel-

lion, Feb. 3-5. Is re-elected President of the Council, April.

1788 Assists in the ratification of the Constitution of the United

States in the Massachusetts Convention, Jan. 9 to Feb. 6. Is
defeated as candidate for Congress, Dec.
1789-92 Adams serves as Lieut. Governor. He becomes Governor
on the death of Governor Hancock, Oct. 8.

1794 He is chosen Governor to succeed Hancock.

1795 Adams is re-elected Governor, May.

1796 Adams opposes Jay's treaty. He is re-elected Governor, and

is fifth on the list of candidates for the Presidency.

1798 He retires from public life.

1803 Death of Adams, Oct. 2. Difficulty in obtaining a proper es-
cort for his funeral, Oct. 6.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

For those who wish to read extensively, the following works are
especially commended:

Samuel Adams. Bv Herbert B. Adams. Johns Hopkins L'niversity
Studies in Historical and Political Scienoe. Baltimore. N. Mur-
rav, 1883.

Life of Samuel Adams. James K. Hosmer. American Statesmen
Series. Houghton, Mifflin & Companv, Boston, 1885.

The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams. William P. Wells.
3 Vols., 8vo. Boston. Little, Brown & Company, 1865.

Eminent Americans. Benson J. Lossing, LL.D. New York. Ameri-
can Book Exchange, 1881.

Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Volume 20,
p. 213. Boston. Published bv the Societv, 1884.

The Sam Adams' Regiment in Boston. Atlantic Monthly, June and
August, 1862, and November, 1863.

Samuel Adams, the Father of the Revolution. Harper's Magazme,
Julv, 1876. . , ^

Samuef Adams, the Last of the Puritans. Congregational Quarterly,
Vol. XI,

Memoir of Samuel Adams. New England Register, \ ol. 30, 279.

8 II

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