View source for Robert Treat Paine

{{Short description|Founding Father, Massachusetts attorney general and judge (1731-1814)}}
{{For|others with the same name|Robert Treat Paine (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Robert Treat Paine
| image              = Robert Treat Paine by Edward Savage and John Coles, Jr. (1802–1823).jpg
| caption            = Portrait of Paine by [[Edward Savage (artist)|Edward Savage]] and John Coles, Jr.
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1731|3|11}}
| birth_place        = [[Boston]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], [[British America]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1814|5|11|1731|3|11|mf=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], U.S.
| resting_place      = [[Granary Burying Ground]] in Boston
| known_for          = Signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]
| education          = [[Harvard College]]
| occupation         = Lawyer, politician
| spouse             = Sally Cobb (m. 1770&ndash;1814; his death)
| children           = 8
| signature          = Robert Paine signature.png
}}

'''Robert Treat Paine''' (March 11, 1731{{Snd}}May 11, 1814) was a lawyer, politician and [[Founding Father of the United States]] who signed the [[Continental Association]] and [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] as a representative of the colonial era [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], one of the original [[Thirteen Colonies]]. He served as the state's first [[Massachusetts Attorney General|attorney general]] and as an associate justice of the [[Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]], the state's highest court.

==Early life and education==
[[File:Coat of Arms of Robert Treat Paine.svg|thumb|Paine's coat of arms]]
Paine was born in [[Boston]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], in [[British America]], on March 11, 1731, one of five children of the Rev. Thomas Paine and Eunice (Treat) Paine.<ref name=Paine>{{cite book|title=Paine Ancestry. The family of Robert Treat Paine, Signer of the Declaration of Independence|publisher=Dabid Clapp & Son|page=[https://archive.org/details/paineancestryfa00popegoog/page/n330 317]|url=https://archive.org/details/paineancestryfa00popegoog|quote=Robert Treat Paine Storer.|location=Boston, Mass.|author=Sarah Cushing Paine|year=1912|access-date=2009-11-11}}</ref> His father was pastor of Franklin Road Baptist Church in [[Weymouth, Massachusetts|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 [[History of Newark, New Jersey|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]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://famouskin.com/famous-kin-chart.php?name=24650+robert+treat+paine&kin=24679+stephen+hopkins |title= Family Relationship of Robert Treat Paine Signer of the Declaration of Independence 3rd Great-grandson to Stephen Hopkins Mayflower Passenger|access-date=3 Jun 2020}}</ref>

Paine attended the [[Boston Latin School]] and then entered [[Harvard College]] at age 14; he graduated in 1749 at age 18. 

==Career==
After graduating from Harvard in 1749, Paine taught school for several years, first back at  Boston Latin and later in [[Lunenburg, Massachusetts]].  Paine also attempted a merchant career, with journeys to the Carolinas, the [[Azores]], and 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 served as a chaplain in the [[Battle of Lake George|Crown Point Expedition]] in 1755 during the [[French and Indian War]]. Upon returning to civilian life, 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, Maine|Portland]] (then part of Massachusetts but now in [[Maine]]), but instead in 1761 moved to [[Taunton, Massachusetts]], then back to Boston in 1780.<ref>"A Sense of Honor and Duty: Robert Treat Paine (1731–1814) of Massachusetts and the new nation," by Edward W. Hanson. Ph.D. dissertation, Boston College, 1992.</ref>

===Legal career===
In 1768, he was a delegate to a provincial convention called to meet in Boston. Paine, along with the Solicitor General of Massachusetts Samuel Quincy, conducted the prosecution of Captain [[Thomas Preston (British Army officer)|Thomas Preston]] and eight soldiers under his command following the [[Boston Massacre]] of March 5, 1770. [[John Adams]] was opposing counsel, and Adams' arguments won the jury's sway, and most of the troops were let off.<ref name="NPS">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/declaration/bio37.htm |title=National Park Service - Signers of the Declaration (Robert Treat Paine) |date=2004-07-04 |website=www.nps.gov |access-date=2019-05-08}}</ref>

Paine served in the [[Massachusetts General Court]] from 1773 to 1774, in the [[Massachusetts Provincial Congress|Provincial Congress]] from 1774 to 1775, as well as represented Massachusetts at the [[Continental Congress]] in [[Philadelphia]] from 1774 through 1776. In that Congress, he signed the final appeal to the king, known as the [[Olive Branch Petition]] of 1775, and helped frame the rules of debate and acquire gunpowder for the coming war, and in 1776 was one of the signers of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]].<ref>''American National Biography'', sub Paine, Robert Treat</ref>

He returned to Massachusetts at the end of December 1776 and was speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1777, a member of the [[Massachusetts Governor's Council|executive council]] in 1779, a member of the committee that drafted the [[Constitution of Massachusetts|state constitution]] in 1780. He was [[Massachusetts Attorney General]] from 1777 to 1790 and prosecuted the treason trials following [[Shays' Rebellion]]. From 1777 to 1785, his acting Attorney General was [[Benjamin Kent]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=DTcTAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22benjamin+kent%22+attorney+general+massachusetts&pg=PA290 p. 290]</ref><ref>"Robert Treat Paine, Attorney General" by Edward W. Hanson, in ''Massachusetts Legal History'' 8 (2002):95-123</ref> In 1780, he was a charter member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Charter of Incorporation of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences|url=https://www.amacad.org/content/about/about.aspx?d=23|website=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=July 28, 2014|archive-date=June 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617015414/https://www.amacad.org/content/about/about.aspx?d=23|url-status=dead}}</ref> He last served as a justice of the [[Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court|State Supreme Court]] from 1790 to 1804 when he retired.

===Death and legacy===
[[File:Statue of Robert Treat Paine by Richard E Brooks 1904.jpg|thumb|Statue of Paine by [[Richard E. Brooks]], erected in 1904 in [[Taunton, Massachusetts]]]]
Paine died at age 83 in 1814 and was buried in Boston's [[Granary Burying Ground]].<ref>Biographical Sketches of those who attended Harvard College, by Clifford K. Shipton (Boston, 1962), 12:462-482; The Papers of Robert Treat Paine, vols. 1-2 edited by Stephen T. Riley and Edward W. Hanson (Boston, 1992), vol. 3 edited by Edward W. Hanson (Boston, 2005).</ref> Many of his papers, including correspondence and legal notes, are now held by the [[Massachusetts Historical Society]].<ref>[https://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0271 Collection Guide] to Robert Treat Paine Papers Microfilm Edition, which also includes the papers of [[Thomas Paine]], among others.</ref> Paine was a [[Congregational church|Congregationalist]] and a devout Christian. When his church, the [[First Church in Boston]], moved into [[Unitarianism]], Paine followed that path. A statue of Paine by [[Richard E. Brooks]] was erected at Taunton's [[Church Green (Taunton, Massachusetts)|Church Green]] in 1904.<ref>frontispiece in ''Two Men of Taunton in the course of human events, 1731-1829'' by Ralph Davol.  Taunton, Mass., 1912</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Tuoti|first1=Gerry|date=18 November 2010|title=LEST WE FORGET: Robert Treat Paine monument tells of Taunton's Revolutionary War history|publisher=Taunton Gazette|url=http://www.tauntongazette.com/x684376955/LEST-WE-FORGET-Robert-Treat-Paine-monument-tells-of-Taunton-s-Revolutionary-War-history|access-date=21 August 2016|quote=Standing in the middle of a busy intersection in the heart of downtown Taunton, a larger-than-life statue of local patriot Robert Treat Paine gazes out onto Main Street.|archive-date=21 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921044821/http://www.tauntongazette.com/x684376955/LEST-WE-FORGET-Robert-Treat-Paine-monument-tells-of-Taunton-s-Revolutionary-War-history|url-status=dead}}</ref> Paine is an honoree of the Washington, D.C., [[Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence]].

Paine married Sally Cobb, the daughter of Thomas and Lydia (née Leonard) Cobb and a sister of General [[David Cobb (Massachusetts)|David Cobb]], on March 15, 1770. She was born May 15, 1744, and died June 6, 1816. They were the parents of eight children:
* Robert Paine (May 14, 1770 – July 28, 1798), died unmarried, graduate of Harvard College.
* Sally Paine (March 7, 1772 – January 26, 1823), died unmarried.
* [[Robert Treat Paine Jr.]] (December 9, 1773 – November 13, 1811), graduate of Harvard College.  
* Charles Paine (August 30, 1775 – February 15, 1810), graduate of Harvard College, married Sarah Sumner Cushing (niece of both U.S. Supreme Court associate Justice [[William Cushing]] and Massachusetts Governor [[Increase Sumner]]).<ref>[https://archive.org/details/paineancestryfam00pain/page/50 Paine Family ancestry p.50 accessed Feb 3, 2019]</ref>
* Henry Paine (October 20, 1777 – June 8, 1814), married Olive Lyman, daughter of Theodore Lyman.
* Mary Paine (February 9, 1780 – February 27, 1842), married Rev. Elisha Clap, graduate of Harvard College.<ref>[Clapp, Ebenezer The Clapp Memorial: Record of the Clapp Family in America : Containing ...” 1876]</ref> 
* Maria Antoinetta Paine (December 2, 1782 – March 26, 1842), married Deacon Samuel Greele.
* Lucretia Paine (April 30, 1785 – August 27, 1823), died unmarried.

Some of his notable descendants include:
* [[Charles Jackson Paine]]
* [[John Paine (sport shooter)|John Paine]]
* [[Robert Treat Paine Storer]]
* [[Robert Treat Paine (philanthropist)|Robert Treat Paine]], owner of The [[Robert Treat Paine Estate]], known as Stonehurst
* [[Lyman Paine]]. He married, in 1926, Ruth Forbes of the distinguished [[Forbes family]] and a great-granddaughter of [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]]
* [[Sumner Paine]]
* [[Michael Paine]], husband of [[Ruth Paine]]
* [[Robert T. Paine (zoologist)|Robert "Bob" Treat Paine III]], zoologist
* [[Treat Williams]], actor

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* [https://www.masshist.org/publications/rtpp/index.php Robert Treat Paine Papers] Digital Edition.
* ''The Papers of Robert Treat Paine'', ed. Stephen T. Riley and Edward W. Hanson, vol. 1, 1746–1756, Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society 87 (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1992).
* ''The Papers of Robert Treat Paine'', ed. Stephen T. Riley and Edward W. Hanson, vol. 2, 1757–1774, Collections 88, (1992). 
* ''The Papers of Robert Treat Paine'', ed. Edward W. Hanson, vol. 3, 1774–1777, Collections 89, (2005).
* ''The Papers of Robert Treat Paine'', ed. Edward W. Hanson, vol. 4, 1778–1786, Collections 92, (2018).

==External links==
{{Sister links}}
*{{CongBio|P000029}}
*[http://www.colonialhall.com/painert/painert.php Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, 1856] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060903173907/http://www.colonialhall.com/painert/painert.php |date=2006-09-03 }}
* {{LittleSisPerson}}



{{s-start}}
{{s-legal}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Benjamin Kent]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Attorney General of Massachusetts]]|years=1778–1790}}
{{s-aft|after=[[James Sullivan (governor)|James Sullivan]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[David Sewall]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Associate Justice of the [[List of justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court|Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]]|years=1790–1804}}
{{s-non|reason=Seat ended}}
{{s-end}}

{{Signers of the Continental Association}}
{{USDecOfIndSig}}
{{Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paine, Robert Treat}}
[[Category:1731 births]]
[[Category:1814 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:American abolitionists]]
[[Category:American Congregationalists]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:Boston Latin School alumni]]
[[Category:Burials at Granary Burying Ground]]
[[Category:Congregationalist abolitionists]]
[[Category:Continental Congressmen from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]]
[[Category:Massachusetts attorneys general]]
[[Category:Massachusetts lawyers]]
[[Category:Members of the colonial Massachusetts House of Representatives]]
[[Category:People from colonial Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Politicians from Taunton, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Signatories of the Continental Association]]
[[Category:Signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence]]
[[Category:Founding Fathers of the United States]]