BOWDOIN, bediin, James, American statesman: b. Boston, 8 Aug. 1727; d. there, 6 Nov. 1790. Graduating from Harvard in 1745, he inherited in 1747 a large fortune from his father, a wealthy merchant, and was thus pro vided with means to gratify his taste for scientific investigation. In 1751 he visited Franklin, who explained to him the results of his electrical researches. A correspondence ensued that lasted many years, and Franklin read Bowdoin's letters before the Royal So ciety of London. He was a prominent figure in the politics of his State, being elected a mem ber of the General Court 1753-56, and the Council 1756-69. He presided over the Consti tutional Convention in 1779, and to him was due the form of some of the most admired sections of the constitution it drew up. As governor, 1785-86, he quelled Shay's Rebellion. In 1788 he was a delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention. He was a fellow of Harvard Col
lege from 1779 to 1785 and to it he left a legacy of i400. He was a liberal patron of the Massa chusetts Humane Society. A founder and first president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he bequeathed it his very valu able library. The degree of doctor of laws was conferred upon him by the universities of Yale and Edinburgh. Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Me., was named in his honor. He wrote a poetical paraphrase of Dodsley's 'Economy of Human Life) (1759), and several papers which may be found in the first volume of the American Academy's To the 'Pietas et Gratulatio,> a volume of poems published by Harvard on the accession of III, he contributed an English poem and two Latin epigrams.