Sections: Introduction - A Cause For Revolution - Break With Britain - Continental Congress
Treaty of Paris - The New Republic - Scientist and Inventor - Printer and Writer - Epitaph
A CAUSE for REVOLUTION
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the tenth son of Josiah, a candle purveyor, and Abiah Folger. Educated at Boston Grammar School, Benjamin apprenticed with his father, and then his half-brother, Peter, a controversial printer in Boston. Young Franklin struck out on his own in 1723 eventually finding employment as a journeyman printer in Philadelphia. By 1730, he controlled his own printing shop and published The Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper, had fathered a son, William, and married Deborah Read Rogers.
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"Join, or Die"Benjamin Franklin published this woodcut in the Pennsylvania Gazette, which represents America as a snake severed into various provinces. Prior to the outbreak of the French and Indian War, Franklin hoped to persuade the American colonies to unite their governments to protect themselves from the French and their Native American allies under a plan later known as "The Albany Plan," which was ultimately rejected. The image, the first to address unification of the colonies, would later be used as a symbol of the American Revolution with the motto: "Don't Tread On Me." |
Magna BritanniaThis vivid allegorical cartoon, which illustrates the fatal effects on the empire that would result from taxing the colonies, was designed by Franklin in 1766. Franklin printed the image on cards that he distributed to Parliament during the debate over the repeal of the Stamp Act. This broadside carries a text that reads: "The Moral is, that the Colonies may be ruined, but that Britain would thereby be maimed." Both the card and the broadside version, with the explanation and moral, are extremely rare. |
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Subverting the Stamp ActOn October 31, 1765, the publishers announced the suspension of the Pennsylvania Gazette in protest of the provisions of the Stamp Act, which required that newspapers be printed on imported, stamped paper that required payment of a duty. Between November 7 and December 26, Franklin's partner David Hall issued news sheets on unstamped paper without a masthead, thus avoiding legal repercussions while satisfying the subscribers. |
Franklin Supports the
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Stamp Act Repeal in 1766In this letter sent from London, Franklin thanks his old friend and Philadelphia neighbor for endorsing his conduct in regard to the repeal of the Stamp Act. Although Franklin, as Pennsylvania's agent in London, had briefly supported the new tax on America, he quickly switched to opposition after hearing of the angry response in Pennsylvania. Franklin attributed America's success in obtaining the repeal "to what the Profane would call Luck & the Pious Providence." |
Franklin and the King
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