John Hughes (1711–1772) was a colonial American Servant who played a major role in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

during the eighteenth century. Hughes was a close ally of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

and

Joseph Galloway Joseph Galloway (1731August 29, 1803) was an American attorney and a leading political figure in the events immediately preceding the founding of the United States in the late 1700s. As a staunch opponent of American independence, he would bec ...

, both leading figures in the colony. He was part of the anti-proprietary faction in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and supported moves by Franklin to turn Pennsylvania into a crown colony which would have brought it under direct rule of

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

rather than the

Penn family William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy an ...

. He held the position of

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the Pennsylvania colonial assembly. In 1765 when the British government brought in a Stamp Act for its North American colonies, Hughes was recommended by Franklin—who was in London—to be appointed as the official stamp distributor for Pennsylvania, a potentially lucrative office. However, the proposed introduction of the Act triggered violent protests along the

Atlantic seaboard The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

. Faced with mob violence, including attacks on the houses of collectors, Hughes was forced to resign his office. That October, Hughes did not run for re-election in the colonial Assembly. The Stamp Act Crisis turned Hughes from a popular politician into an exile from Pennsylvania. He left the colony to take up a post as a Customs Officer—in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1769, and the following year in Charles Town, South Carolina—a position arranged by

. He died in Charleston, February 1, 1772.Holstein, p. 51.

Bibliography

* Anderson, Fred. ''Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766''. Faber and Faber, 2001 * Bowser, Les. ''The Search for Heinrich Stief: a genealogist on the loose.'' Halifax, NS: Nimbus Pub., 2001 * Holstein, Anna M. ''Swedish Holsteins in America, from 1644 to 1892. Comprising many letters and biographical matter relating to John Hughes, the "stamp officer," and friend of Franklin, with papers not before published relating to his brother of revolutionary fame, Colonel Hugh Hughes of New York.'' Norristown, PA: W. R. Willis, 1892.

References

Speakers of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives People of colonial Pennsylvania 1711 births 1772 deaths {{Pennsylvania-politician-stub