Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams (September 27  (OS), 1722–October 2, 1803) was an American leader, politician, writer, and political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Adams helped gather support in the American colonies to rebel against Great Britain. This led to the American Revolution. Adams shaped the foundations of American politics.

Adams, born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, was brought up in a religious family. He was educated at Boston Latin School and Harvard College. He started his life as a businessman, but did not like his occupation. He then turned his interest to politics, and became an influential political writer. Adams urged the colonists to withdraw from Great Britain and form a new government. He told the colonies to defend their rights and liberties at town meetings in Boston. He wrote protests against Parliament's taxes against the colonies, such as the Stamp Act of 1765. Adams also organized the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and he was a member of the Continental Congress. He argued for the Declaration of Independence at the Second Continental Congress in 1776.

Adams helped write the Massachusetts Constitution with James Bowdoin and his cousin John Adams. Later, Adams helped draft the Articles of Confederation. After the Revolutionary War ended, he ran for the House of Representatives in the 1st United States Congressional election. He lost the election to Fisher Ames. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1789. After John Hancock's death in 1793, Adams served as the acting governor. He was then elected governor in January of 1794. He served in that position until June 1797. He then retired from politics and settled in his home in Boston. He died six years later on October 2, 1803.

Further reading 
Many of the foremost works on Adams' life are from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Much of the information in more recent biographies is attributed to these earlier works.
 Alexander, John K. Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002. .
 Beach, Stewart. Samuel Adams, the Fateful Years, 1764–1776. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1965.
 Cushing, Harry A., ed. The Writings of Samuel Adams. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908.
 Fischer, David H. Paul Revere's Ride. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. .
 Fradin, Dennis B. Samuel Adams: the Father of American Independence. New York: Clarion Books, 1998. .
 Hosmer, James K. Samuel Adams. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1885.
 Irvin, Benjamin H. Sam Adams: Son of Liberty, Father of Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. .
 Maier, Pauline. From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765–1776. New York: W. W. Norton, 1992. .
 Maier, Pauline. The Old Revolutionaries: Political Lives in the Age of Samuel Adams. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980. .
 Miller, John C. Sam Adams, Pioneer in Propaganda. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1936.
 Puls, Mark. Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. .
 Wells, William V. The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams: Being a Narrative of His Acts and Opinions, and of His Agency in Producing and Forwarding the American Revolution, with Extracts From His Correspondence, State Papers, and Political Essays. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1865.

Other websites 

Samuel Adams quotes at Liberty-Tree.ca

Official Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor Biography
Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, 1856
Encyclopedia Britannica: Adams, Samuel 

1722 births
1803 deaths
American Calvinists
Congregationalists
Founding Fathers of the United States
Governors of Massachusetts
Politicians from Boston, Massachusetts
Signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence