Lawyer, pamphleteer and politician famous for his fiery rhetoric.

Served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1761-69, 1771).

Sustained a head injury in a 1769 coffee house brawl with British soldiers. Subsequently, his already precarious mental state deteriorated further until he died after being struck by lightning.

Born in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. A.B., Harvard (1743). Married in 1755 to Ruth Cunnigham; three children.