During October 1777, word of the
American victory at Saratoga reached the 2nd Continental Congress, which by then had moved from Philadelphia to York (PA). By the Fall of 1777, if not sooner, Adams' focus was on the future; however, the skills that worked in his favor as a revolutionary didn’t translate well to a legislative body, with even Adams’ closest friends and confidants finding him to be rigid and uncompromising.
John Hancock took leave of the 2nd Continental Congress, and traveled accompanied by his entourage, full of military flash and fashion. When Adams left about a week later taking the same route, he discovered that Hancock and his entourage didn’t pay any of their bills for their lodging, food, or drink. When Hancock entered Boston, he was hailed as a hero, but when Samuel Adams and those with him returned, they were ignored. Those two journeys set the tone for the next decade, when resentments between Adams and Hancock reached critical mass. It reached the point where Adams believed that Hancock’s thirst for accolades and public glory was dangerous.
Once in Boston, Hancock wasted no time maligning Adams, vowing that he would never again speak to him. Hancock falsely accused Adams of being part of the “Conway Cabal", which was the shadowy effort to remove General Washington as overall commander of the Continental Armies. Adams assumed that the truth would protect him, which was a curious strategy, in that Adams had spent over twenty years churning out disinformation. Ironically, both men owed each other a huge debt that was beyond-uncomfortable for both to publicly, and even privately, to acknowledge. Soon enough, Hancock was idolized and lionized as the leading revolutionary figure in Boston.
During the Summer of 1780, Adams was in Boston, where he was instrumental in crafting and ratifying the MA constitution, satisfied that majority rule was combined with checks-and-balances. Very soon after ratification, news arrived of the death of former MA Governor Thomas Hutchinson of a stroke. Hutchinson’s last years in Britain after his fall from grace in MA were painful, puzzling, and frustrating. Hutchinson went to his grave believing that Samuel Adams was the main person responsible for the Revolutionary War; no doubt Adams would have accused Hutchinson of the same thing.
During August 1780, Adams was back in Philadelphia, but he was focused on the upcoming election of the MA governor, which would be the first elected governor under the new MA constitution, and the elected successor to Hutchinson. Hancock continued to remain in the spotlight in Boston, doing all sorts of public and charitable things, all for the accolades and the attention. It reached the point where Bostonians would blindly support Hancock, since his name by then was the most famous in all of MA. A visitor to Boston dubbed Hancock the “King of the Rabble”, and he was easily elected MA governor. Adams knew that Hancock wasn’t serving as MA Governor for the public good, but only for his thirst for power and attention. Hancock would serve nine terms as MA Governor, with Adams being pushed further into irrelevance and obscurity with each inauguration.
Adams dearly missed the old times with his friends and allies, the discussions, and his behind-the-scenes shenanigans that stirred things up in the manner in which he desired. Nothing invigorated Adams like dissent, and those opportunities for him were very scarce after the Revolutionary War. Adams was very concerned that the hard-won liberties from the war would be sacrificed to another group of elites, this time American Elites. Adams automatically and instinctively fought against cults of personality, believing that it was wise to be on guard, since even the best of men could turn into the worst if not checked.
Adams wrote piece after piece lauding the virtues of free public education, promoting it for girls as well, which he viewed as essential for the future of the nation. By 1786, Samuel Adams was 63 years old, and he was doing his best to warn Boston and MA of the return to power of Loyalists, since they had provided aid and comfort to the British during the war. Adams thought that once back in power, these Loyalists would undermine the new nation.
At the end of 1787, the proposed Constitution reached MA for ratification, and Adams was among the over 300 selected for the state’s ratification convention. There were those that thought Adams wouldn’t bother to participate, in that he preferred a confederation over the powerful national government proposed in the Constitution. Adams, like many others in the US, wanted a Bill of Rights, and he prepared an addendum in that regard that he hoped might slow down the convention to a procedural crawl. Supposedly, Revere was the person that convinced Adams to refrain from introducing his addendum, since Boston tradesmen were in support of the proposed Constitution.
During the Spring of 1789, Hancock was reelected MA Governor, and Adams was elected Lt. Governor, in large part due to his reconciliation with Hancock. Adams had become a sort of “living monument” to the Revolution, with foreign dignitaries that visited Boston wanting first to meet him. John Adams, who was working very hard to secure his place among the leading figures of the Revolution, advised Samuel Adams to do the same, but he did no such thing. As the years passed, Samuel Adams saw history transformed into myth, living long enough to see how he was depicted in history books. Adams was deeply wounded to discover that in one historical account he was named as a participant in the Conway Cabal against Washington.
Hancock died in 1793 at the age of 56, with Samuel Adams presiding over the huge and lavish funeral. Adams became the MA Governor in 1793, but by then his physical strength had largely deserted him. Also by then, the
Federalists had become a de facto political party in MA, and they plotted on how to rid themselves of Adams as MA Governor. The MA Federalists actually dismissed Adams as an out-of-touch patriot, and worse yet, spread disinformation like wildfire that Adams had opposed Washington, the Constitution, and was a lackey of France. Despite the efforts of the MA Federalists, Adams was reelected MA Governor three times (one year terms).
By 1796, Vice-President (and soon to be the 2nd President) John Adams basically threw up his hands in disappointment with his cousin, exhausted by Samuel Adams’ deep distrust of the Constitution and Federalism. During early-1797, Samuel Adams retired from public service, and very few were sorry to see him leave the stage. After a short illness, Samuel Adams died on
2 October 1803 at the age of 81, with his family at his side. While thousands attended his funeral, Boston dignitaries in effect played “Hot Potato” with who would say nice things, if at all, about Adams. The new MA Governor made himself scarce, and those that did say things were intentionally vague, their comments ringing hollow.
Adams was the “wrong kind of hero” for the Early National Period, but in 1865, the centennial of the Stamp Act, Adams made a historical comeback or sorts, with a biography published about him that same year, and a statue of him was displayed during the centennial of the Revolutionary War. Overall, Boston seemed to want to purge their history of any of Samuel Adams’ agitations and provocations, and July 4th celebrations shifted the focus away from Adams’ significance before the Declaration of Independence. Many generations later, when rebellion was reinserted into the history of the Revolution, it was done so without featuring Sameul Adams. By 1823, if Samuel Adams was remembered at all in a positive fashion, it was for opening the door for George Washington.