More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
American democracy was built on a foundation of unbridled free speech.
February 1765
March,
September 1765
The Stamp Act crisis sparked a radical transformation in American affairs. A new group of colonial leaders, who bristled at being subservient to England, were coming to the fore, especially in Virginia and Massachusetts.
A congress of nine colonies, including Pennsylvania, was held in New York in October.
1765, with his reputation as a defender of colonial rights in tatters because of his equivocation over the Stamp Act,
Enforcing the Stamp Act, he warned one British minister, would end up “creating a deep-rooted aversion between the two countries and laying the foundation of a future total separation.”
February 13, 1766,
Franklin got the chance to present his case directly to Parliament.
On both sides of the Atlantic, there was great rejoicing when Parliament promptly repealed the Stamp Act,
Franklin had displayed, with steely words cloaked in velvet, both reason and resolve. For a generally reluctant public speaker, it was the longest sustained oratorical performance of his life.
Even one of his diehard opponents told him afterward, Franklin recorded, “that he liked me from that day for the spirit I showed in defense of my country.”
Famed in Britain as a writer and scientist, he was now widely recognized as America’s most effective spokesman.
when people’s incomes are lessened, if they cannot proportionally lessen their outgoings they must come to poverty.
Ignoring the family drama back in Philadelphia, Franklin escaped in August 1767 for a summer vacation to France.
Franklin clearly did not look for deep commitments. He did, however, have a need for domestic comfort and intellectual stimulation.
he had missed the weddings of both his own children,
the Townshend duties passed in June 1767,
Franklin’s hope of joining the British government ended abruptly when he had a long and contentious meeting with Lord Hillsborough in August 1768.
Throughout 1769, Franklin became increasingly worried that the situation would lead to a rupture.
March 5, 1770,
the Boston Massacre.
Franklin had finally caught up with the more ardent patriotism spreading through the colonies, most notably Massachusetts.
One could see in Parliament’s actions “the seeds sown of a total disunion of the two countries,”
“The bloody struggle will end in absolute slavery to America, or ruin to Britain by the loss of her colonies.”
England severely regulated Irish trade, and absentee English landlords exploited Irish tenant farmers.
His shock at the disparity between rich and poor made him all the more proud that America was building a vibrant middle class.
He exalted hard work, individual enterprise, frugality, and self-reliance. On the other hand, he also pushed for civic cooperation, social compassion, and voluntary community improvement
He was equally distrustful of the elite and the rabble, of ceding power to a well-born establishment or to an unruly mob.
Bred into his bones was a belief in social mobility and the bootstrap values of r...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
and thereby to promote and increase poverty, the very evil it was intended to cure.”
actions should be judged by how much they benefit the common good. Policies that encouraged hard work were good,
People who acquired more wealth than they needed had a duty to help others and to create civic institutions that promoted the success of others.
The proportion of slave-owning families in America was not one in a hundred, but close to one in nine
December 1772, Franklin stirred up a tempest that would lead to his final break with Britain.
Hutchinson’s letters were filled with advice on how to subdue colonial unrest. “There must be an abridgment of what are called English liberties,” he had written.
the Massachusetts Assembly passed a resolution declaring that it was not subservient to Parliament,
the radicals of Boston, led by Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty,
On December 16, 1773, after a mass rally in the Old South Church, some fifty patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians went down to the wharves and dumped 342 chests of tea worth £10,000 into the sea.
Franklin’s role in publicizing purloined copies gave ammunition to those in Britain who saw him as a troublemaker.
For the rest of 1774, Franklin stayed in England with little to do, no official business to conduct, no ministers to lobby. Even the king found it curious.
“Your popularity in this country, whatever it may be on the other side, is greatly beyond what it ever was,” William wrote in May. “You may depend when you return here on being received with every mark of regard and affection.”
on Christmas eve of 1774, William sent his father a letter of brutal sadness and pain. Deborah had died, with Franklin not there.
“I find myself growing very feeble very fast,”
April 18, 1775,
It is hard to pinpoint precisely when America crossed the threshold of deciding that complete independence from Britain was necessary and desirable.
By early July 1775, precisely a year before his fellow American patriots made their own stance official, he was ready to come out publicly.
As Franklin repeatedly stressed in his letters to his son, America should not replicate the rigid ruling hierarchies of the Old World, the aristocratic structures and feudal social orders based on birth rather than merit. Instead, its strength would be its creation of a proud middling people, a class of frugal and industrious shopkeepers and tradesmen who were assertive of their rights and proud of their status.
Once it was clear that Britain remained intent on subordinating its colonies, the only course left was independence.
