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Samuel Adams was born in Boston on September 16, 1722. He entered the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1765. He became a member of the Continental Congress in 1774, signed the Declaration of Independence, and was an architect of the Articles of Confederation. He helped draft Massachusetts's 1780 Constitution.

Upon retiring from Congress in 1782, he served as a state senator until becoming Massachusetts lieutenant governor in 1789. He attended the 1788 Massachusetts convention that ratified the proposed U.S. Constitution. Adams became governor upon the death of John Hancock in 1793 and was elected governor in his own right in 1794. He served as governor until 1797, when he retired from public life. He died in Boston on October 2, 1803.

Adams's lengthy political career demonstrates that eighteenth- century American politicians need not be great orators. It was his 1764 written instructions to Boston's representatives, not speeches, that helped propel Adams into the Massachusetts House. There he became famous for crafting powerful documents. As his "CANDIDUS" essay shows, he, like other politically active Americans, placed writings in newspapers to try to influence people's political decisions. And in an age when political letters regularly appeared in newspapers or were passed from hand to hand, Adams consciously fashioned letters to push his political agenda. Excerpts from speeches he gave at the Massachusetts ratifying convention show why he was noted for directness, not flowery oratory. As governor of Massachusetts, Adams used annual addresses to underscore his political ideals and to champion political programs.

The documents that Adams fashioned to attack British policies reveal a skilled politician using language to try to awaken people to what Adams once called the threat of the lurking serpent. His writings, especially those dealing with American government, show a pragmatic politician at work. Adams accepted the old adage that "politics is the art of compromise." He embraced compromise in part because he believed humans are fallible; thus, even their best political formulations will be flawed. Nevertheless, his pragmatism was always tempered by a guiding principle: One must steadfastly defend the people's natural and constitutional rights.

References:

1. Alexander, John K. Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002.

2. Brown, Richard D. Revolutionary Politics in Massachusetts: The Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Towns, 1772-1774. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1970.

3. Fowler, William M., Jr. Samuel Adams: Radical Puritan. New York: Longman, 1997.

4. Miller, John C. Sam Adams: A Pioneer in Propaganda. Boston: Little, Brown, 1936.

5. Wells, William V. The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams. 3 vols. Boston: Little, Brown, 1865.

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