The primary source for any life of Benjamin Franklin is Franklin himself: his correspondence and published writings. Several editions of Franklin’s papers exist; by far the best (and a model of scholarly editing) is The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, published by Yale University Press, starting in 1959. The original editor was Leonard W. Labaree; the current editor is Barbara B. Oberg. The most recent volumes in this series carry Franklin’s story to 1781. In the present book, citations of Franklin up to 1781 are drawn almost exclusively from this edition, and are typically cited by date alone. Other editions of Franklin papers, for the years after 1781, that have been used extensively here are by Smyth and Bigelow (see full information below). As a general rule, where the date of a document locates it unambiguously, the date alone has been given. In other cases, volume and page numbers are furnished.
Franklin’s original manuscripts lie in scores of collections scattered about America and Europe. The most important of these collections are located at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and at the Library of Congress in Washington. The vast majority of substantive letters by Franklin in these collections have been published in one or more of the printed editions of Franklin papers. Where such is the case, citations in the present book are to a printed version, for reasons of accessibility. In the rare exceptional cases, the archives are cited.
One of Franklin’s published works that requires special mention is his justly famous Autobiography. Numerous editions exist; the one cited here is also edited by Leonard W. Labaree and published by Yale University Press, in 1964. It is abbreviated below as ABF.
For clarity and readability, most archaisms have been silently modernized. Franklin capitalized many more nouns than modern writers do; these have usually been rendered lowercase. Franklin wrote British English; where British usage and spellings persist at the start of the twenty-first century, these have generally been retained.
In the notes below, references are given only for direct quotations. The works cited include many, but by no means all, of the most important sources consulted for this book. Considerations of space preclude any effort to present a comprehensive bibliography of materials relating to Franklin’s life, let alone his times. The interested reader is referred to Melvin H. Buxbaum, Benjamin Franklin: A Reference Guide (2 volumes: Boston, 1983–88). J. A. Leo Lemay, Reappraising Benjamin Franklin: A Bicentennial Perspective (Newark, Del., 1993), comprises papers by Franklin scholars; the references nicely complement those in the Buxbaum volumes.
ABBREVIATIONS
Individuals
BF: Benjamin Franklin
DF: Deborah Read Franklin
WF: William Franklin
Archives and Published Works
ABF: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (New Haven, Conn., 1964).
Adams Papers: The Adams Papers, ed. L. H. Butterfield (Cambridge, Mass., 1961—)
AHR: American Historical Review.
APS: Benjamin Franklin Collection, American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia).
Bagatelles: Franklin’s Wit and Folly: The Bagatelles, ed. Richard E. Amacher (New Brunswick, N.J., 1953).
Bigelow: The Works of Benjamin Franklin, ed. John Bigelow (New York, 1904).
DAR: Documents of the American Revolution, 1770–1783 (Colonial Office Series), ed. K. G. Davies (Shannon, Ireland, 1972–1981).
Facsimiles: Facsimiles of Manuscripts in European Archives Relating to America, 1773–1783, ed. B. F. Stevens (London, 1889–98).
Giunta: The Emerging Nation: A Documentary History of the Foreign Relations of the United States under the Articles of Confederation, 1780–1789, ed. Mary A. Giunta et al. (Washington, D.C., 1996).
HSP: Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia). Lafayette Letters: Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, ed. Stanley J. Idzerda (Ithaca, N.Y., 1979).
LC: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Liberty of Congress (Washington, D.C.).
Lemay: Benjamin Franklin: Writings, selected and annotated by J. A. Leo Lemay (New York, 1987).
Letters of Rush: Letters of Benjamin Rush, ed. L. H. Butterfield (Princeton, N.J., 1951).
Memoirs: Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, ed. William Temple Franklin (London, 1833).
NEQ: The New England Quarterly.
Papers of Jefferson: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd (Princeton, N.J., 1950–).
Papers of Madison: The Papers of James Madison, ed. William T. Hutchinson and William M. E. Rachal (Charlottesville, Va., 1962–91).
Papers of Washington: The Papers of George Washington, ed. W. W. Abbot (Charlottesville, Va., 1983–).
PBF: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Leonard W. Labaree et al. (New Haven, Conn., 1959–).
PG: Pennsylvania Gazette.
PMHB: Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.
PR: Poor Richard [year]: An Almanack for the Year of Christ [year]. (All the pertinent issues can be found in PBF, under last part of the previous year.)
Records of Convention: The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, ed. Max Far-rand (New Haven, Conn., 1923).
Smyth: The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Albert Henry Smyth (New York, 1905–7).
Sparks: The Works of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Jared Sparks (Boston, 1840).
WMQ: William and Mary Quarterly (3rd. series).
Writings of Jefferson: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Albert Ellery Bergh (Washington, D.C., 1903–4).
Writings of Madison: James Madison: Writings, ed. Jack N. Rakove (New York, 1999).
Writings of Washington: The Writings of George Washington, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington, D.C., 1931–44).
Yale: Benjamin Franklin Collection, Yale University (New Haven, Conn.).
1. BOSTON BEGINNINGS: 1706–23
10 “Coming to himself … this resolution”: Diary of Cotton Mather, 2 vols. (Boston, 1911–12), 1:12, 357.
10–12 “That there is … imposed upon”: The Wonders of the Invisible World (1893), reproduced in The Witchcraft Delusion in New England, ed. Samuel G. Drake (Roxbury, Mass., 1866), 1:55, 61, 94–95, 102–6.
12 “blame and shame”: The Diary of Samuel Sewall, ed. M. Halsey Thomas (New York, 1973), 1:367.
12 “the first letters”: Marion L. Starkey, The Devil in Massachusetts (Garden City, N.Y., 1969), 198.
14 “I remember well”: ABF, 54–55.
14 “a place where”: Arthur Bernon Tourtellot, Benjamin Franklin: The Shaping of Genius: The Boston Years (Garden City, N.Y., 1977), 105.
15 “When I was a child”: Bagatelles, 45.
16–18 “I do not remember … difficulty”: ABF, 53–54.
18 “without the least fatigue”: to Barbeu-Dubourg, undated, Smyth, 5:542–45.
19 “the old feud”: Walter Muir Whitehill, Boston: A Topographical History (Cambridge, Mass., 1959), 29.
21 “The said Apprentice”: John Clyde Oswald, A History of Printing (New York, 1928), 355.
22–23 “still had a hankering … vanity”: ABF, 58–60.
23 “Will you hear”: in Thomas C. Leonard, “Recovering ‘Wretched Stuff’ and the Franklins’ Synergy,” NEQ 72:3 (Sept. 1999), 445–47. Although the editors of PBF were skeptical that this is in fact Franklin’s poem, Leonard’s textual and contextual reasoning is persuasive.
24 “I was extremely”: ABF, 62.
25 “vile Courant”: Samuel G. Drake, The History and Antiquities of Boston (Boston, 1856), 564.
25 “to vilify”: Kenneth Silverman, The Life and Times of Cotton Mather (New York, 1984), 357.
26 “notorious”: Tourtellot, The Boston Years, 258.
26 “the wicked printer”: Diary of Cotton Mather, 2:663.
26–27 “either to commend … else to grieve for”: PBF, 1:9–10.
27 No questions”: ibid., 11.
27 “exquisite pleasure”: ABF, 68.
28–29 “There is certainly … garnish it mightily”: PBF, 1:11–12, 17, 19, 22, 26.
29 “The houses”: Carl Seaburg, Boston Observed (Boston, 1971), 82.
29 “This night”: Diary of Cotton Mather, 2:658.
29 “’tis thought”: PBF, 1:27.
30 “I made bold”: ABF, 69.
30 “Without freedom”: PBF, 1:27, 30.
31 “Whenever I find … Courant”: Tourtellot, The Boston Years, 423–25.
31 “entirely dropped”: PBF, 1:48.
31 “Adam was never”: ibid., 1:52.
32–34 “I was charmed … scrapes”: ABF, 63–71.
2. FRIENDS AND OTHER STRANGERS: 1723–24
36–37 “a den … cheap a price”: Harry Emerson Wildes, William Penn (New York, 1974), 12, 22, 27, 119.
37–38 “large town … for money”: Mary Maples Dunn and Richard S. Dunn, “The Founding,” in Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, ed. Russell F. Weigley (New York, 1982), 1, 14.
40 “I recollected”: ABF, 87–88.
42 “I was thoroughly”: ibid., 73.
43 “I saw”: ibid., 124.
44–50 “most awkward … pig poisoned”: ibid., 76–80.
51 “The reason”: Dunn and Dunn, “Founding,” 31.
52–53 “most affable … grum and sullen”: ABF, 81–82.
54 “Stoop”: to Samuel Mather, May 12, 1784, Smyth.
56–58 “He suspected … his promise”: ABF, 88–92.
3. LONDON ONCE: 1724–26
61–62 “I was satisfied … Riddlesden”: ABF, 93–94.
62 “a person”: biographical note on William Vanhaesdonck Riddlesden, ABF, 296.
62 “I have lately”: ibid., 94.
64 “Presuming on … a burden”: ABF, 99.
65 “Oh, the miserable”: Thomas Burke, The Streets of London through the Centuries (London, 1943), 39–40.
66 “No city in the world”: Daniel Defoe, A Tour thro’ London about the Year 1725, Being Letter V and Parts of Letter VI of A Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain’ (1724–26; rpt. New York, 1969), 48.
66 “As we stumbled”: Burke, Streets of London, 64.
67 “No person”: editorial note in Defoe, Tour thro’ London, 25.
67 “This is to give”: Walter Besant, London in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1903), 440.
67–68 “Last Wednesday … not wise”: ibid., 238–42.
68 “The many-headed”: ibid., 427.
69 “spent with Ralph”: ABF, 96.
69 “foolish intrigues”: ibid., 115.
70–71 “a detestable custom … very agreeably”: ibid., 100–1.
72 A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain: PBF, 1:58–71.
74–76 “My printing … to see it”: ABF, 96–105.
76–81 “This Gravesend … Thank God!”: journal of voyage, PBF, 1:72–99.
4. AN IMPRINT OF HIS OWN: 1726–30
83–84 “expert at selling … do over again”: ABF, 107.
85 “I had almost determined”: to Jane Franklin, Jan. 6, 1727.
88–95 “a very civil … beneficial to us”: ABF, 112–19.
95 “Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion”: PBF, 1:101–9.
96 “Those who write”: “Plan of Conduct”: ibid., 1:99–100.
97–98 “1. Temperance … Jesus and Socrates”: ABF, 149–50.
99–100 “Something that pretended … by the endeavour”: ibid., 156.
100 “In order to secure”: ibid., 125–26.
101 “a paltry thing”: ibid., 119.
101–2 “in behalf of myself … lay it down”: Martha Careful and Caelia Shortface [Letters], American Weekly Mercury, Jan. 28, 1729, PBF, 1:112–13.
102 “Let the fair sex … on hearing further”: Busy Body [Letter], American Weekly Mercury, Feb. 4, 1729, ibid., 1:114–16.
103 “a trifle”: ABF, 120.
103–4 “now to be carried … will allow”: PG, Oct. 2, 1729, PBF, 1:157–59.
5. POOR RICHARD: 1730–35
107–8 “I considered … escaped it”: ABF, 128.
109 “He knew little”: ibid., 117.
111 “’tis generally known”: Sheila L. Skemp, William Franklin: Son of a Patriot, Servant of a King (New York, 1990), 4.
111 “Barbara”: Carl Van Doren, Benjamin Franklin (New York, 1938), 91.
112 “I therefore put”: ABF, 143.
113 “civil gentlemen”: PBF, 1:250–52.
115 “Apology for Printers”: ibid., 1:194–99.
118–21 “A considerable quantity … whole province”: PG, various issues 1731–1734.
122 “As to the abilities … Almanack”: Marion Barber Stowell, Early American Almanacs: The Colonial Weekday Bible (New York: 1977), xiv–7.
124 “Wit, learning, order”: Bernard Capp, English Almanacs, 1500–1800 (Ithaca, N.Y., 1979), 23.
125 “Just published for 1733”: PG, Dec. 28, 1732, PBF, 1:280.
125–26 “Courteous Reader … R. Saunders”: PR, 1733.
126–27 “false prediction … performances are dead”: The American Almanack for the Year of Christian Account, 1734.
127 “to receive”: PR, 1734.
127 “If falsehood”: American Almanack, 1735.
128–31 “Whatever may be … April shower”: PR, various issues 1733–42.
6. CITIZEN: 1735–40
133 A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper-Currency, Apr. 3, 1729.
135 “old and lame”: “A.A.” to BF, Feb. 4, 1735.
137 “We will all”: articles of Union Fire Company, PBF, 2:150–53.
137 “I question”: ABF, 175.
138 “Though the salary”: ibid., 172.
138 “I saw”: John Pollock, George Whitefield and the Great Awakening (Garden City, N.Y., 1972), 4.
138 “the awe”: Josiah Smith in The Great Awakening, ed. Alan Heimert and Perry Miller (Indianapolis, 1967), 67–68.
139 “See!”: Stuart C. Henry, George Whitefield: Wayfaring Witness (New York, 1957), 54.
139 “graceful and well-proportioned”: ibid., 27–28.
139–40 “The remembrance … redemption”: George Whitefield’s Journals, ed. William V. Davis (Gainesville, Fla., 1969), 29–48.
140 “the new birth”: L. Tyerman, The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield (London, 1876), 32.
140 “I shall displease some”: ibid., 49–50.
141 “I preached”: Henry, George Whitefield, 29.
141 “Mr. Whitefield’s auditors”: ibid., 38.
141 “mad trick”: ibid., 49.
141 “Blessed be God”: Whitefield’s Journals, 209.
142 “His discourses”: ABF, 147.
142 “new-light man”: Merton A. Christensen, “Franklin on the Hemphill Trial: Deism Versus Presbyterian Orthodoxy,” WMQ 10 (1953), 426.
143 “most excellent discourses”: ABF, 167.
143 “free-thinkers”: Christensen, “Franklin on the Hemphill Trial,” 427.
143 “What is Christ’s”: PG, Apr. 10, 1735, PBF.
144 “I rather approved”: ABF, 168.
144 “malice and envy”: Some Observations on the Proceedings against the Rev. Mr. Hemphill, PBF, 2:39, 48.
144–45 “the dominion … impiety”: A Defense of Mr. Hemphill’s Observations, PBF, 2:90ff. [Note the title even though the observations in question were Franklin’s, not Hemphill’s.]
145 “like a boatswain”: Perry Miller, Jonathan Edwards (Cleveland, 1959), 166.
146 “never to do”: ibid., 138.
146 “The God”: ibid., 145–46.
147 “The multitudes”: ABF, 175.
148 “The alteration”: PG, June 12, 1740, PBF.
148–50 “I had the curiosity … his death”: ABF, 176–79.
150 “’tis true”: “A Defense of Conduct,” PG, Feb. 15, 1737/8, PBF.
151 “The coroner’s inquest”: PG, June 16, 1737, PBF.
151–52 “very false … him afterwards”: PG, Feb. 15, 1737/8, PBF.
153 “They are in general”: to Josiah and Abiah Franklin, Apr. 13, 1738.
154 “I long regretted”: ABF, 170.
155 “brings often afresh”: to Jane Franklin Mecom, Jan. 13, 1772.
156 “Thus it was”: ABF, 170.
7. ARC OF EMPIRE: 1741–48
157 “We have had”: to Josiah and Abiah Franklin, Sept. 6, 1744.
158 “half Indianized French”: Howard H. Peckham, The Colonial Wars 1689–1762 (Chicago, 1964), 30.
159 “I commended my soul”: ibid., 88.
160 “Nil desperandum”: G. A. Rawlyk, Yankees at Louisbourg (Orono, Maine, 1967), 45.
161 “The enterprise … very uncertain”: Joseph Kelley, Pennsylvania: The Colonial Years, 238–39.
161 “When I compare”: notes on Assembly debates, Feb. 26–28, 1745, PBF.
162 “Our people”: to John Franklin, probably May 1745.
163 “the most mischievous”: American Weekly Mercury, Nov. 20, 1740.
164 “Teague’s Advertisement”: PG, Feb. 26, 1741, PBF.
164 “If you would keep”: PR, 1741.
165 “From the short”: to Strahan, July 4, 1744.
165 “Trust to his generosity”: Strahan to Hall, Mar. 9 and June 22, 1745, PBF, 2:409n.
166 “In these northern”: An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvania Fire-Places, PBF, 2:419ff.
167 “the new-invented Philadelphia Fire Places”: Boston Evening Post, Sept. 8, 1746.
167 “That as we enjoy”: ABF 192.
167 “Another sun”: Account, PBF, 2:446.
168 A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge, May 14, 1743, PBF.
169 “I long very much”: from Colden, Oct. 1743.
170 “I cannot”: to Colden, Nov. 4, 1743.
170 “I long to know”: from Colden, Dec. 1744.
170 “The members”: to Colden, Aug. 15, 1745.
171 “You shall know”: ibid.
171 “I intend”: to Colden, Nov. 28, 1745.
171 “Suppose two globes”: to unknown recipient, copied to Colden, Oct. 16, 1746.
172 “I have not time”: to Colden, Feb. 1746.
172 “My dear Friend”: to unknown, June 25, 1745.
174 “The Antediluvians”: PBF, 3:52.
175 “Of their Chloes”: “I Sing My Plain Country Joan,” PBF, 2:353–54.
176 “Sally was inoculated”: memorandum, Apr. 18, 1746.
176 “Your granddaughter”: to Abiah Franklin, Oct. 16, 1747.
176 “Sally grows”: to Abiah Franklin, Apr. 12, 1750.
176 “I am glad”: to Strahan, June 2, 1750.
176 “By an entire dependence”: Boston Weekly News-Letter, Jan. 17, 1745.
177 “Dear Sister”: to Edward and Jane Mecom [1744–45], PBF, 2:448.
178 “To prevent … our cannon”: Rawlyk, Yankees at Louisbourg, 106–8.
178 “Wednesday last”: PG, July 18, 1745, PBF.
179 “If they had a pick ax … New England’s name”: Rawlyk, Yankees at Louisbourg, 153–54.
181 “No one imagined”: to Jane Mecom, June [?] 1748.
181 Plain Truth: PBF, 3:180–204.
183 “The house was pretty full”: ABF, 183.
183 “Where a Government”: PG, Dec. 3, 1747, PBF.
184 “A parcel”: PG, Mar. 8, 1748, PBF.
185 “Thy project of a lottery”: from Logan, Dec. 3, 1747.
185 “The Quakers”: ABF, 189–90.
185 “the late lotteries”: PG, Jan. 19, 1748, PBF.
186 “But at a dinner”: ABF, 184.
186 “Unless we humble”: Proclamation for a General Fast, Dec. 7, 1747.
186 “He it was”: Logan to Penn, Nov. 24, 1749, PBF, 3:185n.
8. ELECTRICITY AND FAME: 1748–51
187 “This Association”: Penn letters quoted in PBF, 3:186n.
188 “Had he not”: Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America (1810; rpt. Albany, 1874), 1:246.
189 “occasional buying”: articles of agreement with David Hall, Jan. 1, 1748.
189 “Mr. Hall”: to Strahan, Feb. 4, 1751.
189–90 “I am settling … business”: to Colden, Sept. 29, 1748.
191 “Dr. Spence”: ABF, 240–41.
191–92 “I was never”: to Collinson, Mar. 28, 1747.
192 “We say B”: to Collinson, May 25, 1747.
192 “I have observed”: to Collinson, Aug. 14, 1747.
193 “I have imparted”: from Collinson, Apr. 12, 1748.
193 “I am pleased”: to Collinson, Oct. 18, 1748.
193–94 “what we called … battery”: to Collinson, Apr. 29, 1749.
194 “The most interested”: Joseph Priestley, The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments (London, 1767), 153.
194 “new and very curious … electrical strokes”: report by William Watson to the Royal Society, Jan. 11, 1750, PBF.
195 “free from … native soil”: PG, Aug. 24, 1749.
195–96 “The best … and frugally”: Proposals Relating to the Education of the Youth in Pennsylvania, PBF, 3:397ff.
196 “Our Academy”: to Jared Eliot, Sept. 12, 1751.
197 “Billy is so fond”: to John Franklin, Apr. 2, 1747.
197 “My son”: to Colden, June 5, 1747.
197 “It was intended”: to Strahan, Oct. 19, 1748.
198–99 “Please to acquaint … I know not”: to Collinson, Feb. 4, 1750.
199 “earthquake of the air”: Benjamin Franklin’s Experiments, ed. I. Bernard Cohen (Cambridge, Mass, 1941), 105.
199 “The flame”: ibid., 106.
200 “It has been fatal”: to Mitchell, Apr. 29, 1749.
200 “Your very curious”: from Collinson, Feb. 5, 1750.
200 “The doctrine”: to Collinson, Mar. 2, 1750.
200–1 “To determine”: enclosure in letter to Collinson, July 29, 1750.
202 “Silk is fitter”: PG, Oct. 19, 1752, PBF.
202 “At length”: Priestley, History and Present State of Electricity, 180–81. 203–4 “Abstracted … my memory”: The Speech of Miss Polly Baker, PBF, 3:123–25.
205 “Though some others”: speech by Earl of Macclesfield, Nov. 30, 1753, PBF.
205 “a very able”: William Watson on BF’s “Opinions and Conjectures,” June 6, 1751, PBF.
205 “Every circumstance”: Priestley, History and Present State of Electricity, 179–80.
205 “universally admired … esteem of our nation”: Guillaume Mazéas to Stephen Hales, May 20, 1752, PBF, 4:315–17.
206 “The Tatler”: to Eliot, Apr. 12, 1753.
9. A TASTE OF POLITICS: 1751–54
208 “not wishing … any magician”: to Collinson, 1752?, PBF, 4:393–96.
208–9 “More knowledge … unsolicited”: ABF, 197.
211 “We are made”: Joseph Kelley, Pennsylvania, 169.
211 “rabble butchers”: ibid., 170.
213 “from that period”: Report on the State of the Currency, Aug. 19, 1752.
213 “very unseasonable”: PBF, 4:496.
213–14 “The Constable”: ABF, 173.
214 “Up Front-street … necessity”: Order of the Mayor and Aldermen, July 7, 1752, PBF.
215 “Last Thursday … murder the rest”: PG, Apr. 11, 1751, PBF.
216 “felons-convict … convict does not”: PG, May 9, 1751, PBF.
216–17 “It is almost”: Joseph J. Kelley Jr., Life and Times in Colonial Philadelphia (Harrisburg, Pa., 1973), 138.
217 “penitentiary … Spirit’s keenness”: Paul A. W. Wallace, Conrad Weiser (Philadelphia, 1945), 51–52.
218–19 “As few … precarious”: to Collinson, May 9, 1753.
219 “The German women”: to Collinson, undated 1753.
220–221 “offspring … reclaiming them”: to Collinson, May 9, 1753.
222 “as far as a man”: Harry Emerson Wildes, The Delaware (New York, 1940), 102.
223 “No sit down … it was done”: William Mason Cornell, The History of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1876), 105–6.
224 “good things”: Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America, Lemay, 969ff.
225–26 “Brethren … their backs”: Report on the Treaty of Carlisle, Nov. 1, 1753, PBF.
227 “They were near”: ABF, 198–99.
227 “to an inconceivable”: Report, Nov. 1, 1753, PBF.
10. JOIN OR DIE: 1754–55
230 “little known”: Howard Peckham, The Colonial Wars, 125.
230 “He is more English”: William A. Hunter, Forts on the Pennsylvania Frontier, 1753–1758 (Harrisburg, Pa., 1960), 141.
232 “assassinated”: Articles of Capitulation, July 3, 1754, Papers of Washington.
232 “I fortunately escaped”: George Washington to John Augustine Washington, May 31, 1754, ibid.
232 “He would not say”: ibid., 1:119.
232–33 “It would be … by Parliament”: to James Parker, Mar. 20, 1751.
234 “Friday last”: PG, May 9, 1754, PBF.
235 “to be sent home”: to James Alexander and Cadwallader Colden, June 8, 1754.
236–37 “a quietist … sort of government”: Bernard Bailyn, The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson (Cambridge, Mass., 1974), 10–17.
236 “There has never”: Representation of the Present State of the Colonies, July 9, 1754, PBF.
237–38 “When one”: to Colden, July 14, 1754.
238 “President General”: Plan of Proposed Union, July 10, 1754.
238 “We had a great deal”: to Colden, July 14, 1754.
238 “How they will relish it”: ibid.
239 “Excluding the people”: to Shirley, Dec. 4, 1754.
239–40 “Such an Union … of the whole”: to Shirley, Dec. 22, 1754.
240 “I am very weeke”: from Abiah Franklin, Oct. 14, 1751.
240–41 “I received yours”: to Jane Mecom, May 21, 1752.
241 “I am confident”: to Mecom, undated, PBF, 2:448.
241–42 “I am frequently … I love him”: to Mecom, undated, PBF, 3:301–4.
242 “That island”: to Mecom, Sept. 14, 1752.
242 “I fear”: to Mecom, Nov. 30, 1752.
243 “William is now”: to Abiah Franklin, Apr. 12, 1750.
243 “I have often seen”: Daniel Fisher diary, July 28, 1755, PMHB 17 (1893), 276.
243–44 “is thought”: to Collinson, May 21, 1751.
245 “I wish”: from Collinson, Sept. 27, 1752.
245–46 “Land being thus”: Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c.: PBF, 4:227–34.
247 “Braddock is very Iroquois”: Joseph Kelley, Pennsylvania, 322.
248 “The General told me”: ibid.
248 “After taking”: ABF, 223–24.
248 “These Americans”: J. Bennett Nolan, General Benjamin Franklin: The Military Career of a Philosopher (Philadelphia, 1936), 10.
249 “the service”: advertisement, Apr. 26, 1755.
249 “I cannot but honour”: PBF, 6:22.
249 “parcel of traitors”: Kelley, Pennsylvania, 323.
250 “What the devil”: ABF, 228.
250 “I cannot describe”: Kelley, Pennsylvania, 327.
251 “with about a dozen”: ibid., 327–28.
11. THE PEOPLE’S COLONEL: 1755–57
253 “I have succeeded”: Paul Wallace, Conrad Weiser, 385, 395.
253 “All burned”: ibid., 410.
254 “most of the Indians”: ibid., 403.
254 “Almost all”: Joseph Kelley, Pennsylvania, 339.
255 “The Quakers”: to Collinson, Aug. 27, 1755.
255 “My dear friend”: ABF, 212.
256 “perfectly equitable”: Reply to the Governor, Aug. 5, 1755.
256 “How odious”: Reply, Aug. 8, 1755.
255–57 “Vassals must follow”: Reply, Aug. 19, 1775.
257 “We are not so absurd”: Reply, Sept. 29, 1755.
257 “Our answers … his own face”: ABF, 213–14.
258 “the rashest … in flames”: to Collinson, Aug. 27, 1755.
259 “Your kind letter … of happiness”: to Catharine Ray, Mar. 4, 1755.
259–60 “Absence rather”: from Ray, June 28, 1755.
260 “You may write”: to Ray, [Mar.–Apr. 1755], PBF, 5:535–37.
260 “I must confess … rather than come”: to Ray, Sept. 11, 1755.
261 “free gift”: PBF, 6:130n.
261 “The Assembly”: Wallace, Conrad Weiser, 411.
262 “back People … all their lies”: Morris to Penn, Nov. 28, 1755, PBF.
262 “Since Mr. Franklin”: Nolan, General Benjamin Franklin, 9. 262–63 “If we cannot”: to Partridge, Nov. 27, 1755.
263 “We meet”: to William Parsons, Dec. 5, 1755.
263 “I am no coward”: PG, Dec. 18, 1755, PBF.
264 “I was surprised”: ABF, 231–32.
264 “The people here”: Nolan, General Benjamin Franklin, 34.
264 “the quintessence”: ibid., 36.
264 “You are immediately”: Commissioners to Parsons, Dec. 29, 1755.
265 “Hills like Alps … can invent”: Thomas Lloyd to unknown, Jan. 30, 1756, PBF, 6:380–82.
266 “It is perhaps”: ABF, 235.
267 “To prevent this”: to Collinson, Nov. 5, 1756.
268 “So grand an appearance”: PG, Mar. 25, 1756.
268 “which shook down”: ABF, 238.
268 “Twenty officers … or malice”: to Collinson, Nov. 5, 1756.
268 “abomination”: Peters to Penn, Feb. 18, 1756, HSP.
268–69 “The city”: Peters to Penn, Apr. 25, 1756, HSP.
270 “I much wonder”: Penn to Peters, May 8, 1756, HSP.
270 “To be convinced”: Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, Mar. 11, 1756.
270 “I have had”: to Strahan, July 27, 1756.
270 “The militia”: William Hanna, Benjamin Franklin and Pennsylvania Politics, 112.
271 “I had not so good”: ABF, 240.
271 “The people”: to Collinson, Nov. 5, 1756.
12. A LARGER STAGE: 1757–58
272 “Look out sharp”: to Strahan, Jan. 31, 1757.
273 “Mr. Franklin’s”: Penn to Peters, May 14, 1757, HSP.
275 “Lady Darlington”: J. H. Plumb, The First Four Georges (Boston, 1975), 36.
275 “Cette diablesse”: ibid., 37.
276 “Robin of Bagshot …choleric blockhead”: Paul Langford, A Polite and Commercial People: England 1727–1783 (Oxford, UK, 1989), 14, 23.
277 “A plain clean … says Poor Dick”: PR, 1758.
278 “Snuff-coloured”: D. H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature (1923; rpt. New York, 1964), 13–14.
278 “Were I a Roman Catholic”: to DF, July 17, 1757.
279 “I had for many years”: Strahan to DF, Dec. 13, 1757.
280–81 “You Americans … of agreement”: ABF, 261–62.
281 “Heads of Complaint,” Aug. 20, 1757. 282–83 “great pain”: to DF, Nov. 22, 1757.
283 “first rate”: Thomas Hutchinson, The History of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts-Bay, edited by Lawrence Shaw Mayo (Cambridge, Mass., 1936), 2:292.
283 “Mr. Franklin”: Morris to Paris, July 4, 1757, PBF, 7:247n.
284 “He was a proud”: ABF, 263.
284 “For although”: WF to Elizabeth Graeme, Dec. 9, 1757.
284–85 “the privileges”: WF to The Citizen, Sept. 16, 1757, PBF.
285 “by exposing”: The Citizen, Sept. 23, 1757, PBF, 7:255n.
285–86 “The first thing”: to Pringle, Dec. 21, 1757.
286 “From this experiment”: to John Lining, June 17, 1758.
287 “My vanity”: to DF, Sept. 6, 1758.
287 “The ingenuous”: citation accompanying diploma, PBF, 8:279n.
287–88 “You may think”: to DF, Jan. 21, 1758.
288 “I thank you”: to DF, Nov. 22, 1757.
288 “We have four rooms”: to DF, Jan. 1758.
288–89 “The hackney coaches”: to DF, Feb. 19, 1758.
289 “Tell her”: Strahan to Hall, June 10, 1758, PBF, 8:93n.
13. IMPERIALIST: 1759–60
291 “a province … their country”: W. A. Speck, Stability and Strife: England, 1714–1760 (Cambridge, Mass., 1977), 243–44.
291 “I am sure”: John B. Owen, The Eighteenth Century, 1714–1815 (Totowa, N.J., 1975), 84.
291 “The enemy have passed”: Francis Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe (Boston, 1903), 2:216.
292 “Everything proves”: ibid., 286.
293 “Vive le roil”: Howard Peckham, The Colonial Wars, 190.
293 “Now, God be praised”: Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, 2:309.
295 “that unmannerly sect”: to the London Chronicle, Dec. 27, 1759.
295 The Interest of Great Britain Considered, PBF, 9:59–100.
299–300 “She is a … Birmingham eyes”: to DF, Sept. 6, 1758.
300 “Odd characters”: to Roberts, Sept. 16, 1758.
301 “That”: to Norris, Jan. 14, 1758.
302 “a most impudent”: Penn to Peters, July 5, 1758, HSP.
302 “I still see”: to Galloway, Apr. 7, 1759.
302–3 “that harmony … and assent”: “Answer to Heads of Complaint,” Nov. 27, 1758.
303 “disrespect”: Penns to House of Representatives, Nov. 28, 1758, PBF.
303 “I need not”: to Norris, Jan. 19, 1759.
304 “The infinite variety”: WF to Graeme, Dec. 9, 1757.
305–6 “7. And the man”: PBF, 6:122–24.
306 “We could have”: to Kames, Jan. 3, 1760.
14. BRITON: 1760–62
308 “I glory”: John Brooke, King George III (New York, 1972), 88, 390–91.
309 “My dear … impertinence”: ibid., 15.
310 “If you should … come to pass”: J. Steven Watson, The Reign of George III, 1760–1815 (Oxford, UK, 1960), 5–7.
310 “her want … going off”: Stanley Ayling, George the Third (New York, 1972), 83–84.
311 “The conduct … in the grass”: Watson, Reign of George III, 4.
311 “the man who”: R. J. White, The Age of George III (New York, 1968), 58.
311 “I am happy”: Brooke, King George III, 89.
311 “My Lord … to ruin”: ibid., 78.
311 “bloody and expensive”: Ayling, George III, 65.
311 “Oh, that foolishest”: ibid., 90.
312–13 “deceit and circumvention … jockeyship”: to King in Council, Feb. 2, 1759.
314 “almost rebellious”: PBF, 9:128.
314 “not only against”: Report to the Lords of the Committee of Council, June 24, 1760.
315 “Lord Mansfield”: ABF, 265–66.
316 “A more unlucky”: to the Trustees of the Loan Office, Feb. 13, 1762.
316–17 “a little work … universal use”: to Kames, May 3, 1760.
318 “I never saw”: to Kames, Oct. 21, 1761.
318 “I imagine”: to Kames, May 3, 1760.
319 “whatever occurs”: to Mary Stevenson, May 1, 1760.
319 “to warm”: to Stevenson, Sept. 13, 1760.
319 “No one catches cold”: to Stevenson, Aug. 10, 1761.
319 “Why will you”: to Stevenson, May 1, 1760.
320 “The knowledge”: to Stevenson, June 11, 1760.
320 “I cannot but wish”: to Hume, Sept. 27, 1760.
321 “The Church”: to Hume, May 10, 1762.
322 “But this opinion … earthquakes”: to [Peter Franklin], May 7, 1760.
322 “Suppose a long canal”: to Alexander Small, May 12, 1760.
323–24 “Entertainment … objectionable”: to Pringle, May 27, 1762.
325 “Being charmed”: to Beccaria, July 13, 1762.
326 “We saw all”: WF to Sarah Franklin, Oct. 10, 1751.
327 “When I travelled”: to Ingersoll, Dec. 11, 1762.
327 “ransacted”: Sheila Skemp, William Franklin, 40.
328 “The lady”: to Mecom, Nov. 25, 1762.
329 “in opposition”: to Strahan, July 23, 1762.
329 “I am now”: to Kames, Aug. 17, 1762.
329 “I am very sorry”: from Hume, May 10, 1762.
329 “This will be brought”: Strahan to Hall, Aug. 10, 1762, PBF.
15. RISING IN THE WEST: 1762–64
331 “I shall probably”: to Strahan, Aug. 23, 1762.
332 “Of all”: to Mary Stevenson, Mar. 25, 1763.
332 “It produces”: to Richard Jackson, Dec. 6, 1762.
332–33 “I arrived”: to Jackson, Dec. 2, 1762.
333 “I find”: to Jackson, Mar. 8, 1763.
333 “a conquest”: to Caleb Whiteford, Dec. 9, 1762.
334 “glorious peace”: to Philip Ludwell, Feb. 22, 1763.
334 “Throughout this continent”: to Strahan, May 9, 1763.
334 “The glory … were dead”: to John Whitehurst, June 27, 1763.
335 “Grumblers”: to Strahan, May 9, 1763.
335 “Here in America”: to John Whitehurst, June 27, 1763.
335 “many thousands”: Plan for Settling Two Western Colonies, PBF, 5:457ff.
336 “I know not”: to Jackson, Mar. 8, 1763 (with postscripts of Mar. 22 and 29).
337 “I have assured … iron is hot”: to Jackson, Apr. 17, 1763.
338 “under the influence”: Sheila Skemp, William Franklin, 48.
338 “I am just returned”: to Strahan, Mar. 28, 1763.
339 “Notwithstanding”: to Bessborough, [Oct. 1761].
340 “I am not yet”: to Catharine Ray Greene, Sept. 5, 1763.
340 “I am otherwise”: to Jane Mecom, Dec. 15, 1763.
340 “Now I am”: to Strahan, Dec. 19, 1763.
341 “My mother”: WF to Strahan, Apr. 25, 1763, PBF, 10:237n.
342 “I expected”: to Strahan, June 28, 1763.
342 “Not an hour”: from Strahan, Aug. 18, 1763.
342 “talk away”: R. J. White, The Age of George III, 64.
342 “inexhaustible spirits … nothing can crush”: John Brooke, King George III, 145.
343 “Naturally”: J. Steven Watson, The Reign of George III, 98.
343 “That depends”: Horace Bleackley, Life of John Wilkes (London, 1917), 69.
343 “It is certainly”: White, Age of George III, 61.
343 “proud, pompous”: Paul Langford, A Polite and Commercial People, 354.
343 “I do not know”: Stanley Ayling, George the Third, 100.
343 “The King’s speech”: White, Age of George III, 66.
344 “Satan preaching … gentleman”: Ayling, George the Third, 116–17.
345 “pleased to find”: to Jackson, Feb. 11, 1764.
345 “I am sorry”: from Strahan, Aug. 18, 1763.
345 “Surely you would not”: to Strahan, Aug. 8, 1763.
346 “I fear something”: from Jackson, Nov. 12, 1763.
347 “A moderate duty”: to Jackson, Feb. 11, 1764.
347 “I am not much”: to Jackson, Jan. 16, 1764.
348 “Why do you suffer”: Joseph Kelley, Pennsylvania, 463.
349 “The Indians”: to Jackson, June 27, 1763.
350 “I only fear”: to Peter Collinson, Dec. 19, 1763.
351 A Narrative of the Late Massacres, PBF, 11:47–69.
353 “It would perhaps be … of days”: to Jackson, Feb. 11, 1764.
353–54 “I chose … few weeks”: to John Fothergill, Mar. 14, 1764.
354 “The Negroes”: Narrative of the Late Massacres, PBF, 11:62.
355 “They appeared”: to John Waring, Dec. 17, 1763.
356 “He is civil”: to Collinson, Dec. 19, 1763.
356 “rank abuse”: John Penn to Thomas Penn, May 5, 1764, HSP.
356 “necklace of resolves”: to Strahan, Mar. 30, 1764.
357 “high presumption … the Crown”: Resolves, Mar. 24, 1764.
357 “dirty piece”: John Penn to Thomas Penn, May 5, 1764, HSP.
357 Cool Thoughts, Apr. 12, 1764.
358 “God has blessed”: to Henry Bouquet, Aug. 16, 1764.
358 “O! fatal mistake”: Kelley, Pennsylvania, 526.
16. STAMPS AND STATESMANSHIP: 1764–66
359 “Mr. Franklin died”: Joseph Kelley, Pennsylvania, 526.
359 “Boers herding … laughing matter”: to Jackson, Oct. 11, 1764.
360 “Confound”: PBF, 11:448.
360 “most cordial”: to DF, Dec. 27, 1764.
360 “Mr. Grenville … told him no”: Edmund S. Morgan and Helen M. Morgan, The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution (New York, 1962), 89–91.
361 “It will operate”: PBF, 12:51–60.
362 “besotted”: to Joseph Galloway, Oct. 11, 1766.
362 “Will these Americans … emolument”: Morgan and Morgan, Stamp Act Crisis, 93.
362 “I think it will”: to Hall, Feb. 14, 1765.
363 “I hope you will”: to Hall, Aug. 9, 1765.
363 “grand incendiary”: Allen to Thomas Penn, Oct. 21, 1764, HSP.
363 “tomahawk”: from Evans, Mar. 15, 1765.
364 “dying liberty … single vote”: Morgan and Morgan, Stamp Act Crisis, 123–25.
366 “You are now … Thank God.”: from Hughes, Sept. 8–17, 1765.
367 “In the evening”: from Wharton, Oct. 13, 1765.
367 “Cousin [Josiah] Davenport”: from DF, Sept. 22, 1765.
368 “I honour much”: to DF, Nov. 9, 1765.
368 “I thank him”: to DF, Nov. 9, 1765.
369 “It is not safe”: from Hutchinson, Nov. 18, 1765.
369 “It is difficult”: from Galloway, c. Nov. 20, 1765.
370 “We might as well”: to Charles Thomson, July 11, 1765.
371 “If it continues”: to Hughes, Aug. 9, 1765.
371 “The disturbances”: to Hall, Nov. 9, 1765.
372 “I strongly recommended”: to WF, Nov. 9, 1765.
372 “the violent temper”: from Galloway, Jan. 13, 1766.
373 “Can it be”: Morgan and Morgan, Stamp Act Crisis, 338.
373 “on which I have”: to David Hall, Feb. 24, 1766.
373 “The moral is”: to Jane Mecom, Mar. 1, 1766.
374–76 “Many, and very heavy … make one”: testimony to House of Commons, Feb. 13, 1766.
376 “The Marquis of Rockingham”: Strahan to David Hall, May 10, 1766, PMHB 10 (1886), 220–21.
377 “They never have”: testimony to House of Commons, Feb. 13, 1766.
377 “in all cases”: Morgan and Morgan, Stamp Act Crisis, 348.
377 “Pray Monsieur Anglais”: PBF, 13:183–84.
17. DUTIES AND PLEASURES: 1766–67
378 “My Dear Child”: to DF, Apr. 6, 1766.
379 “The Assembly”: from Galloway, June 7, 1766.
379 “They are daily”: from Galloway, May 23, 1766.
379 “As to the reports”: to Jane Mecom, Mar. 1, 1766.
380 “’tis now perhaps”: to Roberts, July 7, 1765.
380 “Your frequently” to Whitefield, June 19, 1764.
380 “The malice”: to Samuel Rhoads, July 8, 1765.
381 “This I will never”: from Hall, Jan. 27, 1767.
382 “It was set”: to Hall, Apr. 14, 1767.
383 “So you see … well pleased”: from DF, Jan. 12, 1766.
384 “I have mentioned”: to WF, Sept. 27, 1766.
384 “I was again”: to WF, Oct. 11, 1766.
384 “certainly well framed”: The New Regime, 1765–1767, ed. Clarence Walworth Alvord and Clarence Edwin Carter (Springfield, Ill., 1916), 426.
384 “The Secretaries”: to WF, Aug. 28, 1767.
385 “George the Third … ministers”: Paul Langford, A Polite and Commercial People, 363–64.
386 “I rejoice”: The Debate on the American Revolution, 1761–1783, ed. Max Beloff (London, 1960), 100.
386 “The confusion”: to Galloway, Aug. 8, 1767.
387 “It gave me”: report of debate in House of Lords, Apr. 11, 1767, PBF.
387 “A Friend to Both Countries”: to London Chronicle, Apr. 9, 1767.
387 “Benevolus”: to London Chronicle, Apr. 11, 1767.
390 “beach”: to John Adams, May 18, 1787, Yale.
390 “Sally has friends”: from DF, Apr. 20–25, 1767.
390 “I would not”: to DF, May 23, 1767.
391 “I know very little”: to DF, June 22, 1767.
391 “that Mr. B.”: from WF, May [?], 1767.
392 “I received yours”: to Richard Bache, Aug. 5, 1767.
393 “Though I was not”: to DF, June 13, 1766.
393 “I found”: to Daniel Wister, Sept. 27, 1766.
394 “Every colony”: “Some Observations on North America”: PBF, 13:346–77.
394 “well and hearty”: to the Speaker et al., Aug. 22, 1766.
394 “I have stayed”: to DF, Aug. 28, 1767.
394 “made him very uneasy”: Margaret Stevenson to DF, Sept. 18, 1767, PBF, 14:242n.
394–97 “I was engaged … my friend’s wife”: to Mary Stevenson, Sept. 14, 1767.
397 “I have been”: to DF, Nov. 2, 1799.
18. REASON AND RIOT: 1768–69
399 “Instead of raving”: to the Gazetteer, Jan. 6, 1768.
399–401 “The waves … their senses”: to the London Chronicle, Jan. 5–7, 1768.
402–4 “My Lord H…. widely different”: to WF, Mar. 13, 1768.
405–6 “that no insult … running riot”: Stanley Ayling, George the Third, 155–57.
406 “The scenes”: to WF, Apr. 16, 1768.
406–7 “This capital”: to John Ross, May 14, 1768.
407 “All respect”: to Joseph Galloway, May 14, 1768.
407 “There have been”: to WF, Apr. 16, 1768.
407 “’tis thought”: to Joseph Galloway, Mar. 13, 1768.
407 “I have urged”: to John Ross, May 14, 1768.
408 “If this”: to Galloway, July 2, 1768.
408 “It is a settled”: to WF, Jan. 9, 1768.
409–10 “my fast friend … divine which”: to WF, July 2, 1768.
411 “I have found”: to Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, July 28, 1768.
411 “I reckon”: to Kames, Feb. 28, 1768.
412 “From the matches”: to John Alleyne, Aug. 9, 1768.
412 “I cannot be”: to Oliver Neave, PBF, 15:295–98.
413 “I have long been”: to Evans, Feb. 20, 1768.
414 “Diir Pali”: to Stevenson, July 20, 1768.
414 “Heavenly Father”: PBF, 15:301–3.
416 “An application”: to Cooper, July 11, 1769.
416 “very rash”: to Bache, Aug. 13, 1768.
417 “touch of the gout”: to DF, Dec. 21, 1768.
417 “He might then”: from WF, Jan. 2, 1769.
417 “Every body says”: from DF, Oct. 4, 1769.
418 “her constitution”: from Bond, June 7, 1769.
419 “It is well known”: to the Public Advertiser, Aug. 25, 1768.
419 “Allow me”: to the Public Advertiser, Oct. 21, 1768.
419 “You English”: Public Advertiser, Jan. 17, 1769, PBF.
420 “I am under”: to Whitefield, undated, PBF, 16:192.
420 “I hope”: to Cooper, Apr. 27, 1769.
421 “What are you doing”: to Joseph Galloway, Feb. 7, 1769.
421 “It is very uncertain”: to WF, Oct. 7, 1769.
19. THE RIFT WIDENS: 1770–71
423–24 “IMPORTER … Horrid Massacre”: Hiller B. Zobel, The Boston Massacre (New York, 1970), 172–211.
424 “Bloody Massacre”: Revere print reproduced in The Boisterous Sea of Liberty, ed. David Brion Davis and Steven Mintz (New York, 1998), 140.
424 “Those detestable murderers”: to Samuel Cooper, June 8, 1770.
425 “The Grenvillenians”: to the Gazetteer, Feb. 7, 1770.
426 “This party … to use it”: to Charles Thomson, Mar. 18, 1770.
426–27 “I am assured … totally lost”: to Galloway, Mar. 21, 1770.
428 “Being born”: to “Dear Sir,” Nov. 28, 1768.
428 “I am much obliged”: from Galloway, June 21, 1770.
429 “our friends”: from Thomas Cushing et al., July 13, 1770.
429 “entirely relying”: PBF, 17:258.
429 “greatly confided”: from Cushing, Nov. 6, 1770.
429 “I have enemies”: to Despencer, July 26, 1770.
430 “In this”: to Jane Mecom, Dec. 30, 1770.
430 “I do not think”: to Galloway, Jan. 9, 1768.
430 “His inclinations”: to Galloway, July 2, 1768.
431–33 “I was pleased … farther trouble”: notes of interview, Jan. 16, 1771.
433–34 “I have since … variance with me”: to Cooper, Feb. 5, 1771.
434–35 “are justly tenacious”: from Cushing et al., Dec. 17, 1770.
435–36 “The doctrine … public ministers”: to Cushing, Feb. 5, 1771.
436–37 “It is looked on … among us”: to Cushing, June 10, 1771.
437–38 “I have read”: Lee to Adams, June 10, 1771, in Richard Henry Lee, Life of Arthur Lee (Boston, 1829), 1:215ff.
438 “It will make”: from Cooper, Aug. 25, 1771.
438 “I imagine”: to Galloway, Feb. 6, 1772.
438–39 “It appeared”: Jonathan Williams’s journal, PBF, 18:114–16.
439 “Hadn’t you better”: to Anna Mordaunt Shipley, Aug. 13, 1771.
440 “Can the farmers”: PBF, 18:222–23.
440 “Ireland itself”: to Cushing, Jan. 13, 1772.
441 “I thought often”: to Joshua Babcock, Jan. 13, 1772.
441 “I esteemed it”: to Cushing, Jan. 13, 1772.
442 “They are all”: to Galloway, Feb. 6, 1772.
442 “in an elegant” Henry Marchant’s journal, Oct. 30–Nov. 2, 1771, APS.
442 “The good wishes”: from Hume, Feb. 7, 1772.
442 “He was extremely”: to WF, Jan. 30, 1772.
20. TO KICK A LITTLE: 1772–73
444 “mon cher”: from Condorcet, Dec. 2, 1773.
445 “To you”: from Beccaria, May 20, 1771.
445 “modern Prometheus”: “Fortgesetzte Betrachtung der seit einiger Zeit wahrgenommenen Erderschütterungen” (1756) in Kants Werke (Berlin, 1968), 1:472.
445 “A place”: to Royal Academy of Sciences, Nov. 16, 1772, APS.
445 “avec une sorte”: from Barbeu-Dubourg, Dec. 29, 1773.
445 “Learned and ingenious”: to WF, Aug. 19, 1772.
446 “Travelling”: to Rush, July 14, 1773.
446 “of the greatest”: to WF, Aug. 19, 1772.
447–49 “I fetched … determine this”: to William Brownrigg, Nov. 7, 1773.
449 “There seems”: from Cooper, Jan. 1, 1771.
449–50 “When I had been”: to WF, Aug. 19, 1772.
450–51 “At length”: to WF, Aug. 17, 1772.
451 “I hope”: to Cushing, Nov. 4, 1772.
451 “Upon the whole”: to Cushing, Dec. 2, 1772.
452 “There has lately”: to Cushing, Dec. 2, 1772.
453 “There must be”: Hutchinson to Whately, Jan. 20, 1769, PBF, 20:549–50.
453 “I have engaged”: to Cushing, Dec. 2, 1772.
455 “I can now”: Bache to DF, Dec. 3, 1771, PBF, 18:257.
455 “His behaviour”: to DF, Jan. 28, 1772.
455 “I advised”: to Sarah Franklin Bache, Jan. 29, 1772.
456 “In return”: to DF, Feb. 2, 1773.
456 “All who have seen”: to Jane Mecom, Jan. 13, 1772.
456 “He improves”: to WF, Jan. 30, 1772.
456 “She is nimble-footed”: to DF, Dec. 1, 1772.
457 “I still feel”: to DF, Jan. 6, 1773.
457 “I cannot”: to Joseph Priestley, Sept. 19, 1772.
458 “Our great security”: to Cushing, Jan. 5, 1773.
459 “the sentiments”: from Cushing, Mar. 24, 1773.
459 “They have had”: from Cooper, June 14, 1773.
460 “I have the pleasure”: to Dartmouth, Aug. 21, 1773.
460 “for the Better”: Public Advertiser, Sept. 22, 1773, PBF.
461 “I was down”: to WF, Oct. 6, 1773.
461 “Rules by Which”: Public Advertiser, Sept. 11, 1773, PBF.
463 “I had used”: to Mecom, Nov. 1, 1773.
21. THE COCKPIT: 1774–75
466 “I am glad”: to Cushing, July 25, 1773.
466 “totally ignorant”: to the London Chronicle, Dec. 25, 1773.
468–69 “The address …Three weeks”: Preliminary hearing before the Privy Council, Jan. 11, 1774, PBF.
470 “bull-baiting”: extract of letter, Feb. 19, 1774.
471 “unmannered railer … humanity”: PBF, 21:40n.
471 “furious Philippic”: The Correspondence of Edmund Burke, ed. George H. Guttridge (Chicago, 1960), 2:518, 524.
471–74 “the first mover … a successor”: Alexander Wedderburn’s speech before the Privy Council, Jan. 29, 1774, PBF.
474–75 “The Doctor”: Bancroft in Memoirs 1:358.
475 “for the seditious”: report of Privy Council committee, Jan. 29, 1774.
475 “I am very angry”: to Cushing, Feb. 15, 1774.
476 “This line”: to WF, Feb. 2, 1774.
476 “As things are”: to Bache, Feb. 17, 1774.
476 “They may expect”: to WF, Feb. 18, 1774.
477 “You and I”: to Jane Mecom, Feb. 17, 1774.
477 “I am too much”: to Foxcroft, Feb. 18, 1774.
477 “The admirers”: to the Public Advertiser, Feb. 16, 1774.
478 “totally departed”: Boston Gazette, Apr. 25, 1774, PBF, 21:79–83.
479 “He says”: Stanley Ayling, George the Third, 243.
479 “We are not entering”: Bernard Donoughue, British Politics and the American Revolution (London, 1964), 77.
479 “If they deny”: Benjamin Woods Labaree, The Boston Tea Party (Boston, 1979), 185.
480 “hearty affirmative”: The Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period to 1803, ed. T. C. Hansard (London, 1813), 17:1169.
480 “hostile invasion”: Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789 (New York, 1982), 233.
481 “this old snake … mischievous enemies”: Catherine Drinker Bowen, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Scenes from the Life of Benjamin Franklin (Boston, 1974), 241.
481 “You know”: to Jan Ingenhousz, Mar. 18, 1774.
482 “Dr. Franklin”: Priestley in Memoirs, 1:359–60.
482 “I hope”: The Letters of David Hume, ed. J. Y. T. Greig (Oxford, UK, 1932), 2:286–88.
483 “I think”: Letters of Eminent Persons Addressed to David Hume, ed. J. E. Burton (Bristol, 1989), 270–72.
483 “most bitter”: The Last Journals of Horace Walpole, ed. J. Doran and A. Francis Steuart (London, 1910; rpt. New York, 1973), 1:284–85.
484 “A great empire”: Hansard, Parliamentary History of England, 18:536.
484 “Your popularity”: from WF, May 3, 1774.
484 “Such horrid”: PG, May 4, 1774, PBF.
484 “I rejoice”: to Cushing, Sept. 15, 1774.
485 “If you should ever”: to Jonathan Williams Sr., Sept. 28, 1774.
485 “I am in”: to Cushing, Oct. 6, 1774.
485 “My situation”: to Joseph Galloway, Oct. 12, 1774.
486–89 “What is to be done … tea &c.”: Franklin journal, Mar. 22, 1775.
490 “I, the underwritten”: draft to Dartmouth, Mar. 16, 1775.
490 “He looked … national affront”: Franklin journal, Mar. 22, 1775.
490 “dangerous consequences”: from Thomas Walpole, Mar. 16, 1775.
22. REBEL: 1775–76
492 “Her death”: from WF, Dec. 24, 1774.
493 “a valuable”: to Joseph Priestley, May 16, 1775.
493 “This motion”: Journal entry for Apr. 5, 1775.
494 “Yesterday evening”: Broadside, May 8, 1775, PBF.
494 “The die”: Stanley Ayling, George the Third, 247–48.
494 “It will surely”: Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, 266.
495 “Will you let”: ibid., 271.
496 “I believe”: from Jane Mecom, May 14, 1775.
497 “a tolerable speaker … glorious cause”: James Thomas Flexner, George Washington: The Forge of Experience (Boston, 1965), 324–25, 332, 334, 341.
498 “A frenzy”: Papers of Jefferson, 1:165.
499 “The youngest boy”: to Jane Mecom, June 17, 1775.
499 “I have but … conspicuous”: Papers of Madison, 1:149–52.
499 “a pusillanimity”: Flexner, Washington, 1:330.
499–500 “Hath any thing … our cause”: Papers of Madison, 1:158–60.
500 “a disposition”: Adams to Abigail Adams, July 23, 1775, Adams Papers.
500 “which the youngest”: to Jonathan Shipley, May 15, 1775.
500 “But, as Britain”: to Humphry Marshall, May 23, 1775.
500 “She has begun”: to Priestley, July 7, 1775.
500 “All Europe … madness”: to Shipley, July 7, 1775.
501 “Mr. Strahan”: to Strahan [unsent], July 5, 1775.
501 “Words and arguments”: to Strahan, July 7, 1775 [quoted in letter from Strahan, Sept. 6, 1775].
501 “It has been”: to Priestley, July 7, 1775.
501 “Articles of Confederation”: July 21, 1775, PBF.
504–5 “ímport all … regularly sent”: minutes of conference with Washington et al., Oct. 18–24, 1775.
505 “Here is a fine”: to Bache, Oct. 19, 1775.
505 “Tell our good friend”: to Priestley, Oct. 3, 1775.
507 “I have just heard”: WF to Germain, Mar. 28, 1776, DAR.
507 “I begin”: to Quincy, Apr. 15, 1776.
507 “utmost dispatch”: to John Hancock, May 1, 1776.
508 “We have daily”: to Hancock, May 8, 1776.
509 “an ingenious”: to Bache, Sept. 30, 1774.
509 “Dr. Kearsley”: from Thomas Paine, Mar. 4, 1775.
510 “I offer”: Thomas Paine, Common Sense (New York, 1942), 21, 40.
510 “great impression”: to Charles Lee, Feb. 19, 1776.
510 “that these United Colonies”: Papers of Jefferson, 1:298.
510 “You can write”: John Adams to Timothy Pickering, Aug. 8, 1822, Adams Papers.
510 “I am just recovering”: to Washington, June 21, 1776.
511 “Will Doctor Franklin”: from Jefferson, probably June 21, 1776.
511 “reduce them … destroy us”: Carl Becker, The Declaration of Independence (New York, 1933), 160–71.
511 “I was sitting”: Writings of Jefferson, 18:169–70.
512 “There must be … hang separately”: Sparks, 1:408.
513–14 “Let the smaller … insurrections”: BF quoted in Adams Papers, 2:245–46.
514 “My Worthy Friend”: from Howe, June 20, 1776.
515 “Directing pardons”: to Howe, July 20, 1776.
516 “I watched”: PBF, 22:518–19.
517–18 “At Brunswick … and mutton”: Adams Papers, 3:418–20.
518 “I also gave”: Howe to Germain, Sept. 20, 1776, DAR.
519 “Dr. Franklin”: Adams Papers, 3:422.
23. SALVATION IN PARIS: 1776–78
520 “I suppose”: Adams Papers, 3:422.
521 “It would be”: BF et al. to Arthur Lee, Dec. 12, 1775.
521 “Perhaps, however”: to Don Gabriel Antonio de Bourbon, Dec. 12, 1775.
522 “On your arrival”: to Silas Deane, Mar. 2, 1776.
523 “It will be proper”: from John Hancock, Sept. 24, 1776.
524 “I have only”: in Rush to Thomas Morris, Oct. 22, 1776, Letters of Rush.
525 “very magnificent”: Sheila Skemp, William Franklin, 192.
525 “virulent enemy”: ibid., 212.
526 “I will not distress”: from Elizabeth Franklin, Aug. 6, 1776.
526 “I have considered”: to William Temple Franklin, Sept. 19, 1776.
527 “short but rough”: to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Dec. 8, 1776.
527 “almost demolished me”: to Richard and Sarah Franklin Bache, May 10, 1785, Smyth.
527 “I have acquainted”: to Deane, Dec. 7, 1776.
528 “The carriage … ever beheld”: Memoirs 2:48.
528 “The celebrated … mantelpiece”: Edward E. Hale and Edward E. Hale Jr., Franklin in France (Boston, 1888), 1:69–70; Alfred Owen Aldridge, Franklin and his French Contemporaries (New York, 1957), 66.
529 “Intelligent”: Vergennes to Aranda, Dec. 28, 1776, PBF 23:113n.
530 “As other princes”: to Vergennes, Jan. 5, 1777.
531 “of giving umbrage”: to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Mar. 12–Apr. 9, 1777.
531 “with which they mean”: to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Jan. 17–22, 1777.
531–32 “Their fleet … betrays it”: to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Mar. 12–Apr. 9, 1777.
536 “Count Pulaski”: to Washington, May 29, 1777.
536 “the Baron”: to Washington, Sept. 4, 1777.
536 “the Marquis”: to Washington, Aug. or Sept. 1777.
536 “The bearer”: to Washington, Mar. 29, 1777.
536 “Our corps”: from Washington, Aug. 17, 1777.
537 “These applications”: to Barbeu-Dubourg, after Oct. 2, 1777.
537 “Sir”: unaddressed model letter, Apr. 2, 1777.
538–39 “The Commissioners … from Europe”: to Vergennes and Aranda, Sept. 25, 1777.
539 “We are scarce”: to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Nov. 30, 1777.
539 “We have prevented”: Washington to Lund Washington, Dec. 17, 1776, Writings of Washington.
540 “Not a word”: Adams to Abigail Adams, Aug. 20, 1777, Adams Papers.
541 “In consciousness”: Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, 372.
542 “Sir, is Philadelphia … of war”: PBF, 25:234–35n.
542 “the total reduction”: to Vergennes, Dec. 4, 1777.
542 “You mistake”: PBF, 25:236n.
543 “He said”: Richard Henry Lee, Life of Arthur Lee (Boston, 1829), 1:357.
543 “to make peace”: Philip Gibbes’ minutes of conversation, c. Feb. 5, 1777, PBF.
543 “America is ready”: Gibbes’ minutes of conversation, Jan. 5, 1778, PBF.
543 “I called on 72”: Paul Wentworth to William Eden, Jan. 7, 1778, PBF.
544 “lively and long”: Vergennes to Comte de Montmorin, Jan. 30, 1778, Facsimiles, vol. 21, no. 18.
24. BONHOMME RICHARD: 1778–79
546 “Let me whisper … wicked measures”: Richard Henry Lee, Life of Arthur Lee, 2:124–27.
546 “It is true”: to Arthur Lee [not sent], Apr. 3, 1778.
547 “That he was”: Adams Papers, 4:69.
547–48 “On Dr. F…. fanatic”: ibid., 2:347–52.
548 “Mr. M.”: ibid., 2:391.
548 “The history”: Letters of Rush, 2:1207.
549 “The life”: Adams Papers, 4:118–19.
551 “He would grasp”: Claude-Ann Lopez, Mon Cher Papa: Franklin and the Ladies of Paris (New Haven, Conn., 1966), 128.
551 “the magnificence”: Adams Papers, 4:109.
551 “one of the most”: ibid., 4:63–64.
551 “Alas!”: ibid., and (for the translation) Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 129.
551–52 “All the family … very white”: ibid., 134.
552 “Madame Brillon”: Adams Papers, 4:46–47.
553 “You were kind”: Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 38–39.
553 “The first”: to Madame Brillon”: Mar. 10, 1778.
553–54 “Let us start”: Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 40–44.
554–55 “You renounce … tenderness”: to Madame Brillon, July 27, 1778.
555 “Judge … appetites”: Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 47–48.
556 “You remember”: to Brillon, Sept. 20, 1778.
557 “That she might not”: Adams Papers, 4:58–59.
558 “ladies for whose”: from Adams, May 14, 1779.
558–59 “She entered”: Letters of Mrs. Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston, 1840), 252–53.
559 “Oh, to be seventy”: Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 246–47.
559–61 “If Notre Dame … avenge ourselves!”: based on ibid., 259–71.
562 “He had his hair”: Lee, Life of Arthur Lee, 1:403.
562–63 “The King … le Seigneur Franklin”: Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 179–84.
564 “When I gave”: Voltaire to Abbé Gaultier, Feb. 21, 1778, in Ouevres Complètes de Voltaire (Paris, 1883), 50:372.
564 “my child … Tolerance”: Alfred Aldridge, Franklin and His French Contemporaries, 10.
564 “There presently”: Adams Papers, 4:80–82.
566 “When I was”: Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 79.
566 “My God!”: Bagatelles, 32ff; Bigelow, 8:312ff.
569 “The Doctor … men’s truths”: Writings of Jefferson, 18:171–72.
570 “Come, Monsieur”: ibid., 170.
570 “If you Frenchmen”: Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 21.
570 “we do not take kings”: Writings of Jefferson, 18:168.
25. MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY: 1779–81
571 “I am a king”: Writings of Jefferson, 18:168.
572 “What have you”: Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, 413.
572 “We have”: Washington to President of Congress, Dec. 23, 1777, Writings of Washington.
573 “Believe me”: John McAuley Palmer, General von Steuben (New Haven, Conn., 1937), 157.
574 “Our Great Faithful”: Congress to Louis XVI, Oct. 21, 1778.
575 “the God-like”: from Lafayette, Aug. 29, 1779.
575 “Dear general”: Lafayette to Washington, Feb. 19, 1778, Lafayette Letters.
575 “zeal, military ardour”: from Washington, Dec. 28, 1778.
576 “In our kingly”: from Lafayette, Feb. 21, 1779.
576 “My blood”: Andreas Latzko, Lafayette (New York, 1936), 81.
576 “If you undertake”: Lafayette to Comte d’Estaing, Sept. 21, 1778, Lafayette Letters.
576 “I admire much”: to Lafayette, Mar. 22, 1779.
578 “The Marquis”: to Jones, Apr. 27, 1779.
578 “by all means”: to Jones, Apr. 28, 1779.
579 “Your liberal”: from Jones, May 1, 1779.
579 “No! I’ll sink … to fight”: Peter Reaveley, “The Battle,” in Jean Boudriot (ed.), John Paul Jones and the Bonhomme Richard, trans. David H. Roberts (Annapolis, Md., 1987), 82.
580 “The scene”: from Jones, Oct. 3, 1779.
580 “For some days”: to Jones, Oct. 15, 1779.
580 “I must acquaint”: to Jones, Feb. 19, 1780.
581 “Though an evil”: to Stephen Sayre, Mar. 31, 1779.
581 “The whole”: to Samuel Cooper, Apr. 22, 1779.
581 “The extravagant luxury”: to Jay, Oct. 4, 1779.
581 “When I began”: to Sarah Franklin Bache, June 3, 1779.
582 “Though I never”: from Sarah Franklin Bache, Sept. 14, 1779.
582 “great politician”: Bigelow 8:46–57.
582–83 “I take no other”: to Richard Bache, June 2, 1779.
583 “Ben, if I should”: to Sarah Franklin Bache, June 3, 1779.
584 “The King’s ambassador”: Catherine M. Prelinger, “Benjamin Franklin and the American Prisoners of War in England during the American Revolution,” WMQ 32 (1975), 261–94.
584 “the air doth”: ibid.
585 “This is to continue”: to the Committee for Foreign Affairs, May 26, 1779.
585 “oiling the sentry’s”: Prelinger, “Franklin and Prisoners of War.”
585 “I cannot describe”: from Digges, Nov. 10, 1779.
586 “By the letters”: to Sartine, Nov. 28, 1779.
586 “He that robs”: to William Hodgson, Apr. 1, 1781, Smyth.
586 “a tacit cession”: “Observations by Mr. Hartley,” Bigelow, 8:38–39.
587 “A little time”: from David Hartley, Apr. 22, 1779.
587 “But this is”: to Hartley, May 4, 1779.
589 “a post in which”: Carl Van Doren, Secret History of the American Revolution (New York, 1941), 463. 589 “Arnold’s baseness”: to James Searle, Nov. 30, 1780.
589 “We are naked”: from Lafayette, Oct. 9, 1780.
589 “I doubt not”: from Washington, Oct. 9, 1780.
590 “the unalterable resolution”: to Vergennes, Feb. 13, 1781.
591 “I have, however”: to Adams, Feb. 22, 1781.
591 “I have passed”: to Samuel Huntington, Mar. 12, 1781.
592–93 “He has vast designs … admit of”: Clarence L. Ver Steeg, Robert Morris: Revolutionary Financier (Philadelphia, 1954), 13, 38.
593 “From your intelligence”: to Morris, July 26, 1781, Smyth.
594 “I am quite tired”: Charles, First Marquis Cornwallis, Correspondence, ed. Charles Ross (London, 1859), 1:87.
594 “The moment is critical … Hampton Roads”: Douglas Southall Freeman, George Washington (New York, 1952), 5:312–15.
595 “Lord Cornwallis’s conduct”: ibid., 367.
595 “A man was killed … manner”: Edward M. Riley, “St. George Tucker’s Journal of the Siege of Yorktown, 1781,” WMQ 5 (1948), 375–95.
595 “Our shot and shell”: Freeman, Washington, 5:367.
595 “Our provisions”: from a captured British journal in Riley, “Tucker’s Journal.”
596 “He might have beat”: Freeman, Washington, 5:376.
596 “A solemn stillness”: Riley, “Tucker’s Journal.”
596 “Welcome, Brother Debtor”: ibid.
596 “When the King … Upside Down”: Freeman, Washington, 5:388n.
26. BLESSED WORK: 1781–82
597 “My God”: R.J. White, The Age of George III (New York, 1968), 137.
597 “to guide me”: ibid.
598 “I wish”: to Thomas Pownall, Nov. 23, 1781, Giunta.
598 “I have never”: to Adams, Oct. 12, 1781, Giunta.
598 “Some writer”: to Charles Dumas, Aug. 6, 1781, Bigelow.
598 “Poor as we are”: to Jay, Oct. 2, 1780, Bigelow.
599 “by the absolute”: Lee to James Warren, Aug. 1780, Giunta.
599 “They hate us”: Adams to John Jay, Aug. 13, 1782, Giunta.
599 “He tells me”: to Samuel Huntington, Aug. 9, 1780.
599 “It was evident”: Jay to Livingston, Nov. 17, 1782, Giunta.
600 “We ought not”: Jay to Livingston, Sept. 18, 1782, Giunta.
600 “Your enemies”: from Morris, Sept. 28, 1782, Giunta.
600 “extremely sorry”: to Samuel Cooper, Dec. 26, 1782, Smyth.
601 “a gentleman”: Giunta, 1:341.
601 “He is a wise man”: Vergennes to Montmorin, Apr. 18, 1782, Giunta.
601 “wise and honest”: to Shelburne, Apr. 18, 1792, Giunta.
601 “I let him know”: BF journal, Bigelow, 9:254.
601 “Yet I could”: Oswald’s journal, Apr. 18, 1782, Giunta.
601 “In case France”: BF journal, Bigelow, 9:259.
601 “It is a sweet word”: Conversation notes, Bigelow, 9:262–64.
602 “We parted”: BF journal, Bigelow, 9:264.
602 “I desire”: to Shelburne, Apr. 18, 1782, Giunta.
603 “On the whole”: BF journal, Bigelow, 9:282.
603 “After having seen”: Fox to Grenville, Apr. 30, 1782, Giunta.
604 “America does not ask”: BF journal, Bigelow, 9:287–88.
604–5 “He belongs”: Vergennes to Montmorin, May 11, 1782, Giunta.
605 “A, a stranger”: BF journal, Bigelow, 9:295–96.
606 “I see … were gone”: Bagatelles, 104–5. 606 The Morals of Chess, ibid., 108–12.
608 “From him”: to Deane, Mar. 2, 1776.
609–10 “as repugnant … to government”: in Samuel Flagg Bemis, “British Secret Service and the French-American Alliance,” AHR 29 (1924), 474–95.
610 “You are surrounded”: from Juliana Ritchie, Jan. 12, 1777.
610–11 610–11 “As it is impossible”: to Ritchie, Jan. 19, 1777.
611 “If the rascals”: P.J.G. Cabanis, Oeuvres (Paris, 1825), 5:230, 248; Esmond Wright, Franklin of Philadelphia (Cambridge, Mass., 1986), 296.
611 “If I were not”: from Burke, Aug. 15, 1781, Smyth, 8:317–19.
611 “Since the foolish”: to Burke, Oct. 15, 1781, Smyth.
612 “Difficulties remain”: from Burke, Feb. 28, 1782, Smyth, 8:320.
612 “the United States of America”: Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces, ed. Benjamin Vaughan (London, 1779), title page and vi.
612 “Be assured”: to Joseph Banks, Sept. 9, 1782, Bigelow.
612 “Supplement”: Smyth, 8:437–40.
614 “The form”: to Charles Dumas, May 3, 1782, Smyth.
614 “the most important”: Fox to Thomas Grenville, May 21, 1782, Giunta.
614 “trembled for the news”: Adams to Livingston, Sept. 23, 1782, Giunta.
615 “They want to treat”: BF journal, Bigelow, 9:315.
615–16 “an air … each other”: ibid., 329–31.
616–17 “necessary … imagine”: Oswald to Shelburne, July 10, 1782, Giunta.
618 “speedily concluded”: Shelburne to Oswald, July 27, 1782, Giunta.
618 “This Court”: Jay to Livingston, Sept. 18, 1782, Giunta.
618 “firmness and independence … same system”: Adams Papers, 3:38, 82.
620 “After much”: to Jonathan Shipley, June 10, 1782, Bigelow.
27. SAVANT: 1783–85
621 “Let us now”: to Shipley, Mar. 17, 1783, Bigelow.
622 “Our Revolution”: to Price, Aug. 16, 1784, Bigelow.
622 “the contemplation”: to Edward Newenham, Oct. 2, 1783, Bigelow.
622 “My dear friend”: to Strahan, Aug. 19, 1784, Bigelow.
623 “The remissness”: to Morris, Dec. 25, 1783, Bigelow.
624 “You tell me”: to Cooper, Dec. 26, 1783, Bigelow.
624 “the great”: to Thomson, May 13, 1784, Bigelow.
624 “Is not the hope”: to Vaughan, July 26, 1784, Bigelow.
625 “Meteorological Imaginations”: Bigelow, 10:323–26.
626 “Universal space”: to David Rittenhouse, June 25, 1784, Bigelow.
627 “In which case”: to Crèvecoeur, Bigelow, 10:363–65.
627 “By this means”: to George Whately, May 23, 1785, Smyth.
628 “Not less than”: to Joseph Banks, Aug. 30, 1783, Bigelow.
628–29 “All Paris”: to Banks, Dec. 1, 1783, Bigelow.
629 “a new epoch”: to Richard Price, Aug. 16, 1784, Bigelow.
629 “It is a serious thing”: to Ingenhousz, Jan. 16, 1784, Bigelow
629 “The people were furious”: Benjamin Franklin Bache diary, July 11, 1784, APS.
630 “What good”: Correspondance Littéraire, Philosophique et Critique par Grimm,
631 Diderot, Raynal, Meister, etc. (Paris, 1877–82), 13:349.
630 “Convincing sovereigns”: to Jan Ingenhousz, Jan. 16, 1784, Smyth.
631 “In heaven”: Claude-Ann Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 170.
631–32 “There being”: to la Sabliere de la Condamine, Mar. 19, 1784, Smyth.
632 “Touch them”: Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 175.
633 “The report”: to William Temple Franklin, Aug. 25, 1784, Smyth.
633 “I am pestered”: to Thomson, Mar. 9, 1784, Smyth.
633 Information to Those Who Would Remove to America: Bagatelles, 77–88.
635 “I am rather”: from Vergennes, Dec. 15, 1782, Giunta.
635 “It was certainly”: to Vergennes, Dec. 17, 1782, Giunta.
636 “storm of indignation”: Alleyne Fitzherbert to Henry Strachey, Dec. 19, 1782, Giunta.
636 “It passed … consideration”: Vergennes to Luzerne, Dec. 21, 1782, Giunta.
637 “that the King”: Madison’s notes, Mar. 12–15, 1783, Giunta.
637 “the gout and gravel”: to Samuel Chase, Jan. 6, 1784, Smyth.
637 “I cannot bear”: to Thomas Mifflin, June 16, 1784, Smyth.
637 “My face”: to Jane Mecom, Oct. 25, 1779.
637 “Repose”: to John and Mrs. Jay, May 13, 1784, Smyth.
637 “Mr. Jay”: to Henry Laurens, Apr. 29, 1784, Smyth.
638 “I may then”: to WF, Aug. 16, 1784, Smyth.
638 “If all”: to Whately, Aug. 21, 1784, Smyth.
638 “I hope”: to Morris, Mar. 7, 1783, Smyth.
638 “Mr. Jay”: to Laurens, Apr. 29, 1784, Smyth.
639 “the ornament”: Writings of Jefferson, 8:24.
639 “Justice”: to Vaughan, Mar. 14, 1785, Smyth.
640 “I think it”: Bigelow, 10:299–300.
641 “I went home”: “To the Authors of the Journal of Paris,” Smyth 9:183–89.
28. HOME: 1785–86
644 “A few”: Smyth, 8:650–51.
644 “The name”: to Francis Maseres, June 26, 1785, Smyth.
645 “revive that affectionate”: Sheila Skemp, William Franklin, 269.
645 “Dear Son”: to WF, Aug. 16, 1784, Smyth.
645 “Let us now”: to Shipley, Mar. 17, 1783, Smyth.
645–46 “Nothing has”: to WF, Aug. 16, 1784, Smyth.
646 “You are permitted”: from John Jay, Mar. 8, 1785, LC.
647 “They press me”: to Sally and Richard Baches, May 10, 1785, Smyth.
647 “This minister”: Vergennes to Marbois, May 10, 1785, Giunta.
647 “I think”: to Ferdinand Grand, Mar. 5, 1786, Smyth.
647 “When he left”: James Parton, Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (Boston, 1884), 2:531.
647 “who walk very easy”: to Jonathan Shipley, undated, Yale.
647 “I have perused”: Journal of journey from Paris to Philadelphia, Bigelow 11:191.
648 “My heart”: Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 299–301.
648 “I cannot … love me some”: ibid., 299–300.
649 “Had I been”: from Charles de Castries, July 10, 1785, Bigelow.
649 “I feel”: Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, 301.
649 “I went”: BF journal, Bigelow, 11:194–95.
649 “I trust”: to WF, Aug. 16, 1784, Smyth.
650 “my fate”: Skemp, William Franklin, 271.
650 “The captain”: BF journal, Bigelow, 11:196.
650 “We all left”: from Catherine Shipley, Aug. 2, 1785, Bigalow.
651 “the thermometer”: to David Le Roy, Aug. 1785, Smyth.
652 “In traveling”: to Jan Ingenhousz, Aug. 28, 1785, Smyth.
652 “With the flood”: BF journal, Bigelow, 11:196–97.
653 “generally agreed”: Harry M. Tinkcom, “The Revolutionary City, 1765–1783,” in Philadelphia, ed. Russell Weigley, 154.
655 “The ease”: to Paine, Sept. 27, 1785, Smyth.
655 “The people”: to Edward Newenham, Oct. 3, 1785, LC.
655 “Old as I am”: to Williams, Feb. 16, 1786, Smyth.
655 “I apprehend”: to Paine, Sept. 27, 1785, Smyth.
655 “I am now so well”: to the John and Sarah Jay, Sept. 21, 1785, Smyth.
655 “The stone”: to Daniel Roberdeau, Mar. 25, 1786, Smyth.
656 “I am now”: to the Jays, Sept. 21, 1765, Smyth.
656 “They are”: to Shipley, Feb. 24, 1786, Smyth.
657 “He ne’er cared”: to Whately, May 23, 1785, Smyth.
658 “Though your reasonings”: to (Paine?), July 3, 1786, Smyth.
658 “I am encouraged”: Webster to Washington, Mar. 31, 1786, Papers of Washington.
659 “I wonder”: to Grand, July 11, 1786, Smyth.
659 “I conjecture”: to Thomson, Jan. 25, 1787, Smyth.
660 “The Assembly”: to d’Estaing, Apr. 15, 1787, Smyth.
660 “My own estate”: to Grand, Jan. 29, 1786, Smyth.
660 “I propose”: to Jane Mecom, Sept. 21, 1786, Smyth.
661 “an old man’s amusement”: to Grand, Apr. 22, 1787, Smyth.
661 “The affairs”: to Veillard, Apr. 15, 1787, Smyth.
661 “He appeared”: Letters of Rush, 1:389–90.
662 “The accumulation”: Tinkcom, “Revolutionary City,” 159.
662 “It is expected”: Letters of Rush, 1:409.
663 “The conductor”: to Landriani, Oct. 14, 1787, Smyth.
663 “I lament”: to Jane Mecom, Sept. 20, 1787, Smyth.
664 “This field”: Carl Van Doren, Benjamin Franklin, 737.
664 “amuses himself”: to Lafayette, Apr. 17, 1787, Smyth.
664 “He sits”: Jeremy Belknap in William Parker Cutler, Life, Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler (Cincinnati, 1888), 2:234.
664 “I have found”: to Mary Hewsom, May 6, 1786, Smyth.
29. SUNRISE AT DUSK: 1786–87
666 “Your newspapers”: to William Hunter, Nov. 24, 1786, Smyth.
667 “That there should be”: to Lafayette, Apr. 17, 1787, Smyth.
667 “Our public affairs”: to Abbés Chalut and Arnaud, Apr. 17, 1787, Smyth.
667–68 “How inconsistent … the officers”: Washington address, Mar. 15, 1783 (and footnote), Writings of Washington; Douglas Southall Freeman, George Washington, 5:433–35.
668 “order of hereditary”: to Sarah Bache, Jan. 26, 1784, Smyth.
670 “a party of madmen … this mob”: David P. Szatmary, Shays’ Rebellion (Amherst, 1980), 71–81.
670–71 “most fatal … property”: The Boisterous Sea of Liberty, ed. David Brion Davis and Stephen Mintz, 227.
671 “Good God!”: Washington to Knox, Dec. 26, 1786, Papers of Washington.
672 “render the federal constitution”: Records of Convention, 3:14.
672 “It seems probable”: Madison to Edmund Pendleton, Feb. 24, 1787, Writings of Madison.
672 “some disorderly people”: to Chevalier de Chastellux, Apr. 17, 1787, Smyth.
673 “I hope good”: to Jefferson, Apr. 19, 1787, Smyth.
673 “Your presence”: to Washington, Apr. 3, 1787, Papers of Washington.
673 “by any commercial”: Catherine Drinker Bowen, Miracle at Philadelphia (Boston, 1966), 22.
674 “We have here”: to Thomas Jordan, May 18, 1787, Smyth.
674 “If you will”: Records of Convention, 3:85. 674–75 “The nomination”: ibid., 1:4.
675 “Dr. Franklin”: ibid., 3:91.
676 “There are”: ibid., 1:81–85.
677 “The motion”: ibid., 1:85.
677 “How has it happened”: Smyth, 9:600–1.
679 “bastard brat … within himself”: Bowen, Miracle, 108–9.
679 “deservedly celebrated”: Records of Convention, 3:89.
679 “I believe”: ibid., 1:299–300.
680 “A single person’s”: ibid., 1:102–3.
681 “Some contend”: ibid., 1:471.
681 “Are not the large”: ibid., 1:491–92.
681 “This country”: ibid., 1:530.
682 “The diversity”: ibid., 1:488–89.
682 “There was no curiosity”: William Cutler, Life, Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, 1:267–69; 2:363.
684 “Gentlemen … alarmed”: Records of Convention, 3:86–87.
684–85 “The Doctor”: Cutler, Life, Journals and Correspondence of Manasseh Cutler, 1:269–70.
686 “A veritable torture”: Bowen, Miracle, 97.
686 “so weak”: to Jones, July 22, 1787, Smyth.
686–87 “What was the practice”: Records of Convention, 2:65.
687 “contrary to”: ibid., 2:120.
687 “It is of great”: ibid., 2:204–5.
687 “to debase”: ibid., 2:249.
688 “not against”: ibid., 2:236–37.
688 “generally virulent”: ibid., 2:348.
688 “We seem”: ibid., 2:542.
689 “I confess”: ibid., 2:641–43.
690 “Done in Convention”: ibid.
691 “Whilst the last”: ibid., 2:648.
30. TO SLEEP: 1787–90
692 “It is now”: Washington to Lafayette, Sept. 18, 1787, Papers of Washington.
693 “As I enter …fruits of it”: Jackson Turner Main, The Anti-Federalists (New York, 1974), 122, 129, 132–34.
694 “The smaller”: The Federalist Papers, ed. Andrew Hacker (New York, 1964), 22–23.
694 “very great satisfaction”: The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, ed. Merrill Jensen (Madison, Wis., 1976–), 2:60.
695 “highly reverenced … old age”: Independent Gazetteer, Oct. 5, 1787, and Freeman’s Journal, Oct. 17, 1787; in The Documentary History, 2:160, 185.
695 “Doctor Franklin’s”: Madison to Washington, Dec. 20, 1787, Papers of Washington.
695 “Three and twenty”: Richard Miller, “The Federal City, 1783–1800,” in Philadelphia, ed. Russell Weigley, 164.
696 “I beg”: Lemay, 1144–48.
696 “Independence … President”: Miller, “Federal City,” 164–65.
697 “I must own”: to Jane Mecom, Nov. 4, 1787, Smyth.
697 “Some tell me”: to Mecom, Sept. 20, 1787, Smyth.
697 “a very great pleasure”: to John Lathrop, May 31, 1788, Smyth.
698 “They are wonderfully”: to Mecom, Aug. 3, 1789, Smyth.
698 “as I find”: to Alexander Small, Feb. 19, 1787, Bigelow.
698 “I thank you”: to Vaughan, Nov. 2, 1789, Bigelow.
698 “As the roughness”: to Buffon, Nov. 19, 1787, Smyth.
699 “Our ancient”: to Bowdoin, May 31, 1788, Smyth.
700 “Remarks Concerning”: Lemay, 969–74.
701 “The bad people”: Smyth, 9:523–25.
701 “always very friendly”: to John Jay, July 6, 1786, Smyth.
702 “prejudicial”: to the Public Advertiser, Jan. 30, 1770.
702 “some generous”: PBF, 19:187–88.
703 “Slavery is such”: Lemay, 1154–55.
704 “Our grand machine”: to Carroll, May 25, 1789, Smyth.
704–5 “I have long”: to John Lathrop, May 31, 1788, Smyth.
705 “The arrêt”: to Louis Le Veillard, June 8, 1788, Smyth.
705 “The revolution”: to Vaughan, Nov. 2, 1789, Smyth.
705 “It is now”: to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, Nov. 13, 1789, Smyth.
705 “I hope”: to Samuel Moore, Nov. 5, 1789, Smyth.
705–6 “The convulsions”: to Hartley, Dec. 4, 1789, Smyth.
706 “But in this world”: to Le Roy, Nov. 13, 1789, Smyth.
706 “I can give”: to Le Veillard, Sept. 5, 1789, Smyth.
706 “which, calling”: to Abbé Morellet, Dec. 10, 1788, Smyth.
706 “Canada—delenda est”: BF notes to himself, n.d. [1790], LC.
706 “As much”: from Stiles, Jan. 28, 1790, Smyth, 10:85–86.
706 “It is the first”: to Stiles, Mar. 9, 1790, Smyth.
708 “Is it supposed”: Smyth, 10:59.
708 “the chapeau bras”: Smyth, 10:31.
708 “Mankind”: Parton, Franklin, 2:609–10.
709 “put me in mind”: to the Federal Gazette, Mar. 23, 1790, Smyth.
709 “Would to God”: from Washington, Sept. 23, 1789, Smyth, 10:41–42.
710 “At Philadelphia”: Writings of Jefferson, 1:161–62.
710 “The evening”: Rush to Richard Price, Apr. 24, 1790, Letters of Rush.
EPILOGUE: APRIL 17, 1990
713 “to such young”: Last will and testament, Smyth, 10:493ff.
713 “Everyone”: Boston Globe, Apr. 17, 1990.
714 “in the true spirit”: United Press International, Apr. 18, 1990.
715 “He has returned”: Alfred Aldridge, Franklin and His French Contemporaries, 213.
715 “A man is dead”: ibid., 230.
715 “The Body”: PBF, 1:111.
716 “Benjamin and Deborah Franklin”: Smyth, 10:508.
716 “A republic”: Records of Convention, 3:85.