1To Benjamin Franklin from Samuel Cooper, 1 January 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS (draft): British Museum In my last of Novr [15] I mention’d the Uses I had made of the Sentiments you were pleas’d to communicate to me, and the Effect they had upon the leading Men of our House of Commons. I did this with much Caution as that no Disadvantage can acrue to you from any Quarter. The same Caution I shall ever use respecting my Friends on your Side the Water who are so good as...
2From Benjamin Franklin to Deborah Franklin, 2 January 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society This is just to acknowledge the Receipt of your kind Letter of Nov. 25. which came to hand last Night, per Capt. Sparks. I had before received those per Capt. Falconer, by whom I shall write fully to you and all my Friends that correspond with me. I am, Thanks to God, as well as ever. My Love to our Children and the Kingbird, as you call him. In haste, I...
3To Benjamin Franklin from James Bowdoin, 2 January 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Massachusetts Historical Society I take this opportunity by my Son to express my own Pleasure, and the general Satisfaction at your appointment as Agent for the House of Representatives. The Council have recommended to their Agent Mr. Bollan to consult and cooperate with you for the best interest of the Province: which as it has distinguished itself in the great cause of American Liberty...
4To Benjamin Franklin from John Hawkesworth, 5 January 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society The Bearer, Mr. Ackland, is a Candidate for the Afternoon Preacher-ship at the Foundling Hospital: and I earnestly recommend him to your Assistance; in this I am not only countenanced by your Friendship, but prompted by Duty. Mr. Ackland is a worthy and ingenious Man, and a most excellent Preacher, and to serve him in his profession is to promote rational...
5To Benjamin Franklin from John Foxcroft, 14 January 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society Yours of Novr. 7th. I have just receiv’d for which you have my sincere thanks. This will be Deliver’d to you by my Brother whom I beg you will take most cordially by the hand as I do assure you that you will find on being well acquainted with him that he’ll merit every Act of Friendship which you will please to conferr upon him, this sudden Voyage is owing...
6Franklin’s Account of His Audience with Hillsborough, 16 January 1771 (Franklin Papers)
AD : American Philosophical Society Almost exactly three years earlier, on January 20, 1768, Lord Hillsborough had become Secretary of State for the American Colonies. Franklin’s initial attitude toward the new office and the man who filled it had been favorable, but disillusionment had soon set in. Hillsborough had ordered troops to Boston, had opposed total repeal of the Townshend Acts, and...
7To Benjamin Franklin from Jonathan Williams, Sr., 19 January 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I received your kind favour of the 7 and 9 Novr by Which We are [ torn ] happy to find our Sons and Brother Safe arival and of the kind Reception thay have from you and Good Mrs. Stevensons kind offer of Service to Whom our Respects. By the next post I Shall Send to Mr. Pease for the Bond you mention and Shall Recover the money as Soon as Possible then...
8To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Life, 24 January 1771: résumé (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society <Basinghall St., Jan. 24, 1771. Talked with Mr. Jackson on the 21st about the Georgia acts, and agreed to wait on him with Franklin on the 30th. Wants to talk with Franklin first, and if convenient will call on him at noon on Saturday next, the 26th; if inconvenient, please set any time except the 28th.> For the London solicitor see above, X , 369 n. See...
9To Benjamin Franklin from a Committee of the Library Company of Philadelphia, 25 January 1771 (Franklin Papers)
LS : American Philosophical Society We are appointed by the Directors of the Library Company of Philadelphia, to inform you that your Favour of the 7th July 1769 was received and laid before them by Mr. Charles Thomson, but the Confusion, which necessarily arose from the Union of the several Libraries, gave them so much Employ as to put it out of their Power to answer your Letter, so soon as...
10From Benjamin Franklin to William Knox, 26 January 1771: résumé (Franklin Papers)
ALS (draft): Historical Society of Pennsylvania <Craven St., Jan. 26, 1771. Is directed by the Georgia Assembly Committee of Correspondence to request the plan of the lands in that province claimed by the estate of Sir William Baker. Please deliver the plan to the bearer, Thomas Life.> See above, XVII , 139 n. Knox’s reply is below, Jan. 29.
11To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Fitzmaurice, 26 January 1771: résumé (Franklin Papers)
AL : Historical Society of Pennsylvania <Pall Mall, Saturday evening, Jan. 26, 1771, a note in the third person. If Franklin is disengaged tomorrow, should be glad of his company in Pall Mall for dinner and the evening, where he will meet a friend or two. Had hoped to deliver the invitation in person this morning, but was prevented.> For the younger brother of Lord Shelburne see above, X , 348...
12To Benjamin Franklin from William Henly, 29 January 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I think myself highly honour’d by your very obliging favour, and return you my sincerest thanks for your improvement of my Electrometer. I shall take the first opportunity to make that addition to my Apparatus, and am well satisfied ’twill remove the objection at once. I will now beg leave to assure you Sir that if I have been able to produce any...
13To Benjamin Franklin from William Knox, 29 January 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society Inclosed I send you the Plan of the Lands in Georgia claimed by Sir Wm. Bakers Representatives which you desired in your Letter which was delivered to me yesterday. I also inclose the several Papers which came with it to my hands as I imagine they may contain some information which you may think useful. I have kept no Copies of them, neither would I give...
14List of Papers Relating to Georgia, [after 29 January 1771]: résumé (Franklin Papers)
AD : American Philosophical Society <After Jan. 29, 1771: a list in Franklin’s hand, by title only, of “Papers in this Parcel.” All have to do with Georgia, and range through the decade 1761–71. They include actions by the legislature and the British government, letters to Franklin from the Speaker and the Assembly committee (many of them printed above), and documents relating to Sir William...
15To Benjamin Franklin from Isaac Garrigues, 31 January[?] 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I Received your Note of winsday Noon. But you may be assured I never Received your letter in Answer to mine of Sunday Morning or I should not have attemted to have given you Trouble the second time. I likewise wonder much I never received it. I thank you worthy Sir for all favours and have been very uneasy since receiveing the Note Yesterday—as you are...
16To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Life, 2 February 1771: résumé (Franklin Papers)
AD : American Philosophical Society <A long and chatty bill running from November, 1770, to February 2, 1771, for services in connection with BF ’s Georgia and Pennsylvania agencies. The principal entries for Georgia, in November, January, and February, are (1) for attending BF to consult on various papers sent him by the Assembly and on its act for governing slaves, for accompanying him in...
17From Benjamin Franklin to James Bowdoin, 5 February 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Massachusetts Historical Society I am very sensible of the Honour done me by your House of Representatives, in appointing me their Agent here. It will make me extreamly happy if I can render them any valuable Service. I have had several Conferences with Mr. Bollan on their Affairs: There is a good Understanding between us, which I shall endeavour to cultivate. At present the Cloud that...
18From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Cooper, 5 February 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : British Museum I have just received your kind Favour of Jan. 1. by Mr. Bowdoin, to whom I should be glad to render any Service here. I wrote to you some Weeks since in Answer to yours of July and November, expressing my Sentiments without the least Reserve in Points that require free Discussion, as I know I can confide in your Prudence not to hurt my Usefulness here by making me more...
19From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Cushing, 5 February 1771 (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from Jared Sparks, ed., The Works of Benjamin Franklin ... (10 vols., Boston, 1836–40), VII , 501–6. In 1770 Franklin, in a series of letters to American friends, began a commentary on various aspects of the imperial constitution. The letter below is part of this series. It discusses the current state of the American controversy and prospects for the future, and in the process...
20From Benjamin Franklin to John Winthrop, 5 February 1771 (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from The Columbian Centinel , July 30, 1825. I duly received your favour of October 26, with 52 s. for the Royal Society. I lately found one of the last volumes of the Transactions among my books with your name in it. I had some doubts, whether I had not sent you mine instead of it, believing I had dispatched it long before. But recollecting that mine were gone to Philadelphia, I am...
21From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwalader Evans, 10 February 1771 (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from Samual Hazard, ed., Hazard’s Register of Pennsylvania , XVI , no. 5 (August 1, 1835), 92. Franklin’s efforts to promote the growing of silk in Pennsylvania were slowly bearing fruit. In 1769 he had urged Dr. Evans to seek help from the province; this suggestion had been laid before the American Philosophical Society, which had duly petitioned the Assembly for financial aid. When...
22From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Rhoads, 10 February 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania I received your kind Favour of Nov. 9. and am glad to hear of the Welfare of you and yours. Mentioning to a Friend of mine, Mr. Wooller, an Engineer, your Idea of Paint and Sand, to make Roofs durable and safer from Fire (which I hope you will try, as I think it very likely to succeed) he communicated to me an Account of a new Method of Covering, in the...
23To Benjamin Franklin from Joseph Sherwood, 12 February 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : University of Pennsylvania Library Some Years ago there was a dispute between Lord Baltimore and the Penn’s Family, respecting as I understand the Boundaries of the two Provinces. I should be much obliged to thee to be Informed in what Year the Decree was made in that Cause, and the Names of the Parties, and indeed every other particular thou can inform me, relating to this Business,...
24To Benjamin Franklin from Katherine French, 18 February 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society Your very valuable opinion is much desired upon the Work I now send for your perusal. A particular friend has requested this favor of me. He says, he thinks, you are not a Stranger to this performance, as it was shewed to you some time ago, in an incompleat state. By a Letter from the late Docr. Greg. Sharpe, which Letter I send you a Copy of, I conclude it...
25From Benjamin Franklin to Katherine French, 26 February 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Yale University Library After so full an Opinion in favour of your Friend’s Work from the late learned Dr. Sharpe, my Sentiments of it seem unnecessary, as they can add no Weight. They will appear, however, by my requesting that Five Sets more may be sent me, which I intend as Presents to my Friends the Speakers of so many American Assemblies or Parliaments. These added to the Set you...
26To Benjamin Franklin from Mrs. William Deane, 1 March [1771–75] (Franklin Papers)
AL : University of Pennsylvania Library Mrs. Deane presents her Compliments to Dr. Franklin with many thanks to him, for the benefit she hopes, she has received, from the perusal of Richards Maxims , which are so Excellent they ought to be framed and hung up in every House. Mrs. Deane is much obliged to Dr. Franklin for his kind remembrance of her, and hopes he will Consider of the other...
27To Benjamin Franklin from Katherine French, 1 March 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I return you my Thanks for the unquestionable proof you have given of your approbation, of the Work I sent you. I made my friend extremely happy in shewing your Letter to him. When I am in possession of the other 5 sets Will dispatch them to your House. I was unwilling my friend Miss Jennings’s civil acknowledgement of your kind favor, should wait a moment,...
28To Benjamin Franklin from Theodorus Swaine Drage, 2 March 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS (incomplete): American Philosophical Society In this long letter, from a man whom Franklin had sponsored for Anglican ordination almost two years before, the writer described his struggle to establish a missionary parish in the piedmont of North Carolina. The letter is in bad condition: the ink is faded, some of the pages are torn or stained, some clearly missing, so that the text as...
29To Benjamin Franklin from Noble Wimberly Jones, 4 March 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I take this oportunity to acquaint you that on the 22d. of last month our Assembly met with the same fate of that in Decr. 1768, the principal cause seemed to be their having Committed the deputy Secretary for refusing to give evidence to a Committee of the House on an information against the deputy surveyor general for taking double fees in his Office...
30From Benjamin Franklin to Noble Wimberly Jones, 5 March 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania I duly received your several Favours of Oct. 9. and December 13. inclosing Bills of Exchange, viz. On Greenwood & Higginson for £100 0 s. 0 d. On Campbell for - - - - - - - - - 20 0 s. 0 d. £120 0 s. 0 d.