Strictly speaking, Samuel Adams was not a journalist. That is, his principal occupation was not that of a reporter, editor, or publisher of newspapers. He was a prominent statesman in the era of the American Revolution who wrote prolifically and effectively, using the press to express his political beliefs and agitate for the cause of the colonies' separation from the British crown. Francis Bernard, British governor of Massachusetts in 1760, once said of him: "Every dip of his pen stung like a horned snake."

Samuel Adams was born on 16 September 1722 in Boston. His father, Samuel, a deacon in the Congregational church, owned a small malt house and a few slaves. His mother was Mary Fifield Adams.

Young Sam attended the Boston Latin School and Harvard College, from which he received his bachelor's degree in 1740. He received a master's degree in 1743 at the age of twenty-one. The subject of his...