Patriot James Otis Jr.: no taxation without representation

Only the most ardent history buffs have any idea who James Otis Jr. was, and that's a shame. This forgotten patriot was an impassioned and outspoken champion of American liberty years before the opening salvos of the American Revolution.

Born on Cape Cod in 1725, Otis graduated from Harvard College, studied law, began practicing in Plymouth, Mass., and later moved to Boston, "where he quickly made a name for himself as one of the city's most brilliant lawyers," according to the Mass Moments web site. 

Over time, Otis evolved from a loyal British subject to a scathing critic of Britain’s colonial policies. On June 21, 1768, he gave a fiery speech to his fellow provincial legislators in Boston defending an open letter that he and Samuel Adams had written denouncing the Townshend Acts.

In that speech, Otis described the British House of Commons as a collection of "button-makers, horse jockey gamesters, pensioners, pimps, and whore-masters." Although Otis may be unknown to most Americans today, his legacy lives on. It is Otis who is credited with repeatedly condemning taxation without representation as tyranny.

Otis' star shone brightly for a time, but his life soon took a tragic turn.

On September 5, 1769, "a Boston customs collector offended by something Otis had written attacked him with a sword, fracturing his skull," according to Mass Moments. Otis had already shown signs of instability, and after the assault, his sister wrote that "the future usefulness of this distinguished friend of his country was destroyed, reason was shaken from its throne."

In 1771, a court declared Otis a lunatic, and his brother was appointed as his guardian. Otis eventually moved in with a friend in Andover, Mass. In a letter to his sister, he wrote that he hoped to be killed by "a flash of lightening" when his time came. He got his wish. On May 23, 1783, as the 58-year-old Otis stood in a doorway chatting with friends, he was struck by lightning and died.

Late in life, John Adams said: "I have been young and now I am old, and I solemnly say I have never known a man whose love of country was more ardent or sincere, never one who suffered so much, never one whose service for any 10 years of his life were so important and essential to the cause of his country as those of Mr. Otis from 1760 to 1770."