James Otis:
Distracted Person
In 1769, Otis suffered a head wound in a brawl. This event is almost always considered as the start of Otis’ mental decline. After the injury, he changed from a well-spoken man to someone who, at times, could barely tell simple stories. The colonial term for someone with a non-violent mental illness was “distracted person.” For Otis, it could not have been a more accurate description.
As the years went on, Otis’ behavior became bizarre and violent. His family and friends were forced to step in.
Interior of a coffeehouse, ca. 1690-1700
Colonial Boston was home to several coffeehouses which served considerably more rum, beer, and Madeira wine than coffee.
The Caning, 1769
When James Otis met the customs official John Robinson at the British Coffee House on September 5, 1769, he was already itching for a fight of some kind. Ever since the passage of the Townshend Acts two years earlier, he had been quarreling with local tax collectors in court and in the press. Before that night, Robinson and Otis had only exchanged words, but after Otis practically challenged Robinson to a duel in the most recent Boston Gazette, the two agreed to meet in person.
Witnesses described the event in different ways, some saying Otis hit Robinson first, others saying Otis never hit Robinson at all. Regardless, the encounter concluded with Otis stumbling out of the tavern, bleeding from a deep gash in his head–the result of a blow from Robinson’s walking stick.
The Boston Gazette and Country Journal (detail), 1769
In this edition of the Gazette, Otis prophetically writes “I have a natural right if I can get no other satisfaction than to break his head."
Walking Stick, 1774
Well-to-do men in colonial America carried walking sticks as fashion accessories and status symbols, and occasionally, as weapons. This cane is similar to the one Robinson used to beat Otis.
The Bloody Massacre, 1770
On March 5, 1770, in the shadow of the Old State House, British soldiers fired into a crowd of civilians, resulting in five deaths and several injuries. The deeply traumatic event now known as the “Boston Massacre” upset many townsfolk, Otis included.
Steep Descent, 1769-1771
Otis’ personality changed quickly after his caning. Once a concise, carefully-worded orator, he now spoke “like a Ship without an Helm [...] verbose, and rambling, and long winded.” He stretched out short stories to last hours and took up entire nights with his distracted, nonsensical talking. After a particularly long evening with him, John Adams confided in his journal, “I fear he is not in his perfect Mind.”
In March of 1770, following the chaos of the Boston Massacre, Otis himself became violent. Boston merchant John Rowe wrote in his diary, “Mr. Otis got into a mad freak too night & broke a great many windows in the Town House.” A few weeks later, Rowe mentioned that Otis “behaved Very madly firing Guns Out of his Window.”
A Professional Assessment
Did James Otis, Jr. have a mental illness? Some have speculated he had a mood disorder well before his caning, and the head injury accentuated his less-desirable personality traits. Others, like Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Assumption University, Dr. Leonard Doerfler, believe the injury can explain nearly all of Otis' erratic behavior on its own:
"Some individuals who experience a brain injury show dramatic changes in behavior after that event. There can be changes in emotion and behavior, including anger, irritability, and mood shifts. Along with this, sometimes aggressive and argumentative behavior occurs in individuals who never showed this tendency before their injury."
Temporary “Madness,” 1770-1771
Otis’ friends, family, and doctors were willing to dismiss his rambling as a harmless symptom, but after his more dramatic actions in March of 1770, they took action. In May, Otis’ doctors suggested he leave Boston for the countryside, where they hoped his mental condition would improve.
Upon hearing the news, the Boston Town Meeting publicly acknowledged his significance as a community leader, and wished him a speedy recovery. Colonists considered mental illness to be temporary, so when Otis left, the Town Meeting assumed that once he recovered, he would be able to serve again.
After recuperating in the countryside, Otis was re-elected to office in 1771. Despite his apparent recovery, he still had intermittent spells of instability. John Adams, chronicling Otis’ condition in the privacy of his journal, speculated, “He will certainly soon relapse into his former Condition. He trembles. His Nerves are irritable.” Loyalists noted his deteriorating condition, too. Chief Justice Peter Oliver wrote with some scorn:
“The last I heard of him was, that he seemed to be a living Monument of the Justice of Heaven, by his being a miserable Vagabond, rolling in the Streets & Gutters, the laughing-Stock of Boys & the Song of the Drunkard.”
-Peter Oliver, 1781
Love Thy Neighbor
In the American colonies, “distracted persons” were treated with empathy, stemming from the belief that mental illness was temporary. Colonists accepted a wide range of unusual behavior from their neighbors as long as they continued to contribute to society. However, when someone with mental illness began disturbing the peace or was no longer able to manage their own affairs, the community took action.
In most cases, “lunaticks” were cared for by their families at home, such as when James Otis, Jr. stayed with his father in Barnstable. However, for families struggling to make ends meet, the added responsibility of caring for a mentally ill relative proved too much. These individuals, the “pauper insane,” were sent to the local poor house, at town expense.
Probate record of James Otis, 1771
As part of the paperwork that declared Otis non compos mentis, this document records that Samuel Allyne Otis agreed to “faithfully take Care as well of the Person as Estate both Real and Personal of the said Non-Compos.”
Non Compos Mentis, 1771
Showing few signs of improvement, Otis’s family and friends approached a judge with concerns about his sanity. They asked for the town’s selectmen to appoint a guardian to care for him and his estate. In November of 1771, Boston’s selectmen, including allies and friends like John Hancock, determined that Otis was a “Lunatick Person.” He was given the legal status non compos mentis (not of sound mind), and his youngest brother Samuel Allyne was appointed his guardian.
Samuel Allyne chose to board his older brother in the countryside again, hoping that an escape from the chaos of Boston would aid in his recovery. Once more, the peace seemed to help Otis, and after a few months, he was cleared of his non compos status and released from guardianship.
Recovery and Relapse, 1772-1783
Otis drifted in and out of the political scene until 1774, when Boston’s elected government was dissolved by an exasperated British Parliament. He returned to live with his father and brother in Barnstable, and although he passed the first few years of the American Revolution safely, he couldn’t escape the heartache and destruction of war. During the conflict, Otis endured three major losses: the death of his father and his son, as well as a perceived betrayal by his daughter, Betsy, who married a British officer and fled the country.
Trauma after trauma weighed on Otis’ heart and mind, and he once again relapsed into mental illness; he was soon declared non compos mentis again. Otis was sent back to the countryside, sometimes returning to Boston for a ceremony or dinner with friends who now governed the state, only to leave each time after getting agitated and overwhelmed.
Patriot, Hero, Distracted Person
“The only principles of public conduct, that are worthy of a gentleman or a man, are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even life to the sacred calls of his country. These manly sentiments, in private life, make the good citizen; in public life, the patriot and the hero.”
-James Otis, Jr., 1761
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By 1777, Otis was a shadow of who he had been just sixteen years before. Having a hot temper, working at all hours, and not wanting to confront his hesitation for breaking with Great Britain didn’t amount to a mental illness. They did, however, put him in the position to recklessly confront a tax official and suffer a brain injury. His actions from here on only worsened his mental health, and he ultimately lost his estate, ease, health, applause, and life as a consequence. Yet, in doing so, Otis lived up to his own definition of a good citizen, patriot, and hero.
Portrait of James Otis, 1755
This portrait captures the successful 30-year-old Otis, with his growing legal practice in Boston. There are no images of Otis after his caning.