In 1754 war with France seemed imminent and a congress of commissioners from different colonies was assembled at Albany to confer with the Native American chiefs of the Six Nations. James Hamilton sent Franklin and the speaker of the House Mr. Norris to join Thomas Penn and Secretary Peters as commissioners to act for Pennsylvania and give gifts to the Native American chiefs.
Once again Franklin is called on to demonstrate his diplomatic prowess. The appointment was both practical for the state of Pennsylvania, as Franklin had already demonstrated his skill in this capacity, and something somewhat flattering to Franklin’s vanity. On his way to Albany Franklin drew a plan for the union of all the colonies under one government for the sake…show more content… The assemblies balked to implement the plan because they feared how the crown might react. Therefore the Board of Trade did not approve Franklin’s plan and an alternative plan, where the governors would draw on the treasury of Great Britain for the expense of defense was adopted. The colonies would pay the expense later in the form of taxes. Once imposed after the French and Indian War, these taxes were one of the main causes of the American Revolution. Franklin says things might have been better for both the British and the colonists if his plan had been adopted, but adds that “history is full of the errors of states and princes.”
Franklin, in no unclear terms, suggests that the plan implemented in favor of his own, because of the hesitancy of the Assemblies, directly led to the conditions that provoked the Revolutionary War. Franklin takes a detached view of the circumstances, however, to say that such mistakes riddle the annals of history, perhaps even suggesting that the Revolutionary war could not have been prevented, only…show more content… Mr. Quincy went home to Massachusetts proud of his suit and ever afterward held Franklin in high esteem and friendship.
Ingenuity and creativity were Franklin’s strong suit. He was able to find a way around the restrictions Mr. Morris’s veto imposed upon the Assembly’s political power. The British sent General Braddock to the colonies with two regiments of regular English troops for the war. He landed in Alexandria, Virginia and marched to Frederictown, Maryland where he waited on carriages. Franklin was sent to advise him on how best to procure them from the governors. He went with his son, William, to speak to the general at Frederictown.
Once again the colonies called on Franklin for diplomatic service and he and his son William, the addressee of Part One of the Autobiography, were obliging to the demand. The ineptitude of the British army and generals becomes clear almost from the moment of their first