THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, July 19, 2024 Page 3 ~ 375th Anniversary of the Incorporation Town of Malden ~ “Silver Voice” of the American Revolution – the author of the first Declaration of Independence By Inna Babitskaya R ev. Peter Thacher (1752– 1802), a Congregational minister from Malden, Massachusetts, was not only the “shepherd of souls,” but also, like his father, Oxenbridge Thacher, Jr. (1720–1765), an ardent patriot of America. While Rev. Thacher was called the “silver voice of the American Revolution,” Oxenbridge Thacher, Jr., a “poet, a very eminent lawyer, and a coadjutor of the early patriots of the Revolution,” was called the man who awakened the American Revolution. Oxenbridge Thacher’s brilliant political pamphlet “The Sentiments of a British American” was considered a prerevolutionary philosophical tractate. According to John Adams, he did quite a lot for “an awakening and a revival of American principles and feelings,” giving “…the first impulse to the Ball of Independence … His patriotism was as ardent as his progenitors had been ancient and illustrious in this country.” According to Malden historian Deloraine Corey, Peter Thacher “By both pen and speech... gave utterance to words by which the patriotic passions of the population were wrought up to white heat. Some of those words..., seem still hot with the old fire that burned in them when they came fresh from his pen and lips.” The Hon. Harrison Gray Otis (1765–1848), a Senator and U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts, wrote about Peter Thacher’s role in the Revolution: “During the Revolutionary struggle, he was found earnest and resolute in the cause of his country. Many of his discourses from the pulpit breathed a spirit of glowing patriotism, and were admirably adapted to stimulate his hearers to peril everything, —if need be, to sacrifice everything, for their First Church of Malden Oxenbridge Thacher, Jr. final phrase “O God, let America be free!” inspired not only the revolutionary soldiers but also the authors of the Declaration of Independence. On May 10, 1776, in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, it was “resolved... that the inhabitants of each town in this colony ought... to advise the person or persons who shall be chosen to represent them in the next General court, whether if the honorable Congress would, for the safety of the said colonies, declare them independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, the said inhabitants will solemnly engage with their lives and fortunes to support the Congress in the measure.” The Malden Instructions were among the earliest issued by the Massachusetts towns (on May AUTHOR | SEE PAGE 9 Eastern Bank Building on Rte. 1S 605 Broadway, #301 * Saugus (781) 233-6844 www.bostonnorthdental.com Rev. Peter Thacher Page from the Malden’s Book of Town Records country’s liberty. In private, he also evinced much of the same spirit, and sometimes addressed considerable assemblages of his fellow citizens, with great eloquence and effect, upon the state of the times.” Corey underlined that “It was not alone as a pastor and preacher that he stood pre-eminent in the exercise of his abilities. With his quickness of mind and natural impetuosity, which he tempered and restrained, he threw himself with effect into the consideration of those great questions which took precedence, even over religion, in the minds of men, and placed himself at once in the front rank of those who in the pulpit and by the pen gave direction and strength to public opinion. His mind and energy gave form to the feelings of his townsmen in several papers, which have distinction for their deep and earnest patriotism and their fearlessness of utterance.” Thacher’s main weapons were his orator’s skills, his sermons and his revolutionary ardor (or fever) that inspired the colonists to fight for their freedom. Thus, on March 5, 1776, Bostonians asked him “to pronounce the oration against standing armies, which had been annually delivered in Old South Church, in commemoration of the Boston Massacre that took place on that day in 1770.” The British Governor did not allow him to organize this service in Boston, so “Mr. Thacher performed it with great applause at Watertown.” His emotionally powerful “Boston Massacre Oration” with its FOR SALE - MIXED-USE COMMERCIAL/RESIDENTIAL 225-229 Highland Ave., Malden MIXED-USE Two Commercial Convenience Stores AND Three Apartments - Two, 2-Bedoroom & One, 1-Bedroom Yearly Rental Income: $166,200 Call (781) 520-1091 Dr. Priti Amlani Dr. Bhavisha Patel * Restorative Dentistry * Cosmetic Dentistry * Implant Restoration * Zoom Whitening * Teeth in a Day - All on 6 * Invisalign * CEREC Crowns (Single Visit Crowns) * Root Canal Treatment * Sedation Dentistry ~ Full Mouth Rehabilitation ~ Before After
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