Everything about Robert Treat Paine totally explained
» For others with the same name, see Robert Treat Paine (disambiguation).
Robert Treat Paine (
March 11,
1731–
May 11,
1814) was a signer of the
Declaration of Independence as a representative of
Massachusetts.
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended the
Boston Latin School. He graduated from
Harvard College in 1749, then taught school and studied theology. He became a merchant and traveled to the southern colonies, Spain, the Azores and England. He returned home and was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts in 1757 or 1759, practicing in
Portland (then part of Massachusetts but now in Maine), and later in
Taunton, Massachusetts.
In 1768 he was a delegate to the provincial convention which was called to meet in Boston and conducted the prosecution of Captain Thomas Preston and his British soldiers following the
Boston Massacre of
March 5,
1770; John Adams was opposing counsel.
He served in the
Massachusetts General Court from 1773 to 1774, in the Provincial Congress from 1774 to 1775 represented Massachusetts at the
Continental Congress of 1776. (He served in the Continental Congress from
1774 through
1778 and helped frame the rules of debate and acquire
gunpowder for the coming war). He signed the final appeal to the king (the
Olive Branch Petition) in 1775.
He was speaker of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives in
1777, a member of the
executive council in
1779, a member of the committee which drafted the constitution of
1780, Massachusetts Attorney General from
1777 to
1790 and a justice of the state supreme court from 1790 to
1804 when he retired. When he died at the age of 83 in
1814 he was buried in the
Granary Burying Ground in Boston. A statue to commemorate him was erected in the Church Green area of Taunton.
Paine is a descendant of early American settler
Robert Treat.
Paine is an ancestor of and namesake of contemporary American actor
Treat Williams through his mother's line.
Portrayals in the Media
HBO's 2008 miniseries
John Adams features Robert Treat Paine. In episode one, Paine prosecutes the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. After losing in court, Paine and some colleagues visit Adams at home and attempt to enlist his support and use his credibility as an impartial party in taking a stand against the British.
External links
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