Happy Birthday Samuel Adams!

Today is the birthday of one of the greatest patriots of the Revolution: Samuel Adams. I have become well acquainted with Sam over the past year, since he became the subject of my short story series on the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Today, in honor of his birthday, I'm sharing a few interesting facts that I learned about Sam during my research.

• Samuel Adams was born on September 27th, 1722 in Boston, MA, unless you want to go by the Old-Style date, which would be September 16th.
  
• He was one of twelve children, however only three lived past their third birthday.
  
• Sam once had a job as a tax collector, but he didn't do well because he couldn't bring himself to force people to pay when they couldn't even afford to feed their families. The government even filed a lawsuit against him for failing to collect.
  
• Known as the "Father of the Revolution", Sam was advocating independence long before it was popular, or even acceptable.He was viewed as an extremist because of his views on independence.
  
• Sam was selflessly dedicated to freedom and the Revolution. His personal finances suffered greatly as he spent all his time advocating independence rather than earning a living.
  
• Sam often wrote for the Boston Gazette. He would sit up all hours of the night with a candle on his desk scratching away with ink and quill. Passersby would see his light in the window and know that Sam was still up, fighting for liberty.
  
• Sam was against Theaters and similar entertainments. He believed them to undermine the civic virtue, and fought to keep them banned in Boston. He was unsuccessful.
  
• Sam was almost nominated for President instead of his cousin, John. He got passed over because of his hesitance in signing the state constitution.
• Sam died on October 2nd 1803 at the age of 81. 

Learn more about Samuel Adams and his role in the Declaration of Independence in the historical series from Helping Hands Press!