Altogether, Adams spent about 25 years in public life. He became interested in politics quite early in his career as a lawyer. In 1765 a crisis arose when the British Government passed the Stamp Act. This was an unpopular tax on public documents, newspapers, licenses, insurance policies, and even playing cards. Adams wrote powerful articles against the tax in the Boston Gazette. These articles helped to establish his reputation as a political thinker, as an opponent of Britain’s colonial policies in America, and as a champion of individual liberties.

The Continental Congress.Adams served as a delegate from Massachusetts to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774 and to the Second Continental Congress, which met in 1775. With brilliance and persistence, he argued for American independence from Britain. When the fighting broke out in 1775 that marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Adams proposed George Washington as the commander of American military forces.

Adams was a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of independence. Although the Declaration was written chiefly by Thomas Jefferson. Adams bore the burden of defending it on the floor of the Continental Congress. It was adopted on July 4, 1776.

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