Thomas Hutchinson

Thomas Hutchinson 1711-80, colonial governor of Massachusetts (1771-74) and historian, b. Boston. A descendant of Anne Hutchinson, he was a man of wealth and prominence, of learning, and of notable integrity. He entered public life when he became (1737) a member of the General Court, the Massachusetts legislature. When the cost of the Louisburg campaign was repaid to Massachusetts, he proposed (1748) that the money be used to redeem the colony's depreciated currency. The plan, which was ultimately successful in stimulating trade, caused Hutchinson to lose the election in 1749 and aligned him with the conservatives. He was a member of the governor's council (1749-66), a delegate to the Albany Congress (1754), chief justice (1760-61), and lieutenant governor (1758-71). When he was appointed royal governor in 1771, Hutchinson was perhaps the most powerful man in the colony, but he had bitter political enemies among the radicals, notably Samuel Adams. Though he considered the Stamp Act and other government measures unwise, he had favored strict enforcement, and his unpopularity caused a mob to sack and burn his mansion in 1765. His unpopularity increased after he became governor, and he favored strenuous measures against the growing discontent. These views were exposed when letters he had written to English friends were made public. In 1773 he refused to let the tea-laden ships clear Boston Harbor and thus brought on the Boston Tea Party . As tension grew worse he was replaced as governor by Gen. Thomas Gage and moved to England. He was the author of an accurate, scholarly, and useful book, The History of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay (3 vol., 1764-1828; modern ed. by L. S. Mayo, 1936).

Bibliography: See his diary and letters (ed. by P. O. Hutchinson, 1883-86, repr. 1971); study by B. Bailyn (1974).

Hutchinson, Thomas (1711–80), member of a prominent Boston family, enjoyed a brilliant political career. At one time he was simultaneously member of the council, judge of probate, chief justice, and lieutenant governor. He was the last royal governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (1771–74). Although he was the most influential man in the colony, his “hard money” policy and decided Tory leanings made him unpopular with the Adams family and others. His strict enforcement of the Stamp Act and the fact that a family member was a stamp distributor led to the burning of his mansion in 1765. He was also hated because the Hutchinson Letters, said to have been sent to a former secretary of British Foreign Secretary Grenville, urged drastic measures to curb “what are called English Liberties” in the colonies. Franklin came upon the letters and sent them to a friend with instructions to keep them private, but they were published (1772) and the resulting scandal led to Franklin's removal from the post of deputy postmaster‐general. Hutchinson's hatred of the liberal colonists increased, and it was his strenuous Tory policy that led to the Boston Tea Party, after which he left for England. His History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, from its First Settlement in 1628 to the year 1750 (2 vols., 1764, 1767) was based on a wide study of manuscript sources, but he was better equipped for minute than for general analysis, and lacked creative imagination with which to reconstruct the past. A third volume, bringing the history down to 1774, was published (1828), and he was the author of several pamphlets dealing with colonial history. A continuation of the History was made by George Minot. Hutchinson is satirized in Mercy Otis Warren's The Adulateur.