The Founding Fathers of America - Essay Example

The founding fathers of America worked hard to make a revolution that was both resolute and changeable, and tried to supply basic principles that could be re-interpreted, changed, or even thrown out completely should they not prove considerable to the general population.  This spirit of flexibility fits well with the Enlightenment conception of the renaissance man- a man who could be objective, while still participating actively in the revolution.  These characteristics perhaps had their culmination, though, in the political figure of Samuel Adams.  A well-educated, powerful advocate of freedom and liberty, Adams was an articulate architect of the American revolution as we know it, or would like to; that is, a revolution which is the servant of the people it represents, not their master, and a revolution that led to a government which is an ongoing continuation of the American revolution’s free spirit. 

One of the main ways that Adams contributed to the Revolution was the way in which he led crowds.  When the Stamp Act of 1765 ordered the colonists to purchase stamps from England, Samuel Adams began to protest in earnest.  He told the crowd what to do.  In 1766, the Stamp Act was ordered, and Adams warned the crowd that if their trade goods were going to be taxed, their land would be next, along with everything else they had.  Adams also planned and participated in, the Boston Tea Party.  To help coordinate the resistance to what he saw as attempts by the British government to violate the Constitution to the detriment of the colonies, in 1772, Adams and his colleagues set up the basic framework of the revolution, connecting the rhetoric and complaints of patriots throughout the colonies, and organizing resistance against the British.  Increased resistance to British policy led to the Boston Tea Party 1773, and, thanks to Adams, the advent of the American Revolution.

After Parliament approved compulsions in 1774, Adams attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, which was convened to coordinate a response to the harsh colonial rule of George III.  Adams helped guide the Congress to the issuance of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which he signed, and also helped draft the Articles of Confederation.  Britain responded to the Boston Tea Party in 1774, with a series of acts that further inflamed the colonists, and again, Adams was at the forefront of protest.  The first of these acts, the Boston Port Act, closed Boston’s commercial wharves until the East India Company was repaid for the destroyed tea.  Furthermore, the Massachusetts Government Act rewrote the charter of Massachusetts.  “Adams worked to coordinate resistance to the Coercive Acts. In May 1774, with Adams serving as moderator, the Boston Town Meeting organized an economic boycott of British goods.  In June, Adams headed a committee in the Massachusetts House” (Biography 1).

Adams also contributed to the revolution by suggesting that the Colonial Congress met in Philadelphia in September. “The independence of America was at length declared, and gave a new political character, and an immediate dignity to the cause of the colonies.  But notwithstanding this measure might itself bear the aspect of victory, a formidable contest yet awaited the Americans” (Zinn 145).  

Adams was one of five delegates chosen to attend the First Continental Congress.  He was therefore one of the warmest supporters of the Declaration of Independence. According to him die was cast, and the revolution he had worked so hard to cause was soon in full swing.  He said, “Will it widen the breach?  This would be a strange question, after we have raised armies, and fought battles with the British troops; set up an American navy; permitted the inhabitants of these colonies to fit out armed vessels, to capture the ships, &c. belonging to any of the inhabitants of Great Britain” (qtd in American 1).  The city of Philadelphia became a theatre of war, and Congress, now reduced to only twenty-eight members, decided to withdraw its meeting in Lancaster.  At this critical juncture, Mr. Adams fell in company with other members and discussed the state of the subject of a free nation to come.

Out of all of the founding fathers, Samuel Adams played one of the more important roles in inspiring and impacting the American Revolution.  From the beginning, he used his natural charisma and his status as a man of the people to work crowds to his advantage and sway the minds of the undecided.  He influenced the thoughts of many founding fathers who have received more historical attention than he has.  Although Adams was not one of the gentlemen of his era, in terms of social status and natural advantages, he knew right from wrong and wasn’t afraid to speak up when he saw something wrong.  Most of the seminal events leading to the Revolution mentioned above, at least in part, were instigated by either Adams directly, or those inspired by him.