Statesman; born in
Boston, March 24, 1725; graduated at Harvard in 1744, and for many years represented his native city in the General Court, of which body he became speaker in 1763, and held that post until 1774.
His signature was affixed, during all that time, to all public documents of the province, which made his name so conspicuous that, in his pamphlet,
Taxation no tyranny,
Dr. Johnson said, “One object of the
Americans is said to be to adorn the brows of
Cushing with a diadem.”
He was a member of the first and second Continental Congresses; was commissarygeneral in 1775; a judge; and in 1779 was elected lieutenant-governor of
Massachusetts, which office he held until his death, in
Boston, Feb. 28, 1788.