AbstractsLaw & Legal Studies

The ineptness of the royal governors of the British colonies in America in the period following the Seven Years' War contributed in great measure to the inability of England to guide and control American affairs in the crises which led to the war. Francis Bernard, Governor of Massachusetts from 1760 to 1769, was one of the most significant of these failures. By his inability to appreciate the American point of view and by his unwillingness to compromise with a powerful local faction, Bernard contributed greatly to the development of the dissension. This biographical study deals largely with Bernard's administration of Massachusetts in these critical years.