1 00:00:05,559 --> 00:00:08,239 Speaker 1: On this episode of This World. The lives of these 2 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:11,640 Speaker 1: men are essential to understand the American form of government 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:15,240 Speaker 1: and our ideals of liberty. The founding fathers all played 4 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 1: key roles in securing American independence from Great Britain and 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: in the creation of the government of the United States 6 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 1: of America. And now the life of Samuel Adams. When 7 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: you go back to the beginning, you realize that Samuel 8 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: Adams was almost born to be a rebel and a troublemaker. 9 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:51,159 Speaker 1: In college, he was reprimanded for missing morning prayer. His 10 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: senior year, he was caught drinking on campus, a much 11 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: more shocking event back then, although his father owned a brewery, 12 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: so maybe drinking on campus wasn't all that surprising. He 13 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: was born to a very wealthy and religious family on 14 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,559 Speaker 1: September twenty seventh, seventeen twenty two. He was the tenth 15 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: of twelve children. We tend to forget sometimes both how 16 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:17,040 Speaker 1: many children colonial family said, and also how many they 17 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: had lost. Only Sam ladamson. Two of his siblings made 18 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: it past childhood. That's three out of twelve. Nine did 19 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: not survive childhood. His father, Sam Ladams Senior, was a 20 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: deacon of the Congregational Church, ran a brewery and was 21 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 1: deeply involved in politics. Remember, by the way, that back 22 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: at a time when we did not have clean, drinkable water, 23 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: beer really matters and its very significant fact. Guinness Stout 24 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: was one of my favorite beers. Was actually invented in 25 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: Ireland as a health drink because it was better for 26 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: you than either hard liquor or water. The founder of 27 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: Guinness Stout actually got an award for doing something involving 28 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: public health. So when you talk about people running brewers, 29 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: it's a much different world. In the eighteenth century, Sam 30 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 1: Adams is growing up and he loved politics. Now, I 31 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: think that's a key part of this. You know, this 32 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: is the guy who likes people, He's involved with people. 33 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: He's also pretty well educated. And when he was young 34 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: he attended the Boston Latin School, which has historically been 35 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,680 Speaker 1: a remarkably good school. He learned Latin and Greek. He 36 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: attended Harvard College at the age of fourteen. He earned 37 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 1: his undergraduate degree in seventeen forty and a graduate degree 38 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: in seventeen forty three. This is this smart guy and 39 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: a pretty learned guy. Although unlike John Adams, his central 40 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: impact in history is not because of his calculated writing 41 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:47,119 Speaker 1: and his calculated capacity as a literary person, but rather 42 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: because he could really organize and arouse people. Now, his 43 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: father attempted to establish a land bank in Boston. He 44 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: was popular in the colonies, but the British Parliament opposed 45 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: it and ruled the bank illegal in seventeen forty one, 46 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: which led to the Adams family going bankrupt dealing with 47 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: the lawsuits that followed, and that may have been part 48 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: of why you begin to get the strong sense in 49 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: Sam Adams that the British Parliament is anti American. He 50 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: writes his Master's Thesis on quote whether it be lawful 51 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: to resist the Supreme Magistrate if the Commonwealth cannot otherwise 52 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: be preserved. Notice, he's intellectually laying the base for the 53 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: principle that in order to protect Americans' rights they may 54 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: have to, in fact, to use his language, resist the 55 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: Supreme Magistrate. Of course, the Supreme Magistrate automnly is the King, 56 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: and he's questioning in his Master's Thesis whether England really 57 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: legally has the right to impose taxes on the colonies. 58 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: Part of what's happened, of course, is when the English 59 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: win the French and Indian War, or the Sevent Years 60 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: Wars it's called in Europe, and the French are driven 61 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: out of Canada all of a sudden, the Americans aren't 62 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: faced with any kind of significant threat, and at the 63 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: same time, the British have this huge debt they've run 64 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: up in fighting the Seven Years War, which was a 65 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: genuinely worldwide war started by the way by George Washington 66 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 1: as a very young man in western Pennsylvania. They want 67 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: to raise taxes at the very moment that the Americans think, hey, 68 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: everything's worked out fine, we don't need your protection and 69 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: we don't need to give you money. So Sam Adams, 70 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: in that sense, coming off the grievance of the British Parliament, 71 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 1: having destroyed his father's family wealth, decided that he would 72 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: in fact become more and more militant in favor of freedom. Now, 73 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: when he did graduate, he was going to practice law, 74 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: which his cousin John Adams does do brilliantly. But his 75 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: mother was against Sam Adams becoming a lawyer, so she 76 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:53,240 Speaker 1: convinced him to become a clerk at accounting house Centsia Bank. 77 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: His father tried to get his son into business by 78 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: giving him a thousand pounds to start his own business, 79 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:02,359 Speaker 1: but Adams wasn't the businessman. He lost the money because 80 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted to focus on politics, 81 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:08,919 Speaker 1: and while he's working at the brewery, Adams, at the 82 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:11,279 Speaker 1: age of twenty six, and a group of his friends 83 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: started Quote The Independent Advertisers, a newspaper where anonymously they 84 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: questioned England's rule and demanded more rights for the colonies. 85 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 1: Paper lasted about a year. The first edition of the 86 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: paper was published in Boston on January fourth, seventeen forty eight. 87 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: The first edition started with the following quote, upon the 88 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:36,480 Speaker 1: encouragement we've already received and agreeable to our printed proposals, 89 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 1: the Independent Advertiser now makes its entrance into the world, 90 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: And as it will doubtless be expected upon its first appearance, 91 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 1: that we should more fully explain our design and show 92 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,040 Speaker 1: what the public may expect of it, we would accordingly 93 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 1: observe that we shall be no means endeavor to recommend 94 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: this out paper by depreciating the merit of other performances 95 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: of the same kind. Neither would we flatter the expectations 96 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 1: of the public by any pompous promises which we may 97 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:06,040 Speaker 1: not be likely to fulfill. But this our reader may 98 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: depend upon. That we shall take the utmost care to 99 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: procure the freshest and best intelligence, and publish it in 100 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:15,919 Speaker 1: such an order as that every reader may have the 101 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: cleanest and most perfect understanding of it. And for the 102 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 1: benefit of those who are unacquainted with the geography of 103 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: foreigner parts, we may insert such descriptions as may enlighten them. 104 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 1: Therein now part, what they're saying is Boston is a 105 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: great port. People are showing up in Boston. Ships are 106 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: coming into Boston from all over the Atlantic, and what 107 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: they want to do is they want to get the 108 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: news before anybody else print it, so you can learn 109 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: what's happening around the world because of that. Now, he 110 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:47,240 Speaker 1: also makes a political commitment in this very first newspaper. 111 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 1: He says, quote, as our present political state matter for 112 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: a variety of thoughts of peculiar importance to the people 113 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: of New England, we propose to insert everything of that 114 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:02,040 Speaker 1: nature that may be pertinently and wrote for ourselves. We 115 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: declare we are no party, neither shall we promote the 116 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: private and narrow designs of any such. We are ourselves free, 117 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,680 Speaker 1: and our papers shall be free, free as the Constitution 118 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:16,679 Speaker 1: we enjoy, free to truth, good manners, and good sense, 119 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: and at the same time free from all licentsious reflections, 120 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: insolence and abuse. Now notice here, becauseus will come up 121 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 1: again and again. And Sam Adams is one of the 122 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: people who is a great propagandist. The emphasis on free, 123 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: the word free. We are ourselves free, our paper will 124 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: be free, free as the Constitution we enjoy. I notice 125 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: he's already claiming that there's a constitution, and in British 126 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: tradition it's unwritten but understood. Free to truth, good manners, 127 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: and good sense, and at the same time free from 128 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: all licentious reflections, insolence and abuse. So think about that. 129 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: In this one paragraph that comes back to the word 130 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: free again and again, and he asserts, but there is 131 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: a constitution, which is why when the British Parliament begins 132 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:08,680 Speaker 1: to impose taxes, they are violating an already existing constitution. 133 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: The Americans, in their view, do not have to fight 134 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: for liberty. They are born into liberty. They are born 135 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,080 Speaker 1: into a constitution. Now, as an activist and somebody who 136 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: was very good at working with people in seventeen forty seven, 137 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: Adams is elected to his first political position as one 138 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: of the clerks of the Boston Market, where he served 139 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: for nine years. A year later, seventeen forty eight, both 140 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: his parents died, leaving him with their estate and in 141 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:38,600 Speaker 1: charge of the family's brewery business. He was also left 142 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: with the numerous lawsuits connected to the land bank that 143 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: his father had tried to establish. Adams just not a 144 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: good businessman. He's unable to make ends meet. He loses 145 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: the brewery business. The government foreclosed in his family's estate, 146 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: but Adams used his ability in writing to threaten potential 147 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: buyers and was able to keep the estate while the 148 00:08:57,320 --> 00:08:59,400 Speaker 1: government was trying to sell it. People this wouldn't buy it. 149 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:04,440 Speaker 1: In seventeen forty nine, Samuel Adams married Elizabeth Checkley. According 150 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,560 Speaker 1: to adams quote, she was a rare example of virtue 151 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: and piety, blended with a retiring and modest demeanor and 152 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:15,560 Speaker 1: the charms of elegant womanhood. Three years of junior. Elizabeth 153 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: was the daughter of Samuel Checkley, his pastor at the 154 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: Old South Meetinghouse. The couple had six children, only two 155 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:26,000 Speaker 1: of which reached maturity before Elizabeth Adams passed in seventeen 156 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: fifty seven due to complications of childbirth. After her death, 157 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: Adams immersed himself in politics. He worked briefly as a 158 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: tax collector in seventeen fifty six, but since he often 159 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:40,840 Speaker 1: failed to collect the required taxes and was leaning with 160 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: many who could not pay higher rates, he was fired 161 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: and held liable for the lost income. Once again he's 162 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:49,680 Speaker 1: angry at the government. However, this gave him the change 163 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:53,400 Speaker 1: to establish connections which served him in the future. He 164 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: went his second wife, Elizabeth Wells, in seventeen sixty four. 165 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: Wells was the daughter of his good friend Francis Wells, 166 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,720 Speaker 1: a successful Boston merchant. The couple had no children together, 167 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: but she embraced her chip children as her own and 168 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:10,560 Speaker 1: supported her husband throughout his political career. In seventeen sixty four, 169 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,719 Speaker 1: the British government, trying to pay for the debts that 170 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: had build up, passed the Sugar Act. As a member 171 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: of the town Meeting, Adams was vocal against the Act. 172 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:23,960 Speaker 1: On May twenty fourth, seventeen sixty four, he wrote to 173 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 1: the representatives of Boston, quote, for if our trade may 174 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: be taxed, why not our lands? Why not the produce 175 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,040 Speaker 1: of our lands and everything we possess or make use 176 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:36,440 Speaker 1: of this, we apprehend, annihilates our charter right to govern 177 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: and tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privileges, which, 178 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,520 Speaker 1: as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common 179 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: with our fellow subjects who are natives of Britain. If 180 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our 181 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: having a legal representation where they are laid, are we 182 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,160 Speaker 1: not reduced from the character of free subjects to the 183 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,840 Speaker 1: miserable state of tributary slaves. So here you have already 184 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty four. The core argument. The argument is we 185 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:07,760 Speaker 1: are British by definition, we are part of the British Constitution. 186 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: The British Constitution, of course, goes all the way back 187 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 1: to the signing of the Great Charter the Magna Carta, 188 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: and therefore people are not allowed to be taxed unless 189 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: they give their approval. And so they see this as 190 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:26,120 Speaker 1: an assault on existing rights. They're not claiming new rights. 191 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: They're claiming that their rights go back in history for 192 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: hundreds and hundreds of years, and it is the government 193 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:51,559 Speaker 1: which is assaulting them. A year later, got worse. The 194 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:54,400 Speaker 1: British government passed the Stamp Act again an effort to 195 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: get money to pay off all these various debts. Adams 196 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 1: at that point took the streetsited political party, the Country Party, 197 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:06,520 Speaker 1: with two opposing parties, North Boston and South Boston, led 198 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:10,360 Speaker 1: by John Hancock and James Otis, to form the Sons 199 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:13,199 Speaker 1: of Liberty. Noticed again the language the Sons of Liberty. 200 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:16,720 Speaker 1: Adams wrote Instructions of the Town of Boston to its 201 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:20,080 Speaker 1: representatives in the General Court in September seventeen sixty four, 202 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 1: and he's really laying out their argument. They are alarmed 203 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: and astonished at the attack called the Stamp Act, by 204 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 1: which I very grievous and we apprehend unconstitutional tax is 205 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: to be laid upon the colony. So notice they are 206 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:40,199 Speaker 1: literally arguing that they already have what they called are 207 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:44,800 Speaker 1: invaluable rights and liberties, and so they see this as 208 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:49,120 Speaker 1: an attack on existing rights. They're not arguing for new rights. 209 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 1: They are defending what they see as old rights. That 210 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: rebellion led to the Stamp Act Congress, where all but 211 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 1: four of the colonies demanded that the King repeal the 212 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,720 Speaker 1: tacks worked. The British gave up in seventeen sixty six 213 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:06,880 Speaker 1: and never collected the taxes. Adam was elected that year 214 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:09,320 Speaker 1: in seventeen sixty six to the House of Representatives as 215 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 1: a clerk. As clerk, he was responsible for basic record 216 00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:16,080 Speaker 1: keeping and communicating with the colony's agent in London and 217 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:19,959 Speaker 1: with other legislative assemblies in other colonies. This is where 218 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 1: he met John Hancock for the first time. Although most 219 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,520 Speaker 1: representatives did not receive a salary adam as clerk did 220 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: and had a steady income, this allowed him to focus 221 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: even more on politics. In seventeen sixty seven, Parliament approved 222 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:37,119 Speaker 1: a series of taxes on items imported in the colonies, 223 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:40,679 Speaker 1: known as the Townshen Acts. This act also created an 224 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:45,319 Speaker 1: American Board of Customs Commissioners to enforce collection, which established 225 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: their headquarters in Boston. It's almost as though the Parliament 226 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: is so desperate for money, and their reasoning is pretty simple. 227 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 1: They had fought a large war against France in part 228 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:58,600 Speaker 1: to protect the Americans. They borrowed all this money in 229 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:01,640 Speaker 1: order to wage the war to protect the Americans and 230 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:05,040 Speaker 1: the Americans and other beneficiaries of having Canada to the 231 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,040 Speaker 1: north be a British colony. So why weren't the Americans 232 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:12,200 Speaker 1: grateful and generous? And apparently in Parliament they just couldn't 233 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 1: get through their head how much this was infuriating and 234 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 1: alienating the Americans. When news of the towns and Acts 235 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: reaches Massachusetts in the autumn of seventeen sixty seven, Adams 236 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 1: immediately employed the Boston Town Meeting to organize protests in Boycott's. 237 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,240 Speaker 1: In January seventeen sixty eight, he motioned the General Court 238 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: to draft a petition to the King urging that he 239 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:40,880 Speaker 1: respects the charter rights of Massachusetts. Notice they're not creating rights. 240 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:44,880 Speaker 1: They want the King to respect existing rights. The motion 241 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: faced opposition from rural town representatives who aligned with the Parliament, 242 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 1: so Adams waited until the end of the legislative session, 243 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: when many of those who opposed departed back home, before 244 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: putting the motion forth. It easily passed. So here you 245 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: see him maneuvering thinking, becoming a pretty effective politician. The 246 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 1: General Court sent the letter the petition with the letter 247 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 1: to other colonies. It was known as the Massachusetts Circular Letter, 248 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:13,080 Speaker 1: which Adams was one of the authors alongside James Otis. 249 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: The letter read, quote, the House of Representations of this 250 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: Province have taken into their serious consideration the great difficulties 251 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: the must accrue to themselves in their constituents by the 252 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: operation of several acts of Parliament imposing duty and taxes 253 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:32,560 Speaker 1: on the American colonies. So they are really into this 254 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: issue of the Constitution, which they assert already exists, and 255 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,000 Speaker 1: they are really into the concept that the British Parliament 256 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: is now usurping their powers and threatening them in very 257 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: very serious ways. And they assert, quote, in all free states, 258 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 1: the Constitution is fixed, and as the Supreme Legislative derives 259 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 1: its power and authority from the Constitution, it cannot overleap 260 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:01,080 Speaker 1: the bounds of it without destroying its own foundation. That 261 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:05,600 Speaker 1: the Constitution ascertains and limits both sovereignty and allegiance. And 262 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: therefore His Majesty's American subjects, who acknowledge themselves bound by 263 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: the ties of allegiance, have an equitable claim to the 264 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: full enjoyment of the fundamental rules of the British Constitution. 265 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 1: That it is an essential, on alterable right in nature, 266 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: and grafted into the British Constitution as a fundamental law, 267 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:29,160 Speaker 1: and ever held sacred and irrevocable by the subjects within 268 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 1: the realm, that what a man has honestly acquired is 269 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: absolutely his own, which he may freely give, but cannot 270 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 1: be taken from him without his consent, That the American 271 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 1: subjects may, therefore, exclusive of any consideration of Charter rights, 272 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: with a decent firmness, adapted to the character of free 273 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: men and subjects, assert this natural and constitutional right. So 274 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: they're saying, we literally have under natural law, we have 275 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,280 Speaker 1: achieved this. This is the forerunner of what Jeff Person 276 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,880 Speaker 1: will write in the Declaration of Independence when he says 277 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 1: we are endowed by our Creator with certain honorable rights, 278 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 1: among which your life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Well, 279 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:13,399 Speaker 1: that's exactly what Adams is beaten to drift towards. That 280 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: these rights existed outside of any kind of specific contract. 281 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:22,520 Speaker 1: They are inherent their part of being British. And the 282 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 1: result was that they had put together a real opposition. 283 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: There was a threat to the core of the British system. 284 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:32,600 Speaker 1: Lord Hillsborough, who's the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 285 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,840 Speaker 1: received the letter and then ordered that the letter be 286 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 1: taken back. Hillsborough threatened them said if they refused, he 287 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:43,920 Speaker 1: would order Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to dissolve the General Court. 288 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:49,400 Speaker 1: Despite that threat, the legislative voted to refuse to rescind 289 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: the letter by ninety two to seventeen. Governor Bernard, in response, 290 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,480 Speaker 1: dissolved them. They did not reconvene for another year. In 291 00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: other words, faced with a direct order from the British government, 292 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:04,439 Speaker 1: by ninety two to seventeen, the legislatures are voting to 293 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:08,159 Speaker 1: defy the British government. Now this is the beginning of 294 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: really moving towards a serious confrontation. Troops arrive in Boston 295 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:17,880 Speaker 1: on October first, seventeen sixty eight, and while they're arriving, 296 00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: Adams is authoring over twenty newspaper articles, usually under the 297 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: pen names Index and Candidas, using the pseudonym Index. In 298 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:31,240 Speaker 1: the Boston Gazette in December seventeen sixty eight, he writes, quote, well, 299 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: the spirits of the people is yet unsubdued by tyranny, 300 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: on awed by the menace of arbitrary power, submit to 301 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 1: be governed by military force. No let us rouse our 302 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: attention to the common law, which is our birthright, our 303 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:50,120 Speaker 1: great security against all kinds of insult and oppression, the law, which, 304 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:52,639 Speaker 1: when rightly used, is the curb in the terror of 305 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: the haughtiest tyrant. So he's really putting together the core 306 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:00,919 Speaker 1: argument about the nature of freedom and the idea that 307 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: freedom belongs to you. It's not given to you by 308 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,200 Speaker 1: the government. Freedom starts with you, and then you may 309 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:10,840 Speaker 1: loan part of it to the government, but the center 310 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:14,880 Speaker 1: of us always you, the individual citizen. And Adams advocate 311 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:17,680 Speaker 1: that Boston merchants just refused to import all British goods 312 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: for a year. They didn't get one hundred percent support 313 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,000 Speaker 1: for it, but they got enough that all of a sudden, 314 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:27,720 Speaker 1: the British merchants are complaining to Parliament that the alienation 315 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: is getting to be expensive to them. And so where 316 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:34,719 Speaker 1: the British Parliament had thought, oh, this would be pretty easy, 317 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,040 Speaker 1: they'll obviously have to pay the taxes. What this discovering 318 00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:41,560 Speaker 1: is every time they take a step to oppress those 319 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:45,199 Speaker 1: who are angry, there are more people angry, and so 320 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: there's a whole process underway here in which people are 321 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:52,639 Speaker 1: gradually banding together to oppose what the British are doing. 322 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:56,040 Speaker 1: Adams wanted to extend it beyond one year, but it 323 00:19:56,119 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: just wasn't possible. On February twenty second, seventeen seventy, when 324 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:04,679 Speaker 1: harassed by a mob, a minor customs official named Ebenezer 325 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:09,320 Speaker 1: Richardson accidentally shot and killed eleven year old Christopher Cedar. 326 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:13,440 Speaker 1: Although probably an accident, Adams used this as an opportunity 327 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,439 Speaker 1: to call out the presence of British troops. Adams organized 328 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: a public funeral that was attended by over two thousand 329 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,119 Speaker 1: people for this young eleven year old who'd been killed. 330 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:27,440 Speaker 1: By March fifth, seventeen seventy nine, British soldiers faced off 331 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,840 Speaker 1: a mob of several hundred angry citizens. They fired into 332 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:35,080 Speaker 1: the crowd, killing five and wounding six citizens. That began 333 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:39,000 Speaker 1: to be the Boston massacre. On March sixth, Adams led 334 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: a committee to demand the removal of British troops in 335 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: an emergency session. After Adams addressed the assembly, they unanimously 336 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 1: voted for removal of the troops. Now this is a real, 337 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: I think significant repudiation of the British ability to extend power. 338 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,879 Speaker 1: Governor Hutcheson understands how big a threat this is. On 339 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,359 Speaker 1: the same day, writes to William Dalrymple, the commander of 340 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:05,800 Speaker 1: the military, quote, I am sensible. I have no power 341 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:07,960 Speaker 1: to order the troops to the castle, but under the 342 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 1: present circumstance of the town and the province I cannot 343 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 1: avoid in consequence of this unanimous advice to the Council 344 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:17,679 Speaker 1: designing you to order them there, which I must submit 345 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 1: to you. Lieutenant Colonel Dalrymple agreed to this and ordered 346 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 1: the troops to Castle Island in the Harbor. So the 347 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 1: American citizens feel like they're winning. The soldiers involved in 348 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:32,040 Speaker 1: the shooting were arrested and waited trial. But it's fascinating. 349 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:37,200 Speaker 1: This is a great story in American history because they 350 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,919 Speaker 1: wanted a fair trial. Even Samuel Adams, who was one 351 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:45,600 Speaker 1: of the hottest and most aggressive of the Americans, knew 352 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:47,879 Speaker 1: that it had to be a fair trial. And of 353 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,440 Speaker 1: course most attorneys did not want to defend the British, 354 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:54,640 Speaker 1: so Adams got his cousin John Adams and Josiah Quincy 355 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,960 Speaker 1: to defend them. It's a brilliant move. John Adams is 356 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:01,800 Speaker 1: a great lawyer. At the time, I think hurts him 357 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:05,160 Speaker 1: sum in terms of the people of Boston. But they 358 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:08,399 Speaker 1: made the argument that the soldiers were only firing out 359 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:11,399 Speaker 1: of self defense and there wasn't their fault that they 360 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:13,719 Speaker 1: were there. They'd been ordered to go there. So of 361 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 1: the soldiers only two were found guilty of manslaughter. Adams 362 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: actually opposed the court decision and really was on the 363 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:44,720 Speaker 1: side of the American revolutionaries. In April seventeen seventy, in 364 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:48,400 Speaker 1: an effort to find a middle ground, Parliament repeals all 365 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: the towns and taxes except one, the tax on tea. 366 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,880 Speaker 1: In the late spring of seventeen seventy one, news came 367 00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:01,480 Speaker 1: that Parliament would no longer allow the legislature to pay 368 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,920 Speaker 1: the governor's salary, but instead the governor's salary will be 369 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 1: paid with revenue from the t tax. At that point 370 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,800 Speaker 1: people begin to get really upset. By the autumn seventeen 371 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:15,200 Speaker 1: seventy two, the news broke the judges the Supreme Court 372 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:17,920 Speaker 1: would like the governor not be paid by the legislature. 373 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:21,720 Speaker 1: Now what's happening is the British Parliament is gradually creating 374 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 1: a class of people whose loyalty is to London, and 375 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:28,320 Speaker 1: who are prepared to impose on the people of Massachusetts. 376 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,920 Speaker 1: Now Adams when they learned that the judges as well 377 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,040 Speaker 1: as the governor are going to be paid directly from 378 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 1: the tax, writes an article on the Boston Gazette under 379 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 1: the name Valerius Publicola. He writes this quote to what 380 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:48,679 Speaker 1: a state of infamy, wretchedness, and misery. Shall we be 381 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 1: reduced if our judges shall be prevailed upon to be 382 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: thus degraded to hirelings, and the body of the people 383 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:58,440 Speaker 1: shall suffer their free constitution to be overturned and ruined. 384 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:02,520 Speaker 1: Let not the iron hand of tyranny ravish our laws 385 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:05,520 Speaker 1: and seize the badge of freedom, and the murderous rage 386 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:08,760 Speaker 1: of lawless power be ever seen on the sacred seat 387 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,560 Speaker 1: of justice. Now, by the way, it's interesting, I want 388 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: to the paper in which I realized that reforming judges 389 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:21,040 Speaker 1: was the number two demand of the colonists, after the 390 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:24,040 Speaker 1: right of taxation. They were so angry at the way 391 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:27,680 Speaker 1: that the judges had become creatures of the state against 392 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: the people that much of what we see in the 393 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:36,240 Speaker 1: Constitution in limiting the judges is a function of what 394 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:40,240 Speaker 1: they had experienced under the British where the judges became 395 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:44,520 Speaker 1: the tools of the king against the people. By late 396 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,639 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy two, Adams is writing a pamphlet The Rights 397 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 1: of the Colonists, and again this really is a precursor 398 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,720 Speaker 1: to Jefferson. Listen to it. Quote, Among the natural rights 399 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,360 Speaker 1: of the colonists are these first a right to life, 400 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,159 Speaker 1: second to liberty, third property, together with the right to 401 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,400 Speaker 1: support and defend them in the best manner they can. 402 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,720 Speaker 1: These are evident branches of rather than deductions from the 403 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: duty of self preservation, commonly called the first law of nature. 404 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: All men have a right to remain in a state 405 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:18,840 Speaker 1: of nature as long as they please, and, in cases 406 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:23,400 Speaker 1: of intolerable oppression, civil or religious, to leave the society 407 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: they belong to and enter into another. When men enter 408 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: into society, it is by voluntary consent, and they have 409 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: a right to demand and insist upon the performance of 410 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: such conditions and previous limitations as form an equitable original compact. 411 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: Now notice Adam is going all the way back, basically 412 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 1: making the argument which John Locke had made at the 413 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,639 Speaker 1: turn of the last century in the sixteen nineties, and 414 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 1: that is that our rights are natural, They are inherent 415 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:57,240 Speaker 1: in the way that God and Nature operate, and therefore 416 00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,680 Speaker 1: they are not a function of the state, but rather 417 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,359 Speaker 1: the state has to be seen in the context of 418 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:09,120 Speaker 1: these natural rights. And this begins to be an enormous division, 419 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: because if you are the British king, you can't accept 420 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,800 Speaker 1: the idea that their rights outside your kingship Historically in 421 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:20,240 Speaker 1: the Middle Ages, power came from God through the king 422 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:24,040 Speaker 1: down to other people. What they're now saying is no, 423 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: no power comes from the God to us. It's a 424 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: natural right, there's a natural liberty, and then we loan 425 00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:35,159 Speaker 1: the king power. Well, this is a radical violation of 426 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,639 Speaker 1: the system that had been inoperated throughout the Middle Ages. 427 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,080 Speaker 1: And so the result is you begin to see Samuel 428 00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:44,440 Speaker 1: Adams I think as a real precursor of what Jefferson 429 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,800 Speaker 1: will write in The Decoration in Dependence, laying out a 430 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:52,160 Speaker 1: doctrine even says at one point talks about life liberty 431 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:55,920 Speaker 1: and property. Property becomes life fluting in pursuit of happiness. 432 00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: But pursuit of happiness in the eighteenth century Scottish Enlightenment 433 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,879 Speaker 1: is actually means virtue and wisdom, doesn't mean hedonism and 434 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,880 Speaker 1: getting drunk. So they're talking about you have a right 435 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 1: to seek a better life, the right to freedom being 436 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,439 Speaker 1: the gift of God Almighty. It is not in the 437 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,120 Speaker 1: power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become 438 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:22,080 Speaker 1: a slave. Now, look, this is a head on collision 439 00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:24,880 Speaker 1: that's coming right down the road, and Adams is right 440 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,040 Speaker 1: in the middle of it, and he is describing the 441 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,879 Speaker 1: base of freedom as it has existed in America ever since, 442 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:34,040 Speaker 1: and that is that your rights come from God, that 443 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,879 Speaker 1: the government cannot infringe on those rights, and that only 444 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 1: those things that you're willing to delegate the government can 445 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:45,400 Speaker 1: belong to government. In the middle of all this, an 446 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:50,000 Speaker 1: East Indian ship, the Dartmouth, arrived in Boston. Adams wanted 447 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,119 Speaker 1: the ship to return without paying the importation duties, something 448 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:55,880 Speaker 1: that was required by law. He held a meeting where, 449 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: according to a letter he wrote to Arthur Lee on 450 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:02,320 Speaker 1: December thirteenth, seventeen seventy three, at least seven thousand men, 451 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,639 Speaker 1: many coming from outside towns as far as twenty miles away, 452 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:10,679 Speaker 1: gathered to support Adam's petition, but Governor Hutcheson refused to 453 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:14,639 Speaker 1: make the ship return. Faced with this, a group of 454 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:18,320 Speaker 1: men disguised themselves as Indians and in less than four 455 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 1: hours through all three hundred and forty two chests of 456 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:26,040 Speaker 1: tea into the harbor. This was the famous Boston Tea Party. 457 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 1: We're not really sure if Adams was one of the Indians, 458 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 1: but we are sure that he was instrumental in publishing 459 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:35,479 Speaker 1: what happened through all the colonies and using it as 460 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,640 Speaker 1: one of the reasons for colonists to fight for independence. Well, 461 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,240 Speaker 1: the British government goes nuts. They passed the Intolerable Acts 462 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,760 Speaker 1: of seventeen seventy four, closing the Boston Port until the 463 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: colony paid for the tea. They dumped into the harbor, 464 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: requiring all colonists to house British soldiers in their homes, 465 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:53,720 Speaker 1: and made it so the British had control of locally 466 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,800 Speaker 1: appointed officials. They basically are trying to take over and 467 00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:00,920 Speaker 1: create a dictatorship based in London. That just leads Stephen 468 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:04,959 Speaker 1: Moore in tense argument. Adams in June of seventeen seventy 469 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,960 Speaker 1: four drafts the resolves of the Massachusetts House of Representatives 470 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:12,200 Speaker 1: and makes the case for the rest of the colonies 471 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 1: that we are now being oppressed and they're coming for 472 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,080 Speaker 1: you next. Now. The British are very serious about this. 473 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:25,040 Speaker 1: They send General Thomas Gage as military governor, They send 474 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:30,080 Speaker 1: four thousand troops into Boston, and Adams doesn't back down. 475 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: In fact, in June seventeen seventy four, Adams chairs a 476 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 1: committee in the House of Representatives which had left Boston 477 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: to go to Salem to be able to meet and 478 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:44,320 Speaker 1: they propose electing individuals to represent Massachusetts at a Colonial 479 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:48,480 Speaker 1: Congress set to meet in Philadelphia. Both Sammy Adams and 480 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:52,480 Speaker 1: his cousin John Adams were elected delegates, and to this 481 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: particular thing, General Gage, with the British back home putting 482 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: real pressure on him to end the rebellion. You don't 483 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: want who arrest Sadams. Because he felt this would lead 484 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,760 Speaker 1: to a backlash, he tried to prevent the provincial Congress 485 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:09,480 Speaker 1: from getting military supplies. That led to each side attempted 486 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 1: to capture local gunpowder source. Then, on April fourteenth, seventeen 487 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,280 Speaker 1: seventy five, a letter from the Secretary of State ordered 488 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,720 Speaker 1: Gage to disarm the militia and arrest the leaders of 489 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:24,440 Speaker 1: the rebellion, which was namely Samuel Adams and John Hancock. 490 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,440 Speaker 1: A second Continental Congress was deemed necessary in May of 491 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:32,200 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy five. Just a month later, Adams was selected 492 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:36,680 Speaker 1: as a delegate. However, in April, before departing, Adams and 493 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:40,360 Speaker 1: John Hancock attended a session of the provincial Congress medium 494 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 1: conquered fifteen miles northwest of Boston. Since they were aware 495 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:47,080 Speaker 1: of the order to arrest him, they decided to stay 496 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: in Lexington, at the home of Reverend Clark instead of Boston. 497 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: Because of a very real risk of arrest, Gage orders 498 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 1: a column of troops to Conquered to seize and destroy 499 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:01,680 Speaker 1: a suspected cache of munitions. March, the soldiers would go 500 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 1: through Lexington sashly. Not clear nowadays whether Gage knew that 501 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:07,560 Speaker 1: Adams and Hancock were there, or whether or not he's 502 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:11,719 Speaker 1: even going to try to arrest him. Despite this, fearing captured, 503 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: Joseph Warren dispatched Paul Revere and William Dawls to warn 504 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:19,480 Speaker 1: the delegates to leave, and in April eighteenth, seventeen seventy five, 505 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:23,400 Speaker 1: Paul Revere won on his famous ride, sparking the beginning 506 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 1: of the Revolutionary War. The British troops arrived in Lexington 507 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,760 Speaker 1: the morning of April nineteenth, just as Hancock and Adams escape. 508 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,240 Speaker 1: Less than a month after the battles of Lexington and Concord, 509 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:39,520 Speaker 1: the Second Continental Congress took place. In an April three, 510 00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:43,440 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy six letter to Samuel Cooper, Adams wrote, is 511 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:48,320 Speaker 1: not America already independent? Why then not declare it? Cannations 512 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:50,720 Speaker 1: at war said to be dependent either upon the other, 513 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,960 Speaker 1: and so Adams is really working the concept it's time 514 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,240 Speaker 1: to declare independence. He's very much in favor of a 515 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:02,160 Speaker 1: resolution to declare it, and ultimately he's one of the 516 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:06,479 Speaker 1: people who is enthusiastically signing the Declaration of Independence. And 517 00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:09,479 Speaker 1: again he's basing all of this on natural rights and 518 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:12,040 Speaker 1: on the sense that all we're doing is defining what 519 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,480 Speaker 1: we already have, and it's the British King who's trying 520 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:17,840 Speaker 1: to take it away from us. We're not trying to 521 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,480 Speaker 1: establish it. We already have it, but the British King 522 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:23,200 Speaker 1: now is trying to steal it. It's I think a 523 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:28,280 Speaker 1: very significant moment once they had won the war. Adams 524 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:32,200 Speaker 1: supported a state constitution, but he wanted to limit the 525 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:35,160 Speaker 1: power of the government. He did not go to the 526 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:38,560 Speaker 1: Constitutional Convention of seventeen eighty seven because he was afraid 527 00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 1: that a stronger government would infringe on the people's liberties. 528 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:46,160 Speaker 1: He rejected the very concept. He attempted to re international 529 00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:48,520 Speaker 1: politics as a candidate for the oath House, but was 530 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,720 Speaker 1: defeated by Fisher Aiams, who was an avid supporter of 531 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,800 Speaker 1: the constitution. He went on to serve as Lieutenant governor 532 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:58,840 Speaker 1: of Massachusetts under Governor John Hancock, and when Hancock died 533 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:02,360 Speaker 1: in office, Adams soon the governorship. Then he was elected 534 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:05,960 Speaker 1: to three successive one year terms as governor of the 535 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:10,360 Speaker 1: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He officially retired in seventeen ninety seven 536 00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:13,200 Speaker 1: because he is unable to write due to the fremers 537 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:17,240 Speaker 1: in his hands. He died on October second, eighteen o three, 538 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:21,400 Speaker 1: at the age of eighty one. In eighteen nineteen, Thomas 539 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:24,960 Speaker 1: Jefferson wrote of Samuel Adams quote, I can say he 540 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:29,560 Speaker 1: was truly a great man, wise in counsel, fertile in resources, 541 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:33,800 Speaker 1: immovable in his purposes. Although not a fluent elocution, he 542 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:38,200 Speaker 1: was so rigorously logical, so clear in his views, abundant 543 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:41,840 Speaker 1: in good sense, and master always of his subject, that 544 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 1: he commanded the most profound attention whenever he rose in 545 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,640 Speaker 1: an assembly. And of course, as I have pointed out, 546 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,440 Speaker 1: Jefferson in many ways was deeply shaped by adams understanding 547 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:55,840 Speaker 1: of natural law and of the role of God in 548 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 1: giving us our liberties. Because sam Adams was so eloquent 549 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:03,240 Speaker 1: and defining the rights of Americans, because he was so 550 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:08,280 Speaker 1: consistent and persistent in arguing and fighting for those rights. 551 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,640 Speaker 1: Because he was able to talk in a common language 552 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:15,280 Speaker 1: which allowed everyday folks to understand it and to decide 553 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,879 Speaker 1: for themselves where they were in this great struggle. He 554 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,240 Speaker 1: really is one of the heroes around whom the American 555 00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,840 Speaker 1: system is built. I'm not sure that we would have 556 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:29,600 Speaker 1: gotten nearly as far towards freedom and liberty without Samuel Adams. 557 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:34,000 Speaker 1: I am sure he managed to help people all across 558 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,440 Speaker 1: the colonies come to an understanding that there was an 559 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:41,920 Speaker 1: irreconcilable difference between a British king who believed in the 560 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:45,759 Speaker 1: divine right of kingship and Americans who believed that that 561 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:49,279 Speaker 1: divine right led to sovereignty for the individual, not for 562 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:51,840 Speaker 1: the state. And I think Samue Latams has to be 563 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:56,640 Speaker 1: considered one of the genuine immortals whose shaped freedom and 564 00:34:56,680 --> 00:35:02,760 Speaker 1: on whose shoulders we today still stand. Thank you for listening. 565 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:05,400 Speaker 1: You can read more about Samuel Adams and get links 566 00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:08,400 Speaker 1: to my other founding Father's episodes on our show page 567 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:11,719 Speaker 1: at newsworld dot com. Newsworld is produced by Gingrish three 568 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,920 Speaker 1: sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guarnsey Sloan and 569 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,439 Speaker 1: our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show 570 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:23,080 Speaker 1: was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team 571 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:26,600 Speaker 1: at Gingish three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I 572 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: hope you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate us 573 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: with five stars and give us a review so others 574 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,560 Speaker 1: can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of 575 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: Newtsworld can sign up for my three freeweekly columns at 576 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:44,040 Speaker 1: gingishtree sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm Newt Gingrich. This 577 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:45,480 Speaker 1: is Newtsworld.