Barnabas Bidwell Politician
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. Educated at Yale, he practiced law in western Massachusetts and served as treasurer of Berkshire County. He served in the state legislature as representative and senator, in the United States Congress as spokesman for the administration of Thomas Jefferson where he was effective in defending administration positions and passing important legislation, and was the state 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 that he attributed to a Berkshire County clerk while he was 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 Canada he won a seat in the provincial assembly, but was denied on account that he had held office in the United States.
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| Birth date | August 23, 1763 |
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| Date of death | July 27, 1833 |
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Politician
| office | Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Massachusetts State Senate Attorney General of Massachusetts Treasurer of Berkshire County Massachusetts |
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