1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:05,120 Speaker 1: On this episode of Nutsworld, it's part of Founding Father's Week. 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 1: I'm talking about the lives and legacies of our original 3 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:16,280 Speaker 1: founders and the impact they've had in our country. In 4 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: this episode of Newtsworld as part of Founding Father, I'm 5 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 1: talking about the lives and legacies of our original founders 6 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: in the impact they've had in our country. And it's 7 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: important to remember this was a very unique group of people. 8 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 1: It's not at all obvious that there's any cookie cutter involved. 9 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: Very different personalities, very different styles, and you don't see 10 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: that anywhere more decisively than between Samuel Adams and his 11 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: cousin John Adams. Samuel Adams was a rabel rouser, he 12 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: was aggressive, he was a politician in colonial Massachusetts. He's 13 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: one of the people who really developed the political culture 14 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: the United States. And his second cousin was John Adams, 15 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:04,320 Speaker 1: who was sort of rigid, uptight, intellectual. They're remarkably different people, 16 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: even though they came out of the same broad background. 17 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 1: John Adams once wrote that his cousin Samuel Adams, had 18 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: the most thorough understanding of liberty, was zealous and keen 19 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 1: to the cause, and that he embodied steadfast integrity and 20 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: universal good character. That's pretty good stuff coming from John Adams, 21 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: who himself was a remarkably upright and organized and I 22 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: think disciplined person. On the other hand, because Samuel Adams 23 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:35,319 Speaker 1: was a rabble rouser, one of the people who encouraged 24 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: the mob in Boston to take on the British, the 25 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: Royal Governor Thomas Hutchison had a rather different perspective on 26 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: sam Adams. Governor Hutcheson claimed that there existed no great 27 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: andcendiary in the King's dominion or a man of great 28 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: malignity of heart who has less scruples any measure, however criminal, 29 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: to accomplish his purposes. So you have a course, John Adams, 30 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: who loved the American Revolution, loved the concept of liberty, 31 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,919 Speaker 1: was totally prepared to take on the British Empire, saw 32 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: Samuel Adams as extraordinarily positive figure, and Governor Hutchson, who's 33 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:18,239 Speaker 1: trying to preserve the empire, saw sam Adams as somebody 34 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: who was just aggressively undermining and frankly a pain in 35 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: the neck. I think from our perspective, what we realize 36 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: is that Samuel Adams was above all an ardent patriot, 37 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,160 Speaker 1: who believed in liberty and was prepared to risk his 38 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: life for it. When you go back to the beginning, 39 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: you realize that Samuel Adams was almost born to be 40 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,239 Speaker 1: a rebel and a troublemaker. In college, he was reprimanded 41 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: for missing morning prayer. His senior year, he was caught 42 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: drinking on campus, a much more shocking event back then, 43 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: although his father owned a brewery, so maybe drinking on 44 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 1: campus wasn't all that surprising. He was born to a 45 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:16,200 Speaker 1: very wealthy and religious family on September twenty seventh, seventeen 46 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: twenty two. He was the tenth of twelve children. We 47 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 1: tend to forget sometimes both how many children colonial family said, 48 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: and also how many they had lost only Sam ladamson. 49 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: Two of his siblings made it past childhood. That's three 50 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 1: out of twelve. Nine did not survive childhood. His father, 51 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: Sam Ladams Senior, was a deacon of the Congregational Church, 52 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: ran a brewery, and was deeply involved in politics. Remember, 53 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: by the way, that back at a time when we 54 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: did not have clean drink of water, beer really matters, 55 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 1: and its very significant fact. Guinness Stout was one of 56 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: my favorite beers. Was actually invented in Ireland as a 57 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: health drink because it was better for you than either 58 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: hardly or water. The founder of getnes Stout actually got 59 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: an award for doing something involving public health. So when 60 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: you talk about people running breweries, it's a much different world. 61 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: In the eighteenth century, Sam Adams is growing up and 62 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,599 Speaker 1: he loved politics. Now, I think that's a key part 63 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,040 Speaker 1: of this. You know, this is a guy who likes people. 64 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:24,599 Speaker 1: He's involved with people. He's also pretty well educated. And 65 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:27,119 Speaker 1: when he was young he attended the Boston Latin School, 66 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: which has historically been a remarkably good school. He learned 67 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 1: Latin and Greek. He attended Harvard College at the age 68 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: of fourteen. He earned his undergraduate degree in seventeen forty 69 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:42,160 Speaker 1: and a graduate degree in seventeen forty three. This is 70 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 1: this smart guy and a pretty learned guy, although unlike 71 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: John Adams, his central impact in history is not because 72 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,840 Speaker 1: of his calculated writing and his calculated capacity as a 73 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: literary person, but rather because he could really organize and 74 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: arouse people out. His father attempted to establish a land 75 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,600 Speaker 1: bank in Boston. It was popular in the colonies, but 76 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:08,799 Speaker 1: the British Parliament opposed it and ruled the bank illegal 77 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 1: in seventeen forty one, which led to the Adams family 78 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: going bankrupt dealing with the lawsuits that followed, and that 79 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 1: may have been part of why you begin to get 80 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,839 Speaker 1: the strong sense in Sam Adams that the British Parliament 81 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:26,679 Speaker 1: is anti American. He writes his Master's Thesis on quote, 82 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: whether it be lawful to resist the Supreme Magistrate if 83 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: the Commonwealth cannot otherwise be preserved. Notice, he's intellectually laying 84 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:40,720 Speaker 1: the base for the principle that in order to protect Americans' 85 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: rights they may have to, in fact, to use his language, 86 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: resist the Supreme Magistrate. Of course, the Supreme Magistrate automnly 87 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,840 Speaker 1: is the King, and he's questioning in his Master's Thesis 88 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: whether England really legally has the right to impose taxes 89 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,680 Speaker 1: on the colonies. Part of what's happened, of course, is 90 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: when the English win the French and Indian War, or 91 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,159 Speaker 1: the Seven Years Wars it's called in Europe, and the 92 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: French are driven out of Canada. All of a sudden, 93 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:12,480 Speaker 1: the Americans aren't faced with any kind of significant threat, 94 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: and at the same time, the British have this huge 95 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: debt they've run up in fighting the Seven Years War, 96 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,920 Speaker 1: which was a genuinely worldwide war started by the way 97 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 1: by George Washington as a very young man in western Pennsylvania. 98 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:29,359 Speaker 1: They want to raise taxes at the very moment that 99 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: the Americans think, hey, everything's worked out fine, we don't 100 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: need your protection and we don't need to give you money. 101 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: So Sam Adams, in that sense, coming off the grievance 102 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: of the British Parliament, having destroyed his father's family wealth, 103 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: decided that he would in fact become more and more 104 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,280 Speaker 1: militant in favor of freedom. Now, when he did graduate, 105 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: he was going to practice law, which his cousin John 106 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 1: Adams does do brilliantly. But his mother was against Sam 107 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: Adams becoming a lawyer, so she convinced him to become 108 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: a clerk accounting house Centsia Bank. His father tried to 109 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: get his son into business by giving him a thousand 110 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: pounds to start his own business, but Adams wasn't a 111 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 1: business man. He lost the money because that wasn't what 112 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: he wanted. He wanted to focus on politics. And while 113 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: he's working at the brewery, Adams, at the age of 114 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: twenty six and a group of his friends started quote 115 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: The Independent Advertisers, a newspaper where anonymously they questioned England's 116 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: rule and demanded more rights for the colonies. Paper lasted 117 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: about a year. The first edition of the paper was 118 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: published in Boston on January fourth, seventeen forty eight. The 119 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:42,240 Speaker 1: first edition started with the following quote, upon the encouragement 120 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:46,040 Speaker 1: we've already received and agreeable to our printed proposals, the 121 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: Independent Advertiser now makes its entrance into the world, And 122 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: as it will doubtless be expected upon its first appearance, 123 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: that we should more fully explain our design and show 124 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: what the public may expect of it, we would accordingly observe. 125 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: We shall be no means endeavor to recommend this outpaper 126 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 1: by depreciating the merit of other performances of the same kind. 127 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: Neither would we flatter the expectations of the public by 128 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: any pompous promises which we may not be likely to fulfill. 129 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: But this our reader may depend upon, that we shall 130 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 1: take the utmost care to procure the freshest and best intelligence, 131 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: and publish it in such an order as that every 132 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,320 Speaker 1: reader may have the cleanest and most perfect understanding of it. 133 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: And for the benefit of those who are unacquainted with 134 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:33,359 Speaker 1: the geography of foreigner parts. We may insert such descriptions 135 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: as may enlighten them therein Now, part of what they're 136 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: saying is Boston is a great port. People are showing 137 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: up in Boston. Ships are coming into Boston from all 138 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,599 Speaker 1: over the Atlantic. And what they want to do is 139 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: they want to get the news before anybody else print it, 140 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: so you can learn what's happening around the world. Because 141 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:54,680 Speaker 1: of that. Now, he also makes a political commitment in 142 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: this very first newspaper. He says, quote, as our present 143 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: political state matter for a variety of thoughts of peculiar 144 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: importance to the people of New England, we propose to 145 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:08,720 Speaker 1: insert everything of that nature that may be pertinently and 146 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,280 Speaker 1: decently wrote for ourselves. We declare we are no party, 147 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: neither shall we promote the private and narrow designs of 148 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 1: any such. We are ourselves free, and our papers shall 149 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: be free. Free as the Constitution we enjoy, free to truth, 150 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,080 Speaker 1: good manners, and good sense, and at the same time 151 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 1: free from all licentious reflections, insolence and abuse. Now notice here, 152 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 1: because this will come up again and again. And Sam 153 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: Adams is one of the people who is a great propagandist. 154 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:42,680 Speaker 1: The emphasis on free, the word free. We are ourselves free, 155 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: our paper will be free, free as the constitution we enjoy. 156 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 1: I notice he's already claiming that there's a constitution, and 157 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 1: in British tradition it's unwritten but understood, free to truth, 158 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: good manners, and good sense, and at the same time 159 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 1: free from all licentious, free elections in silence and abuse. 160 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: So think about that. In this one paragraph that comes 161 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,200 Speaker 1: back to the word free again and again, and he 162 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:11,559 Speaker 1: asserts that there is a constitution, which is why when 163 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:15,559 Speaker 1: the British Parliament begins to impose taxes, they are violating 164 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,920 Speaker 1: an already existing constitution. The Americans, in their view, do 165 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: not have to fight for liberty. They are born into liberty. 166 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:27,359 Speaker 1: They are born into a constitution. Now as an activist 167 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:29,800 Speaker 1: and somebody who was very good at working with people. 168 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: In seventeen forty seven, Adams is elected to his first 169 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:36,680 Speaker 1: political position as one of the clerks of the Boston Market, 170 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: where he served for nine years. A year later, seventeen 171 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,480 Speaker 1: forty eight, both his parents died, leaving him with their 172 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 1: estate and in charge the family's brewery business. He was 173 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:50,120 Speaker 1: also left with the numerous lawsuits connected to the land 174 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 1: bank that his father had tried to establish. Adams just 175 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 1: not a good businessman. He's unable to make ends meet. 176 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: He loses the brewery business. The government foreclosed in his 177 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: family's estate, but Adams used his ability in writing to 178 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 1: threaten potential buyers and was able to keep the estate 179 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:07,719 Speaker 1: while the government was trying to sell it. People this 180 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 1: wouldn't buy it. In seventeen forty nine, Samuel Adams married 181 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Checkley. According to adams quote, she was a rare 182 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: example of virtue and piety, blended with a retiring and 183 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:23,120 Speaker 1: modest demeanor and the charms of elegant womanhood. Three years 184 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,440 Speaker 1: as junior. Elizabeth was the daughter of Samuel Checkley, his 185 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:30,439 Speaker 1: pastor at the Old South Meetinghouse. The couple had six children, 186 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: only two of which reached maturity before Elizabeth Adams passed 187 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: in seventeen fifty seven due to complications of childbirth. After 188 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 1: her death, Adams immersed himself in politics. He worked briefly 189 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: as a tax collector in seventeen fifty six, but since 190 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:49,280 Speaker 1: he often failed to collect the required taxes and was 191 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:51,720 Speaker 1: leaning with many who could not pay higher rates, he 192 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:55,160 Speaker 1: was fired and held liable for the lost income. Once again, 193 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:58,240 Speaker 1: he's angry at the government. However, this gave him the 194 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,559 Speaker 1: change to establish connections which served him in the future. 195 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:05,960 Speaker 1: He went his second wife, Elizabeth Wells, in seventeen sixty four. 196 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:09,080 Speaker 1: Wells was the daughter of his good friend Francis Wells, 197 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,720 Speaker 1: a successful Boston merchant. The couple had no children together, 198 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: but she embraced her sheep children as our own and 199 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 1: supported her husband throughout his political career. In seventeen sixty four, 200 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:22,679 Speaker 1: the British government, trying to pay for the debts that 201 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:25,760 Speaker 1: had built up, passed the Sugar Act. As a member 202 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:29,240 Speaker 1: of the Town Meeting, Adams was vocal against the Act. 203 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 1: On May twenty fourth, seventeen sixty four, he wrote to 204 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,600 Speaker 1: the representatives of Boston, quote, for if our trade may 205 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: be taxed, why not our lands? Why not the produce 206 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:42,120 Speaker 1: of our lands and everything we possess or make use of. 207 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:45,840 Speaker 1: This we apprehend annihilates our charter right to govern and 208 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 1: tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privileges, which, as 209 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:53,640 Speaker 1: we have never forfeited them, we hold in common with 210 00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:57,240 Speaker 1: our fellow subjects who are natives of Britain. If taxes 211 00:12:57,240 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: are laid upon us in any shape without our having 212 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,560 Speaker 1: a legal representation where they are laid Are we not 213 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: reduced from the character of free subjects to the miserable 214 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:09,040 Speaker 1: state of tributary slaves. So here you have already in 215 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:13,240 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty four. The core argument. The argument is we 216 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:16,760 Speaker 1: are British by definition, we are part of the British Constitution. 217 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:20,280 Speaker 1: The British Constitution, of course, goes all the way back 218 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:24,000 Speaker 1: to the signing of the Great Charter, the Magna Carta, 219 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 1: and therefore people are not allowed to be taxed unless 220 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: they give their approval. And so they see this as 221 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: an assault on existing rights. They're not claiming new rights. 222 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:38,360 Speaker 1: They're claiming that their rights go back in history for 223 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,199 Speaker 1: hundreds and hundreds of years, and it is the government 224 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:54,440 Speaker 1: which is assaulting them. Hi, this is newt. In my 225 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:57,040 Speaker 1: new book, March the Majority, The Real Story of the 226 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:01,239 Speaker 1: Republican Revolution, I offer strategies and insights for everyday citizens 227 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:04,560 Speaker 1: and for season politicians. It's both a guide for political 228 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: success and for winning back the majority. In twenty twenty four, 229 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: March to the Majority outlines the sixteen year campaign to 230 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 1: write the Contract with America, explains how we elected the 231 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: first Republican House majority in forty years. In How we 232 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: worked with President Bill Clinton to pass major reforms, including 233 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: four consecutive balance budgets, March to the Majority tells the 234 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: behind the scenes story of how we got it done. 235 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 1: Go to gingishtree sixty dot com slash book and order 236 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 1: your copy now. Order it today at gingishtree sixty dot 237 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:47,560 Speaker 1: com slash book. A year later got worse. The British 238 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 1: government passed the Stamp Act again, an effort to get 239 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: money to pay off all these various debts. Adams at 240 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: that point took the streets united his political party, the 241 00:14:57,040 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: Country Party, with two opposing parties, North Boston and South Boston, 242 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 1: led by John Hancock and James Otis, to form the 243 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: Sons of Liberty. Noticed again the language the Sons of Liberty. 244 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: Adams wrote Instructions of the Town of Boston to its 245 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 1: representatives in the General Court in September seventeen sixty four. 246 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 1: And he's really laying out their argument. They are alarmed 247 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: and astonished at the attack called the Stamp Act, by 248 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:28,640 Speaker 1: which a very grievous and we apprehend unconstitutional tax is 249 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,840 Speaker 1: to be laid upon the colony. So notice they are 250 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 1: literally arguing that they already have what they called are 251 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: invaluable rights and liberties, and so they see this as 252 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: an attack on existing rights. They're not arguing for new rights, 253 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: they are defending what they see as old rights. That 254 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 1: rebellion led to the Stamp Act Congress, where all but 255 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: four of the colonies demanded that the King repeal the tacks. 256 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,400 Speaker 1: This worked, the British gave up in seventeen sixty six 257 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: and never collected attack. Adam was elected that year in 258 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty six, to the House of Representatives as a clerk. 259 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: As clerk, he was responsible for basic record keeping and 260 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: communicating with the colony's agent in London and with other 261 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,960 Speaker 1: legislative assemblies in other colonies. This is where he met 262 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,920 Speaker 1: John Hancock for the first time. Although most representatives did 263 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: not receive a salary, Adam, as clerk did and had 264 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: a steady income. This allowed him to focus even more 265 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 1: on politics. In seventeen sixty seven, Parliament approved a series 266 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:33,160 Speaker 1: of taxes on items imported in the colonies, known as 267 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:37,200 Speaker 1: the Townshen Acts. This act also created an American Board 268 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: of Customs Commissioners to enforce collection, which established their headquarters 269 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 1: in Boston. It's almost as though the Parliament is so 270 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:48,160 Speaker 1: desperate for money, and their reasoning is pretty simple. They 271 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:51,120 Speaker 1: had fought a large war against France in part to 272 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,600 Speaker 1: protect the Americans. They borrowed all this money in order 273 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:57,440 Speaker 1: to wage the war to protect the Americans and the 274 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: Americans from other beneficiaries of having Canada to the north 275 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,119 Speaker 1: be a British colony. So why weren't the Americans grateful 276 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:08,040 Speaker 1: and generous? And apparently in Parliament they just couldn't get 277 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,880 Speaker 1: through their head how much this was infuriating and alienating 278 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:16,320 Speaker 1: the Americans. When news of the Towns and Acts reaches 279 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:21,040 Speaker 1: Massachusetts in the autumn of seventeen sixty seven, Adams immediately 280 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: employed the Boston Town Meeting to organize protests in Boycott's. 281 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:28,920 Speaker 1: In January seventeen sixty eight, he motioned the General Court 282 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 1: to draft a petition to the King urging that he 283 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:36,520 Speaker 1: respects the Charter rights of Massachusetts. Notice they're not creating rights, 284 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 1: they want the King to respect existing rights. The motion 285 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: faced opposition from rural town representatives who aligned with the Parliament, 286 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 1: so Adams waited until the end of the legislative session, 287 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,760 Speaker 1: with many of those who opposed, departed back home before 288 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:54,600 Speaker 1: putting the motion forth. It easily passed. So here you 289 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:58,639 Speaker 1: see him maneuvering, thinking, becoming a pretty effective politician. The 290 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,400 Speaker 1: General Court sent the letter the petition with the letter 291 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: to other colonies. It was known as the Massachusetts Circular Letter, 292 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:08,720 Speaker 1: which Adams was one of the authors alongside James Otis. 293 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,280 Speaker 1: The letter read quote, the House of Representations of this 294 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 1: Province have taken into their serious consideration the great difficulties 295 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,879 Speaker 1: that must accrue to themselves in their constituents by the 296 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 1: operation of several Acts of Parliament imposing duty and taxes 297 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 1: on the American colonies. So they are really into this 298 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:32,199 Speaker 1: issue of the Constitution, which they assert already exists. And 299 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:35,680 Speaker 1: they are really into the concept that the British Parliament 300 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:40,639 Speaker 1: is now usurping their powers and threatening them in very 301 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:44,680 Speaker 1: very serious ways. And they assert, quote, in all free 302 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,959 Speaker 1: states the Constitution is fixed, and as the Supreme Legislative 303 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: derives its power and authority from the Constitution, it cannot 304 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: overleap the bounds of it without destroying its own foundation. 305 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:00,440 Speaker 1: That the Constitution ascertains and limits both sovereignty and e agiance, 306 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:05,320 Speaker 1: and therefore his Majesty's American subjects, who acknowledge themselves bound 307 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,879 Speaker 1: by the ties of allegiance, have an equitable claim to 308 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:11,840 Speaker 1: the full enjoyment of the fundamental rules of the British Constitution. 309 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 1: That it is an essential on all trouble right in nature, 310 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:21,200 Speaker 1: and grafted into the British Constitution as a fundamental law, 311 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,840 Speaker 1: and ever held sacred and irrevocable by the subjects within 312 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: the realm, That what a man has honestly acquired is 313 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 1: absolutely his own, which he may freely give, but cannot 314 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,360 Speaker 1: be taken from him without his consent. That the American 315 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:39,680 Speaker 1: subjects may, therefore, exclusive of any consideration of Charter rights, 316 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:43,359 Speaker 1: with a decent firmness adapted to the character of free 317 00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:48,959 Speaker 1: men and subjects, assert this natural and constitutional right. So 318 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 1: they're saying, we literally have under natural law, we have 319 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:56,160 Speaker 1: achieved this. This is the forerunner of what Jefferson will 320 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 1: write in the Declaration of Independence when he says we 321 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 1: are endowed by our creator Leader with certain honorable rights, 322 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 1: among which your life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Well, 323 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 1: that's exactly what Adams is beaten to drift towards. That 324 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:13,760 Speaker 1: these rights existed outside of any kind of specific contract. 325 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:18,159 Speaker 1: They are inherent their part of being British, and the 326 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:22,360 Speaker 1: result was that they had put together a real opposition. 327 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:25,320 Speaker 1: There was a threat to the core of the British system. 328 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,280 Speaker 1: Lord Hillsborough, who's the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 329 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: received the letter and then ordered that the letter be 330 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: taken back. Hillsborough threatened them said if they refused, he 331 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:39,600 Speaker 1: would order Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to dissolve the General Court. 332 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: Despite that threat, the legislative voted to refuse to rescind 333 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: the letter by ninety two to seventeen. Governor Bernard, in response, 334 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,159 Speaker 1: dissolved them. They did not reconvene for another year. In 335 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:55,560 Speaker 1: other words, faced with a direct order from the British government, 336 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:00,159 Speaker 1: by ninety two to seventeen, the legislatures are voting to 337 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: defy the British government. Now this is the beginning of 338 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:09,200 Speaker 1: really moving towards a serious confrontation. Troops arrive in Boston 339 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 1: on October first, seventeen sixty eight, and while they're arriving, 340 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: Adams is authoring over twenty newspaper articles, usually under the 341 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: pen names Index and Candidas, using the pseudonym Index. In 342 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:26,920 Speaker 1: the Boston Gazette in December seventeen sixty eight. He writes, quote, well, 343 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: the spirits of the people is yet unsubdued by tyranny, 344 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:33,720 Speaker 1: on awed by the menace of arbitrary power, submit to 345 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:37,800 Speaker 1: be governed by military force. No let us rouse our 346 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: attention to the common law, which is our birthright, our 347 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: great security against all kinds of insult and oppression, the law, which, 348 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: when rightly used, is the curb and the terror of 349 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 1: the haughtiest tyrant. So he's really putting together the core 350 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,600 Speaker 1: argument about the nature of freedom and the idea that 351 00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: freedom belongs to you. It's not given to you by 352 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: the government. Freedom starts with you, and then you may 353 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,480 Speaker 1: loan part of it to the government, but the center 354 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: of us always you, the individual citizen. And Adams advocate 355 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,359 Speaker 1: that Boston merchants just refused to import all British goods 356 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:15,879 Speaker 1: for a year. They didn't get one hundred percent support 357 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:18,679 Speaker 1: for it, but they got enough that all of a sudden, 358 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:23,400 Speaker 1: the British merchants are complaining to Parliament that the alienation 359 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:27,200 Speaker 1: is getting to be expensive to them. And so where 360 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: the British Parliament had thought, oh, this would be pretty 361 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,879 Speaker 1: easy they'll obviously have to pay the taxes. What this 362 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,760 Speaker 1: discovering is every time they take a step to oppress 363 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:40,720 Speaker 1: those who are angry, there are more people angry, and 364 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:44,600 Speaker 1: so there's a whole process underway here in which people 365 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:48,280 Speaker 1: are gradually banding together to oppose what the British are doing. 366 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 1: Adams wanted to extend it beyond one year, but it 367 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:56,160 Speaker 1: just wasn't possible. On February twenty second, seventeen seventy, when 368 00:22:56,200 --> 00:23:00,960 Speaker 1: harassed by a mob, a minor customs official named Richardson 369 00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: accidentally shot and killed eleven year old Christopher Cedar. Although 370 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:09,199 Speaker 1: probably an accident, Adams used this as an opportunity to 371 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,199 Speaker 1: call out the presence of British troops. Adams organized a 372 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:15,639 Speaker 1: public funeral that was attended by over two thousand people 373 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,800 Speaker 1: for this young eleven year old who'd been killed. By 374 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:23,199 Speaker 1: March fifth, seventeen seventy nine, British soldiers faced off a 375 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:26,960 Speaker 1: mob of several hundred angry citizens. They fired into the crowd, 376 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 1: killing five and wounding six citizens. That began to be 377 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:35,160 Speaker 1: the Boston massacre. On March sixth, Adams led a committee 378 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 1: to demand the removal of British troops in an emergency 379 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:43,159 Speaker 1: session after Adams addressed the Assembly, they unanimously voted for 380 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,480 Speaker 1: removal of the troops. Now this is a real, I 381 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:50,879 Speaker 1: think significant repudiation of the British ability to extend power. 382 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 1: Governor Hutcheson understands how big a threat this is. On 383 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: the same day, writes to William Dalrymple, the commander of 384 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: the military, quote, I am sent I have no power 385 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:03,639 Speaker 1: to order the troops to the castle, but under the 386 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:06,719 Speaker 1: present circumstance of the town and the province, I cannot 387 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:09,719 Speaker 1: avoid in consequence of this unanimous advice to the Council 388 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,359 Speaker 1: designing you to order them there, which I must submit 389 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,840 Speaker 1: to you. Lieutenant Coloneldalrymple agreed to this and ordered the 390 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: troops to Castle Island in the harbor. So the American 391 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: citizens feel like they're winning. The soldiers involved in the 392 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,920 Speaker 1: shooting were arrested and waited trial. But it's fascinating. This 393 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: is a great story in American history because they wanted 394 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,720 Speaker 1: a fair trial. Even Samuel Adams, who was one of 395 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:41,359 Speaker 1: the hottest and most aggressive of the Americans, knew that 396 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: it had to be a fair trial. Of course, most 397 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,360 Speaker 1: attorneys did not want to defend the British. So Adams 398 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:51,920 Speaker 1: got his cousin John Adams and Josiah Quincy to defend them. 399 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,359 Speaker 1: It's a brilliant move. John Adams is a great lawyer. 400 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: At the time, I think hurts him sum in terms 401 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,639 Speaker 1: of the people of Boston. But they made the argument 402 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 1: that the soldiers were only firing out of self defense, 403 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:07,560 Speaker 1: and there wasn't their fault that they were there. They'd 404 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: been ordered to go there. So of the soldiers only 405 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: two were found guilty of manslaughter. Adams actually opposed the 406 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 1: court decision and really was on the side of the 407 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:41,000 Speaker 1: American revolutionaries. In April seventeen seventy, in an effort to 408 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,680 Speaker 1: find a middle ground, Parliament repeals all the towns in 409 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:49,120 Speaker 1: taxes except one, the tax on tea. In the late 410 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 1: spring of seventeen seventy one, news came that Parliament would 411 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:58,240 Speaker 1: no longer allow the legislature to pay the governor's salary, 412 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,400 Speaker 1: but instead the governor's salary will be paid with revenue 413 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 1: from the t tax. At that point people begin to 414 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: get really upset. By the autumn of seventeen seventy two, 415 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,560 Speaker 1: news broke the judges the Supreme Court would like the 416 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,640 Speaker 1: governor not be paid by the legislature. Now, what's happening 417 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:18,119 Speaker 1: is the British Parliament is gradually creating a class of 418 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:21,439 Speaker 1: people whose loyalty is to London, and who are prepared 419 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:26,280 Speaker 1: to impose on the people of Massachusetts. Now Adams when 420 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,320 Speaker 1: they learned that the judges as well as the governor 421 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,399 Speaker 1: are going to be paid directly from the tax, writes 422 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 1: an article on the Boston Gazette under the name Valerius Publicola. 423 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 1: He writes this quote, to what a state of infamy, wretchedness, 424 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,760 Speaker 1: and misery shall we be reduced if our judges shall 425 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:49,399 Speaker 1: be prevailed upon to be thus degraded to hirelings, and 426 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,160 Speaker 1: the body of the people shall suffer their free constitution 427 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: to be overturned and ruined. Let not the iron hand 428 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,800 Speaker 1: of tyranny ravish our laws and seize the badge of freedom, 429 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,160 Speaker 1: and the murderous rage of lawless power be ever seen 430 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,440 Speaker 1: on the sacred seat of justice. Now, by the way, 431 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:09,439 Speaker 1: it's interesting, I want to the paper in which I 432 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:14,560 Speaker 1: realized that reforming judges was the number two demand of 433 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: the colonists, after the right of taxation. They were so 434 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,720 Speaker 1: angry at the way that the judges had become creatures 435 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:26,959 Speaker 1: of the state against the people. That much of what 436 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 1: we see in the Constitution in limiting the judges is 437 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:34,640 Speaker 1: a function of what they had experienced under the British 438 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,440 Speaker 1: where the judges became the tools of the king against 439 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 1: the people. By late seventeen seventy two, Adams is writing 440 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,440 Speaker 1: a pamphlet The Rights of the Colonists, And again this 441 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,119 Speaker 1: really is a precursor to Jefferson. Listen to it. Quote. 442 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,960 Speaker 1: Among the natural rights of the colonists are these first 443 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:56,240 Speaker 1: a right to life, second to liberty, third to property, 444 00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:59,000 Speaker 1: together with the right to support and defend them in 445 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,199 Speaker 1: the best manner they can. These are evident branches of 446 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,879 Speaker 1: rather than deductions from the duty of self preservation, commonly 447 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,639 Speaker 1: called the first law of nature. All men have a 448 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,600 Speaker 1: right to remain in a state of nature as long 449 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: as they please, and, in cases of intolerable oppression, civil 450 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 1: or religious, to leave the society they belong to and 451 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 1: enter into another. When men are enter into society, it 452 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,000 Speaker 1: is by voluntary consent, and they have a right to 453 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: demand and insist upon the performance of such conditions and 454 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:36,880 Speaker 1: previous limitations as form an equitable original compact. Now notice 455 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 1: Adam is going all the way back, basically making the 456 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: argument which John Locke had made at the turn of 457 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,719 Speaker 1: the last century in the sixteen nineties, and that is 458 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 1: that our rights are natural, they are inherent in the 459 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,120 Speaker 1: way that God and nature operate, and therefore they are 460 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,160 Speaker 1: not a function of the state, but rather the state 461 00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: has to be seen in the context of these natural 462 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 1: rights rights. And this begins to be an enormous division, 463 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,120 Speaker 1: because if you are the British king, you can't accept 464 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:12,479 Speaker 1: the idea that their rights outside your kingship. Historically, in 465 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: the Middle Ages, power came from God through the king 466 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,720 Speaker 1: down to other people. What they're now saying is no, 467 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 1: no power comes from the God to us. It's a 468 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,720 Speaker 1: natural right, there's a natural liberty, and then we loan 469 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:30,800 Speaker 1: the king power. Well, this is a radical violation of 470 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:33,320 Speaker 1: the system that had been in operated throughout the Middle Ages. 471 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,800 Speaker 1: And so the result is you begin to see Samuel 472 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:40,120 Speaker 1: Adams I think as a real precursor of what Jefferson 473 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:44,320 Speaker 1: will write in the Decoration Dependence, laying out a doctrine 474 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,440 Speaker 1: even says at one point talks about life, liberty and property. 475 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:52,400 Speaker 1: Property becomes life fluted in pursuit of happiness, but pursuit 476 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: of happiness in the eighteenth century Scottish enlightenment is actually 477 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:02,320 Speaker 1: means virtue and wisdom, doesn't mean hedonism and getting drunk. 478 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:05,240 Speaker 1: So they're talking about you have a right to seek 479 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:09,320 Speaker 1: a better life, the right to freedom being the gift 480 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:12,440 Speaker 1: of God Almighty. It is not in the power of 481 00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:16,040 Speaker 1: man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave. Now, look, 482 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:18,720 Speaker 1: this is a head on collision that's coming right down 483 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,200 Speaker 1: the road, and Adams is right in the middle of it, 484 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 1: and he is describing the base of freedom as it 485 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:27,719 Speaker 1: has existed in America ever since, and that is that 486 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,360 Speaker 1: your rights come from God, that the government cannot infringe 487 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 1: on those rights, and that only those things that you're 488 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: willing to delegate the government can belong to government. In 489 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 1: the middle of all this, an East Indian ship, the Dartmouth, 490 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 1: arrived in Boston. Adams wanted the ship to return without 491 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,880 Speaker 1: paying the importation duties, something that was required by law, 492 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:52,640 Speaker 1: held a meeting where, according to a letter he wrote 493 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,120 Speaker 1: to Arthur Lee on December thirteenth, seventeen seventy three, at 494 00:30:56,240 --> 00:31:00,120 Speaker 1: least seven thousand men, many coming from outside towns as 495 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:03,400 Speaker 1: far as twenty miles away gathered to support Adam's petition, 496 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:09,000 Speaker 1: but Governor Hutcheson refused to make the ship return. Faced 497 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: with this, a group of men disguised themselves as Indians 498 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: and in less than four hours through all three hundred 499 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:19,800 Speaker 1: and forty two chests of tea into the harbor. This 500 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,080 Speaker 1: was the famous Boston Tea Party. We're not really sure 501 00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:25,400 Speaker 1: if Adams was one of the Indians, but we are 502 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 1: sure that he was instrumental in publishing what happened through 503 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:31,440 Speaker 1: all the colonies and using it as one of the 504 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,920 Speaker 1: reasons for colonists to fight for independence. Well, the British 505 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:38,480 Speaker 1: government goes nuts. They passed the Intolerable Acts of seventeen 506 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:42,120 Speaker 1: seventy four, closing the Boston Port until the colony paid 507 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 1: for the tea. They dumped into the harbor, requiring all 508 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,640 Speaker 1: colonists to house British soldiers in their homes, and made 509 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:50,320 Speaker 1: it so the British had control of locally appointed officials. 510 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: They basically are trying to take over and create a 511 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 1: dictatorship based in London. That just leads Stephen Moore in 512 00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:01,920 Speaker 1: tense argument Adams in June eighteen seventy four drafts the 513 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 1: Resolves of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and makes the 514 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:09,120 Speaker 1: case for the rest of the colonies that we are 515 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 1: now being oppressed and they're coming for you next. Now, 516 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,960 Speaker 1: the British are very serious about this. They send General 517 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:22,240 Speaker 1: Thomas Gage as military governor. They send four thousand troops 518 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 1: into Boston, and Adams doesn't back down. In fact, in 519 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:30,440 Speaker 1: June seventeen seventy four, Adams chairs a committee in the 520 00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 1: House of Representatives which had left Boston to go to 521 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,600 Speaker 1: Salem to be able to meet, and they propose electing 522 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: individuals to represent Massachusetts at a colonial Congress set to 523 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: meet in Philadelphia. Both Sammy Adams and his cousin John 524 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 1: Adams were elected delegates. And to this particular thing, General Gage, 525 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 1: with the British back home putting real pressure on him 526 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:57,200 Speaker 1: to end the rebellion, didn't want to arrest Adams because 527 00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,880 Speaker 1: he felt this would lead to a backlash. He tried 528 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 1: to prevent the provincial congress from getting military supplies that 529 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:08,080 Speaker 1: led to each side attempted to capture local gunpowder source. Then, 530 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: on April fourteenth, seventeen seventy five, a letter from the 531 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: Secretary of State ordered Gage to disarm the militia and 532 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:18,760 Speaker 1: arrest the leaders of the rebellion, which was namely Samuel 533 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,800 Speaker 1: Adams and John Hancock. A second Continental Congress was deemed 534 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,320 Speaker 1: necessary in May of seventeen seventy five. Just a month later, 535 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,520 Speaker 1: Adams was selected as a delegate. However, in April, before departing, 536 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,160 Speaker 1: Adams and John Hancock attended a session of the provincial 537 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 1: Congress Media and conquered fifteen miles northwest of Boston. Since 538 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 1: they were aware of the order to arrest them, they 539 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:44,800 Speaker 1: decided to stay in Lexington, at the home of Reverend 540 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:47,720 Speaker 1: Clark instead of Boston. Because of a very real risk 541 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:51,280 Speaker 1: of arrest, Gage orders a column of troops to Conquered 542 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:56,400 Speaker 1: to seize and destroy a suspected cache of munitions. March, 543 00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:59,920 Speaker 1: the soldiers would go through Lexington Saxonly not clear nowadays 544 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 1: whether Gage knew that Adams and Hancock were there, or 545 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:04,520 Speaker 1: whether or not he's even going to try to arrest him. 546 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:09,640 Speaker 1: Despite this, fearing captured, Joseph Warren dispatched Paul Revere and 547 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:13,360 Speaker 1: William Dawls to warn the delegates to leave, and in 548 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,719 Speaker 1: April eighteenth, seventeen seventy five, Paul Revere won on his 549 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:22,080 Speaker 1: famous ride sparking the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The 550 00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:25,400 Speaker 1: British troops arrived in Lexington in the morning of April nineteenth, 551 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:28,879 Speaker 1: just as Hancock and Adams escape. Less than a month 552 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,280 Speaker 1: after the battles of Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental 553 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:36,439 Speaker 1: Congress took place. In an April three, seventeen seventy six 554 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:40,880 Speaker 1: letter to Samuel Cooper, Adams wrote, it's not America already independent, 555 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 1: why then not declare it? Can nations at war said 556 00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:48,600 Speaker 1: to be dependent either upon the other, and so Adams 557 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:52,080 Speaker 1: is really working the concept it's time to declare independence. 558 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:55,160 Speaker 1: He's very much in favor of a resolution to declare it, 559 00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:59,840 Speaker 1: and ultimately he's one of the people who's enthusiastically signing 560 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,440 Speaker 1: the Declaration of Independence. And again he's basing all of 561 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,479 Speaker 1: this on natural rights and on the sense that all 562 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,080 Speaker 1: we're doing is defining what we already have, and it's 563 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,319 Speaker 1: the British king who's trying to take it away from us. 564 00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:14,759 Speaker 1: We're not trying to establish it. We already have it, 565 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: but the British King now is trying to steal it. 566 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:21,799 Speaker 1: It's I think a very significant moment. Once they had 567 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:26,960 Speaker 1: won the war, Adams supported a state constitution, but he 568 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 1: wanted to limit the power of the government. He did 569 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: not go to the Constitutional Convention of seventeen eighty seven 570 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,560 Speaker 1: because he was afraid that a stronger government would infringe 571 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:40,279 Speaker 1: on the people's liberties. He rejected the very concept. He 572 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:43,400 Speaker 1: attempted to re international politics as a candidate for the 573 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,320 Speaker 1: Oath House, but was defeated by Fisher Aims, who was 574 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,360 Speaker 1: an avid supporter of the constitution. He went on to 575 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:53,120 Speaker 1: serve as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts under Governor John Hancock, 576 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:56,640 Speaker 1: and when Hancock died in office, Adams assumed the governorship. 577 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,200 Speaker 1: Then he was elected to three successive one year term 578 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:04,840 Speaker 1: as Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He officially retired 579 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:07,920 Speaker 1: in seventeen ninety seven because he is unable to write 580 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:11,000 Speaker 1: due to the fremers in his hands. He died on 581 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:15,400 Speaker 1: October second, eighteen o three, at the age of eighty one. 582 00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:19,320 Speaker 1: In eighteen nineteen, Thomas Jefferson wrote of Samuel Adams quote, 583 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:23,000 Speaker 1: I can say he was truly a great man, wise 584 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:27,560 Speaker 1: in counsel, fertile in resources, immovable in his purposes. Although 585 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:31,600 Speaker 1: not a fluent elocution, he was so rigorously logical, so 586 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:35,680 Speaker 1: clear in his views, abundant in good sense, and master 587 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:39,080 Speaker 1: always of his subject that he commanded the most profound 588 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:43,240 Speaker 1: attention whenever he rose in an assembly. And of course, 589 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:45,840 Speaker 1: as I have pointed out, Jefferson in many ways was 590 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: deeply shaped by adams understanding of natural law and of 591 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,880 Speaker 1: the role of God in giving us our liberties. Because 592 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:57,319 Speaker 1: sam Adams was so eloquent in defining the rights of Americans, 593 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:02,839 Speaker 1: because he was so consistent and persistent in arguing and 594 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:06,120 Speaker 1: fighting for those rights, because he was able to talk 595 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:09,560 Speaker 1: in a common language which allowed everyday folks to understand 596 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:12,640 Speaker 1: it and to decide for themselves where they were in 597 00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:16,160 Speaker 1: this great struggle. He really is one of the heroes 598 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:20,080 Speaker 1: around whom the American system is built. I'm not sure 599 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:23,280 Speaker 1: that we would have gotten nearly as far towards freedom 600 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:27,880 Speaker 1: and liberty without Samuel Adams. I am sure he managed 601 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:31,200 Speaker 1: to help people all across the colonies come to an 602 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:36,080 Speaker 1: understanding that there was an irreconcilable difference between a British 603 00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:39,520 Speaker 1: king who believed in the divine right of kingship and 604 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: Americans who believed that that divine right led to sovereignty 605 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:46,520 Speaker 1: for the individual, not for the state. And I think 606 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:49,840 Speaker 1: Samuel Adams has to be considered one of the genuine 607 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,640 Speaker 1: immortals who shaped freedom and on whose shoulders we today 608 00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:59,239 Speaker 1: still stand. Thank you for listening. You can read more 609 00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:01,840 Speaker 1: about Samuel Adams and get links to my other founding 610 00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:05,680 Speaker 1: father's episodes on our show page at newtsworld dot com. 611 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:09,319 Speaker 1: Newsworld is produced by Gingrish three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our 612 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:13,560 Speaker 1: executive producer is Guarnsey Sloan and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. 613 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:16,920 Speaker 1: The artwork for the show was created by Steve Penley. 614 00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 1: Special thanks to the team at Gingrish three sixty. If 615 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,280 Speaker 1: you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope you'll go to Apple 616 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 1: Podcast and both rate us with five stars and give 617 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:29,480 Speaker 1: us a review so others can learn what it's all about. 618 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:33,440 Speaker 1: Right now, listeners of Newsworld consign up for my three 619 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:38,439 Speaker 1: freeweekly columns at gingishfree sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm 620 00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:40,680 Speaker 1: newt Gingrich. This is Newsworld