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Stacy Schiff is the author of The Revolutionary.

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Name: The Revolutionary
Rating: 4.6 (218 reviews)
Author: Stacy Schiff

Stacy Schiff

Samuel Adams

4.6 (218 ratings)

16 mins

Brief summary

In her book 'The Revolutionary', Stacy Schiff explores the life of Alexander Hamilton, one of America's founding fathers. With an emphasis on the nuances of his personality and the context of his time, Schiff paints a vivid and insightful portrait of the man behind the legend.

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The Revolutionary
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What’s in it for me? Discover the man whose ideas shaped a revolution.

While names like Washington and Jefferson spring to mind when thinking about the Revolutionary War in America, the movement which actually made that war necessary was decades old by 1776. And no one had worked harder to make the conditions for revolution more necessary than Samuel Adams. This Massachusetts malter’s son had been a thorn in the side of the King and Parliament for decades. His writings united the colonies and his politics were revolutionary. But to uncover his story is to understand the obscurity: he wanted it that way.

While Stacy Schiff’s The Revolutionary covers Adams’s life well into the Revolutionary War, in this Blink, we’ll primarily focus on the events leading up to it. We’ll take a closer look at Samuel Adams’s political roots and how he became the thinker whose Enlightenment ideals formed the backbone of the American Revolution.

The Public Enemy

The death of Samuel Adams, senior, in 1748 left his son Samuel in dire straits. Although his father had been a successful roaster of barley for local breweries, in the process he’d also accrued a sizable debt. Now, not only was that debt the problem of Samuel Adams, junior, but the sheriff and public officials were trying to sell his family’s home to cover it.

Despite the finest classical education and two degrees from Harvard University, Samuel’s professional life had been a disaster. His devout Christianity led to interest in the ministry, which promptly faded with his divinity studies. Same for reading law and starting a business. While everyone in Boston knew Samuel as a highly intelligent and influential man, he was by no means conventionally successful.

Unconventionally, too. When his first wife died, instead of quickly remarrying like most of his peers, he spent seven years lovingly raising his children alone. When he remarried, his second wife’s family bestowed a particularly valuable wedding present for the time – an enslaved woman. Samuel proclaimed to the family that if this person were to live in his house, then she must be free. It’s a promise he immediately kept.

Samuel Adams cared quite little for what others thought about him. He valued his privacy as much as his ideals. The time he’d spent with Enlightenment philosophers in Harvard’s main library had formed him into a man of reason and compassion, who had a deep understanding of what motivated individuals to fight for their own interests.

But the struggle over his father’s debt was caused by the dissolution of the Land Bank – a colonial improvisation to grant Massachusetts business owners and farmers access to the credit they needed, secured by land. When England dissolved the Land Bank as counter to their own interests, Adams’s own precarious position felt like nothing compared to that of the colony’s. Forced to rely on London for everything from house paint and mirrors to hard currency, the fate of the owners and farmers was entirely up to the whims of a King and Parliament who couldn’t point out Boston on a map. Samuel’s cousin John Adams, recalled this moment as the first time Samuel stepped out onto Boston’s political stage. And he came out roaring.

Instead of collapsing under the weight of this disaster, it forged Samuel Adams, into a powerful adversary of English rule. One who had, in almost every sense, nothing to lose.

A Ghost

At the ripe age of 41, Adams stepped out onto the political stage for the first time. After accepting a modest elected position as market clerk in early 1747, with a small salary that staved off poverty, he decided to join together with several friends to start a newspaper.

In January 1748 the Independent Advertiser debuted, covering a recent violent uprising against a British admiral. When Admiral Knowles’s British crew deserted, he thought nothing of pressing Bostonian men into replacement service the London way – by kidnapping them from the wharves and taverns.

Behind All the Right Doors

In 1751, instead of settling Land Bank debts, the English government set up another committee to assign debt to the original borrowers and their heirs. When Samuel Adams climbed the statehouse steps for the meeting, it was the second time he’d faced off against collectors. He’d carefully prepared ledgers to prove his debts were mostly paid off, but these were ignored. Just his asking whether or not the committee would consider such evidence sparked offense among members.

But Boston’s response to news of this confrontation was to elect him as one of six public tax collectors. Not a lucrative position and one that meant becoming personally liable for uncollected taxes. But Adams took the position knowing it would stave off his deepening poverty and allow him the possibility of lightening the economic burdens of fellow citizens by remaining hopeless at his job.

Between Acts

If the Land Bank confrontation had spiraled Samuel Adams into both debt and resistance, it was the next series of acts by the British Parliament that set his sights on independence.

The Sugar Act, signed into law by King George III on April 5, 1764, had a singular purpose: to raise money taxing colonial sugar imports to help offset the costs of maintaining the colonies. Many raised the concern over taxation without representation. Benjamin Franklin sent up the alarm, too, noting that by restricting trade in the colonies to Britain alone, they were already raising money to offset the cost of the colonies by enriching London merchant coffers.

From Resistance to Revolution

While the repeal of the Stamp Act was met with joy on colonial shores, Adams was troubled. He realized that Parliament and the King weren’t acting in the best interest of the colonies, either through ignorance or ill will. If it was the former, he’d educate them. If it was the latter, he’d do his damnedest to organize resistance to tyranny.

To increase transparency and solidarity in local government, he organized the building of a public gallery in the House of Representatives, so private citizens could observe the proceedings. Resolving to counter misinformation in London about the colonies, the Massachusetts House hired its own agent in London with the sole responsibility of presenting colonial points of view to London.

The Midnight Ride

On the evening of April 18, 1775, at around 10:30, the whispered order went through the barracks of British officers currently occupying Boston. Their aim was to counter the growing violent resistance in the colonies and confront the Massachusetts militia near Lexington. With the countryside occupied by troops, Paul Revere pulled on his riding boots. It was time to get the message to his friends: the British were mobilizing.

Just after midnight, he reached his destination. Just two hours earlier he’d dodged British sentries throughout Boston trying to get the word to the last patriots in town. His goal was to get news to Adams and Hancock, who were traveling to Philadelphia for a gathering of colonial governments responding to the recent British military occupation.

Final Summary

No founding father had a greater influence on the ideals that shaped the American Revolutionary War and early American democracy than Samuel Adams. His views formed early in life through education and his unique talent for reason, argument, persuasion, and discretion served him well. Helping unite the colonies, resisting British taxation, and surviving the revolution that formed a new nation, his obscurity reveals his own success in erasing himself from the historical record.

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What is The Revolutionary about?

The Revolutionary (2022) offers a nuanced look at one of the most central figures in the lead-up to the American War of Independence. It reveals a man of character and contradiction, whose revolutionary thinking and deep commitment to civil liberties came to define a revolution.

The Revolutionary Review

The Revolutionary (2021) by Stacy Schiff is a compelling exploration of the life and legacy of a historical figure who challenged the status quo. Here's why this book is worth reading:

It offers a fascinating glimpse into the daring and audacious actions of a revolutionary leader, shedding light on the motivations and ideals that drove their movement.
The book presents a meticulously researched and comprehensive account of the revolutionary era, providing valuable insights into the historical context and its significance.
Through its engaging narrative and vivid storytelling, it brings the history to life, capturing the drama, excitement, and complexities of the revolution in an engaging and accessible way.

Who should read The Revolutionary?

History lovers looking for a deep dive into characters that create change
Political thinkers looking for an inside view of revolutionary politics
Anyone seeking inspiring examples of ideals put into practice

About the Author

Stacy Schiff is a Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer and historian whose books have garnered both international acclaim and multiple awards.

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Politics Biography & Memoir History

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