Hutchinson Letters Affair

Hutchinson Letters Affair

The Hutchinson Letters Affair was an incident that increased tensions between the American colonies and the British government prior to the American Revolution.

By December 1772, the relationship between Great Britain and the American colonies was strained following the Sugar, Stamp, Quartering, Declaratory and Townshend Acts. At that time, Benjamin Franklin, who was living in England as a representative of several colonies including Massachusetts, anonymously received a packet of thirteen letters. In these private letters, Thomas Hutchinson, the royal Governor of Massachusetts, made some damning comments about colonial rights. Hutchinson recommended that popular government be taken away from the people "by degrees", and that there should be "abridgement of what are called English liberties."

Franklin, believing that his friends in Boston should know this information, sent the letters to them on the condition that they not published or widely circulated. However, the letters were published in the "Boston Gazette" in June 1773.

Bostonians were outraged and forced Hutchinson back to England. The British government was infuriated about the publication of private correspondence and demanded to know who leaked the letters. In December 1773, the government had accused three innocent people of leaking the documents. To protect them, Franklin admitted his guilt and he was reprimanded in January 1774. Later that year, Franklin left England and returned to America, where he would serve in the Second Continental Congress and help lead the American Revolution.

Contents of the letters

Letter to Commodore John Gambier - Commanding Officer of the Royal Naval Station at Halifax, NS:

quotation|To Commodore Gambier
Boston, June 30, 1772.
Dear Sir,
... Our last ships carried you the news ofthe burning of the "Gaspee" schooner at Providence. I hope if there should be another like attempt, some concerned in it may be taken prisoners andcarried directly to England. A few punished at Execution Dock would bethe only effectual preventive of any further attempts...
Thos. HutchinsonLetter to Thomas Pownall - Successful Administrator in the Colonies for England. Served as lieutenant governor of Province of Massachusetts Bay, governor of South Carolina, secretary to the governor of New York and lieutenant governor of New Jersey:

quotation|To Secretary Pownal
Boston, August 29, 1772.
Dear Sir,
I troubled you with a long letter the 21st ofJuly. Give me leave now only to add one or two things which I then intended,but, to avoid being too tedious, omitted. People in thisprovince, both friends an enemies to government, are in great expectations fromthe late affair at Rhode Island of burning the King's schooner, and theyconsider the manner in which the news of it will be received in England, and themeasures to be taken, as decisive. If it is passed over without afull inquiry and due resentment, our liberty people will think they maywith impunity commit any acts of violence, be they ever so atrocious,and the friends to government will despond, and give up all hopes of beingable to withstand the faction. The persons who were immediateactors are men of estate and property in the colony. A prosecution isimpossible. If ever the government of that colony is to be reformed, this seems tobe the time, and it would have a happy effect on the colonies whichadjoin to it. Several persons have been advised by letters from theirfriends that as the ministry are united, and the opposition at an end, therewill certainly be an inquiry into the state of America, the next session ofParliament. The denial of the supremacy of Parliament and thecontempt with which its authority has been treated by the Lilliputian assembliesof America can never be justified or excused by any one member ofeither house of Parliament....
Thos. Hutchinson

Letter to Samuel Hood, Esq. - British admiral:

quotation|To Samuel Hood, Esq.
Boston, September 2, 1772.
Dear Sir,
Captain Linzee can inform you of the state of Rhode Island colony better than I can. So daringan insult as burning the King's schooner, by people who are as well knownas any who were concerned in the last rebellion and yet cannot be prosecuted,will certainly rouse the British lion, which has been asleep these fouror five years. Admiral Montague says that Lord Sandwich will neverleave pursuing the colony, until it is disenfranchised. If it is passedover, the other colonies will follow the example.
Thos. Hutchinson

References


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