At the core of this course are the years 1769 through 1775. The course is about the man who for whom Dartmouth College is named, probably without his permission, and who was a senior British government official, with responsibility for the North American colonies, in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War. That man was William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, graduate of the University of Oxford, who married well, and was well-connected – his stepbrother Frederick, Lord North, was “the Prime Minister who lost America”. 
The course looks at:
1. The events that led to the founding of Dartmouth College by Royal Proclamation in 1769,

2. The family history of William Legge, his forebears and how they joined the aristocracy, his education and marriage, and his philanthropy and property development,

3. His first term in office as President of the Board of Trade and Foreign Plantations, and British government policy in the years leading to the Boston Massacre, March 1770, and

4. His second term in office, as Secretary of State for the Colonies, and his central role in the events of the first half of the 1770s that culminated in the “shot heard round the world” in 1775.

This course will combine lecture with class discussions.

This registration is for the In Person section of this course.