Samuel Adams was a politician, political activist, and one of the United States' founding fathers.
The date of birth of Samuel Adams was September 27, 1722, while the place of his birth was Boston, Massachusetts Bay. The date of birth of Samuel Adams above is as per the New Style of dating calendar.
Samuel Adams was a diplomat in the colony of Massachusetts, a figurehead in the uprising that led to the American Revolution, and one of the creators of the republican values that influenced American politics. Samuel Adams was John Adams' second cousin, a fellow American Founding Father.
Samuel Adams, before being a politician, tried his luck as a businessman and tax collector but failed to become successful in the field. Samuel Adams graduated from Harvard College.
In the mid-17th century, when the British Parliament attempted to charge the British American territories against its agreement, he was an influential member of the 'Boston Town Meeting' and 'Massachusetts House of Representatives.' The Boston Tea Party was also planned in part by Samuel Adams.
He stood along the standing armies in a peaceable and orderly manner to get their rights for the eternal law.
Samuel Adams Quotes On Liberty
To be regarded as a founding father, one must possess great virtue and have a keen idea about liberty. Adams possessed it, and here is what he had to say about the subject.
"Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness."
"It is no dishonor to be in a minority in the cause of liberty and virtue."
"If the public is bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them."
"Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt."
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms."
"The absolute rights of Englishmen and all freemen, in or out of civil society, are principally personal security, personal liberty, and private property."
"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors."
"The right to freedom is the gift of God Almighty....The rights of the Colonists as Christians may be best understood by reading, and carefully studying the institutes of the great Lawgiver and head of the Christian Church: which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament."
"We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and… from the rising to the setting sun, may His kingdom come."
"The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule."
"Our contest is…whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty."
Samuel Adams Quotes On Revolution
Adams was a firm believer that revolution was necessary for a country to become better, but he also believed in doing it with dignity, without resorting to violence. Here are some of them.
"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous, they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to first external or internal invader."
"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy."
"Everyone knows that the exercise of military power is forever dangerous to civil rights, and we have had recent instances of violence that have been offered to private subjects...."
- 'The Writings of Samuel Adams [Volume 1 of 4: 1764-1769]'
"Let us disappoint the Men who are raising themselves on the ruin of this Country. Let us convince every invader of our freedom, that we will be as free as the constitution our fathers recognized, will justify."
"Let us consider, brethren, we are struggling for our best birthrights and inheritance, which being infringed, renders all our blessings precarious in their enjoyments, and, consequently trifling in their value."
"We boast of our freedom, and we have your example for it. We talk the language we have always heard you speak."
"Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous than their arms."
"What a glorious morning this is!"
"Courage, then, my countrymen, our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty."
"Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt."
"There is a degree of watchfulness over all men possessed of power… upon which the liberties of mankind must depend. It is necessary to guard against the infirmities of the best as well as the wickedness of the worst."
(Samuel Adams was one of the important political activists during the civil rights movement.)
Motivational Quotes Of Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams often spoke words of encouragement to spur his fellow countrymen to build a better tomorrow for themselves. Here are some of them.
"The importance of piety and religion; of industry and frugality; of prudence, economy, regularity and an even government; all . . . are essential to the well-being of a family."
"What a man has honestly acquired is absolutely his own, which he may freely give, but cannot be taken from him without his consent."
"If virtue & knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security."
"The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men."
"He, therefore, is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man..."
"All might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they should."
"He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections."
"Nil desperandum, -- Never Despair. That is a motto for you and me. All are not dead; and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will rekindle it."
"How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!"
"Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters."
"Whose fidelity has been tried in the nicest and tenderest manner, and has been ever firm and unshaken. The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become virtuous people."
Samuel Adams Quotes On Politics
Finally, we have some quotes that Adams has spoken about his profession.
"Mankind is governed more by their feelings than by reason."
"When the grand end of civil government, from the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defense of those very rights; the principal of which, as is before observed, are life, liberty, and property."
"All positive and civil laws should conform, as far as possible, to the law of natural reason and equity."
"The supreme power cannot justly take from any man any part of his property, without his consent in person or by his representative."
"Power is, in its nature, encroaching; and such is the human make those men who are vested with a share of it are generally inclined to take more than it was intended they should have."
"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders."
"Among the natural rights of the Colonists are these: First, a right to life; Secondly, to liberty; Thirdly, to property; together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can."
"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
"If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."
"It is the greatest absurdity to suppose it in the power of one, or of any number of men, at the entering into society to renounce their essential natural rights."
"Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former for the sake of the latter."
