Poputonian describes Otis’ argument at length — and it’s worth the read — but the end of the post really caught my attention:

Otis wasn’t revolutionary at that moment, but because his government continued, and accelerated its act of coercion, Otis’ disagreement with his government indeed became a revolutionary cause. Recalling the emotions he felt watching Otis on February 24, 1761, John Adams pinpointed that day as the beginning of a chain of causation:

“Otis was a flame of fire; with a promptitude of classical allusions, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glance of his eyes into futurity, and a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him.”

“American Independence was then and there born. The seeds of patriots and heroes were then and there sown. Every man of an immense crowded audience appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take arms against Writs of Assistance. Then and there was the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain.”

Otis, drawing on the writings of John Locke, David Hume, Voltaire, and other Enlightenment philosophers, had begun to form the arguments that would later be used by Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, and others in shaping the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Read more about James Otis at the ever-useful Wikipedia. The entry there includes a link to a free online biography, James Otis, the pre-revolutionist.

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