author
Thomas Hutchinson
1711–1780
A brilliant but deeply controversial figure in colonial Massachusetts, he was both a careful historian and the last royal governor of the province before the American Revolution. His life sits at the center of the growing clash between imperial authority and colonial resistance.
2 Audiobooks
Copy of Letters Sent to Great-Britain by His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, the Hon. Andrew Oliver, and Several Other Persons
by Thomas Hutchinson, Andrew Oliver
The witchcraft delusion of 1692
by Thomas Hutchinson
About the author
Born in Boston in 1711, Thomas Hutchinson grew up in a prominent merchant family, graduated from Harvard at a remarkably young age, and built a career that moved from trade into public office. He served Massachusetts in a series of powerful roles, including legislator, lieutenant governor, chief justice, and finally royal governor.
Hutchinson believed strongly in the British imperial system and tried to defend crown authority in a colony that was becoming more and more resistant to it. That loyalty made him one of the most disliked officials in pre-Revolutionary Massachusetts, especially after his private letters helped inflame public anger. During the unrest that led to the Boston Tea Party and the outbreak of revolution, he became a symbol of royal power and eventually left for England.
He is also remembered as a historian. His multi-volume history of Massachusetts remains one of the most important firsthand accounts of colonial New England, shaped by the perspective of a man who was both an observer of events and a central participant in them. He died in London in 1780.