Paine, Robert Treat, 1731-1814

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li>12/31/1775 MA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1774 MA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>09/01/1774 MA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>

<p>Robert Treat Paine (March 11, 1731 – May 11, 1814) was an American lawyer, politician, and Founding Father of the United States who signed the Continental Association and the Declaration of Independence as a representative of Massachusetts. He served as the state's first attorney general, and served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court. Paine was also a founding member of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society and had always opposed slavery.</p>

<p>Robert Treat Paine was born in Boston, Massachusetts, British America on March 11, 1731. He was one of five children of the Rev. Thomas Paine and Eunice (Treat) Paine. His father was pastor of Franklin Road Baptist Church in Weymouth but moved his family to Boston in 1730 and subsequently became a merchant there. His mother was the daughter of Rev. Samuel Treat, whose father Maj. Robert Treat was one of the principal founders of Newark, New Jersey and later a Governor of Connecticut. Robert Treat Paine's Treat family had a long history in the British colonies and his Paine family, in particular, can trace a lineage back to the Mayflower.</p>

<p>Paine attended the Boston Latin School and at the age of fourteen entered Harvard College, from which institution he graduated in 1749 at age 18. He then was engaged in teaching school for several years back at the Boston Latin and at Lunenburg, Massachusetts. He also attempted a merchant career with journeys to the Carolinas, the Azores, and to Spain, as well as a whaling voyage to Greenland. He began the study of law in 1755 with his mother's cousin in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Paine was unsuccessful in gaining an officer's commission in that regiment and so volunteered to serve as chaplain. When he returned from a brief military campaign to Lake George (the Crown Point Expedition), he did some occasional preaching and returned to his legal studies. In 1756 he returned to Boston to continue his legal preparations with Samuel Prat, and he was admitted to the bar in 1757. He first considered establishing his law practice at Portland (then part of Massachusetts but now in Maine), but instead in 1761 moved to Taunton, Massachusetts, then back to Boston in 1780.</p>

<p>Robert Treat Paine was a native of Massachusetts, born in 1731. He was expected, by family tradition, to become a Minister. He got high marks at the Boston Latin School and was admitted to Harvard College, where he graduated in 1749. He taught school for a while and then began the study of theology. Because of his frail health, Paine set out to build up his strength by working on the sea. He spent some years as a merchant marine visiting the southern colonies, Spain, the Azores, and England. When he returned home he decided to pursue the law. He was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts in 1757. He first set up office in Portland, Maine (then part of Massachusetts) and later relocated to Taunton, Massachusetts. In the trials of British soldiers following the Boston Massacre, Paine served as associate prosecuting attorney.</p>

<p>He was elected to the Provincial Assembly in 1770 and that body selected him in 1774 to attend the first Continenetal Congress. Paine served on committees which formed the rules of debate, and later served as chairman of the committee charged with acquiring gunpowder for the Continental Army. He also signed the final appeal to the king, known as the Olive Branch Petition, in 1775. Paine was reelected to represent Massachusetts at the Continental Congress of 1776. He participated in the debates leading to the resolution for Independence and his signature appears on the Declaration. According to comments made by Benjamin Rush, Paine was known in Congress as the "Objection Maker," because of his habit of frequent objections to the proposals of others. These objections were eventually taken lightly, for as Rush commented, "He seldom proposed anything, but opposed nearly every measure that was proposed by other people..."</p>

<p>In 1777 Paine was elected attorney general of the state of Massachusetts. He was then serving on the legislative committee to draft the first constitution of the state under the new federation. He moved back to Boston in 1780 where he helped found the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Governor Hancock offered him an appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court in 1783 but he declined. That offer was made again in 1796 and he accepted. He retired after some 14 years, in failing health, then died at the age of 83.</p>