By 1760, Thomas Hutchinson's efforts to preserve the colony's upper-class
rule began to worry Adams deeply. Hutchinson was now president
of the Massachusetts Council, lieutenant governor, Captain of Castle
William and probate judge of Suffolk County–not only did it look
like Hutchinson's party would prevent the government from becoming
egalitarian, but it looked like Hutchinson himself might prevent
anyone else from holding office altogether. His efforts violated
the colony's principle that the different branches of government
should be separated from one another, and Adams's followers complained
that the colony "groaned under his Tyranny."
Adams was so caught up in his political activities that
he had allowed his father's estate to dwindle to nothing, and by
1760, he was nearly broke, surviving on his meager income as tax
collector. His wife's death in 1757 had left him to raise his two
kids alone, but nothing seemed to deter him from his rabble-rousing.
His financial situation would change little for the rest of his
life, and unlike the previous leader of the Country Party, who
had a sizable fortune outside politics, Adams was so poor that
during the revolution his friends had to pay his way to the Continental
Congress in Philadelphia.
The appointment of Thomas Pownall as governor in 1757
had gradually calmed Adams's heated rhetoric, as the new governor tried
to appease the various factions in the colony. In fact, Pownall proved
to be the most popular governor in almost sixty years. The peace
would not last, and in 1760 Pownall was replaced by Francis Bernard.
Decades later, the colonists remembered Pownall's reign as the
"happiest times of their life," and some promised to forego the
Revolution if only the crown would restore the liberties the colonists
had had under Pownall. For his part, Bernard thought he had found
a perfect posting that would allow him to rest and live quietly–he
saw Massachusetts as one of the best behaved of the English colonies:
it obeyed the trading laws and kept a large standing army to help
fight the French. Bernard could not have been more wrong. Massachusetts
was deeply chaotic politically, and the opposition groups, like
Adams's, rarely passed up a chance to skewer the governor.
The growing realization that the land to the north and
west of the American colonies might allow the colonies to grow
larger than the mother country had heightened the colonists' perception
of themselves and helped start them down the road to revolution.
The merchants were beginning to realize that they made better profits
by trading with France and Spain–Britain's sworn enemies–than with the
mother country herself. The Parliament countered by imposing writs
that allowed customs agents to search almost at will, and it singled
out Boston as a main smuggling center. By allowing neighboring areas
like Rhode Island and New York to escape almost without enforcement
while cracking down on Boston's efforts, the British government
provoked the colony even further.
As the wars in Canada and the frontier ended, Massachusetts found
itself increasingly involved in internal battles. The colonists found
a welcome supporter in James Otis, Jr. He recognized the enforcement
efforts as unjust and–irked by the appointment of Hutchinson to
the Supreme Judicial Court, an appointment Otis had always wanted–quit
his post as the King's advocate general to work instead for the
merchants. His arguments in front of the Judicial Court in favor
of natural law and against the writs would prove to be one of the
cornerstones of the growing rebellion movement. Hutchinson, however,
outmaneuvered Otis, and the writs became more commonplace as 1761
began. Otis assumed the head of the Country Party and Adams became
his deputy. Otis and Adams made a serious play for the loyalty
of Governor Bernard and told him that their efforts had driven
three of the last four governors from office. Their argument was
simple enough: Join us or face ruin. But Bernard had not been in
the colony long enough to realize their true power, and he aligned
himself with Hutchinson, who as the holder of most major offices,
seemed to be the most powerful man in the colony. Bernard quickly
realized the peril of his decision.
The Country Party revived, and Otis and Adams redoubled
their efforts in attacking the government. The Merchants Club and
the Boston Masonic Society began to pepper the governor with insults, and
a host of small newspapers like the Boston Gazette sprang
up with venomous editorials. The most important patriots' club,
however, was the Boston Caucus Club, an egalitarian group of men
who met in private to plot against the government and hand pick
the town's elected officials–the slate of candidates the Club agreed upon
was rarely defeated at the polls. Adams set up a headquarters in
the Green Dragon Tavern on Union Street, where the fledgling group
came to be the Sons of Liberty, and the established Caucus Club
met to complain of Britain's growing tyranny.
One group that Adams shunned, though, was the Masons.
While the group would play a key role in mobilizing Bostonians
to the coming war, the Masons' secret society bothered Adams. There
is no hard evidence that Adams ever was asked to join, but Adams's prominent
role in the community would have made him a popular recruit for
the society.
The next few years, however, proved tough for the Country Party.
Otis lost control of the Massachusetts House, and the controversy
over the writs lost steam as it became clear Britain would not back
down.
