Thomas Pownall was a British colonial official who served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1757 to 1760. Following a brief tenure in Hanover, Pownall returned to London where he set about writing a treatise on the relationship between Britain and its American colonies. The Administration of the Colonies was published anonymously in 1764. Pownall continued to work on the book over the next decade, republishing it several times between 1765 and 1777.
Recognising the increasing tensions between America and Britain, Pownall used his Administration to offer his own solutions to the situation. He agreed with American arguments relating to liberty and the right to representation in Parliament. However, he also argued that the colonies ought to pay their share in tax to fund the military. As a solution, Pownall argued for a closer relationship between Britain and America, with an imperial parliament, with representatives from across the empire, which would make laws that affected everyone in it. Such arguments were seen as outrageous by American pamphleteers such as John Dickinson who singled Pownall out in their attacks on Britain.