US Congressman. He was elected as a Federalist to the Eleventh Congress, representing Massachusett's 10th district, and served from October 1810 to March 1811. A nephew of statesman Samuel Adams, he was born in Boston and graduated from Harvard in 1774. Two years later he settled in Worcester and was its County Clerk from 1776 to 1810. As a delegate to the Massachusetts State Constitutional Convention in 1788, Adams defended freedom of speech with a statement that is still quoted today: "The burning of an author's books, imprisonment for opinion's sake, has always been the tribute that an ignorant age pays to the genius of its time". His five months in the US Congress were to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Jabez Upham, and he declined to run for a full term. He ended his political career as a Massachusetts State Councilor (1815 to 1818), then retired to Worcester.

US Congressman. He was elected as a Federalist to the Eleventh Congress, representing Massachusett's 10th district, and served from October 1810 to March 1811. A nephew of statesman Samuel Adams, he was born in Boston and graduated from Harvard in 1774. Two years later he settled in Worcester and was its County Clerk from 1776 to 1810. As a delegate to the Massachusetts State Constitutional Convention in 1788, Adams defended freedom of speech with a statement that is still quoted today: "The burning of an author's books, imprisonment for opinion's sake, has always been the tribute that an ignorant age pays to the genius of its time". His five months in the US Congress were to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Jabez Upham, and he declined to run for a full term. He ended his political career as a Massachusetts State Councilor (1815 to 1818), then retired to Worcester.

Bio by: Bobb Edwards