9511A Catechism Relative to the English National Debt, [August or September? 1777] (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from William Temple Franklin, ed., Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin ... (3 vols., 4to, London, 1817–18), III , 97. A CATECHISM Relative to the English National Debt. Question 1. Supposing this debt to be only 195 millions of pounds sterling at present, although it is much more, and that it was all to be counted in shillings, that a man could count at the rate of...
9512Certification of a Deed, [12 October 1781] (Franklin Papers)
AD : American Philosophical Society I the underwritten do hereby certify, that the within Writing appears to me to be a genuine Deed, being in all the Forms customary in Philadelphia, where it purports to have been executed. Based on a certificate d’Autun himself had drafted in French for BF to use as a model. It began by asserting that the signature of John Miller, “un des Juges de paix pour...
9513A Page from the Visitors’ Book, [after 2 September 1778] (Franklin Papers)
D : American Philosophical Society Mr. Me. et Mlle. Defouchy sont venus pour avoir l’honneur de voir Monsieur franklin. Comte de Mac Donald Colonel. P. Hancock, from England au Caffe anglais Rue st. honore du sergent. Hemery fondeur en carataire d’ainprimery Rue st. jaque che Mr. Canon Cordonier visavi le notaire. See the preceding document. Jean-Paul Grandjean de Fouchy, an astronomer, had...
9514Passport for Cartel Ships, [1782] (Franklin Papers)
Passy, printed by Benjamin Franklin, 1782. Printed form and AD (draft): American Philosophical Society Whereas an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain has been lately passed for the Exchange of American Prisoners; and in pursuance thereof, sundry Vessels are by that Government engaged as Transports to convey to America those Prisoners of War who have been confined in the Goals of England and...
9515Certificate Condemning a Prize, 18 September 1779 (Franklin Papers)
Printed by Benjamin Franklin, Passy, 1779. Printed form with MS insertions in blanks: Archives Départementales du Morbihan By the time Franklin received Francis Coffyn’s letter of September 18, below, enclosing a copy of the French government’s regulations concerning American prizes, he had already seen those regulations and had finally understood that he bore responsibility for judging the...
B. Franklin’s Observations on Mr Jay’s Draft of a Letter to Mr Livingston, which occasioned the foregoing Part to be left out.— M r . F. aubmits it to the Consideration of M r . Jay whether it may not be adviseable to forbear, at present, the Justification of ourselves, respecting the Signature of the Preliminaries, because That matter is, at present, quiet here; No Letter sent to the Congress...
9517Protest against the First Draft of the Articles of Confederation, [before 20 August 1776] (Franklin Papers)
AD (draft): American Philosophical Society; copy: Library of Congress This document, as Franklin explains in his note at the end, is not what it appears to be. It was a protest from him and not, despite its opening sentence, from the convention. If he ever submitted it to that body, the meager minutes say nothing about it; and it was certainly not submitted to Congress. He wrote it at some...
9518Draft Articles on the Fisheries and Creditors, 28 November 1782 (Adams Papers)
That the Subjects of his Britannic Majesty and the People of the Said United States Shall continue to enjoy, unmolested, the Right to take Fish of every Kind, on the Grand Bank and on all the other Banks of Newfoundland: also in the Gulph of St Laurence, and in all other Places, where the Inhabitants of both Countries, used at any time heretofore to fish; and the Citizens of the Said United...
9519Song: “The King’s Own Regulars,” 27 November 1775 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Boston Gazette , November 27, 1775. The King’s own REGULARS; And their Triumphs over the Irregulars . A New SONG , To the Tune of, An old Courtier of the Queen’s, and the Queen’s old Courtier. The song was also published in the Pa. Evening Post , March 30, 1776, and the Constitutional Gaz. , April 6, 1776; we have supplied readings of some illegible words from the former....
9520Franklin’s Notes for a Dispatch, [before 28 November 1777] (Franklin Papers)
AD : University of Pennsylvania Library These jottings are beyond question an early step in formulating the dispatch below, November 30, to the committee for foreign affairs. They afford the first insight we have had into Franklin’s approach to the drafting of such a document, and also into his determination to dabble in French even when preparing notes in English. The list can be assigned...