Thomas Hutchinson, (born September 9, 1711, Boston, Massachusetts [U.S.]—died June 3, 1780, London, England), royal governor of the British North American Province of Massachusetts Bay (1771–74) whose stringent measures helped precipitate colonial unrest and eventually the American Revolution(1775–83).
The son of a wealthy merchant, Hutchinson devoted himself to business ventures before beginning his public career (1737) as a member of the Boston Board of Selectmen and then the General Court (legislature) of Massachusetts Bay, where he served almost continuously until 1749. He continued to rise in politics by serving as a member of the state council (1749–66), chief justice of the Superior Court (1760–69), and lieutenant governor (1758–71). …show more content…
By 1763 Hutchinson was the most influential man in the colony, but he had also become a target for James Otis and Samuel Adams. Hutchinson agreed with Adams and Otis on matters of policy; he did not think that the governor could issue writs of assistance, nor did he think Parliament should pass laws such as the Sugar Act or the stamp tax. In 1764 the assembly had tried to send Hutchinson to England to make its case against the Sugar Act. He believed these were unwise measures, but unlike Adams and Otis, Hutchinson insisted that Parliament had a right to tax the colonists. He would never agree with their assertion that Parliament’s power did not extend beyond England. If that were the case, the colonies must become independent. Neither Otis nor Adams was willing to make the case for independence in the 1760s, but Hutchinson saw where their arguments were going. He wanted to avoid independence and have Massachusetts prosper as part of the British empire. Since Adams and Otis both denied that they were interested in independence, Hutchinson interpreted their almost violent opposition to his ideas and policies as motivated by political self-interest rather than political