Franklin, Benjamin (1706–1790)

Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the American nation, was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He lived during the Age of Enlightenment and his public life reflected its watchwords: reason, tolerance, natural law, and progress. His public political views stressed the ideals of civic improvement and betterment.

Franklin's recognized contributions to American history cross many disciplines: He was a scientist, a civic activist, a writer, a political thinker, and a politician. His scientific endeavors include pioneering experiments with electricity, many inventions, and the founding of the American Academy of Sciences. His civic enterprises include the founding of the American library system and several charity hospitals and the creation of the volunteer fire department.

His autobiography reflects on the growth of the nation and his contributions to it. As a politician, he leaves a complex legacy. He was an elected representative to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751, losing his seat in 1756. Between 1757 and 1762, he stood as the Royal Colonial Agent representing the Pennsylvania Commonwealth to the English Parliament. During these years, his loyalty to the Crown was unquestioned and he championed the relationship between England and her American colonies. However, during his stay in London, he began to question the ties that bound the colonies to England due to Parliament's increasing intrusion into colonial affairs. He returned to England in 1764 for a stay of 11 years, representing the colonies of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Georgia. In 1771, as Parliament continued to view the American colonies as a primary source of revenue for England, he solidified his discomfort with the political and economic restraints that bound the colonies to England. On his return to Philadelphia in 1775, he became an outspoken supporter of “disunion” and was elected to the Second Continental Congress, where he helped draft the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence. Returning to Europe in 1776, he represented the rebel nation to the French Court, ensuring France's neutrality in the war and buying armaments to supply the American troops. He returned to the United States in 1785 and continued his disunion activities, eventually participating in the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

For many years, Franklin believed that the English government was enlightened in terms of colonial self-rule. Franklin recognized that the wealth of the colonies was in their land. In order to maintain the wealth of the colonial structure, Franklin supported free trade, asking only that the English Crown enact laws that protected the commercial growth and mercantile interests of its colonies. Franklin advocated for restrictive, exclusionary immigration policies to maintain the English character of the colonial [Page 582]structure. He supported regulations intended to increase the number of English immigrants to the American colonies, while simultaneously limiting the number of German and other immigrant populations.

Historically, Parliament had maintained its political distance from colonial government affairs, asking only that the colonial subjects recognize the sovereignty of the king. Although the English Parliament was the official legislative body overseeing colonial interests, in practice local self-government had taken deep root in the American colonial psyche. Under King George III, the English Parliament reasserted its influence over its colonial holdings in order to reestablish its economic supremacy. Franklin recognized that this tension disrupted the loyalty the colonists held toward the English. Prior to 1771, Franklin understood the American Revolution to be illegal and he actively sought to reestablish economic and political ties that would ensure joint and compelling benefits to both the Crown and the colonies. His work was to no avail, however, as Parliament continued to place economic and, in some cases, political sanctions on the colonies. Thus, reluctantly, Franklin was drawn to the American rebellion and became a strong supporter of, first, federalism and, ultimately, complete separation from the Crown.

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