Christianity, Massachusetts, the Tenth Amendment, and Sam Adams…

I just finished the book, “Samuel Adams – A Life-“ by Ira Stoll, and if you are a Christian it is a must read. If you are a lover of liberty you must read. If you are a lover of the Tenth Amendment you must read. And if you love to learn about the founding of this nation it is a must read!

I have to admit I had a very limited knowledge of Sam Adams beyond the taste of the beer bearing his name. After reading this I have to conclude that the American Revolution may not have happened or turned out the way it did without the agitation, devotion to God, and passion of Sam Adams. His passion for freedom and absolute faith that America was blessed with a divine providence, as long as we practiced a faith in our creator, was the driving determination behind this remarkable man’s life.

I lived in Massachusetts for about 15 years and I can say with confidence the state resembles nothing of the political and religious devotion of Sam Adam’s time. With his guidance Massachusetts was a bastion of moral behavior and religious devotion. If you have any doubt that we are a nation built on Christian principles, this book will clarify it for you. Ira Stoll uses the documents of the time to lay out the life of Sam Adams that was consumed with religious reflection in the pursuit of liberty and a representative republican government.

On page 235 Ira Stoll lays out the discussions that revolved around the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. The Massachusetts delegates of which Sam Adams was a key player, who was reserving judgment because he was suspicious of a central authority, and was happy with the Articles of Confederation, included some amendments that would turn out to be the foundation of the First, Second, and Fourth amendment’s in the Bill of Rights. Included along with these amendments was the Tenth which John Hancock suggested to gain favor and address Adam’s reservation about a central government. Hancock proposed an amendment to include “that all powers not expressly delegated to Congress, are reserved to the several states” which ended up in the constitution with the addition of “or to the people respectively’. Adams agrees to support the constitution based on Hancock’s “conciliatory proposition.” Without Adam’s blessing, it seems to be the agreement of the founders at the time; Massachusetts may not have supported the constitution. And if not for Hancock’s suggestion, which turns out to be the Tenth Amendment, our historic prosperity might have been completely different.

Sam Adams was what we would call today an “agitator” and was a newspaper writer that had a flare for stirring the masses according to documents of the time. But he never wavered on his commitment to God, country, and local representation.

I now know, Sam Adams is more than a beer and a cousin to the well known John Adams, President of the United States. Sam Adams was one of those underappreciated patriots that have not been given his due in the main stream education system, in my opinion because he was a religious man. He was responsible for many religious proclamations as a government official that today would be a constant target of the ACLU. If the ACLU was around at the times of Adams we would still be a colony.

I encourage you to read up on Sam Adams and in particular “Samuel Adams –A Life-“by Ira Stoll. You will come out of that book with a new perspective, appreciation, and passion for liberty, the revolution, our founders, the constitution, and God.