Born on October 30, , Adams grew up in a modest New England home. He was a direct descendant of the Puritans who arrived in Massachusetts in the previous century. He never considered himself a British subject, always an American. Adams could also be blunt and difficult, but few would argue about his significant contributions to the Revolution — and the Constitution — during his year life. Here are a few fascinating facts about one Founder who did nearly everything for his country during a long, distinguished public career.
Adams was a school teacher, briefly, before being called to other duties. Adams entered Harvard at the age of 15, and he later taught Latin in Worcester, Massachusetts, to earn the tuition fees for law school.
He also was an important leader in the Sons of Liberty , a radical group that engaged in violent civil disobedience and retaliation against those who cooperated with the British. Additionally, as a writer, Adams was a skillful propagandist, churning out scores of newspaper articles, pamphlets and letters to promote resistance to British rule.
Adams and other firebrands helped push moderate colonial leaders into joining in the resistance against the British, which eventually led to the war. He also was a serious political theorist who championed the notion of individual rights, which became a core American value.
During the Revolutionary War, Adams served in the Continental Congress , and helped draft the Articles of Confederation , the document that was the predecessor to the U. Adams was born in Boston on September 27, to an affluent Puritan family. His father, Samuel Adams, Sr. His mother, Mary Adams, was the daughter of a local businessman. It was there that Adams was introduced to the writings of John Locke , a philosopher in the Enlightenment , who argued that all people were born with certain rights that could not be taken away, and that governments exist by the consent of the people.
He was similarly unsuccessful as a city tax collector, performing his duties so ineptly that his ledgers came up short by thousands of pounds.
He used that opportunity to exhort other Bostonians to cherish and protect their personal freedom. That same year, Adams was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, an office he would hold for nine years.
Around that time, he also joined a secretive group of activists called the Loyal Nine, which eventually evolved into a more radical organization called the Sons of Liberty. When British troops arrived in Boston in , Adams became more heavily involved in organizing resistance against the Crown. He wrote scores of newspaper articles under pen names, attacking the British.
He also pressured Boston merchants to boycott British goods. This made Samuel Adams an Anti-Federalist; he did succeed in adding amendments to the Constitution which helped lay the groundwork for the Bill of Rights. After ratification of the U. He would go on to win the election of as a Federalist and become the second President of the United States. For Samuel Adams , John Adams was his successful cousin with differing politics. They were not ever very close, but their differences in opinion probably made a relationship less likely to bloom.
During the war, Warren fell in battle, and this moment was immortalized in a painting by John Trumbull called "The Death of General Warren. An early American silversmith and active voice of the Revolution, Paul Revere is most well known for his ride to Lexington to alert the militia of the movement of the British troops and to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of their pending arrest.
After his business fell into financial ruin after the implementation of the Intolerable Acts, he became one of the main organizers of the intelligence and alarm system which would keep tabs on the British military.
Despite popular historical accounts, he never rode hundreds of miles through New England shouting "the British are coming," but his acts in secret, and in public, did do a great deal to promote the American Revolutionary cause. Although little is known about William Mackay, history has preserved the fact that he was a Bostonian merchant strongly affected by the implementation of the Stamp Act of , and worked as a Son of Liberty to promote the Revolution.
A lawyer and member of the Massachusetts provincial assembly, James Otis, Jr. He is famous for coining the phrase, "taxation without representation is tyranny," which would go on to become an anthem for patriot opposition to the crown. As a lawyer, Otis became enraged by British imposed "writs of assistance" which permitted British authorities to enter the house of a colonist without notice or probable cause. In response these writs, Otis gave a number of speeches speaking out against British exploitation of the colonists, and his words inspired many people to rise up against the tyranny of the crown.
The founder of Dickinson college in Pennsylvania, signatory to the Declaration of Independence , and Founding Father of the United States, Benjamin Rush is certainly one of the more famous voices of the revolution. Incredibly outspoken, Rush would make many friends, and enemies most notably George Washington, to whom he gave harsh criticism , and his words would effect great movements towards opposition to Great Britain. Also, Thomas Paine looked to Rush when he was drafting his treatises in favor of the Revolutionary War.
A truly learned manRush would join the Medical Committee of the Continental Congress, taking on a more practical role as well as a political one. Nicknamed "King Sears" for his pivotal role in organizing the New York mob, Isaac Sears was a leading member of the Sons of Liberty who leaned predominately towards orchestrating violence and encouraging anti-British demonstration.
A prosperous New York City merchant outraged by the Intolerable Acts, Sears was forceful in his opposition to the Stamp Act in particular, using whatever means necessary to dissuade the use of British stamps in the colonies. After the Stamp Act was finally repealed, he erected a number of liberty poles and broadsides large sheets of paper printed on one side only , signed "the Mohawks," warning that action would be taken against anyone supporting any of the Intolerable Acts.
He would eventually become the stand in commander of New York City until Washington arrived to relieve him in Sympathetic to the American cause, Solomon joined the New York branch of the Sons of Liberty and was arrested as a spy in After eighteen months of torture aboard the British vessel, he was released under the stipulation that he would remain as an interpreter for British-commissioned mercenaries.
While involved in this forced employment, Solomon helped many American prisoners escape their confinement and encouraged the mercenaries to join the Americans. Born in Scotland, James Swan moved to American colonies in the late s where he spent his youth as a shop clerk in Boston.
As time went by, he became increasingly interested in the American Revolutionary effort and joined leagues with the Sons of Liberty.
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