Heritage of the Founding Fathers
Heritage of the Founding Fathers



Father of the Revolution
About Samuel Adams
Josh Pittman


Samuel Adams (1722-1803), was one of twelve children and was a cousin to John Adams.  Samuel graduated from Harvard at the young age of eighteen.  “The Great Awakening” impacted Adams who became a Christian, setting aside days of prayer and fasting.  He stated, “Religion in a family is at once its brightest ornament and its best security.”2

He is perhaps one of the most well-known figures in the events leading up to the Revolutionary War, participating as a leader of the “Sons of Liberty” as well as having a share in the Boston Tea Party.  He was called the “Man of the town meeting” and is known as the “Father of the Revolution.”

He helped the revolutionary cause greatly by strengthening the colonies through the “committees of correspondence.”  He later signed the Declaration of Independence. 
In his life, Adams helped draft the Massachusetts Constitution, worked in Congress, was Lieutenant Governor, and became the Governor of Massachusetts.  

During the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Adams proclaimed these words, “We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.”

He stated, “I conceive we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly supplicating the Supreme Ruler of the World.”1

Thomas Jefferson, “…considered him [Samuel Adams] as more than any other member in Congress, the fountain of our important measures.  In mediating the matter of that address, I asked myself, is this exactly in the spirit of the patriarch of liberty, Samuel Adams?  He was the Father of the Revolution.”2

On October 2, 1803, Samuel Adams passed away.  In his will he wrote, “Principally, and first of all, I resign my soul to the Almighty Being who gave it, and my body I commit to the dust, relying on the merits of Jesus Christ for the pardon of my sins.”1










Footnotes:

1.  Federer, William.  America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations.  AmeriSearch.  2000

2.  Hawkinson, Don.  Character for Life, An American Heritage.  New Leaf Press.  2005.