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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC01215 |
| From Archive Folder | Documents Relating to 1765-1774 |
| Title | Samuel Adams to James Warren discussing current politics |
| Date | 16 July 1772 |
| Author | Adams, Samuel (1722-1803) |
| Recipient | Warren, James |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Written by Adams, a future signer of the Declaration of Independence, as member of the Massachusetts legislature to Warren, also a member of the Massachusetts legislature. Says the session is over and the resolves, including one asking the King to rescind Governor Hutchinson's salary, have passed. Says he will send him a copy of the resolves if he promises not to publish them. Expresses his friendship with Warren, who he says was with him when the Tories cursed him at a commencement speech at Cambridge and at another occasion when "Confusion to me & my Adherents was given as a toast." Attacks Governor Hutchinson's attempt to draw a salary independent of the legislature from Crown revenues. Mentions that James Austin is a promising new Whig in the legislature. Praises his speech to the assembly. Expresses his compliments to Warren's wife, Mercy Otis Warren, the famous writer. Says his wife "has the Sauciness to overlook me while writing, a trick I cannot break her of," and that she sends her regards. Previously repaired at crease. |
| Subjects | Revolutionary War Government and Civics Global History and Civics Loyalist Education Finance Whigs Politics Women's History |
| People | Adams, Samuel (1722-1803) Warren, James (1726-1808) Warren, Mercy Otis (1728-1814) Hutchinson, Thomas (1711-1780) |
| Place written | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Theme | Government & Politics; Women in American History; Banking & Economics; Children & Family; Foreign Affairs |
| Sub-collection | The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859 |
| Additional Information | As one of the chief organizers of protests against the imperial policies adopted by Britain after the Seven Years War, Samuel Adams (1722-1803) was, in Thomas Jefferson's words, "truly the man of the Revolution." A founder of the Sons of Liberty, the Boston-born, Harvard-educated Adams was also a key instigator of protests against the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. Samuel Adams's animosity to arbitrary royal authority had deep personal roots. To promote economic growth in Massachusetts, his father had helped establish a land bank, which lent paper money backed by real estate. In 1741, wealthy merchants led by Thomas Hutchinson (1711-1780), fearful that the bills would be used to pay debts, called on the royal Massachusetts governor to declare the land bank illegal. When he did, Adams's father lost tremendous sums of money and never recovered financially. In 1771, Thomas Hutchinson succeeded Francis Bernard (1712-1779) as governor of Massachusetts. Both Bernard and Hutchinson punished Boston for its resistance to the Townshend Acts by moving the colonial legislature to Cambridge. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 |
| Transcript | Show/hide |