 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (March 2024) |
Barnabas Bidwell | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by John Brewster, Jr. | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 12th district | |
| In office March 4, 1805 – July 13, 1807 | |
| Preceded by | Simon Larned |
| Succeeded by | Ezekiel Bacon |
| Attorney General of Massachusetts | |
| In office June 15, 1807 – August 30, 1810 | |
| Governor | James Sullivan Levi Lincoln Sr. Christopher Gore Elbridge Gerry |
| Preceded by | James Sullivan |
| Succeeded by | Perez Morton |
| Member of the Massachusetts State Senate | |
| In office 1801–1804 | |
| Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives | |
| In office 1805–1807 | |
| Treasurer of Berkshire County, Massachusetts | |
| In office September, 1791 – August, 1810 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 23, 1763 Township No. 1 (now Monterey, Massachusetts), Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America |
| Died | July 27, 1833 (aged 69) Bath, Upper Canada |
| Resting place | Cataraqui Cemetery, Kingston, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | American, British-Canadian |
| Political party | Democratic-Republican |
| Children | Marshall Spring Bidwell |
| Alma mater | Yale College class of 1785, Brown University |
| Profession | Attorney |
Barnabas Bidwell (August 23, 1763 – July 27, 1833) was an author, teacher and politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, active in Massachusetts and Upper Canada (now Ontario). Educated at Yale, he practised law in western Massachusetts and served as treasurer of Berkshire County. He served in the state legislature as representative and senator, as well as in the United States Congress as spokesman for the administration of Thomas Jefferson. He was effective in defending the administration's positions and passing important legislation. He resigned his seat in Congress in July 1807.
He was the Massachusetts Attorney General from 1807 to 1810, when exaggerated press accounts of irregularities in the Berkshire County books halted his political career and prompted his flight to Upper Canada. Bidwell later paid the $63.18, plus fines, which he attributed to an error by a Berkshire County clerk while Bidwell had been away on duties in Boston. Nonetheless, the controversy, exaggerated in the press by his Federalist Party enemies, effectively scuppered his potential appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In Upper Canada, he won a seat in the provincial Legislative Assembly but his political opponents managed to expel him on charges of having his American citizenship, being a fugitive and having immoral character. He remained in Upper Canada for the rest of his life.