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See also:- ADAMS
- ADAMS, ANDREW LEITH (1827-1882)
- ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS (1807-1886)
- ADAMS, HENRY (1838— )
- ADAMS, HENRY CARTER (1852— )
- ADAMS, HERBERT (i858— )
- ADAMS, HERBERT BAXTER (1850—1901)
- ADAMS, JOHN (1735–1826)
- ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY (1767-1848)
- ADAMS, SAMUEL (1722-1803)
- ADAMS, THOMAS (d. c. 1655)
- ADAMS, WILLIAM (d. 162o)
ADAMS, See also:SAMUEL (1722-1803) , See also:American statesman, was See also:born at See also:Boston, See also:Massachusetts, on the 27th of See also:September 1722. He was a second See also:cousin to the See also:elder See also:John Adams. His See also:father, whose See also:Christian name was also Samuel, was a wealthy and prominent See also:citizen of Boston, who took an active See also:part in the politics of the See also:town, and was a member of the See also:Caucus (or Caulker's) See also:Club, with which the See also:political See also:term "caucus" is said to have originated; his See also:mother was See also:Mary Fifield. See also:Young Adams graduated from Harvard See also:College in 174o, and three years later, on attaining the degree of A.M., See also:chose for his thesis, "Whether it be Lawful to resist the Supreme See also:Magistrate, if the See also:Commonwealth cannot otherwise be preserved." Which See also:side he took, and how the See also:argument proceeded, is not known, but the subject was one which well forecasted his career. He began the study of See also:law in response to his father's See also:advice; he discontinued it in response to his mother's disapproval. He repeatedly failed in business, notably as manager of a See also:malt-See also:house, largely because of his incessant See also:attention to politics; but in the Boston town-See also:- MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)
meeting he became a conspicuous example of the efficiency of that institution for training in statecraft. He has, indeed, been called the "See also:Man of the Town Meeting." About 1748 he began to take an important part in the affairs of the town, and became a See also:leader in the debates of a political club which he was largely instrumental in organizing, and to whose weekly publication, the Public Advertiser, he contributed numerous articles. From 1756 to 1764 he was one of the town's tax-collectors, but in this See also:- OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")
office he was unsuccessful, his easy business methods resulting in heavy arrears.
Samuel Adams first came into wider prominence at the beginning of the See also:Stamp See also:Act See also:episode, in 1764, when as author of Boston's instructions to its representatives in the See also:general See also:court of Massachusetts he urged strenuous opposition to See also:taxation by act of See also:parliament. The next See also:year he was for the first See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time elected to the See also:lower house of the general court, in which he served until 1974, after 1766 as clerk. As See also:- JAMES
- JAMES (Gr. 'IlrKw,l3or, the Heb. Ya`akob or Jacob)
- JAMES (JAMES FRANCIS EDWARD STUART) (1688-1766)
- JAMES, 2ND EARL OF DOUGLAS AND MAR(c. 1358–1388)
- JAMES, DAVID (1839-1893)
- JAMES, EPISTLE OF
- JAMES, GEORGE PAYNE RAINSFOP
- JAMES, HENRY (1843— )
- JAMES, JOHN ANGELL (1785-1859)
- JAMES, THOMAS (c. 1573–1629)
- JAMES, WILLIAM (1842–1910)
- JAMES, WILLIAM (d. 1827)
James See also:Otis's vigour and See also:influence declined, Adams took a more and more prominent See also:place in the revolutionary See also:councils; and, contrary to the See also:opinion of Otis and See also:Benjamin See also:Franklin, he declared that colonial See also:representation in parliament was out of the question and advised against any See also:form of See also:compromise. Many of the Massachusetts revolutionary documents, including the famous "Massachusetts Resolves" and the circular See also:letter to the legislatures of the other colonies, are from his See also:pen; but owing to the fact that he usually acted as clerk to the House of Representatives and to the several committees of which he was a member, documents were written by him which expressed the ideas of the See also:committee as a whole.
There can be no question, however, that Samuel Adams was one of the first, if not the first, of American political leaders to deny the legislative See also:power of parliament and to See also:desire and See also:advocate separation from the mother See also:country.
To promote the ends he had in view he suggested non-importation, instituted the Boston committees of See also:correspondence, urged that a See also:Continental See also:Congress be called, sought out and introduced into public service such See also:allies as John See also:Hancock, See also:Joseph See also:Warren and See also:Josiah See also:Quincy, and wrote a vast number of articles for the See also:newspapers, especially the Boston See also:Gazette, over a multitude of signatures. He was, in fact, one of the most voluminous and influential political writers of his time. His See also:style is clear, vigorous and epigrammatic; his arguments are characterized by strength of See also:logic, and, like those of other patriots, are, as the dispute advances, based less on precedentand documentary authorities and more on " natural right." Although he lacked oratorical fluency, his See also:short speeches, like his writings, were forceful; his See also:plain See also:dress and unassuming ways helped to make him extremely popular with the See also:common See also:people, in whom he,had much greater faith than his cousin John had; and, above all, he was an eminently successful manager of men. Shrewd, wily, adroit, unfailingly tactful, an See also:adept in all the arts of the politician, he is considered to have done more than any other one man, in the years immediately preceding the See also:War of See also:Independence, to See also:mould and See also:direct public opinion in his community.
The intense excitement which followed the "Boston See also:Massacre" Adams skilfully used to secure the removal of the soldiers from the town to a fort in the See also:harbour. He it was, also, who managed the proceedings of the "Boston See also:Tea Party," and later he was See also:moderator of the See also:convention of Massachusetts towns called to protest against the Boston See also:Port See also:Bill. One of the See also:objects of the expedition sent by See also:Governor See also:- THOMAS
- THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
- THOMAS (d. 110o)
- THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
- THOMAS, CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE (1811-1896)
- THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
- THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
- THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
- THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
- THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
- THOMAS, ST
- THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
- THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)
Thomas See also:Gage to See also:Lexington (q.v.) and See also:Concord on See also:April 18-19, 1775, was the See also:capture of Adams and John Hancock, temporarily staying in Lexington, and when Gage issued his See also:proclamation of See also:pardon on See also:June 12 he excepted these two, whose offences, he said, were "of too flagitious a Nature to admit of any other See also:Consideration than that of condign See also:Punishment."
As a delegate to the Continental Congress, from 1774 to 1781, Samuel Adams continued vigorously to oppose any concession to the See also:British See also:government; strove for See also:harmony among the several colonies in the common cause; served on numerous committees, among them that to prepare a See also:plan of See also:confederation; and signed the See also:Declaration of Independence. But he was rather a destructive than a constructive statesman, and his most important service was in organizing the forces of revolution before 1775. In 1779 he was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of Massachusetts that was adopted in 178o, and is still, with some amendments, the organic law of the commonwealth and one of the See also:oldest fundamental See also:laws in existence. He was one of the three members of the sub-committee which actually drafted that See also:instrument; and although John Adams is generally credited with having performed the See also:principal part of that task, Samuel Adams was probably the author of most of the bill of rights. In 1788, Samuel Adams was a member of the Massachusetts convention to ratify the Constitution of the See also:United States.
When he first read that instrument he was very much opposed to the consolidated government which it provided, but was induced to befriend it by resolutions which were passed at a See also:mass meeting of Boston See also:mechanics or "tradesmen"—his own firmest supporters—and by the See also:suggestion that its ratification should be accompanied by a recommendation of amendments designed chiefly to See also:supply the omission of a bill of rights. With-out his aid it is probable that the constitution would not have been ratified by Massachusetts. From 1789 to 1744 Adams was See also:lieutenant-governor of his See also:state, and from 1794 to 1797 was governor. After the formation of parties he became allied with the Democratic-Republicans rather than with the Federalists. He died on the 2nd of See also:October 1803, at Boston.
End of Article: ADAMS, SAMUEL (1722-1803)
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