Sam Adams – The Beginning

In my opinion Sam Adams is arguably the reason the United States of America exists today. Unlike his cousin, John Adams, and many others, Sam Adams was not a nation builder. His gift to our creation was his dedication to dismantling the hold the British Crown held on the American colonies. His creation of the Sons of Liberty was one aspect of his plotting the removal of the Royal Governors. In 1766, his quill was burning his parchment. The following excerpt from Snug Harbor Tavern: Shaggin’ for a Shillin’ presents an idea of what he might have done in those days.

Meanwhile, the heavy mix of sleet and snow blistered the small windows in the cramped, dingy upstairs room of a small house near the waterfront in Boston, Massachusetts. Sam Adams, clad in his threadbare nightshirt, struggled to control the quill pen in his palsied hand. His eyes strained in the dim candlelight as he composed his latest editorial for the Boston Gazette. He knew it was risky attacking the tyranny of the Crown and Parliament, but it was a worthy cause.  Freedom could only be obtained by shedding the shackles of England and declaring independence. His objective was to, first, oust Governor Bernard and get all of Boston and Massachusetts behind his just cause of renouncing this “taxation without representation.” The rest of the colonies would soon follow; he was sure of it. His quill scratched deliberately and rapidly across the paper under the pen name of “Publicus”. Sam realized that his enemies were powerful, and his friends were few, but the rights of man were on his side.