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Autograph endorsement signed “J. Adams,” penned on the reverse of a partly printed legal document issued by King George III to the sheriff of Suffolk County, one page, both sides, 7.25 x 4, no date [circa 1767]. Adams’s handwritten endorsement reads: “And the Pl’ts [plaintiffs] consenting to the Liberty reserved in the Def’t's plea afor’d say the same is an insufficient answer & that They are not by Law held to reply thereto wherefore They pay Judgment for the Damages afor’d & Costs.” The writ is for a summons for William Bowes of Boston related to a plea of trespass. The document is also by Samuel Quincy (1735-1789), a British Loyalist who served as Solicitor General of Massachusetts and as special prosecutor at the Boston Massacre Trials. Matted and framed to an overall size of 14.75 x 11.25; window to frame backing reveals the first page of the document. In very good condition, with light toning to vertical folds, trimming to bottom edge, light show-through of ink, and a few smudges to Adams's handwritten text. The writing is dark and clear throughout.
At this time, Adams was one of Boston's leading attorneys. In 1768, he had undertaken the defense of prominent merchant John Hancock, who was charged with smuggling wine. The highly publicized trial in British admiralty court dragged on for nearly five months, when the proceedings against Hancock were dropped without explanation.
While that case aided greatly in the advancement of Adams’s legal career, it paled in contrast to his controversial defense of the British soldiers who perpetrated the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. Though he feared it would hurt his reputation, Adams believed that all men were entitled to a fair trial and deserved equal justice. His success in the trials—Adams secured the acquittal of Captain Thomas Preston and six British soldiers, with the remaining two convicted only of manslaughter rather than murder—elevated his reputation even further. Adams's notoriety made his law practice prosperous, earning him perhaps the largest caseload of any attorney in Boston.
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