ent than
formerly an executive as well as a legislative body. In 1779-1780 he was
president of the constitutional convention of Massachusetts, also
serving as chairman of the committee by which the draft of the
constitution was prepared. Immediately afterward he was a member of a
commission appointed "to revise the laws in force in the state; to
select, abridge, alter and digest them, so as to be accommodated to the
present government." From 1785 to 1787 he was governor of Massachusetts,
suppressing with much vigour Shays' Rebellion, and failing to be
re-elected largely because it was believed that he would punish the
insurrectionists with more severity than would his competitor, John
Hancock. Bowdoin was a member of the state convention which in February
1788 ratified for Massachusetts the Federal Constitution, his son being
also a member. He died in Boston on the 6th of November 1790. He took
much interest in natural philosophy, and presented various papers before
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which he was one of the
founders and, from 1780 to 1790, the first president. Bowdoin College
was named in his honour.

His son, JAMES BOWDOIN (1752-1811), was born in Boston on the 22nd of
September 1752, graduated at Harvard in 1771, and served, at various
times, as a representative, senator and councillor of the state. From
1805 until 1808 he was the minister plenipotentiary of the United States
in Spain. He died on Naushon Island, Dukes county, Massachusetts, on the
11th of October 1811. To Bowdoin College he gave land, money and
apparatus; and he made the college his residuary legatee, bequeathing to
it his collection of paintings and drawings, then considered the finest
in the country.

BOWELL, SIR MACKENZIE (1823- ), Canadian politician, son of John
Bowell, carpenter and builder, was born at Ricking-hall, England, on the
27th of December 1823. In 1833 he moved with his family to Belleville,
Canada, where he finally became editor and proprietor of the
_Intelligencer_. He was elected grand master of the Orange Association
of British America, and was long the exponent in the Canadian parliament
of the claims of that order. From 1867 till 1892 he represented North
Hastings in the House, after which he retired to the senate. From 1878
till 1891 he was minister of customs in the cabinet of Sir John
Macdonald; then minister of militia; and under the premiership of Sir
John Thompson, minister of trade an