What is James Bowdoin?
{{Infobox officeholder |name = James Bowdoin |image = James Bowdoin II.jpg |caption = Portrait by [[Robert Feke]], 1748 |order = 2nd |office = Governor of Massachusetts |term_start = May 27, 1785 |term_end = May 30, 1787 |lieutenant = [[Thomas Cushing]] |predecessor = [[Thomas Cushing]]<br><small>(as acting governor)</small> |successor = [[John Hancock]] |birth_date = {{birth date|1726|8|7|mf=y}} |birth_place = [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], [[British America]] |death_date = {{death date and age|1790|11|6|1726|8|7|mf=y}} |death_place = Boston, [[Massachusetts]], U.S. |party = None |spouse = Isabella | children = James (1750) & died-young Christian (1752) |profession = |signature = James Bowdoin Signature.svg }} '''James Bowdoin II''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|oʊ|d|ɪ|n}}; August 7, 1726 – November 6, 1790) was an American politician and educator. He was an important person during the [[American Revolution]]. From 1775 to 1777, he was president of the [[Massachusetts Provincial Congress]]' executive council, the ''de facto'' head of the Massachusetts government. He was elected president of the [[constitutional convention (political meeting)|constitutional convention]] that drafted [[Massachusetts Constitution|the state's constitution]] in 1779. He ran unsuccessfully for [[Governor of Massachusetts]] in 1780, losing to [[John Hancock]]. In 1785, after Hancock's resignation, he was elected governor. He lost his re-election in the 1787 election to Hancock. Bowdoin worked with [[Benjamin Franklin]] in his research on electricity. He was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] of London, and was a founder and first president of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]. [[Bowdoin College]] in [[Maine]] was named in his honor. He died from problems caused by [[dysentery]].<ref>Manuel and Manuel, p. 247</ref> Bowdoin's funeral was one of the largest of the time in Boston, with people lining the streets to view the funeral procession.<ref>Winthrop, p. 130</ref> ==References== {{re