A Benjamin Franklin Reader

by Walter Isaacson

  I have written two pieces here lately for the Public Advertiser, on American affairs, designed to expose the conduct of this country towards the colonies, in a short, comprehensive, and striking view, and stated therefore in out-of-the-way forms, as most likely to take the general attention. The first was called, Rules by which a great empire may be reduced to a small one; the second, An Edict of the king of Prussia. I sent you one of the first, but could not get enough of the second to spare you one, though my clerk went the next morning to the printers, and wherever they were sold. They were all gone but two.

  In my own mind I preferred the first, as a composition for the quantity and variety of the matter contained, and a kind of spirited ending of each paragraph. But I find that others here generally prefer the second. I am not suspected as the author, except by one or two friends; and have heard the latter spoken of in the highest terms as the keenest and severest piece that has appeared here a long time. Lord Mansfield I hear said of it, that it was very able and very artful indeed; and would do mischief by giving here a bad impression of the measures of government; and in the colonies, by encouraging them in their contumacy. It is reprinted in the Chronicle, where you will see it, but stripped of all the capitalling and italicking, that intimate the allusions and mark the emphasis of written discourses, to bring them as near as possible to those spoken: printing such a piece all in one even small character seems to me like repeating one of Whitfield’s Sermons in the monotony of a school-boy.

  What made it the more noticed here was that people in reading it were, as the phrase is, taken in, till they had got half through it, and imagined it a real edict, to which mistake I suppose the King of Prussia’s character must have contributed. I was down at Lord Le Despencer’s when the post brought that day’s papers. Mr. Whitehead was there too (Paul Whitehead, the author of Manners) who runs early through all the papers, and tells the company what he finds remarkable. He had them in another room, and we were chatting in the breakfast parlor, when he came running in to us, out of breath, with the paper in his hand. Here! says he, here’s news for ye! Here’s the King of Prussia, claiming a right to this kingdom! All stared, and I as much as any body; and he went on to read it. When he had read two or three paragraphs, a gentleman present said, Damn his impudence, I dare say, we shall hear by next post that he is upon his march with one hundred thousand men to back this. Whitehead, who is very shrewd, soon after began to smoke it, and looking in my face said, I’ll be hanged if this is not some of your American jokes upon us. The reading went on, and ended with abundance of laughing, and a general verdict that it was a fair hit: and the piece was cut out of the paper and preserved in my lord’s collection.

  I don’t wonder that Hutchinson should be dejected. It must be an uncomfortable thing to live among people who he is conscious universally detest him. Yet I fancy he will not have leave to come home, both because they know not well what to do with him, and because they do not very well like his conduct. I am ever your affectionate father,

  B. Franklin

  Franklin continued his satirical attacks a few months later with a piece that gave advice about what General Gage, the British commander in America, should do if he truly wanted to prevail. In it Franklin suggests that potential rebels such as John Hancock and Samuel Adams might be castrated, though he uses dashes to avoid spelling out the offensive word.

  THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER, MAY 21, 1774

  Sir,

  Permit me, through the channel of your paper, to convey to the premier, by him to be laid before his mercenaries, our constituents, my own opinion, and that of many of my brethren, freeholders of this imperial kingdom of the most feasible method of humbling our rebellious vassals of North America. As we have declared by our representatives that we are the supreme lords of their persons and property, and their occupying our territory at such a remote distance without a proper control from us, except at a very great expense, encourages a mutinous disposition, and may, if not timely prevented, dispose them in perhaps less than a century to deny our authority, slip their necks out of the collar, and from being slaves set up for masters, more especially when it is considered that they are a robust, hardy people, encourage early marriages, and their women being amazingly prolific, they must of consequence in 100 years be very numerous, and of course be able to set us at defiance. Effectually to prevent which, as we have an undoubted right to do, it is humbly proposed, and we do hereby give it as part of our instructions to our representatives, that a bill be brought in and passed, and orders immediately transmitted to General Gage, our commander in chief in north America, in consequence of it, that all the males there be c-st—ed.

  He may make a progress through the several towns of North America at the head of five battalions, which we hear our experienced generals, who have been consulted, think sufficient to subdue America if they were in open rebellion; for who can resist the intrepid sons of Britain, the terror of France and Spain, and the conquerors of America in Germany. Let a company of sow-gelders, consisting of 100 men, accompany the army. On their arrival at any town or village, let orders be given that on the blowing of the horn all the males be assembled in the market place. If the corps are men of skill and ability in their profession, they will make great dispatch, and retard but very little the progress of the army. There may be a clause in the bill to be left at the discretion of the general, whose powers ought to be very extensive, that the most notorious offenders, such as Hancock, Adams, &c. who have been the ringleaders in the rebellion of our servants, should be shaved quite close. But that none of the offenders may escape in the town of Boston, let all the males there suffer the latter operation, as it will be conformable to the modern maxim that is now generally adopted by our worthy constituents, that it is better that ten innocent persons should suffer than that one guilty should escape.

  It is true, blood will be shed, but probably not many lives lost. Bleeding to a certain degree is salutary. The English, whose humanity is celebrated by all the world, but particularly by themselves, do not desire the death of the delinquent, but his reformation. The advantages arising from this scheme being carried into execution are obvious. In the course of fifty years it is probable we shall not have one rebellious subject in north America. This will be laying the axe to the root of the tree. In the mean time a considerable expense may be saved to the managers of the opera, and our nobility and gentry be entertained at a cheaper rate by the fine voices of our own c-st—-i, and the specie remain in the kingdom, which now, to an enormous amount, is carried every year to Italy. It might likewise be of service to our Levant trade, as we could supply the grand signors seraglio, and the harems of the grandees of the Turkish dominions with cargos of eunuchs, as also with handsome women, for which America is as famous as Circassia. I could enumerate many other advantages. I shall mention but one: it would effectually put a stop to the emigrations from this country now grown so very fashionable.

  No doubt you will esteem it expedient that this useful project shall have an early insertion, that no time may be lost in carrying it into execution. I am, Mr. Printer, (for myself, and in behalf of a number of independent freeholders of great Britain) your humble servant,

  A Freeholder of Old Sarum

  Part 6

  American Rebel

  You Are My Enemy

  Defeated in his efforts to prevent a split, Franklin returned to America in 1775. That July, even after hostilities had erupted in Lexington and Concord, most Americans were not yet in favor of independence. The Continental Congress sent an “Olive Branch Petition” to the king seeking reconciliation. But Franklin proclaimed his own sentiments in favor of outright rebellion in a short and sharp letter he sent to his closest friend in London, the printer William Strahan. Franklin allowed the letter to be published to show his ardent views. But interestingly, he never actually mailed it to Strahan, with whom he in fact remained friends.

  TO WILLIAM STRAHAN, JULY 5, 1775

  Mr. Strahan,

  You
are a Member of Parliament, and one of that majority which has doomed my country to destruction. You have begun to burn our towns, and murder our people. Look upon your hands! They are stained with the blood of your relations! You and I were long friends: you are now my Enemy, and I am, Yours,

  B. Franklin

  Proposed Articles of Confederation

  In order for the colonies to become independent of Britain, they had to become less independent of each other. As one of the most traveled and least parochial of colonial leaders, Franklin had long espoused some form of confederation, beginning with his Albany Plan of 1754.

  In July 1775, Franklin put forth the idea again in a proposed draft for Articles of Confederation that contained the seeds of the conceptual breakthrough that would eventually define America’s federal system: a division of powers between a central government and those of the states. Franklin was, however, ahead of his time. His proposed central government was far more powerful than other Americans yet envisioned, indeed more powerful than the one eventually created by the actual Articles of Confederation that Congress began to draft the following year.

  Much of the wording in Franklin’s proposal was drawn from New England confederation plans that stretched back to one forged by settlements in Massachusetts and Connecticut in 1643. But the scope and powers went far beyond anything previously proposed. Congress would have only a single chamber, in which there would be proportional representation from each state based on population. It would have the power to levy taxes, make war, manage the military, enter into foreign alliances, settle disputes between colonies, form new colonies, issue a unified currency, establish a postal system, regulate commerce, and enact laws “necessary to the general welfare.” Franklin also proposed that, instead of a single president, Congress appoint a twelve-person “executive council” whose members would serve for staggered three-year terms.

  As Franklin fully realized, this pretty much amounted to a declaration of independence from Britain and a declaration of dependence by the colonies on each other, neither of which had widespread support yet. So he read his proposal into the record but did not force a vote on it. He was content to wait for history, and the rest of the Continental Congress, to catch up with him.

  PROPOSED ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, JULY 21, 1775

  Art. I. The Name of the Confederacy shall henceforth be The United Colonies of North America.

  Art. II. The said United Colonies hereby severally enter into a firm League of Friendship with each other, binding on themselves and their Posterity, for their common Defense against their Enemies, for the Security of their Liberties and Properties, the Safety of their Persons and Families, and their mutual and general welfare.

  Art. III. That each Colony shall enjoy and retain as much as it may think fit of its own present Laws, Customs, Rights, Privileges, and peculiar Jurisdictions within its own Limits; and may amend its own Constitution as shall seem best to its own Assembly or Convention.

  Art. IV. That for the more convenient Management of general Interests, Delegates shall be annually elected in each Colony to meet in General Congress at such Time and Place as shall be agreed on in the next preceding Congress. Only where particular Circumstances do not make a Deviation necessary, it is understood to be a Rule, that each succeeding Congress be held in a different Colony till the whole Number be gone through, and so in perpetual Rotation; and that accordingly the next Congress after the present shall be held at Annapolis in Maryland.

  Art. V. That the Power and Duty of the Congress shall extend to the Determining on War and Peace, to sending and receiving Ambassadors, and entering into Alliances, the Reconciliation with Great Britain; the Settling all Disputes and Differences between Colony and Colony about Limits or any other cause if such should arise; and the Planting of new Colonies when proper. The Congress shall also make such general Ordinances as thought necessary to the General Welfare, particular Assemblies cannot be competent to; viz. those that may relate to our general Commerce or general Currency; to the Establishment of Posts; and the Regulation of our common Forces. The Congress shall also have the Appointment of all Officers civil and military, appertaining to the general Confederacy, such as General Treasurer Secretary, &c.

  Art. VI. All Charges of Wars, and all other general Expenses to be incurred for the common Welfare, shall be defrayed out of a common Treasury, which is to be supplied by each Colony in proportion to its Number of Male Polls between 16 and 60 Years of Age; the Taxes for paying that proportion are to be laid and levied by the Laws of each Colony.

  Art. VII. The Number of Delegates to be elected and sent to the Congress by each Colony, shall be regulated from time to time by the Number of such Polls returned, so as that one Delegate be allowed for every [5000] Polls. And the Delegates are to bring with them to every Congress an authenticated Return of the number of Polls in their respective Provinces, which is to be annually taken, for the Purposes above-mentioned.

  Art. VIII. Each Delegate at the Congress, shall have a Vote in all Cases; and if necessarily absent, shall be allowed to appoint any other Delegate from the same Colony to be his Proxy, who may vote for him.

  Art. IX. An executive Council shall be appointed by the Congress out of their own Body, consisting of 12 persons; of whom in the first appointment four shall be for one Year, four for two Years, and four for three Years; and as the said Terms expire, the vacancies shall be filled by Appointments for three Years, whereby One Third of the Members will be changed annually. This Council in the Recess of the Congress is to execute what shall have been enjoined thereby; to manage the general Business and Interests to receive Applications from foreign Countries; to prepare Matters for the Consideration of the Congress; to fill up (pro tempore) continental Offices that fall vacant; and to draw on the General Treasurer for such Monies as may be necessary for general Services, and appropriated by the Congress to such Services.

  Art. X. No Colony shall engage in an offensive War with any Nation of Indians without the Consent of the Congress, or great Council above-mentioned, who are first to consider the Justice and Necessity of such War.

  Art. XI. A perpetual Alliance offensive and defensive, is to be entered into as soon as may be with the Six Nations; their Limits to be secured to them; their Land not to be encroached on, nor any private Purchases made of them hereafter to be held good; nor any Contract for Lands to be made but between the Great Council of the Indians at Onondaga and the General Congress. The Boundaries and Lands of all the other Indians shall also be ascertained and secured to them in the same manner; and Persons appointed to reside among them in proper Districts, who shall take care to prevent Injustice in the Trade with them. And all Purchases from them shall be by the Congress for the General Advantage and Benefit of the United Colonies.

  Art. XII. As all new Institutions may have Imperfections which only Time and Experience can discover, it is agreed, that the General Congress from time to time shall propose such Amendment of this Constitution as may be found necessary; which being approved by a Majority of the Colony Assemblies, shall be equally binding with the rest of the Articles of this Confederation.

  Art. XIII. Any and every Colony from Great Britain upon the Continent of North America not at present engaged in our Association, may upon be received into this Confederation, viz. the West India Islands, Quebec, St. Johns, Nova Scotia, Bermudas, and the East and West Floridas: and shall thereupon be entitled to all the Advantages of our Union, mutual Assistance and Commerce.

  These Articles shall be proposed to the Several Provincial Conventions or Assemblies, to be by them considered, and if approved they are advised to empower their Delegates to agree to and ratify the same in the ensuing Congress. After which the Union thereby established is to continue firm till the Terms of Reconciliation proposed in the Petition of the last Congress to the King are agreed to; till the Acts since made restraining the American Commerce and Fisheries are repealed; till Reparation is made for the Injury done to Boston by shutting up its Port; f
or the Burning of Charlestown; and for the Expense of this unjust War; and till all the British Troops are withdrawn from America. On the Arrival of these Events the Colonies are to return to their former Connection and Friendship with Britain: But on Failure thereof this Confederation is to be perpetual.

  The Rattlesnake as America’s Symbol

  In Philadelphia, a group of Marine units were being organized to try to capture British arms shipments. Franklin noticed that one of their drummers had painted a rattlesnake on his drum emblazoned with the words “Don’t tread on me.” In an anonymous article, filled with bold humor and a touch of venom, Franklin suggested that this should be the symbol and motto of America’s fight. Christopher Gadsen, a delegate to Congress from South Carolina, picked up the suggestion in Franklin’s article and subsequently designed a yellow flag with a rattlesnake emblazoned “Don’t Tread on Me.” It was flown in early 1776 by America’s first Marine units and later many other militias.

  THE PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL, DECEMBER 27, 1775

  Messrs. Printers,