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American Faith Chapter 9 - Samuel Adams · Passing On The Faith

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: The British Parliament first passed the Sugar Act, legislation which added large taxes on imports entering the American colonies.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Adams opposed it strongly.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: At first, he was stunned to find himself the only voice speaking against the act in local town hall meetings and political clubs.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Although his friend James Otis had already spoken out against what he called taxation without representation in a court case in 1761, it was Samuel Adams who lit the fire under the colony in opposition to the rising tyranny from the mother country.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Long before Patrick Henry opposed the Stamp Act in the Virginia House of Burgesses, Samuel Adams was arguing passionately for liberty at the Boston Town meeting.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: He called the people to refuse any support for all political candidates who oppose self-governance and representative taxation, and he chastised the Massachusetts legislature for failing to attend to their duties and responsibilities.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Quote, we cannot help expressing our surprise that when so early notice was given by the agents of the intentions of the ministry to burden us with new taxes, sugar taxes, etc., so little regard was had to this most interesting matter, end quote.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Adams then proceeded to draft instructions for those who wished to be elected to the legislature.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: In this way, he framed the issues of the 1764 elections, calling the colonies to unite against unjust British policies.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: He suggested the formation of a Continental Congress and afterward recommended a boycott against British goods.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: If nobody bought the goods imported into America, nobody would need to pay the import taxes on the goods, he reasoned.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Thus, as witnessed by Governor Thomas Hutchinson in a communication with King George III, it was Samuel Adams who became the first who asserted the independence of the colonies.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to Passing on the Faith, a podcast from generations.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Every week, we bring you a powerful moment from one of our sermons, audiobooks, webinars, or conference talks, handpicked to help you build a strong biblical foundation for your family.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: This week's episode is a chapter from our audiobook, American Faith, entitled Samuel Adams, Founding Father of American Independence, written by Kevin Swanson.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Chapter 9.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Adams, Founding Father of American Independence.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Likewise, he who is called while free is Christ's slave.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: You were bought at a price.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Do not become slaves of men.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: By seventeen sixty, the population of the American colonies had exceeded one point six million.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Virginia boasted the largest population with three hundred and forty thousand persons, and Massachusetts came in second place with two hundred thousand.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Four years after the birth of Christian missionary David Brainerd, another key figure in American history was born to Samuel and Mary Adams in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: The child would become one of the most important political leaders in the formation of this nation called the United States of America.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Adams Jr.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: was born at noon on September 22nd, 1722, and baptized by Reverend Samuel Checkley, pastor of the newly formed New South Church in Boston.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Checkley had married Elizabeth, the daughter of Reverend Benjamin Rolfe of Haverhill.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Thirteen years earlier, she had miraculously escaped from an Indian raid, at which time her father and mother were both killed.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Pastor Checkley was known for the steadfast faith and courage he displayed when preaching in the presence of local government leaders.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: In 1755, he preached a sermon before the Massachusetts government.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Looking Governor William Shirley squarely in the eye, Checkley told him, So also, in order that you might approve yourself to him, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who standeth in the congregation of the mighty, and who judgeth among the gods, to your royal master also, one of the best of kings, to your own conscience, to the people under your government, and to Christ the judge of all, to whom you, sir, as well as we, must one day give an account.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: In the name and fear of God, I beseech you to have your eyes upon the faithful in the land.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Choose men who you have reason to think fear God, honor the king, are true friends to the province, and will stand up for the privileges of it, religious as well as civil.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: In the same sermon, Checkley called the heads of families to a family reformation and a revival of family religion.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Young Samuel Adams would grow up and marry his pastor's daughter.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Checkley is generally considered by historians as an Orthodox Reformed Puritan Christian pastor.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: His counsel to other pastors was sound, quote, all souls are precious to Christ, let them be so to you also, and be ready to spend and to be spent for them.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Deal tenderly with distressed and quickened souls, leading them to Christ also for rest.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: He wanted New England pastors to quote, assert and explain the great doctrines of the gospel, such as the Trinity of Persons, the divinity of Christ, and also of the Blessed Spirit, the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity, regeneration, and justification by faith alone.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: This was the pastor who discipled Samuel Adams for forty-seven years.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Based on the consistency of his testimony, his church background, and his final will and testament, there is every reason to believe that Samuel Adams was a Christian, a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Though there may be some room for serious doubt concerning many of the other founders of the nation, there is little reason to doubt Adam's profession.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: This is important because Samuel Adams was probably the most prominent leader in the fight for American independence from Britain in the early stages.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Why God uses some Christians more than others to oppose tyranny is a mystery, but ultimately, those who are set free from their sins are usually the most qualified to oppose other forms of slavery.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Our Lord said in John eight hundred thirty six, If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Paul also encouraged the Corinthian Christians to avoid the unnecessary servitude of men.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Do not become slaves of men.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: It was men like Samuel Adams who took this charge seriously.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: Young Samuel's father was a deacon in the New South Church in Boston and was generally referred to as Deacon Adams.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Both his father and mother were devout, faithful Christians in the church.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, it was Samuel Adams Sr.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: who led the effort to build the New South Church in seventeen fifteen.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Sam's older sister Mary was five years his senior, a woman of deep Christian faith herself.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: She kept a notebook with sermons transcribed from George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather, and Samuel Checkley, all evangelical Puritan men of God.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Church services in Boston were four hours long.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Instruction in the Christian faith began early with young Samuel.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: At six years of age, he learned to read using the New England primer, which begins with the words in Adam's fall, we send all.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Throughout Samuel's childhood, his father was active in politics as well as in the church.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: The young boy often heard his father speak against the efforts on the part of the king to unlawfully increase the powers he held over the colonies.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel listened as the older man argued vehemently in favor of holding true to the Charter of 1691, which was established by the hard fought efforts of Increased Mather.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: In an attempt to obtain a firmer hold over the internal government of Massachusetts, the king moved to pay the governor's salary.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Sam's father strongly opposed this political maneuver and argued for a fixed salary for the governor provided by the colony.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: This way, the governor would be more accountable to the law and to the people than to the king, so as to raise awareness of the crown's encroachments and to unite the colonists against tyranny.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Adams Sr.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: formed political clubs comprised of laborers and shipcockers.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: These groups began supporting political leaders in the Massachusetts legislature.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: These cockers would later come to be called caucuses.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Jr.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: would later employ his father's organizational skills to build a larger network of political organizations at an even more crucial time in this nation's founding.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Although young Samuel Adams studied the Greek philosophers during his years at Harvard College, he continued to attend the New South Church, where he sat under the preaching of Samuel Checkley.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: While in his mid-twenties, Samuel began courting the pastor's daughter, Elizabeth.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: The pair particularly enjoyed discussing theology together.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel found himself drawn to Elizabeth, largely because his own mother and sister were godly women who delighted in speaking of God's word in the home.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Hoping that his son would learn to make a good living, Samuel Sr.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: provided the young man with one thousand pounds, approximately one hundred thousand dollars in today's money.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Regrettably, Sam Jr.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: proceeded to squander all the money away.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Afterwards, his father sent him into the family's malt business, an initiatory process used in beer production.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Sr.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: died in March 1748, and on October 17, 1749, Samuel Adams married Elizabeth Checkley.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: By 1756, Samuel Adams had run the brewery out of business.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: He was afterward elected tax collector, but failed to collect sufficient taxes.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: In 1761, due to Samuel's mismanagement, the town of Boston found itself short five thousand pounds in tax income.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: During the first six years of their marriage, Elizabeth bore five children, only two of which survived infancy.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Childbirth proved hard on Elizabeth, and she passed away on july sixth, seventeen fifty seven.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Upon her death, Samuel wrote in the family Bible, to her husband, she was as sincere a friend as she was a faithful wife.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Her exact economy and all her relative capacities, her kindred on his side, as well as her own admire.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: She ran her Christian race with remarkable steadiness and finished in triumph.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: She left two small children.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: God grant they may inherit her graces.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Adams remarried in 1764 to Elizabeth Wells Betsy, with whom he had three more children.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Upon their marriage, Betsy brought a slave woman named Surrey into the family.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel utterly repudiated the idea of any form of slavery and insisted, quote, a slave cannot live in my house.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: If she comes, she must be free, end quote.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: True to his word, he quickly filed papers that officially emancipated Surrey, and she continued to live with the family for the next fifty years.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: The Puritan.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Some historians refer to Samuel Adams as the last of the Puritans.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: He advocated family worship and Bible reading in the home.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: To his son, he once wrote, Religion in a family is at once its brightest ornament and its best security.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: A printer in Boston by the name of John Mean called Samuel Adams, quote, the psalm singer with the gifted face, end quote.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Mean explained that Adams was noted for psalm singing, the leader of the band at Checkley's meetings, referring to Samuel Checkley's congregation at the New South Meeting House.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: John Fleming also called Samuel Adams the Psalm Singer in a letter written in 1775.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Expanding tyranny and mounting tensions with Britain.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: He will appoint captains over his thousands, and captains over his fifties, will set some to plough his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers, and he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage and give it to his officers and servants, and you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Beginning in seventeen sixty four, the British began cinching up the government tyranny on the American colonies.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: The British Parliament first passed the Sugar Act, legislation which added large taxes on imports entering the American colonies.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Adams opposed it strongly.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: At first, he was stunned to find himself the only voice speaking against the act in local town hall meetings and political clubs.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Although his friend James Otis had already spoken out against what he called taxation without representation in a court case in 1761, it was Samuel Adams who lit the fire under the colony in opposition to the rising tyranny from the mother country.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Long before Patrick Henry opposed the Stamp Act in the Virginia House of Burgesses, Samuel Adams was arguing passionately for liberty at the Boston town meeting.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: He called the people to refuse any support for all political candidates who oppose self-governance and representative taxation, and he chastised the Massachusetts legislature for failing to attend to their duties and responsibilities.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Quote, we cannot help expressing our surprise that when so early notice was given by the agents of the intentions of the ministry to burden us with new taxes, sugar taxes, etc., so little regard was had to this most interesting matter, end quote.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Adams then proceeded to draft instructions for those who wished to be elected to the legislature.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: In this way, he framed the issues of the 1764 elections, calling the colonies to unite against unjust British policies.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: He suggested the formation of a Continental Congress and afterward recommended a boycott against British goods.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: If nobody bought the goods imported into America, nobody would need to pay the import taxes on the goods, he reasoned.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Thus, as witnessed by Governor Thomas Hutchison in a communication with King George III, it was Samuel Adams who became the first who asserted the independence of the colonies.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: In the spring of 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which levied a tax for every official document filed with local colonial governments.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, Samuel Adams renewed his call for an official meeting of representatives from all of the colonial governments.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: But Governor Bernard scoffed at the idea, as did the rest of the governors and the colonies.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: However, Adams begged his friend James Otis, who was a member of the Massachusetts legislature, to press the matter further in the legislature.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: Otis sponsored the resolution, and the measure calling for the colonial Congress passed, but the governor responded by dissolving the Massachusetts Assembly.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: Other colonial governments were at first hesitant to join the Congress because they deemed it illegal.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: However, South Carolina jumped on the bandwagon with Massachusetts on August 2nd, after their assembly heard several impassioned speeches from legislators John Rutledge and Christopher Gadson.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Nine other colonies quickly followed suit.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: During these tumultuous days, Samuel Adams probably began privately suggesting independence from Britain.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: In a backroom conversation with his cousin John Adams, it was likely mentioned.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: John wrote, Samuel felt an ambition which was very apt to mislead a man, that of doing something extraordinary.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Independence was a radical concept in these early days.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: In September 1765, Samuel Adams ran for a seat in the Massachusetts legislature and won.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: The first colonial congress made up of representatives from nine states met in October and produced a united petition encouraging the king to revoke the Stamp Act.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: The representatives noted that only colonial governments, as elected by the people, should levy taxes.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: This was the first step taken by a unified coalition of the colonies towards American independence.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: As an elected representative, nobody worked harder than Samuel Adams.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Eighteen hours a day, six days a week, he campaigned against the Stamp Act.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: In early November 1765, Adams submitted 14 Stamp Act resolutions to the Massachusetts House, all of which were adopted.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson called them the Colonial Magna Carta.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: In March 1767, the British Parliament voted to repeal the hated tax.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Following in the footsteps of his father, a political organizer in his own right, Samuel Adams now began recruiting and organizing political resistance to English tyranny.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: He included his cousin, thirty-year-old John Adams, thirteen years his junior, in the discussions on liberty.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: He also enlisted John Hancock, the wealthiest man in the colony in the cause.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: His abilities to organize and to provide vision did not go unnoticed, as British Governor Francis Bernard would refer to him as the most dangerous man in Massachusetts.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Throughout the seventeen sixties and early seventeen seventies, Samuel Adams went to work, writing thousands of articles, petitions, and letters to newspapers under a hundred different pen names, by John Adams' estimate.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: How he obtained income to keep his family fed is anybody's guess, though some have speculated that John Hancock might have slipped the family a bag of wheat here and there.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Sam wrote three letters for the Boston Gazette, each signed simply a Puritan.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: In these letters, he intimated that Americans might become worshipers of the beast, a term he used to refer to Roman Catholicism, or what he called paupery.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: In a letter written to a pastor in seventeen sixty five, Adams wrote this concerning the early founders of New England.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Here they resolved to set up the worship of God, according to their best judgment, upon the plan of the New Testament, to maintain it among themselves, and transmit it to their posterity, and to spread the knowledge of Jesus Christ among the ignorant and barbarous natives, as they were prospered in their settlement by him, whose is the earth and the fullness thereof, beyond all human expectation, they soon became a considerable object of national attention, and a charter was granted them by King Charles I.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: He closed the letter by encouraging the pastor that our hearty prayer is that you may be succeeded in all your endeavors to promote the spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: In an oration given in 1765, Samuel Adams presented his concerns in their clearest form.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: The tyranny of popery had been rooted out by freeing the church from the Pope.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: But now the problem was the growing power of the state.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: Another attempt to curtail liberty.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking of the Protestant reformers, he said, They lopped off indeed some of the branches of popery, but they left the root and stock when they left us under the domination of human systems and decisions, usurping the infallibility which can be attributed to revelation alone.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: They dethroned one usurper only to raise up another.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: They refused allegiance to the Pope, only to place the civil magistrates in the throne of Christ, vested with authority to enact laws and inflict penalties in his kingdom.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: And if we now cast our eyes over the nations of the earth, we shall find that instead of possessing the pure religion of the gospel, they may be divided either into infidels who deny the truth, or politicians, who make religion a stalking horse for their ambition, or professors who walk in the trammels of orthodoxy, and are more attentive to traditions and ordinances of men than to the oracles of truth.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: Clearly, Samuel Adams did not want the political power centers to hijack the church and the pure gospel.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Whether he realized it or not, Adams would have had the support of European reformers like John Calvin, Samuel Rutherford, and Pierre Varet in his opposition to this rising tyranny.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: In a letter written in 1772, Adams actually attributed tyranny to the work of the devil.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: To live a life of rational beings is to live free.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: To live a life of slaves is to die by inches.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Ten thousand deaths by the halter or the axe are infinitely preferable to a miserable life of slavery and chains, under a puck of worse than Egyptian tyrants, whose avarice nothing less than your whole substance and income will satisfy, and who, if they can exhort that, will glory in making a sacrifice of you and your posterity to gratify their master the devil, who is a tyrant, and the father of tyrants and of liars.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, his most famous quote lambasted those who refuse to join the contest for liberty.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: We ask not your counsels or arms.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Liberty and rights, Adams believed, were blessings from God and could only be defined by the laws of God.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: The rights of the colonists 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.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: The All Out Battle for Liberty.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was September 1768 when the British began quartering troops in Boston.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: This Increased tensions with the citizens in the town.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Independence was becoming a favorite topic of conversation in the churches, the pubs, and the private homes of Boston.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: On March 5th, 1770, five colonials were killed by the redcoats stationed in Boston after a group of men and boys began lobbing snowballs and bricks at the British troops.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, Samuel Adams took advantage of what he not so accurately referred to as the Boston Massacre.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Marching into the Governor's Council chambers in the company of a committee of colonials, he informed Governor Hutchinson that it was time to withdraw the troops from Boston.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: All of them.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: The governor told him that this was not possible, and Adams marched back to the old South Meeting House and delivered the news to the three thousand people gathered there.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: The town council refused to accept the answer, and Adams and his men walked right back into the old state house for another meeting with Hutchinson.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: The governor then explained that he had no power to remove the troops.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: But Samuel pressed the point.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Quote, you have power to remove both regiments.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: It is at your peril if you refuse, end quote.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: The governor finally relented and ordered both regiments out of town.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: At this time, Britain was imposing a dictatorial economic policy on the colonies called mercantilism.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Although some businessmen would attempt to smuggle Dutch tea into the colonies at much lower prices, the British wanted Americans buying their own tea via the British East India Company.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: This kept American money flowing into Britain.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: In May 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, which increased taxes on British tea while cutting its price.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, Samuel Adams stood up against this taxation without representation and campaigned hard for the ensuing months.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: Three ships laden with tea showed up in Boston Harbor in the fall of seventeen seventy three.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: After the governor refused several requests from the townspeople to return the ships and the tea to Britain, a meeting was held at the Old South Meeting House.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: About 7,000 colonists gathered.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Standing before the assembly, Samuel Adams ended the meeting with these famous last words This meeting can do nothing more to save the country.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: After the colonists dispersed, forty to fifty men dressed in Indian garb entered the ships and dumped the tea overboard into Boston Harbor.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: This event came to be known as the Boston Tea Party.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Furious at this high-handed rejection of its authority, Parliament responded by issuing the Intolerable Acts, which shut down all trade in Boston until the Bostonians had paid for the tea.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: On March 5th, 1774, a crowd gathered at the Old South Meeting House to hear John Hancock's fiery speech in which he called for the colonists to free themselves from the tyranny of Great Britain and to form a new country called the United States of America.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: A year earlier, Samuel Adams had suggested that a Congress be formed out of all thirteen colonies, and the first Continental Congress was scheduled to meet in Philadelphia in September of 1774.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: In preparation for this historic meeting, the Massachusetts legislature met secretly while the governor's spies were lurking outside, and elected John Adams, Samuel Adams, and three other local men to represent Massachusetts at the upcoming Congress.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: However, as he prepared to represent his state at this first meeting of Congress, Samuel Adams found himself faced with a problem beyond his means to address.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: He had no appropriate clothing to wear to the Congress.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: For over a decade he had worn the same ragged suits and faded red coat.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: However, one evening that summer, a tailor knocked at his door and asked to take his measurements.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: Hardly a week later, someone delivered a large trunk filled with a new suit, two pairs of hose, a wig, a cocked hat, a gold handled cane, and a new red cloak.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Adams traveled with his cousin John and two of the other delegates 300 miles to Philadelphia, a 19 day journey by coach.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: This was Samuel's first trip outside of Massachusetts.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Fifty six representatives from twelve colonies met, including George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, and Patrick Henry from Virginia, and Christopher Gadson from South Carolina.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: At Philadelphia, Samuel Adams and his fellow Massachusetts delegates were considered radicals and looked upon with a bit of a jaundiced eye.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: Nonetheless, Samuel Adams proceeded to do what he had always done best.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: He made friends, lots of them.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: He met with other delegates in cafes and dining halls, in the foyers of the buildings and on the streets.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: From the beginning, it was Samuel Adams who insisted that each day begin with prayer.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: This was resisted at first because of denominational differences.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Adams, a Puritan congregationalist, suggested that Jacob Duch, an Anglican, lead the prayers.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: This compromise seemed to calm the opposition, and at last everyone agreed.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: While the Congress was in session, British General Gage seized a large cache of gunpowder that belonged to the town of Charlestown, Massachusetts, in Sulfolk County.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: Immediately after the seizure, the county prepared a list of resolves, already pre-written by Samuel Adams.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: The news and the resolves came by horseback via Samuel Adams' good friend Paul Revere, who made the three hundred mile journey in just six days.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: The Continental Congress unanimously endorsed the Sulfolk Resolves, which further stealed their commitment toward armed resistance.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: A plan initiated by a Philadelphia delegate named Joseph Galloway to attempt a reconciliation with the mother country failed by one vote.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: Congress further instructed all thirteen colonies to arm their militias and prepare for action.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: During the meetings of the first Continental Congress, it was Samuel Adams who set the agenda, and it was Patrick Henry from Virginia who employed his fiery rhetoric to press it forward.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: Henry admitted later, quote, the good that was to come from these Congresses was owing to the work of Samuel Adams, end quote.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: In the struggle for liberty and right, there often appears to be a single leader who tips the first domino in the battle.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: Almost everyone opposes him at first, and then slowly some begin to realize the worthiness of the cause.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Drums of War Not surprisingly, Britain rejected the demands of the first Continental Congress.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: Another meeting of the Congress was scheduled for May 1775.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: In preparation for this event, the Massachusetts provincial government met and elected the same four men who had attended the first meeting, along with John Hancock as representatives.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: Towards the end of March, military governor Thomas Gage issued an arrest warrant for Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Both men traveled together to Lexington, where they stayed with John Adams' cousin, Pastor Jonas Clark, his wife, and ten children.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: Adams and Hancock, two of the most important leaders in the American cause, bunked in one of the children's rooms.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: Governor Gage, determined to capture the two men, prepared 700 troops to march from Boston to Lexington to make the arrest and to destroy the military supplies at Lexington and Concord.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: A young boy in charge of the soldiers' horses overheard the plan and sent a warning to Dr.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: Paul Warren, who then informed Paul Revere.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: The troops were traveling across the channel by sea instead of by land.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: So Paul Revere had a friend place two lanterns in the high steeple window of the Old North Church to instantly warn the Patriots on the other side that the British were coming by sea.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile, it was Paul Revere's job to reach Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that the British were on their way to arrest them.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: Taking a boat across the channel, Paul Revere then rode hard to beat the Redcoats to the Clark home.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: He reached Lexington at midnight and began beating on the door.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: Someone told him to be quiet because he was making too much noise.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: Noise?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: Revere responded.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: You'll have noise enough before long.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: The regulars are coming out.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: When Adams and Hancock heard the news, they immediately sent a guard to assemble the militiamen on the village green.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: A total of one hundred and seventy men gathered at 1 AM, grandfathers, fathers, and sons.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: John Hancock preferred to stay and fight the British, but over the next three hours, Samuel Adams convinced his friend to move out into the woods.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: From this vantage point, they watched the first battle in America's war for independence.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: As dawn approached, several hundred British soldiers arrived at the Lexington Green.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: Realizing they were outnumbered, the Americans turned to leave.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: Two men stayed, a grandfather named Jonas Parker and the only African American soldier, Prince Estebrook.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: Then, someone fired the first shot, and immediately the British released a volley on the colonials.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: Eight colonists lay dead, only one British soldier was wounded.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was april nineteenth, seventeen seventy five, and it was at that moment that Samuel Adams told John Hancock, Oh, what a glorious morning is this.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: The British moved on to Concord, where they burned the town hall and confiscated weapons and gunpowder.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: At this point, the colonial volunteers responded with a deliberate and ready force.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: They approached the British who were guarding Concord's north bridge.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: A colonial officer called out fire, fire, fire.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Colonial bullets began flying, and the British received thirteen casualties, three dead.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: The Redcoats immediately began a retreat, and the colonists followed hard, firing all the way.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: Over the twenty mile flight back to Boston, the British lost about 300 soldiers, while the colonials sustained about a hundred casualties.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thus ended the first major battle in America's war for independence.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile, Samuel Adams and John Hancock made their escape to Worcester, Massachusetts, and then finally arrived safe in Philadelphia on April 27, 1775.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: In June, Massachusetts military governor Thomas Gage announced that he would pardon everyone involved in the skirmish except for Samuel Adams and John Hancock, for whom he put out a death warrant, specifically a punishment of death by hanging.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: Massachusetts observed a day of fasting and humiliation in May, and Samuel Adams enthusiastically endorsed it, stating, It is upon the blessing of God alone that we must depend for the happy issue to our virtuous struggle.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: At the Second Continental Congress, Samuel and John Adams secured the election of John Hancock as president.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: In a private conversation, both Samuel and his cousin concluded that George Washington should be made Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: When back in session, John made the motion.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel seconded it.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: And George Washington was elected on June 15, 1775 to lead the army.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: In God's providence, these leaders were now well on their way towards establishing the United States of America.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: The Congress took a recess in August 1775 and reconvened in September.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel was now well aware of the critical nature of the situation.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: Writing to his wife Betsy, he explained that the affairs of our country are at the moment in the most critical situation.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: He told her that mortals cannot command success.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_01: Above all, he was completely convinced that the entire outcome was in the hand of God.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: Continuing his letter to Betsy, he wrote, I can confidently as well as devoutly pray that the righteous disposer of all things would succeed our enterprises.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: If he suffers us to be defeated in any or all of them, I shall believe it to be for the most wise and gracious purposes, and shall heartily acquiesce in the divine disposal.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel humbly submitted to the will of God and was completely confident of the truth of Romans 828, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: Throughout these months, Samuel Adams employed all of his persuasive powers in an attempt to build his coalition for independence, drawing most heavily from his father's legacy and gifts.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thomas Jefferson had to admit, quote, if there was any Polineris, helmsman to the revolution, Samuel Adams was the man.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: Indeed, in the eastern states, for a year or two after it began, he was truly the man of the revolution.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: He was constantly holding caucuses of distinguished men, among whom was RH Lee, at which the generality of the measures pursued were previously determined on, and at which the parts were assigned to the different actors who afterwards appeared in them.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: End quote.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: By july first, seventeen seventy six, only six colonies were in favor of independence.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: But Samuel Adams continued lobbying hard for a break with the mother country.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: He convinced one delegate from Pennsylvania to abstain from voting so that the colony's vote would be given in favor of independence and would move the support for independence by a ratio of seven to six.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: In a speech given on august first, seventeen seventy six, Samuel Adams acknowledged the lordship of Jesus Christ over the nations, something not often seen within the British leadership during that time.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: We have this day restored the sovereign, to whom all men ought to be obedient.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let his kingdom come.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: Later Contributions Proverbs twenty eight two Because of the transgression of a land, many are its princes, but by a man of understanding and knowledge, right will be prolonged.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: After achieving his life's goal of obtaining independence for the American colonies, Samuel Adams' health declined greatly.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: Nonetheless, he continued to serve in the Continental Congress until 1781.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: He then served as governor of Massachusetts from seventeen ninety three to seventeen ninety seven.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: During his time as governor, his main concern was the promotion of virtue in his state.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: In his view, this was essential for the maintenance of a free country.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: Quote, liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals, end quote, he would say.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: And quote, neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt, end quote.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: As he aged, Governor Adams became even more concerned with the fear of God, especially as he contemplated the final judgment day.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: Almost every year in office he produced a proclamation for a day of prayer and fasting or a day of thanksgiving, the last of which is attached to the end of this chapter.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: To the end of his life, Samuel Adams acknowledged God's sovereignty and his glory.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: Quote, let the glory be given to him who alone governs all events, while we express the just feelings of respect and gratitude due to all those whom he honors as instruments to carry into effect his gracious designs.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: Such writings may be considered radical in a proud day, in which scarcely a single magistrate exists who fears God and who gives him glory in speeches and letters.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: Indeed, Scripture places reverence and fear of God as the primary requirement for anyone who exercises a role of leadership in human governments.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: Second Samuel chapter twenty three, verses two and three.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: The God of Israel said, The rock of Israel spoke to me, he who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: The two cousins John Adams and Samuel Adams exchanged several letters in the seventeen eighties, which suggested that the world might be entering into the millennium.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel concluded that some great improvement in the world might arise through education.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: It was a mistake that would be made again and again by future leaders of the country.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yet Samuel did recommend the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system for all schools.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: One wishes he had pointed to the gospel of Christ and the regenerating work of God in the heart as the fundamental basis for improvement in the world.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: Still, Samuel recommended an education that was rooted solidly in the fear of God.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 1 7.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: Quote, let the divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots unite their endeavors to renovate the age by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, of inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the deity and universal philanthropy, and in subordination to these great principles the love of their country, instructing them in the art of self-government, without which they can never act a wise part in the government of societies, great or small, in short of leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system, which will happily tend to subdue the turbulent passions of men and introduce that golden age.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel envisioned a quote education which leading the youth beyond mere outside show will impress their minds with a profound reverence of the deity.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: A dying man's testimony.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: So they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Adams died on October second, eighteen oh three.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: For the Christian who is interested in the Christian foundations of the country, the question remains Was Adams a genuine Christian?
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: In an age of spiritual decline, the rise of deism and the humanist enlightenment, the question is significant.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: The final test of a man's salvation is his faith in Jesus Christ and his merits for salvation.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: This Samuel Adams provided in his last will and testament.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: In the name of God, amen.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: I, Samuel Adams of Boston, in the County of Soulk, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts Esquire, being, through divine goodness, of sound and disposing mind and memory, and considering the uncertainty of human life, do make and ordain this to be my last will and testament, in manner and form following Principally and first of all, I recommend my soul to that almighty being who gave it, and my body I commit to the dust, relying on the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: Such words are not to be found in the last will and testament of the other founders of the nation, such as George Washington, James Madison, and John Adams.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: Above anything else he ever said or wrote, this dying testimony constitutes his most important words.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yet it is the compendium of his words, acknowledging Christ as Lord and Savior throughout his life that solidifies for us his true heart commitment.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry were two of the most important leaders in the formation of the United States.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_01: In a day of mass apostasy and the incursion of humanist rationalism and deism, both appear as dedicated Christians, strong in faith and well rooted in a solid biblical orthodoxy.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: However, there are no memorials of any importance for these two men in Washington DC today.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is because the poor wise men who saved the nation and salvaged liberties are often forgotten, especially if they were the most committed Christians of all.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: Ecclesiastes nine verses fourteen and fifteen.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city, yet no one remembered that same poor man.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yet we know that the memory of the righteous is blessed, Proverbs ten seven.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: May future generations of American Christians remember Samuel Adams with a special gratitude to God.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: Samuel Adams was one of the few founding fathers who acknowledged the lordship of Jesus Christ and his kingdom in public statements.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: As governor of Massachusetts, he announced a day of fasting for march twentieth, seventeen ninety seven with these words.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: Proclamation by his Excellency, Governor Adams.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: It having been the invariable practice derived from the days of our renowned ancestors, at this season of the year to set apart a day of public fasting and prayer, and the practice appearing to be in itself productive, if well improved, of happy effects of the public mind.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_01: I have therefore thought fit, by and with the advice and consent of the council, to appoint Thursday, the fourth day of May next ensuing, to be observed and improved throughout this commonwealth for the purpose of public fasting and prayer, earnestly recommending to the ministers of the gospel with their respective congregations, then to assemble together and seriously to consider and with one united voice to confess our past sins and transgressions, with holy resolutions, by the grace of God, to turn our feet to the path of his law, humbly beseeching him to endue us with all the Christian spirit of piety, benevolence, and the love of our country, and that in all our public deliberations we may be possessed of a sacred regard to the fundamental principles of our free, elective, civil constitutions, that we may be preserved from consuming fires and all other desolating judgments.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: And at this season, the general business of the year commences, it seems highly proper humbly to implore the divine blessing on our husbandry, trade, and fishery, and all the labor of our hands, on our university and schools of education, on the administration of the government of the United States, and in a particular manner that all misunderstanding between them and a sister republic may be happily so adjusted as to prevent an open rupture and establish permanent peace.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_01: And as it is our duty to extend our wishes to the happiness of the great family of man, I conceive we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly supplicating the supreme ruler of the world that the rod of tyrants may be broken into pieces, and the oppressed made free, that wars may cease in all the earth, and that the confusions that are and have been among the nations may be overruled by the promoting and speedily bringing on that holy and happy period when the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and all the people willingly bow to the scepter of him who is the Prince of Peace.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I do hereby recommend that all unnecessary labor and recreation may be suspended on the said day.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: This has been a production of the Generations Media Network.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_01: For more information, go to generations.org/slash media.