The Papers of Francis Bernard: Governor of Colonial Massachusetts, 1760-1769

by Francis Bernard, John W. Tyler (Editor)

Overview

Governor Francis Bernard's historical reputation rests on his role in pushing the American colonists toward revolution. Bernard was the kind of government official without whom revolutions might not occur: A thwarted modernizer, despairing of metropolitan inertia and resentful of local power shifts that undermined his own authority, he sought and found retribution in a hostile portrayal of his opponents and critics. In 1768, the colonists and their governor vied to control information flowing to London. But it was Bernard who triumphed in the war of information, convincing the British government to send British troops to Boston to avert a possible insurrection and support the civil government. The colonists, meanwhile, struggled to find evidence that their governor was misrepresenting their cause. That evidence is presented here in full for the first time.

Distributed for the Colonial Society of Massachusetts

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780985254346
Publisher:	Colonial Society of Massachusetts
Publication date:	10/29/2015
Series:	Colonial Society of Massachusetts , #4
Pages:	600
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 10.30(h) x 1.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Colin Nicolson, Lecturer in History at the University of Stirling, Scotland, is editor of The Papers of Francis Bernard and author of The "Infamas Govener": Francis Bernard and the Origins of the American Revolution.

What People are Saying About This

Stephen ConwayUniversity CollegeLondon

"The Papers of Francis Bernard is a tremendously significant collection, and once completed, a British scholar will have published the single most important addition to the source materials not just for the coming of the American Revolution in Massachusetts, but for late-eighteenth centuy Imperial historiography in general, to have appeared in at least a generation.

Stephen Conway

Praise for the previous volume:
" The Papers of Francis Bernard is a tremendously significant collection, and once completed, a British scholar will have published the single most important addition to the source materials not just for the coming of the American Revolution in Massachusetts, but for late-eighteenth-century Imperial historiography in general, to have appeared in at least a generation.

Editorial Reviews

[The third volume in the Bernard Papers series] constitutes a triumphant continuation of an invaluable project carried out on the highest professional historiographical standards, and is also a triumph in itself.

n Dudley Edwards

Praise for the previous volume:" The Papers of Francis Bernard is a tremendously significant collection, and once completed, a British scholar will have published the single most important addition to the source materials not just for the coming of the American Revolution in Massachusetts, but for late-eighteenth-century Imperial historiography in general, to have appeared in at least a generation.

Stephen Conway

"The Papers of Francis Bernard is a tremendously significant collection, and once completed, a British scholar will have published the single most important addition to the source materials not just for the coming of the American Revolution in Massachusetts, but for late-eighteenth centuy Imperial historiography in general, to have appeared in at least a generation. "—Stephen ConwayUniversity CollegeLondon, author of Britain and America Go to War: The Impact of War and Warfare in Anglo-America, 1754-1815

From the Publisher

"The Papers of Francis Bernard is a tremendously significant collection, and once completed, a British scholar will have published the single most important addition to the source materials not just for the coming of the American Revolution in Massachusetts, but for late-eighteenth centuy Imperial historiography in general, to have appeared in at least a generation.

Stephen ConwayUniversity CollegeLondon

[The third volume in the Bernard Papers series] constitutes a triumphant continuation of an invaluable project carried out on the highest professional historiographical standards, and is also a triumph in itself.

Dudley Edwards