Andrew Oliver (March 28, 1706 – March 3, 1774) was a merchant and public official in the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the Thirteen Colonies, thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III of England, William III and Mary II ...

. Born into a wealthy and politically powerful merchant family, he is best known as the Massachusetts official responsible for implementing the provisions of the Stamp Act, for which he was hanged in effigy. He never actually carried out those duties, and was later commissioned as the province's lieutenant governor.

Early life

Andrew Oliver was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, capital of the British

, on March 28, 1706. His father, Daniel Oliver, was a wealthy and politically active merchant,Bell, p. 515 and his mother, Elizabeth Belcher Oliver, was the sister of

Jonathan Belcher Jonathan Belcher (8 January 1681/8231 August 1757) was a merchant, politician, and slave trader from colonial Massachusetts who served as both governor of Massachusetts Bay and governor of New Hampshire from 1730 to 1741 and governor of New J ...

, son of another wealthy merchant and governor of the province in the 1730s. Andrew had two brothers: Daniel Oliver (1704–1727) and Peter Oliver (1713–1791). Characterized as "sober and pious", Andrew was sent to

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

, where he graduated in 1724. Oliver then entered the family business, setting up a merchant business with his brother Peter that concentrated on wine and textiles. The business was successful, and the brothers eventually controlled Boston's Long Wharf. On March 20, 1728, Oliver married Mary Fitch, the daughter of Colonel Thomas Fitch. The couple had three children before Mary died in 1732; only one, a son named

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

, survived to adulthood. After Mary's death Oliver traveled to England, returning to Massachusetts in 1734.Bell, p. 516 On December 19, 1734, he married Mary Sanford of

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

, the sister-in-law of Thomas Hutchinson. The couple had fourteen children.

Politics and the Stamp Act

In 1737 Oliver entered politics, winning election as Boston's town auditor. He held many other local offices, and became a leader of the Hutchinson-Oliver faction, which dominated politics in colonial Massachusetts. He was elected to the provincial assembly in 1742, and in 1755 was appointed provincial secretary by Acting Governor

Spencer Phips Spencer Phips (June 6, 1685 – April 4, 1757) was a government official in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Born Spencer Bennett, he was adopted by Massachusetts Governor Sir William Phips, his uncle by marriage, whose name he legally took. ...

. In 1765, Oliver was commissioned to administer the unpopular Stamp Act in Massachusetts. He was privately against the act, but told people he was in favor of it, leading colonists to rise against him. On August 14, he was hanged in

effigy An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...

from Boston's Liberty Tree in a protest organized by the

Loyal Nine The Loyal Nine (also spelled Loyall Nine) were nine American patriots from Boston who met in secret to plan protests against the Stamp Act of 1765. Mostly middle-class businessmen, the Loyal Nine enlisted Ebenezer Mackintosh to rally large crowds ...

, a precursor to the

Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...

. That night his house and offices were ransacked by an angry crowd. On August 17, he was compelled to publicly resign his commission. On December 17, the Sons of Liberty again forced him to publicly swear that he would never act as stamp distributor.

Later career

He was commissioned lieutenant governor of the colony when his brother-in-law Thomas Hutchinson became governor in 1771. Letters that he and Hutchinson wrote in the late 1760s during protests surrounding the

Townshend Acts The Townshend Acts () or Townshend Duties, were a series of British acts of Parliament passed during 1767 and 1768 introducing a series of taxes and regulations to fund administration of the British colonies in America. They are named after the ...

were

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in 1773, igniting a storm of protest against both men. The business took a serious toll on Oliver's health, which suffered further after his wife died. Oliver died on March 3, 1774, after suffering from an "apoplectick fit". His death was greeted with glee by the Sons of Liberty, and his burial was marred by acts of protest and violence. Because of the charged political climate few friends and relatives attended.Bell, p. 519 Most of Oliver's family remained Loyal during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, and resettled in other parts of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

Notes

References

* *Calhoon, Robert M. "Oliver, Andrew". ''

American National Biography Online The ''American National Biography'' (ANB) is a 24-volume biographical encyclopedia set that contains about 17,400 entries and 20 million words, first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Lea ...

'', February 2000. * * *

External links

*
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Portrait of Daniel, Peter and Andrew Oliver, by

John Smibert John Smibert (rarely spelled Smybert; ; 24 March 1688 – 2 April 1751) was a Scottish-born painter, regarded as the first academically trained artist to live and work regularly in British America. Career Born in Edinburgh on 24 March 1688, Smi ...

, 1732. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Andrew 1706 births 1774 deaths Harvard College alumni Harvard College Loyalists in the American Revolution Colonial American merchants People from colonial Boston Lieutenant Governors of colonial Massachusetts Members of the colonial Massachusetts House of Representatives Members of the colonial Massachusetts Governor's Council American Loyalists from Massachusetts 18th-century American politicians