Samuel Adams - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

Samuel Adams (born the September 27th 1722 with Boston - died the October 2nd 1803 with Boston) was a politician, writer and Philosophe American, born in the Massachusetts in New England. Regarded as one of the Founding fathers of the United States, Samuel Adams carried out the sling anti-British before and during the American Révolution. Its talents of speaker and writer enabled him to be essential in the assemblies and the meetings; he wrote petitions and resolutions which advanced the revolutionary process and the political organization of the country. He signed the Déclaration of American independence, collaborated in the drafting of the Constitution of Massachusetts and the Articles of the Confederation. He finished his career like Gouverneur of Massachusetts of 1793 with 1797. Samuel Adams is regarded as one of the principal architects of the Républicanisme and was one of the great political figures of Massachusetts and the United States at the 18th century.

Family origins and youth

Samuel Adams was born Sunday September 16th 1722; his/her parents, Mary Fifield and Samuel Adams, had many children, but Samuel Adams was the second which succeeds in exceeding the three years age. Mary Fifield, the girl of a business man named Richard Fifield, was very pious and in the puritan tradition raised it. His/her father, Samuel Adams Sr., officiated like Diacre and was notable influential. He was closely related to the Old South Congregation Church of Boston, which he helped besides to build in 1715. Samuel Adams was baptized with the Old South Church (Boston) and it is since the turn of this congregation that it will launch his calls to resistance, little before the beginning of the Boston Tea Party . The father of Samuel Adams exerted a great influence on the life of Boston, a harbor city of the colony of Massachusetts, and sat off at the board selectmen , the colonial assembly. The father of Samuel Adams also engaged in several organizations with political vocation and criticized the policy imperialist carried out by the Great Britain in the Thirteen colonies.

Formation

Samuel Adams made his studies with prestigious the Boston Latin School , where it was characterized by his taste for the ancient Littérature Greek and Latin, whose influences appear in its future writings. Because of the religious education which it accepted, Samuel Adams was attentive with the impact of the religious offices and the Sermon S on the parishioners. He realized of the capacity that the speeches can have and wanted initially to become priest.

In 1736, it entered to Harvard at the 14 years age in order to follow studies of Théologie. It is in this Collège that Samuel Adams started to be interested in the political theories. It off continued its course in higher education after having received its diploma Bachelor Arts in 1740. It then developed its ideas on the rights of the colonists and British control on the Thirteen colonies. As well of others Founding fathers of the United States, it was influenced by works of John Locke, in particular by its Traité civil government , in which the English philosopher justifies the Glorieuse Revolution of 1688. According to the writings of John Locke, all the Men are born equal with natural Right : life, freedom, equality and the property. The governments must protect these rights for the community property and are related to the people by a contract.

After having obtained its Control in arts, his/her mother wanted that it is invested in the life of sound Église, it fell in love with Elizabeth Checkley, the girl of the reverend of his Paroisse. The father of Samuel Adams wished that it continue studies of right and was arranged so that it works in the office of the accountants of Thomas Cushing. But this last returned it because it was interested obviously more by the policy than by the businesses. Samuel Adams accepted 1000 books of his father so that it founds his own business, but it lent half of this sum to a friend in difficulty and was never refunded. It wasted other half and worked in the family Brasserie on Purchase Street, in Boston. In 1746, it was selected like employee of the market of Boston and worked with the service of two future members of the Room of the Representatives of Massachusetts.

He was also member of freemasonry.

First political writings

In January 1748, Samuel Adams launched with some friends a Hebdomadaire of opinion, The Public Advertiser . This publication contained primarily leading and political comments of tendency Whig , favorable to freedom in the thirteen colonies. Samuel Adams criticized the English Parlement there which did not respecteait according to him the rights of the American colonists. He thought that the Charter of Massachusetts (1691) granted more rights that the subjects of the king in England had some. He was based on this text to require the resignation of the royal Gouverneur of the time, William Shirley, which exceeded its capacities and limited those of the colonial assembly. Samuel Adams was in addition convinced that if New England gave up its puritan values , it would finish like the Roman Empire. He compared even the beginnings of the puritan colony with the 17th century with the Apogée of the Roman Empire.

Family life

With died his/her father in 1748, Samuel Adams inherited the family brewery and part of the land and buildings, which it shared with his sister and her Joseph younger brother. It was released by the will of its debt of 1000 pounds. He married Elizabeth Checkley the October 17th 1749. In September 1750, the couple had its first child, baptized Samuel, but this one died a few days after its birth. They had other children, among whom survived Samuel (born the October 16th 1751) and a girl, fore-mentioned Hannah. Elizabeth died the July 25th 1757 at the 32 years age. At that time, Samuel Adams had wasted the family inheritance and was covered with debts. He lived in indigence and worked as tax collector (1756 - 1764); he made use of this function to put forward his political ideas on the taxes imposed by London. In 1761, Samuel Adams made the meeting of Elizabeth Wells, young woman a 18 year old her junior whom he married the December 6th 1764.

Period pre-revolutionist (1763-1774)

Engagement against the British taxes

In the Years 1760, Samuel Adams was characterized already by its activity in the town meeting and in Caucus Club from Boston. It was illustrated in the opposition to the taxes imposed by London in the thirteen colonies. Indeed, England had been involved in debt to gain the Guerre Seven Year old and intended to make pay the American colonists. The April 5th 1764, the Sugar Act was voted by the English Parliament; it extended the taxes to products as sugar, certain wines, the coffee, the textiles, etc the regulation on iron and wood exports was also reinforced. It was a question for the government of controlling the trade in the colonies and of increasing the incomes of the British Crown. The purpose of this law was also to support the importation of Mélasse coming from British colonies, under the terms of the economic Monopole and of the Mercantilisme then into force. The decision raised the dissatisfaction with Samuel Adams who came into contact with two deputy of the assembly of Massachusetts, James Otis and Oxenbridge Thacher. It tried to convince them that the Sugar Act constituted a violation of the rights of the colonies, which had not been consulted. He also thought that the lack of reaction in America would lead England to impose new taxes and a narrower control of the colonies. He sought to gain other supports in the town meeting and wrote a text of protest submitted to the assembly of Massachusetts. This document is the first to blame the authority of the English Parliament on the question of the taxes. It calls for the first time at the unit of the American colonists against their Métropole. It was published in the press and included in many Pamphlet S. James Otis gave the document to the assembly of Massachusetts where it was approved the June 14th 1764. The assembly also proposed to bring together the delegates of the thirteen colonies in Congress, but it was prevented by it by the royal governor, Francis Bernard, which pronounced its suspension. However the text of Samuel Adams was widely diffused apart from the Massachusetts and contributed to the rebellion against the Sugar Act . In Boston, Samuel Adams succeeds in convincing the merchants of Boycott er the English goods and the Sugar Act was finally repealed; but the policy of taxation was not abandoned.

Indeed, in 1765, the Stamp Act imposed an excise tax on all the official documents and printed (allowed, contracts, newspapers, Testament S, etc). Samuel Adams invited the colonists again to defend their rights and freedoms. With other representatives, it launched the idea of a Stamp Act Congress , a meeting of delegated of the thirteen colonies, in order to discuss the new tax. The assembly of Massachusetts approved this decision. Last nine colonies out of thirteen sent representatives to the Stamp Act Congress which was held with New York in October 1765. 27 delegated colonies adopted a Déclaration of the Rights and Objections ( Declaration off Rights and Grievances ) and sent letters as well as petitions in England. Actually, the boycotts of the English products had more effect than the petitions, and the law was finally repealed the March 18th 1766, under the British pressure of the merchants. But the question of the political representation of the Americans was not settled.

After the death of Oxenbridge, Samuel Adams presented himself to replace it at the assembly and was elected by 265 votes against 18, at the conclusion of the second turn. He acquired a political position of leader thus. There firmly remained opposite with the authority of the English Parliament and its decisions were ratified by the representatives of the colony under the name of “ Massachusetts Resolves ” ( Résolutions of Massachusetts ). Its adversaries, like the loyal supporter Thomas Hutchinson, started to denounce the influence of Samuel Adams on the colonial assembly. This last was re-elected in March 1766, with James Otis and Thomas Cushing. In 1768, Samuel Adams wrote a declaration plan in which it mentioned the questions of the colonial capacity, freedoms, the rights and the Autodétermination. The assembly examined this text, amended it for finally approving it the January 12th 1768; it was dispatched with king d' Angleterre. The February 4th, the assembly voted in favor of a circular on the colonial policy, also written by Samuel Adams. This document was addressed to the other colonies and accepted a favorable reception; it was published by Thomas Hollis with London, with a petition of Massachusetts, under the title The True Sentiments off America . This work had a great repercussion in England as in America and was regarded by the Crown as an act of distrust: in May 1768, of the troops were sent to Boston.

“Massacre” of Boston

Boston Tea Party

Samuel Adams and the American Revolution (1774-1803)

See also: American Revolution

In September 1774, Samuel Adams was selected to represent the colony of Massachusetts to the First continental Congress joined together with Philadelphia. He was one of the first to propose American independence. He also sat at the Second continental Congress and was used with the council as war, between 1775 and 1781.

In Boston, the British general Thomas Gage became commander-in-chief of the armies of Massachusetts in 1774 and replaced the civil governor Thomas Hutchinson. For this reason, it was charged to apply the Intolerable Acts .
Thomas Gage accepted the order to stop John Hancock and Samuel Adams, but the latter fled in time and took refuge with Lexington. The colonists as for them had gathered during the winter of the weapons, the ammunition and the powder with Concord. In the evening of the April 18th 1775, Thomas Gage sent 700 men towards these two cities, located at a few kilometers in the west of Boston. Their goal was to destroy the stock of ammunition but also to capture Samuel Adams and of John Hancock. However, the latter were informed in time by Paul Revere and William Dawes that the English troops arrived. After the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the governor Thomas Gage guarantees a Amnistie with those which would express their honesty with regard to the Crown; but John Hancock and Samuel Adams were excluded from this proposal.

Samuel Adams affixed his signature with the Déclaration of independence in 1776. He appeared being wary with respect to the project of a strong government and supported the Articles of the Confederation, the first constitutional text of the United States, which he signed in 1777. He criticized general George Washington as well as the troops of the American army. In 1781, it was elected with the Senate of the State of Massachusetts, from which he was the president during one year until in 1788.

At the time of the development of the American Constitution, Samuel Adams was regarded as a anti-federalist, a political group opposed at a strong central government, without being as radical as some other characters. Thus, it continued to support the Articles of the Confederation until the end of its career: its contemporaries had called it “the last puritan. ” It initially drew up against the elaborate constitution project federal with the convention of Philadelphia in 1787. After several months of debates, Samuel Adams finally decided to give his downstream to the Constitution, with the guarantee that a declaration of the rights would be added to the text. Massachusetts ratified it of a small majority then obtained a local constitution written by a Convention of which Samuel Adams formed part.

In 1786, Samuel Adams supported the proposal of the governor James Bowdoin to send: 4000 militiamans in order to subdue the revolt of the involved in debt farmers, carried out by Daniel Shays. As a President of the Senate of Massachusetts, he wrote even a declaration against the Rébellion of Shays. Thereafter, the health of Samuel Adams worsened. In January 1788, it lost his/her son, Samuel Adams Jr. This last had studied medicine with the doctor Joseph Warren, comrade patriotic and friendly of Adams as well as his/her cousin John Adams (future President of the United States). Samuel Adams Jr. was also surgeon in the armed with Washington.

Samuel Adams lost the elections with the Chambre of the Representatives of the first congress against the federalistic Fisher Ames. He was however named lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts of 1789 with 1793 and assisted the governor John Hancock. In 1790, always influenced by the Puritanism, it belonged to the opponents to the opening of public theaters in Boston. It took over temporarily the duties as governor of Massachusetts died of John Hancock in 1793 and, the following year, it was elected with this load which it occupied until June 1797. At the time of its inaugural speech, he stated to want to leave the decision-making power at the assembly of the State. In 1795, it resolutely criticized the treated of Jay approved by a majority of Senators the June 24th. This document put an end to all the dispute born of the American Revolution. The British agreed to evacuate the strong Westerners and to compensate for the owners of American ships. In exchange they accepted Americans the commercial statute of the most favoured nation. Samuel Adams had supported France in this business and it gained for this reason the sympathy of Republicans like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
The same year, Samuel Adams was re-elected with a vast majority, in spite of the attacks of the Federalists. In 1796, it presented to the American presidential election and arrived in fifth position with 15 votes. It took its political retirement in 1797 and started to present the symptoms of the cerebral driving Infirmité or the Parkinson's disease, so that his/her daughter Hannah was to sign for him. He died at the 81 years age the October 2nd 1803 and was buried with the Granary Burying Ground of Boston.

Heritage

Samuel Adams remains a discussed figure of the American history. The historian Mark Sweaters, in his biography entitled Samuel Adams: Father off the American Revolution (2006), describes it like a political leader and a precursor of the American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson compared it with a “Patriarche of freedom” ( Patriarch off Liberty ); John Adams described it as “Father of the American Revolution” ( Father off the American Revolution ).

Samuel Adams was the first to proclaim that the English Parlement did not have any legitimate authority on the thirteen colonies. He used the press to diffuse his revolutionary ideas. The historian George Bancroft, in his History off the United States from the Discovery off the Unintermitting American , writes that it had a considerable influence on the public opinion hang the anti-English revolt. For John Fiske, Samuel Adams is the most important character for the foundation of the United States, behind George Washington.

Since, the role of Samuel Adams in the history of the country was revalued by the historians: Ralph V. Harlow describes it like a Zélote and a propagandist of American independence. John C. Miller takes again this vision in his biography published in 1936. Russel Kirk shows that it used independence to serve its own political ambitions and Démagogie shows it. Pauline Maier in The Old Revolutionaries: Political Lives in the Age off Samuel Adams (1980) supports that Samuel Adams was neither a revolutionist, nor a leader. According to the historian, it did nothing but take again on its account the English tradition of preserving revolution, with the image of the Glorieuse Revolution of 1688-1689.

Lastly, the name of Samuel Adams was taken again for regular commercial practices: a mark of American Beer, the Sam Adams , produced by Boston Beer Company takes again the activity of brewer whom he exerted in his youth.

Several associations also refer to Samuel Adams: the Sam Adams Alliance and the Sam Adams Foundation pays homage to its capacity to organize the citizens at the local level to achieve a national goal.

See too

Sources

Works having been used for the drafting of the article:

John K. Alexander, Samuel Adams: America' S Revolutionary Politician, Lanham, Maryland, Rowman & Littlefield, 2002.
Thomas Fleming, Samuel Adams: Father off the American Revolution, New York, HarperCollins, 2005.
James K. Hosmer, Samuel Adams , Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1885, online edition
John C. Miller, Sam Adams, Pioneer in Propaganda , Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1936
Mark Sweaters, `' Samuel Adams: Father off the American Revolution'', New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006,

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