Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

After returning to Philadelphia in February 1763, Franklin departed that April for a 17-month postal inspection tour. His partner as colonial postmaster died in Virginia. While Franklin hoped to become the “sole postmaster” (207) in the colonies, another man, John Foxcroft, was appointed to share the duties. Franklin befriended him. Deborah declined to accompany Franklin in his travels, but Franklin took his daughter Sally with him. They stayed with William and his wife Elizabeth in New Jersey, a fact demonstrating that the relationship was on good terms. Franklin injured his shoulder in a fall from his carriage. At the age of 57, he felt his stamina diminishing. During the trip, he made plans for the construction of a home on Market Street in Philadelphia. Up until that time, the Franklins had rented homes.

Back in Philadelphia, the conflict between the governor and the assembly resumed. The politics were intense, particularly after a mob slaughtered innocent Indigenous people. Franklin was outraged, citing the immorality of punishing “an individual as revenge for what others of his race, tribe, or group may have done” (212). His writings on the subject demonstrated his distaste for German settlers and religious dogma. The governor, John Penn, used this against Franklin politically and allied with Presbyterians, Germans, and frontiersmen. Penn promised not to press charges against the mob, a fact which incensed Franklin. Isaacson explains that Franklin distrusted both the upper and lower classes.

Given his disdain for the governor, Franklin continued to push for a change from proprietary government. This proposal was not popular. Given that and the attacks on Franklin in the press, he lost his bid for re-election to the Assembly, but his faction retained control. The Assembly voted to send him back to London to present his plan for a change in government. Franklin was eager to do that and was now envisioning a union of the colonies with possible representation in Parliament.

Back in London, Franklin resumed his life with the Stevensons and brought William’s illegitimate son, Temple, to that home as well. Franklin would develop stronger relationships with his grandchildren than with his children. While he was in London, his wife Deborah suffered a stroke, endured an attack on their home, and struggled with Sally’s choice of a husband. None of these events caused Franklin to return home. Instead, he wrote rather business-like letters preaching frugality. He declined to attend his daughter’s wedding to Richard Bache, whom he considered hapless, but played the role of father at Polly Stevenson’s wedding. Isaacson surmises that Franklin enjoyed the company of the lively and clever Stevensons more than that of his own family.

In 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which was the first internal tax on the American colonies and mandated a “tax stamp on every newspaper, book, almanac, legal document, and deck of cards” (222). Isaacson writes that the act “sparked a radical transformation in American affairs” (225) with subservience to England being openly questioned. Badly misreading the outrage that this law sparked in the colonies, Franklin tried to play a conciliatory role. It was a public relations disaster that caused him to be vilified in the home press and to have a mob attempt to attack his house in Philadelphia. Recognizing his mistake, Franklin began a campaign to change his image. He wrote letters, called for a boycott of English goods, and printed political cartoons. In February 1766, he testified before Parliament against the act, emphasizing the distinction between internal and external taxes. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act. Franklin’s testimony was published throughout the colonies, and he became the spokesman for the American cause in London. With his reputation restored, he was soon named the London agent for Georgia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.

Charles Townshend, the chancellor of the exchequer, took advantage of the claim that the colonies accepted external taxes and imposed duties on glass, paper, china, paint, and tea. The proceeds were to pay the royal governors, ending their dependence on colonial assemblies. Once again, Franklin was slow to recognize the anger generated in the colonies. He was trying to have it both ways, warning Parliament about the American fury but distancing himself from that fury. While still hoping for harmony, he was beginning to lean toward the position that Parliament had no right to pass laws for the colonies. Yet he hoped for a position in the British government and for Pennsylvania to be converted to a royal colony. Lord Hillsborough, the Minister of State, dashed both hopes, and it was a turning point for Franklin. He used his pen to attack Parliament, not the king, and the Townshend duties. When all the duties but the one on tea were repealed, Franklin urged a boycott of all goods manufactured in Britain. Hillsborough refused to recognize Franklin as the legitimate agent of the assemblies, claiming only the governors could appoint agents.

Although his political mission was at a standstill in 1771, Franklin opted not to return home. Instead, he traveled to other parts of England, Ireland, and Scotland. In southern England, he stayed with a family named Shipley, and true to his pattern, began a lifelong friendship with a young girl named Kitty. In the evenings, he read excerpts from his autobiography, on which he started working at the age of 65. He presented his life story in the form of a letter to his son William, but it was obviously targeted at the public. Isaacson argues that it is an example of “homespun American literature” (257) with a casual tone and humorous anecdotes. It is only “modestly revealing” (256) of Franklin the person, however. It was one of the first autobiographies published and for a time became the world’s most popular one. Franklin continued his scientific inquiries as well, theorizing correctly that common colds came from contagion rather than cold air, linking exercise to calories of heat, noticing the potential for lead poisoning, and inventing a musical instrument among other things.

His son-in-law, Bache, came to England where Franklin welcomed him. However, he showed less interest in meeting his grandson than he did in Polly Stevenson’s son, who became his “surrogate grandson” (263). He stayed in London ostensibly to secure a land grant along the Ohio, which though approved never came to pass. Meanwhile, his wife Deborah was dying in Philadelphia. He continued to send her mundane letters and failed to return home. News of her death came in a letter from William, with whom tensions were building. As a royal governor, William was a loyalist and increasingly clashed with Franklin, whose sympathies were with the colonies even if he did not yet embrace the idea of independence.

Thomas Hutchinson, the Governor of Massachusetts, had written several letters to Parliament “filled with advice on how to subdue colonial unrest” (272). When someone in Parliament gave these letters to Franklin, he forwarded them to Thomas Cushing of Massachusetts with instructions not to publish them. Franklin thought that these letters explained Parliament’s actions and might reduce tensions. Instead, the letters were published, and they increased the radicalism in the colonies. When accusations about the leak almost resulted in a duel, Franklin took public responsibility. He was then questioned and later essentially tried before the Privy Council. Franklin stayed silent while members of the Council vilified him. Fearing arrest, he stayed away from his lodgings for a few days but decided to stay in England.

Franklin then engaged in secret talks with Lord Chatham, who was no longer in power but was attempting to craft a compromise between Parliament and the colonies. With the First Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia and drafting its demands, Franklin reiterated its calls for a boycott and loyalty to the Crown, not Parliament. Any attempt at compromise was rebuffed by the House of Lords, and Franklin left England in 1775.