Pursuit of Profit and Preferment in Colonial North America: John Bradstreet's Quest

Frank Abbott was Professor of History at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Toronto.

Reminding us, in the words of the late Donald Creighton, that history is “the record of an encounter between character and circumstance,” William Godfrey uses the career of John Bradstreet as a vehicle to examine eighteenth century colonial North America.

Bradstreet’s lengthy and active career brought him in touch with the major events and individuals of his time. He first emerged during the Louisbourg expedition, when his significant services to Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts and to the expedition’s commander, William Pepperell, canned him an appointment as lieutenant-governor of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Despite his Louisbourg contribution, however, Bradstreet faded from view, only to re-emerge in Shirley’s Niagara campaign of 1755. During the years of defeat which marked the first phase of the Seven Years War, Bradstreet’s activities and achievements constituted one of the few bright spots in the English military effort. Unfortunately, his impressive record was tarnished by his alleged mishandling, in 1864, of the expedition against Pontiac, and by hints that he had engaged in illicit trading practices. After 1864, we are told, “the way led gently down.”

For this full-length biographical study, Godfrey has drawn upon a wealth of hitherto neglected correspondence between Bradstreet and his trusted English confidant and supporter, Charles Gould. This material provides a rare insight into the client-patron relationships that linked the post-1750 trans-Atlantic world, and that made Anglo-colonial politics work.

Among the last generation of English office-seekers to wield power and influence in the 13 colonies, Bradstreet witnessed the widening gulf between the mother country and America. Yet, as Godfrey shows, he was more than a mere witness to events. “An aggressive opportunist ever grasping for further honours and economic gains,” Bradstreet capitalized upon his offices in the colonies and his connections in England and involved himself in one unsavoury business activity after another. Such practices on the part of men who owed their primary allegiance to London contributed in no small measure to the eventual revolution.

As the product of the author’s doctoral research, this volume contains a wealth of material that will benefit the professional historian. At the same time, the general reader is offered a well-written account of one man’s adventurous and controversial passage through an age of conflict and revolution.