1Pennsylvania 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...
2Pennsylvania 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...
3Pennsylvania 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...
4Pennsylvania 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...
5Pennsylvania 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.”...
6Pennsylvania 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...
7Pennsylvania 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...
8Pennsylvania 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...
9Pennsylvania 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...
10Pennsylvania 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...