22. Samuel Adams
It was Samuel Adams, supported by a group of like-minded men who called themselves the Sons of Liberty in colonial Boston, who fomented the atmosphere of rebellion which exploded into the American Revolution in 1775. Even during the war Adams was already a center of controversy which continued through the twentieth century, with some finding him self-serving and others believing him to have been motivated purely by patriotism. The debate continues, but there is no doubt that his leadership in Boston was one of the greatest, if not the greatest incendiaries which ignited New England in open warfare against their king in the spring of 1775.
