[Hutchinson, Thomas]:

$1,750 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

THE LETTERS OF GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON, AND LIEUT. GOVERNOR OLIVER, &c. PRINTED AT BOSTON. AND REMARKS THEREON. WITH THE ASSEMBLY'S ADDRESS, AND THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LORDS COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL. ... Second edition. This edition was edited by Israel Mauduit and printed to defend his friend, Gov. Hutchinson. These letters by Hutchinson were leaked by a party unknown, but probably Benjamin Franklin, who was then still in London as agent for Pennsylvania and assistant postmaster for the American colonies. The mistrust of colonial intentions revealed in the letters created a firestorm of criticism in Boston and led to Hutchinson's literally fleeing the colony. "Publication of these letters - copies of which Franklin had secured in London - fanned revolutionary sentiment in America more than any other book of the period" - Howes. This volume also prints the proceedings of Franklin's grilling before the Privy Council. After Franklin's appearance and the famed assault on his character by Wedderburn, he was stripped of his post office sinecure, and his position in London was made difficult. The whole incident was a major escalation of the Revolutionary tensions in the American colonies, and the cause of Franklin's final disillusionment with the British ministry.

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