Anne Whitney's bronze tribute to Samuel Adams in Boston

Anne Whitney created two public statues of American Founding Father Samuel Adams. One, made in 1876, is in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol, Washington, D.C. The other, made in 1880, is located in front of Faneuil Hall Plaza in Boston. Known as one of the most persuasive political writers of all time, Adams wrote thousands of letters to political leaders and newspapers and gave speeches at Faneuil Hall about taxation and rule.

Whitney won a contest in 1873 to create a statue of Adams, one of the requirements being that the statue be carved in Italy from a plaster cast made in Boston. She traveled to Italy in 1875 to acquire Carrara marble for the sculpture. The marble statue was unveiled in the Capitol on December 19, 1876. Before being sent to Washington, D.C, this statue was exhibited at the Boston Athenæum, where it proved so popular that the citizens of Boston commissioned a bronze version for the city.

The bronze version of the statue on a granite base (1880) was installed on Congress Street in Faneuil Hall Plaza. It is based upon the marble statue made for the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue shows Adams with his arms crossed in an attitude of defiance and determination, wearing the citizen's clothing of the period. The monument sits upon a polished Quincy granite base and cap and a lower nine-feet square base of unpolished Quincy granite.

The pedestal is ten feet high. The granite plaza surface is marked for 850 feet with the approximate location of the early Colonial shoreline c. 1630. The inscription on the monument states: 'Samuel Adams 1722-1803 - A Patriot - He organized the Revolution, and signed the Declaration of Independence. Governor-A True Leader of the People. Erected A. D. 1880, from a fund bequeathed to the city of Boston by Jonathan Phillips. A statesman, incorruptible and fearless.'

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons