Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams was born in Sept. 27, 1722 in Boston. He graduated in 1743 from Harvard College with a Master of Arts degree. After college he went to private business, and in this period he was participant in Boston town meetings. When his business failed in 1764 Samuel entered politics full-time, and was elected to the Massachusetts legislature. It was there that he proposed a continental congress. He was a leading promoter of republicanism and a good friend of Tom Paine. In 1774, he was chosen to be a member of the provincial council during the disaster in Boston. He was then chosen as a representative to the Continental Congress, where he was most distinguished for his oratory skills. In 1776, as a delegate to the Continental Congress, he signed the Declaration of Independence. Adams retired from the Congress in 1781 and returned to Massachusetts to become a leading member of that state's convention to form a constitution. In 1789 he was appointed lieutenant governor of the state. In 1794 he was elected Governor, and was re-elected annually until 1797 when he retired for health reasons. He died in the morning of October 2, 1803.