The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin (45 page)

37.   BF to Joseph Fox, 24 Feb. 1766, in
Papers of Franklin,
13:168.

38.   On the sovereignty of Parliament, see Bernard Bailyn,
The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968), 200-202, 216-17; and Gordon S. Wood,
The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969), 347-49.

39.   BF to Hall, 24 Feb. 1766, and BF to Fox, 24 Feb. 1766, in
Papers of Franklin,
13:170, 168.

40.   BF to Jane Mecom, 1 Mar. 1766, in
Papers of Franklin,
13:188. This display of optimism is not to deny Franklin’s often pessimistic view of human nature, which he especially expressed when he felt he had been wronged. See Ronald A. Bosco, “‘He That Best Understands the World, Least Likes It’: The Dark Side of Benjamin Franklin,”
PMHB
111 (1987): 525-54.

41.   BF, Examination Before the House of Commons, in
Papers of Franklin,
13:153.

42.   BF, Marginalia in Protests of the Lords Against Repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766, in
Papers of Franklin,
13:212-20.

43.   BF to Kames, 25 Feb. 1767, in
Papers of Franklin,
14:68.

44.   On the colonists’ anticipation of the commonwealth theory of the British Empire, see Randolph Adams,
Political Ideas of the American Revolution: Britannic-American Contributions to the Problem of Imperial Organization, 1765 to 1775
(Durham, N.C.: Trinity College Press, 1922). Apparently Wilson also reached his position in the late 1760s, even though he did not publish his views until 1774.

45.   BF to William Franklin, 13 Mar. 1768, in
Papers of Franklin,
15:75-76.

46.   BF to Thomas Crowley, for the London
Public Advertiser,
21 Oct. 1768, in
Papers of Franklin,
15:241.

47.   BF, Marginalia in Protests of the Lords, 1766, in
Papers of Franklin,
13:225.

48.   BF to Mary Stevenson, 14 Sept. 1767, in
Papers of Franklin,
14:253.

49.   BF to unknown correspondent, 28 Nov. 1768, in
Papers of Franklin,
15:272-73.

50.   Bailyn,
Hutchinson,
233. See also David Morgan,
The Devious Dr. Franklin: Benjamin Franklin’s Years in London
(Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1996).

51.   BF,
Autobiography,
60.

52.   Charles Coleman Sellers,
Franklin in Portraiture
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962), 328-30.

53.   Botein, “Printers and the American Revolution,” 30-31.

54.   BF to Hall, 14 Sept. 1765, and BF to William Franklin, 25 Nov., 29 Dec. 1767, all in
Papers of Franklin,
12:268; 14:326, 349.

55.   Bailyn,
Ideological Origins,
94-159; Gordon S. Wood, “Conspiracy and the Paranoid Style: Causality and Deceit in the Eighteenth Century,”
WMQ
39 (1982): 401-41.

56.   Bailyn,
Ideological Origins,
151; Wood, “Conspiracy and the Paranoid Style,” 417; Thomas Jefferson, “A Summary View of the Rights of British North America” (1774), in Julian P. Boyd et al., eds.,
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1950), 1:125.

57.   George Rude,
The Crowd in History: A Study of Popular Disturbances in France and England, 1730—184.8
(New York: Wiley, 1964), 55-57.

58.   Pauline Maier, “John Wilkes and American Disillusionment with Britain,”
WMQ20
(1963), 373-95; Pauline Maier,
From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 176—1776
(New York: Knopf, 1972), 163-69.

59.   BF to William Franklin, 16 Apr., 5 Oct. 1768, BF to Galloway, 14 May 1768, and BF, On the New Office of the Secretary of State for America, 21 Jan. 1768, all in
Papers of Franklin,
15:98-99, 127-28, 224, 19.

60.   BF, On the New Office of the Secretary of State, BF to Cadwallader Evans, 26 Feb. 1768, and BF, On Railing and Reviling, 6 Jan. 1768, all in
Papers of Franklin,
15:19, 52, 14. On the pride and arrogance of the British government and the steady alienation of Franklin’s affections toward the empire in the late 1760s and early 1770s, see Jack P. Greene,
Understanding the American Revolution: Issues and Actors
(Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1995), 18-47, 247-84.

61.   “Benevolus” (BF), On the Propriety of Taxing America,
London Chronicle,
9—11 Apr. 1767, in
Papers of Franklin,
14:114.

62.   BF, “American Discontents,”
London Chronicle,
5-7 Jan. 1768, in
Papers of Franklin,
^J
5
^:I2
.

63.   BF to Samuel Cooper, 8 June 1770, 27 Apr. 1769, in
Papers of Franklin,
17:163; 16:118.

64.   BF to Kames, 25 Feb. 1767, in
Papers of Franklin,
14:69.

65.   BF to William Franklin, 1 Oct. 1768, in
Papers of Franklin,
15:224-27.

66.   Deborah Franklin to BF, 3 Nov., 6 Oct. 1765, 21-22 Jan. 1768, and 20-25 Apr. 1767, all in
Papers of Franklin,
12:354, 294; 15:23; 14:136.

67.   Lopez and Herbert,
Private Franklin,
155.

68.   Deborah Franklin to BF, 3 July 1767, 21-22 Jan. 1768, 1 May 1771, 30 June 1772, and BF to Deborah Franklin, 14 July 1772, 1 Sept. 1773, all in
Papers of Franklin,
14:207; 15:24; 18:91; 19:192, 207; 20:383; Lopez and Herbert,
Private Franklin,
120-21, 134-36, 164-73. Lopez and Herbert’s book, to which I am much indebted, is a fair and balanced account of Franklin’s relationship with his family.

69.   BF to William Franklin, 9 Jan. 1768, in
Papers of Franklin,
15:16.

70.   BF to Jane Mecom, 30 Dec. 1770, in
Papers of Franklin,
17:314.

71.   BF to William Franklin, 2 July 1768, in
Papers of Franklin,
15:159, 162, 160.

72.   BF to William Franklin, 2 July 1768, in
Papers of Franklin,
15:161, 162, 164.

73.   BF to William Franklin, 2 July 1768, in
Papers of Franklin,
15:163.

74.   See Peter Marshall, “Lord Hillsborough, Samuel Wharton and the Ohio Grant, 1769-1775,”
English Historical Review
80 (1965), 717-39.

75.   Bernard Bailyn,
Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution
(New York: Knopf, 1986), 29-36, 49-57, 64-65.

76.   BF to Thomson, 18 Mar. 1770, and BF to Cooper, 8 June 1770, in
Papers of Franklin,
17:112, 164.

77.   BF, Account of His Audience with Hillsborough, 16 Jan. 1771, in
Papers of Franklin,
18:12-16.

78.   BF to Cooper, 5 Feb. 1771, in
Papers of Franklin,
18:24-25.

79.   William Strahan to William Franklin, 3 Apr. 1771, in
Papers of Franklin,
18:65.

80.   James Campbell,
Recovering Benjamin Franklin: An Exploration of a Life of Science and Service
(Chicago: Open Court, 1999), 178.

81.   BF to Sarah Franklin Bache, 29 Jan. 1772, in
Papers of Franklin,
19:46.

82.   Notes, in
Franklin: Writings,
1557; J. A. Leo Lemay, “Benjamin Franklin,” in Everett Emerson, ed.,
Major Writers of Early American Literature
(Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1972), 238-39; Melvin H. Buxbaum,
Benjamin Franklin and the Zealous Presbyterians
(University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975), 225; Ormond Seavey,
Becoming Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and the Life
(University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1988),

17. Because literary scholars are anxious to show Franklin as an artist in complete control of his materials, many of them tend to see all four parts of the
Autobiography
as a unified whole, directed at the same general reader. I am more inclined to agree with William H. Shurr’s argument that the first part addressed to Franklin’s son is distinctive. Shurr, “‘Now, Gods, Stand Up for Bastards’: Reinterpreting Benjamin Franklin’s
Autobiography” American Literature
64 (1992): 435-51. See also Hugh J. Dawson, “Franklin’s Memoirs in 1784: The Design of the Autobiography, Parts I and II,”
Early American Literature
12 (1977-1978): 286-93; Hugh J. Dawson, “Fathers and Sons: Franklin’s ‘Memoirs’ as Myth and Metaphor,”
Early American Literature
14 (1979-1980): 269-92; and Christopher Looby, “‘The Affairs of the Revolution Occasion’d the Interruption’: Writing, Revolution, Deferral, and Conciliation in Franklin’s
Autobiography” American Quarterly
38 (1986): 72—96.

83.   BF to Abiah Franklin, 12 Apr. 1750, and BF to Strahan, 2 June 1750, in
Papers of Franklin,
3:475, 479.

84.   BF to William Franklin, 30 Jan. 1772, in
Papers of Franklin,
19:50.

85.   BF to William Franklin, 30 Jan. 1772, in
Papers of Franklin,
19:48.

86.   BF to Galloway, 22 Aug. 1772, in
Papers of Franklin,
19:275.

87.   BF to William Franklin, 19-22 Aug. 1772, in
Papers of Franklin,
19:259.

88.   The editors of Franklin’s
Papers
say that in the Hutchinson affair Franklin “crossed, without recognizing it, a personal Rubicon. The days of his usefulness in London were numbered.”
Papers of Franklin,
i9:xxxii.

89.   The Hutchinson Letters, 1768-1769, in
Papers of Franklin,
20:550; Bailyn,
Hutchinson,
227.

90.   Tract Relative to the Affair of Hutchinson’s Letters, Feb. 1774?,
Papers of Franklin,
21:419. Most people at the time thought that John Temple was the person who had passed Whately’s correspondence on to Franklin. Bailyn believes that it was Thomas Pownall who gave Franklin the letters. But the editors of the
Papers
suggest John Temple and William Strahan, as well as Pownall, as possibilities. Bailyn,
Hutchinson,
225, 231-35;
Papers of Franklin,
19:403-7.

91.   The editors of Franklin’s
Papers
believe that his sending of these letters to the radicals in Massachusetts “was probably the most controversial act of his career.”
Papers of Franklin,
19:401.

92.   BF to Thomas Cushing, 2 Dec. 1772, in
Papers of Franklin,
19:411-13.

93.   BF to Cushing, 2 Dec. 1772, in
Papers of Franklin,
19:411-12. Bailyn thinks that these words “must be either the most naive or the most cynical that Franklin ever uttered.” Bailyn,
Hutchinson,
237. Perhaps they are both. Since Franklin was still so emotionally committed to the empire that he had come to believe that almost anything, even the sacrifice of one’s honor, justified trying to save it, his words may be more naive than cynical. At the same time, he seems to have sincerely believed that his former friend Hutchinson had become so duplicitous and so detested by the people of Massachusetts that he deserved to have his reputation destroyed for the sake of the empire. See BF to William Franklin, 6 Oct. 1773, in
Papers of Franklin,
20:437, 439.

94.   BF to Cushing, 2 Dec. 1772, 3 Jan. 1773, in
Papers of Franklin,
19:409-13; 20:7-10.

95.   If fixing blame on local officials in order to absolve the English ministry was indeed Franklin’s motivation, then the editors of his
Papers
believe that “his miscalculation was spectacular, and does small credit to his acumen.”
Papers of Franklin,
i9:408.

96.   BF to William Franklin, Mar. 1775, in
Papers of Franklin,
21:552.

97.   BF, Last Will and Testament, 22 June 1750, and BF to John Winthrop, 25July 1773, in
Papers of Franklin,
3:481; 20:330.

98.   BF to Cushing, 2 Dec. 1772, in
Papers of Franklin,
19:411; Bailyn,
Hutchinson,
223. Bailyn has the fullest account of Franklin’s involvement in the affair of the Hutchinson letters.

99.   BF to Lord Dartmouth, 21 Aug. 1773, in
Papers of Franklin,
20:373.

100.   Bailyn,
Ideological Origins,
121-22.

101.   BF, “Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One,” 11 Sept. 1773, and BF, “An Edict by the King of Prussia,” 22 Sept. 1773, in
Papers of Franklin,
20:389-99, 413-18.

102.   BF, “Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One,” BF to William Franklin, 6 Oct. 1773, and BF to Mecom, 1 Nov. 1773, all in
Papers of Franklin,
20:393, 436-39, 457-58.

103.   London
General Evening Post,
11 Jan. 1774, in Verner W. Crane, ed.,
Letters to the Press, 175—1775
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1950), 239.

104.   BF, Extract of a Letter from London, 19 Feb. 1774, in
Papers of Franklin,
21:112.

105.   The Final Hearing Before the Privy Council, 29 Jan. 1774, in
Papers of Franklin,
21:60, 47, 48-49.

106.   The Final Hearing Before the Privy Council, 29 Jan. 1774, in
Papers of Franklin,
21:70.

107.   BF to Galloway, 18 Feb. 1774, in
Papers of Franklin,
21:109-10.

108.   
European Magazine
(London) 3 (March 1783), quoted in P. M. Zall, ed.,
Ben Franklin Laughing: Anecdotes from Original Sources by and About Benjamin Franklin
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), 77.

109.   BF to Galloway, 12 Oct. 1774, in
Papers of Franklin,
21:334.

110.   BF to Galloway, 12 Oct. 1774, in
Papers of Franklin,
21:334.

111.   BF to Timothy, 7 Sept. 1774, BF to Mecom, 28 July, 26 Sept. 1774, BF to William Franklin, 1 Aug. 1774, and BF to Jonathan Shipley, 28 Sept. 1774, in
Papers of Franklin,
21:291, 265, 317-18, 266, 321.

112.   BF to Shipley, 28 Sept. 1774, BF to Jonathan Williams Sr., 28 Sept. 1774, and BF to Cushing, 3 Sept., 6 Oct. 1774, in
Papers of Franklin,
21:280, 322, 323, 327.

113.   BF to William Franklin: Journal of Negotiations in London, 22 March 1775, and BF to Thomson, 5 Feb. 1775, in
Papers of Franklin,
21:579, 581, 478.