Samuel Adams Essays

Samuel Adams later became a controversial figure in American history.Accounts written in the 19th century praised him as someone who had been steering his fellow colonists towards independence long before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.

The younger Samuel Adams attended Boston Latin School and then entered Harvard College in 1736.

His parents hoped that his schooling would prepare him for the ministry, but Adams gradually shifted his interest to politics.

After leaving Harvard in 1743, Adams was unsure about his future.

He considered becoming a lawyer, but instead decided to go into business.

The court party used its influence to have the British Parliament dissolve the land bank in 1741.

Directors of the land bank, including Deacon Adams, became personally liable for the currency still in circulation, payable in silver and gold.

The Boston Caucus helped shape the agenda of the Boston Town Meeting.

A New England town meeting is a form of local government with elected officials, and not just a gathering of citizens; it was, according to historian William Fowler, "the most democratic institution in the British empire".[9] Deacon Adams rose through the political ranks, becoming a justice of the peace, a selectman, and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. (1678–1737), the leader of the "popular party", a faction that resisted any encroachment by royal officials on the colonial rights embodied in the Massachusetts Charter of 1691.

Lawsuits over the bank persisted for years, even after Deacon Adams's death, and the younger Samuel Adams would often have to defend the family estate from seizure by the government.

For Adams, these lawsuits "served as a constant personal reminder that Britain's power over the colonies could be exercised in arbitrary and destructive ways".