As one of the chief organizers of protests against British imperial policies, Adams was, in Thomas Jefferson's words, "truly the man of the Revolution." A founder of the Sons of Liberty, the Boston-born Harvard-educated Adams was also a key instigator of protests against the Stamp Act and the Townsend Acts.

Adams's hatred of arbitrary royal authority had deep personal roots. His father had established a land bank in Massachusetts, which lent paper money backed by real estate. In 1741, wealthy merchants led by Thomas Hutchinson, fearful that the bills would be used to pay debts, called on Massachusetts' royal governor to declare the land bank illegal. When he did, Adams's father lost tremendous sums of money and never recovered financially.

He was a member of the First and Second Continental Congresses, signed the Declaration of Independence, and served as governor of Massachusetts (1794-1797).