Scandal and Betrayal
Scandal and Betrayal
Resolves of the House of Representatives, Respecting the Letters of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Others…191
Benjamin Franklin …197
Americans' Reactions to Benedict Arnold's Treason…203
Beginning in 1765, Great Britain tried to collect taxes in America to pay its own bills. Americans grew increasingly angry. They claimed that Parliament, Great Britain's lawmaking body, had no right to tax people who had no representation in Parliament. Men who were supposed to collect the taxes were abused by the colonists and had their property damaged or destroyed. A major center for this kind of activity was Boston, Massachusetts, where mobs rioted in the streets and total disorder resulted. Finally, fearful that they were losing their hold over America, the British sent armed soldiers to keep the peace in Boston. Bostonians resented the presence of the soldiers, and in 1770, the tension led to the event known as the Boston Massacre, in which five Americans were killed by British soldiers. The tension continued to escalate, and relations between Great Britain and America became more hostile.
Thomas Hutchinson (1711–1780; see sidebar entry on Hutchinson on p. 173) was a key figure in the events in Boston that led up to the Revolutionary War. Born and raised in Massachusetts, he had a long and distinguished career in colonial government. He had been appointed by Parliament to several high positions and was finally named governor in 1771. Hutchinson's great misfortune was that he was a Loyalist (he was loyal to King George and Parliament) and he was a conservative (a person who wished to preserve society's existing institutions). He loved his home colony, and he was sad to watch the rioting in Boston and hear the angry talk about breaking off from the mother country (Britain). Between 1767 and 1769, Hutchinson, his brother-in-law, Andrew Oliver (1706–1774), and several other Massachusetts citizens wrote of what they were observing in Massachusetts and sent the letters to friends back in England.
In 1772, colonial statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706–1774) got hold of the letters written by Hutchinson and the others. When the content of the letters was leaked to the public, Hutchinson found himself feared and hated as the worst kind of traitor. He remained America's foremost traitor until late in the Revolutionary War. In 1780, the actions of another ambitious and talented man shocked America. That year, General Benedict Arnold (1741–1801) suddenly betrayed his country and went over to the British side.
The first part of this chapter explores the events written about in the scandalous Hutchinson letters, so called because he was the best known of the writers. What happened after their discovery and publication years later is also examined. The Hutchinson letters affair illustrates the tragedy that can result from the decisions of well-meaning people with conflicting loyalties. The second part of this chapter explores America's reaction to the news that one of its greatest war heroes—Benedict Arnold—had betrayed the cause of independence.