Glenn Beck, on his Fox News Program, is hosting "Founder's Friday" for the next several Fridays. His show will be featuring guests discussing the contributions that our Founding Fathers made to the founding of this great country. Glenn Beck's first Founder's Friday features Samuel Adams, the second cousin to John Adams. In conjunction with Founder's Friday, I'll be presenting information about each of the Founders that's featured on Beck's Friday evening program. Let's begin our journey with Samuel Adams.
Samuel Adams was born on September 27, 1722 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was one of 12 children born to Samuel and Mary Fifield Adams. However, only two of his siblings would survive beyond age 3. He was a second cousin to John Adams, the second president of the United States. His father was involved in local politics, even serving as a representative to the provincial assembly. Adams attended Boston Latin School and then entered Harvard College at the age of 14. He would receive his bachelor's and master's degrees from Harvard in 1740 and 1743 respectively. Adams tried numerous businesses including one he started on his own. He was never successful as a commerical businessman. He took over his father's business enterprise when his father died in 1748. At the same time, he would turn to the career he would enjoy the rest of his life which was politics.
In 1749 Adams married Elizabeth Checkley. They had six children but only two lived to adulthood which were Samuel and Hannah. Elizabeth died in 1757 soon after giving birth to a stillborn son. Adams then married Elizabeth Wells in 1764. In 1756 Samuel Adams became a Boston tax collector, a position he would hold for almost 12 years. He wasn't the most diligent in his career as a tax collector. He found that he had an aptitude for writing. Throughout his writing and involvement, he rose as a leader in Boston politics. He became involved in numerous informal political organizations that had a large control over town meetings and local politics.
After the French and Indian War was over in 1763, Great Britain turned to increased taxation to help pay for the costs that had incurred in fighting and defending the American colonies. Parliament had enacted tax measures. Three tax measures that Adams opposed were the Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act of 1765, and the Townshend Duties of 1767. He believed as the British government increased its taxes and duties, it was reducing the individual liberties of the colonists. This would lead to even greater tyranny. Adams held two key political positions that helped him in his fight against the British. He was the clerk of both the Boston town meetings 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 weren't represented in Parliament, they were being taxed without their consent. Thus the rallying cry, "No taxation without representation." Adams argued that colonists should boycott English imports and support public demonstrations. However, he didn't support the use of violence against the British as a means of protest and supported the fair trial of the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre.
In 1772, Adams was a founder of a committee of correspondence which was meant to unite Massachusetts towns against the British. He then helped expand this sytem to other colonies. In 1773, Adams was influential in fighting the Tea Act. This Act was not a tax and in fact would have resulted in lower prices on tea. This act was meant to aid the East India Company by allowing it to bypass the English import tax and sell through merchants it selected. However, Adams felt that this was just a ploy to get colonists to accept the Townshend duties that were still in place. 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 to 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 Massachusetts state constitution. He was part of the Massachusetts ratifying convention of the U.S. Constitution. After the American Revolutionary War, Adams served as Massachusetts state senator, lieutenant governor, and then governor. He died on October 2, 1803 in Boston.
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