Westport High School - Herald Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

Page 29 text:

.vn ranks l. More: gainst an neness in alter was at in fact s obliged In 1760 lrmly set of their ess were air firmly as merely s. These from the 's of Con- e in upon at Adams During i wrought when at ly for the a power, It must rms him- us now- vrious pa- that to a sublimity Lality that he means exception. ess to a ment, not Lble of a :ting that His logic able, and, ing the st British fiood of 5, instruc- clarations otice. He some new THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. 25 move. He did not rejoice prematurely. Others made joyful over the repeal of the Stamp Act, he saw the accompanying De- claratory Act and foresaw further trouble. His energy was prodigious. He was never at rest. lt was nothing unusual for him to serve on several committees, write a dozen state papers, and manage the Assem- bly, all at once. This strong man who ate little, slept little, talked much and thought constantly naturally excited not a little ven- eration comminglecl with awe, not only in the sturdy yeomanry, but in his own asso- ciates. He knew well how to use his vast powers. A thousand master-strokes proclaim him a consummate politician. Witness the famous affair of the Sam Adams Regiments, for whose removal from the town of the Boston Massacre Adams was directly responsible, witness the consummate skill that inaugur- ated the Committee of Correspondence in the face of public indifference, the Hutch- inson Letters, with the overthrowal of the governor's power, witness the epoch-mak- ing Boston Tea Party, witness the election in the Massachusetts Assembly, of dele- gates to the First Continental Congress under the very nose of the bewildered Gage. Sometimes we find even a touch of trick- ery in his methods, the affair of the Hutch- inson Letters is not wholly defensible. But no man was more utterly unself-seeking in his ends. Whatevfer he did was done for the public good. His end once gained he was wholly careless of the means. Papers which would have established his claim to a position among the greatest he either de- stroyed or left lying at hap-hazard. ' He was'forever instilling into promising young men of parts his own advanced ideas. Again-and what really constituted one of his greatest services-he brought forward and introduced to popular favor many a one of the glorious band of Massachusetts patriots. Hancock, John Adams, VVarren, and a dozen others. all owed to him their introduction upon the national stage. These men, whose works are a part of our national heritage, were thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the times,-that is, with the spirit and ideals of Samuel Adams. Behind their brilliancy he would hide him- self, so that the people saw not the mover of it all, but only the figures in the fore- ground.. But perhaps Adams' greatest single feat and the greatest aid to the spread of his ideas, was the establishment by Boston of the Committee of Correspondence. This had for its object the closer binding together of the men of Massachusetts and of the col- onies general, by taking advantage of the inviolable right of man to communicate and confer with each other. It was Samuel Adams' own plan, the consequences of which no one foresaw, neither friend nor foe. And the consequences were swift to follow. A perfect net-work of similar com- mittees in a trice covered Massachusetts and quickly spread throughout the colonies. They were a power without the law, because based on an inalienable right, everywhere was their influence, spreading intelligence, cognizance of rights, and hopes and brother- ly sympathy. It was the first great step toward unity. Hence we seem to be obliged to credit to Samuel Adams one more serv- ice rendered to independence and the nas- cent nation. But we strike at the secret of Adams' power when we refiect that he was, essen- tially, a man of the town-meeting. This remarkable system is nearly dead today, even in its old strongholds, but in those days its supremacy, especially in Massachusetts, was absolute. And over these little basic folk-motes was the Assembly, itself a folk- mote, in that it was composed, not of repre- sentatives acting within their own judg- ments, but of deputies acting under instruc- tions, often minute, from their parent town- meetings. Thus the whole legislative system was based directly on the individual. And Samuel Adams was essentially a man of the people. He was close to the sturdy yeo-

Page 28 text:

24 THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. like manner and for like reasons did Boston come to control Massachusetts and to dic- tate her policies, and finally to be the stage of the policies, the struggles and crises of a continent. And how completely Clifl 5211111161 Adams come to control Boston, and to what purpose, we shall soon see. Samuel Adams made possible the Wfar of the Revolution, by bringing about the Dec- laration of Independence. This is a start- ling statement, but it is true nevertheless. The independence of the American colonies was his vision, his mission, early conceived --as early as 1765, says Hutchinson-when none else dreamed of such a thing, con- stanly striven for during his whole career with all the resources of his almost unim- aginable authority and prestige, with all the powers of a consummate politician, with all the fervor and intensity of a burning soul, wholly unshared by others almost down to the very Declaration itself. How com- pletely he was alone in his ideal is shown by the fact that throughout the First Con- gress and even later he was looked upon as a fanatic, and that even amid his closest associates and co-workers he stood alone in the advocacy of American independence. This last gives some idea of the difficulties which constantly beset him, it cannot dis- close them all. The very fact of his being solitary in his ideal made a gulf which it was hard to cross. Sometimes his great power was in itself an obstacle. Beside keeping himself as much as possible in the background, he had constantly to fight the power of the Loyalists, men who supported the king often from the sincerest convic- tions, and especially in this regard Thomas Hutchinson, Massachusetts' last royal gov- ernor in peace and by civil authority, a man always patient, much enduring and much misrepresented . and vililied. VVith him Adams waged a battle royal, keenly con- tested but ever dignined, until at last Hutch- inson's power was overthrown by measures not wholly innocent of trickery-the famgug Hutchinson Letters. It was not only loy- alists but reactionaries in his own ranks with whom Adams had to contend. More: he had constantly to struggle against an indecisiveness, an inglorious supineness in his own countrymen, where to falter was to lose all. But above all,'crowning all, what in fact amounted to his life work, he was obliged to make his own public opinion. In 1760 the colonists were, it is true, firmly set against yielding one jot or tittle of their ancient privileges, but nevertheless were they loyal sons of England. Their firmly protestant stand on their rights was merely a part of their English heritage. These men never dreamed of separation from the mother-country. Not until the days of Con- cord and Lexington was there borne in upon them the necessity of the step. But Adams had dreamed of it long before. During all these years he had gradually so wrought upon their minds and hearts that when at last the time came they were ready for the step. One can hardly conceive of such a power, such an authority and prestige. It must have appeared wonderful to Adams him- self. It seems hardly possible to us now- a-days. W'hence, then, was it? It is a characteristic of the glorious pa- triots those stern times produced, that to a devoted fervor, an intensity and sublimity of vision they added a cool practicality that was principally concerned with the means thereto. And Adams was no exception. His literary remains bear witness to a strong style, unburdened with ornament, not in the least rhetorical, but capable of a fire and a fervor and of transmitting that fire and fervor to other breasts. His logic WHS good always, often irreproachable, and, all-important, convincing. D u r i n g the whole of the long struggle against British 'f1'Y-Hlally he poured forth a very Hggd Of lgigllgllllgi articles, lC'Et61'-S,-1'CSOlL1'E1OHS, instruc- 3 ate PHPCFS, petitions and declarations Of 1'1gh'fS- Nflthing escaped his notice. He was ever watchful, ever wary of some new move. Others Stamp . claratol' llis ene at rest to serv dozen S bly, all little, s constar eration the stu ciates. He k A thot consun affair whose Massa witnes ated t the fa inson goveri ing B in th gates under Some ery ir inson no m his e the t was whici a pos stroy Hr youn Agai his 5 and one iiatr and intri

Page 30 text:

26 THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. manry upon whom the system reposed. .Xgain, among the other patriots every one had either his moments of rash vindictive- ness or of indecisiveness. Adams alone was felt to be cool, calm, at all timesg cautious and calculating, strong and undeviating,-a tower of strength, a rock not to be shaken by any storm. So, in decisive moments, when all hung by a thread, in his CLIIIITIHQ' strength and unninching manliness lloston was wont to repose her troubles and her fears. In like manner, by the aid of his co-workers, by his burning articles, by his Committee of Correspondence, did he mould public opinion throughout IXIassachusetts, until the actions and decisions of Boston were echoed by the other towns, and so at last conhrmed by the Assembly and re- echoed from north to south. His power was great, almost inconceivably great, but it all rested upon his fundamental relations as man to man. After Concord and Lexington, after the appointment of Wfashington as commander- in-chief over the Continental armies, a de- cree went forth which shall never be re- calledfl' It was the Declaration of Indepen- dence, passed, contemporaries bear witness, principally by Samuel Adams, efforts. At last he had realized his vision, the dream of his life had come true. Samuel Adams' distinctive work ended with the Declaration of - Independence. During the years of the Wfar of the Revo- lution, during the actual fighting, he re- mained in Congress and was most active in that bodv, zealously supporting Wfashing- ton, always full of hope and strength even in the gloomiest days, serving on a thousand important committees and tending to a thou- sand matters at once. llut his distinctive work ended with the Declaration of Inde- pendenceg the struggle was then transferred to the field and was entrusted to other hands than his. Fifteen years are not a long time, but they have often, especially among peoples that governed themselves, been productive of great changes, great influences that have changed the course of history. But it is almost safe to say that nowhere in the worldls history have there been fifteen years so pregnant with great results as those that transformed loyal English subjects-firmly protestant indeed against injustices, but loyal nevertheless,-into a nation of free and independent Americans. It seems almost too much to credit this to one man. There were potent causes working and an All- seeing Purpose, nor must we forget to give Parliament and the Ministry their full share, but as far as it could be the work of one man, we must credit this transformation to Sam- uel Adams. In this are bound up all his services, as parts in a whole. To it he de- voted his all, and won-Eternity. , l ' EDXNARD NN. MOSES, Ill. A Thought Amidst immeizsc and SZTFIII SUIl'fIllIlt'.S' A 111411115171 0140111 Of HH mu- ms . V , f T V -Ir' f U: Beizmtlz. the szltfm' splendor of the stars, His IJ f d 005 0 sfrezzgflz and frown'-ti morkcrv. 'I IL fi I ' Tv. ' , - . qmimii pd bm ffm -hm CHS Subtle' SPCHV My foolzslz jvrzdc 1'UZ21zlerd, I ZLlH'llC'lI7 atvav, . 7lC.GctC 31 fcilzczes of that bozzfzdlcss spare, But .5'1LlI'dC1Zf,y gn U11-4-0,15-UI1'11g flzonglzz' I I stood-cz mail-twill head b0'ZC'6'Cl, loft' before O'e1'tt.f1Z6Im0d me: jljqmis cfU,.fh M050 Sims The miglzzfiness of G0d's rrcafiolz. God plamzca' and made for mc. SIIIELTON Smiirii, 'l2. ranks c hither l bellious the pri some c might conspi Empei VVI1 howex pelled The wide. the rt dows into ' moutl acclai maje: was peria passe the r deaf' our our l Na the I I man My whit we fam roof