American Legends: The Life of Samuel Adams

*Includes some of Adams's most famous quotes. 
*Includes pictures of Adams and important people, places, and events in his life. 
*Analyzes and explains Adams's controversial reputation and legacy.
*Includes a Bibliography for further reading.
*Includes a Table of Contents.

"The liberties of our Country, the freedom of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.” – Samuel Adams

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors’ American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America’s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. 

The American Revolution had no shortage of compelling characters with seemingly larger than life traits, including men like the multi-talented Benjamin Franklin, the wise Thomas Jefferson, the mercurial John Adams and the stoic George Washington. But no Revolutionary leader has been as controversial as Samuel Adams, who has been widely portrayed over the last two centuries as America’s most radical and fiery colonist. 

Among his contemporaries, Adams was viewed as one of the most influential colonial leaders, a man Thomas Jefferson himself labeled “truly the Man of the Revolution” and the one who the Boston Gazette eulogized as the “Father of the American Revolution.” Adams was an outspoken opponent of British taxes in the 1760s, one of Boston’s hardest working writers and orators, a leader of the Boston Caucus, active in the Sons of Liberty, and a political leader who organized large gatherings in settings like Faneuil Hall and the Old South Meeting House. When cousin John Adams was an Ambassador to France during the Revolution, he had to explain that he was not the “famous” Adams. 

At the same time, Adams’s zeal for his cause was unquestioned and unrivaled. During the Revolution, Adams exhorted his countrymen, "If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." Today historians believe that Adams’s legacy as a radical firebrand came from the British, who naturally viewed Adams as an incendiary troublemaker, and it is widely believed that important events like the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party were incorrectly attributed to the sway Adams held over the town. The exaggeration of Adams as the one man who could control a mob took hold, and even as modern historians try to recast Adams in a more moderate light, he continues to be remembered as the American Revolution’s most ardent patriot. 

Naturally, Adams’s reputation and activities before and during the Revolution have come to dominate the history books and Americans’ perceptions of him, so many remain unfamiliar with his post-war life. In fact, Adams was one of the most instrumental leaders in Massachusetts, helping draft the state’s constitution during the Revolution and becoming one of its earliest governors after the Revolution. 

American Legends: The Life of Samuel Adams chronicles the amazing life and career of Samuel Adams, while also analyzing the notorious legacy he left behind. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about Samuel Adams like you never have before, in no time at all.