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James Otis II
At times, when we are conducting tours in our Meetinghouse, we point to the east gallery and reveal it as the location of the parish school where such greats of our town as James Otis II received his primary education. Often people respond, "Who was he?" We are amazed at the ignorance many of our local people reveal about the life of this great man. Many think he invented the elevator or he must have been a great aviator because they named the air base after him. Neither is true. In a few words - He is the man who started the American Revolution.
Born in 1725 in the West Parish of Barnstable, he was prepared for Harvard by his uncle and pastor, Rev. Jonathan Russell. He entered Harvard, eventually received his MA degree, and became a successful Boston lawyer. He achieved the position of King's Advocate General of the Vice Admiralty Court, a position that would give him great wealth, prestige and power. This court dealt with cases involving the sea and shipping. In 1760, the Writs of Assistance were issued. These were general search warrants that did not name the place to be searched and were issued in perpetuity. The British authorities wanted to use the writs to arrest colonists who smuggled goods into the British colonies to avoid paying taxes but in practice, they became a license to steal. Otis considered the writs a most onerous act and a violation of the British Constitution. He resigned his post and took up the defense of the colonists he should ha\'e been prosecuting, with a four-hour fiery oration during which such concepts as, "No taxation without representation" and "Every man's home is his castle" came forth. The city of Boston became electrified with rage and the march to the Revolution began. Later John Adams said, "the American nation was born in that moment."
In 1761, when he became one of Boston's representatives in the Massachusetts colonial legislature, his fiery agitation continued. He proposed a meeting of representatives of all the colonies, a suggestion that eventually led to the formation of the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, in which nine colonies gathered to consider joint action against British authority. It was the forerunner of the Continental Congress.
In 1769, he was attacked by a British revenue officer that resented his criticism. A serious head wound resulted which eventually caused him to experience periods of psychosis which removed him from the political scene. A bolt of lightening in 1783 killed him.
Bob Russell (former Foundation Historian) and Whitney Farnham
 
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