The most essential Founding Father? It’s not who you think

Here we are at the very outset of the year in which America celebrates its 250th birthday on July Fourth. There’s a man who played a pivotal role in that birthday, but most Americans seem unaware of his immense contributions.

Samuel Adams is perhaps the most overlooked of our Founding Fathers. Yet he played a vital role in getting the whole ball rolling for American independence. Thomas Jefferson called him the “patriarch of our liberty.”

Many today only know him as some sort of beer guy.