12 



m 



IN the year 1779, the people of Massachusetts, who had for sev- 

 eral years, felt the incohvenience of a mutilated government, 

 which was only the remains of that which had been established 

 by the charter, called a convention for the purpose of forming a 

 new constitution for the state : To this convention were return- 

 ed, from all parts of the commonwealth, as great a number of 

 men of learning, talents, and patriotism, as had ever been assem- 

 bled here at any earlier period. Mr. Bowdoin, a delegate from 

 Boston, was elected their president : The coolness of their debates, 

 the result of their deliberations, and the constitution which they 



recommended^ confirmed the sentiments which had been antici- 



i 



pated from their character. In this station, Mr. Bowdoin con- 

 ducted with a dignified propriety. Patience, attention, candor, 

 and impartiality, the constant attendants of great and honest 

 minds, were qualities w^hich he daily exercised. It is owing to 

 the hints which he occasionally gave, and* the part which he took 

 with the committee, who framed the plan, that some of the most 

 admired sections in the constitution of this State appear in their 

 present form : This assembly of w^ise men carried home with 

 them such impressions of his character, as an able and virtuous 

 statesman, that they retained the highest esteem and respect for 

 him till his death. 



4 



LN the month of May, 1780, the act which gives a charter of 

 incorporation to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 

 passed the legislature. As our ancestors, in the very infancy of 



+ 



their settlements, convinced that an enlightened people must ne- 

 cessarily be free, established the school at JVetvton, which has 

 since risen to be the university at Camlriclrje ; so our political fa- 

 thers, 



