Boston’s Rebellion: Samuel Adams and the Fight for Liberty | The American Story | Ep 5

Summary

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The Glenn Beck Program

Boston’s Rebellion: Samuel Adams and the Fight for Liberty | The American Story | Ep. 5

Date: May 9, 2026
Host: Mercury Radio Arts

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Overview

This episode of "The American Story," adapted from the book by David Barton and Tim Barton, offers a vivid, immersive retelling of the critical early years of the American Revolution as seen through the life and relentless activism of Samuel Adams. Through rich storytelling, personal tragedy, and incisive analysis, the episode traces Adams’ unlikely rise from failure in business to pivotal revolutionary leader, emphasizing his gift for organizing, persuasive pen, and ability to unite the disparate colonies. The narrative centers on Boston as the crucible of rebellion, from the Stamp Act crisis to the Boston Massacre and Tea Party, culminating in the unification of the colonies and the spark of war at Lexington.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

I. The Setting: Boston, 1770 – A City on the Brink

[00:00-01:30]

• The show opens with atmospheric storytelling inside the Green Dragon Tavern, introducing the "Monday Night Club" – a secretive group of Boston patriots led by Samuel Adams and including his cousin John Adams.
• The episode dramatizes the tension in Boston, climactically interrupted by news of the Boston Massacre (“Shots fired and blood spilled!”).

II. Samuel Adams’ Unlikely Beginnings

[01:30-08:10]

• Chronicled as a figure marked by personal and professional failures: unsuccessful in business, managing money, and even brewing beer.
• Family tragedy: He suffers the loss of most of his siblings, several children, and his first wife Elizabeth Checkley, finding solace in faith.
• Despite setbacks, Adams’ devotion to classical studies and his Harvard education form the foundation of his political philosophy.

Memorable Quote:
“Is it lawful to resist the supreme magistrate if the republic cannot otherwise be preserved?”
— Samuel Adams’ master’s thesis, foreshadowing his revolutionary ethos [06:10]

Notable Quote:
“He overthrows the very design of government and the people are discharged from all obedience.”
— Samuel Adams, on the duty to resist tyranny [06:34]

III. The Spark: Stamp Act & Radicalization

[08:10-11:49]

• The Stamp Act (1765) is presented as the catalyst for colonial outrage—taxation without representation becomes a rallying cry.
• Adams asserts, in both word and pen, the existential stakes:

“Only to inure the people to the habit of contemplating themselves as slaves of men. And the transition from thence to a subjection to Satan is mighty easy.”
— Samuel Adams, on the Stamp Act [10:01]

• Adams is elected to the Massachusetts House and becomes hugely influential through the Boston Gazette and as a founding member of the Sons of Liberty.

IV. The Power of the Pen & the Formation of a Revolutionary Movement

[11:49-13:22]

• Introduction of John Adams to the inner circles and their mutual admiration:

“Most thorough understanding of liberty... the most correct, genteel and artful pen.”
— John Adams, on Samuel Adams [11:49]

• The circular letter crisis (1768) and non-importation agreements build intercolonial unity and resistance.

V. Escalation: British Occupation and the Boston Massacre

[13:22-27:08]

• Boston endures 17 months of British military occupation; powder-keg conditions described.
• The episode narrates the Boston Massacre in detail—crucial for both its moral and political impact.
• Samuel Adams skillfully frames the event as the "Horrid Massacre," using the power of narrative and media (Paul Revere’s engraving) to inflame colonial sentiment.

Key quote:
“If you have power to remove one regiment, you have power to remove both. The people are become very impatient. A thousand men are already arrived from the neighborhood and the country is in general motion.”
— Samuel Adams confronting Governor Hutchinson [23:14]

• John Adams’ principled defense of the British soldiers at trial underscores the colonial commitment to law and fairness:

“Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence...”
— John Adams, closing argument [26:18]

VI. Samuel Adams the Organizer: Building Intercolonial Unity

[27:08-33:06]

• Adams’ relentless journalism keeps colonial grievances alive, even as opponents deride him as “malevolent.”
• He champions the Committees of Correspondence, creating the first intercolonial network for resistance.

“Like to state the rights of the colonists and of this province in particular, as men, as Christians, and as subjects.”
— Samuel Adams, defining the committees’ purpose [32:19]

• On sparking wider resistance:

“All are not dead, and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will enkindle it.”
— Samuel Adams [32:59]

VII. The Boston Tea Party: Strategy, Symbolism & Impact

[33:06-38:25]

• The British East India Company’s monopoly and the tea tax provoke new resistance.
• The careful planning and execution of the Boston Tea Party (342 chests, politest robbery in history) vividly described.

“You cannot imagine the height of joy that sparkles in the eyes and animates the countenances as well as the hearts of all we meet.”
— Samuel Adams, after the Tea Party [38:17]

VIII. Retaliation: The Coercive (“Intolerable”) Acts & the Siege of Boston

[38:25-44:10]

• British punishment comes swiftly: closure of Boston’s port, suppression of self-government, forced quartering of troops.
• The suffering catalyzes solidarity among the colonies, with supplies pouring in from everywhere.

“This, my boy, is what tyranny looks like.”
— Samuel Adams, pointing out the occupied city to young John Quincy Adams [42:29]
“For flagrant injustice and barbarity... our business is to find means to evade its malignant design.”
— Samuel Adams on the British Parliament [43:39/44:10]

IX. Continental Congress: From Protest to United Action

[44:10-47:49]

• Samuel Adams helps orchestrate the First Continental Congress, stressing unity amid religious diversity.

“I must confess, I never heard a better prayer with such fervor...”
— John Adams, on the opening prayer at Congress [47:06]

• Endorsement of the Suffolk Resolves: rebuff to British authority and foreshadowing American independence.

X. The Eve of War: Personal Sacrifice and the March to Lexington

[47:49-50:50+]

• Adams returns to Boston to find his home ransacked but undeterred:

“We must be content to suffer the loss of all things in this life rather than tamely surrender the public liberty.”
— Samuel Adams [50:19]

• The episode ends as Adams and Hancock flee ahead of the British, seeking sanctuary in Lexington—the dawn of the Revolution.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “His whole soul was engrossed by politics. Samuel Adams was useless at business.”
  — Thomas Cushing (quoted), early on [~04:30]
• “Samuel had the most thorough understanding of liberty and her resources... as well as the most correct, genteel and artful pen.”
  — John Adams, on Samuel Adams [11:49]
• “Facts are stubborn things...”
  — John Adams, at the Boston Massacre trial [26:18]
• “Samuel later wrote, I observed his knees to tremble. I thought I saw his face grow pale and I enjoyed the sight.”
  — Samuel Adams, on Hutchinson after demanding removal of troops [23:33]
• “All are not dead, and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will enkindle it.”
  — Samuel Adams, on intercolonial unity [32:59]
• “This, my boy, is what tyranny looks like.”
  — Samuel Adams to John Quincy Adams [42:29]
• “We must be content to suffer the loss of all things in this life rather than tamely surrender the public liberty.”
  — Samuel Adams [50:19]

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Timeline of Important Segments

• [00:00-01:30] — Green Dragon Tavern, scene setting and Boston Massacre crisis
• [06:10] — Samuel Adams’ thesis: right to resist tyranny
• [10:01] — Adams’ searing critique of the Stamp Act
• [11:49] — John Adams’ assessment of Samuel Adams
• [23:14–23:41] — Samuel Adams confronts Governor Hutchinson
• [26:18–27:08] — John Adams’ “Facts are stubborn things” trial summation
• [32:19, 32:59] — Founding the Committees of Correspondence
• [38:17] — Aftermath of the Boston Tea Party
• [42:29] — Adams on tyranny to young John Quincy Adams
• [43:39–44:10] — Adams’ indictment of Parliament’s cruelty
• [47:06–47:49] — Continental Congress opening prayer
• [50:19] — Adams on sacrifice for liberty

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Tone & Style

• Richly narrated, suspenseful, and dramatic yet historically grounded.
• Woven through the voices of multiple key figures but always circling Samuel Adams’ zeal, hardship, and organizing gifts.
• Emphasizes both the personal (family tragedy, penury, perseverance) and the epic (unifying the colonies, crafting the language of resistance).

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Conclusion

Through compelling storytelling and reflective commentary, this episode brings Samuel Adams to life not only as a revolutionary agitator but as a visionary strategist, a man of perseverance, and the vital engine that helped push Boston—and all the colonies—toward independence. The episode vividly demonstrates that the Revolution was not inevitable, but was won by the tireless effort, narrative prowess, and organizational genius of Adams, whose legacy shaped the birth of the nation.

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Transcript

[Narrator]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail] Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail]. The flickering catalyte casts dancing shadows across the worn wooden beams of a room above the Green Dragon Tavern. A tight knit group of men huddle around a scarred oak table in a haze of tobacco smoke, their voices a low rumble of spirited conviction. They call themselves the Monday Night Club, a small collection of local tradesmen, merchants and writers who get together over Tumblers ale to discuss liberty and tyranny, ideas at this time that can get them killed. At the head of the table sits a stocky middle aged man with ink stained fingers and eyes sparkling with energy and wisdom. His clothes are noticeably more worn than his colleagues. He fidgets with a quill, his hand trembling slightly from age or exhaustion, maybe both. That man is Samuel Adams. Across from him sits his cousin John Adams, 34 years old, clean shaven, cautious but never shying away from a political debate. He's a farmer and a lawyer with a growing practice. He's a man who is caught between two worlds, the simple family farm life that he craves versus the sense of a calling he feels to play a role in this growing freedom movement. The robust conversation is interrupted by the deep, resonant tolling of bells echoing from the streets. The men instinctively spring from their chairs for their coats and their hats. In a city of timber and candlelight, the bells mean there's a fire. Suddenly there's pounding on a door. Samuel's head snap towards the sound. The club members fall silent as they exchange tense glances. The door swings open, revealing a panting messenger, his breath visible in the cold draft now rushing in, his face etched with urgency, he blurts something out about King street, shots fired and blood spilled. Without hesitation, the men pour out into the biting winter darkness. Snow crunches under their boots as they race through the narrow, moonlit alleys, the ominous clanging bells drawing more people from their homes. The wind whips at their coats, carrying distant shouts that now grow louder and louder, more chaotic with each step. They turn a corner and collide with pandemonium. A hysterical mob surging like an ocean wave, bodies pressed together in a frenzy of rage and confusion. Cries of murder pierce the frigid air. Samuel and his companions push forward, elbows and shoulders forcing a path through the throng, hearts pounding with a mix of dread and determination. Finally they break through the front where the horror unfolds before them. Three bodies lied sprawl in the pristine white snow, limbs twisted unnaturally crimson blood pooling outward in a stark spreading stain. The crowd wails and thrust their accusing fingers at a line of red coated British soldiers standing frozen, their faces pale. Sam Adams stands there, the scene searing his soul. This isn't a mere brawl or accident. This is the ignition point, the moment when simmering Tang engines explode into something irreversible. This is Boston, 1770, the epicenter of the American Revolution. And it would not have happened without the driving perseverance of one unlikely patriot leader, Samuel Adams. This is the American story, the Beginnings, adapted from the book of the same title by David Barton and Tim Barton Episode 5 Boston's Rebellion Samuel Adams and the Fight for Liberty Before Samuel Adams became the beating heart of the Revolution, before the countless newspaper articles, the mobs, the Tea Party, he was a failure. He failed at business. He failed at managing money. He even failed at making beer. Samuel Adams was born in Boston in 1722. He was the fourth of 12 children. Only three would survive into adulthood. His father, Samuel Adams Sr. Was a successful maltster, a craftsman who transformed barley into malt through the meticulous process of steeping, drying and sweating, and then kilning. In an era where beer was often safer to drink than contaminated water, he made a fortune supplying Boston's breweries and housewives with the ingredients for making their brews. At six years old, Samuel attended Boston Latin School for the city's elite. At 14, he entered Harvard College, not unusual at the time. But after graduation, Samuel tried his hand at business. He worked briefly for a Boston merchant named Thomas Cushing, who later said about his whole soul was engrossed by politics. Samuel Adams was useless at business. He further proved that when he tried to start a business of his own. The details have been lost to history, but what we do know is that he squandered his father's investment of £1,000 in the venture. Samuel returned to what he was good, studying, writing and debate at Harvard. He earned a master's degree when he was 20, and for his master's thesis he tackled a question that foreshadowed his

[Samuel Adams]

true calling Is it lawful to resist the supreme magistrate if the republic cannot otherwise be preserved?

[Narrator]

Naturally, his conclusion was a resounding yes. He wrote that citizens must obey the king only as long as he acts according to the law. But if the king betrays that law, violating natural rights and liberties, then Samuel

[Samuel Adams]

wrote, he overthrows the very design of government and the people are discharged from all obedience.

[Narrator]

It was an academic argument that would become a self fulfilling prophecy. He didn't know it yet, but that paper was his first article of rebellion. In 1748, Samuel inherited the family malt business. When his father died at 59, he was again terrible at it, running it into the ground and accumulating significant debts. The only thing Samuel had going for him was his marriage to Elizabeth Checkley, the 24 year old daughter of the minister at New South Church where Sam had been a member all his life. A year later, Elizabeth gave birth to their son named Samuel, but He lived only 18 days. Almost one year to the day later, she had another son, also named Samuel, who survived. But the couple would lose another son and a daughter before their daughter Hannah arrived in 1756. The year after that brought the ultimate heartbreak for Samuel. Elizabeth gave birth to a stillborn son and then she died three weeks later. She was only 32. After almost eight years of marriage, Sam was left a devastated widower, turning to his faith for strength. For Elizabeth's epitaph, he she ran her

[Samuel Adams]

Christian race with a remarkable steadiness and finished in triumph.

[Narrator]

In the family Bible, he added a

[Samuel Adams]

heartfelt she left two small children. God grant they may inherit her graces.

[Narrator]

Samuel raised his son and daughter on his own for the next seven years. Further losses compounded his sorrow. His mother died in 1758, his brother in 1759. By 1760, at 41, Samuel's house was in disrepair, the malt business was ruined and a slight tremor had crept into his hands. Yet he found love again and he married Betsy Wells. They had no children together, but Betsy embraced her stepchildren as her own. As Samuel became more embroiled in colonial politics, Betsy was often left alone to manage the household and the children. But she was the glue that held the family together and worked hard to make it on their meager finances. This personal backdrop set the stage for Samuel's plunge into politics and controversy. The spark that turned him into a firebrand that was the stamp act of 1765. This is what this was all about. Great Britain was burdened by debt from the French and Indian War and they imposed a tax on virtually every Paper transaction, marriage certificates, ship's papers, legal documents, newspapers and countless others. Colonists who considered themselves full British subjects saw it as a violation of their rights. This was taxation without representation. Worse, it raised alarms about potential government control over religious material. If the government could tax their documents, could it also censor their words next, their sermons, their Bibles? Samuel argued the Stamp act was designed

[Samuel Adams]

only to inure the people to the habit of contemplating themselves as slaves of men. And the transition from thence to a subjection to Satan is mighty easy.

[Narrator]

The protests began almost immediately. Crowds gathered under Boston's Liberty Tree hanging effigies of British tax agents. Mobs ransacked the homes of royal officials. Stamp agents resigned in terror. By November 1, 1765, the day the law was to take effect, no royal official in Boston dared to enforce the Stamp Act. Business carried on. Newspapers printed a skull and crossbones where the royal stamp would have been. Samuel Adams had found his calling, something he was good at. He was elected to represent Boston in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and he was one of the earliest members of the Sons of Liberty. He developed an unprecedented influence as the writer of political essays in the Boston Gazette. His writing was blunt and uncompromising. He made rational arguments for liberty that resonated with the common people of Boston and beyond, as was common at the time. And because so much of what he wrote would be considered sedition, he used multiple pseudo synonyms for his newspaper essays. In December 1765, Samuel brought his cousin John Adams into the inner circle, the Monday Night Club. This was a very secretive group where communication strategy and influence were designed, where the most urgent newspaper essays were planned. John was 30 years old, still a little naive and utterly captivated. John later wrote that Samuel had the

[John Adams]

most thorough understanding of liberty and her resources in the temper and character of the people, as well as the most habitual radical love of it, of any of them, as well as the most correct, genteel and artful pen.

[Narrator]

Thanks to that artful pen, John Adams also said that 1765 had made Americans

[John Adams]

more attentive to their liberties, more inquisitive about them, and more determined to defend them than they were ever before.

[Narrator]

The Adams family, if you will, the cousins, made a very powerful pair. When the Stamp act was finally repealed in 1766, Boston erupted in celebration. But Samuel Adams, ever suspicious, warned that the victory would not last. And boy, was he right. A year later came the Townshend Acts. New taxes on glass, lead, paper, paint and tea. Parliament, it seems, was doubling down. Samuel wrote the official Massachusetts protest to King George III calling the acts a violation of the natural and constitutional rights of Americans. Hannah, his 10 year old daughter, stood by his desk one morning as he was working on the draft. She was proud and amazed that the document would be touched by the royal hand. Samuel rubbed his weary eyes, smiled at

[Samuel Adams]

her and replied, it will, my dear, more likely be spurned by the royal foot.

[Narrator]

He was right again. The document urged a return to local control of taxation and called for other states to boycott the taxed goods. Shortly after the Massachusetts house approved the draft, Samuel and James Otis suggested the document be shared with the other colonies. It was known as the circular letter. In June 1768, King George demanded that Massachusetts retract the circular letter. But after receiving support of the letter from five other colonies, they voted 92 to 17 not to rescind it. At the time, it was the most open rebellion ever seen in the colonies. Well, the Crown appointed governor Francis Bernard promptly dissolved the Massachusetts legislature, setting off widespread protests. Bernard called Adams the most dangerous man in Massachusetts. And Within a month, 200 Boston merchants signed a non importation agreement. They would buy nothing from Great Britain until the Townshend taxes were repealed. Another grassroots intimidation campaign, this time against customs officials, began. Samuel did not openly support it, but he didn't really discourage it either. In response, royal agents requested the king's troops as peacemakers. Rumors of occupation swirled in late summer, and then in September 1768, a fleet of British troop transports into Boston Harbor. Redcoats poured into the wharves, muskets gleaming in the early autumn sun. Their boots struck the cobblestone streets in unison, four regiments strong. The king had sent an army to occupy his own subjects. Samuel Adams stood at the window of his modest house on Purchase street, watching the red tide pour in. Sometimes people get sideswiped by life. It's a sudden medical bill that you never saw coming or a job change that turns everything you know that you once understood to be your finances completely upside down. And then you add to that the higher prices on everything and suddenly you're in a position where credit cards are the bridge you have to then the interest rates, they're not forgiving. Good people can end up in a tough financial spot if you're there. If you're a homeowner, you may have options to consolidate your high interest debt and lower monthly payments or put your home equity to work in a smarter way. With American financing, it's not about shame. It's about solutions. It's about looking at where you are honestly and then finding a better way forward with the people who know how to help. And sometimes the biggest relief isn't just the money. It's the feeling that you're no longer stuck. See what American Financing may be able to do for you today. No upfront fees. Find out if you qualify. American Financing.net 800-906-2440 800, 9062440 it's american financing.net I wrote a little song to remind you. Choice hotels get you more of the experiences you value. The Cambria Hotel's got it all. A rooftop bar, have a ball, cocktail up here. Feel just right. It's Cambria. Amazing. All right. Bring a date, your team or even your mom. Book [e-mail] see you on the roof. For 17 months, Boston had lived under the weight of British bayonets, 2,000 troops in a town of 16,000 civilians. Boston would never be the same. Soldiers and civilians shared streets, taverns, even church steps. The long occupation, plus two years of the Townshend taxes and boycotts, made frustrations boil over. Every corner of the city felt like a powder keg. The British troops were not exactly elite. Many of them were young, poor, half drunk, dragged from London jails and given a choice of joining the army or heading to the gallows. So they were underpaid, brutally treated and bored stiff. So they had their fun wherever they could, often at the expense of regular Bostonians. They liked to gather outside of churches on Sundays, mocking worshippers with lewd songs, and their favorite tune was Yankee Doodle. No one knew exactly what a Yankee was, but doodle meant clown or fool. It was like being called a hick or a country bumpkin, and the insult stuck. Bostonians called the soldiers lobsterbacks, another colorful, abusive name. They pelted them with snowballs and mud and sometimes more solid objects. There were British barracks just blocks away from Samuel Adams front door. He had a large Newfoundland dog named Q, whom he trained to bite any Redcoat who crossed his path. The British occupation fueled Samuel's writing like never before. Every Monday, the Boston Gazette carried his latest essay, and over the years he used 30 different pseudonyms, each one a new voice in a chorus of outrage. Samuel and his associates chronicled the British presence like crime reporters, chronicling every insult, every shove, every bruise inflicted by the troops. They published these reports as something they called the Journal of Occurrences. Each week these accounts spread to newspapers in other colonies, and the outrage grew, along with the realization that liberty, under siege in Boston, was a threat to all Americans. One friend later recalled walking past Samuel's house late One night, seeing the candle still burning in the window, he found it reassuring that Samuel Adams is hard at work riding against the Tories. Yet, as with all things, it was never smooth sailing for Samuel Adams. Even on his home turf of Boston. Loyalists constantly mocked he and his cohorts in print, ridiculing them as agonizing reptiles, small statesmen who rave and drivel about the political frenzy and idiotism. But the insults only sharpened his pen. And then came the night of March 5, 1770. Private Hugh White stands guard outside the Custom House on King Street. It is bitterly cold and he is taunted for hours. A rowdy late night crowd jeers, throws snowballs, oyster shells and chunks of ice at him. They dare him to strike back. Private White raises his musket, shouting for help. His plea eggs on the crowd. A young, nervous Captain Thomas Preston rushes to the scene with seven more soldiers. They stand with their red coated backs to the wall of the Custom House. Their arrival fuels the fiery crowd even more. The mob swells again. Fifty, a hundred, eventually more than a thousand. The air thick with curses that contrast the soft falling snow. Captain Preston orders the soldiers to level their muskets. As soon as they do, the crowd surges forward, almost touching the points of the British bayonets, daring them. Fire. Fire on us. Suddenly, a soldier is blindsided by a flying chunk of wood that hits him in the head. The blow knocks him down. A shot rings out. The crowd roars in panic. Seconds later, the burst of musket fire rips through the crowd. Screams, chaos. Three men lay dead in the snow. Two more die later of their wounds. Six others writhe in the ground with their injuries. Among the dead, the 47 year old Crispus Attucks, a sailor of African and Indian descent. He likely escaped slavery years earlier. He, a black man, the first to die in the cause for American liberty. When Samuel and John Adams arrive, the smoke is cleared and the snow is streaked with the crimson blood. The acting Royal Governor, Thomas Hutchinson, quickly has Captain Preston and the eight soldiers under his command arrested. Finally, by 4am The Boston streets are quiet. The next morning, Boston held an emergency town meeting. The people voted Samuel Adams to be their spokesman to the governor. Later that day, Samuel stood before Governor Hutchinson, who looked on edge. No one in Boston unnerved him quite like Samuel Adams. With his untidy clothes and twitching mouth, watery eyes and the mild tremor in his hands, Samuel looked unimpressive. But when he spoke, he had an entirely different effect. People were inspired into action. Samuel demanded that the British troops be removed From Boston. Governor Hutchinson refused. Then he waffled. Then he whispered with other officials. Finally he said he would agree to withdraw one regiment, but not both. Samuel returned to the old south church where the crowd had swelled to 4,000. Bostonians were adamant. Removing one regiment was not good enough. Samuel, his eyes ablaze, returned to the governor and said if the troops weren't removed, thousands of Massachusetts militiamen would be glad to force them out. The governor warned Samuel that this was high treason territory. John Adams, who was watching from the

[John Adams]

crowd, later wrote that a self recollection, a self possession, a self command, a presence of mind that was admired by every man present.

[Narrator]

Samuel stood his ground.

[Samuel Adams]

If you have power to remove one regiment, you have power to remove both. The people are become very impatient. A thousand men are already arrived from the neighborhood and the country is in general motion.

[Narrator]

He watched the resolve slowly drain from Hutchinson's face.

[Samuel Adams]

Samuel later wrote, I observed his knees to tremble. I thought I saw his face grow pale and I enjoyed the sight.

[Narrator]

Hutchinson finally buckled. Both British regiments withdrew from the city to castle William. It was a fortification on an island in Boston harbor. It was a stunning reversal when Samuel brought the news back to the old south church. The crowd erupted in celebration. But the celebration was short lived for Samuel because his work wasn't finished. He knew this story had to be told well and to spread everywhere. For starters, he labeled the night of March 5th the Horrid Massacre, which quickly caught on in the colonial press. He planned a massive funeral for the victims. 10,000 mourners would fill the streets. That's well over half of Boston's population. Drums beat slow and steady as four coffins wound through the city toward the granary burying ground. Samuel understood something few others did. Revolution required a story. His fellow sons of liberty member Paul Revere produced an engraving he titled the bloody massacre in king street. It showed the redcoats firing in perfect formation at a helpless crowd. A captain raising his sword in command, and every detail designed to inflame. And it spread like wildfire through the colonies. The truth was messier, but the Purdue's story resonated. Within weeks, the Boston massacre became the rallying cry from New Hampshire to Georgia. Here's where the story gets fascinating. The man who's recruited to defend the British soldiers in court was Samuel Adams own cousin, John Adams. John didn't want the case. His one year old daughter had died just a month before the Boston massacre. He was devastated. He wanted solitude, not controversy. But no one else would take the case. Ultimately, he agreed to take the job. On principle believing that a free country must allow the right to counsel and a fair trial, Law and justice had to prevail over mob fury. There was six days of testimony and he dismantled the prosecution's case. Witness after witness admitted that the crowd had taunted and attacked the soldiers first. The most dramatic moment came from the deathbed of a victim, Patrick Carr, who told his surgeon that he forgave the soldiers that they had fired in self defense. John Adams closing argument became very famous.

[John Adams]

Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. Nor is the law less stable than the fact. If an assault was made to endanger their lives. The law is they had a right to kill in their own defense if it was not so severe as to endanger their lives. Yet if they were assaulted at all, struck and abused by blows of any sortby snowballs, oyster shells, cinders, clubs, or sticks of any kind, this was a provocation for which the law reduces the offense of killing down to manslaughter in consideration of those passions in our nature which cannot be eradicated.

[Narrator]

The jury deliberated two and a half hours. Six of the soldiers were acquitted, Two were convicted of manslaughter, and their punishment was having the letter M seared into their right thumbs with a hot iron. Justice, at least technically, was done. But the larger verdict, the one written in the newspapers and declared in sermons across the colonies, was already decided. This was tyranny and oppression. Looking back years later, John Adams said,

[John Adams]

not the Battle of Lexington or Bunker Hill, not the surrender of Burgoyne or Cornwallis, were more important events in American history than the Battle of King street on March 5, 1770.

[Narrator]

By the end of 1770, the American struggle was just getting started. Britain repealed the Townshend Axe, all except for one key tax, the tax on tea. You know, it's becoming exhausting buying food from companies that want your money but don't want to tell you where anything is made or anything much about it. You pick up a package, you squint at the label, and somehow you still need a private investigator to figure out what you're actually bringing home for dinner. It shouldn't be like that. Shouldn't be hard. That's one of the reasons I like good ranchers. Good ranchers delivers 100% American meat straight to your door. Sourced from local farms and ranches right here in the United States. Beef, chicken, seafood, quality, quality food from people who still take pride in doing things the right way. You can start your plan today and you'll get free meat included with every order plus $100 off your first three orders with the promo code Glenn. So go to goodranchers.com use the code Glenn at checkout. It's free meat with every order. A hundred dollars off your first three orders. This month only. Just try it. You get $40 off your first order with a promo code glenn goodranchers.com American Meat Delivered we lock our cars, we set our alarms, we install cameras. But there is one thing most people don't can be stolen. And that is the title of your home. Criminals can forge documents. They can file them online. They can make it look like your property is theirs. And from there they can try to take out loans against it. And you may not know anything about it until the collection agencies and the bank notices start showing up. And then the sheriff. By then you're the one trying to prove you didn't do something. You know that was wrong. You didn't even know it was happening. Home Title Lock monitors your home's title and alerts you to suspicious activity so you can act before a bad situation turns into a financial nightmare. Nightmare. Because your home isn't just an asset, it's the foundation. Use the promo code glenn. @hometitlelock.com you'll get a free title history report and a free trial of their million dollar triple lock protection 24.7monitoring of your title records, urgent alerts. If anything changes, I want you to go to hometitle lock.com hometitlelock.com use a promo code Glenn. Hey, if you're enjoying this, you want to keep going, you don't have to wait a week for the next episode. Torch insiders already have access to the first 10 episodes of the American Story right now ad just go to glenn beck.com torch and unlock the full experience. Today, imagine the aftermath of the Boston Massacre as a smoldering fire that Sam Adams refused to let die out. For the next two years, he embarked on a one man crusade, determined not to let Massachusetts or the wider colonies slip into amnesia about the grievances that had piled up over the past six years, stretching all the way back to the stamp act of 1765. He produced a continuous stream of essays in the Boston Gazette, reminding readers of every insult, every injustice, every ounce of British arrogance. His arch nemesis, Governor Hutchinson, fumed, writing,

[John Adams]

the devil himself is not capable of more malevolence. Adams would push the continent into a rebellion tomorrow if it was in his power.

[Narrator]

Hutchinson was probably right about the Rebellion part. But rebellion required a lot more than rage. It needed organization, and Samuel Adams was a genius at that. To appreciate his next move, you have to understand the fragmented landscape of the colonies in the years leading up to the war for independence. They were like 13 separate countries. They were highly independent, all with their own laws, economies, money, rivalries, and little in the way of consistent communication between them. There was no unified voice, no network to share ideas or coordinate actions. In 1772, Samuel seized on an idea first proposed by the Reverend Jonathan Mayhew six years earlier for an organized system of communication between all of the colonies to help them unite in their thinking and action. Samuel jump started what became known as the committees of correspondence. It was a communication web that stretched from Massachusetts to South Carolina. He described its simple mission.

[Samuel Adams]

Like to state the rights of the colonists and of this province in particular, as men, as Christians, and as subjects.

[Narrator]

Each word was chosen with care. Men Christians grounding their protest in moral spiritual duty. Subjects asserting their loyalty, but only to a lawful king. Even supporters of this correspondence effort were skeptical that it would work. One told Samuel that some colonies might not join because they're dead, and the dead can't be raised without a miracle. To which Samuel replied, all are not

[Samuel Adams]

dead, and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will enkindle it.

[Narrator]

And he did. Through these committees, news and outrage spread faster than ever before. A colonial postal service of rebellion with Boston as the nerve center. In the fall of 1773, Samuel Adams had a new chilling item to slip into his correspondence. The British East India Company, that sprawling commercial empire, had been granted a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies. Essentially, there was a corporate bailout. The company was drowning in unsold tea. So Parliament had a solution. Let's dump it surplus directly in America and have the colonists pay a small tax on it. Of course, the logic was simple. Much of the tea sold in the colonies came from smugglers. But this East India Company tea, even with the small tax, would be cheaper than any other options. Surely Americans wouldn't be able to resist such a steal. And in the process, maybe they'd forget about taxation without representation that they were so hung up on. To modern ears, the tea tax issue might seem pretty petty. But tea in the 1770s wasn't just a drink. It was a vital staple of daily life. The water in many colonial communities was undrinkable. Boiling it into tea made it safe to drink, and it helped keep people alive. So when that tax arrived hidden in the teapot, it wasn't a minor issue. This was personal and it showed that Britain still did not get the message that Americans were fed up with being treated as second class citizens. Samuel Adams immediately saw through the latest British scheme to tax the colonies. He saw it as a Trojan horse designed to get them accustomed to subjugation, education. What he didn't know, what no one knew, was that the tea ships had already sailed. Some headed straight for Boston. In late November 1773, three ships sat anchored in Boston Harbor. Their holds were packed full of tea. Now, by law, the tea had to be unloaded and all the taxes paid within 20 days or the cargo would be seized and put up for auction. For Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty, unloading the tea was not an option, because once it hit the docks, whether voluntary or by seizure, it would be sold and taxed. After several unsuccessful attempts at turning back the ships, and with the 20 day deadline looming in a matter of hours, Samuel led a final town meeting. On December 16, the Old south meeting house overflowed with 5,000 people. One last appeal was sent to Governor Hutchinson to allow the ships to turn back. No doubt feeling bitter from the Boston Massacre aftermath three years earlier. There was no way Hutchinson was going to cave in on another Samuel Adams mob. He refused. The cargo would be unloaded the next day. When that final answer reached the Old south meeting house, citizens reacted with an uproar. Amid the pandemonium, about 150 men calmly filed out of the meeting house and other buildings nearby. The men disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians, darkening their faces with soot and charcoal and wrapping blankets over their shoulders. Minutes later, war whoops pierced the night from the street outside the meeting house. Inside, the citizens erupted into cheers and hundreds rushed outside to join the band of costumed men heading towards Boston Harbor. Samuel, John Hancock and Dr. Joseph Warren called for order, trying to get the people to stay. They continued with more speeches, stalling for time. But it was all a ruse. The meeting provided them with a plausible deniability for what was about to happen. But Samuel Adams knew all about it, because he was behind the entire operation. Paul Revere was among the disguised men, along with many of Samuel Adams closest allies. They were the Sons of Liberty. At the docks, they boarded the ships without resistance. They helped themselves to candles and keys to the hatches. They descended to the holds and hauled chest after chest of tea up to the main deck. There were no dainty chests. Each one was lined with lead and weighed over 400 pounds. Over the next two hours, the sons of Liberty, in disguise, used hatchets to methodically smash open 342 chests, dumping every last leaf of tea into the dark water below. On the dock, crowd of thousands gathered to watch, remaining remarkably quiet except for the occasional cheers as batches of tea cascaded into the harbor. Not a single person was injured. Nothing else was disturbed on the three ships. The men even swept the decks clean after their heist was done. It, quite honestly, is the politest robbery in human history. And when it was all said and done, the sons of liberty returned to the wharf and melted into the massive crowd. For the next several days, Bostonians reveled in the afterglow of their epic tea party. Samuel Adams wrote, you cannot imagine the

[Samuel Adams]

height of joy that sparkles in the eyes and animates the countenances as well as the hearts of all we meet.

[Narrator]

On this occasion, other tea parties took place up and down the eastern seaboard. In Delaware, patriots dumped twice as much tea as Boston did. But only Boston's tea party would be remembered because Boston had Samuel Adams to tell its story. Meanwhile, governor Hutchinson fumed, calling it high treason. Even though thousands of Bostonians had been at the wharf that night, he couldn't find a single eyewitness to testify. An unbelievable unity of silence in London. King George iii, who had once dismissed colonial protests as childish tantrums, was now furious. He had tolerated petitions and pamphlets, but this destruction of property, open defiance of his authority, was absolutely unacceptable. The king demanded punishment. He would crush Boston. We all get a little older every day, whether we like it or not. And one of the things that tends to come with getting older is aches and pains. Joints start to wear down, old injuries jump back into life, and the normal exercise of everyday living begins to catch up with you. See, I told you. Exercise is bad for you. All of the years of walking and lifting and bending and climbing stairs, getting out of chairs, carrying groceries, doing, you know, what we all do. Now the body is sending you a bill. That's the bad news. But the good news is you don't have to just accept it. That's why I want to tell you about relief factor. It's a daily drug free supplement designed to help reduce or eliminate pain by addressing inflammation. And over a million people have tried relief factor at this point, and 2/3 of them have gone on to take more year after year. I'm one of them. This year, as we celebrate 250 years of freedom, ask yourself, are you living with the freedom you deserve from pain? Try the three week quick start. Do it today. See how it works for you. Relieffactor.com or call 800-the-4 relief for more of the history that inspired this podcast series, be sure to read the American the Beginnings by David Barton and Tim Barton, available [e-mail]. Spring 1774. Four months after the Boston Tea Party, that punishment arrived. British warships. One by one, they filled the harbor, their masts crowding the skyline like a forest. The British military arrived to enforce what Parliament called the coercive acts. Boston called them intolerable acts. The first blow was the Boston Port bill. Overnight, the harbor was closed until the East India Company was reimbursed for its losses, which was set at £30,000. No imports, no exports, zero trade. It was economic strangulation, a siege without a shot fired. Next came the Massachusetts government act, stripping the colony of its charter. No more self rule. Then the Administration of Justice act, which prohibited the colony from conducting its own legal trials. And finally, the Quartering act, requiring British soldiers to be housed in vacant buildings and inns at the colony's expense. Boston became a city under occupation once again, and this time its lifeblood was cut off. Shops shut down, docks were silent. Families who were able packed their belongings and fled Boston. British General Thomas Gage, the man sent to enforce the order, brought 4,000 troops to garrison the town. One day that summer, Samuel Adams took a walk through the deserted marketplace. Beside him was his cousin's son, a seven year old John Quincy Adams. Samuel gestured to the boarded up doors, the soldiers on patrol, the masts of warships in the harbor. And he looked at John Quincy and

[Samuel Adams]

said, this, my boy, is what tyranny looks like.

[Narrator]

But for all the suffering in Boston, something remarkable began to happen. Wagon loads of food and supplies started arriving from every corner of the colonies. Flour from Pennsylvania, rice from South Carolina, sheep from Connecticut, corn from Virginia. They came not for trade. They came as gifts. As historian Stacy Schiff described the scene, Boston's papers energetically reported on the shipments as if the town had sponsored a telethon. The philanthropy eased Boston's suffering in small ways, but it did something greater still. It made of altruism, an act of resistance. The message from the colonies was, you're not alone. John Adams marveled that 13 clocks were

[John Adams]

made to strike together a perfection of mechanism which no artist had ever before effected.

[Narrator]

Samuel Adams was at the center of it all, organizing, distributing the aid, writing thank you letters, as he put it,

[Samuel Adams]

for flagrant injustice and barbarity. One might search in vain among the archives of Constantinople to find a match for it. But what else could have been expected from A parliament too long under the dictates and control of an administration which seems to be totally lost to all sense of feeling, of morality, and governed by passion, cruelty, and revenge. Our business is to find means to evade its malignant design.

[Narrator]

And in that effort, he succeeded beyond measure. Meanwhile, General Gage had orders to arrest the ringleaders, but only if conviction was certain. And Samuel Adams was far too careful for that. One evening, while in Philadelphia years later, he tossed a bundle of his papers into the fire and said to his

[Samuel Adams]

cousin John, whatever becomes of me, my friend shall never suffer by my negligence.

[Narrator]

He was a revolutionary, but he had the instincts of a spy. In June 1774, Samuel chaired a committee meeting in Salem, where the now illegal Massachusetts legislature gathered. He proposed sending delegates to a general Congress of the colonies to be held in Philadelphia. The motion passed. Massachusetts would send five men. Samuel Adams, of course, was one of them, along with his cousin John. When Samuel left Boston in August, it was the first time he had ever set foot outside of his own state. Through all of these years, for all of his work, he still lived modestly, his family often barely scraping by on his meager salary as a state representative. So he was moved when anonymous friends outfitted him with a brand new wardrobe for the journey, a brown suit, shoes, hat and silver buckles. Along the road south, he was greeted as a national hero. Every stop was a celebration, and he was amazed to see that his efforts had bared such fruit. The rebellion had gone Continental. On September 5, 1774, 56 delegates from 12 colonies met in Philadelphia. They called it the first Continental Congress. They were mostly strangers. Many had heard of one another and had corresponded. But Samuel and John Adams had never met George Washington or Patrick Henry. Some of the delegates still hoped for reconciliation with Britain. Others whispered the word independence behind closed doors. But with everything that was at stake, their first argument was about prayer. The colonies were a patchwork of denominations. Congregational, Anglican, Quaker, Presbyterian. To pray together was to risk division before the work had even begun, so Sam Adams stepped up to solve it. He stood and said he was open to prayer from any pious, virtuous friend of his country. Samuel was a devout Congregationalist, but he put forward a local Episcopalian pastor to lead the opening prayer. Convinced by Samuel's example of constructive compromise, the delegates approved his motion the next morning. The Reverend Jacob Duche of Philadelphia opened with Psalm 35 and a rousing prayer for the colonies.

[John Adams]

John Adams wrote, I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if heaven had ordained that psalm to be read on that morning. After this, Mr. Duche, unexpected to everybody, struck out into an extemporary prayer which filled the bosom of every man present. I must confess, I never heard a better prayer with such fervor and in language so elegant and sublime. For America, for the Congress, for the province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially the town of Boston. It has had an excellent effect upon everybody here.

[Narrator]

Samuel Adams example and Reverend Touchet's prayer changed the atmosphere from one of distrust and disagreement into one of understanding and cooperation. And the walls between the colonies were beginning to break down. While the First Continental Congress slowly found its footing, events in Massachusetts raced ahead. In Samuel's absence, his best friend, Dr. Joseph Warren, took the reins of leadership. Under his guidance came the Suffolk Resolves, a bold declaration that rejected the Coercive acts, urged Massachusetts to form its own military, and declared loyalty only to a king that respected their rights. Paul Revere rushed the Resolves to Philadelphia on horseback. When Congress read them aloud, the mood shifted from protest to defiance. They all voted to endorse the Resolves in full. In October 1774, the Congress also issued its Declaration of Rights and Grievances. It affirmed the colonists rights to life, liberty and property, which foreshadowed another declaration that was still far on the horizon. Samuel Adams dream, what had become his life's work was slowly coming true. The colonies were uniting in their quest for liberty. Thomas Jefferson later said that Samuel was

[John Adams]

the earliest, most active and persevering man of the Revolution. John Adams said, without the character of Samuel Adams, the true history of the American Revolution can never be written.

[Narrator]

When the Congress adjourned in late October, it was agreed to reconvene if Britain refused to yield. But there was little doubt about the reaction. When word of the Congress's work reached King George iii, he said, the die is cast. By winter. The situation in Massachusetts was desperate. One British admiral wrote home that he expected Samuel Adams to, quote, be hanged or shot before many months are at an end. General gage now had 20,000 troops in Boston, 10 times the number that were there when the Boston Massacre happened. When Sam Adams returned to Boston from Congress in Philadelphia, he found his home ransacked. The windows were broken, walls defaced, furniture gone. He didn't have the money for repairs, so he moved his wife and daughter out outside Boston to the town of Dedham. He told his wife, we must be

[Samuel Adams]

content to suffer the loss of all things in this life rather than tamely surrender the public liberty.

[Narrator]

Samuel started carrying a pistol everywhere he went. Every day he and John Hancock rode to secret sessions of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress that operated from town to town. Then, in April 1775, General Gage received fresh disarm the militias and arrest the ringleaders. Adams and Hancock fled Boston under the COVID of darkness. They took refuge in the parsonage of Reverend Jonas Clark in a small sleepy village 11 miles northwest. There, in the quiet of a borrowed room, the two men talking long into the night, they knew what was coming. They just didn't know when. But within days, the British troops would march towards that very house in the town called Lexington. Coming up on the American story, the Beginnings, but it reveres urging. The men finally bolt to Hancock's fancy carriage. Later, they pause for breakfast by the road. Yeah, really. When a farmer rushes towards them across a field, breathless, saying, the British troops are closing in on you now. Adams and Hancock then ditch the carriage, scrambling into the woods on foot, hearts pounding as they vanish into the underbrush. They have no idea that in Lexington, the town they just escaped, a war against the most powerful empire on earth, has just begun. Just a reminder, I'd love you to rate and subscribe to the podcast and pass this on to a friend so it can be discovered by other people. Security program on spreadsheets, new regulations piling up and audit dread. It's time for Vanta. Vanta automates security and compliance, brings evidence into one place and cuts audit prep by 82%. Less manual work, clearer visibility, faster deals, zero chaos. Call it compliance or call it compliance. Get it? Join the 15,000 companies using Vanta to prove trust. Go to vanta.com calm.