William Smith, Jr., of New York, a jurist and politician, wrote polemical essays and political pamphlets, helped to codify New York's laws, and authored the best contemporary history of his native province. His career, abbreviated in New York by the Revolution, was played out in Quebec.

The Smith family emigrated from Buckinghamshire, England, where Smith's paternal grandfather had been a tallow chandler, to New York City in 1715. William Smith, Sr., the eldest son of the new American family and father of the historian, graduated from Yale in 1719 and later accepted a position there as a tutor. In 1724 he was offered the presidency of that institution but chose instead to practice law in New York. Smith Sr.'s energies from this point were consumed by the law, politics, and religion in that province. He did, however, remain interested in education and made significant contributions to the training of several...