samuel+adams

By: Amber Adkins. Samuel Adams was born on September 27, 1722in Boston, Massachusetts. He was one of twelve children born to Samuel and Mary Fifield Adams. Adams held two key political positions that helped him in his fight against the British. He was the clerk of both the Boston town meeting and the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Through these positions he was able to draft petitions, resolutions, and letters in protest. He argued that since the colonists were not represented in Parliament, they being taxed without their consent. Thus the rallying cry, "No taxation without representation." Adams argued that colonists should boycott English imports and supported public demonstrations. However, he did not support the use of violence against the British as means of protest and supported the fair trial of the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. In 1773, Adams was influential in fighting the Tea Act. On December 16, 1773, Adams spoke at a town meeting against the Act. That evening, dozens of men dressed as Native Americans, boarded three tea ships that sat in Boston Harbor and threw the tea overboard. In response to the Boston Tea Party, the British increased their restrictions on the colonists. Parliament passed the "Intolerable Acts" that not only closed the port of Boston but also limited town meetings to one per year. Adams saw this as further evidence that the British would continue to limit the colonists' liberty. In September, 1774, Samuel Adams became one of the delegates at the First Continental Congress held in Philadelphia. He helped draft the Declaration of Rights. In April, 1775, Adams, along with John Hancock, was a target of the British army advancing on Lexington. They escaped, however, when Paul Revere famously warned them. Beginning in May, 1775, Adams was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. He helped write the Massachusetts state constitution. He was part of the Massachusetts ratifying convention for the US Constitution. After the Revolution, Adams served as a Massachusetts state senator, lieutenant governor, and then governor. He died on October 2, 1803 in Boston.