Political Life:
Dissent &
Democracy
After Otis made a name for himself as a lawyer, he entered the political world of colonial Massachusetts. Otis thrived in the tumultuous decade of the 1760s, but his hot temper earned him a divisive reputation and he struggled to define his political views.
Advocate General, 1760
With a population of 15,000 in 1760, Boston was one of the largest settlements in British colonial America. The port town was the center of both Massachusetts’ political and economic scenes–an excellent location for an ambitious young lawyer. Only ten years into his practice, James Otis was gaining attention for his well-respected legal work.
In 1760, Otis was appointed Advocate General. In this role, Otis was the Crown’s legal representative. Regardless of his personal opinions, it was his job to enforce British laws and defend them in court. He worked from the Old State House, then called the “Town House.”
One of the laws Otis had to defend was the use of search warrants called “Writs of Assistance.” These warrants gave crown officials the power to search for smuggled goods on private property without probable cause or permission from the property owner. To many Boston merchants, the writs seemed to violate a long-held British right to privacy and protection against unreasonable searches. Otis agreed, and now faced a decision between his principles and his career.
The Writs of Assistance, 1761
Otis Arguing the Writs of Assistance, 1901
James Otis argued against the Writs of Assistance in front of an Otis family rival, Chief Justice Thomas Hutchinson. Both men became important in revolutionary Boston, for very different reasons.
Despite the political consequences, Otis resigned his office, and instead represented the protesting merchants, delivering a fiery, five-hour long speech that promoted the rights of British citizens. Otis argued that the writs were not only legally wrong, but that they threatened the people’s freedom from tyranny.
While Otis lost the case, his argument was widely discussed and his ideas about challenging unfair government actions inspired later colonial resistance to British rule. His idea, that Britain could not tax the colonies without elected representatives in Parliament, is remembered as “no taxation without representation,” although Otis did not use those exact words.
The Old State House
Otis was deeply influenced by his surroundings. While eighteenth-century Massachusetts was considerably less developed than today, the bustle of Boston often made his mental health worse, while the countryside allowed him respite. This map traces important locations in Otis’ life.
As you explore, we invite you to consider how your own mental state changes depending on your environment.
Representative of the People, 1761-1769
Otis’ arguments against the Writs of Assistance resonated with voters, and soon after the trial, Otis was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. From this front row seat, Otis argued loudly against laws–and people–that he considered unjust. This earned him many friends, as well as enemies.
Otis was instrumental in building the radical faction’s popularity. After full days in the House, he and Samuel Adams spent hours crafting articles and opinions to publish in the Boston Gazette, a partisan newspaper. Even his social time was spent talking politics with colleagues.
In 1764, after Parliament passed the first of many new taxes on colonists, Otis was one of the first voices to speak out. He published a pamphlet titled The Rights of the British Colonists Asserted and Proved, which boldly declared that any government action that violated the natural and civil rights of citizens could not be legal. Radicals celebrated this idea and used it to justify acting out against the crown. Others called it treason.
The Rights of the British Colonies, Asserted and Proved, 1764
Otis’ radical pamphlet brought the Enlightenment ideas of natural rights into discussions of citizenship, helping to elevate an issue about taxation into an issue of representation.
Uncertain Politics, 1760s
For all of Otis’ criticism of Parliament, he was a proud British citizen. He truly believed in British law and the government, and backtracked when he realized his ideas might inspire rebellion. Otis quickly wrote more pamphlets that attempted to clarify his political stance, insisting that even if colonists did not agree with Parliament’s actions, that didn’t mean they could revolt or ignore them.
Even though Otis’ reputation afforded him good political credit, some radicals who read his subsequent writings were baffled. With the benefit of 60 years of hindsight, John Adams recalled that Otis “was called a reprobate, an apostate, and a traitor, in every street in Boston [...] The indignation of all his political friends against him was universal.”
Even so, Otis was too beloved and influential to consider cutting out of the cause. He was sent to the Stamp Act Congress a few months later, and remained the go-to man for rallying Bostonians against Parliament. In 1768, he co-authored the Massachusetts Circular Letter with Samuel Adams, which reasserted that Parliament had no right to tax the colonies without their consent. The letter was sent to other colonies, and enraged those loyal to the Crown.
Inner Turmoil, Public Defiance
As the radical movement took hold in colonial Massachusetts, Otis struggled to precisely define his position. He made himself the clear leader of the faction and fought against unfair treatment by Parliament, but also warned against ever considering independence. His indecisive pamphlets of the 1760s were one of the only times he revealed his internal debates to the public, and it had a poor reception.
With his inner turmoil, commitment to the radical movement, and short temper, Otis saw only one path forward: he doubled down on his criticisms of the Crown and those who supported it. Come 1769, it would lead him to even more trouble, and the start of his mental decline.
The Repeal, 1766
Otis and his fellow radicals vehemently opposed the Stamp Act, which put a tax on all paper goods. This political cartoon celebrates Parliament’s repeal of the Act on March 18, 1766.
Otis was the face of the radical movement in the early 1760s, but at every possible turn, he encouraged his colleagues to promote reform instead of revolution. After his 1765 pamphlet which reaffirmed the Crown’s authority over the colonies, he was criticized by some for praising the British Empire.
Have you ever changed your mind about something important to you? How did people respond? Did that make you doubt your position?
