Adams, Samuel
governor of Massachusetts, was born Sept. 27, 1722, in Boston, Mass., and was a cousin of President John Adams. He graduated from Harvard university in 1740; studied for the ministry; received the degree of A. M. in 1743; was one of the first who organized measures of resistance to the mother country, and drew up the instructions of the town of Boston against taxation in 1764.
He was elected a representative in 1765; was chosen clerk and served in that body for ten years, and, it is said, he suggested the congress that assembled at New York in 1765, and the non-importation agreement of 1769. He addressed a public meeting the day after the Boston massacre, and was chairman of the committee to demand the removal of the troops. In 1772 he organized the committee of correspondence, which was first adopted by Massachusetts, and followed by all the provinces; was a signer of the declaration of independence; was one of those who matured the plan of the continental congress, and was delegate from Massachusetts from 1774 to 1782. He signed the articles of confederation; was a member of the state convention which adopted the federal constitution, and made some amendments to that instrument. On the adoption of the state constitution, he was made president of the senate; was lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 1789-94, and governor from 1794-97. So ardent was his patriotism, that he was one of the three leaders who were to be exempt from the pardon offered in 1775. As a statesman and orator he fills a large place in the annals of the American revolution. He died Oct. 2, 1803, in Boston, Mass.