Introduction
Samuel Adams was an American Revolutionary War hero. He was a driving force in America's movement towards independence from Great Britain. This famous politician and statesman is one of America's founding fathers and is a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Learn more about this important figure in American history in the list of kid-friendly interesting facts below. This information serves as a short biography and includes how he helped America win its independence, what important events leading to the Revolution he was involved in, and why he thought the British were mistreating the American colonist.Click here for a great selection of Amazon.com books about Samuel Adams.
Pre-Revolutionary War Facts about Samuel Adams
- Samuel Adams was born on September 27th of 1722 in Boston, Massachusetts.
- He was the second cousin of the second President of the United States; John Adams.
- Sam Adams graduate from Harvard College in 1743 with a masters degree.
- After graduating from Harvard Adams was unsuccessful in business.
- His first wife, Elizabeth Checkley, who he married in 1749 died in 1757. He married again in 1764 to Elizabeth Wells.
- In 1747 Samuel Adams was elected as a clerk of the Boston market; his first political office.
- In 1748 he founded a weekly newspaper called The Independent Advertiser with articles stressing that the colonies should seek their independence from Great Britain.
- In 1756 he was elected to be a tax collector. He did not make a good tax collector and often failed to collect taxes which he then became personally responsible for.
Facts about Samuel Adams and the American Revolution
- Sam Adams became enraged when the British Parliament passed the Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act in 1765, and the Townshend duties in 1767. He believed that since the colonist were not represented in Parliament that Parliament had no right to tax them. He encouraged economic boycotts of British goods to oppose these acts.
- Samuel Adams along with John Hancock founded the secret society the Sons of Liberty in 1765. They organized this society to help protect the colonist's rights against the British government.
- He was a leading figure in the fight against British taxation of the colonies. He called for the colonies to not cooperate with the British which would eventually lead to the British occupying Boston.
- A famous quote of his is "It does not take a majority to prevail but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men."
- After the Boston Massacre in March of 1770, in which British soldiers fired shots into an angry mob of colonist, Adams sought a fair trial for the soldiers. He convinced John Adams, his cousin, to defend the soldiers at trial. He also worked hard in an attempt to get the British army to withdraw from Boston.
- It is believed Sam Adams had a role in the Boston Tea Party which took place on December 16th of 1773; however his exact role is unknown.
- In September and October of 1774 he represent the Massachusetts colony at the First Continental Congress. The Congress agreed to an organized boycott of British goods.
- In April of 1775 the Revolutionary War began when the British army marched out of Boston and clashed with colonist at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The British set out to destroy weapons the colonist had gathered and to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Adams and Hancock escaped thanks to being warned by Paul Revere on his famous ride to warn that the "British are coming".
- In 1776 Samuel Adams signed the Declaration of Independence.
- After the American Revolutionary War he went on to become a state senator for Massachusetts and eventually governor of Massachusetts.
- Samuel Adams died in 1803.