heir representatives in the Provincial Legislature to resist
the usurpations of the British Government. John Adams was chairman of the
committee that prepared these instructions, and his associates were
Richard Dana and Joseph Warren, the same distinguished patriot who gave up
his life as one of the earliest sacrifices to freedom, in the battle of
Bunker Hill.

Those instructions were expressed in the bold and decided tone of John
Adams, and they increased the public excitement in the province, by the
earnestness with which they insisted on the removal of the British troops
from Boston.

The popular irritation increased, until on the 5th of March, 1770, a
collision occurred between the troops and some of the inhabitants of
Boston, in which five citizens were killed, and many wounded. This was
called the Bloody Massacre. The exasperated inhabitants were with
difficulty restrained from retaliating this severity by an extermination
of all the British troops. A public meeting was held, and a committee, of
which SAMUEL ADAMS was chairman, was appointed to address the Governor
(Gage), and demand that the troops should be withdrawn. John Adams
described the excitement, on a later occasion, in these words:

"Not only the immense assemblies of the people from day to day, but
military arrangements from night to night, were necessary to keep the
people and the soldiers from getting together by the ears. The life of a
red-coat would not have been safe in any street or corner of the town. Nor
would the lives of the inhabitants have been much more secure. The whole
militia of the city was in requisition, and military watches and guards
were everywhere placed. We were all upon a level. No man was exempted: our
military officers were our only superiors. I had the honor to be summoned
in my turn, and attended at the State House with my musket and bayonet, my
broadsword and cartridge-box, under the command of the famous Paddock."

The Governor withdrew the troops and sent them to the castle: the
commanding officer and some of the soldiers were arrested, and brought to
trial for murder.

John Adams, the advocate and leader of the exasperated people, was
solicited by the Government to act as counsel for the accused. The people,
in the heat of passion, would naturally identify the lawyer with his
clients, and both with the odious cause in which they served. John Adams
did not hesitate. His principle was fidelity to duty in all the relat