1Proposed Resolutions of Thanks, [May 1775, June 1775, or early July 1775] (Franklin Papers)
AD : American Philosophical Society The first Continental Congress had sent to London, along with its petition to the King and address to the British people, a resolution of thanks to all those in Britain who had attempted to defend the American cause. The second Congress sent the Olive Branch Petition and another address, but no resolution of thanks to any of its British friends except the...
2From Benjamin Franklin to [Joseph Priestley?], May 1775 (Franklin Papers)
Unfinished draft: Library of Congress During his voyage to Philadelphia Franklin made the observations on the sea that appear above under April 10. On May 16 he promised in a letter to Priestley to communicate to him “a valuable philosophical discovery” that he had made on the voyage; years later William Temple Franklin conjectured, in a note on that letter, that the discovery was related to...
3From Benjamin Franklin to David Hartley, 6 May 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Dartmouth College Library What as far as we know was the first letter Franklin wrote after landing was not to his son or sister or some close friend, as might be expected, but to an Englishman who three months earlier seems to have been no more than a casual acquaintance. In late February, when Hartley asked for information, Franklin furnished it in a formal, third-person note, and a few...
4From Benjamin Franklin to Joseph Galloway, 8 May 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Mrs. Arthur Loeb, Philadelphia (1955) This short letter is tantalizingly uninformative. It touches on the two personal relationships that were in crisis when Franklin returned to America, with his son and with his oldest political ally; but it throws little light on either. Its contents make clear that it was in answer to a letter now missing, in which Galloway congratulated Franklin on...
5From Benjamin Franklin to David Hartley, 8 May 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Harvard University Library I arrived here on Friday Evening, and the next morning was unanimously chosen by the General Assembly a Delegate for the ensuing Congress, which is to meet on Wednesday. You will have heard before this reaches you of the Commencement of a Civil War; the End of it perhaps neither myself, nor you, who are much younger, may live to see. I find here all Ranks of...
6From Benjamin Franklin to Edmund Burke, 15 May 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Central Library, Sheffield The background of this letter was conversations between the two men during Franklin’s last months in London. Burke’s record of their final meeting, even though not committed to paper until years later, is revealing enough to be worth extensive quotation. “As far as a man, so locked up as Dr. Franklin, could be expected to communicate his ideas, I believe he...
7From Benjamin Franklin to Jonathan Shipley, 15 May 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Yale University Library I arrived here well the 5th. after a pleasant Passage of 6 Weeks. I met with a most cordial Reception, I should say from all Parties, but that all Parties are now extinguish’d here. Britain has found means to unite us. I had not been here a Day before I was unanimously elected by our Assembly a Delegate to the Congress, which met the 10th and is now sitting. All...
8From Benjamin Franklin to [William?] Bradford, 16 May 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania; draft: American Philosophical Society I have just now been urged to apply to you in behalf of a Stranger who is suppos’d to have spoken some disrespectful Words of you, and who is apprehensive of the Resentment of your Company, as he is told they are exceedingly exasperated against him. He declares that the Words ascrib’d to him, are much...
9From Benjamin Franklin to [Joseph Priestley], 16 May 1775 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Benjamin Vaughan, ed., Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces . . . Written by Benj. Franklin . . . (London, 1779), pp. 550–1. You will have heard before this reaches you, of a march stolen by the regulars into the country by night, and of their expedition back again. They retreated 20 miles in [6] hours. The Governor had called the Assembly to propose Lord North’s...
10From Benjamin Franklin to Humphry Marshall, 23 May 1775 (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from William Darlington, Memorials of John Bartram and Humphry Marshall . . . (Philadelphia, 1849), p. 521. I received your favour of the 13th inst. I think, with you, that the non-importation and non-exportation, well adhered to, will end the controversy in our favour. But, as Britain has begun to use force, it seems absolutely necessary that we should be prepared to repel force by...
11From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Mecom, 26 May 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Marietta College Library; copy: Harvard University Library I have just now heard by Mr. Adams, that you are come out of Boston, and are at Warwick in Rhodeisland Government: I suppose it must be at good Mr. and Mrs. Green’s, to whom present my affectionate Respects. I write this Line just to let you know I am return’d well from England; that I found my Family well; but have not found the...
12Jefferson’s Annotated Copy of Franklin’s Proposed Articles of Confederation, [June–July 1775] (Jefferson Papers)
Articles of confederation and perpetual Union proposed by the delegates of the several colonies of New Hampshire &c. in General Congress met at Philadelphia May. 10. 1775. The Art. I. name of this confederacy shall henceforth be ‘The united < colonies > states of North America.’ The Art. II. said united colonies hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other binding on...
13Proposals for Conscientious Objectors: Two Drafts, [before 29 September 1775] (Franklin Papers)
AD : Historical Society of Pennsylvania The outbreak of hostilities created political problems in Pennsylvania that continued to vex the province for a year or more. Compulsory military service was unknown, and the inauguration of voluntary service on a larger scale than ever before raised the acute question of what to do about those who would not serve. Franklin had confronted that question...
14From Benjamin Franklin to Nathaniel Seidel, 2 June 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania I am much oblig’d by your kind Congratulations on my Return; and I rejoice to hear that the Brethren are well and prosper. I am persuaded that the Congress will give no Encouragement to any to molest your People on Account of their Religious Principles; and tho’ much is not in my Power, I shall on every Occasion exert my self to discountenance...
15From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Life, 5 June 1775: extract (Franklin Papers)
Extract: Papers of the Earl of Dartmouth deposited in the Staffordshire County Record Office I have just received your Favor of April 5. giving me an Account of the Progress of my Suit. I called at your House just before I came away to settle Matters with You, and it was no small Disappointment to me that I did not meet with You. I did then propose returning in October, but I find Things here...
16From Benjamin Franklin to William Temple Franklin, 13 June 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I wonder’d it was so long before I heard from you. The Packet it seems was brought down to Philadelphia, and carry’d back to Burlington before it came hither. I am glad to learn by your Letters that you are happy in your new Situation, and that tho’ you ride out sometimes, you do not neglect your Studies. You are now in that time of Life which is the...
17From Benjamin Franklin to [Catharine Greene], 17 June 1775 (Franklin Papers)
Copy: American Philosophical Society I received your kind congratulations with infinite pleasure, as I learn by them that you and yours are well. I long much to see once more my native Country, and my friends there, and none more than my dear Caty and her family. Mr. Green I hope will allow an old man of 70 to say he loves his wife, it is an innocent affection. I have great Obligations to him...
18From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Mecom, 17 June 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I wrote to you some time since, having heard from one of the Delegates that you were at Warwick, and I supposed it must be with that good Family, so I directed my Letter to you there; I hope you receiv’d it. I have since received your kind Letter of May 14. with one from dear Mrs. Green. I sympathise most sincerely with you and the People of my native Town...
19Intended Vindication and Offer from Congress to Parliament, [before 21 July 1775] (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Public Advertiser , July 18, 1777. This document has often been reprinted but, for good reason, never explained. When it appeared in the Public Advertiser in 1777, it was introduced with what purported to be an account of its origin: “The following Paper was drawn up in a Committee of Congress, June 25, 1775, but does not appear in their Minutes, a severe Act of Parliament which...
20From Benjamin Franklin to Browns & Collinson, 27 June 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS (draft): American Philosophical Society Pay the Ballance of my Account to John Sargent Esqr. whose Receipt shall be your Discharge. I am, Gentlemen Your old Friend and humble Servant Why BF wrote as of London the reader must guess. No record of this transaction appears in his Jour. or Ledger, and all we know about it is contained in the note itself and in the following document. The...
21From Benjamin Franklin to John Sargent, 27 June 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS (draft): American Philosophical Society I have written to Messrs. Browns and Collinson to pay the Ballance of my Acct to you; and I beg you to take the Trouble of receiving and keeping it for me, or my Children. It may possibly soon be all I shall have left: as my American Property consists chiefly of Houses in our Seaport Towns, which your Ministry have begun to burn, and I suppose are...
22Draft of a Resolution Proposed to Congress by the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, [on or before 14 July 1775] (Franklin Papers)
AD : Historical Society of Pennsylvania Trade had bred controversy in the debates the previous autumn over the Continental Association, and controversy grew with the outbreak of war. The nonexportation agreement was to go into effect on September 19, 1775. After that date no commodities whatsoever, except rice destined for re-export, might clear for Great Britain, Ireland, or the West Indies....
23Proposed Resolution by Congress, [July? 1775] (Franklin Papers)
AD (draft): American Philosophical Society This resolution, as Paul Smith has pointed out, is impossible to date but may reasonably, if conjecturally, be ascribed to July, 1775. The preamble, cramped at the top of the page, seems to have been drafted after the resolution itself. The unexplained “as aforesaid” in both, and the note at the end, suggest that the draft was to be inserted in a...
24From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 5 July 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Library of Congress; copy: Pierpont Morgan Library This famous letter was unquestionably not sent. The positive evidence is that the original remained with Franklin’s papers. The negative evidence is that Strahan later gave no sign that he had received such a blast: when he responded on September 6 to a letter, now lost, from Franklin two days after this one, and when he wrote again on...
25From Benjamin Franklin to [Joseph Priestley], 7 July 1775: extract (Franklin Papers)
Extract printed in Benjamin Vaughan, ed., Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces . . . Written by Benj. Franklin . . . (London, 1779), pp. 552–4. The Congress met at a time when all minds were so exasperated by the perfidy of General Gage, and his attack on the country people, that propositions of attempting an accommodation were not much relished; and it has been with difficulty...
26From Benjamin Franklin to Jonathan Shipley, 7 July 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Yale University Library I received with great Pleasure my dear Friends very kind Letter of April 19, as it informed me of his Welfare, and that of the amiable Family in Jermyn Street. I am much obliged by the Information of what pass’d in Parliament after my departure; in return I will endeavor to give you a short Sketch of the State of Affairs here. I found at my arrival all America...
27From Benjamin Franklin to Mary Hewson, 8 July 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Yale University Library I thank you for your kind Letter of April 11th. It grieves me that the present Situation of publick Affairs, makes it not eligible for you to come hither with your Family, because I am sure you would otherwise like this Country, and might provide better here for your Children, at the same time that I should be made more happy by your Neighbourhood and Company. I...
28Resolutions on Trade Submitted to Congress, [on or before 21 July 1775] (Franklin Papers)
AD : National Archives; draft: American Philosophical Society News of the second Restraining Act infuriated and alarmed Congress. On July 12, 1775, it appointed a committee, of which Franklin was a member, to formulate a program for protecting the colonies’ trade. Three days later, on Franklin’s motion, the nonexportation agreement was modified to permit paying in produce for imported war...
29Endorsement of Legal Opinions on Land Titles Obtained From the Indians, 12 July 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ADS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania The promoters of the Walpole Company in London had decided not to wait for confirmation of their grant before putting at least part of it on the market. They had obtained two legal opinions that their title to that part, the lands that the Indians had ceded at Fort Stanwix to the “suffering traders” was a valid one. Franklin’s involvement in their...
30From Benjamin Franklin to Margaret Stevenson, 17 July 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ALS (draft): American Philosophical Society All Trade and Business, Building, Improving, &c. being at a Stand here, and nothing thought of but Arms, I find no Convenience at present of putting out your Money in this Country, and therefore have concluded not to draw it over, but return it into your Hands; and accordingly inclose an Order for it on Messrs. John & Robert Barclay, Cheapside, with...