John Phillips

John Phillips (November 26, 1770 – May 29, 1823) was an American politician, serving as the first mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, from 1822 to 1823. He was the father of abolitionist Wendell Phillips.

Early life John Phillips was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 26, 1770, to William and Margaret Phillips. His father was a descendant of the Rev. George Phillips of Watertown, the progenitor of the New England Phillips family in America. He enrolled in Phillips Academy, founded by Samuel Phillips Jr., a distant relative,

Career In 1794, Phillips was invited to deliver the annual Fourth of July oration before the people of Boston. In 1800, he was made public prosecutor, and in 1803 was chosen representative to the Massachusetts General Court. He was sent to the Massachusetts Senate in 1804, serving as presiding officer from 1813 to 1823. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1810, and in 1812, he was chosen a member of the corporation of Harvard. Phillips was also elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1813.

In 1820, he was a member of the convention that met to consider the revision of the state constitution, and he took an active part in the proceedings of that body. Phillips was also active in the agitation for the adoption of a city government in Boston and was chairman of the committee of twelve that drew up and reported on a city charter for the town in 1822. In the choice for mayor that followed, Harrison Gray Otis and Josiah Quincy III were the chief candidates for the office, but, as neither was able to secure an election, their friends agreed on Phillips, who was elected on April 16, 1822. At the close of his term of office the precarious condition of his health led him to decline a re-election. He died twenty-eight days later, aged 52.

Personal life In 1794, Phillips married Sally Walley, with whom he had eight children, one of whom was the abolitionist orator Wendell Phillips.