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Reviews of Books
Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician. By
JOHN K. ALEXANDER. American
Profiles. (Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2002. Pp. xii,
249. $35.00.)
Reviewed by Patricia Cleary, California State University, Long Beach
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In this biography, author John K. Alexander analyzes the public career of Samuel Adams in an effort to augment his reputation as a deeply principled leader whose contributions helped guide America in the years leading up to and following the Revolutionary War. Although he presents a portrait of a man who is calculating in his political machinations, Alexander does not criticize Adams's maneuvering. Rather, he celebrates Adams's skill as the country's "first professional and first modern politician" (p. 222), a man who was single-minded in his commitment to liberty and successful in defending and promoting it throughout the late eighteenth century. |
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In taking this approach, Alexander attempts to answer the arguments of earlier biographers, who, as he notes in a bibliographic discussion, veered from hagiographic portraits in the nineteenth century to less favorable views in the twentieth. He faults all but a few authors for both their interpretations and their emphasis on Adams's pre-1776 career. One exception is Pauline Maier, whose focus on Adams as a radical of consistent principles Alexander shares and clearly develops.1 |
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Alexander uses contemporaries' positive assessment of Adams's sobriety and dedication to the cause to counter characterizations of him as a rabble-rouser and demagogue, a man whom loyalists such as Thomas Hutchinson loathed and suspected of direct responsibility for orchestrating mob violence and protests. What emerges in this account is an Adams whose passionate commitment to liberty inspired him to work tirelessly behind the scenes in the years before the Revolution to keep the depredations of the British fresh in the mind of colonists. Steeped in political philosophy, Adams wrote carefully argued letters and essays that he expected to be used by like-minded friends and associates to urge others to support the cause. He also helped shape a communication network in the early 1770s that spread outward from Boston to the rest of Massachusetts and eventually all of the colonies. Adams's skill as a writer and involvement in multiple levels of government positioned him to be an important leader in shaping popular opinions. Like Paul Revere, Adams participated in numerous political clubs, organizations, and institutions, which gave him access to multiple audiences and constituencies. |
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Adams's ability to wield influence, in Alexander's view, stemmed from his innovations in including the common people in the political process. Sympathetic to the plight of the lower orders—so much so that he frequently neglected to fulfill his duties as a tax collector—Adams became an articulate and popular defender of basic rights and liberties who both responded to and influenced popular opinion. His family's economic difficulties, caused in part by the land bank debacle, made him sensitive to attempts to deprive individuals of their property. That experience, combined with close readings of John Locke, informed Adams's views on fundamental rights, including legal redress. In that arena, Alexander maintains, Adams was a pioneer. He saw himself as the people's servant and as such considered it his duty to trumpet the cause of liberty even when the people seemed indifferent to assaults on it. Through commemorations of important dates, such as the Boston Massacre, and essays devoted to British attacks on American freedom, Adams acted the role of chief incendiary. |
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