Reason Writers Around Town

David Weigel | October 30, 2006

Over at the New York Post Nick Gillespie raises a glass to Sam Adams, the founding father (or at least founding uncle) whose revolutionary contributions have been overlooked.

Comments

|10.30.06 @ 12:40PM|#

I'll have to get a copy of the book, and read it while sucking down a frosty one. Or two.

|10.30.06 @ 12:40PM|#

Sam Adams is my favorite domestic beer.

One of my favorite quotes of Sam Adams is:

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
-- Samuel Adams

|10.30.06 @ 2:43PM|#

Sam Adams makes the only light beer that is worth a damn. It's actually pretty awesome.

Most Great Lakes Brewing Co. beers are better, but among the national brewers, Sam Adams is the best by a long way.

|10.30.06 @ 3:36PM|#

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale ain't to bad either.

|10.30.06 @ 4:34PM|#

Sam Adams, a master at using controlled (well, mostly controlled) violence to achieve political ends. Started a civil war by using violence to provoke harsh responses by the government which increased the ranks of his movement. Many of the grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence were a response by Britain to violent acts by Adams and his cronies. His greatest accomplishment was in helping prevent the perpetuation of social violence after the Revolution. Hard to put that cat back in the bag, but with the exception of Shay's rebellion and a few similar incidents, stability was preserved until the time of the Civil War. A man who deserves a lot more study than he has traditionally gotten.

|10.30.06 @ 5:40PM|#

Ron- might the slacking off of social violence be due to the absence of Crown tyranny/incompetance? And may have Crown excess to legit colonial surliness - bought about by Crown injustice- .....what Im trying to say here is (to me) you present a chicken/egg argument.
You posit Brit repression was in response to Adams et al provocation, as opposed to Adams et al response being to Brit provocation. I eagerly await some expansion on your part to this intrigueing remark.....im quite interested in your thoughts here.

|10.30.06 @ 6:08PM|#

I may be wrong, but I had always read that Sam Adams father was the brewer, not his more famous son. According to what I read, he was a very religious teetotaler who looked down on alcohol.

He was definitely a propagandist without peer. He managed to turn the "Boston Massacre", something he likely provoked, into the touchstone for the rebellion. He also used every little tax that came from the crown as a reason to stir the pot. Most of these taxes are small enough that we'd not even notice them today. It would be interesting to see what he would say about today's government.

|10.30.06 @ 6:32PM|#

Sam Adams was a smuggler. He and several of the other Founding Fathers smuggled in cheap Dutch tea. The Stamp Act was in response to this. It was like a cigarette stamp today. You couldn't sell anything without a stamp. The Boston Tea Party came about because the English had brought in such a huge amount of tea they were able to undercut the price of the smugglers. It had less to do with liberty than in protecting a few smugglers profits.

Sam Adams Drinker and Gun Owne|10.30.06 @ 6:38PM|#

"The said Constitution be never construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."

- Samuel Adams

He was a brewer, patriot, and he was against gun control.

What's not to like?

|10.30.06 @ 6:45PM|#

"Cheap Dutch tea"?
Can anyone name a revolutionary movement that wasnt deemed "criminal" by those they sought to overthrow?
Im all for such "criminals", myself. We could use some now....

|10.30.06 @ 7:13PM|#

Sam Jackson is my favourite domestic beer.

One of my favorite quotes of Sam Jackson is:

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."
--Samuel Jackson