James Bowdoin

James Bowdoin II (; 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 that drafted 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. Bowdoin's funeral was one of the largest of the time in Boston, with people lining the streets to view the funeral procession.