James Bowdoin

James Bowdoin

Bowdoin's grave in Boston

James Bowdoin (born August 7, 1726 in Boston , † November 6, 1790 ibid) was Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1785 to 1787 .

Early years

James Bowdoin was the son and grandson of wealthy Boston-based merchants. He attended the Boston Latin School and then studied until 1745 at Harvard University . After his father's death in 1747, he inherited his considerable fortune. Bowdoin took an interest in the natural sciences and became friends with Benjamin Franklin .

James Bowdoin III (1752-1811) was his son.

Political rise

Between 1753 and 1756 he was a member of the colonial Massachusetts House of Representatives. Towards the end of the British colonial era, but before American independence, he took a critical position towards the British administration. At the beginning of the American Revolution, he became a member of a 28-member government council that coordinated the Massachusetts war effort in the Revolutionary War . From 1775 to 1780 he was a member of a committee that drafted the state constitution of Massachusetts. He was also the first president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , to which he later bequeathed his library. Bowdoin was later commissioned by Governor John Hancock to revise and adapt the old colonial laws.

Massachusetts governor and further résumé

In 1785 he was elected the new governor of his state against Thomas Cushing . During his tenure, he had to put down the so-called Shay rebellion with the help of the militia . In the following gubernatorial elections in 1787 he was defeated by John Hancock, who was re-elected to this office. In 1788 Bowdoin was a member of the Congress that ratified the United States Constitution. He then devoted himself to science and writing, writing verses in English and Latin. Since 1787 he was a member of the American Philosophical Society . James Bowdoin died of tuberculosis in 1790 .

Web links

• James Bowdoin in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Member History: James Bowdoin. American Philosophical Society, accessed May 15, 2018 .