[Lord Frederick] North defended his role in the war for America to his death. He insisted that it did not originate in a despotic wish to tyrannise America, but from the desire of maintaining constitutional authority of Parliament over the colonies.
He admitted that the war with American had been unfortunate but not unjust,
adding that if he had been forced to mount the scaffold in consequence of the part that I have performed in its prosecution, I shall continue to maintain that it was founded in right and dictated by necessity.
Charles Willson Peale (1741—1827)
Oil on canvas; 91.4 x 71.1 x 2.5cm (36 x 28 x 1 in). National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian), Washington, DC.
Oil on canvas; 49 7/8 x 39 3/4 in. (126.4 x 101 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Oil on canvas. Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent, Philadelphia, PA.
Oil on canvas. Independence National Historical Park, Portrait Collection (Second Bank of the United States), Philadelphia, PA.
Oil on canvas; height: 124.46 cm (49 in), width: 99.06 cm (39 in). Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
Oil on canvas. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD.
Oil on canvas; 50 x 40-1/2 in. Private collection.
Oil on canvas; 36 13/16 x 32 1/16 inches (93.5 x 81.4 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA.
Oil on canvas; 86 1/2" x 56 3/4". Maryland State Art Collection, Annapolis, MD.
Oil on canvas. Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA.
The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire (2013)