Harrison Gray Otis (politician)

Harrison Gray Otis

Harrison Gray Otis (born October 8, 1765 in Boston , Massachusetts Bay Province, † October 28, 1848 ibid ) was an American businessman , lawyer and politician and one of the most important leaders of the Federalists , the first political party in the United States.

During his lifetime, Otis was considered one of the richest men in Boston with an estimated private fortune of $ 800,000 in 1846 . Converted to the year 2010, this fortune corresponds to an amount between 23.5 million and 5.6 billion dollars, depending on the calculation method. If inflation is taken into account, the current value is $ 27,552,893.

Early life

Harrison Gray Otis was the son of Elizabeth (Gray) and Samuel Allyne Otis . His uncle was James Otis Jr. , who fought in the Revolutionary War, and his father was an active member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in early US politics. His aunt was the well-known poet Mercy Otis Warren .

Education and career

Otis graduated from Boston Latin School in 1773 and then studied law at Harvard University , which he graduated from in 1783. He was admitted to the bar in 1786 and began practicing in Boston. On May 31, 1790, he married Sally Foster . In 1794 he was elected to the Massachusetts General Court , in 1796 he was appointed federal attorney for the Massachusetts district by the then US President George Washington . In 1797 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives for the Federal Party as representative for Massachusetts , where he remained until 1801. From 1801 to 1802 he was appointed by President John Adams again to the United States Attorney , then he worked again at the level of Massachusetts until 1817, where he was President of the State Senate twice (1805-1806, 1808-1811). In 1804 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In the following years he was elected as Senator for Massachusetts (1817-1822) and was Mayor of Boston (1829-1831). He also served several terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives , as its speaker he also served.

In 1814 he was also a judge on the Court of Common Pleas (until 1818) and played an important role as a delegate at the controversial Hartford Convention , which discussed whether New England should secede from the United States. In the end, the result led to the downfall of the federalists. Otis later defended the meeting in his Letters Developing the Character and Views of the Hartford Convention (1820) and Letters in Defense of the Hartford Convention (1824).

Otis oversaw Harvard University from 1810 to 1823 and was a Fellow from 1823 to 1825 . He was also one of the founders of the Boston Bank . During his career, he built three large apartment buildings in quick succession (see Harrison Gray Otis House ), all of which were designed by the Boston architect Charles Bulfinch . Otis died in Boston on October 28, 1848 and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery , Cambridge .

Political affairs

Otis was embroiled in a major financial scandal related to the selection of a plot of land for the Massachusetts State House . Boston was to remain the State Capitol of the State of Massachusetts ; the city called Otis into a committee that should buy suitable land and donate it to the state. He also implemented this, but also privately bought a neighboring 18.5 acres (74,867 m²) plot of land privately from John Singleton Copley, who was then living in England . After a decade of legal proceedings, the sale was finalized and Otis worked with the owners of Mount Vernon to develop much of what is now Beacon Hill .

Picture gallery

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  The second house of Harrison Gray Otis in Beacon Hill .

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  Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis, portrait by Gilbert Stuart

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  The grave of Harrison Gray Otis in Mount Auburn Cemetery

literature

All biographical information taken from:

• Samuel E. Morison: Harrison Gray Otis, 1765-1848 . The urban federalist. Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1969, OCLC 1651 .

Web links

Commons : Harrison Gray Otis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Harrison Gray Otis in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Seven Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a US Dollar Amount - 1774 to Present. In: Measuring Worth. Retrieved March 2, 2012 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Christopher Gore	State Attorney for the District of Massachusetts 1796	John Davis
John Coffin Jones	Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives 1803–1805	Timothy Bigelow
Josiah Quincy III	Mayor of Boston Jan. 5, 1829–2. January 1832	Charles Wells