the Committee of Correspondence.
These two actions, if taken, would have totally changed the situation.
The meetings were crowded, every courtesy was shown the Tories, and in
the second meeting, since Adams was absent, the Whigs had to be content
with the leadership of Warren. But there was no hesitation in either
case. The first meeting rejected the proposal to pay for the tea. In the
second the discretion of Warren proved equal to his zeal, his management
of the meeting was perfect, and the vote upheld the Committee of
Correspondence by a large majority.

The next action explains the absence of Adams from Boston at such an
important time. According to the new laws, the Assembly met at Salem,
under the eye of the governor and in the presence of his troops. Gage
knew very well that a call had been sent throughout the colonies for an
election of delegates to a general Congress which should deliberate on
the present situation. He had no intention that delegates should be
elected from Massachusetts. He had partisans in the Assembly, and an
informant on the committee to introduce legislation. Every move was
reported to him. Never did Sam Adams dissemble more cleverly. So dull
and spiritless did public matters seem, that Gage's informant thought it
safe to go home on private business. Then Adams acted. Quietly laying
his plans, on the morning of the seventeenth of June, 1774, he locked
the door of the chamber and proposed that the Assembly elect delegates
to the Continental Congress. A Tory pleaded sickness and hurried to Gage
with the news; but the door was again locked, and the business
proceeded. Though the governor sent his secretary with a message
dissolving the Assembly, the secretary knocked in vain. The doors were
not opened until delegates had been elected to the Congress, a tax laid
to pay their expenses, and resolutions passed exhorting the province to
stand firm.

One of the delegates-elect was John Adams. For years he had declined to
hold public office, and had even avoided town meetings. There was now a
natural Tory hope that he might refuse this office; there was even a
last chance to wean him from the Whig cause, for he was presently to
ride on circuit, and there would meet his friend Sewall. When the two
met, the Tory reasoned earnestly, pointing out the irresistible power of
Great Britain. But Adams was ready with his answer. "Sink or swim, live
or die, survive or perish with my country is my unalterable