Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams (September 27 (OS), 1722 — October 2, 1803) was an American leader, politician, writer, and political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Adams helped gather support in the American colonies to rebel against Great Britain. This led to the American Revolution. Adams also shaped the foundations of American politics.

Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Adams was brought up in a religious family. He was educated at Boston Latin School and Harvard College.

He first became a businessman, but did not like it. He turned his interest instead to politics and became an influential political writer. In his writings, and at town meetings in Boston, Adams urged people to defend their rights and liberties, withdraw from Great Britain, and form a new government.

Adams wrote protests against the taxes that Parliament imposed on the colonies, like the Stamp Act of 1765. He helped to organize the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and was a member of the Continental Congress. At the Second Continental Congress in 1776, he argued for the Declaration of Independence.

Adams helped write the Massachusetts Constitution, along with James Bowdoin and his cousin John Adams. Later, Adams helped draft the Articles of Confederation. After the Revolutionary War ended, he ran for the House of Representatives in the 1st United States Congressional election. He lost the election to Fisher Ames, but was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1789. After John Hancock’s death in 1793, Adams served as the acting governor. He was then elected governor in January 1794. He served in that position until he retired in June 1797 and settled down in his home in Boston. He died six years later on October 2, 1803.