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Biographies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Susan-Mary Grant
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
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Summary

Samuel Adams (1722–1803)

One of the Founding Fathers of the American nation, Samuel Adams was born in Quincsy, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard College in 1743. He briefly considered a career in the law, and even more briefly, and unsuccessfully, shifted to business, before taking up what would become his permanent career in politics, serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and as a member of the Boston Town Meeting in the 1760s. When, in 1763, the British Parliament mooted taxing the colonies to raise revenue to cover the cost of the Seven Years War (or French and Indian War), Adams was instrumental in composing a considered colonial response to this unwelcome suggestion. He argued that

[if] our trade may be taxed, why not our lands? Why not the produce of our lands, and every thing we possess, or use? This we conceive annihilates our charter rights to govern and tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privileges, which, as we have never forfeited, we hold in common with our fellow subjects, who are natives of Britain. If tastes are laid upon us in any shape, without our having a legal representation, where they are laid, we are reduced from the character of free subjects, to the state of tributary slaves. We, therefore, earnestly recommend it to you, to use your utmost endeavours to obtain from the general court, all necessary advice and instruction to our agent, at this most critical Juncture.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

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  • Biographies
  • Susan-Mary Grant, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
  • Book: A Concise History of the United States of America
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139033442.015
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  • Biographies
  • Susan-Mary Grant, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
  • Book: A Concise History of the United States of America
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139033442.015
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Biographies
  • Susan-Mary Grant, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
  • Book: A Concise History of the United States of America
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139033442.015
Available formats
×