This Day in History: June 3 – Death of Hutchinson

This Day in History: June 3, 1780,

Born on September 9, 1711, Thomas Hutchinson was the fifth son of his family to live in New England. generation. He is the great-grandson of the infamous Anne Hutchinson, who was expelled from the city of Boston for her radical religious views. Aside from his outspoken great-great-grandmother, his family did well in the colonies.

Hutchinson was educated at Harvard. His extraordinary intelligence allowed him to enroll at the age of 12 and obtain a master's degree at the age of 19. He entered politics in 1737, the year he was elected to represent Boston in the colonial assembly and as a town elector.

As time went on, Hutchinson's political star continued to rise in Massachusetts. He served three terms as Speaker and was sent to England to represent Massachusetts in the border dispute with New Hampshire. His mission was unsuccessful, but he made many useful allies.

Although he made friends abroad, he made enemies at home. Samuel Adams and James Otis were unimpressed by what they saw as Hutchinson's manipulative fishing efforts to secure his own political position, holding positions in several *** departments.

By 1764, Hutchinson was one of the most influential men in Massachusetts. He was sent to Britain again, this time to work on ***'s proposed sugar tax. He did oppose the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act - as a merchant he believed this would have a detrimental effect on trade. But unlike many of his fellow Americans, he firmly believed that Congress had every right to tax the American colonies.

Because of this, and because his brother-in-law's job was to issue those much-hated stamps, nepotism was suspected, and Hutchinson's home was trashed from top to bottom, with flowers all over the place. $122, a loss worth ￡1,000 in today’s terms. The next morning when he showed up at court for work he apologized for his appearance saying he had no other shirt on, no other clothes but the ones I wore and that my family was in a better situation down and fled the mob. Hutchinson still maintained that the colonists could not expect to enjoy all the benefits of being British subjects, expect British troops to protect them from the French and Indians, and not have to pay taxes and swear allegiance to the king. He served as acting governor from 1769 to 1771, a position he never wavered from.

He was appointed royal governor in 1773, but his tenure was short-lived. The border debate with New York was settled in favor of Massachusetts, a huge victory for Hutchinson. But when he proposed his idea of ??parliamentary supremacy in the opening debate that year, it ignited a revolution. Hutchinson's words compelled the General Assembly to respond. They fought back with what they saw as appropriate limits on parliamentary power.

Meanwhile, Britain's Ben Franklin published several of Hutchison's letters advising on the best ways to deal with the unruly colonies. This was bad timing for Governor Hutchinson, as he refused to allow ships to leave Boston Harbor until the tea was unloaded—two of his sons had accounts to sell the tea. Cue hit the nail on the head when Bostonians dressed as Indians poured tea in the harbor.

Hutchison ostensibly returned to England to settle the matter in Massachusetts, but he never saw his home again. He was replaced by General Thomas Gage, the British commander-in-chief in the American colonies. On June 3, 1780, Thomas Hutchinson died of a stroke after watching his colony become an independent nation.

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