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/9780199384198.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 18th Century and Early American Literature
Chapter 7 takes up about 1769 to 1775, important years in the evolution of Franklin’s ideas about three matters: that agriculture rather than commerce was the foundation of a nation’s well-being; ...
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Chapter 7 takes up about 1769 to 1775, important years in the evolution of Franklin’s ideas about three matters: that agriculture rather than commerce was the foundation of a nation’s well-being; that constitutional reform was essential to the colonies’ political status as part of the British Empire; and that British North American defense and commerce needed to be free of intervention by Crown, ministry, and Parliament. Franklin’s ideas about the potential self-sufficiency of the colonies developed into a theory that embraced constitutional monarchy. Franklin’s turn against the British Empire reached clear articulation in 1771, after Franklin toured Ireland. In thinking about legal opinions being rendered about British India, Franklin groped toward an opinion regarding British Americans’ original sovereignty over their colonies—thus denying the British nation’s jurisdiction over American lands—and conceived that lands in North America acquired peacefully from the Native peoples there belonged to the new possessors alone.Less
Chapter 7 takes up about 1769 to 1775, important years in the evolution of Franklin’s ideas about three matters: that agriculture rather than commerce was the foundation of a nation’s well-being; that constitutional reform was essential to the colonies’ political status as part of the British Empire; and that British North American defense and commerce needed to be free of intervention by Crown, ministry, and Parliament. Franklin’s ideas about the potential self-sufficiency of the colonies developed into a theory that embraced constitutional monarchy. Franklin’s turn against the British Empire reached clear articulation in 1771, after Franklin toured Ireland. In thinking about legal opinions being rendered about British India, Franklin groped toward an opinion regarding British Americans’ original sovereignty over their colonies—thus denying the British nation’s jurisdiction over American lands—and conceived that lands in North America acquired peacefully from the Native peoples there belonged to the new possessors alone.
