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Boston Gazette
. He never allowed his
opportunities to pass unheeded; in fact, he made his opportunities. Among
other papers which appeared at this time from his pen, was a series of four
articles which were republished in a London newspaper, and subsequently
published in a collection of documents relating to the taxation controversy,
printed in a large volume. At first the papers had no title in the printed
volume, being known as "Essays on the Canon and Feudal Law." Well they
might have been called so, but, it seems to us, that it would have been much
more consistent to have entitled them "Essays on the Government and
Rights of New England." His style was formed from the first, as is evident
from the articles.
His law business continued to increase and in 1768 he removed to Boston
where he would have a larger field in which to develop his intellect. He
served on various committees during the next two years, and in 1770 was
chosen a Representative to the general Court, notwithstanding he had just
before accepted a retainer to defend Captain Preston and his soldiers for
their share in what had passed into history as the Boston massacre. His
ability as a practitioner at the bar can be judged from the successful result
of their case, as managed by him, against great public prejudice. Adams'

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duties as a Representative interfered much with his business as a lawyer, on
which he depended for support, and which had grown to be larger than that
of any other practitioner at the provincial bar.
He entered upon the duties of his new office with his customary energy,
becoming the chief legal advisor of the Patriot party, and now for the first
time an active and conspicuous leader of the same. Mr. Adams' keen
foresight enabled him to wisely judge that it would be a good policy not to
push too vigorously to the front as a politician until his private wealth
would justify his necessarily great loss of time. Hence, he moved back to
Braintree, resigning his seat in the Legislature, but still retaining his law
office in Boston. A comparative lull in politics made his presence in that
body less needed, but still he was consulted as to all the more difficult
points in the controversy with Governor Hutchinson, and freely gave his
aid. Indeed, it was not long before he moved back to Boston, but thoroughly
resolved to avoid politics, and to devote his undivided attention to his
professional work. Soon after his return to Boston he wrote a series of
letters on the then mooted question of the independence of the judiciary,
and the payment by the Crown of the salaries of the Judges. Soon after this
he was elected by the general Court to the Provincial Council, but was
rejected by Governor Hutchinson.
The destruction of tea, and the Boston port bill that followed, soon
brought matters to a crisis. These events produced the congress of 1774. Mr.
Adams was one of the five delegates sent from Massachusetts, and his visit
to Philadelphia at this time was the first occasion of his going beyond the
limits of New England. In the discussions in the committee on the
declaration of colonial rights, he took an active part in resting those rights
on the law of nature as well as the law of England; and when the substance
of those resolutions had been agreed upon he was chosen to put the matter
in shape. In his diary the most trustworthy and graphic descriptions are to
be found of the members and doings of that famous but little known body.
The session concluded, Mr. Adams left the city of brotherly love with little
expectation, at that time, of ever again seeing it.
Immediately after his return home he was chosen by his native town a
member of the provincial congress then in session. That congress had

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already appointed a committee of safety vested with general executive
powers; had seized the provincial revenues; had appointed general officers,
collected military stores, and had taken steps toward organizing a volunteer
army of minute-men. The governor—Gage—had issued a proclamation
denouncing these proceedings, but no attention was ever paid to it. Gage
had no support except in the five or six regiments that guarded Boston, a
few trembling officials and a small following from the people.
Shortly after the adjournment of this congress Adams occupied himself in
answering through the press a champion of the mother-country's claim. This