Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Born in Boston, Adams was brought up in a religious and politically active family.
A graduate of Harvard College, he was an unsuccessful businessman and tax collector before concentrating on politics.
As an influential official of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Boston Town Meeting in the 1760s, Adams was a part of a movement opposed to the British Parliament’s efforts to tax the British American colonies without their consent.
His 1768 circular letter calling for colonial non-cooperation prompted the occupation of Boston by British soldiers, eventually resulting in the Boston Massacre of 1770.
To help coordinate resistance to what he saw as the British government’s attempts to violate the British Constitution at the expense of the colonies, in 1772 Adams and his colleagues devised a committee of correspondence system, which linked like-minded Patriots throughout the Thirteen Colonies.
His early public office as a tax collector might have made him suspect as an agent of British authority, however, he made good use of his understanding of the tax codes and wide acquaintance with the merchants of Boston.
Samuel was a very visible popular leader who, along with John, spent a great deal of time in the public eye agitating for resistance.
In 1765 he was elected to the Massachusetts Assembly where he served as clerk for many years.
It was there that he was the first to propose a continental congress. He was a leading advocate of republicanism and a good friend of Tom Paine.
In 1774, he was chosen to be a member of the provincial council during the crisis in Boston.
He was then appointed as a representative to the Continental Congress, where he was most noted for his oratory skills, and as a passionate advocate of independence from Britain.
In 1776, as a delegate to the Continental Congress, he signed the Declaration of Independence.
Adams retired from the Congress in 1781 and returned to Massachusetts to become a leading member of that state’s convention to form a constitution.
Samuel Adams offers discerning beer drinkers a variety of brews.
The brewery has won more awards in international beer-tasting competitions in the last five years than any other brewery in the world.
Samuel Adams is an independent brewery and brewing quality beer remains its single focus.
While the Samuel Adams brand is the country’s largest-selling craft beer, it accounts for just under one percent of the U.S. beer market.
After failing as a brewer and newspaper publisher, Adams found that his chief preoccupation, politics, was his true calling.
Following lengthy experience in Boston town affairs, he rose to prominence in the Massachusetts assembly during the opposition to the Stamp Act in 1765.
After serving as John Hancock’s lieutenant governor from 1789 to 1793, Adams succeeded to the governorship at Hancock’s death.
Although he opposed Jay’s Treaty with England in 1795, he was thrice re-elected before infirmity led him to retire in 1797.
Three years later, when Thomas Jefferson was elected to the presidency over his cousin John, Samuel congratulated the Virginian on the triumph of democratic republicanism.