The Father of the American Revolution -- Part Two
As one of the most influential and respected leaders in Boston political society, Deacon Adams was devastated when, in 1746, Massachusetts Governor William Shirley vetoed his appointment to the Massachusetts Council. Earlier that year, Adams had been deeply honored by the prestigious nomination to the Council, a consultative body that provided advice directly to the governor. But Governor Shirley was suspicious of the elder Adams’s relations with Bostonians of the lower classes, his tangling with the previous colonial governor over the Land Bank, and his activities with the Caucus Club.
No matter the specific reasons, Shirley had just made himself an enemy of the Adams family. Deacon Adams had already sparred with one Massachusetts governor. While he had generally respected Shirley till now, he was more than ready for another battle. In addition, now there were two Adams to do battle, and for the next several years, they both made it their political passion to assail and undermine Governor Shirley. So effective were they that the harassed governor specifically referred to each Adams in his 1747 report to King George II.
In early 1746, prior to his father’s failed nomination, the younger Adams was picked by the Caucus Club to serve as a clerk in one of Boston’s markets. The job was a nonpaying political position, in which the official basically refereed disputes between buyers and sellers. When his father’s appointment to the Council failed and Andrew Oliver was approved instead, a vacancy was created in the Massachusetts General Assembly. The Caucus Club rallied around the Deacon’s son, who was elected to the Assembly at a special town meeting on June 4, 1746. In the Assembly, Samuel Adams deferred to his respected and eloquent father. He stayed in the background, a constant ally and resource for his father and his supporters.
Since his lack of seniority prevented him from formally joining the Caucus Club, he and a few friends formed their own organization in late 1747. Their secret organization began printing The Public Advertizer, a weekly newspaper, at the tail end of that same year. Its target was none other than Governor Shirley, and it fully embraced the cause of colonial rights. He had far more influence as a publisher than as a legislator. Though the paper itself would eventually go out of business, Adams (who “anonymously” wrote the vast majority of its content) successfully carved out a presence for himself on the
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