John Adams

A

Adams and the American Revolution

Adams spent the early part of his career practicing law in Braintree and developing his interest in government.

A

1

Stamp Act

At that time the American colonists were loyal subjects of Great Britain. Although there were political disputes and complaints, they were no more than the everyday disagreements between government and the governed. There were laws regulating trade and imposing duties on imports to America, but they were rarely enforced.

All this changed, however, when the Seven Years' War ended in 1763. The war—actually a series of worldwide conflicts, some of which involved defending the American colonies from the French and their Native American allies—had been costly for Britain, and its government was determined to make the colonies bear a portion of the financial burden. Britain not only enforced the old trade laws more strictly, but also enacted a series of new laws in 1764 and 1765. One of these laws, the Stamp Act, provoked bitter opposition among many colonists, including Adams.

The Stamp Act required a tax on all legal documents, licenses, contracts, newspapers, pamphlets and other papers, signifying the paid tax with a stamp. Adams drew up a set of resolutions protesting the stamp tax. The resolutions were adopted by the Braintree town meeting and then, virtually without change, by 40 other towns in Massachusetts.

---

---

Adams's argument against the Stamp Act was based on English law. He insisted that the act was not binding on the colonies because they were not represented in Britain's Parliament and had not consented to the tax levy. Adams did not support separation or independence from Britain at this time. He only argued that British subjects in the colonies were entitled to the rights guaranteed to British subjects elsewhere.

Almost overnight, John Adams became well known throughout the colonies. When the Boston town meeting drew up a petition against the Stamp Act, Adams was called on for assistance. He was one of the three delegates who presented the petition to the lieutenant governor of Massachusetts.

A

2

Townshend Acts

The colonists won a temporary victory in 1766, when the Stamp Act was repealed. In the following year, however, they were again aroused by a new series of laws, called the Townshend Acts. One of the acts imposed duties, or import taxes, on glass, lead, tea, and other commodities. The colonists responded with a boycott of British goods and with violence against British customs officials.

In 1768 Adams moved his family to Boston and busied himself with his growing law practice. He found time, nevertheless, to help the patriot cause. Adams drafted a circular letter, sent by the Massachusetts legislature to the other colonies, protesting the Townshend Acts. He also gave legal assistance to Boston patriots who resisted the British authorities.

The royal governor, aware of Adams's ability and growing influence, offered him the post of advocate general in the admiralty court. Adams declined the appointment, recognizing it as a bribe to bring him over to the side of the British government.

A

3

Adams and the Boston Massacre

Adams generally supported the popular resistance to the British government, but he did not condone violence or mob action. Adams was greatly disturbed by the Boston Massacre of 1770, an incident in which five men were killed after unruly demonstrators provoked British troops into firing into the crowd. When Adams was asked to defend the British soldiers who were charged with murder as a result of this clash, he promptly accepted. With the help of two other lawyers he won acquittal for all but two of the men. His reputation as a patriot was such, however, that his defense of the British soldiers seems not to have damaged his political career. In June 1770 while he was preparing for the trial, the Boston town meeting elected him to the Massachusetts legislature.

A

4

Temporary Retirement

Adams served in the legislature for only a few months. That winter, illness forced him to leave politics. After nearly three years in Boston, Adams returned with his family to Braintree. He was determined to “throw off a great part of the load of business both public and private.” He returned to Boston late in 1772 to look after his law business but still intended to remain “disengaged from public affairs with a fixed resolution not to meddle with them.”

Political events, however, soon brought Adams back into public life. In a series of articles in the Boston Gazette, Adams fought Britain's plan to place Massachusetts judges in the pay of the king. He also opposed the royal governor, who challenged the power of colonial legislatures. As always, his arguments were founded on his sure knowledge of the law, and they were still aimed at reconciliation with Britain. However, in December 1773, Adams supported what became known as the Boston Tea Party, where patriots dumped British tea into Boston Harbor to protest tea tax and the monopoly on the importation of tea that Britain had given to the East India Company. Thereafter he firmly supported the patriotic measures that led step by step to American independence.

	More from Encarta
	•  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain