Samuel Adams combined the moral outlook of seventeenth century Puritans with an eighteenth century belief in rights and limited constitutional government.
- W.F. Halsall, An Elementary History of Our Country, by Eva March Tappan
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams was deeply conscious of his Puritan ancestry. English Puritans fought a civil war against the King and aristocracy, seeing them as corrupt and repressive. The lingering influence of Boston’s Puritan founders helps explain Massachusetts’ role in events leading to the American Revolution.
Samuel’s father “Deacon Samuel Adams” had a profound infl uence. He had a malt business but was deeply religious and active in the Old South Meeting House. He was also a skilled politician who taught his son the art of retail politics by visiting taverns and political clubs.
Old South Meeting House
The Commonwealth Museum Treasures Gallery displays the 1691 Province Charter.
- Massachusetts Archives
Deacon Adams and friends discussed issues surrounding the province charter. Granted by King William and Queen Mary in 1691, it had a frame of government and rules for governing. Young Samuel Adams learned that the document was important for protecting rights. He called it our “Magna Carta.” Legalistic arguments, based upon the charter, were central to Adams message.
Puritans founded Boston Latin School and Harvard College. Adams was an alumnus of both. At Harvard Samuel studied history and modern political theory. Like many, he was deeply infl uenced by the writings of John Locke and other Enlightenment thinkers.
Harvard College
- Library of Congress
Green Dragon Tavern Old Boston Taverns and Tavern Clubs.
- by Samuel Adams Drake and Walter K. Watkins
Above all, Samuel Adams was a true democrat who valued the opinion of common people. He frequented taverns to gauge public sentiment and worked to establish an elected government responsive to the will of the people. In contrast to many revolutionaries he did not seek personal power.
John Locke Locke wished to justify the “Glorious Revolution”
of 1689 that replaced King James
II with a limited constitutional monarchy.
He described the “state of nature” before
government was established. Th ere were
natural rights, most importantly “life,
liberty, and property.” Natural law protected them and could
never be breached. To protect rights and improve living conditions people formed a government with limited powers through
a social contract. If a ruler violated rights revolution was justifi ed.
Th ese ideas, particularly the concept of “natural rights” and
“natural law” were refl ected in the rhetoric of the Stamp Tax
crisis. Rowdy mobs chanted “Liberty, Property, and No Stamps.”
- Library of Congres