1Pennsylvania Assembly: Resolutions on the Appointment of Benjamin Franklin as Agent, [26 October 1764] (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the Province of Pennsylvania, Met at Philadelphia [October 15, 1764] (Philadelphia, 1764), p. 15; also MS certified copy of the first resolution: American Philosophical Society. After the reading of the Remonstrance against Franklin’s possible appointment as agent (printed immediately above) on the morning of October 26, the...
2Pennsylvania Assembly: Instructions to Richard Jackson, 22 September 1764 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1763–1764 (Philadelphia, 1764), pp. 105–6. A quorum of the Assembly gathered on September 11 to begin the short final session before its dissolution. The next day Speaker Franklin laid before the House an extract from the journal of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, June 13, 1764, together with the letter to himself...
3Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 30 May 1764 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1763–1764 (Philadelphia, 1764), pp. 89–91. The Assembly’s message of May 26 (immediately above) had made clear to Governor Penn and his Council that the assemblymen had no intention of including in the supply bill any formal amendment of the acts of 1759 and 1760. It did include references to the Supply Act of 1760, however,...
4Pennsylvania Assembly: Petition to the King, [23–26 May 1764] (Franklin Papers)
I. Draft: Library of Congress. II. DS : Public Record Office When on the morning of May 23 the Assembly received and read the second group of the inhabitants’ petitions to the King asking him to assume the government of Pennsylvania, that body voted “by a great Majority” that a committee be appointed “to prepare and bring in the Draft of a Petition to the King from this House, to accompany the...
5Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, [26 May 1764] (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1763–1764 (Philadelphia, 1764), p. 85. The Assembly had reconvened on May 14 after a seven-week recess, and on the 17th Governor Penn sent down a long message in reply to that of the House on March 24 concerning the £55,000 supply bill. He reviewed the circumstances leading to the order in council of Sept. 2, 1760 , and argued...
6Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 24 March 1764 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1763–1764 (Philadelphia, 1764), pp. 69–72. Governor Penn apparently spent most of the morning of March 23 composing a reply to the Assembly’s message of the 22d (see immediately above). He signed it in the afternoon and sent it to the Assembly. In it he expressed his deep concern that in the critical military situation the...
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1763–1764 (Philadelphia, 1764), pp. 72–4. As soon as the Assembly had considered on March 10 the governor’s message of the 7th rejecting the £50,000 supply bill and had appointed a committee to bring in a new £55,000 bill, it named a second committee of eight members, including Franklin, “to draw up and bring in certain...
8Pennsylvania Assembly: Message to the Governor, 22 March 1764 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1763–1764 (Philadelphia, 1764), pp. 64–5. The Assembly passed its £50,000 supply bill on February 24 and delivered it to Governor Penn. He held it until March 7 when he sent it back with a message of rejection. It was expressly contrary to the decree of the Privy Council of Sept. 2, 1760, he said, particularly in the following...
9Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 11 February 1764 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1763–1764 (Philadelphia, 1764), p. 43. The plan of early January to send the Indians lodged on Province Island to Sir William Johnson for safety had failed because the New York authorities had refused to cooperate. Governor Penn received a letter on Saturday, January 21, from Capt. J. Schlosser of the Royal American Regiment...
10Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 20 January 1764 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1763–1764 (Philadelphia, 1764), pp. 33–4. During the summer and early autumn of 1763 hostile Indians repeatedly attacked isolated settlements and farms on the Pennsylvania frontier, killing many whites, carrying others off into captivity, and driving the rest in terror from their homes to the relatively few garrisoned forts or...
11Pennsylvania Assembly: Thanks to Franklin, and His Reply, [31 March 1763] (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1762–1763 (Philadelphia, 1763), p. 40. Pursuant to a Resolve of the Nineteenth of last Month, that the Thanks of this House be given to Benjamin Franklin, Esq; for his many Services not only to the Province of Pennsylvania, but to America in general, during his late Agency at the Court of Great-Britain, the same were this Day...
12Pennsylvania Assembly: Instructions to Benjamin Franklin, 31 March 1757 (Franklin Papers)
MS (fragment): American Philosophical Society On March 1, 1757, the Assembly named the same committee (plus William West) that had made the report on the Assembly grievances against the Proprietors “to bring in a Draught of the Instructions of the House to Benjamin Franklin, Esq; one of the Commissioners now about to embark for England.” Two days later they reported a draft and were ordered...
13Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 9 February 1757 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1756–1757 (Philadelphia, 1757), pp. 81–2. Under the quartering act of Dec. 8, 1756, public-house keepers were required to accommodate soldiers billeted on them for 4 d. per diem , a rate at which they lost money though they were subject to fines for refusing billets. They petitioned the Assembly for relief on Jan. 3, 1757, and...
14Pennsylvania Assembly: Appointment of Franklin as Agent to Go to England, and His acceptance, [28 January 1757–3 … (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1756–1757 (Philadelphia, 1757), pp. 75, 76, 78. The sequence of events resulting in the appointment of Franklin as agent to represent the Assembly in England in its disputes over the instruction on the taxation of proprietary estates and related grievances is indicated by the following extracts from the Assembly Journals. The...
15Pennsylvania Assembly: Remonstrance to William Denny, [26 January 1757] (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1756–1757 (Philadelphia, 1757), pp. 73–4. On Nov. 24, 1756, at the Assembly’s request, Governor Denny had submitted an estimate of military expenses in the province for the coming year totaling over £127,000, and on December 15 the House resolved that £100,000 “be granted to His Majesty for the Service of the current Year.”...
16Pennsylvania Assembly: Message to the Governor, 19 December 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1756–1757 (Philadelphia, 1757), pp. 50–3. After Pennsylvania became a theater of war in 1755, it was apparent that the province would soon have to provide quarters for British troops. When the remnants of Braddock’s army passed through Philadelphia that summer, the Assembly hastily extended what it considered were the relevant...
17Pennsylvania Assembly: Message to the Governor, 16 December 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1756 – 1757 (Philadelphia, 1757), pp. 48–9. Franklin and others were appointed on Dec. 16, 1756, to “prepare a Draught of a Message to the Governor, concerning the Report now prevailing in the City of the Governor’s having given Orders for Quartering of Soldiers upon private Houses.” It was brought in, approved, and sent to...
18Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 8 December 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1756–1757 (Philadelphia, 1757), p. 41. Franklin and John Baynton were appointed on Dec. 8, 1756, to reply to Governor Denny’s message of that date on quartering the British troops momentarily expected in Philadelphia. Submitted the same morning, the reply was approved and sent to Denny at once. Since it is quoted in full in the...
19Pennsylvania Assembly: Message to the Governor, 24 November 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1756–1757 (Philadelphia, 1757), pp. 32–3. After renewing the Mutiny Act and appointing members to attend the Easton conference on November 4, the Assembly had adjourned to the 22nd. On November 23, Franklin and Joseph Galloway were appointed to draft a message requesting copies of such proprietary instructions “as relate to...
20Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 29 October 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1756–1757 (Philadelphia, 1757), pp. 23–4. When the newly elected Assembly met to organize on October 14, Governor Denny informed it that “several weighty Affairs” required their immediate attention: viz., an embargo on food, clothing, and warlike stores to possessions of France; provision for transporting and quartering British...
21Pennsylvania Assembly: Address to the Governor and Reply to the Governor’s Message, 31 August 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), p. 134. In undertaking his responsibilities as governor, Denny summoned the Assembly to the council chamber on August 24 to hear a speech reminding it of his duty to protect the province, of the special responsibility of Pennsylvania in the war, since it had been declared in consequence of French...
22Pennsylvania Assembly: Address to William Denny, 23 August 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), p. 130. The Assembly minutes, August 19, record: “The House being informed, that the Gentleman who is appointed to succeed our present Governor, is now on the Road hither from New-York, and will be in Town some Time To-morrow, Adjourned to Five a Clock To-morrow Afternoon.” In the rush to honor...
23Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 18 August 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), p. 128. On August 17 the Assembly received a message from the governor informing it of the capture by French and Indians, July 31, of Fort Granville, about 25 miles west of the Susquehanna on the Juniata River (near present-day Lewiston). The treasury was depleted, and Morris asked for new...
24Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 3 June 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), p. 99. Governor Morris issued a proclamation, April 14, declaring war on the Delaware and other Indians confederated with them. This action badly undercut Sir William Johnson’s policy of maintaining friendship with the Pennsylvania Indians through their supposed obedience to the great council of...
25Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 14 May 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), p. 92. When Franklin returned to Philadelphia from Virginia in early May, he found the province at war with the Delaware Indians and the Assembly summoned two weeks ahead of the date to which it stood adjourned to consider further measures of defense, especially for the counties west of the...
26Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 20 February 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), p. 68. Through the winter of 1755–56, Indian attacks along the frontier and negotiations to regain their allegiance took place simultaneously. The Indians were dependent on the white man, and had to choose between the French and English; hence in the face of growing French power, their...
27Pennsylvania Assembly: Address to the Governor, 11 February 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), pp. 59–60. On Sept. 19, 1755, Gen. William Shirley had ordered his officers in Pennsylvania “in the Strongest Manner to avoid” enlisting indentured servants: protests against the practice were mounting, and in any case the approach of winter lessened the need to fill the regular regiments. By...
28Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 3 December 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), p. 52. The Assembly had requested information about an alleged Shawnee complaint, made at the Carlisle conference of 1753, of being cheated in land purchases; and Governor Morris, on November 19, had asked Council members Robert Strettell, Joseph Turner, and Thomas Cadwalader to investigate. Their...
29Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 3 December 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), pp. 52–3. Upon receipt of a renewed, urgent appeal from Gen. William Shirley to attend a forthcoming council in New York, Governor Morris asked the Assembly on December 2 whether it thought he should respond to the appeal, or stay in Pennsylvania to aid in the defense of the province. The next...
30Pennsylvania Assembly: Proposed Reply to the Governor, 25 November 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), appendix pp. i–iii between pp. 54 and 55. After agreeing to the Committee Report immediately above in lieu of making a direct answer to Governor Morris’ message of November 22, the Assembly resolved that the reply which the same committee had drafted “be at present laid aside.” Thus, the reply...