11Pennsylvania 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...
12Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 19 November 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), p. 30. While the Assembly was considering his amendments to the £60,000 tax and defense bill, Governor Morris asked for emergency funds for protecting the frontier in the interval which would pass before the still-contested appropriation bill could take effect. He also pressed for a bill...
13Pennsylvania 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...
14Pennsylvania Assembly: Representation to the Proprietors, 23 August 1751 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1754–1755 (Philadelphia, 1755), pp. 44–6. To the Honourable Thomas Penn , and Richard Penn , Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, &c. The Representation of the General - Assembly of the said Province, met at Philadelphia, the Twenty-third Day of the Sixth Month, 1751. May it please the Proprietaries , The first...
15Pennsylvania 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...
16Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 12 April 1754 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1753–1754 (Philadelphia, 1754), p. 50. Although the French had begun their advance into the upper Ohio Valley and Governor Hamilton had urged the Assembly to take steps towards defending the western frontier, that Quaker-controlled body had adjourned, March 9, for eight weeks without doing anything effective (see above, p. 259...
17Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 19 March 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1754–1755 (Philadelphia, 1755), pp. 71–2. On December 3, 1754, when the Pennsylvania House had reassembled, Governor Robert Hunter Morris informed them of French advances in the Ohio region and again urged them to take defensive measures. He supported his appeal with several documents, one a letter of July 5, 1754, from Sir...
18Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 17 May 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1754–1755 (Philadelphia, 1755), pp. 94–7. The Assembly met on May 12 pursuant to its adjournment. They voted Franklin their thanks for his services to the army, resolved to defray the costs of the roads being built through Cumberland County to Wills Creek and the Monongahela, paid a few bills, replied to Governor Morris’...
19Pennsylvania 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...
20Pennsylvania 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...