id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
en-wikipedia-org-585		Samuel Adams - Wikipedia			.html	text/html	13983	1652	70	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".[14][12] Deacon Adams rose through the political ranks, becoming a justice of the peace, a selectman, and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.[15][16][17][18] He worked closely with Elisha Cooke, Jr. Adams was a cautious advocate for a declaration of independence, urging eager correspondents back in Massachusetts to wait for more moderate colonists to come around to supporting separation from Great Britain.[87][263] He was pleased in 1775 when the colonies began to replace their old governments with independent republican governments.[264][265] He praised Thomas Paine's popular pamphlet Common Sense, writing as "Candidus" in early 1776, and supported the call for American independence.[265] On June 7, Adams's political ally Richard Henry Lee introduced a three-part resolution calling for Congress to declare independence, create a colonial confederation, and seek foreign aid.	./cache/en-wikipedia-org-585.html	./txt/en-wikipedia-org-585.txt