Daniel Leonard

Daniel Leonard 1740-1829
Born Norton, Massachusetts

Lawyer Daniel Leonard became one of the most notorious Loyalists in Britain's North American colonies. In 1774 Leonard published "Massachusettensis," a series of widely reprinted articles in support of British efforts to quash the colonial rebellion. The articles sparked one of the most famous debates of the American Revolution between Leonard and John Adams. Leonard fled to Bermuda when British troops evacuated Boston in 1776, months before the colonies declared independence from Britain.
This tiny miniature, meant to be worn as a bracelet, remained in the possession of Leonard's descendants until the National Portrait Gallery acquired it in 2007.