761John Canton: Electrical Experiments, 6 December 1753 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions , XLVIII , pt. 1 (1753), 350–8. Experiment 1. From the cieling, or any convenient part of a room, let two cork-balls, each about the bigness of a small pea, be suspended by linen threads of eight or nine inches in length, so as to be in contact with each other. Bring the excited glass tube under the balls, and they will be separated by...
762From Benjamin Franklin to James Bowdoin, 13 December 1753 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Massachusetts Historical Society I receiv’d your Favour of the 12th ult. with the Law of your Province for Regulating the Indian Trade, for which I thank you, and for the Remarks that accompany it, which clearly evince the Usefulness of the Law, and I hope will be sufficient to induce our Assembly to follow your Example. I have yet received no Particulars of the unhappy Gentleman’s Death...
763From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Johnson, 13 December 1753 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Henry S. McNeil, Plymouth Meeting, Pa. (1962) I received your Favour of the 5th Inst. and thank you for your kind Congratulations. I wrote to you sometime since, and sent you a Dozen of the best bound Books; the Parcel was recommended to the Care of Mr. Stuyvesandt at New York: I wonder it is not yet got to hand. I wish I could with Truth give you a good Account of the Sale of those...
764Franklin and Hall: Appeal to Subscribers, 27 December 1753 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Pennsylvania Gazette , December 27, 1753. The Subscribers to this Paper who live remote from Philadelphia, many of whom are many Years in Arrear, are once more requested to consider how impracticable it is for us to wait on every one of them at their Houses for the Money, and how easy it is for them to find proper Opportunities of conveying it to us. As a News-paper, which is a...
765Poor Richard Improved, 1754 (Franklin Papers)
Poor Richard improved: Being an Almanack and Ephemeris … for the Year of our Lord 1754: … By Richard Saunders, Philom. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, and D. Hall. (Yale University Library) I have now serv’d you three Apprenticeships, yet, old as I am, I have no Inclination to quit your Service, but should be glad to be able to continue in it three times three Apprenticeships...
766The Albany Plan of Union, 1754 (Franklin Papers)
Copy: Public Record Office, London; also copies: Rhode Island Archives, John Carter Brown Library, New York State Library, Maryland Hall of Records, Library of Congress, New-York Historical Society, Boston University Library, American Philosophical Society (fragment) After the Committee on a Plan of Union had presented its “Short Hints” to the Albany Congress, June 28, that body discussed the...
767A Plan for Settling Two Western Colonies, 1754 (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from Benjamin Vaughan, ed., Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces; … Written by Benj. Franklin, LL.D. and F.R.S. (London, 1779), pp. 133–43; also fragments of copy: American Philosophical Society Writing to Peter Collinson, June 26, 1755, Franklin mentioned that Samuel Hazard of Philadelphia happened “to see last Fall a Paper of mine on the Means of Settling a new Colony...
768From Benjamin Franklin to Deborah Franklin, 1754 (Franklin Papers)
AL : American Philosophical Society Send 50 Reams largest Demi to Mr. Daniel, Printer at Jamaica. Send 30 Reams Do to Peter Timothy. Send the Ream of thick blue Paper to Parker. Send half the brown Paper in the House to Parker[?], ’tother half to Brother John in Boston; No, send it all to Boston. [ In margin ]: Nota, bene. Don’t forget to enter it. This note cannot be dated precisely; sometime...
769To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Kemble, 1754 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society Begg the favour you’d forward the Incloseds, in which you’ll much oblige Sir your most humble Servant Addressed: To Benjamen Franklin Esqr: In Philadelphia Peter Kemble (1704–1789), New Jersey landowner and councilor, lived at New Brunswick, where he was a member of the town council, 1747. His daughter Margaret married Thomas Gage. William H. Benedict,...
770To Benjamin Franklin from ———, 1754 (Franklin Papers)
AL : American Philosophical Society This letter, undated, unsigned, and in an unidentified hand, survives among Franklin’s papers. Internal evidence indicates that it was written by someone in the colonies and at about the middle of the eighteenth century. Because the problem of colonial union was being so actively discussed in 1754, it is tentatively assigned to that year. According to your...