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Robert Treat Paine

 
Robert Treat Paine
(born March 11, 1731, Boston, Mass. — died May 11, 1814, Boston, Mass., U.S.) U.S. jurist. A lawyer in his native Boston from 1757, he gained recognition as a prosecuting attorney in the murder trial of the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. He was a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He also served as Massachusetts' first attorney general (1777 – 90) and as a judge in the state supreme court (1790 – 1804).

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Columbia Encyclopedia:

Robert Treat Paine

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Paine, Robert Treat, 1731-1814, political figure in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Boston, Mass. He served briefly as a chaplain in the French and Indian War but gave up the ministry for law. In 1770 he conducted the prosecution of the British troops indicted for murder in the Boston Massacre. Paine was a member of the Continental Congress (1774-78) and in 1775 was sent (with John Langdon and Robert R. Livingston) on an unsuccessful mission to win Canada to the Revolutionary cause. Paine later served as attorney general of Massachusetts and then (1790-1804) as state supreme court justice.
Dictionary: Paine   (pān) pronunciation
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, Robert Treat 1731-1814.

American Revolutionary leader and jurist. A signer of the Declaration of Independence, he later served as a justice of the Massachusetts supreme court (1790-1804).


Works:

Works by Robert Treat Paine

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(1737-1814)

1795"The Invention of Letters." A commencement verse delivered at Harvard University, recording the history of thought and including a eulogy of Washington and an attack on Jacobins. A well-regarded poet, drama critic, editor, and lawyer, Paine was the second son of Robert Treat Paine the elder, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
1796"The Ruling Passion." Paine's longest and best poem praises "private virtue ripening public love." Biographer Charles Prentiss proclaims, "We know of no satire, of Horace, of Juvenal, Boileau or Pope that surpasses it."
1798"Adams and Liberty." The verse, written for the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society, praises post-Revolutionary America's triumph over European oppression. It is Paine's most famous work, sung throughout America.
1812Works. A posthumous collection gathered by the editor Charles Prentiss that displays the author's versatility with various genres, including political satire, drama criticism, neoclassical verse, and spiritual prose.

Wikipedia:

Robert Treat Paine

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Robert Treat Paine

Robert Treat Paine
by Edward Savage (artist) &
John Coles, Jr.
Born March 11, 1731(1731-03-11)
Boston, Massachusetts
Died May 11, 1814 (aged 83)
Resting place Granary Burying Ground, Boston
Residence Taunton, Massachusetts
Education Harvard College
Occupation Lawyer
Known for Signer of the Declaration of Independence
Signature
Statue of Robert Treat Paine (1904), Taunton, Massachusetts

Robert Treat Paine (March 11, 1731 – May 11, 1814) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence as a representative of Massachusetts.

Contents

Biography

Early life and ancestors

He was born at Boston, Massachusetts, on March 11, 1731. He was one of five children[1] and a son of the Rev. Thomas Paine,[2] [3] Harvard College 1717, who was pastor of the Congreational church at Weymouth, Massachusetts and subsequently a merchant in Boston; and Eunice Treat, the daughter of Rev. Samuel Treat, Harvard College 1669, and Abigail Willard. Rev. Samuel Treat and his father Robert Treat, were the principle founders of Newark, New Jersey.

He was the great grandson of Reverend Samuel Willard, Harvard College 1659, pastor of the Old South Church, Boston, vice-president of Harvard College and the acting president of Harvard College; Robert Treat, the lieutenant-governor and governor of Connecticut for thirty years; prominent in the Charter Oak incident and as commander of the Connecticut forces in protecting the settlers of western Massachusetts during King Philip's War; and the great great grandson of Richard Treat (or Trott) an early New England settler and a Patentee of the Royal Charter of Connecticut, 1662 and Stephen Hopkins (settler), a tanner and merchant who was one of the passengers aboard the Mayflower on the voyage to North America landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.

Education

Paine attended the Boston Latin School, and at the early age of fourteen, he became a member of Harvard College from which instution he graduated from in 1749. He then was engaged in teaching school for several years at Lunenburg, Massachusetts before yielding to family tradition and entering the ministry. Previous to his commencing the study of law, he devoted some time to the subject of theology. He began the study of law in 1756 and he was admitted to the bar in 1757 being qualified for the practice of law. He first established his law pratice at Portland (then part of Massachusetts but now in Maine), and later in Taunton, Massachusetts, where he resided for many years.

Marriage and family

He married, 1770, Sarah ("Sally"), Cobb, the daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Leonard) Cobb and a sister of General David Cobb (Massachusetts) and cousin of Samuel Wilde. She was born May 15, 1744, died June 6, 1816. They were the parents of eight children:

i. Robert' Paine, b. 1770; d. July 28, 1798, unmarried. graduate of Harvard College, 1789.

ii. Sally Paine, b. 1772; d. Jan. 26, 1823, unmarried.

iii. Thomas Paine, b. 1773 ; name changed by law in 1801 to Robert Treat Paine; d. Nov. 13, 1811. graduate of Harvard College, 1792.

iv. Charles Paine, b. 1775; d. Feb. 15, 1810. graduate of Harvard College, 1793.

v. Henry Paine, b. 1777; d. June 8, 1814.

vi. Mary Paine, b. 1780 ; d. Feb. 27, 1842 ; m. Rev. Elisha Clap. No issue,

vii. Maria Antoinette Paine, b. 1782; d. March 26, 1842; m. Deacon Samuel Greele. No issue

viii. Lucretia Paine, b. 1785; d. Aug. 27, 1823, unmarried.

Career

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. Although Paine was a great orator, Adam's "appeal for justice" won the judge's sway, and most of the troops were let off.

He served in the Massachusetts General Court from 1773 to 1774, in the Provincial Congress from 1774 to 1775, and represented Massachusetts at the Continental Congress from 1774 through 1778. In Congress, he signed the final appeal to the king (the Olive Branch Petition of 1775), and helped frame the rules of debate and acquire gunpowder for the coming war.

He was speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1777, a member of the executive council in 1779, a member of the committee that 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, Massachusetts. A statue to commemorate him was erected in the Church Green area of Taunton.

Robert Treat Paine was a Congregationalist and a devout Christian. He worked as a full-time Congregationalist clergyman, among other occupations, prior to signing the Declaration of Independence. Later he left Congregationalism and Calvinism and embraced Unitarianism, which during that era was an alternative denomination within Protestant Christianity.[4]

Descendants

Robert Treat Paine's descendants number in the thousands today. Some of his notable descendants include;

Death

Paine died on May 11, 1814 at Boston, Massachusetts. He is buried in the Granary Burying Ground on Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts.[6]

Trivia

Paine is featured in the 2008 miniseries John Adams. 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. Paine admires Adams's ability to be impartial even while he detests the British stationed in Boston.

References

  1. ^ Robert Treat Paine's sister, Abigail Paine, married Stephen Greenleaf and were the ancestors of John Greenleaf Whittier, an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States.
  2. ^ The Rev. Thomas Paine was the son of James Paine, a member of the expedition against Canada in 1694, and grandson of Thomas Paine of Eastham, an only son who with his father, Thomas Paine the elder, emigrated from England in 1624, and settled on Cape Cod
  3. ^ Sarah Cushing Paine (1912). "Paine Ancestry. The family of Robert Treat Paine, Signer of the Declaration of Independance". Boston, Mass.: Dabid Clapp & Son. p. 317. http://books.google.com/books?id=YEhBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA318&dq=Robert+Treat+Paine+Storer&ei=SQX7SuOpGYymNq3J_Y8P#v=onepage&q=Robert%20Treat%20Paine%20Storer&f=false. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
  4. ^ http://www.adherents.com/people/pp/Robert_Treat_Paine.html
  5. ^ http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2006/09/27/robert_treat_paine_storer_jr_philanthropist/
  6. ^ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=paine&GSfn=robert&GSmn=treat&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=787&

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2009 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Works. The Chronology of American Literature, edited by Daniel S. Burt. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Robert Treat Paine" Read more

 

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