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Benjamin Franklin

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Introduction

The ensuing Autobiography finishes in the year 1757, with the arrival of Franklin in England, whither he was sent by the Assembly of Pennsylvania to insist upon the rights of the province to tax the proprietors of the land still held under the Penn charter for their share of the cost of defending it from hostile Indians and others. In this mission he was completely successful. Indeed, big services were found to be so valuable that he was appointed agent also for the provinces of Massachusetts, Maryland, and Georgia. While in England he was honoured with the degree of Doctor of Laws by the universities of Oxford, Edinburgh, and St. Andrews. He was also made an Associate of the Academy of Paris.

These honours were granted chiefly on account of his contributions to the advancement of electrical science, as described, though briefly, in the following pages. These important researches in electricity were commenced in 1746, and in the course of a few years gave him rank amongst the most illustrious natural philosophers. He exhibited in a more distinct manner than had hitherto been done the theory of positive and negative electricity by means of his well-known experiment with a kite. He demonstrated also that lightning and electricity are identical; and it was he who first suggested the lightningrod as a means of protecting buildings.

In 1762 Franklin returned to America; but two years afterwards he was again sent to England—this time to contest the pretensions of Parliament to tax the American colonies without representation. The obnoxious Stamp Act was threatened, and he was examined before the House of Commons in regard thereto. The act was passed—to be repealed, however, in the following year.

Meanwhile the differences between the British government and the colonies in regard to the prerogatives of the Crown and the powers of Parliament became more and more grave in consequence of the home government still claiming the right to tax. The dispute quickly grew from bad to worse, and in 1773 officers sent to New England were resisted in the performance of their duty. To such a pass did matters now speedily come that in 1775 Franklin decided, as well from patriotic motives as from a regard to his personal safety, to return to America. He was immediately elected a delegate to the congress convened by the thirteen provinces or states to concert measures for their common defence, and which at once declared in favour of dissolving the political connection with Great Britain.

Franklin soon became one of the most active men in the contest between England and the Colonies, which resulted in the declaration of independence, July 4, 1776, and in the establishment of what has since been known as the Republic of the United States. Towards the end of 1776 he was sent as special envoy to France to negotiate a treaty of alliance. His fame as a philosopher and statesman had already preceded him, and he was received with every mark of consideration and respect. His mission to France was successful, and in February, 1778, he signed a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, between France and the United States. This produced war between England and France, which lasted for several years. However, in September, 1783, the British government recognized the independence of the United States, and Franklin signed the treaty of peace between the mother country and her revolted colonies.