Deerfield Academy (often called Deerfield or DA ) is an independent college-preparatory boarding and day school in Deerfield, Massachusetts . Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schools in the United States. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association and the Ten Schools Admission Organization .
153-517: Deerfield Academy was founded in 1797 when Massachusetts governor Samuel Adams granted a charter to found a school "for the promotion of Piety, Religion & Morality, & for the Education of Youth in the liberal Arts & Sciences, & all other useful Learning." Having opened its doors to students in 1799, it is one of the oldest secondary schools in the United States. The academy
306-593: A Yankee is a Vermonter. And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast. Major League Baseball's New York Yankees acquired the name from journalists after the team moved from Baltimore in 1903, though they were officially known as the Highlanders until 1913. The regional Yankees–Red Sox rivalry can make the utterance of the term "Yankee" unwelcome to some fans in New England, especially to
459-564: A bloody battle, and the remaining Yankoo Indians transferred their name to the victors—who were "agreeable to the Indian custom". Sonneck notes that multiple American writers since 1775 had repeated this story as if it were fact, despite what he perceived to be holes in it. It had never been the tradition of any Indian tribe to transfer their name to other peoples, according to Sonneck, nor had any settlers ever adopted an Indian name to describe themselves. Sonneck concludes by pointing out that there
612-415: A business, which led to many poor decisions that caused the malthouse to close. In January 1748, Adams and some friends were inflamed by British impressment and launched The Independent Advertiser , a weekly newspaper that printed many political essays written by Adams. His essays drew heavily upon English political theorist John Locke 's Second Treatise of Government , and they emphasized many of
765-410: A crewman from North Carolina nicknamed him with that epithet. The term Yankee can have many different meanings within the United States that are contextually and geographically dependent. Traditionally, Yankee was most often used to refer to a New Englander descended from the settlers of the region, thus often suggesting Puritanism and thrifty values. By the mid-20th century, some speakers applied
918-402: A friend who never repaid, and frittered away the other half. Adams always remained, in the words of historian Pauline Maier , "a man utterly uninterested in either making or possessing money". After Adams had lost his money, his father made him a partner in the family's malthouse , which was next to the family home on Purchase Street. Several generations of Adamses were maltsters, who produced
1071-494: A further democratizing measure, the scholarship students' identities were kept secret. However, the academy's rising reputation also attracted the attention of major donors from around the country, including Nelson Rockefeller and John Gideon Searle , who sent their children to Deerfield. By 1940, Deerfield was charging higher tuition than even St. Paul's and Groton, and as many as 75% of Deerfield students had attended private middle schools. (The latter fact displeased Boyden, and by
1224-566: A good many Polish boys and girls" through Deerfield.) As Deerfield grew more prominent, it moved away from its public-school roots. Academic James McLachlan said that Boyden built "an essentially new and different institution [] on a moribund foundation." In Boyden's early years, Deerfield "w[as] comparatively inexpensive, drew [its] students from a broader social spectrum, and imposed a less Victorian regimen" than Episcopalian church schools like St. Paul's , Groton , and Kent . By 1928, 30 out of Deerfield's 185 students were on scholarship, and as
1377-654: A legal Representation where they are laid, are we not reduced from the Character of free Subjects to the miserable State of tributary Slaves? "When the Boston Town Meeting approved the Adams instructions on May 24, 1764," writes historian John K. Alexander, "it became the first political body in America to go on record stating Parliament could not constitutionally tax the colonists. The directives also contained
1530-669: A minimum to allow students to take more courses in the subjects that interest them most. Most courses last the entire year, but some can last for one to two terms. The required course load is five graded courses per term, but students may petition the Academic Dean to take a sixth graded course if desired. There are no Saturday classes, and classes are held from Monday to Friday, typically from 8:30 am to 2:55 pm. On Wednesdays, classes end at 12:45 pm to accommodate athletic events, as well as to provide more time for clubs and community service. Deerfield does not rank students. Academic work
1683-567: A school squash court, and barred him from campus events. A subsequent criminal investigation by the District Attorney's office revealed that at least four teachers—three deceased and one still alive—had engaged in sexual conduct considered "criminal in nature" with students extending back into the 1950s. Their deaths, and the statute of limitations, precluded criminal charges. Deerfield spokesman David Thiel said "I think you saw from us an amount of transparency when this came to light that
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#17327872412931836-571: A significant role in the protests, since the Tea Act made legally imported tea cheaper, which threatened to put smugglers of Dutch tea out of business. Legitimate tea importers who had not been named as consignees by the East India Company were also threatened with financial ruin by the Tea Act and other merchants worried about the precedent of a government-created monopoly. Adams and the correspondence committees promoted opposition to
1989-483: A strong moral obligation to define and enforce standards of community and personal behavior…. This pietistic worldview was substantially shared by British, Scandinavian, Swiss, English-Canadian and Dutch Reformed immigrants, as well as by German Protestants and many of the Forty-Eighters . Yankees dominated New England, much of upstate New York, and much of the upper Midwest, and were the strongest supporters of
2142-473: A strong recommendation from Boyden could get a student into Princeton University even if Princeton had already decided to reject him.) He restored Deerfield's boarding department in 1916, hoping to attract wealthy families whose tuition payments could rescue the school's financial situation. To attract boarders to what was essentially a brand-new school, Boyden hired advertising executive Bruce Barton to pitch Deerfield to prospective parents as "the cradle ... of
2295-637: A widely reprinted set of resolves against the Stamp Act that resembled Adams's arguments against the Sugar Act. Adams argued that the Stamp Act was unconstitutional; he also believed that it would hurt the economy of the British Empire. He supported calls for a boycott of British goods to put pressure on Parliament to repeal the tax. In Boston, a group called the Loyal Nine , a precursor to
2448-597: Is "moving fast in [the] direction" of need-blind admissions .) Deerfield's financial endowment stands at $ 920 million as of September 2024. In its Internal Revenue Service filings for the 2021–22 school year, Deerfield reported total assets of $ 1.17 billion, net assets of $ 1.07 billion, investment holdings of $ 829.9 million, and cash holdings of $ 33.5 million. Deerfield also reported $ 61.6 million in program service expenses and $ 13.4 million in grants (primarily student financial aid ). Deerfield's endowment has rapidly increased in recent years. From December 2018 to June 2022,
2601-678: Is a myth, and that there is no evidence that Adams had anything to do with the Stamp Act riots. After the fact, Adams did approve of the August 14 action because he saw no other legal options to resist what he viewed as an unconstitutional act by Parliament, but he condemned attacks on officials' homes as "mobbish". According to the modern scholarly interpretation of Adams, he supported legal methods of resisting parliamentary taxation, such as petitions, boycotts, and nonviolent demonstrations, but he opposed mob violence which he saw as illegal, dangerous, and counter-productive. In September 1765, Adams
2754-629: Is disappearing even there. Mark Twain's 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court popularized the word as a nickname for residents of Connecticut, and Connecticut Air National Guard unit 103d Airlift Wing is nicknamed "The Flying Yankees." The shortened form Yank is used as a derogatory, pejorative, playful, or colloquial term for Americans in Britain, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Ireland, and New Zealand. The full Yankee may be considered mildly derogatory, depending on
2907-435: Is graded on a scale where the minimum passing grade is 60 and the median grades are between 85 and 90. A trimester average of 90.0 or above garners Honors distinction, whereas a trimester average of 93.0 or above garners High Honors distinction. The Class of 2023's average combined SAT score was 1382 and its average combined ACT score was 31. Although Deerfield no longer offers Advanced Placement courses except in math and
3060-450: Is no clear evidence in his contemporary writings that such was the case. Nevertheless, the traditional, standard view of Adams is that he desired independence before most of his contemporaries and steadily worked towards this goal for years. There is much speculation among historians, with compelling arguments either way, over whether and when before the war Adams openly advocated independence from Britain. Historian Pauline Maier challenged
3213-581: Is no doubt of the influence these men had in arousing public feeling. In his writings in the Boston Gazette , Adams often wrote under a variety of assumed names, including "Candidus", "Vindex", and others. In less common instances his letters were unsigned. Adams earnestly endeavored to awaken his fellow citizens over the perceived attacks on their Constitutional rights, with emphasis aimed at Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson . Hutchinson stressed that no one matched Adams' efforts in promoting
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#17327872412933366-618: Is presumed to have no where else on the Globe a permanent local habitation, however ubiquitous he may be in his travels and pursuits. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas pointed out as late as 1966, "The very word 'Yankee' still wakens in Southern minds historical memories of defeat and humiliation, of the burning of Atlanta and Sherman's March to the Sea , or of an ancestral farmhouse burned by Quantrill's Raiders ". Ambrose Bierce defines
3519-746: Is sometimes more cultural than geographical, emphasizing the Calvinist Puritan Christian beliefs and traditions of the Congregationalists who brought their culture when they settled outside New England. The speech dialect of Eastern New England English is called "Yankee" or "Yankee dialect". Most linguists look to Dutch language sources, noting the extensive interaction between the Dutch colonists in New Netherland (parts of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware) and
3672-413: Is sometimes used as a pejorative reference to Americans. In Finland, the word jenkki is sometimes used to refer to any American citizen, and Jenkkilä refers to the United States itself. It is not considered offensive or anti-American, but rather a colloquial expression. In Sweden, the word jänkare is a derivative of Yankee that is used to refer to both American citizens and classic American cars from
3825-782: Is what he meant, but his career was effectively over in Massachusetts, and the House sent a petition asking the king to recall him. Adams took a leading role in the events that led up to the famous Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773, although the precise nature of his involvement has been disputed. In May 1773, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act , a tax law to help the struggling East India Company , one of Great Britain's most important commercial institutions. Britons could buy smuggled Dutch tea more cheaply than
3978-541: The Boston Globe , and "an elite private school" by the Associated Press . Deerfield's admission rate was 17% in 2024. In previous years it has been as low as 13%. The academy's 650 students come from 32 states and 42 countries. 17% of students are international, and 44% identify as students of color. In the 2024–25 school year, Deerfield charged boarding students $ 74,440 and day students $ 53,860. 40% of
4131-652: The Boston Caucus , which promoted candidates who supported popular causes. Members of the Caucus helped shape the agenda of the Boston Town Meeting . A New England town meeting is a form of local government with elected officials, and not just a gathering of citizens; according to historian William Fowler , it was "the most democratic institution in the British empire". Deacon Adams rose through
4284-607: The British Empire 's victory in the French and Indian War (1754–1763). The British Parliament found itself deep in debt and looking for new sources of revenue, and they sought to directly tax the colonies of British America for the first time. This tax dispute was part of a larger divergence between British and American interpretations of the British Constitution and the extent of Parliament's authority in
4437-908: The Continental Association in 1774 and the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and he helped draft the Articles of Confederation and the Massachusetts Constitution . Adams returned to Massachusetts after the American Revolution, where he served in the state senate and was eventually elected governor. Adams later became a controversial figure in American history. Accounts written in the 19th century praised him as someone who had been steering his fellow colonists towards independence long before
4590-825: The Dartmouth to leave without paying the duty. Two more tea ships arrived in Boston Harbor, the Eleanor and the Beaver . The fourth ship, the William , was stranded near Cape Cod and never arrived in Boston. December 16 was the last day of the Dartmouth's deadline, and about 7,000 people gathered around the Old South Meeting House. Adams received a report that Governor Hutchinson had again refused to let
4743-425: The Dartmouth to unload and pay the duties within twenty days or customs officials could confiscate the cargo. The mass meeting passed a resolution introduced by Adams urging the captain of the Dartmouth to send the ship back without paying the import duty. Meanwhile, the meeting assigned twenty-five men to watch the ship and prevent the tea from being unloaded. Governor Hutchinson refused to grant permission for
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4896-903: The New York Journal Adams maintained that it became increasingly difficult to view King George III as one who was not passively involved in Parliamentary decisions. In it he asked if anyone of common sense could deny that the King had assumed a “personal and decisive” role against the Americans. The first step in the new program was the Sugar Act of 1764, which Adams saw as an infringement of longstanding colonial rights. Colonists were not represented in Parliament, he argued, and therefore they could not be taxed by that body;
5049-487: The Old South Congregational Church . The family lived on what is today Purchase Street in Boston. Adams was proud of his Puritan heritage, and emphasized Puritan values in his political career, especially virtue . Samuel Adams, Sr. (1689–1748) was a prosperous merchant and church deacon . Deacon Adams became a leading figure in Boston politics through an organization that became known as
5202-578: The Sons of Liberty , organized protests of the Stamp Act. Adams was friendly with the Loyal Nine but was not a member. On August 14, stamp distributor Andrew Oliver was hanged in effigy from Boston's Liberty Tree ; that night, his home was ransacked and his office demolished. On August 26, lieutenant governor Thomas Hutchinson's home was destroyed by an angry crowd. Officials such as Governor Francis Bernard believed that common people acted only under
5355-690: The Southern United States , Yankee is a derisive term which refers to all Northerners, and during the American Civil War it was applied by Confederates to soldiers of the Union army in general. Elsewhere in the United States, it largely refers to people from the Northeastern states , but especially those with New England cultural ties, such as descendants of colonial New England settlers, wherever they live. Its sense
5508-550: The battles of Lexington and Concord . Today, "Yankee Doodle" is the official state song of Connecticut. An early use of the term outside the United States was in the creation of Sam Slick the "Yankee Clockmaker" in a newspaper column in Halifax , Nova Scotia , in 1835. The character was a plain-speaking American who becomes an example for Nova Scotians to follow in his industry and practicality; his uncouth manners and vanity were qualities that his creator detested. The character
5661-440: The malt necessary for brewing beer. Years later, a poet poked fun at Adams by calling him "Sam the maltster". Adams has often been described as a brewer, but the extant evidence suggests that he worked as a maltster and not a brewer. He also made financial decisions for the malthouse and had a position of influence in the business, which he lost due to his lack of understanding of the responsibilities of accounting and running
5814-720: The "mob" referred to were a highly reflective group of men inspired by Adams who made his case with reasoned arguments in pamphlets and newspapers, without the use of emotional rhetoric. Adams was born in Boston in the British colony of Massachusetts on September 16, 1722, an Old Style date that is sometimes converted to the New Style date of September 27. Adams was one of twelve children born to Samuel Adams, Sr. , and Mary (Fifield) Adams in an age of high infant mortality; only three of these children lived past their third birthday. Adams's parents were devout Puritans and members of
5967-653: The 1773 Boston Tea Party and the coming of the American Revolution. Adams was actively involved with colonial newspapers publishing accounts of colonial sentiment over British colonial rule, which were fundamental in uniting the colonies. Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774, at which time Adams attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia which was convened to coordinate a colonial response. He helped guide Congress towards issuing
6120-641: The 1950s that are popular in rural Sweden. In the late 19th century, the Japanese were called "the Yankees of the East" in praise of their industriousness and drive to modernization. In Japan, the term yankī ( ヤンキー ) has been used since the late 1970s to refer to a type of delinquent youth associated with motorcycle gangs and frequently sporting dyed blond hair. Around the American occupation of Korea and
6273-506: The 1960s the academy boasted that 75% of its incoming students had attended a public school.) Deerfield also discontinued coeducation in 1948, after educating girls for over 150 years. Boyden retired in 1968. When he died in 1972, the New York Times wrote that he had taken over "a dying village institution and made it a notable preparatory school," and that he was "the best known American headmaster of his times." David M. Pynchon
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6426-519: The 22-year-old Frank Boyden as its new headmaster. Its financial position was so precarious that Boyden was the only person willing to apply for the job. Boyden revitalized the academy by transforming it into a private, boys-only college-preparatory boarding school that drew its students not from the surrounding area but the entire country. Boyden gradually rebuilt the academy's enrollment, invested in teacher salaries, and developed strong relationships with college administrators. (According to one story,
6579-759: The Boston Tea Party in 1774 with the Coercive Acts . The first of these acts was the Boston Port Act , which closed Boston's commerce until the East India Company had been repaid for the destroyed tea. The Massachusetts Government Act rewrote the Massachusetts Charter, making many officials royally appointed rather than elected, and severely restricting the activities of town meetings. The Administration of Justice Act allowed colonists charged with crimes to be transported to another colony or to Great Britain for trial. A new royal governor
6732-515: The Dutch pronunciation of J being the same as the English Y . Quinion and Hanks posit that it was "used as a nickname for a Dutch-speaking American in colonial times" and could have grown to include non-Dutch colonists, as well. The Oxford English Dictionary calls this theory "perhaps the most plausible". Alternatively, the Dutch given names Jan ( Dutch: [jɑn] ) and Kees ( Dutch: [keːs] ) have long been common, and
6885-453: The East India Company's tea because of the heavy taxes imposed on tea imported into Great Britain, and so the company amassed a huge surplus of tea that it could not sell. The British government's solution to the problem was to sell the surplus in the colonies. The Tea Act permitted the East India Company to export tea directly to the colonies for the first time, bypassing most of the merchants who had previously acted as middlemen. This measure
7038-595: The English colonists in New England ( Massachusetts , Rhode Island , and Connecticut ). The exact application, however, is uncertain; some scholars suggest that it was a term used in derision of the Dutch colonists, others that it was derisive of the English colonists. Michael Quinion and Patrick Hanks argue that the term comes from the Dutch Janneke , a diminutive form of the given name Jan which would be Anglicized by New Englanders as "Yankee" due to
7191-716: The Federal Government was controlled by bigoted Yankees and Irish who banded together against the Italian immigrant. The one anomaly of this era was the election of Yankee Republican Leverett Saltonstall as governor in 1938, and even then Saltonstall jokingly attributed his high vote totals in Irish districts to his 'South Boston face'. In the Southern United States, the term is used in derisive reference to any Northerner, especially one who has migrated to
7344-598: The French l'anglais , meaning "the Englishman" or "the English language", which was sounded as Y'an-gee . American musicologist Oscar Sonneck debunked a romanticized false etymology in his 1909 work Report on "The Star-Spangled Banner", "Hail Columbia", "America", "Yankee Doodle" . He cited a popular theory that claimed the word came from a tribe who called themselves Yankoos , said to mean "invincible". The story claimed that New Englanders had defeated this tribe after
7497-554: The General Court in January 1773. Addressing the legislature, Hutchinson argued that denying the supremacy of Parliament, as some committees had done, came dangerously close to rebellion. "I know of no line that can be drawn", he said, "between the supreme authority of Parliament and the total independence of the colonies." Adams and the House responded that the Massachusetts Charter did not establish Parliament's supremacy over
7650-514: The General Court. Bernard refused, so the town meeting called on the other Massachusetts towns to send representatives to meet at Faneuil Hall beginning on September 22. About 100 towns sent delegates to the convention , which was effectively an unofficial session of the Massachusetts House. The convention issued a letter which insisted that Boston was not a lawless town, using language more moderate than what Adams desired, and that
7803-466: The New England conscience," and popularized "[t]he notion of the Deerfield Boy ... intelligent, but more important[ly], well-rounded, ... plac[ing] a high value on ethics, morals and sportsmanship." By 1923, Deerfield had 140 students, including 80 boarders. A capable fundraiser, Boyden saved Deerfield a second time in 1923, when the town exiled Deerfield from the public school system in favor of
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#17327872412937956-708: The South and maintains derisive attitudes towards Southerners and the Southern way of life. Alabama lawyer and author Daniel Robinson Hundley describes the Yankee as such in Social Relations in Our Southern States : Yankee with all these is looked upon usually as a term of reproach—signifying a shrewd, sharp, chaffering, oily-tongued, soft-sawdering, inquisitive, money-making, money-saving, and money-worshipping individual, who hails from Down East, and who
8109-413: The Tea Act. In every colony except Massachusetts, protesters were able to force the tea consignees to resign or to return the tea to England. In Boston, however, Governor Hutchinson was determined to hold his ground. He convinced the tea consignees, two of whom were his sons, not to back down. The Boston Caucus and then the Town Meeting attempted to compel the consignees to resign, but they refused. With
8262-510: The United States. Their various meanings depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders , the Northeastern United States , the Northern United States , or to people from the US in general. Outside the United States, Yank is used informally to refer to a person or thing from the US. It has been especially popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand where it may be used variously, either with an uncomplimentary overtone, endearingly, or cordially. In
8415-421: The Whig perspective, this arrangement was an important check on executive power , keeping royally appointed officials accountable to democratically elected representatives. In 1772, Massachusetts learned that those officials would henceforth be paid by the British government rather than by the province. To protest this, Adams and his colleagues devised a system of committees of correspondence in November 1772;
8568-469: The academy was in deep financial trouble by the end of the 19th century. Industrialization had depopulated large portions of western Massachusetts, depriving the academy of many potential students. From 1880 to 1900, the population of the town of Deerfield nearly halved, falling from 3,543 to 1,969. When headmaster Frank Boyden arrived in 1902, there were only fourteen students left, and the boarding department had already shut down. In 1902, Deerfield hired
8721-501: The arts, in the 2022–23 school year, students took 680 AP exams (for reference, there were 185 juniors and 162 seniors at Deerfield that year) and passed 93% of them. Source: Deerfield has 15 dormitories: Barton, Bewkes (now a faculty residence), DeNunzio, Field, Harold Smith, John Louis, John Williams, Johnson-Doubleday, Louis-Marx, Mather, McAlister, Pocumtuck, Rosenwald-Shumway, Scaife, the recently christened O'Byrne Curtis—named for retiring Head of School Margarita O'Byrne Curtis, and
8874-409: The assemblies if they responded to the Massachusetts Circular Letter. He also directed Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to have the Massachusetts House rescind the letter. On June 30, the House refused to rescind the letter by a vote of 92 to 17, with Adams citing their right to petition as justification. Far from complying with the governor's order, Adams instead presented a new petition to
9027-411: The boycott going until the Townshend duties were repealed. Two regiments were removed from Boston in 1769, but the other two remained. Tensions between occupational troops and local colonists eventually resulted in the killing of five Bostonians in the Boston Massacre of March 1770. According to the "propagandist interpretation" of Adams popularized by historian John Miller, Adams deliberately provoked
9180-425: The brand-new Frontier Regional School in South Deerfield . When Deerfield was re-privatized, the headmasters of Exeter , Taft , and Andover raised $ 1.5 million from their own alumni to save Deerfield from extinction. They also boosted Deerfield's enrollment by referring students that they had expelled to Boyden, who had reportedly established a reputation for rehabilitating such students. (Boyden may have welcomed
9333-515: The captain of Romney began to impress local sailors. The situation exploded on June 10, when customs officials seized Liberty , a sloop owned by John Hancock—a leading critic of the Customs Board—for alleged customs violations. Sailors and marines came ashore from Romney to tow away Liberty , and a riot broke out. Things calmed down in the following days, but fearful customs officials packed up their families and fled for protection to Romney and eventually to Castle William , an island fort in
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#17327872412939486-442: The change, because "Deerfield's rising population of immigrant Polish farmers" conflicted with his desire "to maintain the school as a Yankee institution"; he told a colleague that Deerfield needed a boarding department "to help settle the Polish problem." However, Exeter principal Lewis Perry —a personal friend of Boyden's—pushed back against the suggestion that Boyden was uninterested in educating Poles, writing that Boyden had "put
9639-414: The clerks of the Boston market. In 1756, the Boston Town Meeting elected him to the post of tax collector, which provided a small income. He often failed to collect taxes from his fellow citizens, which increased his popularity among those who did not pay, but left him liable for the shortage. By 1765, his account was more than £8,000 in arrears. The town meeting was on the verge of bankruptcy, and Adams
9792-411: The colonies had compelled stamp distributors to resign. Eventually, British merchants were able to convince Parliament to repeal the tax. By May 16, 1766, news of the repeal had reached Boston. There was celebration throughout the city, and Adams made a public statement of thanks to British merchants for helping their cause. The Massachusetts popular party gained ground in the May 1766 elections. Adams
9945-406: The colonies to join with Massachusetts in resisting the Townshend Acts. The House initially voted against sending the letter and petition to the other colonies but, after some politicking by Adams and Otis, it was approved on February 11. British colonial secretary Lord Hillsborough , hoping to prevent a repeat of the Stamp Act Congress, instructed the colonial governors in America to dissolve
10098-499: The colonies, but the boycott faltered. As economic conditions improved, support waned for Adams's causes. In 1770, New York City and Philadelphia abandoned the non-importation boycott of British goods and Boston merchants faced the risk of being economically ruined, so they also agreed to end the boycott, effectively defeating Adams's cause in Massachusetts. John Adams withdrew from politics, while John Hancock and James Otis appeared to become more moderate. In 1771, Samuel Adams ran for
10251-451: The colonies. In the years leading up to and into the revolution Adams made frequent use of colonial newspapers and began openly criticizing British colonial policy and by 1775 was advocating independence from Britain. Adams was foremost in actively using newspapers like the Boston Gazette to promote the ideals of colonial rights by publishing his letters and other accounts which sharply criticized British colonial policy and especially
10404-404: The colonists were represented by the colonial assemblies, and only they could levy taxes upon them. Adams expressed these views in May 1764, when the Boston Town Meeting elected its representatives to the Massachusetts House. As was customary, the town meeting provided the representatives with a set of written instructions, which Adams was selected to write. Adams highlighted what he perceived to be
10557-491: The company's tea for resale. In late 1773, seven ships were sent to the colonies carrying East India Company tea, including four bound for Boston. News of the Tea Act set off a firestorm of protest in the colonies. This was not a dispute about high taxes; the price of legally imported tea was actually reduced by the Tea Act. Protesters were instead concerned with a variety of other issues. The familiar " no taxation without representation " argument remained prominent, along with
10710-473: The country. The Spanish variation yanqui is used in Latin American Spanish, often derogatorily. Venezuelan Spanish has the word pitiyanqui derived around 1940 from petit yankee or petit yanqui , a derogatory term for those who profess an exaggerated and often ridiculous admiration for anything from the United States. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia, the term seppo , shortened from traditional rhyming slang yank ==> septic tank ,
10863-438: The currency still in circulation, payable in silver and gold. Lawsuits over the bank persisted for years, even after Deacon Adams's death, and the younger Samuel Adams often had to defend the family estate from seizure by the government. For Adams, these lawsuits "served as a constant personal reminder that Britain's power over the colonies could be exercised in arbitrary and destructive ways." After leaving Harvard in 1743, Adams
11016-518: The dangers of taxation without representation : For if our Trade may be taxed, why not our Lands? Why not the Produce of our Lands & everything we possess or make use of? This we apprehend annihilates our Charter Right to govern & tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privileges, which as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common with our Fellow Subjects who are Natives of Britain. If Taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having
11169-438: The direction of agitators and blamed the violence on Adams. This interpretation was revived by scholars in the early 20th century, who viewed Adams as a master of propaganda who manipulated mobs into doing his bidding. For example, historian John C. Miller wrote in 1936 in what became the standard biography of Adams that Adams "controlled" Boston with his "trained mob". Some modern scholars have argued that this interpretation
11322-421: The earliest recorded use of the word "Yankee" in 1758 when he referred to the New England soldiers under his command. "I can afford you two companies of Yankees, and the more, because they are better for ranging and scouting than either work or vigilance". Later British use of the word was in a derogatory manner, as seen in a cartoon published in 1775 ridiculing "Yankee" soldiers. New Englanders themselves employed
11475-406: The endowment increased by $ 250 million and the academy spent $ 140 million on new buildings and renovations. The current head of school is John Austin, the former head of school at King's Academy . The academy has maintained its strong reputation in the 21st century. It has been described as an "elite boarding school" by the New York Times , "one of the nation's ... most elite boarding schools" by
11628-578: The endowment increased from $ 590 million to $ 791 million. In 2022, Deerfield announced that Televisa vice-chairman Rodolfo Wachsman '53 had left Deerfield $ 80 million in his will; it is the largest donation in the academy's history. Deerfield follows a trimester system, in which the school year is divided into three academic grading periods. Deerfield students take a full liberal arts curriculum, including English, history, foreign language, mathematics, laboratory science, visual and performing arts, and philosophy and religion. However, required courses are kept at
11781-420: The first official recommendation that the colonies present a unified defense of their rights." Adams's instructions were published in newspapers and pamphlets, and he soon became closely associated with James Otis, Jr. , a member of the Massachusetts House famous for his defense of colonial rights. Otis boldly challenged the constitutionality of certain acts of Parliament, but he would not go as far as Adams, who
11934-680: The former prevail wherever the latter are found. Although the genuine Yankee belongs to New England, the term "Yankee" is now as appropriate to the natives of the Union at large. Yankees settled other states in various ways: some joined highly organized colonization companies, others purchased groups of land together; some joined volunteer land settlement groups, and self-reliant individual families also migrated. Yankees typically lived in villages consisting of clusters of separate farms. Often they were merchants, bankers, teachers, or professionals. Village life fostered local democracy, best exemplified by
12087-602: The harbor. Governor Bernard wrote to London in response to the Liberty incident and the struggle over the Circular Letter, informing his superiors that troops were needed in Boston to restore order. Lord Hillsborough ordered four regiments of the British Army to Boston. Learning that British troops were on the way, the Boston Town Meeting met on September 12, 1768, and requested that Governor Bernard convene
12240-577: The idea that he had in 1980, arguing instead that Adams, like most of his peers, did not embrace independence until after the American Revolutionary War had begun in 1775. According to Maier, Adams at this time was a reformer rather than a revolutionary; he sought to have the British ministry change its policies, and warned Britain that independence would be the inevitable result of a failure to do so. Adams biographer Stewart Beach also questioned whether Adams sought independence before
12393-641: The impending military occupation violated Bostonians' natural, constitutional, and charter rights. By the time that the convention adjourned, British troop transports had arrived in Boston Harbor. Two regiments disembarked in October 1768, followed by two more in November. According to some accounts, the occupation of Boston was a turning point for Adams, after which he gave up hope of reconciliation and secretly began to work towards American independence. However, historian Carl Becker wrote in 1928 that "there
12546-590: The incident to promote his secret agenda of American independence. According to Pauline Maier, however, "There is no evidence that he prompted the Boston Massacre riot". After the Boston Massacre, Adams and other town leaders met with Bernard's successor Governor Thomas Hutchinson and with Colonel William Dalrymple , the army commander, to demand the withdrawal of all occupational troops from Boston. The situation remained explosive, so Dalrymple agreed to remove both regiments to Castle William. Adams wanted
12699-573: The king asking that Governor Bernard be removed from office. Bernard responded by dissolving the legislature. The commissioners of the Customs Board found that they were unable to enforce trade regulations in Boston, so they requested military assistance. Help came in the form of HMS Romney , a fifty-gun warship which arrived in Boston Harbor in May 1768. Tensions escalated after
12852-526: The late 1860s to educate the Freedmen . Historian John Buenker has examined the worldview of the Yankee settlers in the Midwest: Because they arrived first and had a strong sense of community and mission, Yankees were able to transplant New England institutions, values, and mores, altered only by the conditions of frontier life. They established a public culture that emphasized the work ethic,
13005-575: The late colonial period, many became Presbyterians , Episcopalians , Methodists , or, later, Unitarians . Strait-laced 17th-century moralism as derided by novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne faded in the 18th century. The First Great Awakening under Jonathan Edwards and others in the mid-18th century, and the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century under Charles Grandison Finney and others emphasized personal piety, revivals, and devotion to civic duty. A pervasive influence on
13158-720: The legislature—which proposed that an inter-colonial congress meet in Philadelphia in September. He was one of five delegates chosen to attend the First Continental Congress . Adams was never fashionably dressed and had little money, so friends bought him new clothes and paid his expenses for the journey to Philadelphia, his first trip outside of Massachusetts. Yankee#New England use The term Yankee and its contracted form Yank have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from
13311-627: The lower branch of the General Court . Opposition to the land bank came from the more aristocratic "court party", who were supporters of the royal governor Jonathan Belcher and controlled the Governor's Council , the upper chamber of the General Court. The court party used its influence to have the British Parliament dissolve the land bank in 1741. Directors of the land bank, including Deacon Adams, became personally liable for
13464-566: The many grievances held by ordinary Bostonians toward the British occupation, including its subversion of civil authority and misbehavior by occupational troops. The Journal also criticized the British impressment of colonial sailors into the Royal Navy . The Journal ceased publication on August 1, 1769, which was a day of celebration in Boston, as Bernard had left Massachusetts, never to return. Adams continued to work on getting British occupational troops to withdraw from Boston and keeping
13617-454: The meeting until ten or fifteen minutes after Adams's alleged "signal", and Adams in fact tried to stop people from leaving because the meeting was not yet over. While Adams tried to reassert control of the meeting, people poured out of the Old South Meeting House and headed to Boston Harbor. That evening, a group of 30 to 130 men boarded the three vessels, some of them thinly disguised as Mohawk Indians , and dumped all 342 chests of tea into
13770-430: The mid-1770s, in that Hutchinson, who despised Adams, and had reason enough to, never once in his papers accused Adams of pushing the idea of independence from Britain, though he notes that Adams had publicly promised retaliation to any British troops sent over to quell the rebellion, moreover, that Adams was never accused of treason by the Parliament before the war. Adams wrote numerous letters and essays in opposition to
13923-540: The ministry, but Adams gradually shifted his interest to politics. After graduating in 1740, Adams continued his studies, earning a master's degree in 1743. In his thesis, he argued that it was "lawful to resist the Supreme Magistrate, if the Commonwealth cannot otherwise be preserved", which indicated that his political views, like his father's, were oriented towards colonial rights. Adams's life
14076-424: The modern Yankee stereotype. Coolidge moved from rural Vermont to urban Massachusetts and was educated at elite Amherst College . Yet his flint-faced, unprepossessing ways and terse rural speech proved politically attractive. "That Yankee twang will be worth a hundred thousand votes", explained one Republican leader. Coolidge's laconic ways and dry humor were characteristic of stereotypical rural "Yankee humor" at
14229-426: The most dedicated Red Sox fans living in the northeastern United States. The term Swamp Yankee is sometimes used in rural Rhode Island, Connecticut, and southeastern Massachusetts to refer to Protestant farmers of moderate means and their descendants, although it is often regarded as a derogatory term. Scholars note that the famous Yankee "twang" survives mainly in the hill towns of interior New England, though it
14382-526: The movement that became the American Revolution , a signer of the Declaration of Independence and other founding documents, and one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to his fellow Founding Father, President John Adams . Adams was born in Boston , brought up in a religious and politically active family. A graduate of Harvard College , he
14535-694: The new Republican party in the 1860s. This was especially true for the Congregationalists , Presbyterians , and Methodists among them. A study of 65 predominantly Yankee counties showed that they voted only 40 percent for the Whigs in 1848 and 1852, but became 61–65 percent Republican in presidential elections of 1856 through 1864. Ivy League universities remained bastions of old Yankee culture until well after World War II , particularly Harvard and Yale . President Calvin Coolidge exemplified
14688-538: The new taxes were unconstitutional had been made before by Adams, but never to such a wide audience. In January 1768, the Massachusetts House sent a petition to King George asking for his help. Adams and Otis requested that the House send the petition to the other colonies, along with what became known as the Massachusetts Circular Letter , which became "a significant milestone on the road to revolution". The letter written by Adams called on
14841-572: The newly constructed Simmons replacing Dewey. Every dorm is single-sex, and a faculty resident lives on each hall. Juniors and seniors live together in the same dorms, whereas sophomores live in their own dorms. Since 2015, all 100 incoming ninth-graders have been housed together in the Ninth-Grade Village, which consists of two single-sex dormitories connected by a large common room. In 2004 an alumnus revealed to Deerfield's then-headmaster Eric Widmer that he had been sexually abused in
14994-493: The newly opened academy was able to attract many students from the surrounding area; of the school's first 269 students, only 68 were from the town of Deerfield. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Deerfield had over 100 students. Early Deerfield graduates occupied many congressional and gubernatorial seats in New England . Deerfield became a semi- public school in 1859, after the Massachusetts legislature ordered
15147-476: The next seven years, but only two lived to adulthood: Samuel (born 1751) and Hannah (born 1756). In July 1757, Elizabeth died soon after giving birth to a stillborn son. Adams remarried in 1764 to Elizabeth Wells, but had no other children. Like his father, Adams embarked on a political career with the support of the Boston Caucus. He was elected to his first political office in 1747, serving as one of
15300-519: The northeast, while wealthy New Englanders also sent ambassadors to frontier communities where they became influential bankers and newspaper printers. They introduced the term "Universal Yankee Nation" to proselytize their hopes for national and global influence. New England Yankees originally followed the Puritan tradition, as expressed in Congregational and Baptist churches. Beginning in
15453-584: The occupation of Boston by British troops, eventually resulting in the Boston Massacre of 1770. Adams and his colleagues devised a committee of correspondence system in 1772 to help coordinate resistance to what he saw as the British government's attempts to violate the British Constitution at the expense of the colonies, which linked like-minded Patriots throughout the Thirteen Colonies . Continued resistance to British policy resulted in
15606-560: The occupation, which he considered a violation of the 1689 Bill of Rights . The occupation was publicized throughout the colonies in the Journal of Occurrences , an unsigned series of newspaper articles that may have been written by Adams in collaboration with others. The Journal presented what it claimed to be a factual daily account of events in Boston during the military occupation, an innovative approach in an era without professional newspaper reporters. Their articles primary focused on
15759-407: The open town meeting form of government that still exists today in New England. Village life also stimulated mutual oversight of moral behavior and emphasized civic virtue. The Yankees built international trade routes stretching to China by 1800 from the New England seaports of Boston , Salem , Providence , Newport , and New London , among others. Much of the profit from trading was reinvested in
15912-472: The outbreak of the Revolutionary War . This view was challenged by negative assessments of Adams in the first half of the 20th century, in which he was portrayed as a master of propaganda who provoked mob violence to achieve his goals. However, according to biographer Mark Puls, a different account emerges upon examination of Adams' many writings regarding the civil rights of the colonists, while
16065-805: The political ranks, becoming a justice of the peace, a selectman , and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives . He worked closely with Elisha Cooke, Jr. (1678–1737), the leader of the "popular party", a faction that resisted any encroachment by royal officials on the colonial rights embodied in the Massachusetts Charter of 1691. In the coming years, members of the "popular party" became known as Whigs or Patriots . The younger Samuel Adams attended Boston Latin School and then entered Harvard College in 1736. His parents hoped that his schooling would prepare him for
16218-504: The position of Register of Deeds, but he was beaten by Ezekiel Goldthwait by more than two to one. He was re-elected to the Massachusetts House in April 1772, but he received far fewer votes than ever before. A struggle over the power of the purse brought Adams back into the political limelight. Traditionally, the Massachusetts House of Representatives paid the salaries of the governor, lieutenant governor, and superior court judges. From
16371-509: The practice of colonial taxation without representation. The Boston Gazette had a circulation of two thousand, published weekly, which was considerable number for that time. Its publishers, Benjamin Edes and John Gill , both founding members of the Sons of Liberty, were on friendly and cooperative terms with Adams, James Otis and the Boston Caucus . Historian Ralph Harlow maintains that there
16524-464: The province, and so Parliament could not claim that authority now. Hutchinson soon realized that he had made a major blunder by initiating a public debate about independence and the extent of Parliament's authority in the colonies. The Boston Committee of Correspondence published its statement of colonial rights, along with Hutchinson's exchange with the Massachusetts House, in the widely distributed " Boston Pamphlet ". The quiet period in Massachusetts
16677-399: The question of the extent of Parliament's authority in the colonies. Some colonists worried that, by buying the cheaper tea, they would be conceding that Parliament had the right to tax them. The "power of the purse" conflict was still at issue. The tea tax revenues were to be used to pay the salaries of certain royal officials, making them independent of the people. Colonial smugglers played
16830-486: The radical Whig position and the revolutionary cause, which Adams accordingly demonstrated with his numerous published and pointedly written essays and letters. In each of its issues from early September through mid-October 1771, the Gazette published Adams' inciteful essays, one of which criticized the Parliament for using colonial taxes to pay Hutchinson's annual salary of £2,000. In a letter of February 1770, published by
16983-556: The right to impose tariffs on the colonies before raising them. Revenues from these duties were to be used to pay for governors and judges who would be independent of colonial control. To enforce compliance with the new laws, the Townshend Acts created a customs agency known as the American Board of Custom Commissioners, which was headquartered in Boston. Resistance to the Townshend Acts grew slowly. The General Court
17136-439: The sanctity of private property, individual responsibility, faith in residential and social mobility, practicality, piety, public order and decorum, reverence for public education, activists, honest, and frugal government, town meeting democracy, and he believed that there was a public interest that transcends particular and stock ambitions. Regarding themselves as the elect and just in a world rife with sin and corruption, they felt
17289-437: The ships leave, and he announced, "This meeting can do nothing further to save the country." According to a popular story, Adams's statement was a prearranged signal for the "tea party" to begin. However, this claim did not appear in print until nearly a century after the event, in a biography of Adams written by his great-grandson, who apparently misinterpreted the evidence. According to eyewitness accounts, people did not leave
17442-416: The soldiers involved in the massacre to have a fair trial, because this would show that Boston was not controlled by a lawless mob, but was instead the victim of an unjust occupation. He convinced his cousins John Adams and Josiah Quincy to defend the soldiers, knowing that they would not slander Boston to gain an acquittal. However, Adams wrote essays condemning the outcome of the trials; he thought that
17595-461: The soldiers should have been convicted of murder. After the Boston Massacre, politics in Massachusetts entered what is sometimes known as the "quiet period". In April 1770, Parliament repealed the Townshend duties, except for the tax on tea. Adams urged colonists to keep up the boycott of British goods, arguing that paying even one small tax allowed Parliament to establish the precedent of taxing
17748-438: The start." An investigation by the academy's lawyers confirmed the allegations and uncovered more: In late March 2013 the academy published information that two former faculty members had engaged in multiple sexual contacts with students: Peter Hindle (who taught at Deerfield from 1956 to 2000), and Bryce Lambert (who retired in 1990 and died in 2007). The school stripped Hindle's name from an endowed mathematics teaching chair and
17901-512: The student body was on financial aid, and the average boarding aid grant was $ 60,850 (i.e., 82% of the total cost of attendance). 48 students (7.4% of the student body) were on full scholarships. In September 2024, Deerfield announced that going forward, domestic students with household incomes under $ 150,000 will attend Deerfield for free, and domestic students with household incomes under $ 500,000 will have their tuition capped at 10% of household income. The Wall Street Journal noted that $ 150,000
18054-499: The tea ships about to arrive, Adams and the Boston Committee of Correspondence contacted nearby committees to rally support. The tea ship Dartmouth arrived in the Boston Harbor in late November, and Adams wrote a circular letter calling for a mass meeting to be held at Faneuil Hall on November 29. Thousands of people arrived, so many that the meeting was moved to the larger Old South Meeting House . British law required
18207-617: The term in The Devil's Dictionary as: "In Europe, an American. In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander. In the Southern States the word is unknown. (See DAMNYANK.)" E. B. White humorously draws his own distinctions: To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders,
18360-423: The textile and machine tools industries. After 1800, Yankees spearheaded most American reform movements, including those for the abolition of slavery, temperance in use of alcohol, increase in women's political rights, and improvement in women's education. Emma Willard and Mary Lyon pioneered in the higher education of women, while Yankees comprised most of the reformers who went South during Reconstruction in
18513-560: The themes that characterized his subsequent career. He argued that the people must resist any encroachment on their constitutional rights. He cited the decline of the Roman Empire as an example of what could happen to New England if it were to abandon its Puritan values. When Deacon Adams died in 1748, Adams was given the responsibility of managing the family's affairs. In October 1749, he married Elizabeth Checkley, his pastor's daughter. Elizabeth gave birth to six children over
18666-474: The town of Deerfield to establish a free public high school. In 1876, the academy was reincorporated as the Deerfield Academy and Dickinson High School , after local resident Esther Dickinson left the town $ 50,000 to build a new academic building (since demolished) and town library. As late as the 1920s, the academy was still relying on tax revenue from the town. Despite the town's financial support,
18819-407: The towns of Massachusetts would consult with each other concerning political matters via messages sent through a network of committees that recorded British activities and protested imperial policies. Committees of correspondence soon formed in other colonies, as well. Governor Hutchinson became concerned that the committees of correspondence were growing into an independence movement, so he convened
18972-421: The turn of the 20th century. Yankee ingenuity was a worldwide stereotype of inventiveness, technical solutions to practical problems, "know-how," self-reliance, and individual enterprise. The stereotype first appeared in the 19th century. As Mitchell Wilson notes, "Yankee ingenuity and Yankee git-up-and-go did not exist in colonial days." The great majority of Yankees gravitated toward the burgeoning cities of
19125-756: The two are sometimes combined into a single name (Jan Kees). Its Anglicized spelling Yankee could, in this way, have been used to mock Dutch colonists. The chosen name Jan Kees may have been partly inspired by a dialectal rendition of Jan Kaas ("John Cheese"), the generic nickname that Southern Dutch used for Dutch people living in the North. The Online Etymology Dictionary gives its origin as around 1683, attributing it to English colonists insultingly referring to Dutch colonists. English privateer William Dampier relates his dealings in 1681 with Dutch privateer Captain Yanky or Yanke. Linguist Jan de Vries notes that there
19278-415: The use of the term throughout the years has been the song "Yankee Doodle" which was popular during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The song originated among the British troops during the French and Indian or Seven Years' War, creating a stereotype of the Yankee simpleton who stuck a feather in his cap and thought that he was stylish, but it was rapidly re-appropriated by American patriots after
19431-519: The water over the course of three hours. Adams never revealed whether he went to the wharf to witness the destruction of the tea. Whether or not he helped plan the event is unknown, but Adams immediately worked to publicize and defend it. He argued that the Tea Party was not the act of a lawless mob, but was instead a principled protest and the only remaining option that the people had to defend their constitutional rights. Great Britain responded to
19584-462: The winter of 1983 by faculty member Peter Hindle. Widmer responded sympathetically but did not press for details. A parent had previously raised concerns about Hindle to the academy in the 1980s, and Deerfield had responded with written and verbal warnings. Nearly a decade later in 2012, the alumnus raised the matter again, this time with the new headmaster Margarita Curtis, who he says "displayed clear moral authority and offered unconditional support from
19737-588: The word Yankee , but modern linguists generally reject theories that suggest it originated in any Indigenous languages. This includes a theory put forth by a British officer in 1789, who said that it was derived from the Cherokee word eankke meaning "coward"—despite the fact that no such word existed in the Cherokee language. Another theory surmised that the word was borrowed from the Wyandot pronunciation of
19890-473: The word in a neutral sense; the " Pennamite–Yankee War ", for example, was a series of clashes in 1769 over land titles in Pennsylvania between settlers from Connecticut Colony and "Pennamite" settlers from Pennsylvania . The meaning of Yankee has varied over time. In the 18th century, it referred to residents of New England descended from the original English settlers of the region. Mark Twain used
20043-757: The word in this sense the following century in his 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court . As early as the 1770s, British people applied the term to any person from the United States. In the 19th century, Americans in the southern United States employed the word in reference to Americans from the northern United States, though not to recent immigrants from Europe. Thus, a visitor to Richmond, Virginia , commented in 1818, "The enterprising people are mostly strangers; Scots, Irish, and especially New England men, or Yankees, as they are called". Historically, it has also been used to distinguish American-born Protestants from later immigrants, such as Catholics of Irish descent. Many etymologies have been suggested for
20196-518: The word to any American inhabiting the area north of the Mason–Dixon Line , though usually with a specific focus still on New England. New England Yankee might be used to differentiate. However, within New England itself, the term still refers more specifically to old-stock New Englanders of English descent. For example: Certainly the Irish have for years complained of Yankee discrimination against them. There were no civil rights groups then. Even
20349-406: Was "almost double the median U.S. household income" at the time. Although this policy does not apply to international students, Deerfield commits to meet 100% of an admitted international student's demonstrated financial need. However, at Deerfield (as with most boarding schools), requesting financial aid may affect an applicant's chances of admission. (In 2024, the head of school stated that Deerfield
20502-549: Was a threat to the American colonial economy because it granted the Tea Company a significant cost advantage over local tea merchants and even local tea smugglers, driving them out of business. The act also reduced the taxes on tea paid by the company in Britain, but kept the controversial Townshend duty on tea imported in the colonies. A few merchants in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Charlestown were selected to receive
20655-500: Was an unsuccessful businessman and tax collector before concentrating on politics. He was an influential official of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Boston Town Meeting in the 1760s, and he became a part of a movement opposed to the British Parliament 's efforts to tax the British American colonies without their consent. His 1768 Massachusetts Circular Letter calling for colonial non-cooperation prompted
20808-522: Was announced. Eric Widmer '57 served as headmaster from 1994 to 2006. He stepped down in June 2006 to found King's Academy in Madaba , Jordan , a school backed by Deerfield alumnus King Abdullah II of Jordan, and partially inspired by the King's years at Deerfield in the 1980s. Deerfield then tapped Andover dean Margarita Curtis as its first female Head of School. During her thirteen years at Deerfield,
20961-404: Was appointed headmaster after Boyden, serving from 1968 to 1979. He was succeeded by Robert Kaufmann, who readmitted girls to Deerfield in 1989 after a 41-year absence. At the time, Deerfield was renowned as "the last of the big New England all-male prep schools" (most of its peer schools began admitting girls in the 1960s and early 1970s), and the all-male student body protested the decision when it
21114-616: Was appointed to enforce the acts: General Thomas Gage , who was also commander of British military forces in North America. Adams worked to coordinate resistance to the Coercive Acts. In May 1774, the Boston Town Meeting (with Adams serving as moderator) organized an economic boycott of British goods. In June, Adams headed a committee in the Massachusetts House—with the doors locked to prevent Gage from dissolving
21267-498: Was compelled to file suit against delinquent taxpayers, but many taxes went uncollected. In 1768, his political opponents used the situation to their advantage, obtaining a court judgment of £1,463 against him. Adams's friends paid off some of the deficit, and the town meeting wrote off the remainder. By then, he had emerged as a leader of the popular party, and the embarrassing situation did not lessen his influence. Samuel Adams emerged as an important public figure in Boston soon after
21420-474: Was developed by Thomas Chandler Haliburton , and it grew between 1836 and 1844 in a series of publications. The damned Yankee usage dates from 1812. Confederates popularized it as a derogatory term for their Northern enemies during and after the American Civil War (1861–1865). Rhode Island Governor Bruce Sundlun had been a pilot in World War II, and he named his B-17F bomber Damn Yankee because
21573-657: Was established in the remote town of Deerfield, at the time "the principal [European] settlement on the western frontier." A Mr. John Williams organized a coalition of local grandees, including future U.S. congressmen Ebenezer Mattoon and Samuel Taggart , to raise $ 1,300 to build a school house and another $ 1,400 for an endowment . From the start, Deerfield educated both boys and girls. Like many early "boarding" academies in New England, Deerfield did not have its own dormitories when it opened, and out-of-town students were required to rent rooms from local families. Deerfield did not open its first dormitory for another ten years. Even so,
21726-400: Was greatly affected by his father's involvement in a banking controversy. In 1739, Massachusetts was facing a serious currency shortage, and Deacon Adams and the Boston Caucus created a "land bank" which issued paper money to borrowers who mortgaged their land as security. The land bank was generally supported by the citizenry and the popular party, which dominated the House of Representatives,
21879-523: Was initially a protégé of Adams, and he used his wealth to promote the Whig cause. After the repeal of the Stamp Act, Parliament took a different approach to raising revenue, passing the Townshend Acts in 1767 which established new duties on various goods imported into the colonies. These duties were relatively low because the British ministry wanted to establish the precedent that Parliament had
22032-459: Was mention of a pirate named Dutch Yanky in the 17th century. The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1760) contains the passage, "Haul forward thy chair again, take thy berth, and proceed with thy story in a direct course, without yawing like a Dutch yanky." According to this theory, Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam started using the term against the English colonists of neighboring Connecticut. British General James Wolfe made
22185-527: Was moving towards the conclusion that Parliament did not have sovereignty over the colonies. In 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act which required colonists to pay a new tax on most printed materials. News of the passage of the Stamp Act produced an uproar in the colonies. The colonial response echoed Adams's 1764 instructions. In June 1765, Otis called for a Stamp Act Congress to coordinate colonial resistance. The Virginia House of Burgesses passed
22338-611: Was never a tribe called the Yankoos . The original Yankees diffused widely across the northern United States, leaving their imprints in New York, the Upper Midwest , many taking advantage of water routes by the Great Lakes , and places as far away as Seattle , San Francisco , and Honolulu . Yankeeism is the general character of the Union. Yankee manners are as migratory as Yankee men. The latter are found everywhere and
22491-560: Was not in session when news of the acts reached Boston in October 1767. Adams therefore used the Boston Town Meeting to organize an economic boycott, and called for other towns to do the same. By February 1768, towns in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut had joined the boycott. Opposition to the Townshend Acts was also encouraged by Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania , a series of popular essays by John Dickinson which started appearing in December 1767. Dickinson's argument that
22644-561: Was once again appointed by the Boston Town Meeting to write the instructions for Boston's delegation to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. As it turned out, he wrote his own instructions; on September 27, the town meeting selected him to replace the recently deceased Oxenbridge Thacher as one of Boston's four representatives in the assembly. James Otis was attending the Stamp Act Congress in New York City, so Adams
22797-437: Was over. Adams was easily re-elected to the Massachusetts House in May 1773, and was also elected as moderator of the Boston Town Meeting. In June 1773, he introduced a set of private letters to the Massachusetts House, written by Hutchinson several years earlier. In one letter, Hutchinson recommended to London that there should be "an abridgement of what are called English liberties" in Massachusetts. Hutchinson denied that this
22950-480: Was re-elected to the House and selected as its clerk, in which position he was responsible for official House papers. In the coming years, Adams used his position as clerk to great effect in promoting his political message. Joining Adams in the House was John Hancock , a new representative from Boston. Hancock was a wealthy merchant—perhaps the richest man in Massachusetts—but a relative newcomer to politics. He
23103-410: Was the primary author of a series of House resolutions against the Stamp Act, which were more radical than those passed by the Stamp Act Congress. Adams was one of the first colonial leaders to argue that mankind possessed certain natural rights that governments could not violate. The Stamp Act was scheduled to go into effect on November 1, 1765, but it was not enforced because protestors throughout
23256-472: Was unsure about his future. He considered becoming a lawyer but instead decided to go into business. He worked at Thomas Cushing 's counting house , but the job only lasted a few months because Cushing felt that Adams was too preoccupied with politics to become a good merchant. Adams's father then lent him £ 1,000 to go into business for himself, a substantial amount for that time. Adams's lack of business instincts were confirmed; he lent half of this money to
23409-403: Was unusual, and I hope that sets a good example for institutions and helps to assure that students are safer everywhere." Samuel Adams Samuel Adams (September 27 [ O.S. September 16] 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher , and a Founding Father of the United States . He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts , a leader of
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