Sam Adams
Architect of the American Revolution (Not Sam Adams Beer!)
Would there have been an American Revolution without Samuel Adams?
QUESTION TO CONSIDER: Did the revolution actually happen in the minds of the colonists between Bacon's Rebellion (1675-1676) and the first shots fired at Lexington and Concord April 19, 1775? Or was the 'revolution' the onset of hostility and violence in April 1775? Was it the changes in the colonists or was it the fighting that was the "revolution?"
1. The colonies were all functioning independent of each other. They were founded for different purposes. They were separated by long distances--present-day Maine to north Florida. Communication was slow compared to today.
2. Colonists were unsure as to whether or not independence would be better for Americans. There was no functioning democracy on earth at the time. The last democracy was Ancient Greece and the last republic was Ancient Rome. Also uttering the word "independence" basically was TREASON against the British crown and TREASON was punishable by execution.
3. There were no more than 1/3 of the colonists FOR independence, 1/3 were Loyalists or Tories, and 1/3 were neutral. Support for independence changed depending on how the war was going---if the patriots were winning, more people were FOR the war. If not, then support waned.
4. There was NO standing army in the colonies---only ill-equipped, poorly trained local militias. How were they going to win against the best-equipped and best trained military force in the world?
Samuel Adams' Life
Later Adams established the Committees of Correspondence in Massachusetts; and as the tension in the colonies grew, he extended it to other colonies as a method of communicating with like-minded colonists without the knowledge of the royal governors who were prone to shutting down the colonial assemblies/legislatures if the elected bodies denounced the actions of the King and Parliament.
Sam Adams spent countless hours writing letters and letters to the editor in addition to columns for the Boston Gazette (newspaper) under pen names to avoid public identification (even though everyone knew who was writing the treasonous articles.) His articles focused colonists' attention on what the implications of the King's and Parliament's actions relating to the Stamp Act, the Sugar Act, and other taxes and laws.
While he never fought in combat, Sam Adams fought by using his pen and his words. After the revolution, Adams went on to be the first governor of the state of Massachusetts.