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Essex County Massachusetts Freedom Case Participants 1760 - 1783
Honorable Thomas Hutchinson Esq. (1711-1780)
Boston
Biography: THOMAS HUTCHINSON (1711-1780). Harvard 1727. Had no formal legal training.
The most important figure on the loyalist side in pre-Revolutionary Massachusetts. Appointed Justice of the Peace, 1740. Served in the House, 1739-1749, and on the Council, 1749-1766. Expert on provincial currency and credit. Lieutenant Governor, 1758-1771, serving as acting Governor from 1769 until his appointment as Governor in 177 1. Chief Justice, 1760-1771 (did not sit after 1769). Also served as judge of the
uffolk Inferior Court, 1752-1758, and as Suffolk County Judge of Probate, 1752-1769. As judge and Governor, involved in the major political events of the period, including the arguments on writs of assistance (No. 44), the Stamp Act crisis, the Boston Massacre (Nos. 63, 64), the burning of the Gaspee, and the Boston Tea Party. Called to England in r 774 and relieved as Governor; never returned to Massachu-
etts. Author of History of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay, a thoughtful and scholarly work, of principal value for its account of his own administration (first published in 3 vols., 1764-1828; ed. Lawrence
,haw Mayo, Cambridge, Mass., 1936, 3 vols.). 8 Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates 149-215.
Adams, John, L. Kinvin Wroth, and Hiller B. Zobel. Legal Papers of John Adams. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1965.
Comments:
Jenny Slew vs. John Whipple, Jr. (1766) Chief Justice" Hutchinson was a complex man, whose loyalty to the crown was balanced with a deep identification with the colony and its institutions, political and legal. See generally Bernard Bailyn, The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson (1974), 9-18; William Pencak, America's Burke: The Mind of Thomas Hutchinson (1982); Andrew S. Walmsley, Thomas Hutchinson and the Origins of the American Revolution (1999). See also John A. Denehy, "Thomas Hutchinson: Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature," 8 Massachusetts Legal History (2002), 1, 8-15."
Note Citation: "Portrait Of A Patriot: The Major Political And Legal Papers Of Josiah Quincy Junior." Josiah Quincy Jr. V.4 The First Law Reports of the Superior Court of Judicaire of the Province of Massachusetts Bay1761-1765, Vol. One co-editors: Daniel R. Coquillette and Neil Longley York. Volume Editor: Daniel R. Coquillette https://www.colonialsociety.org" THOMAS HUTCHINSON (1711-1780). Harvard 1727. Had no formal legal training. The most important figure on the loyalist side in pre-Revolutionary Massachusetts. Appointed Justice of the Peace, 1740. Served in the House, 1739-1749, and on the Council, 1749-1766. Expert on provincial currency and credit. Lieutenant Governor, 1758-1771, serving as acting Governor from 1769 until his appointment as Governor in 1771. Chief Justice, 1760-1771 (did not sit after 1769). Also served as judge of the Suffolk Inferior Court, 1752-1758, and as Suffolk County Judge of Probate, 1752-1769. As judge and Governor, involved in the major political events of the period, including the arguments on writs of assistance (No. 44), the Stamp Act crisis, the Boston Massacre (Nos. 63, 64), the burning of the Gaspee, and the Boston Tea Party. Called to England in 1774 and relieved as Governor; never returned to Massachusetts. Author of 'History of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay', a thoughtful and scholarly work, of principal value for its account of his own administration (first published in 3 vols., 1764-1828; ed. Lawrence Shaw Mayo, Cambridge, Mass., 1936, 3 vols.). 8 Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates 149-215. "
Note Citation: Adams, John, L. Kinvin Wroth, and Hiller B. Zobel. Legal Papers of John Adams. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1965. Volume 1.