Carla J. Mulford
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- June 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199384198
- eISBN:
- 9780199384211
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199384198.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 18th Century and Early American Literature
Along with the previous and next chapters, this chapter discusses Franklin’s goals for Pennsylvania in negotiations with the Pennsylvania Proprietors, Crown, and Parliament. He was seeking for ...
More
Along with the previous and next chapters, this chapter discusses Franklin’s goals for Pennsylvania in negotiations with the Pennsylvania Proprietors, Crown, and Parliament. He was seeking for Pennsylvania an administrative policy that would establish—among all the colonies—an equable laboring and trading situation with Britain, in effect creating a commonwealth (and commonly held ideas about liberties and benefits) among all trading partners. Examining Franklin’s responses to Pennsylvania politics creates a backdrop to our understanding of his ideas about what ought to be the purposes and goals of empire, especially regarding manufacturing and commercial freedom, self-rule, and self-determination. Franklin’s work as a tradesman interested in social projects, his service to Philadelphia, and his concerns about the Assembly’s relationship to the Proprietors, especially as these related to the essential need to defend the Pennsylvania colony—these form the basis of this chapter.Less
Along with the previous and next chapters, this chapter discusses Franklin’s goals for Pennsylvania in negotiations with the Pennsylvania Proprietors, Crown, and Parliament. He was seeking for Pennsylvania an administrative policy that would establish—among all the colonies—an equable laboring and trading situation with Britain, in effect creating a commonwealth (and commonly held ideas about liberties and benefits) among all trading partners. Examining Franklin’s responses to Pennsylvania politics creates a backdrop to our understanding of his ideas about what ought to be the purposes and goals of empire, especially regarding manufacturing and commercial freedom, self-rule, and self-determination. Franklin’s work as a tradesman interested in social projects, his service to Philadelphia, and his concerns about the Assembly’s relationship to the Proprietors, especially as these related to the essential need to defend the Pennsylvania colony—these form the basis of this chapter.
Carla J. Mulford
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- June 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199384198
- eISBN:
- 9780199384211
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199384198.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 18th Century and Early American Literature
Franklin’s decades in negotiation with Great Britain preoccupy this chapter. It takes up Franklin’s activities during the years 1757–69, examining Franklin’s life in London and the social and ...
More
Franklin’s decades in negotiation with Great Britain preoccupy this chapter. It takes up Franklin’s activities during the years 1757–69, examining Franklin’s life in London and the social and political complexities of his mission for Pennsylvania, the outcome of his negotiations, his brief return to Pennsylvania, and then his return to London amid the controversy caused by several oppressive measures designed to tax colonial American Britons. Franklin argued for political representation and for economic and trade policies that would assist the colonies and bind them in a collaborative with Great Britain. In the 1760s, when Franklin made public in his “Canada pamphlet” his view of the advantages of retaining Canada in the peace treaty with France and then when he republished his letters to William Shirley, Franklin had already turned away from the idea of keeping together an empire that seemed to privilege some Britons above those in British colonies.Less
Franklin’s decades in negotiation with Great Britain preoccupy this chapter. It takes up Franklin’s activities during the years 1757–69, examining Franklin’s life in London and the social and political complexities of his mission for Pennsylvania, the outcome of his negotiations, his brief return to Pennsylvania, and then his return to London amid the controversy caused by several oppressive measures designed to tax colonial American Britons. Franklin argued for political representation and for economic and trade policies that would assist the colonies and bind them in a collaborative with Great Britain. In the 1760s, when Franklin made public in his “Canada pamphlet” his view of the advantages of retaining Canada in the peace treaty with France and then when he republished his letters to William Shirley, Franklin had already turned away from the idea of keeping together an empire that seemed to privilege some Britons above those in British colonies.
