Samuel was born in Boston in 1722. He was the cousin of John Adams. When Samuel Adams was young, his father wanted him to be a minister. Samuel went to work in a countinghouse, a place that is like a bank, but he was not good at adding and he spent too much time talking to other people about politics. Later the people in Boston elected him to be a tax collector, but he didn't like taking money from people.

Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry were two of the first people to argue for independence. Sam wrote letters about independence and sent them to newspapers and leaders around the country. Sam signed all the letters with different names so that the people who read the papers would think all of Boston wanted independence from England.

Sam convinced many young men that independence would be good for America. Paul Revere, John Adams and John Hancock were some of the men who agreed with Sam's ideas. These three men became more well-known than Sam, even though his ideas helped shape their thoughts on independence. When the Stamp Act of 1765 ordered the colonists to buy stamps from England, Samuel started a protest. He told the mob what to do. In 1766, the Stamp Act stopped. Samuel said this after the Stamp Act: "If our trade be taxed, why not our lands, or produce. . . in short, everything we possess? They tax us without having legal representation." Another thing that started the Revolution was the Boston Tea Party that Samuel also helped plan. Samuel Adams signed the Declaration of Independence.

Image courtesy of ToKind from LeftJustified.

The British thought that Samuel Adams was a big troublemaker and they were right. They called him "the most dangerous man in Massachusetts." The British promised they would not punish Colonists who would stop fighting against them, all except Samuel Adams and John Hancock. If the British had won the war, the first to die probably would have been Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

Photo courtesy of Mrs. Darlene Neumann, Sherwood Teacher

Visit the Colonial Hall site for a complete biography of Samuel Adams.
Here's a report with lots of information on Sam Adams.

Read the book Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams? by Jean Fritz.
It tells about a letter that John Adams wrote to James Warren about how Sam Adams learned to ride a horse!