Thomas Hutchinson was the leading spokesman in colonial America for opposition to the Revolutionary movement. His logical and cogent prose as well as the stature he gained through his long and varied public service to Massachusetts gave weight to his arguments and insured a wide audience for his ideas in both England and the colonies. Because of his Loyalist sympathies, however, his letters have until now languished unpublished in the Massachusetts Archives.

This first volume of the only fully annotated edition of his correspondence begins with his emergence on the political stage in 1740 and covers the events of the French and Indian War, his controversial appointments as lieutenant-governor and chief justice, and the Stamp Act riots (including the looting of his own home).