Cadwallader Colden

author

Cadwallader Colden

1688–1776

A doctor, scientist, and colonial official, this 18th-century New Yorker moved easily between medicine, politics, and the study of plants. He is remembered both for his long public career and for the wide-ranging curiosity that made him one of colonial America’s notable intellectuals.

2 Audiobooks

Papers Relating to an Act of the Assembly of the Province of New-York For encouragement of the Indian trade, &c. and for prohibiting the selling of Indian goods to the French, viz. of Canada

Papers Relating to an Act of the Assembly of the Province of New-York For encouragement of the Indian trade, &c. and for prohibiting the selling of Indian goods to the French, viz. of Canada

by Cadwallader Colden, Great Britain. Board of Trade, Great Britain. Privy Council, New York (Colony). Council

The History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada Which are dependent on the Province of New-York, and are a barrier between the English and the French in that part of the world

The History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada Which are dependent on the Province of New-York, and are a barrier between the English and the French in that part of the world

by Cadwallader Colden

About the author

Born in 1688, he studied at the University of Edinburgh, trained in medicine, and eventually settled in New York, where he built a long career in public life. Over the years he served the colony in several senior roles, including periods as acting governor, while also writing on science, medicine, and public affairs.

He had an unusually broad set of interests. In addition to practicing medicine and working in government, he became known for serious work in botany and for his writings on the Haudenosaunee, published as The History of the Five Indian Nations. That mix of administration and scholarship helped give him a lasting place in early American history.

His reputation has always been a little complicated. He was admired for learning and ambition, but his strong loyalty to British rule made him a controversial figure as the American Revolution approached. Even so, his life offers a vivid glimpse of the colonial world, where science, politics, and personal conviction were often closely tied together.