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| John Singleton Copley's portrait of Samuel Adams |
Samuel Adams was
one of the founding fathers of the United States, a Boston revolutionary and
the current face of Bostonian beer. He is inextricably linked with the Boston
rebels who helped ignite the revolution in the years leading up to 1775 and the
famous documents that severed the many ties between the colonies and England.
Unlike most of his contemporaries, he was not a soldier, an inventor, a
successful merchant, a tradesman or a plantation owner. His only interest and
success was in politics, but it was not for lack of trying other things.
Samuel Adams was
born in Boston on September 27, 1722. He was raised in Boston and schooled at
Boston Latin, like most of his peers. Also like his fellow Boston patriots, he
went to Harvard College, graduating with his masters in 1743. After graduation,
he became a merchant, but he was terribly bad at it. He seemed uninterested in
money, instead being interested in public service. His father was a politician,
but also a successful businessman. Samuel would not follow his father's example
in that regard.
In 1749, Samuel
Adams married Elizabeth Checkley, who bore him two surviving children before
dying in childbirth. In 1764, he married Elizabeth Wells, who cared for his
children, but had none of her own. Elizabeth Wells is remembered in a way as
the woman who put up with Samuel Adams. He made very little money in public
service. He had some land and a house, but Elizabeth did some work from home to
keep them with money while he gave speeches and attended to the masses. In
1756, he became a tax collector and actually lost money due to his ineffective
tax collecting strategies.
When Samuel
Adams' father died, Samuel also had to fight off the British over a banking
scheme his father had. It was popular among the people, but deemed illegal by the
British. Samuel Adams was on the brink of having to hand over his estate, but
he prevailed and the British were eventually run out of town anyway. Samuel
also received the run of his father's maltsing business after his death. That
was another failure for Adams.
As history shows
us, Samuel Adams was not some poor unfortunate who was just no good at
anything. The brewing discontent in the colonies gave him the perfect
opportunity to showcase his talents. When Christopher Sieder was shot, Samuel
Adams was quick to publicize the incident. Some say his speeches were such that
he was something of an agent provocateur, though on the same side as those
provoked. Indeed, the Boston Massacre occurred little more than a week after
the event. Samuel Adams was also giving speeches before the Boston Tea Party.
Suspicious? Historians think so. One thing is certain, instigator or not, he
was one of the best orators in Boston before the American Revolution.
In 1765–five
years before the Boston Massacre–Samuel Adams became a member of the
Massachusetts Assembly. As revolution became inevitable, he served on the
Massachusetts Provincial Congress and later the Continental Congress. He was
positioned politically to be one of the men instrumental in creating the new
nation. He signed the Declaration of Independence and helped draft the Articles
of the Confederation.
In 1781, Samuel
Adams retired from Congress and helped develop the Massachusetts Constitution.
Eight years later, he became Lieutenant Governor. Five years after that, he
became the Governor of Massachusetts. He remained governor until his health
dictated that he rest in 1797. He died in Boston on October 2, 1803.
