Wracked by the loss of his young daughter, Susannah, John Adams had been visiting friends on the night of the Boston Massacre. Rushing to get home to his pregnant wife, Adams passed the soldiers as if "they had been marble."

Adams' heroic contribution toward the struggle for independence took a different form than those in the streets that night. Risking his reputation and a successful career as a lawyer, he declared that he would defend the British soldiers who had fired their muskets that night, killing five people. He risked so much because of his commitment to the fledging new country's idea that everyone deserved a fair trial. The jury found six soldiers not guilty and two guilty of manslaughter, which carried a sentence of branding the thumb with a hot iron.

Looking back on this moment in his life Adams would write years later: The part I took procured me anxiety enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country.