Thomas Hutchinson came to personify unpopular British policies. He would become the last civilian governor of colonial Massachusetts.
“My temper does not incline to enthusiasm.”
- Thomas Hutchinson
”Temperamental Journey
Thomas Hutchinson’s mind ran toward “firmness not subtlety,” wrote historian Bernard Bailyn. “He didn’t understand people who were sensitive to what power was because they had never been able to share in it.” His acquisitiveness - for money and public office - alienated many. (At one point Hutchinson was Chief Justice, Lieutenant Governor, and a member of the legislature at the same time.) His inflexible personality was a major factor in the events of 1773.
- Massachusetts State House Art Collection
The Old State House, seat of Massachusetts government during the Tea Act crisis. In defiance of British government officials, Patriots held the most consequential meetings in other Boston locations.
- National Park Service
Burn out
Thomas Hutchinson Governor Thomas Hutchinson. Massachusetts State House Art Collection By 1773 Governor Thomas Hutchinson was weary and anxious to leave America for a visit to England. As Lieutenant Governor, during the Stamp Tax crisis of 1765, a mob had attacked and destroyed his elegant Boston home. After the 1770 Boston Massacre the British government repealed some taxes and withdrew soldiers from downtown Boston to Castle Island. The result was a lull in anti-government activities. The Tea Act returned colonial firebrands like Samuel Adams to center stage.
![Ironically Thomas Hutchinson had privately advised removal of the Townsend duty on tea in 1770. “I think that the repeal of it …is necessary to prevent disorders in the colonies [and] those unlawful, riotous meetings…which have almost destroyed all sense of subordination in the peoples of Boston and other commercial towns.” Massachusetts Archives](img/11_b.png "Ironically Thomas Hutchinson had privately advised removal of the Townsend duty on tea in 1770. “I think that the repeal of it …is necessary to prevent disorders in the colonies [and] those unlawful, riotous meetings…which have almost destroyed all sense of subordination in the peoples of Boston and other commercial towns.” Massachusetts Archives")
- Massachusetts Archives
Legacy: John Winthrop’s descendant John Kerry ran against Ann Hutchinson descendent George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election
THE HUTCHINSON FAMILY IN AMERICA
Thomas Hutchinson was a descendant of Anne Hutchinson. In 1634, she was banished from colonial Massachusetts by Governor John Winthrop in a dispute about religious doctrine. Her descendants include Franklin Roosevelt, Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Bush family, and Mitt Romney.