Everything about Harrison Gray Otis Lawyer totally explained
Harrison Gray Otis (
October 8,
1765 –
October 28,
1848),
Unitarian businessman, lawyer, and politician, was after 1801 one of the most important leaders of the
United States' first political party, the
Federalists.
Otis was born in
Boston, Massachusetts to Elizabeth (Gray) and
Samuel Allyne Otis. His uncle was
Revolutionary War leader
James Otis, and his father was active in early American politics as a member of
Massachusetts state house of representatives, delegate to Massachusetts state constitutional convention, and
Continental Congress delegate from Massachusetts. His aunt was
Mercy Otis Warren, a well-known poet. Another descendant was Montgomery Harrison Ritchie, who died in the
American Civil War and was the first husband of
Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie Adair.
Otis himself married Sally Foster on May 3, 1780, graduated from
Harvard University in 1783, then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1786, when he commenced practice in Boston. In 1794 he was elected to the
Massachusetts legislature, and in 1796 was appointed by President
George Washington to be district attorney for Massachusetts. In 1797, he was elected
U.S. Representative from Massachusetts as a Federalist and a strong advocate for centralized government, in which office he served until 1801. He was appointed United States district attorney for Massachusetts by President
John Adams (1801-1802), and again served in the state legislature from 1802 to 1817, serving several terms as
President of the state senate (1805-1806, 1808-1811). In subsequent years, Otis was elected
U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1817-1822), and then
Mayor of Boston (1829-1831).
In 1814, in the midst of his political career, he was also named a judge of the court of common pleas (1814-1818), and played a leading role as delegate to the controversial
Hartford Convention in which
New England's secession from the
United States was discussed. It led to the demise of the Federalists. Otis subsequently defended the convention in his
Letters Developing the Character and Views of the Hartford Convention (1820) and his
Letters in Defence of the Hartford Convention (1824).
Around 1831, Otis was involved in a major financial scandal during the site selection for the
Massachusetts State House. Boston was determined to remain the state capitol, and appointed Otis to a town committee to purchase land and donate it to the state. He did so, and also quietly arranged his own private purchase of 18.5 adjoining acres from the agent of
John Singleton Copley, then living in
England. After a decade of legal arguments, the sale was upheld, and Otis and the
Mount Vernon Proprietors developed a large part of
Beacon Hill.
Otis was an overseer of
Harvard University from 1810-1823, and a fellow of the university from 1823-1825, as well as one of the original incorporators of the
Boston Bank. During the course of his career, he built not one but three grand houses in quick succession (see
Harrison Gray Otis House), all designed by noted architect
Charles Bulfinch. He died in Boston on October 28, 1848, and is buried in
Mount Auburn Cemetery,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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