page_title: Boston Caucus
section_title: Meeting structure
hierarchical_section_title: Boston Caucus / Meeting structure
caption_attribution_description: English: Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. -- A painting of President John Adams (1735-1826), 2nd president of the United States, by Asher B. Durand (1767-1845). Every October 30th, the birthday of John Adams, Naval Reserve Center (NRC) Quincy, Mass., conducts a wreath-laying ceremony at First Parish Church. Both Adams and his son President John Quincy Adams are buried at the church. Adams was one of the leading advocates for the creation of a Continental Navy, he drafted the first set of rules and regulations for the new navy. He was able to convince the Congress to pass an &#8220;Act Providing a Naval Armament,&#8221; which was less than he thought was necessary but at least provided for the equipping of three frigates, the Constitution, the United States, and the Constellation. U.S. Navy photo. (RELEASED)
context_page_description: The Boston Caucus was an informal political organization that had considerable influence in Boston in the years before and after the American Revolution. This was perhaps the first use of the word caucus to mean a meeting of members of a movement or political party to agree on a common position.
  The Boston Caucus was established in around 1719 by the popular physician and merchant Elisha Cooke, Jr. It quickly grew as a powerful political force in the area but its later activities are what associate it most with Samuel Adams and the run up to American Independence. Adams became an influential leader of the caucus in the 1750s and used the club in the 1760s and 1770s to help gain him political leeway. The group developed a nefarious, rebellious reputation, meeting in taverns, and plotting. The Boston Caucus and Samuel Adams were reputed to have had significant influence in 1773 with the events associated with the Boston Tea Party.
context_section_description: The Rev. William Gordon, in his History of the Independence of the United States of America (London, 1784), said:
  More than fifty years ago Mr. Samuel Adams' father and twenty others, one or two from the north end of the town where all the ship business is carried on, used to meet, make a caucus and lay their plan for introducing certain persons into places of trust and power.  When they had settled it they separated, and each used their particular influence within his own circle. He and his friends would furnish themselves with ballots, including the names of the parties fixed upon, which they distributed on the days of election. By acting in concert, together with a careful and extensive distribution of ballots, they generally carried their elections to their own mind.  In like manner it was that Mr. Samuel Adams first became a representative for Boston.
  John Adams, at the time a country lawyer from Braintree, described the way in which the caucus worked in 1763. 
  He said that at the meetings, "...selectmen, assessors, collectors, fire-wards and representatives are regularly chosen before they are chosen in the town ... there they smoke tobacco till you cannot see from one end of the garret to the other".
  Adams said that after coming to a decision, "They send committees to wait on the merchants' club."
  This implies that the leading businessmen of the city still ultimately made the decisions, while listening to the views of the Caucus and taking into consideration the popular support that the Caucus could muster.
  The technique of making decisions like this in smoke-filled rooms before the public democratic process started was to have a long history in U.S. politics.
  The Caucus set the model for modern political machine politics in which the inner circle would select the candidates and ensure election through buying drinks for the working class voters.
caption: John Adams, second cousin of Samuel Adams and later President of the U.S., described the caucus meetings in 1763
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