Speaker 1: On this episode of This World. The lives of these
Speaker 1: men are essential to understand the American form of government
Speaker 1: and our ideals of liberty. The founding fathers all played
Speaker 1: key roles in securing American independence from Great Britain and
Speaker 1: in the creation of the government of the United States
Speaker 1: of America. And now the life of Samuel Adams. When
Speaker 1: you go back to the beginning, you realize that Samuel
Speaker 1: Adams was almost born to be a rebel and a troublemaker.
Speaker 1: In college, he was reprimanded for missing morning prayer. His
Speaker 1: senior year, he was caught drinking on campus, a much
Speaker 1: more shocking event back then, although his father owned a brewery,
Speaker 1: so maybe drinking on campus wasn't all that surprising. He
Speaker 1: was born to a very wealthy and religious family on
Speaker 1: September twenty seventh, seventeen twenty two. He was the tenth
Speaker 1: of twelve children. We tend to forget sometimes both how
Speaker 1: many children colonial family said, and also how many they
Speaker 1: had lost. Only Sam ladamson. Two of his siblings made
Speaker 1: it past childhood. That's three out of twelve. Nine did
Speaker 1: not survive childhood. His father, Sam Ladams Senior, was a
Speaker 1: deacon of the Congregational Church, ran a brewery and was
Speaker 1: deeply involved in politics. Remember, by the way, that back
Speaker 1: at a time when we did not have clean, drinkable water,
Speaker 1: beer really matters and its very significant fact. Guinness Stout
Speaker 1: was one of my favorite beers. Was actually invented in
Speaker 1: Ireland as a health drink because it was better for
Speaker 1: you than either hard liquor or water. The founder of
Speaker 1: Guinness Stout actually got an award for doing something involving
Speaker 1: public health. So when you talk about people running brewers,
Speaker 1: it's a much different world. In the eighteenth century, Sam
Speaker 1: Adams is growing up and he loved politics. Now, I
Speaker 1: think that's a key part of this. You know, this
Speaker 1: is the guy who likes people, He's involved with people.
Speaker 1: He's also pretty well educated. And when he was young
Speaker 1: he attended the Boston Latin School, which has historically been
Speaker 1: a remarkably good school. He learned Latin and Greek. He
Speaker 1: attended Harvard College at the age of fourteen. He earned
Speaker 1: his undergraduate degree in seventeen forty and a graduate degree
Speaker 1: in seventeen forty three. This is this smart guy and
Speaker 1: a pretty learned guy. Although unlike John Adams, his central
Speaker 1: impact in history is not because of his calculated writing
Speaker 1: and his calculated capacity as a literary person, but rather
Speaker 1: because he could really organize and arouse people. Now, his
Speaker 1: father attempted to establish a land bank in Boston. He
Speaker 1: was popular in the colonies, but the British Parliament opposed
Speaker 1: it and ruled the bank illegal in seventeen forty one,
Speaker 1: which led to the Adams family going bankrupt dealing with
Speaker 1: the lawsuits that followed, and that may have been part
Speaker 1: of why you begin to get the strong sense in
Speaker 1: Sam Adams that the British Parliament is anti American. He
Speaker 1: writes his Master's Thesis on quote whether it be lawful
Speaker 1: to resist the Supreme Magistrate if the Commonwealth cannot otherwise
Speaker 1: be preserved. Notice, he's intellectually laying the base for the
Speaker 1: principle that in order to protect Americans' rights they may
Speaker 1: have to, in fact, to use his language, resist the
Speaker 1: Supreme Magistrate. Of course, the Supreme Magistrate automnly is the King,
Speaker 1: and he's questioning in his Master's Thesis whether England really
Speaker 1: legally has the right to impose taxes on the colonies.
Speaker 1: Part of what's happened, of course, is when the English
Speaker 1: win the French and Indian War, or the Sevent Years
Speaker 1: Wars it's called in Europe, and the French are driven
Speaker 1: out of Canada all of a sudden, the Americans aren't
Speaker 1: faced with any kind of significant threat, and at the
Speaker 1: same time, the British have this huge debt they've run
Speaker 1: up in fighting the Seven Years War, which was a
Speaker 1: genuinely worldwide war started by the way by George Washington
Speaker 1: as a very young man in western Pennsylvania. They want
Speaker 1: to raise taxes at the very moment that the Americans think, hey,
Speaker 1: everything's worked out fine, we don't need your protection and
Speaker 1: we don't need to give you money. So Sam Adams,
Speaker 1: in that sense, coming off the grievance of the British Parliament,
Speaker 1: having destroyed his father's family wealth, decided that he would
Speaker 1: in fact become more and more militant in favor of freedom. Now,
Speaker 1: when he did graduate, he was going to practice law,
Speaker 1: which his cousin John Adams does do brilliantly. But his
Speaker 1: mother was against Sam Adams becoming a lawyer, so she
Speaker 1: convinced him to become a clerk at accounting house Centsia Bank.
Speaker 1: His father tried to get his son into business by
Speaker 1: giving him a thousand pounds to start his own business,
Speaker 1: but Adams wasn't the businessman. He lost the money because
Speaker 1: that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted to focus on politics,
Speaker 1: and while he's working at the brewery, Adams, at the
Speaker 1: age of twenty six, and a group of his friends
Speaker 1: started Quote The Independent Advertisers, a newspaper where anonymously they
Speaker 1: questioned England's rule and demanded more rights for the colonies.
Speaker 1: Paper lasted about a year. The first edition of the
Speaker 1: paper was published in Boston on January fourth, seventeen forty eight.
Speaker 1: The first edition started with the following quote, upon the
Speaker 1: encouragement we've already received and agreeable to our printed proposals,
Speaker 1: the Independent Advertiser now makes its entrance into the world,
Speaker 1: And as it will doubtless be expected upon its first appearance,
Speaker 1: that we should more fully explain our design and show
Speaker 1: what the public may expect of it, we would accordingly
Speaker 1: observe that we shall be no means endeavor to recommend
Speaker 1: this out paper by depreciating the merit of other performances
Speaker 1: of the same kind. Neither would we flatter the expectations
Speaker 1: of the public by any pompous promises which we may
Speaker 1: not be likely to fulfill. But this our reader may
Speaker 1: depend upon. That we shall take the utmost care to
Speaker 1: procure the freshest and best intelligence, and publish it in
Speaker 1: such an order as that every reader may have the
Speaker 1: cleanest and most perfect understanding of it. And for the
Speaker 1: benefit of those who are unacquainted with the geography of
Speaker 1: foreigner parts, we may insert such descriptions as may enlighten them.
Speaker 1: Therein now part, what they're saying is Boston is a
Speaker 1: great port. People are showing up in Boston. Ships are
Speaker 1: coming into Boston from all over the Atlantic, and what
Speaker 1: they want to do is they want to get the
Speaker 1: news before anybody else print it, so you can learn
Speaker 1: what's happening around the world because of that. Now, he
Speaker 1: also makes a political commitment in this very first newspaper.
Speaker 1: He says, quote, as our present political state matter for
Speaker 1: a variety of thoughts of peculiar importance to the people
Speaker 1: of New England, we propose to insert everything of that
Speaker 1: nature that may be pertinently and wrote for ourselves. We
Speaker 1: declare we are no party, neither shall we promote the
Speaker 1: private and narrow designs of any such. We are ourselves free,
Speaker 1: and our papers shall be free, free as the Constitution
Speaker 1: we enjoy, free to truth, good manners, and good sense,
Speaker 1: and at the same time free from all licentsious reflections,
Speaker 1: insolence and abuse. Now notice here, becauseus will come up
Speaker 1: again and again. And Sam Adams is one of the
Speaker 1: people who is a great propagandist. The emphasis on free,
Speaker 1: the word free. We are ourselves free, our paper will
Speaker 1: be free, free as the Constitution we enjoy. I notice
Speaker 1: he's already claiming that there's a constitution, and in British
Speaker 1: tradition it's unwritten but understood. Free to truth, good manners,
Speaker 1: and good sense, and at the same time free from
Speaker 1: all licentious reflections, insolence and abuse. So think about that.
Speaker 1: In this one paragraph that comes back to the word
Speaker 1: free again and again, and he asserts, but there is
Speaker 1: a constitution, which is why when the British Parliament begins
Speaker 1: to impose taxes, they are violating an already existing constitution.
Speaker 1: The Americans, in their view, do not have to fight
Speaker 1: for liberty. They are born into liberty. They are born
Speaker 1: into a constitution. Now, as an activist and somebody who
Speaker 1: was very good at working with people in seventeen forty seven,
Speaker 1: Adams is elected to his first political position as one
Speaker 1: of the clerks of the Boston Market, where he served
Speaker 1: for nine years. A year later, seventeen forty eight, both
Speaker 1: his parents died, leaving him with their estate and in
Speaker 1: charge of the family's brewery business. He was also left
Speaker 1: with the numerous lawsuits connected to the land bank that
Speaker 1: his father had tried to establish. Adams just not a
Speaker 1: good businessman. He's unable to make ends meet. He loses
Speaker 1: the brewery business. The government foreclosed in his family's estate,
Speaker 1: but Adams used his ability in writing to threaten potential
Speaker 1: buyers and was able to keep the estate while the
Speaker 1: government was trying to sell it. People this wouldn't buy it.
Speaker 1: In seventeen forty nine, Samuel Adams married Elizabeth Checkley. According
Speaker 1: to adams quote, she was a rare example of virtue
Speaker 1: and piety, blended with a retiring and modest demeanor and
Speaker 1: the charms of elegant womanhood. Three years of junior. Elizabeth
Speaker 1: was the daughter of Samuel Checkley, his pastor at the
Speaker 1: Old South Meetinghouse. The couple had six children, only two
Speaker 1: of which reached maturity before Elizabeth Adams passed in seventeen
Speaker 1: fifty seven due to complications of childbirth. After her death,
Speaker 1: Adams immersed himself in politics. He worked briefly as a
Speaker 1: tax collector in seventeen fifty six, but since he often
Speaker 1: failed to collect the required taxes and was leaning with
Speaker 1: many who could not pay higher rates, he was fired
Speaker 1: and held liable for the lost income. Once again he's
Speaker 1: angry at the government. However, this gave him the change
Speaker 1: to establish connections which served him in the future. He
Speaker 1: went his second wife, Elizabeth Wells, in seventeen sixty four.
Speaker 1: Wells was the daughter of his good friend Francis Wells,
Speaker 1: a successful Boston merchant. The couple had no children together,
Speaker 1: but she embraced her chip children as her own and
Speaker 1: supported her husband throughout his political career. In seventeen sixty four,
Speaker 1: the British government, trying to pay for the debts that
Speaker 1: had build up, passed the Sugar Act. As a member
Speaker 1: of the town Meeting, Adams was vocal against the Act.
Speaker 1: On May twenty fourth, seventeen sixty four, he wrote to
Speaker 1: the representatives of Boston, quote, for if our trade may
Speaker 1: be taxed, why not our lands? Why not the produce
Speaker 1: of our lands and everything we possess or make use
Speaker 1: of this, we apprehend, annihilates our charter right to govern
Speaker 1: and tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privileges, which,
Speaker 1: as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common
Speaker 1: with our fellow subjects who are natives of Britain. If
Speaker 1: taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our
Speaker 1: having a legal representation where they are laid, are we
Speaker 1: not reduced from the character of free subjects to the
Speaker 1: miserable state of tributary slaves. So here you have already
Speaker 1: seventeen sixty four. The core argument. The argument is we
Speaker 1: are British by definition, we are part of the British Constitution.
Speaker 1: The British Constitution, of course, goes all the way back
Speaker 1: to the signing of the Great Charter the Magna Carta,
Speaker 1: and therefore people are not allowed to be taxed unless
Speaker 1: they give their approval. And so they see this as
Speaker 1: an assault on existing rights. They're not claiming new rights.
Speaker 1: They're claiming that their rights go back in history for
Speaker 1: hundreds and hundreds of years, and it is the government
Speaker 1: which is assaulting them. A year later, got worse. The
Speaker 1: British government passed the Stamp Act again an effort to
Speaker 1: get money to pay off all these various debts. Adams
Speaker 1: at that point took the streetsited political party, the Country Party,
Speaker 1: with two opposing parties, North Boston and South Boston, led
Speaker 1: by John Hancock and James Otis, to form the Sons
Speaker 1: of Liberty. Noticed again the language the Sons of Liberty.
Speaker 1: Adams wrote Instructions of the Town of Boston to its
Speaker 1: representatives in the General Court in September seventeen sixty four,
Speaker 1: and he's really laying out their argument. They are alarmed
Speaker 1: and astonished at the attack called the Stamp Act, by
Speaker 1: which I very grievous and we apprehend unconstitutional tax is
Speaker 1: to be laid upon the colony. So notice they are
Speaker 1: literally arguing that they already have what they called are
Speaker 1: invaluable rights and liberties, and so they see this as
Speaker 1: an attack on existing rights. They're not arguing for new rights.
Speaker 1: They are defending what they see as old rights. That
Speaker 1: rebellion led to the Stamp Act Congress, where all but
Speaker 1: four of the colonies demanded that the King repeal the
Speaker 1: tacks worked. The British gave up in seventeen sixty six
Speaker 1: and never collected the taxes. Adam was elected that year
Speaker 1: in seventeen sixty six to the House of Representatives as
Speaker 1: a clerk. As clerk, he was responsible for basic record
Speaker 1: keeping and communicating with the colony's agent in London and
Speaker 1: with other legislative assemblies in other colonies. This is where
Speaker 1: he met John Hancock for the first time. Although most
Speaker 1: representatives did not receive a salary adam as clerk did
Speaker 1: and had a steady income, this allowed him to focus
Speaker 1: even more on politics. In seventeen sixty seven, Parliament approved
Speaker 1: a series of taxes on items imported in the colonies,
Speaker 1: known as the Townshen Acts. This act also created an
Speaker 1: American Board of Customs Commissioners to enforce collection, which established
Speaker 1: their headquarters in Boston. It's almost as though the Parliament
Speaker 1: is so desperate for money, and their reasoning is pretty simple.
Speaker 1: They had fought a large war against France in part
Speaker 1: to protect the Americans. They borrowed all this money in
Speaker 1: order to wage the war to protect the Americans and
Speaker 1: the Americans and other beneficiaries of having Canada to the
Speaker 1: north be a British colony. So why weren't the Americans
Speaker 1: grateful and generous? And apparently in Parliament they just couldn't
Speaker 1: get through their head how much this was infuriating and
Speaker 1: alienating the Americans. When news of the towns and Acts
Speaker 1: reaches Massachusetts in the autumn of seventeen sixty seven, Adams
Speaker 1: immediately employed the Boston Town Meeting to organize protests in Boycott's.
Speaker 1: In January seventeen sixty eight, he motioned the General Court
Speaker 1: to draft a petition to the King urging that he
Speaker 1: respects the charter rights of Massachusetts. Notice they're not creating rights.
Speaker 1: They want the King to respect existing rights. The motion
Speaker 1: faced opposition from rural town representatives who aligned with the Parliament,
Speaker 1: so Adams waited until the end of the legislative session,
Speaker 1: when many of those who opposed departed back home, before
Speaker 1: putting the motion forth. It easily passed. So here you
Speaker 1: see him maneuvering thinking, becoming a pretty effective politician. The
Speaker 1: General Court sent the letter the petition with the letter
Speaker 1: to other colonies. It was known as the Massachusetts Circular Letter,
Speaker 1: which Adams was one of the authors alongside James Otis.
Speaker 1: The letter read, quote, the House of Representations of this
Speaker 1: Province have taken into their serious consideration the great difficulties
Speaker 1: the must accrue to themselves in their constituents by the
Speaker 1: operation of several acts of Parliament imposing duty and taxes
Speaker 1: on the American colonies. So they are really into this
Speaker 1: issue of the Constitution, which they assert already exists, and
Speaker 1: they are really into the concept that the British Parliament
Speaker 1: is now usurping their powers and threatening them in very
Speaker 1: very serious ways. And they assert, quote, in all free states,
Speaker 1: the Constitution is fixed, and as the Supreme Legislative derives
Speaker 1: its power and authority from the Constitution, it cannot overleap
Speaker 1: the bounds of it without destroying its own foundation. That
Speaker 1: the Constitution ascertains and limits both sovereignty and allegiance. And
Speaker 1: therefore His Majesty's American subjects, who acknowledge themselves bound by
Speaker 1: the ties of allegiance, have an equitable claim to the
Speaker 1: full enjoyment of the fundamental rules of the British Constitution.
Speaker 1: That it is an essential, on alterable right in nature,
Speaker 1: and grafted into the British Constitution as a fundamental law,
Speaker 1: and ever held sacred and irrevocable by the subjects within
Speaker 1: the realm, that what a man has honestly acquired is
Speaker 1: absolutely his own, which he may freely give, but cannot
Speaker 1: be taken from him without his consent, That the American
Speaker 1: subjects may, therefore, exclusive of any consideration of Charter rights,
Speaker 1: with a decent firmness, adapted to the character of free
Speaker 1: men and subjects, assert this natural and constitutional right. So
Speaker 1: they're saying, we literally have under natural law, we have
Speaker 1: achieved this. This is the forerunner of what Jeff Person
Speaker 1: will write in the Declaration of Independence when he says
Speaker 1: we are endowed by our Creator with certain honorable rights,
Speaker 1: among which your life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Well,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what Adams is beaten to drift towards. That
Speaker 1: these rights existed outside of any kind of specific contract.
Speaker 1: They are inherent their part of being British. And the
Speaker 1: result was that they had put together a real opposition.
Speaker 1: There was a threat to the core of the British system.
Speaker 1: Lord Hillsborough, who's the Secretary of State for the Colonies,
Speaker 1: received the letter and then ordered that the letter be
Speaker 1: taken back. Hillsborough threatened them said if they refused, he
Speaker 1: would order Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to dissolve the General Court.
Speaker 1: Despite that threat, the legislative voted to refuse to rescind
Speaker 1: the letter by ninety two to seventeen. Governor Bernard, in response,
Speaker 1: dissolved them. They did not reconvene for another year. In
Speaker 1: other words, faced with a direct order from the British government,
Speaker 1: by ninety two to seventeen, the legislatures are voting to
Speaker 1: defy the British government. Now this is the beginning of
Speaker 1: really moving towards a serious confrontation. Troops arrive in Boston
Speaker 1: on October first, seventeen sixty eight, and while they're arriving,
Speaker 1: Adams is authoring over twenty newspaper articles, usually under the
Speaker 1: pen names Index and Candidas, using the pseudonym Index. In
Speaker 1: the Boston Gazette in December seventeen sixty eight, he writes, quote, well,
Speaker 1: the spirits of the people is yet unsubdued by tyranny,
Speaker 1: on awed by the menace of arbitrary power, submit to
Speaker 1: be governed by military force. No let us rouse our
Speaker 1: attention to the common law, which is our birthright, our
Speaker 1: great security against all kinds of insult and oppression, the law, which,
Speaker 1: when rightly used, is the curb in the terror of
Speaker 1: the haughtiest tyrant. So he's really putting together the core
Speaker 1: argument about the nature of freedom and the idea that
Speaker 1: freedom belongs to you. It's not given to you by
Speaker 1: the government. Freedom starts with you, and then you may
Speaker 1: loan part of it to the government, but the center
Speaker 1: of us always you, the individual citizen. And Adams advocate
Speaker 1: that Boston merchants just refused to import all British goods
Speaker 1: for a year. They didn't get one hundred percent support
Speaker 1: for it, but they got enough that all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the British merchants are complaining to Parliament that the alienation
Speaker 1: is getting to be expensive to them. And so where
Speaker 1: the British Parliament had thought, oh, this would be pretty easy,
Speaker 1: they'll obviously have to pay the taxes. What this discovering
Speaker 1: is every time they take a step to oppress those
Speaker 1: who are angry, there are more people angry, and so
Speaker 1: there's a whole process underway here in which people are
Speaker 1: gradually banding together to oppose what the British are doing.
Speaker 1: Adams wanted to extend it beyond one year, but it
Speaker 1: just wasn't possible. On February twenty second, seventeen seventy, when
Speaker 1: harassed by a mob, a minor customs official named Ebenezer
Speaker 1: Richardson accidentally shot and killed eleven year old Christopher Cedar.
Speaker 1: Although probably an accident, Adams used this as an opportunity
Speaker 1: to call out the presence of British troops. Adams organized
Speaker 1: a public funeral that was attended by over two thousand
Speaker 1: people for this young eleven year old who'd been killed.
Speaker 1: By March fifth, seventeen seventy nine, British soldiers faced off
Speaker 1: a mob of several hundred angry citizens. They fired into
Speaker 1: the crowd, killing five and wounding six citizens. That began
Speaker 1: to be the Boston massacre. On March sixth, Adams led
Speaker 1: a committee to demand the removal of British troops in
Speaker 1: an emergency session. After Adams addressed the assembly, they unanimously
Speaker 1: voted for removal of the troops. Now this is a real,
Speaker 1: I think significant repudiation of the British ability to extend power.
Speaker 1: Governor Hutcheson understands how big a threat this is. On
Speaker 1: the same day, writes to William Dalrymple, the commander of
Speaker 1: the military, quote, I am sensible. I have no power
Speaker 1: to order the troops to the castle, but under the
Speaker 1: present circumstance of the town and the province I cannot
Speaker 1: avoid in consequence of this unanimous advice to the Council
Speaker 1: designing you to order them there, which I must submit
Speaker 1: to you. Lieutenant Colonel Dalrymple agreed to this and ordered
Speaker 1: the troops to Castle Island in the Harbor. So the
Speaker 1: American citizens feel like they're winning. The soldiers involved in
Speaker 1: the shooting were arrested and waited trial. But it's fascinating.
Speaker 1: This is a great story in American history because they
Speaker 1: wanted a fair trial. Even Samuel Adams, who was one
Speaker 1: of the hottest and most aggressive of the Americans, knew
Speaker 1: that it had to be a fair trial. And of
Speaker 1: course most attorneys did not want to defend the British,
Speaker 1: so Adams got his cousin John Adams and Josiah Quincy
Speaker 1: to defend them. It's a brilliant move. John Adams is
Speaker 1: a great lawyer. At the time, I think hurts him
Speaker 1: sum in terms of the people of Boston. But they
Speaker 1: made the argument that the soldiers were only firing out
Speaker 1: of self defense and there wasn't their fault that they
Speaker 1: were there. They'd been ordered to go there. So of
Speaker 1: the soldiers only two were found guilty of manslaughter. Adams
Speaker 1: actually opposed the court decision and really was on the
Speaker 1: side of the American revolutionaries. In April seventeen seventy, in
Speaker 1: an effort to find a middle ground, Parliament repeals all
Speaker 1: the towns and taxes except one, the tax on tea.
Speaker 1: In the late spring of seventeen seventy one, news came
Speaker 1: that Parliament would no longer allow the legislature to pay
Speaker 1: the governor's salary, but instead the governor's salary will be
Speaker 1: paid with revenue from the t tax. At that point
Speaker 1: people begin to get really upset. By the autumn seventeen
Speaker 1: seventy two, the news broke the judges the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: would like the governor not be paid by the legislature.
Speaker 1: Now what's happening is the British Parliament is gradually creating
Speaker 1: a class of people whose loyalty is to London, and
Speaker 1: who are prepared to impose on the people of Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: Now Adams when they learned that the judges as well
Speaker 1: as the governor are going to be paid directly from
Speaker 1: the tax, writes an article on the Boston Gazette under
Speaker 1: the name Valerius Publicola. He writes this quote to what
Speaker 1: a state of infamy, wretchedness, and misery. Shall we be
Speaker 1: reduced if our judges shall be prevailed upon to be
Speaker 1: thus degraded to hirelings, and the body of the people
Speaker 1: shall suffer their free constitution to be overturned and ruined.
Speaker 1: Let not the iron hand of tyranny ravish our laws
Speaker 1: and seize the badge of freedom, and the murderous rage
Speaker 1: of lawless power be ever seen on the sacred seat
Speaker 1: of justice. Now, by the way, it's interesting, I want
Speaker 1: to the paper in which I realized that reforming judges
Speaker 1: was the number two demand of the colonists, after the
Speaker 1: right of taxation. They were so angry at the way
Speaker 1: that the judges had become creatures of the state against
Speaker 1: the people that much of what we see in the
Speaker 1: Constitution in limiting the judges is a function of what
Speaker 1: they had experienced under the British where the judges became
Speaker 1: the tools of the king against the people. By late
Speaker 1: seventeen seventy two, Adams is writing a pamphlet The Rights
Speaker 1: of the Colonists, and again this really is a precursor
Speaker 1: to Jefferson. Listen to it. Quote, Among the natural rights
Speaker 1: of the colonists are these first a right to life,
Speaker 1: second to liberty, third property, together with the right to
Speaker 1: support and defend them in the best manner they can.
Speaker 1: These are evident branches of rather than deductions from the
Speaker 1: duty of self preservation, commonly called the first law of nature.
Speaker 1: All men have a right to remain in a state
Speaker 1: of nature as long as they please, and, in cases
Speaker 1: of intolerable oppression, civil or religious, to leave the society
Speaker 1: they belong to and enter into another. When men enter
Speaker 1: into society, it is by voluntary consent, and they have
Speaker 1: a right to demand and insist upon the performance of
Speaker 1: such conditions and previous limitations as form an equitable original compact.
Speaker 1: Now notice Adam is going all the way back, basically
Speaker 1: making the argument which John Locke had made at the
Speaker 1: turn of the last century in the sixteen nineties, and
Speaker 1: that is that our rights are natural, They are inherent
Speaker 1: in the way that God and Nature operate, and therefore
Speaker 1: they are not a function of the state, but rather
Speaker 1: the state has to be seen in the context of
Speaker 1: these natural rights. And this begins to be an enormous division,
Speaker 1: because if you are the British king, you can't accept
Speaker 1: the idea that their rights outside your kingship Historically in
Speaker 1: the Middle Ages, power came from God through the king
Speaker 1: down to other people. What they're now saying is no,
Speaker 1: no power comes from the God to us. It's a
Speaker 1: natural right, there's a natural liberty, and then we loan
Speaker 1: the king power. Well, this is a radical violation of
Speaker 1: the system that had been inoperated throughout the Middle Ages.
Speaker 1: And so the result is you begin to see Samuel
Speaker 1: Adams I think as a real precursor of what Jefferson
Speaker 1: will write in The Decoration in Dependence, laying out a
Speaker 1: doctrine even says at one point talks about life liberty
Speaker 1: and property. Property becomes life fluting in pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 1: But pursuit of happiness in the eighteenth century Scottish Enlightenment
Speaker 1: is actually means virtue and wisdom, doesn't mean hedonism and
Speaker 1: getting drunk. So they're talking about you have a right
Speaker 1: to seek a better life, the right to freedom being
Speaker 1: the gift of God Almighty. It is not in the
Speaker 1: power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become
Speaker 1: a slave. Now, look, this is a head on collision
Speaker 1: that's coming right down the road, and Adams is right
Speaker 1: in the middle of it, and he is describing the
Speaker 1: base of freedom as it has existed in America ever since,
Speaker 1: and that is that your rights come from God, that
Speaker 1: the government cannot infringe on those rights, and that only
Speaker 1: those things that you're willing to delegate the government can
Speaker 1: belong to government. In the middle of all this, an
Speaker 1: East Indian ship, the Dartmouth, arrived in Boston. Adams wanted
Speaker 1: the ship to return without paying the importation duties, something
Speaker 1: that was required by law. He held a meeting where,
Speaker 1: according to a letter he wrote to Arthur Lee on
Speaker 1: December thirteenth, seventeen seventy three, at least seven thousand men,
Speaker 1: many coming from outside towns as far as twenty miles away,
Speaker 1: gathered to support Adam's petition, but Governor Hutcheson refused to
Speaker 1: make the ship return. Faced with this, a group of
Speaker 1: men disguised themselves as Indians and in less than four
Speaker 1: hours through all three hundred and forty two chests of
Speaker 1: tea into the harbor. This was the famous Boston Tea Party.
Speaker 1: We're not really sure if Adams was one of the Indians,
Speaker 1: but we are sure that he was instrumental in publishing
Speaker 1: what happened through all the colonies and using it as
Speaker 1: one of the reasons for colonists to fight for independence. Well,
Speaker 1: the British government goes nuts. They passed the Intolerable Acts
Speaker 1: of seventeen seventy four, closing the Boston Port until the
Speaker 1: colony paid for the tea. They dumped into the harbor,
Speaker 1: requiring all colonists to house British soldiers in their homes,
Speaker 1: and made it so the British had control of locally
Speaker 1: appointed officials. They basically are trying to take over and
Speaker 1: create a dictatorship based in London. That just leads Stephen
Speaker 1: Moore in tense argument. Adams in June of seventeen seventy
Speaker 1: four drafts the resolves of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Speaker 1: and makes the case for the rest of the colonies
Speaker 1: that we are now being oppressed and they're coming for
Speaker 1: you next. Now. The British are very serious about this.
Speaker 1: They send General Thomas Gage as military governor, They send
Speaker 1: four thousand troops into Boston, and Adams doesn't back down.
Speaker 1: In fact, in June seventeen seventy four, Adams chairs a
Speaker 1: committee in the House of Representatives which had left Boston
Speaker 1: to go to Salem to be able to meet and
Speaker 1: they propose electing individuals to represent Massachusetts at a Colonial
Speaker 1: Congress set to meet in Philadelphia. Both Sammy Adams and
Speaker 1: his cousin John Adams were elected delegates, and to this
Speaker 1: particular thing, General Gage, with the British back home putting
Speaker 1: real pressure on him to end the rebellion. You don't
Speaker 1: want who arrest Sadams. Because he felt this would lead
Speaker 1: to a backlash, he tried to prevent the provincial Congress
Speaker 1: from getting military supplies. That led to each side attempted
Speaker 1: to capture local gunpowder source. Then, on April fourteenth, seventeen
Speaker 1: seventy five, a letter from the Secretary of State ordered
Speaker 1: Gage to disarm the militia and arrest the leaders of
Speaker 1: the rebellion, which was namely Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
Speaker 1: A second Continental Congress was deemed necessary in May of
Speaker 1: seventeen seventy five. Just a month later, Adams was selected
Speaker 1: as a delegate. However, in April, before departing, Adams and
Speaker 1: John Hancock attended a session of the provincial Congress medium
Speaker 1: conquered fifteen miles northwest of Boston. Since they were aware
Speaker 1: of the order to arrest him, they decided to stay
Speaker 1: in Lexington, at the home of Reverend Clark instead of Boston.
Speaker 1: Because of a very real risk of arrest, Gage orders
Speaker 1: a column of troops to Conquered to seize and destroy
Speaker 1: a suspected cache of munitions. March, the soldiers would go
Speaker 1: through Lexington sashly. Not clear nowadays whether Gage knew that
Speaker 1: Adams and Hancock were there, or whether or not he's
Speaker 1: even going to try to arrest him. Despite this, fearing captured,
Speaker 1: Joseph Warren dispatched Paul Revere and William Dawls to warn
Speaker 1: the delegates to leave, and in April eighteenth, seventeen seventy five,
Speaker 1: Paul Revere won on his famous ride, sparking the beginning
Speaker 1: of the Revolutionary War. The British troops arrived in Lexington
Speaker 1: the morning of April nineteenth, just as Hancock and Adams escape.
Speaker 1: Less than a month after the battles of Lexington and Concord,
Speaker 1: the Second Continental Congress took place. In an April three,
Speaker 1: seventeen seventy six letter to Samuel Cooper, Adams wrote, is
Speaker 1: not America already independent? Why then not declare it? Cannations
Speaker 1: at war said to be dependent either upon the other,
Speaker 1: and so Adams is really working the concept it's time
Speaker 1: to declare independence. He's very much in favor of a
Speaker 1: resolution to declare it, and ultimately he's one of the
Speaker 1: people who is enthusiastically signing the Declaration of Independence. And
Speaker 1: again he's basing all of this on natural rights and
Speaker 1: on the sense that all we're doing is defining what
Speaker 1: we already have, and it's the British King who's trying
Speaker 1: to take it away from us. We're not trying to
Speaker 1: establish it. We already have it, but the British King
Speaker 1: now is trying to steal it. It's I think a
Speaker 1: very significant moment once they had won the war. Adams
Speaker 1: supported a state constitution, but he wanted to limit the
Speaker 1: power of the government. He did not go to the
Speaker 1: Constitutional Convention of seventeen eighty seven because he was afraid
Speaker 1: that a stronger government would infringe on the people's liberties.
Speaker 1: He rejected the very concept. He attempted to re international
Speaker 1: politics as a candidate for the oath House, but was
Speaker 1: defeated by Fisher Aiams, who was an avid supporter of
Speaker 1: the constitution. He went on to serve as Lieutenant governor
Speaker 1: of Massachusetts under Governor John Hancock, and when Hancock died
Speaker 1: in office, Adams soon the governorship. Then he was elected
Speaker 1: to three successive one year terms as governor of the
Speaker 1: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He officially retired in seventeen ninety seven
Speaker 1: because he is unable to write due to the fremers
Speaker 1: in his hands. He died on October second, eighteen o three,
Speaker 1: at the age of eighty one. In eighteen nineteen, Thomas
Speaker 1: Jefferson wrote of Samuel Adams quote, I can say he
Speaker 1: was truly a great man, wise in counsel, fertile in resources,
Speaker 1: immovable in his purposes. Although not a fluent elocution, he
Speaker 1: was so rigorously logical, so clear in his views, abundant
Speaker 1: in good sense, and master always of his subject, that
Speaker 1: he commanded the most profound attention whenever he rose in
Speaker 1: an assembly. And of course, as I have pointed out,
Speaker 1: Jefferson in many ways was deeply shaped by adams understanding
Speaker 1: of natural law and of the role of God in
Speaker 1: giving us our liberties. Because sam Adams was so eloquent
Speaker 1: and defining the rights of Americans, because he was so
Speaker 1: consistent and persistent in arguing and fighting for those rights.
Speaker 1: Because he was able to talk in a common language
Speaker 1: which allowed everyday folks to understand it and to decide
Speaker 1: for themselves where they were in this great struggle. He
Speaker 1: really is one of the heroes around whom the American
Speaker 1: system is built. I'm not sure that we would have
Speaker 1: gotten nearly as far towards freedom and liberty without Samuel Adams.
Speaker 1: I am sure he managed to help people all across
Speaker 1: the colonies come to an understanding that there was an
Speaker 1: irreconcilable difference between a British king who believed in the
Speaker 1: divine right of kingship and Americans who believed that that
Speaker 1: divine right led to sovereignty for the individual, not for
Speaker 1: the state. And I think Samue Latams has to be
Speaker 1: considered one of the genuine immortals whose shaped freedom and
Speaker 1: on whose shoulders we today still stand. Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: You can read more about Samuel Adams and get links
Speaker 1: to my other founding Father's episodes on our show page
Speaker 1: at newsworld dot com. Newsworld is produced by Gingrish three
Speaker 1: sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guarnsey Sloan and
Speaker 1: our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show
Speaker 1: was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team
Speaker 1: at Gingish three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I
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Speaker 1: is Newtsworld.