Samuel Adams
American Patriot & Politician
1722 &endash; 1803
Samuel Adams was born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 27, 1722. He was a leader of the fight against British colonial rule, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Adams was a cousin of John Adams who became President of the United States.
Samuel Adams graduated from Harvard College with a Master of Arts degree in 1743. After college he entered private business, and throughout this period was an outspoken participant in Boston town meetings.
In 1764 Adams entered politics full-time, and was elected to the Massachusetts legislature. He was a vocal opponent of several laws passed by the British Parliament to raise revenue in the American Colonies, including the Tea Act which gave a British trading company a monopoly on the import of tea into the colonies. This opposition reached its peak when a group of Bostonians dumped a British cargo of tea into Boston Harbor.
The British Parliament responded to the "Boston Tea Party" by passing a set of laws referred to as the "Intolerable Acts." These laws included the closing of Boston Harbor and restrictions against town meetings. Adams then urged a boycott of British trade by the American Colonies. Adams served in the Continental Congress and. he served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1793 to 1797.
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