Today marks the 300th anniversary of Samuel Adams’s birth. More than just a brewer (maybe), Adams was a politician and Founding Father of America. In that capacity, he wrote in favor of resistance to the British rule over the colonies. Earlier this morning, I came upon a particularly stupendous quote of his which I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since:

Telling those siding with the Crown “may posterity forget ye were our countrymen” is just so gracefully vicious. To my modern ears, the “ye”s make it all that much more cutting, but it was surely devastating even back in 1776. Happy Birthday, Sam, you fantastic firebrand. I’ll have a beer in your honor.