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THE 



CHRONOLOGY 



OF 



Benjamin Franklin 



1706— 1 790 



■ 


I 


1 


1 


RESERVE 

STORAGE 

COLLECTION 







THE 



CHRONOLOGY 



OF 



Benjamin Franklin 



FOUNDER OF THE 
AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



BY 

L'^iNis Hays 

One of the Secretaries of the Society 



1706—1790 



PHILADELPHIA 

THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 

I 904 



THt LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Ccpiss Receivtd 

NOV H 1903 

Copyright Entry 

cuss <j:t. XXo. No. 

copr A. 



COPYRIGHT, 1903, 
BY I. MINIS HAYS. 






BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

1706—1790 



Eripuit coelo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis." — Turgot. 



1706. Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 6. 
old style, or January 17, new style. 

1716. Assisted his father in his business of tallow chandler 
and soap boiler. 

1718. Was apprenticed as a printer to his brother James. 

1721. Began to write anonymous articles for the "New Eng- 
land Courant." 

1723. October. Left home on account of differences with 
his brother James, and finally landed at Market street 
wharf in Philadelphia with only a Dutch dollar in his 
pocket, and got employment in the printing office of 
Samuel Keimer. 

1724. Governor Sir William Keith proposed his setting up a 
printing office in Philadelphia, promised him his financial 
aid, and induced him to go to England to get an outfit. 
On his arrival in London, on December 24, he found to 
his dismay that the Governor's promises were worthless 
and that he was again stranded in a strange city without 
means. He immediately got work in Palmer's printing 
office in London. 

1726. July 23. He returned to America in company with a 

Mr. Dunham, whose acquaintance he had made on his 

/' voyage out, and who tempted him back by the promise 

of a position as a clerk in a mercantile venture which he 



4 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

was about to make in Philadelphia, where he arrived on 
October 11, but in a brief time the death of Dunham put 
an end to his career as a merchant. He then again en- 
gaged with Keimer. 

1727. Formed among his ingenious acquaintances a club 
for mutual improvement, which he called "the Junto." 

1728. Formed a partnership in the printing business with 
Hugh Meredith. 

1729. Wrote and printed an anonymous pamphlet entitled 
"A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a 
Paper Currency." 

September. Bought out the ' ' Pennsylvania Gazette, 
which Keimer had started nine months before to defeat 
a similar project of Franklin's which had accidentally 
come to his knowledge. Under Franklin's management 
the Gazette soon became the most prosperous and influ- 
ential newspaper in the Colonies. 

1730. Appointed Public Printer by the Pennsylvania As- 
sembly. 

September. Married Deborah Read. 

1731. Established the first circulating library in America — 
The Library Company of Philadelphia — which is still 
existing and has 210,000 volumes in its collection. 

Participated in the formation of St. John's Lodge in 
Philadelphia, the first Masonic Lodge established in 
America. 

1732. Wrote and began the publication of " Poor Richard's 
Almanac," of which three editions were exhausted within 
one month. It at once gained an immense popularity. 
The average sale for 25 years was 10,000 copies a year, 
and it has been translated into nearly every written 
language. 

1733. Established a branch printing office in Charleston, S. C- 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 5 

1734. Elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free 
Masons. 

1736. Chosen Clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly. 
December 7. Organized the first fire company in 

Philadelphia — the Union Fire Company. 

1737. Appointed Postmaster at Philadelphia, also a Justice 
of the Peace. 

1741. Established, in partnership with James Parker, a print- 
ing office in New York. 

1742. Invented the Franklin Open Stove. 

1743. Issued his ' ' Proposals for Promoting Useful Knowledge 
among the British Plantations in America, ' ' which re- 
sulted in the formation in the same year of the first scien- 
tific society to be organized in America — the American 

* Philosophical Society, of which he became the Secretary. 

1744. Published an ' ' Account of the newly -invented Penn- 
sylvania Fire-places. ' '* 

1745. Began his experiments in electricity, and the discov- 
eries that he subsequently made therein ' ' have secured 
him undisputed rank amongst the most eminent of nat- 
ural philosophers." 

1747. Propounded his theory of electricity, which is known 
as the Franklinian theory and is still accepted by many 
physicists. 

France and Spain being at war with Great Britain, 
Philadelphia was in danger of attack by their privateers. 
The Assembly having failed to pass a Militia law, Frank- 
lin excited the patriotism of Pennsylvania by voice and 

* There is every reason to believe that Dr. Franklin communicated 
his early scientific observations and discoveries to the American 
Philosophical Society, but as the records of this Society before 1768 
have been lost, and as the Society did not begin to pubUsh its Trans- 
actions until 1769, it is impossible to fix the exact dates of these 
communications. 



6 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

pen. He organized the citizens for the defense of Phila- 
delphia and raised money and built and equipped a bat- 
tery below the city. He wrote and published ' ' Plain 
Truth, or serious considerations on the present state of 
the City of Philadelphia and Province of Pennsylvania, 
in which he exhorted his fellow-citizens to bear arms in 
self-defense ; also a brief pamphlet entitled ' ' The Abso- 
lute and Obvious Necessity of Self-defense in the present 
Conjuncture," etc. 

1748. October 4. Chosen a member of the Council of Phila- 
delphia. 

Propounded his theory of the electrical condition in the 
Ley den jar. 

1749. Retired from active business as a printer. 
Appointed by the Governor a Commissioner of the 

Peace, and reappointed in 1752. 

Established the identity of lightning and electricity. 

Published his ' ' Proposals relating to the Education of 
Youth in Pensilvania, ' ' which led to the formation of 
the College (afterward the University) of Pennsylvania, 
and he was chosen President of the Board of Trustees. 

Appointed Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania. 

1750. Elected to the Assembly of Pennsylvania and re- 
elected annually for 14 years. 

The Assembly appointed him joint Commissioner with 
the Speaker (Mr. Norris) to make a treaty at Carlisle with 
the Indians. 

1751. Promoted the founding of the Pennsylvania Hospital, 
the first of its kind in America. It is still existing and 
has extended its benefactions to over 400,000 patients. 
He served as Clerk and subsequently as President of its 
Board of Managers. As has been truly said, "he fur- 
nished the impulse to nearly every measure or project 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 7 

which contemplated the welfare and prosperity of the 
city in which he lived." 

October 1. Elected an Alderman. 

His ' ' Experiments and Observations on Electricity ' ' 
was published in London in one volume 4to and went 
through three editions. 

1752. April. Aided in establishing the first company in 
America for insuring against loss by fire — the Philadelphia 
Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss 
by Fire — which is still in prosperous existence. 

June. Made his celebrated kite experiments and dis- 
charged electricity from the clouds. 

His ' ' Experiments and Observations on Electricity ' ' 
was translated into French and published at Paris, and 
a second edition appeared in 1756. 

1753. Recommended that pointed rods be placed on build- 
ings to prevent their being struck by lightning. 

The Royal Society awarded him the Copley Gold 
Medal, and Louis XV directed his thanks to be sent to 
him for his useful discoveries in electricity. 

Harvard and Yale Colleges conferred on him the hon- 
orary degree of Master of Arts. 

Appointed Deputy Postmaster-General for the Conti- 
nental Colonies. 

1754. War between Great Britain and France being immi- 
nent, Governor Hamilton, with the approval of the As- 
sembly, appointed him a Commissioner to represent the 
Province of Pennsylvania at a Congress ordered by the 
Lords of Trade to convene at Albany to confer with the 
Chiefs of the Six Nations with a view to devise means 
for the common defense. At this Congress Franklin pre- 
sented his plan for the union of all the Colonies under one 
government, so far as might be necessary for defense 



8 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

and other important general purposes. The plan was 
adopted by the Congress but failed to receive the appro- 
val of the Colonial Assemblies and the Lords of Trade. 
1755. Appointed by the Pennsylvania Assembly a Commis- 
sioner for raising and expending money for the defense 
of the frontier against the French and Indians. 

Sent by the Assembly to confer with Gen. Braddock 
concerning the defense of the Pennsylvania frontier, and 
in order to obtain the necessary supplies for Braddock's 
army he pledged his own property to upwards of 20,000 
pounds in payment, and then "organized the transport 
and commissariat with an ability and foresight in marked 
contrast to the military conduct of the ill-fated expedi- 
tion." He received the thanks of the Assembly for his 
great services. 

By request of the Governor he took charge of the 
Northwestern frontier and provided for the defense of 
the inhabitants by raising troops and building a line of 
forts, of which the most important was Fort Allen, where 
the town of Wiessport now stands in Carbon County, on 
the Lehigh River some ten miles above Lehigh Gap. 

Was chosen Colonel by the regiment of foot raised in 
Philadelphia in this emergency. 

Drafted the Militia Act of Pennsylvania, which was 
passed on November 25. 

In response to the application of the Colony of Massa- 
chusetts Bay to the Province of Pennsylvania for aid in 
the projected attack on Crown Point, Franklin advocated 
and the Assembly passed a.grant of 10,000 pounds, but the 
Governor refused his assent to the bill unless the proprie- 
tary estates were exempted from any part of the tax that 
would be necessary to be levied, in accordance with the 
general instructions of the Penns to their Governors to 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 9 

pass no act for levying taxes unless their estates were in 
the same act exempted. Franklin then devised a 
method by which the grant was made without requiring 
the assent of the Governor. 

Published his " Observations Concerning the Increase 
of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c.," in conjunction 
with William Clarke's " Observations on the late and 
present Conduct of the French with regard to their 
Encroachments upon the British Colonies in North 
America, together with Remarks on the Importance of 
these Colonies to Great Britain." (Boston: S. Knee- 
land.) 

1756. January 5. Appointed by the Governor Military 
Commissioner, with full power to dismiss and appoint 
military officers, for Northampton County, Pa. 

Introduced street paving, cleaning and lighting into 
Philadelphia. 

Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (April 29), and, 
as an additional mark of honor, by vote of the Council, 
he was relieved from the payment of all fees and it was 
ordered that he was to receive the Transactions with- 
out cost. 

Elected a member of the Society for the Encourage- 
ment of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, London. 

William and Mary College, of Virginia, conferred upon 
him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. 

The Borough of Norfolk, April 10, made him a Burgess 
and Freeman. 

1757. The Assembly finding that the Proprietaries obstinately 
persisted in requiring their Governors to withhold their 
assent from all tax bills which did not exempt their estate 
from the tax levied, or as Franklin expressed it, "in 
manacling their deputies with instructions inconsistent 



lO THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

not only with the privileges of the people but with the 
service of the Crown," resolved to petition the King 
against them and sent Franklin to England as their agent 
to present the petition and to urge their rights. Having 
failed with the King and the Penns in obtaining the 
desired redress, he suggested a compromise by which the 
unsurveyed lands of the Proprietaries were to be ex- 
empted, but the surveyed lands were to be assessed at 
the same rate as other property of that description. 
This was favorably reported upon and approved by 
George II, notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of 
the Penns, and made Franklin's first foreign mission a 
success. 
1758. In the issue of "Poor Richard's Almanac" for this 
year, the last by him, he brought together the best of the 
proverbs, aphorisms, rhymes, etc., of the 24 previous 
annual issues ' ' as the harangue of a wise old man to the 
people attending an auction." It was at once copied 
into all the newspapers of the Continent, reprinted in 
Great Britain as a broadside, and two translations of it 
were printed in France. It has been reprinted again and 
again under the title of "Father Abraham's Speech," 

The Way to Wealth " or "La Science du Bonhomme 
Richard," and has proved itself one of the most popular 
of American writings. According to Paul Leicester 
Ford, ' ' seventy editions of it have been printed in English, 
fifty-six in French, eleven in German and nine in Italian. 
It has been translated into Spanish, Danish, Swedish, 
Welsh, Polish, Gaelic, Russian, Bohemian, Dutch, Cata- 
lan, Chinese, Modern Greek and Phonetic writing. It 
has been printed at least four hundred times, and is to- 
day as popular as ever." 

A German translation of his "Electrical Experiments" 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. II 

was published at Leipzig. Dr. Priestley in his ' ' History 
of Electricity ' ' says ' ' Nothing was ever written upon the 
subject of electricity which was more generally read and 
admired in all parts of Europe than these letters. There 
is hardly any European language into which they have 
not been translated." 
1759. February 12. The University of St. Andrews (Scot- 
land) conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws, 
and, as an additional honor, directed his diploma to be 
given to him without the payment of the customary 
fees, which were voted to be paid by the University. 

September 5. Admitted as a "Burges and Gild- 
brother of Edinburgh." 

At about this time was elected an Honorary Member of 
the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh. 

PubHshed anonymously ' ' An Historical Review of the 
Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania from its 
origin, so far as regards the several points of controversy 
which have from time to time arisen between the several 
Governors of that Province and their several Assemblies," 
an 8vo volume of 444 pages.* 
1760. Wrote a pamphlet entitled "The Interests of Great 
Britain considered with regard to her Colonies and the 
acquisition of Canada and Guadaloupe," to show that 
so long as Canada remained in the hands of the French, 
the EngUsh Colonies in North America could never be 
safe, nor peace in Europe permanent. Two years later, 
in the treaty of 1762, Great Britain secured the cession 
of Canada from France. 

* It is said that Franklin denied the authorship of this work, which 
was generally ascribed to him at the time. No one else has ever claimed 
it; and if Franklin did not write the book, the presumption is very 
clear that it was written at his instigation and under his supervision, 
smce he was the only person in England who possessed the data for it. 



12 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

Was elected a member of the Council of the Royal 
Society, and again in 1766, in 1767 and in 1772. 

1761. Visited Belgium and Holland. 

1762. April 30. The University of Oxford conferred upon 
him the degree of D.C.L. 

August. Returned to America and shortly afterward 
received the thanks of the Pennsylvania Assembly, "as 
well for the faithful discharge of his duty to the province 
in particular as for the many and important services done 
to America in general during his residence in Great 
Britain." 

1763. Spent half the year in a tour through the northern 
Colonies, inspecting and regulating the post offices in the 
several provinces, and travelled about 1600 miles. 

The Assembly appointed him a Commissioner to dis- 
pose of the public money appropriated to the raising and 
paying an army to act against the Indians and to defend 
the frontier. 

1764. There having been two insurrections of the frontier 
inhabitants of the province in December of the previous 
year, by which twenty friendly Indians living under the 
protection of the government had been murdered, and 
further mischief was threatened, Franklin, to strengthen 
the hands of the weak government by rendering the pro- 
ceedings of the rioters odious, wrote his ''Narrative of 
the late Massacre in Lancaster County of a number of 
Indians, friends of this Province." In it he appealed to 
the people to maintain the honor of the government and 
protect peaceable citizens, even though they be Indians. 

Afterwards when armed rioters started for Philadel- 
phia with the avowed intention of murdering 140 Indian 
converts who had been brought by the government for 
safety to that city, Franklin, at the request of Governor 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 13 

Penn, formed a military association of nearly 1000 citizens 
to resist these rioters, the so-called Paxton Boys, who on 
reaching Germantown and learning of the measures taken 
for the defense of the city, desisted from further action. 

April 12. Franklin published another pamphlet, en- 
titled "Cool Thoughts on the present situation of our 
Public Affairs," in which he urged that the King should 
take the government of the Colony into his own hands 
and indemnify the Proprietaries. 

May. Was elected Speaker of the Assembly. 

At the election in the autumn for a new Assembly, 
strenuous and successful efforts were made by the Pro- 
prietary party to defeat Franklin because of the zeal and 
perseverance with which he had advocated the cause of 
the people against the Proprietaries. By a small major- 
ity he lost his seat in the Assembly, to which he had been 
annually elected for 14 years, even during his absence in 
Europe, as a delegate from the City of Philadelphia; but 
nevertheless the popular party, with which Franklin was 
in sympathy, were in the majority in the new Assembly. 

Peace with the Proprietary Government was only 
temporary. The question of taxing their estates had 
come up in a new form and finally resulted in the Assem- 
bly, in November, again sending Franklin to England as 
their agent to petition the Crown for a change of govern- 
ment and to look after the interests of the province. The 
Assembly having no money in the Treasury then available 
for Franklin's expenses, the merchants of Philadelphia 
at once raised 1100 pounds to be lent to the Province 
for this purpose. 

While in England, as the agent selected to defend the 

V rights of a single province at the Court of Great 

Britain, he became the bold defender of the rights of 



14 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

America in general. He exerted his powers in endeavors 
to prevent the passage of the Stamp Act. Writing to 
Charles Thomson, on July 11, 1765, he said: "The tide 
was too strong against us. The nation was provoked by- 
American claims of independence [of Parliament in regard 
to the power of taxing the colonists] and all parties joined 
in resolving by this act to settle the point. We might as 
well have hindered the sun's setting. That we could not 
do. But since it is down, my friend, and it may be long 
before it rises again, let us make as good a night of it as we 
can. We may still light candles. Frugality and indus- 
try will go a great way towards indemnifying us. Idle- 
• ness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and 
parliaments. If we can get rid of the former, we may 
easily bear the latter." 

1766. Underwent his memorable examination in the House 
of Commons relative to the repeal of the American Stamp 
Act. The light he threw upon colonial affairs, more 
probably than all other causes combined, determined 
Parliament to repeal the bill. Burke said the scene 
reminded him of a master examined by a parcel of school 
boys, and George Whitfield, the great preacher, wrote 
that Franklin "gained immortal honor by his behavior 
at the bar of the House." Sparks says: "There was no 
event in Franklin's life more creditable to his talents and 
character or which gave him so much celebrity as this 
examination before the House of Commons." 

Elected a Foreign Member of the Konigliche Gesell- 
schaft der Wissenschaften at Gottingen. 

1767. Travelled on the Continent and was presented at the 
French Court. 

June 26. Appointed by ' ' Order in Council ' ' one of 
the Commissioners to settle the boundary between the 
Provinces of New York and New Jersey. 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 15 

1768. April 1. The Assembly of Georgia appointed him 
agent in England for that Colony, and reappointed him 
annually so long as he remained in Europe. 

1769. Elected President of the American Philosophical 
Society and reelected annually so long as he lived. 

July. Again visited France and found ' ' our dispute 
much attended to." 

November 8. Unanimously chosen by the House of 
Representatives of the Colony of New Jersey as their 
agent in London. 

1770. The Assembly of Massachusetts appointed him agent 
in England for that Colony. 

1771. Elected corresponding member of the Bataafsch Ge- 
nootschap der Proefondervindelijke Wijsbegeerte, Rot- 
terdam. 

Made a tour through Scotland and Ireland. 

Began to write his Autobiography, "which to this day 
not only remains one of the most widely read and readable 
books in our language, but has had the distinction of 
enriching the literature of nearly every other." 

Presented to Harvard University " many valuable 
books." 

1772. Elected one of the eight foreign members of the 
Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris. 

Served on a Committee of the Royal Society to report 
on lightning conductors for the Board of Ordnance of 
the British Government. 

1773. A French translation of his works, edited by Dubourg, 
in 2 volumes 4to, was pubHshed in Paris. 

His pen was constantly engaged in advocating the 
interests of the Colonies, and he was continually publish- 
ing short papers in the London magazines and news- 
papers to influence public opinion. In this year ap- 



l6 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

peared two of his cleverest political satires, ' ' Rules for 
Reducing a Great Empire to a Small One ' ' and an 
"Edict by the King of Prussia." The latter was written 
to controvert the argument frequently urged in England, 
that had the colonists remained in Great Britain they 
would have been absolutely subject to its laws and that 
their emigration to America had not changed this condi- 
tion. The "Edict" purported to be an assumption of 
sovereignty over Great Britain, because of the original 
colonization from Germany, and it was so well done that 
it was for a time actually believed by some to be genuine. 

Transmitted the Hutchinson letters to Massachusetts. 

Sent to Lord Dartmouth the petition of Massachu- 
setts for the removal of Gov. Hutchinson. 
1774. January 11. Underwent his examination before the 
Privy Council on the petition of the Massachusetts 
Assembly for the removal of Gov. Hutchinson, and on the 
transactions relating to Gov. Hutchinson's letters which 
had come into his possession, and which had enraged the 
Ministerial party to such a degree that it determined to 
subject him to what was meant to be a deathblow at his 
honor. He was the "butt of invective ribaldry for near 
an hour," which he bore with unflinching firmness, in his 
capacity as agent of the Colony of Massachusetts. 

Dismissed by the British Government from the office 
of Deputy Postmaster-General in North America. 

Communicated to the Royal Society his observations 
on the stilling of waves by means of oil. 

In his efforts to avert the impending crisis he offered, 
at his own risk and without knowing whether he should 
be owned in doing it, to pay the whole damage of de- 
stroying the tea at Boston, provided the Acts made 
against the Province of Massachusetts Bay were repealed. 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. I7 

Prepared for the information of the British Ministry 

Terms that might probably produce a durable union 
between Great Britain and the Colonies." 

He was pronounced by Chatham, in the House of 
Lords, ' '-an honor not to the English nation only, but to 
human nature." 

December. Presented to Lord Dartmouth the petition 
to the King adopted by the first Continental Congress, 
which met in Philadelphia in September. The Ministry 
now determined upon vigorous measures to bring the 
Colonies to a due submission and passed the Act shutting 
the ports of New England. Lord North shortly after- 
ward caused it to be made known to Franklin that the 
Administration, for the sake of peace, might repeal the 
tax on tea and the Port Act, but ' 'that the Massachusetts 
Acts, being real amendments of their Constitution, must, 
for that reason, be continued, as well as to be a standing 
example of the power of Parliament." Franklin replied 
that "the people of Massachusetts must suffer all the 
hazards and mischiefs of war rather than admit the alter- 
ation of their charter and laws by Parliament. They 
that can give up an essential liberty to obtain a little 
temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." 
These were the last words which he addressed to the 
Ministry. 
1775. Finding that the tension between Great Britain and 
the Colonies was so great that his usefulness as the agent 
of the Colonies in England was at an end, he returned to 
America and landed at Philadelphia on May 5. 

May 6. The Assembly of Pennsylvania unanimously 
elected him a delegate to the second Continental Congress, 
, about to assemble at Philadelphia. In this Congress he 
served on not less than ten important committees. 



16 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

June 3. Appointed by the Congress on the Committee 
to draft a petition to the King. 

June 23. Appointed by the Congress on the Com- 
mittee to draw up " A Declaration by the Representa- 
tives of the United Colonies of North America, now met 
in Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the causes and 
necessity of their taking up arms." 

June 30. Appointed by the Assembly of Pennsylvania 
a member of the Committee of Safety and by the Com- 
mittee unanimously elected its Chairman. 

July 21. Proposed in the Congress "Articles of Con- 
federation and Perpetual Union." 

July 22. Appointed by the Congress on the Committee 
to consider and report on the resolution of House of 
Commons, commonly called Lord North's plan for con- 
ciliation. 

July 26. Elected unanimously by the Congress Post- 
master-General of the Colonies. 

September 30. Appointed by the Congress on the 
Committee to repair to the camp at Cambridge and con- 
fer with Gen. Washington and others touching the most 
effectual method of continuing, supporting and regulating 
a Continental army. 

November 29. Appointed by the Congress on the 
Committee to correspond ' ' with our friends in Great 
Britain, Ireland, and other parts of the world." 
1776. Planned an appeal from the Congress to France for aid 
and wrote the instructions of Silas Deane, a member of 
the Congress, who was to convey it. Silas Deane re- 
ported to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, viz. : 
" Being known to be his [Franklin's] friend, is one of 
the best recommendations a man can wish to have in 
France, and will introduce him where titles fail." 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. Ip 

March 20. Appointed by the Congress a Commissioner 
to Canada to negotiate a union with the Colonies. 

June 11. Appointed by the Congress on the Com- 
mittee to draft the Declaration of Independence. 

June 18. Represented the city of Philadelphia in the 
Conference of Committees of the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania, held pursuant to the resolution of the Congress of 
May 15, "to adopt such government as shall in the opin- 
ion of the representatives of the people best conduce to 
the happiness and safety of their constituents in particu- 
lar and America in general, ' ' and which finally renounced 
all allegiance to Great Britain. 

July 8. Elected to represent Philadelphia in the 
Convention to frame a Constitution for the State of 
Pennsylvania. 

July 16. Unanimously chosen President of the Con- 
vention which framed a Constitution for the State of 
Pennsylvania. 

August 2. Signed the Declaration of Independence. 
September 2. Appointed by the Pennsylvania Con- 
vention a Justice of the Peace of the City and County of 
Philadelphia. 

September 16. Appointed by the Congress to confer 
with Lord Howe on the subject of reconciliation. 

September 26. Unanimously appointed by the Con- 
gress one of the three Commissioners to the Court of 
France to secure the active aid and cooperation of that 
country. 

He collected all the money he could command, 

amounting to between 3000 and 4000 pounds, and loaned 

it to the Congress, which demonstration of his confidence 

'^encouraged others to lend their money in support of the 

cause. 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

In October he started on his mission in the sloop of 
war ' ' Reprisal, ' ' and arrived in France on December 4. 

December 13. On his arrival Silas Deane wrote to 
Dumas, the secret agent of the United States in Hol- 
land : "Here is the hero, and philosopher, and patriot, 
all united in this celebrated American, who at the age of 
seventy-four risks all dangers for his country"; and 
Arthur Lee, in a letter to Lord Shelburne (December 23), 
calls him "our Pater Patriae." 

The story of his mission has been summed up by his 
biographer and, a century later, his successor at the Court 
of France, the Hon. John Bigelow, as follows: "He be- 
came at once an object of greater popular interest than 
any other man in France — an interest which, during his 
eight years' service there, seemed always on the increase. 
Streets in numerous cities, and several societies, were 
named after him; the French Academy paid him its 
highest honors, and he conferred more distinction upon 
any salon he frequented than it could reciprocate. He 
animated French society with a boundless enthusiasm for 
the cause of the rebel colonists, persuaded the Govern- 
ment that the interests of France required her to aid 
them, obtained a treaty of alliance at a crisis in their 
fortunes in the winter of 1777, when such an alliance was 
decisive, and the great moral advantage of a Royal frigate 
to convey the news of it to America. A few months later 
he signed the treaties which bound the two countries to 
mutual friendship and defense. 

' ' In February of the following year General Lafayette 
.... returning to France on leave, brought a com- 
mission from the American Congress to Dr. Franklin as 
sole plenipotentiary of the United States to the Court of 
France. From this time to the close of the war it was 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 21 

Franklin's paramount duty to encourage the French 
Government to supply the colonists with money. How 
successfully he discharged this duty may be inferred 
from the following statement of the advances made 

by France upon his solicitation ; in all 

26,000,000 francs. To obtain these aids at a time when 
France was not only at war but practically bankrupt, 
and in deiianpe of the strenuous resistance of Necker, the 
Minister of Finance, was an achievement the credit of 
which, there is the best reason for believing, was mainly 
due to the matchless diplomacy of Franklin." 

An eminent French historian has said, "His virtues and 
his renown negotiated for him ; and before the second year 
of his mission had expired, no one conceived it possible to 
refuse fleets and an army to the compatriots of Franklin." 

1777. January 1. Appointed by the Congress Commissioner 
also to the Court of Spain, but declined 6n account of age 
and health. 

June 17. Elected a member of the Royal Medical 
Society of Paris. 

December 10. Elected by the Pennsylvania Assembly 
a delegate to the Congress. 

Obtained from France a gift of 2,000,000 livres, 

1778. February 6. Negotiated a treaty of amity and 
commerce and also a treaty of alliance with France. 

April,. Declined to consider a peace with Great Britain 
which included an offensive alliance against France. 

July. An office, a pension for life and a peerage were 
held out to Franklin as a reward for betraying the 
American cause, and his answer to these proposals was 
one of the most notable productions of his pen.* 

* Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States. 
Edited by Francis Wharton. Washington, iSSg. II, 633. soth Cong, 
ist Sess. H. R. Mis. Doc. 603. 



22 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

September 14. Appointed by the Congress Minister 
Plenipotentiary to the Court of France. 

Obtained from France a loan of 3,000,000 livres. 

1779. Obtained from France a further loan of 1,000,000 
livres. 

During his residence in France, in addition to his 
diplomatic duties, he was kept busily engaged in pur- 
chasing supplies and munitions of war and shipping them 
to America; in acting as Judge of Admiralty; in com- 
missioning and equipping privateers to operate against 
British commerce; in negotiating loans and honoring 
the numerous drafts drawn on him by the Congress; 
in attending to the needs of American prisoners in 
Great Britain, and in various other ways advancing the 
cause of our independence. 

An edition of his "Works," edited by Vaughan, was 
published in London. 

1780. Obtained from France another loan of 4,000,000 livres. 
A German translation of his ' ' Works ' ' was published 

at Dresden in 3 volumes 8vo. 

December 4. Count de Vergennes, Minister of Foreign 
Affairs, writing to the French Minister in Philadelphia, 
said: "As to Dr. Franklin, his conduct leaves Congress 
nothing to desire. It is as zealous and patriotic as it is 
wise and circumspect." Again, on Febuary 15, 1781, he 
wrote to him : "If you are questioned respecting an opinion 
of Dr. Frankhn, you may without hesitation say that we 
esteem him as much on account of tlie patriotism as the 
wisdom of his conduct ; and it has been owing in a great 
part to this cause, and the confidence we put in the ver- 
acity of Dr. Franklin, that we have determined to relieve 
the pecuniary embarrassments in which he has been 
placed by Congress.'.' 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 23 

1781. January 31. Elected a Fellow of the American Acad- 
emy of Arts and Sciences, Boston. 

March 12. Tendered to the Congress his resignation 
as Minister to France on account of age and health, but 
the Congress declined to accept it and requested his con- 
tinuance in their service till the peace. 

June 19. Appointed by the Congress one of the Com- 
missioners to negotiate a peace with Great Britain. 

December 20. Elected one of the 24 foreign mem- 
bers of the Academy of Science, Letters and Arts of 
Padua. 

Obtained a loan of 5,000,000 florins from Holland and 
from France a further loan of 4,000,000 livres. 

1782. Obtained from France another loan of 6,000,000 livres. 
July 16. Entered into a treaty with the King of 

France for the repayment of loans, which in all amounted 
to 18,000,000 livres. 

Wrote and printed on his private press at Passy an 
imitation ' ' Supplement to the Boston Independent 
Chronicle," in which he sought to arouse public opinion 
on the Continent against the atrocities committed upon 
innocent women and children in America by the Indians 
in the pay of Great Britain. In sending a copy to Dumas 
he said: "The form may perhaps not be genuine, but 
the substance is truth." 

Presented a ' ' rich donation of Works ' ' to the 
Public Library at Franklin, Massachusetts. 

September 17. Appointed by the Congress a Com- 
missioner to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great 
Britain. 

Proposed to the British Commissioner to abolish 
' privateering and neutralize non-combatants and their 
property. 



24 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

November 30. Negotiated a preliminary treaty of 
peace with Great Britain. 

1783. January 20. Negotiated an armistice with Great 
Britain. 

February 25. Negotiated a contract with the King of 
France for a further loan of 6,000,000 livres. 

April 3. Concluded a treaty of amity and commerce 
with the King of Sweden. 

September 3. Negotiated the definitive treaty of 
peace with Great Britain, in which the independence of 
the United States was recognized. 

Was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society 
of Edinburgh. 

An Italian translation of his "Works" was published 
at Padua. 

1784. Appointed by Louis XVI one of the Commissioners 
to investigate the theories of Mesmer, and their report 
resulted in the exposure and flight of Mesmer. 

Elected a member of the Royal Academy of History 
of Madrid. 

Published his "Advice to Emigrants" who would re- 
move to America, of which editions appeared in the 
English, French and German languages. 

1785. February 23. Elected an Honorary Member of the 
Manchester (Eng.) Literary and Philosophical Society. 

March 18. Elected Honorary Associate of the Society 
Royale de Physique, d'Histoire Naturelle et des Arts 
d'Orleans. 

April 20. Received leave from Congress to return 
home. 

In acknowledging the notification of his retiring, Count 
de Vergennes, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
wrote to Franklin:- "I can assure you, sir, that the 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 25 

esteem the King entertains for you does not leave you 
anything to wish, and that his Majesty will learn with 
real satisfaction that your fellow-citizens have rewarded 
in a manner worthy of you, the important services that 
you have rendered them." 

June. Elected Associate Member of the Academie des 
Sciences, Belles-Lettres et des Arts de Lyon. 

July 9. Signed a treaty of amity and commerce with 
the King of Prussia, in which he embodied his advanced 
views on neutrality, privateering and the exemption of 
private property from capture at sea, which he had 
published in a pamphlet in that same year. 

On his taking farewell leave, the King of France pre- 
sented to him his miniature surrounded with 408 dia- 
monds. 

July 12.- Set out for Havre on his return to America. 
The infirmity under which he labored rendered the 
motion of a carriage insupportable, and the Queen's lit- 
ter, borne by Spanish mules, was graciously placed at 
his disposal and conveyed him from Passy to Havre. 

September 14. Landed at Philadelphia. 

September 15. Received a congratulatory address 
from the Pennsylvania Assembly in which the following 
language was used : ' ' The Representatives of the freemen 
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General As- 
sembly met, in the most affectionate manner congratulate 
you on your safe arrival in your country after so long an 
absence on the most important business. We likewise 
congratulate you on the firm establishment of the inde- 
pendence of America and the settlement of a general 
peace, after the interesting struggle in which we were 
so long engaged. We are confident, sir, that we speak 
the sentiments of this whole country, when we say that 



26 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

your services in the public councils and negotiations 
have not only merited the thanks of the present genera- 
tion, but will be recorded in the pages of history to your 
immortal honor. And it is particularly pleasing to us 
that while we are sitting as members of the Assembly of 
Pennsylvania, we have the happiness of welcoming into 
the State a person who was so greatly instrumental in 
forming its free Constitution." 

October. Was elected a Councillor by the City of 
Philadelphia; he qualified on the 17th, and on the 18th 
was unanimously elected President of the Council. 

October 21. Presented to the American Philosophical 
Society a lengthy paper "On the Causes and Cure of 
Smoky Chimneys." 

October 26. Was chosen President of Pennsylvania 
by a vote of 76 out of 77 votes cast, and was unanimously 
reelected in 1786 and 1787. He declined to benefit by the 
compensation given by the State for his services as its 
President, and devoted the same to public uses, such as 
colleges, schools, building of churches, etc. 

December 2. Contributed to the American Philo- 
sophical Society a paper "Containing Sundry Maritime 
Observations," which included the subjects of the best 
form of rigging to improve the swiftness of vessels, the 
avoidance of accidents that may occasion loss of ships 
at sea, and his observations on the course, velocity and 
temperature of the Gulf Stream, for the benefit of navi- 
gation on the Atlantic coast. 

The western territory of North Carolina was organized 
into a State and, in compliment to Franklin, was called 
the State of Franklin, but after a brief existence it gave 
up the struggle and a decade later was again organized 
as a State and called the State of Tennessee. 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 27 

1786. January 28. Contributed to the American Philo- 
sophical Society "A Description of a New Stove for 
Burning of Pit Coal and Consuming all its Smoke" and a 
paper on "A Slowly Sensible Hygrometer." 

May 5. Elected Corresponding Member of the Societa 
Patriotica diretta all' Avanzamento dell Agricoltura, 
delle Arti e delle Manifatture di Milano. 

1787. Took an active part in establishing "The Society for 
Political Enquiries," which had for its object mutual 
improvement in the knowledge of government and the 
advancement of political science. He was elected its 
first President. 

Chosen delegate from Pennsylvania to the Convention 
to frame the Constitution of the United States. At the 
opening of the Convention he moved that the sessions 
be begun with prayer, and in the speech in support of 
his motion he said: "The longer I live, the more con- 
vincing proof I see of this truth — that God governs in 
the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the 
ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire 
can rise without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in 
the Sacred Writings, that 'except the Lord build the 
house, they labor in vain that build it.' I firmly believe 
this ; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we 
shall succeed in this political building no better than the 
builders of Babel." 

According to Bigelow, "To the joint influence of Frank- 
lin and Washington probably should be ascribed the final 
adoption of the Constitution which this Convention 
framed, and which continues to be the fundamental law 
of the United States" ; and the same authority states that 
' ' ' the most original, if not the most ingenious, and perhaps, 
in view of the great difficulties it disposed of, the most 



28 THE CHRONOLOGY OP FRANKLIN, 

important feature of the Constitution they constructed 
— that which gave the States equal representation in 
the Upper House or Senate, and in the Lower House 
representation according to population, was the device 
of Franklin." 

July 16. Elected Honorary Member of the Medical 
Society of London. 

1788. Helped to organize the first society formed for the 
abolition of slavery and, as its President, wrote and signed 
the first remonstrance against slavery addressed to the 
American Congress. 

Contributed four papers to the American Philosophical 
Society. 

1789. Elected a Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences 
of Saint Petersburg. 

1790. April 17. Died at Philadelphia, ast. 84 years and 3 
months. 

April 21. Buried, by his special direction, in Christ 
Church Burying Ground, southeast corner of Fifth and 
Arch streets, Philadelphia. 

He had "nations for his mourners and the great and 
good throughout the world as his eulogists." 

Congress being then in session, the House of Repre- 
sentatives resolved, "That the members shall wear the 
customary badge of mourning for one month, as a mark 
of veneration to the memory of a citizen whose native 
genius was not more an ornament to human nature than 
his various exertions of it have been precious to science, 
to freedom and to his country." 

In the French Assembly, upon the announcement of 
his death, it was decreed "that the National Assembly 
shall wear mourning during three days for Benjamin 
Franklin," and formal eulogiums were pronounced before 
the Assembly and the Municipality of Paris. 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 29 

1791. March 1. Provost Smith dehvered, by appointment, 
before the American Philosophical Society, an eulogium 
on Franklin, in the presence of the President, the Senate 
and House of Representatives of the United States, the 
Senate and House of Representatives of the Common- 
wealth of Pennsylvania and the Municipal Corporation 
of Philadelphia. 

By his will Franklin gave ;^100 to the schools of Boston, 
the interest of which is to be used in annually providing 
silver medals as rewards for the scholars. He gives this, 
he says, because "I was born in Boston, New England, 
and owe my first instructions in literature to the free 
grammar schools established there." Bigelow says that 
these "Medals have rewarded the diUgence and exemplary 
conduct of over 4000 boys who have been found to merit 
them, and have no doubt stimulated to extra exertion 
perhaps hundreds of thousands who were less fortunate." 
In another item of his will he says: " I have considered 
that, among artisans, good apprentices are most likely 
to make good citizens, and, having myself been bred to 
a manual art, printing, in my native town, and afterward 
assisted to set up my business in Philadelphia by kind 
loans of money from two friends there, which was the 
foundation of my fortune, and of all the utility in Hfe 
that may be ascribed to me, I wish to be useful even after 
my death, if possible, in forming and advancing other 
young men, that may be serviceable to their country in 
both these towns. To this end I devote two thousand 
pounds sterling [about one-fifteenth of his entire estate], 
of which I give one thousand thereof to the inhabitants 
of the town of Boston, in Massachusetts, and the other 
thousand to the inhabitants of the city of Philadelphia, 
in trust, " the income to be let out upon interest to young 



30 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

married artificers under the age of 25 years. This trust 
has been maintained, and its principal has increased by 
the addition of interest, and is still in operation in both 
cities. 

To the State of Pennsylvania he bequeathed his 
portrait, painted by Martin. 

To the American Philosophical Society his set of the 
" Histoire de I'Academie Royale des Sciences avec les 
Memoires de Mathematique & de Physique" in 92 
volumes. 

Since his death, Bigelow says, "as in life, his fame has 
gone on increasing. No American has ever received 
such varied and extensive homage from his countrymen. 
There is no State in the United States and there are few 
counties that have not a town called Franklin (Ohio has 
nineteen of them) ; scarce a town that does not boast of 
its Franklin street, or its Franklin Square, or its Franklin 
Hotel, or its Franklin Bank, or its Franklin Insurance 
Company, and so on; his bust or portrait is everywhere." 

There yet remains, however, to be erected by his 
grateful country a suitable memorial in honor of this 
citizen, to whose genius, patriotism and devotion it, in 
large part, owes its independent political existence. 



THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 31 

REFERENCES. 

1. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. 

2. Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin FrankUn, by his 
Grandson. 6 vols. London, 18 17. 

3. The Works of Benjamin Franklin, with Notes. By Jared 
Sparks. 10 vols. Boston, 1840. 

4. The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin. Compiled and 
edited by John Bigelow. 10 vols. New York, 1887. 

5. Experiments and Observations on Electricity made at Philadel- 
phia in America. By Benjamin Franklin. London, 1751. 

6. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 

7. The Frankhn Papers in the possession of the American Philosoph- 
ical Society. 

8. Franklin. A Sketch. By John Bigelow. Boston, 1879. 

9. The Many-sided Franklin. By Paul Leicester Ford. New York, 
1899. 

10. Franklin in France. By Edward E. Hale and Edward E. Hale, 
Jr. 2 vols. Boston, 1887. 

11. Address of Hon. Robert C. Winthrop at Inauguration of the 
Statue of Franklin. Boston, 1857. 

12. Benjamin Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania. Ed- 
ited by Francis Newton Thorpe. Bureau of Education, Circular of 
Information No. 2, 1892. Washington, 1893. 

13. Eulogium on Benjamin Franklin, LL.D., President of the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Society. Delivered March i, 1791, before the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Society, and agreeably to their appointment, by 
William Smith, D.D. Philadelphia, 1792. 

14. Franklin Bibhography. By Patil Leicester Ford. Brooklyn, 
1889. 

15. Notes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the 
Province of Pennsylvania. 6 vols. Philadelphia, 1752-1776. 

16. Colonial Records of Pennsylvania. 16 vols. Philadelphia, 
1852. 

17. Pennsylvania Archives. Philadelphia, 1852, et seq. 

18. Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New 
Jersey. Newark, 1880, et seq. 

19. Journal of Congress. 13 vols. Philadelphia, 1777 to 1788. 



32 THE CHRONOLOGY OF FRANKLIN. 

20. Secret Journals of the Acts and Proceedings of Congress. 4 vols. 
Boston, 1821. 

21. Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States 
of America and other Powers since July 4, 1776. Revised edition. 
Washington, 1873. 

22. The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution. 
Edited by Jared Sparks. 10 vols. Boston, 1829. 

23. American Archives. By Peter Force. Washington, 1844, et 
seq. 

24. Report of the Commission to Locate the Sites of the Frontier 
Forts of Pennsylvania. 2 vols. Harrisburg, 1896. 

25. The Proceedings relative to calling the Conventions of 1776 and 
1790, etc. Harrisburg, 1825. 

26. History of the United States. By George Bancroft. 6 vols. 
Last revision. 

27. Narrative and Critical History of America. By Justin Winsor. 
8 vols. Boston, 1889. 

28. History of England. By Lord Mahon. 7 vols London, 1854. 

29. The American Revolution. By Right Hon. Sir George Otto 
Trevelyan. New York, 1899. 

30. History of the Pennsylvania Hospital, 175 1-1895. By Thomas 
G. Morton. Revised edition. Philadelphia, 1897. 

31. History of the University of Pennsylvania from its Foundation 
to A.D. 1770. By Thomas H. Montgomery. Philadelphia, 1900. 

32. History of the Royal Society. By Thomas Thomson, M.D., 
F.R.S. London, 1812 

33. Sketch of the Early History of St. John's Lodge, Philadelphia, 
from 1 73 1 to 1738. By Clifford P. MacCalla. Philadelphia, 1884. 

34 MS. Minutes of the University of St. Andrews. Vol. 7. 

35. Rules and Regulations of the Society for Political Enquiries. 
Established at Philadelphia 9th February, 1787. Philadelphia, 1787. 

36. Terrestrial Magnetism. Vol. VIII, page 65. 

37. Descriptive and Historical Notes on the Library of Harvard 
University. By Alfred Claghorn Potter. Cambridge, 1903 



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