(September 27, 1722-October 2, 1803)

www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/adams_s.htm

Personal Life

      Samuel Adams was born in Boston, Massachusetts in fall 1722. His father, Samuel Adams Sr., was a Boston brewer and a part time politician. Sam’s parents sent him to Harvard College, and he graduated from Harvard in 1740. Samuel became a tax-collector for the town of Boston after graduation. He married Mary Elizabeth Checkley and had five children. Only two of their five children survived childhood, Samuel and Hannah. In 1764 Mary died, and in 1771 Sam remarried a young woman named Elizabeth Wells. 

Radical Political Life

 http://www.americansonsofliberty.com/samadams.htm

            Samuel Adams began his political life by joining the Caucus Club.  Samuel’s father helped found the Club, which was a political organization for working men.  It soon became a center for the radical leaders against British Rulers.   Adams also took part in writing radical articles for the New England Press, and primarily Boston Gazette.  Most of the editorials were in support of an American Revolution.  He wrote these articles under pseudonyms.  Over the span of time he wrote these editorials Adams ended up using seventeen different pseudonyms.

            In 1765 Samuel Adams’s radical ideas were put into action through the Sons of Liberty, also called the Liberty Boys.  The Sons of Liberty was mainly composed of laboring classes.  It was successfully kept as a secret society.  While in the Sons of Liberty, Adams headed demonstrations leading to the Boston Massacre of 1770.  He also was a director in the Boston Tea Party on December 17, 1773, which was in opposition to the import tax.  These two events were the two major acts of the Liberty boys in the 1770s.

 The Boston Tea Party

http://encarta.msn.com/media_461513061_761553483_-1_1/boston_tea_party.html

Later Political Life

After the American Revolution was concluded, Samuel Adams slowed down his radical lifestyle.  However, Adams still was a prominent political leader of the time.  On September 5, 1774, Samuel Adams was a delegate in the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia.  In the Continental Congress, Adams was able to work closely with his cousin John Adams, who was married to Abigail Adams.  At the Congress, Adams advocated the idea of republicanism.  After the Congress on August 2, 1776, he, along with fifty-five others, signed the Declaration of Independence.  Samuel Adams was elected Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as governor from 1794-1797, when he decided to retire to his home life.  

Signers of the Declaration of Independence

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/trumbull.htm

Lasting Impact

        To this day, Samuel Adams is one of the prominent individuals in American history. He has left his mark on our country with his political ideals and radical acts. Today, he is forever remembered through the alcoholic beverage “Samuel Adams beer.” Since his father was a brewer it is only right that he is remembered in this way. Now his name is posted on millions of bottles each year, and is remembered for all he has done for his country.

 http://www.earlyamerica.com/portraits/samadams.html

Worksheet

Sources 

Page created by:  Samantha R

Avon High School, Avon, Indiana

Date created: 03/21/08

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