Josiah Quincy II
Josiah Quincy II | |
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Born | Boston, Massachusetts | February 23, 1744
Died | April 26, 1775 North Atlantic Ocean | (aged 31)
Education | Harvard College |
Occupation(s) | Lawyer and Patriot |
Spouse | Abigail Phillips |
Relatives | Quincy family |
Signature | |
Josiah Quincy II (/ˈkwɪnzi/; February 23, 1744 – April 26, 1775) was an American lawyer and patriot. He was a principal spokesman for the Sons of Liberty in Boston prior to the Revolution and was John Adams' co-counsel during the trials of Captain Thomas Preston and the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre.
Family
Quincy was the son of
Life
Quincy was born in
Published initially under the name "
On February 12, 1770, he published in the Gazette a call to his countrymen "to break off all social intercourse with those whose commerce contaminates, whose luxuries poison, whose avarice is insatiable, and whose unnatural oppressions are not to be borne [1]
He used the signatures Mentor, Callisthenes, Marchmont Needham, Edward Sexby, &c., in later letters to the Boston Gazette.
After the Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770) he and John Adams defended Captain Preston and the accused soldiers and secured their acquittal.[1] Prosecuting the case were Robert Treat Paine and Josiah's older brother Samuel Quincy, who shortly after was named solicitor general.[2]
He traveled for his health in the South in 1773, and left in his journal an interesting account of his travels and of society in South Carolina; this journey was important in that it brought Southern patriots into closer relations with the popular leaders in Massachusetts.
Perhaps seeking to enhance his standing in advance of the selection of delegates to the First Continental Congress, in May 1774 he published Observations on the Act of Parliament, commonly called The Boston Port Bill, with Thoughts on Civil Society and Standing Armies, in which he urged patriots and heroes to form a compact for opposition and for vengeance.
In September 1774 he secretly left for England, where he argued the American cause to British politicians who were sympathetic to the colonies.
On March 16, 1775, he started back, but he died of tuberculosis on April 26, 1775, on a boat within sight of the Massachusetts shore.[1][3]
See also
References
Sources
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.