This is the first full-length biography of James Bowdoin II (1726-1790), a leading exponent of the eighteenth-century American Enlightenment, humanitarian, patriot, governor, and advocate of strong national government. Among the least known of the American revolutionary generation, Bowdoin faded from the public consciousness soon after his death in 1790. However, his lifetime achievements were significant, enduring, and multi-faceted, and this work is an attempt to lay bare the elusive personality of this highly complex individual.