We The People – Part OneAbsolutely Disgusting

by poputonian

It took a long time for Samuel Adams to come to the surface of Boston politics, even though his father was a powerful figure in the caucuses and the General Court. One reason for the delayed “arrival” is that Adams is almost alone in history as a man who sincerely desired anonymity. His major writings were signed not “Adams” but “Determinatus,” “Candidus,” “Vindex,” “Populus,” “Alfred,” “Valerius Poplicola,” “T.Z.,” “Shippen,”, “a Bostonian,” “a Tory,” “E.A.,” “a Layman,” “an Impartialist,” “a chatterer,” — even later, when he could have gained great credit by acknowledging his full opus, he would not take the trouble. The writings had done their work; that was what he wanted. He often ended his letters with the command “Burn this,” and he took his own advice by consigning nearly all his correspondence files to the flames, leaving behind a relatively small amount in the hands of others or in public print.
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In the eighteen months from December 1770 to June 1772 he turned out 36 political essays for the [Boston] Gazette, an output not matched by any other writer of the time.
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[Boston Gazette, October 7, 1771]

I Think it necessary the publick should be inform’d, that his Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, Esq; Governor of this Province, has lately receiv’d, a warrant from the Lords of the Treasury in England, for the Sum of Twenty-two Hundred and fifty Pounds Sterling for his Services for one year and a half, being at the rate of Fifteen Hundred Sterling or Two Thousand L. M. per Ann. – The payment is to be made out of the Commissioners Chest; wherein are reposited the Treasures that are daily collected, tho’ perhaps insensibly, from the Earnings and Industry of the honest Yeomen, Merchants and Tradesmen, of this continent, against their Consent; and if his friends speak the truth, against his own private judgment. – This treasure is to be appropriated according to the act of parliament so justly and loudly complain’d of by Americans, for the support of civil government, the payment of the charges of the administration of justice, and the defence of the colonies: And it may hereafter be made use of, for the support of standing armies and ships of war; episcopates & their numerous ecclesiastical retinue; pensioners, placemen and other jobbers, for an abandon’d and shameless ministry; hirelings, pimps, parasites, panders, prostitutes and whores –
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~ Candidus

Samuel Adams, hiding behind the pseudonym of Candidus, complained about paying taxes to support an army occupying his own town, and called the Governor of Massachusetts a whore.

That is absolutely disgusting. Adams should have been barred from the Revolution.

In the article, Candidus struck at the fact that one of the Boston born, now appointed and paid by the Crown, was on the path to tyranny:

But the people, and a great part, I hope, of the clergy of this enlightened country, have understanding enough to know, that a Governor independent of the people for his support, as well as his political Being, is in fact, a MASTER; and may be, and probably, such is the nature of uncontroulable power, soon will be a TYRANT. It will be recorded by the faithful historian, for the information of posterity, that the first American Pensioner – the first independent Governor of this province, was, not a stranger, but one “born and educated” in it – Not an ANDROSS or a RANDOLPH; but that cordial friend to our civil constitution -that main Pillar of the Religion and the Learning of this country; the Man, upon whom she has, (I will not say wantonly) heaped all the Honors she had to bestow – HUTCHINSON!! –

The almost singular skill of Samuel Adams was in undermining the hierarchy, and his singular focus was to shift power to the people.

On a Sunday morning in the fall of 1803 he died. He was eighty-two, and John Adams said he had been a “weeping, helpless object of compassion for years.” He died at home, trying to whisper something to his wife, some few words that she could not make out. A friend, William Bentley, tried to sum him up that day in an entry in his diary. “He was feared by his enemies,” Bentley wrote, “but too secret to be loved by his friends.” He went on:

He could see far into men, but not into opinions. He could be sure of himself on all occasions, and he did more by what men thought of him, than what he discovered to them. His religion and manner were from our ancestors. His politics from two maxims, rulers should have little, the people much.