his residence in Braintree. In 1764 he was married
to Abigail Smith, of Weymouth, a lady of social
position higher than his own and endowed with
most rare and admirable qualities of head and
heart. In this same year the agitation over the
proposed stamp act was begun, and on the burning
questions raised by this ill-considered measure
Adams had already taken sides. When James
Otis in 1761 delivered his memorable argument
against writs of assistance, John Adams was present
in the court-room, and the fiery eloquence of
Otis wrought a wonderful effect upon him. As
his son afterward said, “it was like the oath of
Hamilcar administered to Hannibal.” In his old
age John Adams wrote, with reference to this scene,
“Every man of an immense crowded audience
appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take
arms against writs of assistance. Then and there
was the first scene
of the first act of
opposition to the
arbitrary claims
of Great Britain.
Then and there
the child
Independence was
born.” When the
stamp act was
passed, in 1765,
Adams took a
prominent part in
a town-meeting at
Braintree, where
he presented
resolutions which were
adopted word for
word by more
than forty towns
in Massachusetts.
The people
refused to make use
of stamps, and
the business of the inferior courts was carried
on without them, judges and lawyers agreeing to
connive at the absence of the stamps. In the
supreme court, however, where Thomas Hutchinson
was chief justice, the judges refused to transact
any business without stamps. This threatened
serious interruption to business, and the town of
Boston addressed a memorial to the governor and
council, praying that the supreme court might
overlook the absence of stamps. John Adams was
unexpectedly chosen, along with Jeremiah Gridley
and James Otis, as counsel for the town, to argue
the case in favor of the memorial. Adams delivered
the opening argument, and took the decisive
ground that the stamp act was ipso facto null and
void, since it was a measure of taxation which the
people of the colony had taken no share in passing.
No such measure, he declared, could be held as
binding in America, and parliament had no right
to tax the colonies. The governor and council
refused to act in the matter, but presently the repeal
of the stamp act put an end to the disturbance for
a while. About this time Mr. Adams began writing
articles for the Boston “Gazette.” Four of
these articles, dealing with the constitutional rights
of the people of New England, were afterward
republished under the somewhat curious title of “An
Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law.” After ten
years of practice, Mr. Adams's business had
become quite extensive, and in 1768 he moved into
Boston. The attorney-general of Massachusetts,
Jonathan Sewall, now offered him the lucrative
office of advocate-general in the court of admiralty.
This was intended to operate as an indirect bribe
by putting Mr. Adams into a position in which he
could not feel free to oppose the policy of the
crown; such insidious methods were systematically
pursued by Gov. Bernard, and after him by Hutchinson.
But Mr. Adams was too wary to swallow the
bait, and he stubbornly refused the pressing offer.
In 1770 came the first in the series of great acts that made Mr. Adams's career illustrious. In the midst of the terrible excitement aroused by the “Boston Massacre” he served as counsel for Capt. Preston and his seven soldiers when they were tried for murder. His friend and kinsman, Josiah Quincy, assisted him in this invidious task. The trial was judiciously postponed for seven months until the popular fury had abated. Preston and five soldiers were acquitted; the other two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter, and were barbarously branded on the hand with a hot iron. The verdict seems to have been strictly just according to the evidence presented. For his services to his eight clients Mr. Adams received a fee of nineteen guineas, but never got so much as a word of thanks from the churlish Preston. An ordinary American politician would have shrunk from the task of defending these men, for fear of losing favor with the people. The course pursued by Mr. Adams showed great moral courage; and the people of Boston proved themselves able to appreciate true manliness by electing him as representative to the legislature. This was in June, 1770, after he had undertaken the case of the soldiers, but before the trial. Mr. Adams now speedily became the principal legal adviser of the patriot party, and among its foremost leaders was only less conspicuous than Samuel Adams, Hancock, and Warren. In all matters of legal controversy between these leaders and Gov. Hutchinson his advice proved invaluable. During the next two years there was something of a lull in the political excitement; Mr. Adams resigned his place in the legislature and moved his residence to Braintree, still keeping his office in Boston. In the summer of 1772 the British government ventured upon an act that went further than anything which had yet occurred toward driving the colonies into rebellion. It was ordered that all the Massachusetts judges holding their places during the king's pleasure should henceforth have their salaries paid by the crown and not by the colony. This act, which aimed directly at the independence of the judiciary, aroused intense indignation, not only in Massachusetts, but in the other colonies, which felt their liberties threatened by such a measure. It called forth from Mr. Adams a series of powerful articles, which have been republished in the 3d volume of his collected works. About this time he was chosen a member of the council, but the choice was negatived by Gov. Hutchinson. The five acts of parliament in April, 1774, including the regulating act and the Boston port bill, led to the calling of the first continental congress, to which Mr. Adams was chosen as one of the five delegates from Massachusetts. The resolutions passed by this congress on the subject of colonial rights were drafted by him, and his diary and letters contain a vivid account of some of the proceedings. On his return to Braintree he was chosen a member of the revolutionary provincial congress of Massachusetts, then assembled at Concord. This revolutionary body had already seized the revenues of the colony, appointed a committee of safety, and begun to organize an army and collect arms and ammunition. During the following winter the views of the loyalist party were set forth with great ability and elo-
