A LONG ROAD TO ABOLITIONISM:
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’STRANSFORMATION ON SLAVERY
______
A University Thesis Presented to the Faculty of
of
California State University, East Bay
______
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts in History
______
By
Gregory McClay
September 2017
A LONG ROAD TO ABOLITIONISM: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S
TRANSFORMATION ON SLAVERY
By
Gregory McClay
Approved: Date:
..23 ~..(- ..2<> t""J
;.3 ~ ~11-
ii
Scanned by CamScanner
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………1 Existing Research………………………………………………………………….5
Chapter 1: A Man of His Time (1706-1762)…………………………………………….12 American Slavery, Unfree Labor, and Franklin’s Youth………………………...12 Franklin’s Early Writings on Slavery, 1730-1750……………………………….17 Franklin and Slavery, 1751-1762………………………………………………...23 Summary………………………………………………………………………....44
Chapter 2: Education and Natural Equality (1763-1771)………………………………..45 John Waring and the Transformation of 1763…………………………………...45 Franklin’s Ideas on Race and Slavery, 1764-1771……………………………....49 The Bray Associates and the Schools for Black Education……………………...60 The Georgia Assembly…………………………………………………………...63 Summary…………………………………………………………………………68
Chapter 3: An Abolitionist with Conflicting Priorities (1772-1786)…………………….70 The Conversion of 1772…………….……………………………………………72 Somerset v. Stewart………………………………………………………………75 Franklin’s Correspondence, 1773-1786………………………………………….79 Franklin’s Writings during the War Years, 1776-1786………………………….87 Montague and Mark Anthony….………………………………………………...91 George and Franklin’s Ownership and Use of Slaves, 1763-1781…...………...104 Summary………………………………………………………………………..110
Chapter 4: A Man Ahead of His Time (1787-1790)……………………………………112 The President of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society…….…112 The United States Constitutional Convention…………………………………..113 Slavery, 1787-1788……………………………………………………………..114 A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks………………………..118 An Address to the Public…………………………………………………….....119 Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim…………………………………………………….……120 The Will………………………………………………………………………...123 Summary………………………………………………………………………..124
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...126
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………132
iii 1
Introduction
Slavery was a defining feature of eighteenth-century America. A vital part of the economy for the southern colonies, and an accepted fact in the northern colonies, there was little opposition to the practice, on practical or moral grounds, in the earlier half of the century. It was a legally protected practice in all thirteen colonies. The world Franklin was born into in 1706 was a world in which individual freedom was not widely conceived of as a fundamental human right. Although a small number of freed blacks lived and worked in the Americas, all other Africans in British America were enslaved, and the majority of whites found their way to the new world as indentured servants. In the northern colonies, enslaved people worked on staple-crop farms and as household servants, tradesmen, or craftsmen rather than as the grueling cash-crop labor that was a mainstay of the southern economy until the Civil War, so Franklin would not have been familiar with slavery’s worst abuses. In any case, life was shorter and expected to be harder in the early eighteenth century than it was today, but most importantly, while the
Enlightenment was born just a few decades before Franklin himself, it would be many years before emerging conceptions of freedom, liberty, and natural-born human rights were linked to Christian teachings and would challenge thinkers, politicians, and the public to seriously question the morality of slavery. In the early and middle years of his life, Franklin was largely indifferent to the practice of slavery, and he only occasionally wrote about or mentioned the institution or his conceptions of race, subscribing to the
2 common view that North America was made for “Anglo Saxons,” that is, white people.
He appears to have tacitly accepted slavery and given the matter little thought.
Beginning in the late 1750s and continuing through the 1770s, as his political views of the relationship between the colonies and Great Britain gradually shifted,
Franklin began to oppose slavery, supporting a school for former enslaved people and writing, mostly in private, about his opposition to the practice. During the final period of
Franklin’s life, from 1787 until the last weeks of his life in 1790, Franklin made his opposition to the practice of slavery public, serving as the head of an abolitionist society in the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, publishing articles and letters opposing the system and encouraging Congress to ban slavery. By the end of his life, Franklin intensely opposed slavery.
In other words, Franklin's views on slavery were not static, but constantly evolved alongside his political economy. Two points in particular standout: one is how Franklin’s half-way approach to opposing slavery was transformed into outright opposition by the time of his death. His attempts to abolish slavery across the nation and, in contrast with most other abolitionists of the period, his support for racial integration consumed the very last weeks of his life. The other point is that, although the details are often murky and incomplete, Franklin appears to have been a slave owner through most of his life, including into his final years.
What was behind Franklin’s late-life conversion to antislavery, and his late-life emancipation of his own enslaved people? Considered in its context, coinciding with the
3 full sweep of the American Revolution, Franklin's acceptance of the concept of universal human rights, enshrined in the nation’s founding documents but often ignored when it came to the subject of slavery and race, helped push him to make slavery his final public project. This conflict between the perception of abolition as moral and just and the practical advantages that slavery offered to the slave owner was common in Franklin’s time.
But Franklin was hardly alone in coming to support abolition only during the revolutionary period. The rhetoric of the patriots was centered around freedom and natural-born rights, ideas that clearly clashed with many realities of life in the colonies.
How could slave owners cry for freedom from Britain and Parliament's taxes while keeping others in a state of bondage? During and immediately after the Revolution a true abolitionist movement began, spreading through the northern colonies that were not so economically reliant on the practice of slavery. Vermont was the first state to outlaw slavery in its 1777 constitution, and Pennsylvania was the first to pass an emancipation law in 1780. Within twenty years of the end of the Revolution, every northern state had either adjudicated or enacted abolition, either immediately or with a gradual implementation. The questions raised by the ideological and political arguments of the patriots underscored the injustice of slavery in a way that many American leaders could no longer ignore.
For Franklin in particular, however, the issue was as much about pragmatism as it was about ideology. Perhaps more with Franklin than any of his contemporaries, as the
4 times changed, he did with them. Just as he slowly broke away from his pro-English political stance, so too did he gradually change his views of slavery as the political winds changed. This isn't to say that his views were ever insincere. Intellectually, he was an idealist with a life-long interest in Christian-based morality and Enlightenment-based self-improvement. As early as his attempt as a young man to make a list of thirteen virtues and follow them all, as discussed with a touch of humor in the Autobiography,
Franklin demonstrated an idealist streak. Yet throughout his life Franklin was a realist, compromising when practicable. The driving point of his attempt to enumerate the important virtues in life wasn’t to make a list of them, but to actually follow them.
Franklin was always a practical man, his philosophical wisdom based on practical advice, his inventions and scientific curiosity almost always turned with an eye towards the practical, using discovery to improve people's lives. He was not much of a political philosopher in the traditional vein. Broad concepts of natural rights or political freedom rarely are a focus in his writings until he was forced to face such issues by the growing rebellion across the ocean. It was fully within his character to embrace ideas as their historical moments came. Guided by emerging and shifting ideologies and conceptions of natural rights and freedom, Franklin gradually reversed his stance on slavery as abolition became an ever more serious political movement, finally dedicating the last years of his life to slavery’s eradication as abolition became a real political force in the northern colonies.
5
Existing Research
While, in recent years, the slave ownership of Thomas Jefferson, George
Washington and other Founders have been heavily studied, few secondary sources or interpretations of Franklin's complex relationship with slavery have been written.
Franklin’s general biographers, especially those writing in more recent times, have tackled Franklin’s relationship with slavery, although most have covered the topic only superficially. The brevity of analysis on this subject is not altogether surprising when one considers Franklin’s numerous accomplishments in a wide variety of fields and the great length of his life. All of his chroniclers acknowledge the shift in Franklin’s views, giving slightly different, but not contradictory, reasons for his conversion to the cause of abolition. None are fully methodological and only one travels beyond an analysis of the more well known of Franklin’s writings on the subject. Few include much beyond a few sentences on Franklin’s own ownership of other human beings.
H.W. Brands’ 2000 biography The First American: The Life and Times of
Benjamin Franklin looks briefly at Franklin's complex relationship with slavery throughout his life. His relationship to slavery before the 1780s is only touched upon, but
Brands does argue that Franklin’s “judgement that savagery and civilization were no respecters of skin color,” which arose during and immediately after the American
Revolution, drove him to embrace abolition in his later years. Brands sees Franklin's criticisms of slavery in the 1770s as having been fueled by anti-British sentiment, as most of Franklin's public works on slavery during this period blamed Great Britain for the
6 presence of slavery in the colonies. For Brands, Franklin's conversion occurred in two distinct phases. First, it was a convenient way to attack to the British; but then as time progressed and Franklin's views of race gradually transformed, he came to decry the institution itself and profess the view that men of all races should be free. Brands portrays
Franklin’s conversion as a result of a new nationalist sentiment: “As a Briton, Franklin had been able to countenance slavery as one public vice among many received from the past. As an American, he could no longer countenance it, for the new nation could not abide public vice – certainly not of the magnitude of slavery – without jeopardizing its very existence.” Franklin’s ownership of people is mentioned in passing, and Brands even briefly looks at Franklin's arguments for not only abolition but also education of freed people.1 Still, Brands’ analysis of Franklin's relationship with slavery covers only a few pages, and, while correct in the broad strokes, his account does not fully explain
Franklin's complex views or his very gradual conversion to the abolitionist cause.
Walter Isaacson’s best-selling 2003 biography Benjamin Franklin: An American
Life portrayed Franklin as more or less against the practice throughout his life, alleging that even in Franklin's earlier years he found slavery “uneconomical.”2 Isaacson criticizes both Franklin’s slave ownership and his more racist writings, including the tracts
“Observations on the Increase of Mankind” and a “Conversation on Slavery.”3 Franklin’s against slavery is portrayed as having been initiated in only “the very last year of his life”
1 H.W. Brands, The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (New York: Anchor Books, 2000), 701-705. 2 Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 152. 3 Ibid., 152-153, 268-269.
7 and is covered for four pages that are virtually repeated in the similarly brief coverage of
Franklin’s views on slavery in the early and middle stages of his life.4 Isaacson applauds
Franklin’s late conversion to abolition and gently chastises his racist conceptions of blacks that he held before his conversion. Like Franklin’s other general biographers,
Isaacson portrays slavery and Franklin's status as a slave owner for much of his life as minor elements in Franklin’s storied career.
Abolitionist histories and accounts of the Founding Fathers’ complex and often paradoxical relationships with slavery have also included some brief analyses of Franklin and slavery. Among these is Matthew Mellon's 1969 study Early American Views on
Negro Slavery, which dedicates the entire first chapter to Franklin. Mellon briefly covers most of Franklin's most significant public writings on slavery, from his 1751 essay
Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind down to his 1790 Sidi Mehemet
Ibrahim on the Slave Trade. Mellon quotes Franklin's writings extensively, even reprinting the entirety of Franklin's 1789 An Address to the Public, letting Franklin explain his views before expounding his own interpretation for the last two pages of the chapter. For Mellon, Franklin came to think about slavery from “a purely economic standpoint,” and while his views on race became more tolerant throughout the 1760s and
1770s, it was the Pennsylvania Abolition Society “that first made Franklin really aware of the injustice of slavery.” This final claim is certainly a drastic overstatement, as
Franklin's private correspondence and public writings reveal that he had been made aware
4 Ibid., 463-467.
8 of “the injustice of slavery” long before the 1780s.5 Thus, while covering the basics of
Franklin's relationship with slavery, Mellon does not adequately describe Franklin's transition or its impetus.
Other studies of the abolitionist movement in revolutionary America also briefly touch on Franklin's role. Richard Newman’s 2002 history of the Pennsylvania Abolition
Society (PAS), The Transformation of American Abolitionism: Fighting Slavery in the
Early Republic, portrayed Franklin as a significant figure in the early abolition movement, because the use of his name by the PAS gave a greater credence and cachet to the society’s numerous petitions. None of these analyses focus on Franklin's motivations or his complicated relationship with slavery and his late-life conversion to the abolitionist cause, but rather on the cause itself.
A number of brief works have also taken up the subject. William Juhnke’s 1974 article, “Benjamin Franklin's View of the Negro and Slavery,” provides a short overview of his changing views, but does not delve in depth to offer an explanation for why
Franklin’s thoughts on the subject shifted with time. Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner's “At the End, an Abolitionist?” provides a brief overview of Franklin’s transition, but similarly does not offer much of an explanation for the impetus of his changing views. John C. Van
Horne’s “Collective Benevolence and the Common Good in Franklin’s Philanthropy,” also gives a brief overview of Franklin’s most well-known interactions with slavery but avoids any methodological study or a full explanation of his shifting views. For Van
5 Matthew Mellon, Early American Views on Negro Slavery: From the Letters and Papers of the Founders of the Republic (New York: Bergman Publishers, 1969), 27-28.
9
Horne, Franklin’s anti-slavery efforts beginning in the 1760s were just another part of his philanthropic efforts of a lifetime. Franklin was a philanthropist “first and foremost.”6 All three works are limited in their scope and by the space constraints of their format.
The only analysis of Franklin and slavery of any notable length or depth is David
Waldstreicher’s Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery and the American
Revolution, published in 2004. Waldstreicher compares indentured servitude and even apprenticeships with slavery and argues that Franklin's unhappy experiences as an apprentice made him understand “some hard truths in the world.” For Waldstreicher,
Franklin's reluctance to engage with slavery before his final years stemmed from the fact that “his own rise depended on the labors” of unfree laborers.7 Franklin’s abolitionism was “compromised” because, in order to create the ideal America, Franklin strove for the new nation to “forget” about the practice of slavery. However, Waldstreicher largely fails to address the role of Franklin's understanding of universal rights that emerged in the
1760s and developed for the rest of his life. Waldstreicher’s work focuses more on a revisionist interpretation of Franklin's relationships with labor and economics than it does on his complex relationship with slavery. His analysis of Franklin’s writings on slavery is very limited. Franklin's enslaved people and his life as a slave owner are only briefly mentioned in passing, as are his most important writings on the subject. The analysis of
6 Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner, “At the End, an Abolitionist?” in In Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World, edited by Page Talbott (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2005), 273-298; John C. Van Horne, “Collective Benevolence and the Common Good in Franklin’s Philanthropy,” in Reappraising Benjamin Franklin: A Bicentennial Perspective, edited by J.A. Leo Lemay, 425-440 (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1993), 438. 7 David Waldstreicher, Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery and the American Revolution (New York: Hill & Wang, 2004), xiv.
10
Franklin’s economic thinking within its eighteenth-century colonial context is commendable (particularly Waldstreicher’s argument that anti-slavery sentiments existed well before the Revolution), but leaves the supposed subject of the work on the sidelines.
Waldstreicher portrays the Revolution and its ideological justifications as being wholly incompatible with the realities of slavery, which is entirely true, but doesn't address how this chasm helped nurture and grow the abolitionist movement, setting America on a path towards eventual, bloody abolition. The book is more about “Runaway America” than it is “Benjamin Franklin and Slavery” as its subtitle promises.
Alan Houston covers the actual subject of Franklin and slavery in some length in
Benjamin Franklin and the Politics of Improvement, the entire fifth chapter of which is dedicated to slavery. Houston’s work is neither methodological nor complete. Like
Waldstreicher, he largely focuses on Franklin’s economic views as well as the slavery positions of other famous Founders. Only the barest accounting of events and Franklin’s writings is provided, and as a result he attributes Franklin’s full conversion to the cause of abolition as occurring in 1763 and not the late 1780s, as a full reading of the primary sources indicates.8 It was in the early 1760s that Franklin began to speak against slavery and do more to promote the education of African Americans but he continued to own enslaved people himself and did not fully come to the cause for another quarter century as these ideas of abolition and natural rights continued to develop and grow.
8 Alan Houston, Benjamin Franklin and the Politics of Improvement (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2008), 213.
11
Viewed together, these studies of the subject of Franklin and slavery focus only briefly on the primary sources and Franklin’s own words and writings. The few works that do cover his views on the subject make scant mention of the people he owned.
Waldstreicher alone has produced a full work on Franklin and slavery, and his book is more about economics and conceptions of labor than it is about slavery itself. Although
Benjamin Franklin is one of the most remembered and written about of the Founding
Fathers for so many things, this subject has mostly been ignored or glossed over.
12
Chapter 1: A Man of His Time (1706-1762)
Franklin’s exact relationship with slavery in his early life is murky. His stance on slavery during this time was generally supportive of the practice or, at the least, he tolerated it. Franklin certainly never committed any anti-slavery inclinations or thoughts to paper. Primarily, his stance on the slavery question was defined by his utter lack of interest in the subject. One must be careful to put this stance into the context of the times he lived in. Slavery was not yet a particularly controversial practice. Rather, it was something that most Americans of Franklin’s time took largely for granted and did not expend much effort thinking about. Until 1762, when it came to the slavery question
Franklin was very much a man of his time.
American Slavery, Unfree Labor, and Franklin's Youth
From his earliest years, Franklin, like most white colonists of the eighteenth century, had ties to slavery. From his birth in 1706 to his departure for Philadelphia in
1723, Franklin spent his formative years in Boston. At the time, slavery flourished in the southern colonies, but the institution was present in New England and the northern colonies as well. Birth and burial figures published in a 1753 edition of the Boston
Gazette and Weekly Advertiser show that during Franklin's formative years somewhere between 15 percent and 30 percent of Boston births and deaths were blacks.9 It is impossible to know how many of these persons were enslaved. A majority probably were, as slavery had existed in Massachusetts for decades by the time Franklin was
9 Lorenzo Johnston Greene, The Negro in Colonial New England (New York: Atheneum Press, 1974), 348.
13 born.10 From an early age, Franklin was certainly familiar with the practice. Franklin's father, Josiah, kept and sold slaves owned by others at his tavern as late as 1713, when an advertisement advising that “Three Negro Men and two Women to be sold and seen at the House of Mr. Josiah Franklin at the Sign of the blue Ball in Union Street Boston.”
Josiah was not a wealthy man and almost surely did not own enslaved persons himself, but he seems to have had no moral qualms about the practice. In 1719, the elder Franklin put a notice in the Boston Gazette for “A Servant Boy’s time for 4 years (who is strong, laborious, and very fit for Country Work) to be disposed of.”11 Indentured servitude was just as socially acceptable as slavery was, if not more so. The young Franklin was familiar with the slave trade, but, like most young men of his period, he is unlikely to have given it any great thought. Slavery was an everyday part of eighteenth-century colonial life. So too was indentured servitude.
It was during his time in Boston that Franklin became intimately familiar with a life of unfree labor. At the age of ten, Franklin began to work in the chandler’s workshop his father owned, but his distaste for the trade was evidently so clear that his father eventually sent him to work as an apprentice in his older brother's printing shop in 1718, signing a nine-year indentured servitude contract.12 It was an experience that altogether annoyed and rankled Franklin, as it did so many other free men forced to work at the very
10 Ibid., 16. 11 J.A. Leo Lemay, The Life of Benjamin Franklin (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006- 09), 1:22-23. Lemay passed away before finishing his work, but the 3 published volumes that cover Franklin’s life from his birth in 1707 to 1757 is probably the best work on Franklin’s early life and middle years. 12 Isaacson, 20.
14 bottom of the white economic ladder. David Waldstreicher attributes great significance to
Franklin's time as an apprentice, but while Franklin was an unfree laborer, he had an experience completely different from that of an enslaved person. First, Franklin's period of servitude was limited to nine years, a lengthy period of time, but one in which he was well-trained and prepared for a future, profitable career as a free man. Franklin was not forced into indentured servitude to get out of debts, but rather was placed in his brother's service to be prepared for adulthood. Nor was Franklin viewed as an inherently inferior being because of his unfree status. While he was an unfree laborer, to relate Franklin’s apprenticeship to the permanence and degradation of slavery stretches the historical evidence. Franklin certainly never experienced anything close to slavery.
Occasionally beaten by James — at least according to Franklin — and feeling unappreciated, Franklin ran away at the age of seventeen to New York, where he stayed only briefly before setting off to Philadelphia to find work in the printing trade. His act of resistance was, while infinitely safer, not entirely dissimilar to that of a fugitive slave.
Just as runaway slave advertisements were prevalent in colonial newspapers, so too were ads for runaway indentured servants. Franklin’s father, Josiah placed a notice in James
Franklin's New England Courant for “an Irish Man Servant, named William Tinsley, about 20 Years of Age” who “RAN away from his Master Mr. Josiah Franklin of
Boston.” The reward for his return was forty shillings “and necessary Charges paid.”13
13 Lemay, 1:23.
15
The city Franklin arrived to in 1723 maintained a labor system similar to Boston.
Philadelphia had a population of only about two thousand people, making it the second- largest city in the colonies, after Boston.14 Philadelphia was different from Boston in one way, however: while it was not until 1780 that Pennsylvania passed the Gradual
Abolition Act, abolitionist sentiments had been published by a small group of Quakers and would gradually progress and gain more traction for the rest of Franklin's life.15 By the time Franklin arrived in the city, the proportion of enslaved persons in the population had already begun to steadily decline, from around 17 percent at the time of his birth to only 7.5 percent in the 1720s, as a result of the economic depression that reduced the demand for labor.16 For most of Franklin's life, the percentage of black Philadelphians in bondage fluctuated from between 7 and 9 percent. Prominent Philadelphia abolitionists would later be counted by Franklin among his friends, most significantly the Quaker merchant and teacher Anthony Benezet, one of the founders of a school for black children and among the founders the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully
Held in Bondage.17
Though the anti-slavery advocates of Philadelphia were loud and visible, they were still a small minority. None of the thirteen colonies was overwhelmingly opposed to
14 Ibid., 38. 15 For the relationship between the Quakers and slavery, see: Jean R Soderlund, Quakers and Slavery (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1985); Carl & Jessica Bridenbaugh, Rebels and Gentlemen: Philadelphia in the Age of Franklin (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965), 253-259. 16 Gary B. Nash and Jean Soderlund, Freedom by Degrees: Emancipation in Pennsylvania and Its Aftermath (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 15. 17 For the relationship between Franklin and Benezet, see, Jack Fruchtman Jr, Atlantic Cousins: Benjamin Franklin and his Visionary Friends (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005), 33-39. Benezet would come to play a major part in Franklin's conversion to the anti-slavery movement in 1772.
16 the practice at this time. Indeed, few places in the entire world were. Slavery was not a common institution in mainland Europe, but it was endemic among European empires. In
Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as the New World, slavery was not hard to find, but the indelible role of race in New World slavery was different from that in much of the rest of the world. While Africans and other traditional societies enslaved each other, especially as war captives, white Americans did not enslave their own. Whites could sell themselves into long periods of indentured servitude, but being consigned to slavery was a status restricted to those of “inferior” ethnicities: Africans and Native
Americans. The enslavement of Indians was far less common than Africans, as Indians proved difficult to catch and easily ran away into the wilderness that had been their home for centuries. Furthermore, while Native Americans were looked upon as an inferior race and their lands and homes seized, they were simultaneously seen as being the legitimate, original peoples of the land the colonists now inhabited. Though they may have pushed the Indians further west, fought wars and seized their lands, few colonists forgot who was here first. Franklin himself would express this conception of Native Americans throughout the 1750s.
Consequently, with whites off-limits and Native Americans making poor slaves indeed, enslaved blacks provided much of the labor force. The first anti-slavery editorial in the colonies only appeared in 1706, the year of Franklin's birth, in his hometown
Boston-News Letter.18 Considering the society and times in which Franklin lived, it is
18 Lemay, 1:22.
17 hardly surprising that his earliest writings on the subject of slavery did not take a firm, clear stand either way. Indeed, while he occasionally touched on the subject of race, slavery itself is almost never mentioned or alluded to.
Franklin's Early Writings on Slavery, 1730-1750
Few of Franklin’s published articles deal with race or slavery until the 1750s. As early as 1730, Franklin’s “On Conversation,” an unsigned treatise which deals with the art of how “to please in Conversation” makes mention of the racial prejudices the young
Franklin held. While discussing the “highly disagreeable error” of talking excessively about oneself, Franklin writes that “the sauciness of a Negro, the prattle of a child. . . may be to ourselves Matters of great Importance, as they occasion us Pain or Pleasure; but wherein are Strangers concerned, or what Amusement can they possibly receive from such Accounts?” While Franklin’s focus here is not racial, this brief reference does provide insight into his mindset. He portrays blacks as being impudent, a trait he attributes to all black people. By following up this claim with a description of, and comparison to, the babbling and unrefined conversation of infant children, Franklin further denigrates blacks as having the mindset of children.19 Although brief, “On
Conversation” is one of the earliest of Franklin's writings that touches on the subject of race. Franklin’s description of African-Americans as being inferior, and the cavalier way in which he brings the issue up and takes it for granted, are revealing of the printer’s
19 All references to The Papers of Benjamin Franklin are to print edition (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1959-present). All references to The Papers of Benjamin Franklin are to the digital edition (Packard Humanities Institute: http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp). The digital edition is only used for those volumes that have not yet been printed. Benjamin Franklin, “On Conversation,” October 15, 1730, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 1:178-181.
18 mindset, though one must be cautious in imposing modern labels on the young Franklin.
By modern standards, Franklin was certainly a racist. By the standards of his time, a period in which even most ardent abolitionists believed in the natural inferiority of the non-white races, the kind of description included in “On Conversation” was not out of place in any way. Rather, the forward-thinking stance on race Franklin adopted in his later years that would stand as out-of-place and extreme.
Whatever qualms Franklin may have had about slavery during this period— and from the fragmentary records extant it appears he had none— any such views certainly did not prevent him from profiting off of the practice. During his tenure as the owner of the Pennsylvania Gazette, the paper that Franklin purchased in 1729 and owned for the rest of his life, Franklin routinely published advertisements for enslaved persons.20 Some notices were rudimentary, offering little more information than the sex of the enslaved persons. An early advertisement declared, in its entirety, “A Likely Negroe Woman to be
Sold. Enquire at the Widow Read’s in Market-Street, Philadelphia.” One advertisement, published in May of 1732 advertised a “likely young negro fellow. . . to be disposed of.”
Most telling, the advertisement calls on interested buyers to “Enquire of the printer hereof.” The implication in both of these advertisements is that Franklin was not only willing to publish ads for slave-traders, but also conducted the transactions himself and
20 While one must not attribute the ideas in every advertisement, article, and notice to Franklin himself, he certainly did not object too strenuously so as not to publish such material. For more on the Gazette’s history with slavery, see Billy G. Smith and Richard Wojtowicz, “The Precarious Freedom of Blacks in the Mid-Atlantic Region: Excerpts from the Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1776,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 113 (1989): 237-264. For Franklin’s life as a printer, see the second volume of Lemay’s previously cited Benjamin Franklin biography and: James N. Green and Peter Stallybrass, Benjamin Franklin: Writer and Printer (New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2006).
19 possibly even kept hold of the slaves for sale. The advertisements also demonstrate that
Franklin was willing to play a role in the breakup of slave families. An advertisement from 1733 advertised “a very likely Negro Woman aged about Thirty Years” with a two- year old son “which is to go with her.” However, the advertisement goes on to state that the unnamed woman also has a six-year old son who “will be sold with his Mother, or by himself, as the Buyer pleases.” Like the previous advertisement from 1732, the notice requests interested buyers to “Enquire of the Printer,” not the actual owner of the enslaved persons. It is possible that Franklin dealt with slave families. A 1734 advertisement reported that “Two likely young Negroes, one a Lad about 19: the other a
Girl of 15, to be sold.” Whether they were family, consigned together, or Franklin chose to combine two ads into one for the sake of brevity cannot be known. Notices such as these were not uncommon occurrences in the pages of the Pennsylvania Gazette, appearing throughout this time. One, published in March of 1743, noted the for-sale status of a “Negro Man, Twenty-two Years of Age, of uncommon Strength and Activity, very fit for a Farmer, or a laborious Trade, he understands the best Methods of managing
Horses, and is very faithful in the Employment.” As always, the advertisement closes by noting that any buyers “may see him by enquiring of the Printer hereof.”21 Once again,
Franklin demonstrated his willingness to take part in the slave trade, albeit in a minor way. The full extent of his participation in the trade at this point in his life is impossible to know, but the repeated statements in the 1730s notices to enquire about the enslaved
21 Benjamin Franklin, “Extracts from the Gazette,” 1730; 1732; 1733; 1734; 1743, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 1:186; 1:272; 1:345; 1:378; 2:389-390.
20 people to Franklin himself, and not the actual owner of the proffered enslaved persons, makes it very possible that Franklin himself or the Pennsylvania Gazette held on to the individuals until they were sold. It could also mean that Franklin and the print shop would simply provide more information, but the 1742 piece indicates more strongly that
Franklin did indeed hold onto the proffered individuals in some way. While this is the earliest extant evidence of Franklin's direct involvement with slavery, it would not have been particularly rare or noteworthy during the eighteenth century. Certainly, Franklin did not do anything more than most other publishers and businessmen of the period.
An article from the early 1730s, furthermore, shows that Franklin seems to have thought of slavery in purely economic terms. In a July 1731 report on the recent smallpox outbreak that has “now quite left this city,” Franklin reported the fatalities, “exactly 288, and no more.” Franklin then specifies that “64 of the Number were Negroes; If these may be valued one with another at £30 per Head, the Loss to the City in that Article is near
£2000.”22 The African Americans that fell victim to the epidemic are barely noted in human terms. Though they are counted in the total number, just as whites were, Franklin then goes to the trouble to place a price tag on the value of their lives, just £30 each. The enslaved people are a loss to the community, not in human terms, but in the lost money and investments that they represented.
Conversely and pragmatically, Franklin also proved willing to print anti-slavery tracts in the Pennsylvania Gazette. As early as March 1729, when Franklin and Hugh
22 Benjamin Franklin, “Extracts from the Gazette, 1731” in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 1:218.
21
Meredith were working at a print shop that they established before purchasing the
Pennsylvania Gazette, Franklin agreed to print an abolitionist tract written by Ralph
Sandiford, a Quaker merchant. Sandiford's pamphlet, A Brief Examination of the Practice of the Times, was a religious attack on slavery, as were most abolitionist texts of the period.23 Portraying slavery as being against the Bible and tirelessly citing biblical passages and events to back up the author’s claims, Sandiford's pamphlet, while consistent with other Quaker abolitionist tracts of the period, was certainly outside of mainstream views on slavery. Franklin's willingness to print Sandiford's work, albeit without his name attached to the project, was probably driven more by the desire for profit than anything else. Without a newspaper, Franklin's shop was heavily reliant on political pamphlets and similar writings to stay in business.
Sandiford’s pamphlet was by no means the only controversial anti-slavery piece that Franklin proved willing to distribute or print. In 1737, Franklin's friend Benjamin
Lay, a Quaker merchant and one of the more zealous abolitionists of the period, sought out Franklin to print his tract All Slave-Keepers that Keep the Innocent in Bondage. Like
Sandiford, Lay's arguments against slavery had a heavy religious influence. Lay was convinced that slavery was not just unchristian or morally wrong, but corrupted the moral values of the entire community, slave, slave owner, and free citizen alike.24 Franklin did not put his name on the pamphlet, but it was advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette and
23 Ralph Sandiford, A Brief Examination of the Practice of the Times, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=evans;idno=N02709.0001.001 (accessed July 5, 2017). 24 Benjamin Lay, All Slave-Keepers that Keep the Innocent in Bondage, Apostates, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=evans;idno=N03401.0001.001 (accessed July 5, 2017).
22 sold in his shop. By 1737, Franklin was a popular, successful and wealthy man, without as pressing a need for new business. Yet, while quite possibly being a slave owner himself at this point, Franklin still proved willing to print abolitionist tracts. Had Franklin truly embraced a strong pro-slavery position or mentality, it seems unlikely that he would have continued to print such radical and controversial material.
In 1740, Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette printed an anti-slavery letter from the
Reverend George Whitefield, who expounded on how he was “sensibly touched with a
Fellow-feeling of the Miseries of the Poor Negroes,” though he declined to determine
“whether it be lawful for Christians to buy Slaves.” 25 The letter was only the second anti- slavery letter published in the colonies (the first had appeared in the Boston-News Letter in 1706).26 While Franklin was certainly not anti-slavery himself at this time, and any sympathy he may had with the cause was never written down, he was willing to assist friends who did fight against the institution.
On at least one occasion, Franklin also used the Pennsylvania Gazette to more directly promote the anti-slavery cause, again with Whitefield. A November 27, 1740 notice informed the public of Reverend George Whitefield’s acquisition of 5,000 acres of
Pennsylvania land on which he sought to build a “Negroe School” and to “settle a Town therein.” The notice goes on to solicit contributions before listing several men to whom
25 Whitefield was a prominent eighteenth-century evangelical preacher and played a significant role in spreading the Great Awakening. He was a personal friend of Franklin and held in great respect by him. The Gazette seems to have been quite taken with him in 1740, publishing numerous brief notices of his latest activities and doings. Franklin would correspond with Whitefield until the reverend’s death in 1770. For the relationship between Whitefield and Franklin, see Brands, 138-150. 26 Lemay, 2:426-427.
23 contributions could be made.27 Franklin concludes that interested readers may also donate
“to the Printer of this Paper.”28 At the same time that Franklin was keeping people to be sold and was quite possibly a slave owner himself, he was also willing to personally collect contributions for the education and settlement of African Americans.
With little private correspondence on the subject of slavery surviving from
Franklin’s early years, it is difficult to reach conclusions about Franklin's intellectual stance on slavery before the 1750s. Franklin clearly was not committed to any particular stance on the matter of slavery at all. Indeed, the indications that he leaned one way or the other are probably best explained by viewing Franklin as using his paper and print shop to make money by printing anti-slavery pamphlets while simultaneously posting slaves for sale. Franklin was, after all, primarily a printer and businessman at this stage of his life. His dabbling in the anti-slavery cause by collecting donations can be seen as nothing more than Franklin helping out a friend he admired. While the nuance and detail of Franklin's views are lost to time, it is clear that he did not have a strong leaning one way or the other.
Franklin and Slavery, 1751-1762
It was only in the 1750s, following his retirement, that Franklin began to tackle the issue of slavery in any depth in his writings. Prominent among his written works from this period is Franklin's 1751 essay, Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind,
27 Including Anthony Benezet. The necessary funds were never gathered and though the land was purchased, no school for blacks was opened. See Fruchtman, Atlantic Cousins, 23-54. 28 Benjamin Franklin, “Gazette Extracts, 1740,” in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 2:291.
24
Peopling of Countries, &c. The essay argues that Europe has become too crowded and that the English must increase the speed of colonization in the Americas.29 Near the end of the essay, Franklin directly discusses the issues of slavery and race. According to
Franklin, the “number of purely white People in the World is proportionally very small,” and many whites are “of what we call a swarthy Complexion,” with “the Saxons only excepted,” revealing what today would be considered Franklin's white supremacist worldview. While he makes clear his belief in the natural superiority of all whites,
Franklin restricts his definition of those who are truly and fully “white” to only those of
Anglo Saxon descent. Thus, not only is Franklin speaking against the “black or tawny” people of Africa, he is advocating the supremacy of Englishmen above all others. “Why,” he asks rhetorically, “should the Palatine Boors [Germans] be suffered to swarm into our
Settlements, and by herding together establish their Language and Manners to the
Exclusion of ours?” For Franklin, allowing whites who were of an ethnicity he considered impure in the territory threatened to turn Pennsylvania into a “Colony of
Aliens.” Initially focusing on race, Franklin addresses slavery itself only at the very end of the essay. He asks, rhetorically again, why the racially pure Anglo Saxons settlers in
29 The essay was composed in 1751 and distributed among Franklin's friends, remaining unpublished until 1755. As early as 1754, before its initial public printing, Franklin had been advised by his friend, Cadwallader Colden, that this discourse into race would be viewed as objectionable. Colden wrote that “the last Paragraph is the only one liable to exception and I wish it had been rather somewhere in the middle than at the end of that discourse because the reader should be the most fully satisfied when you take leave of him.” Nonetheless, it was published exactly as it had been written in 1751. By the 1760s, Franklin was evidently embarrassed by it, as reprinted editions of the essay appeared with the final two paragraphs that touch on race and slavery completely removed. Cadwallader Colden, “From Cadwallader Colden,” February 13, 1754, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 5:197.
25
America are choosing to “increase the Sons of Africa” by bringing blacks to the New
World in bondage:
While we are, as I may call it, Scouring our Planet, by clearing America of Woods, and so making this Side of our Globe reflect a brighter Light to the Eyes of Inhabitants in Mars or Venus, why should we in the Sight of Superior Beings, darken its People? Why increase the Sons of Africa, by Planting them in America, where we have so fair an Opportunity, by excluding all Blacks and Tawneys, of increasing the lovely White and Red? But perhaps I am partial to the Complexion of my Country, for such Kind of Partiality is natural to Mankind.
For Franklin, whites demonstrate their racial superiority by improving the land, reshaping it to suit the needs of the colonists. Settlement of the New World, and the rapid growth in population there was perceived by Franklin as a splendid opportunity to create a new society and order, free from the debilitating effects of having “Blacks and Tawneys” included in this new order, even as unfree and subjugated servants. The opportunity to capitalize on this opportunity to “increase the lovely white and red” cannot be passed over. Notably, Franklin concludes with an observant remark on his own racism, writing that he may simply be “partial to the Complexion of my Country” which is only “natural to Mankind.”30 While railing against blacks and embracing the prevalent concepts of white supremacy of his period, Franklin also proves capable of understanding the lack of rationality implicit in this view of his race. Franklin does argue against slavery at this early date (at a time when he owned at least two people), but only because slavery challenges his vision of a strictly Anglo Saxon and Native American Pennsylvania. The
30 Benjamin Franklin, “Observations on the Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c,” 1751, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 4:227-234.
26 essay is revealing of Franklin's prejudice and conceptions of white superiority, but it also demonstrates that Franklin was capable of seeing racism as having an instinctual bias.
Franklin's reasoning here shows the intellectual potential for his later arguments against the slave trade.
The year after the Observations was finally published, Franklin raised the issue of slavery again in an Address to the Governor from the Pennsylvania Assembly, issued on
February 11, which further demonstrated his acceptance of slavery and black inferiority.
The address was composed and written by Franklin, though with the approval of the rest of the Pennsylvania Assembly. Thus, it can be difficult to say with certainty just how much Franklin himself agreed with the contents. He certainly approved of the basic points made in the document, and its similarity to the ideas presented in the Observations strongly indicates that he approved of the details as well. Engaged in a fierce war with the
French and their Indian allies, the British military forces in the colonies had been recruiting white and black servants to aid in the war effort. Not surprisingly, the masters of these laborers objected to the practice. Of course, the thoughts and feelings of the servants themselves were completely ignored. Rather, the address argues the conscriptions were unfair to white masters deprived of this labor source. Even worse,
Pennsylvania has “but few slaves,” and is in danger of being “drained of our hired
Labourers,” making it necessary that remaining paid servants stay with their masters. For if they “are taken from us,” then the people of Pennsylvania will be “at a Loss to conceive how the Provisions that may be expected out of this Province another Year, for
27 the support of the King’s Armies, are to be raised.” The Assembly claims that
Pennsylvania “could not possibly have furnished the great Numbers of Men and Quantity of Provisions” that it has provided for the war without the “Practice of importing and purchasing Servants to assist us in our Labour.” Franklin and the assembly allege that it is not only the masters of these servants who suffer under the existing British policy, but all free Pennsylvanians who do, since servants who know they can enlist in the army and end their servitude “grow idle, neglectful, insolent and mutinous” to their masters, hurting the entire economy. Indeed, it is really the poor who suffer most, as the consequences are often found “falling on People in low Circumstances, who have been put to great
Difficulties in raising Money to buy a Servant or two to assist in working their
Plantations.” The suffering of these people of low economic status—unable to make their land fully productive without the use of servants—make the actions of the British reprehensible. “Many of these” servants earn their freedom and independence, settle down and contribute to the economy or provide military service, but if a citizen knows that the British may take his servant at any time, then “the Purchase” and importation of servants “will be discouraged.” Little choice will be left but for wealthy Pennsylvanians to more fully embrace slavery, driven to the “Necessity of providing themselves with
Negroe Slaves, as the Property in them and their Service seems at present more secure” than the labors of paid or indentured servants.
For Franklin and the Pennsylvania Assembly, the growth of slavery in
Pennsylvania, driven not by greed but by economic necessity and the high-handed actions
28 of the British, is a thing to fear. An increase in enslaved persons will have disastrous consequences, most significantly “the Growth of the Country by Increase of white
Inhabitants will be prevented, the Province weakened rather than strengthened (as every
Slave may be reckoned a domestick Enemy).”31 The true horror of slavery is not the sufferings of the enslaved, the inequality, or even the fact that men and women could be bought and sold as chattel and families separated in the slave trade. Rather, an increase in enslaved people will decrease the percentage of the population who are white, threatening the social order of the colony. Just as in Observations, in the Address Franklin portrays slavery negatively because the institution challenges the all-white future of Pennsylvania that Franklin and the assembly desired. Slavery as a horror for the enslaved themselves does not bear any mentioning, but its consequences for whites does.
Little of Franklin’s correspondence from this period touches on race and slavery, but some significant letters do appear in the late 1750s and early 1760s. In May 1753,
Franklin authored a self-described “rambling letter” on the subject of race and industry to
Peter Collinson, a scientist and botanist with whom he frequently exchanged letters on electricity. Most of the essay focuses on comparisons of the various white races, particularly the English and Germans. Reiterating the ideas of race and whiteness found in the Observations essay, Franklin does briefly touch on blacks and his conception of non-whites as lazy. According to Franklin in an apocryphal story, a “Transylvanian
Tartar” asked him why the “Tartars in Europe and Asia, the Indians in America, and the
31 Benjamin Franklin, “Pennsylvania Assembly: Address to the Governor,” February 11, 1756, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 6:397-400.
29
Negroes in Africa,” among other races “continued a wandring careless Life, and refused to live in Cities, and to cultivate the arts they saw practiced by the Civilized part of
Mankind.” The answer is the “proneness of human nature to a life of ease” felt by all, but most particularly what Franklin views as the inferior races. Those who are poor and who are used to poverty, as Franklin argues non-white races are, will only work hard enough to maintain the meager lifestyles they are accustomed to.32 Thus, in his private correspondence during this period, Franklin made the same arguments that he did publicly, portraying blacks and other “inferior” races as lazy and ignorant.
Most of Franklin’s correspondence from this period that touches on race and slavery revolves around the education of blacks. John Waring, an Anglican clergyman and secretary of the Dr. Bray’s Associates, a charitable London group that often helped to fund and establish schools for blacks, sent Franklin a brief sketch of his plans to found a
Pennsylvania school to educate both free and enslaved blacks.33 Waring’s letter was composed in January of 1757, but it would take nearly a year for Franklin to respond to
Waring's correspondence.34 Franklin begins his response by considering Waring's request
32 Benjamin Franklin, “To Peter Collinson,” May 9, 1753, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 4:481. 33 Waring’s letter itself is a testament to the prejudices held by even those who advocated for black schooling. He fears that “Little Good. . . can be done with” recently imported slaves who have little knowledge of the English language, but believes that those “born in the province” can be educated. He hopes that literacy will “make them more faithful and honest in their Master's Service” and that those blacks that do particularly well and show good character and morals can be baptized. Slaves should be educated so that they can be better slaves. Nowhere in his correspondence with Franklin does Waring ever speak against slavery itself. It was common during the eighteenth century for those who advocated for some education of blacks to still support slavery, and for those who fought to ban the slave trade to not oppose slavery itself, but simply the growth of the transatlantic slave trade. John Waring, “From John Waring,” January 24, 1757 in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 7:98-101. 34 This is a testament to the difficulty of communications in the eighteenth-century, not Franklin's priorities. Waring's letter arrived in Philadelphia as Franklin was sailing to London, serving as
30 for a schoolmaster, recommending Dr. William Sturgeon, an Anglican clergyman and educator. Sturgeon had written to Franklin in August of 1757, writing that Deborah had showed him the letter from Waring, endorsing the school, briefly discussing his experience with educating blacks and implicitly recommending himself for the job.35
Franklin then proceeds to offer his opinion on the proposed school, writing that “few or none” educate enslaved people in the colonies because of “Prejudice that Reading and
Knowledge in a slave are both useless and dangerous.” The second problem is that white parents would be “disgusted” if their children had to intermix with African Americans.
Franklin goes on to endorse the establishment of a school only for African American children to avoid some of the problems that he thought made interracial classrooms a failure. “A separate school for blacks” that would “imbue the minds of” African
Americans “with good principles” would, in Franklin's analysis, be quite successful.36
While he endorses the education of enslaved people, Franklin does not challenge slavery itself. Neither, for that matter, do Waring or Sturgeon. The main theme here, as in
Observations, is racial separation. Just as he does not want to pollute the racial purity of
Pennsylvania, so too does Franklin accept the necessity of separating the races, though he does not comment on whether he shares this perception or is simply repeating what he feels is the general opinion of most white parents. Even while endorsing efforts to
Philadelphia's agent in the British capital. 35 Franklin attached Sturgeon's letter to his response to Waring. William Sturgeon, “From William Sturgeon,” August 22, 1757, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 7:252-253. 36 Benjamin Franklin, “To John Waring,” January 3, 1758 in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 7:356.
31 improve the lives of blacks and enslaved persons, Franklin avoids the larger issue of slavery itself, passively accepting the system.
Notably, while part of Franklin’s private correspondence, the content of the correspondence was made public. Waring was writing to Franklin in his capacity as secretary for Bray’s Associates, and surely Franklin knew his views would be shared with the group. Indeed, his letter was summarized by Waring for the society after Franklin turned down an invite to appear himself, who acted on Franklin's recommendations and appointed Sturgeon to be the head of the Philadelphia school, which opened on
November 20, 1758.37 Franklin was in London at the time of the school's opening and earliest years, but Deborah wrote in August of 1759 that she had attended a catechism and was impressed by the black students’ behavior and Sturgeon’s preaching.38 It is unlikely that Franklin strongly moderated his views for his public writings and statements, as, at this time, Franklin was undoubtedly a slave owner himself.
Franklin grew more active in his work for the education of blacks and with the
Bray school as time went on. This is made clear in a letter he wrote to his wife in 1760.
Deborah had once again sent to Franklin a positive report on the Philadelphia school, to which Franklin replied that he “gave it to the Gentlemen concern’d, as it was a Testimony in favour of their pious Design: But did not expect they would have printed it with your
37 John Waring, “Minutes of the Associates of the Late Dr. Bray,” January 17, 1760, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 9:20-21; John Waring, “From John Waring,” January 4, 1760, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 9:12-13; Leonard Labaree, ed., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 7:356; 8:425. 38 Deborah Franklin, “From Deborah Franklin,” August 9, 1759, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 8:425.
32
Name.”39 More significantly, Franklin went from an associate of the group to a full member, and was even appointed the Chairman for 1760, explaining to his wife that
“They have since chosen [me] one of the Society, and I am at present Chairman for the current year. I enclose you an Account of their Proceedings.”40 Although not yet an abolitionist, Franklin was at the least willing to let himself serve as the chairman of a group dedicated to black education. While the post was almost certainly an honorary one, it marks a significant progression in his views.41
Franklin did not leave much else in the historical record in the 1750s, making it difficult to fully understand his stance on slavery during this decade. Nonetheless, he did write enough for historians to gain some understanding of how he thought about the issue. Certainly, his attitude had shifted from when he wrote Observations in 1751. While
Franklin never comes out in opposition to slavery at this time, his conception of blacks as being naturally inferior seems to have changed slightly. This view remained in 1755-
1756, but by the time of his correspondence with John Waring in 1758, Franklin appears to have moved slightly closer to the anti-slavery side. Though he never declares himself against the practice, by 1758 Franklin was willing to publicly support a school for slaves,
39 Although outside the scope of this paper, this incident is also significant in understanding the Franklins’ marriage. Deborah, while a practical and capable woman who contributed to her husband’s political success and managed the home, did not share her husband’s intellectual pursuits and comfort in the spotlight. This is one of the few times that it is recorded that Deborah directly contributed to her husband’s thinking, or her own ideas were publicly expressed. See Jennifer Fry Reed, “’Extraordinary Freedom and Great Humility’: A Reinterpretation of Deborah Franklin,” in Pennsylvania Magazine of History & Biography 47 (2003): 167-196. 40 Benjamin Franklin, “To Deborah Franklin,” June 27, 1760, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 9:173- 177. 41 Franklin did attend some meetings and supported the group and its mission, but he did not appear to take as active of a lobbying role or deal with the day-to-day affairs as one would expect from a chairman.
33 and by 1760, he was willing to be the public head of the Bray Associates. This gradual shift marked Franklin’s relationship with slavery throughout his life, as he slowly progressed from tacitly accepting the system and a white supremacist worldview to opposing slavery and accepting the natural equality of black and white persons.
Franklin's Early Ownership of Slaves
Like so many wealthy men of his period, Franklin was a slave owner. How and when he first came to acquire slaves is a question that the historical record cannot definitively answer. Nevertheless, some conjectures can be made. The first certain evidence of Franklin’s slave ownership comes from 1750, in a letter that Franklin wrote to his mother, Abiah Franklin. The letter, unsurprisingly, is focused on family news.
Evidently responding to some query from his mother, Franklin includes three sentences that prove he was a slave owner at this time:
I still keep those Servants, but the Man not in my own House: I have hired him out to the Man that takes Care of my Dutch Printing Office, who agrees to keep him in Victuals and Clothes, and to pay me a Dollar a Week for his Work. His Wife since that Affair behaves exceeding well: But we conclude to sell them both the first good Opportunity; for we do not like Negro Servants. We got again about half what we lost.42
Franklin does not use the term “slaves” but rather “servants.” As he states, he has rented out these “servants,” making clear that he is not referring to a paid servant but rather to a slave. Franklin seems to see nothing wrong with renting out another human being, and indeed seems slightly proud that he is both getting paid for the slave’s labor and does not
42 Abiah Franklin's letter has not survived. She was born in 1667 and married Josiah in 1689 but little is known about Franklin’s mother. She died not long after this letter, in 1752.
34 have to provide “Victuals and Clothes” for his slave. The final two sentences are more difficult to interpret. Franklin alleges that he does not “like Negro Servants.”43 Whatever antipathy Franklin had for his slaves does not seem to have been a moral one. Rather, it seems that Franklin is complaining about the quality of his slaves. These laborers were unfree and uncompensated for their labor, with no real hope for advancement. Franklin was evidently unable to see why his slaves might not be particularly motivated to work with the same industry he himself exhibited. Instead of writing to his mother about his intention to free these slaves, Franklin writes of his desire to sell them as soon as he received a good offer, indicating that, like most men of his generation, Franklin was not a reluctant slave owner but was fully willing to participate in the slave trade, if, as it did, it worked in his own interests.
While we can only prove that Franklin owned African “servants” as early as 1750, it is likely that he owned others well before this date. Even in the northern colonies, slave ownership was not particularly rare. While many of Philadelphia's Quakers frowned on the practice, most successful men of the period owned slaves. Franklin rose to economic success in a startling and rapid way, uncommon for his times. The American ideal of the
“self-made” man rising from poor beginnings to find economic success did not come about until the nineteenth-century, largely as a result of Franklin’s own example and his maxims about hard work and frugality.44 Economic status was certainly fluid to some
43 Benjamin Franklin, “To Abiah Franklin,” April 12, 1750 in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 3:474- 475. 44 An excellent examination of Franklin's legacy and historical interpretation is the fifth and final chapter
35 extent, but it was far outside the norm for a motivated runaway to find rapid social and economic advancement as Franklin did. In 1729, at the tender age of only 23, Franklin purchased the Pennsylvania Gazette with his friend Hugh Meredith, which he quickly turned into one of the most successful publications in the thirteen colonies. The following year Franklin bought out Meredith and became sole owner of the paper.45 The paper’s success, combined with Franklin's adroit knack for building a positive reputation and expanding his printing business with government contracts, made him a very wealthy man by the mid-1730s.
With wealth and social success, as Franklin came to be recognized as a leader of the community and gained a reputation for hard work and wit, came the opportunity for slave ownership. Franklin's status, combined with his seeming acceptance of the slave trade, indicate that he likely purchased his own enslaved laborers sometime during the
1730s. Slave ownership during this period was so commonplace and normal that it is not surprising that no definitive proof of Franklin’s slave ownership exists before the 1750 letter. The fact that Franklin, the author of an immense correspondence, made so few mentions of his slaves is revealing more about his times than it is of the man himself. For a man in Franklin's position, wealthy, middle-aged and nearing retirement, slave ownership was probably an almost unthinking decision. Slave ownership was a part of
Franklin's economic ascendance. Franklin himself certainly never seemed particularly
of Gordon S. Wood, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin (New York: Penguin Press, 2004). 45 Hugh Meredith, “From Hugh Meredith: Dissolution of Partnership,” July 14, 1730, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 1:175.
36 attached to any of his slaves or his status as a slave owner. That he rarely mentioned the existence of his slaves indicates not that he was embarrassed or reluctant about his status as slave owner, but rather that he simply did not give the issue much thought. While this position, especially coming from a man of such intellect as Franklin, might seem cruel and callous to a modern audience, it marked Franklin as a man of his times. By the time of his retirement in 1748, Franklin almost certainly owned slaves. While not definitive, some scant evidence survives for the possible existence of these early slaves. Two bills found in Franklin's papers indicate that he may have owned enslaved people as early as
1735, a few years after his purchase of the Pennsylvania Gazette that was to start him on the route to wealth and reputation. A bill from a Philadelphia shoemaker in December
1735 notes Franklin’s purchase of a pair of shoes for a “negro boy.” Whether this “negro boy” was enslaved, in servitude, or working in some other capacity entirely is left unclear. It would be hardly surprising for Franklin, as a business owner, to have had free black servants working for him or his paper. A local hatmaker billed Franklin for a hat for “your man Joseph” in 1742, and, three years later, sent him another bill for a piece purchased “for your negro.”46 Rather than providing clarity to the question of Franklin's slave ownership during these early years, this tantalizing evidence creates more questions than it answers. It is possible that the “negro boy,” “your man Joseph,” and “your negro” were all the same person. But the references may as easily be to two or three different individuals: whether they were free or not, is impossible to divine. A white man named
46 Waldstreicher, 26; 107-108.
37
Joseph Rose worked in Franklin’s print shop, so “your man Joseph” may have referred to an item purchased for his employee, not a servant or slave. In fact, the individuals may well have been free servants. That the surviving sources are so few, and so ambiguous, as to the status of the men in question, demonstrates just how little slavery was questioned or thought about in most quarters of white society, even in the northern colonies. Viewed in this context, it is hardly surprising that Franklin seemed to think about the issue so little until later in his life. His early ownership of enslaved Africans and use of them as servants were so commonplace that even a voluminous writer and correspondent such as
Franklin did not find it noteworthy enough to record.
While settling the question of when Franklin first owned slaves is not possible, he was certainly a slave owner by 1750 and continued to be so throughout this period of his life. Occasional records of his slaves come up. The married couple mentioned in
Franklin’s letter to his mother in 1750 were most likely Peter and Jemima, whom
Franklin owned throughout the 1750s. Evidently, Franklin chose not to sell the couple, and they remained in his service for many years. It is entirely possible that Peter was
Franklin's first enslaved person that he owned in the mid-1730s, the “negro boy” who was now a man. Franklin mentions Peter in a series of March 1756 letters to Deborah, composed when, as Pennsylvania's postmaster general, took Peter with him on a trip to
Virginia. The first letter is the most insightful, showing Franklin to be more well- disposed to his enslaved people than he was in the 1750 letter. Written on March 21,
1756, Franklin opens the letter by informing Deborah of Peter's sickness:
38
Peter was taken ill with a Fever and Pain in his Side before I got to Newcastle; I had him blooded there, and put him into the Chair, wrapt up warm, as he could not bear the Motion of the Horse, and got him here pretty comfortably. He went immediately to bed and took some Camomile Tea: and this morning is about again and almost well.47
Peter was considered a nuisance by Franklin in 1750, but by 1756 Peter’s master seems genuinely concerned (or, perhaps, thought Deborah was) about Peter’s health. Franklin dedicates almost half of the letter to the subject and goes into detail about Peter and how he cared for him. A year after publishing the Observations essay and right after the
Address to the Governor was distributed, Franklin proved compassionate when it came to the health and well-being of his own slaves. That Franklin continued to update Deborah on Peter's health at the beginning of each letter reinforces this interpretation.
The rest of Franklin’s correspondence with Deborah from the trip to the South has not survived in full, but fragments of two other letters written shortly after this one survive. The first, probably written on March 24, opens with the statement “Peter is now quite well.”48 In the second letter, likely composed on March 25, Peter, evidently fully recovered, is once again mentioned, with Franklin informing his wife that “I had been hinder'd near half a Day by Peter's Illness.”49 While no record of Peter exists from between 1750 until the Virginia trip, he seems to have been held in some esteem by
47 Benjamin Franklin, “To Deborah Franklin,” March 21, 1756, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 6:425-426. 48 Benjamin Franklin, “To Deborah Franklin,” March 24, 1756, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 6:426-427. 49 Benjamin Franklin, “To Deborah Franklin,” March 25, 1756, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 6:427-428.
39
Franklin, as the person he chose to accompany him on his frequent travels out of
Philadelphia.
None of Franklin’s enslaved laborers appear in his first will, composed in 1750, but they are mentioned in his second will of April 28, 1757, which Franklin authorized before his trip to England, a sojourn that would last until 1762. Franklin writes that “I will that my Negro Man Peter, and his Wife Jemima, be free after my decease.”50
Whether these were the only two slaves Franklin owned at this time or if they were given preferential treatment in the will is impossible to know. It is known that a third slave, at the least, was acquired in June, two months after the will. As Franklin, by 1757, was a man of great success and wealth, it is entirely possible that the Franklins possessed other slaves. If they did, Franklin did not see it fit to free them in his will. It is certainly possible that Peter, who may been a favorite of Franklin’s by this point, and his wife were treated separately from any other slaves the Franklins may have owned. Franklin's will also does not free Peter and Jemima upon the death of Deborah, but only on Franklin's own passing. Any other slaves would have remained in Deborah's service.
As on the Virginia trip, Peter accompanied Franklin on his 1757 trip to London, this time along with his son, William, and William's slave, King.51 Franklin mentions
Peter in several letters to Deborah from London. On November 22, 1757, Franklin reports the details of his illness to his wife, noting that, in a role reversal this time, “Peter was
50 Benjamin Franklin, “Last Will and Testament,” April 28, 1757, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 7:203. 51 Leonard Labaree, ed., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 7:273.
40 very diligent and attentive” in caring for him during his sickness. In January of the following year, Franklin wrote that, somewhat condescendingly “Peter has behav'd very well.” A month later, Franklin again reported on Peter, informing his wife that “Peter behaves very well to me in general, and begins to know the Town so as to go anywhere of Errands.” In September, he relayed that Peter accompanied him on an excursion to find his English relatives and, when shown some gravestones that “were so covered with moss that we could not read the letters,” it was Peter who “scoured them clean.” A 1759 letter states that Peter accompanied him on his Scottish excursion in from August to October of that year. In June of 1760, Franklin wrote of Peter to Deborah:
Peter continues with me, and behaves as well as I can expect in a country where there are many Occasions of spoiling servants, if they are ever so good. He has as few Faults as most of them, and I see with only one eye, and hear with only one Ear; so we rub on pretty comfortable.52
This letter provides more depth than Franklin's usual updates that Peter is behaving agreeably. Franklin indicates that he allowed Peter a great deal of freedom in England and that he served as good companion. Peter evidently remained with Franklin the entire trip. In a July 1761 letter to Mary Stevenson, the woman at whose house in London
Franklin lodged along with William and the two slaves, he adds a postscript apologizing for the quality of the paper the letter was written on, as “Peter could find me no better
Paper.” One month later, he reports that he had sent Peter to retrieve some papers, but
52 Benjamin Franklin, “To Deborah Franklin,” November 22, 1757; January, 1758; February 19, 1758; September 6, 1758; August 29, 1759; June 27, 1760, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 7:274; 7:369; 7:380; 8:137; 8:431-432; 9:173-177.
41
“Peter found no one at home.”53 No more mention is made of Peter, who probably sailed home with Franklin in 1762.
Although scant, the references to Peter are revealing of Franklin's relationship with his slaves. Caring for Franklin, running errands, and most likely attending to the day-to-day tasks and chores of the house seems to have made up Peter’s duties. Franklin's letters from the Virginia trip reveal a real concern for Peter’s well-being and the London letters show that he seems to have served as a companion and travel escort to Franklin.
Obviously, nothing from Peter himself has survived, and Franklin only made occasional reference to the enslaved man who was apparently at his side for his five years in
London. It appears that Franklin was not particularly concerned with his slave. At the same time, the references to Peter that he does make indicate that he viewed Peter as a real human being, one whose heath he cared for and whose companionship and service he valued.
King did not behave as well as Peter. King was the enslaved man of William
Franklin, Benjamin's illegitimate son who was raised by Deborah and accompanied his father to London at the age of 27. Since King lived at the Stevenson house where
Franklin boarded with William and Peter, he certainly served Franklin as well as
William. In the June 27, 1760 letter to Deborah in which he discussed Peter, Franklin relays King’s story to Deborah. Responding to an inquiry about King from Deborah in a letter that also has not survived, Franklin writes that King “ran away from our House,
53 Benjamin Franklin, “To Mary Stevenson,” July 7, 1761; August 10, 1761, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 9:327; 9:338.
42 near two Years ago.” He was “soon found in Suffolk, where he had been taken in the service of a Lady that was very fond of the Merit of making him a Christian.” King evidently did not impress with his industry, as Franklin goes on to report: “As he was of little Use, and often in Mischief, Billy [William Franklin] consented to her keeping him while we stay in England.” King learned to read and write and to play the violin in this woman's care. Franklin left King's fate up in the air, concluding this section of the correspondence “whether she will finally be willing to part with him, or persuade Billy to sell him to her, I know not. In the meantime, he is no Expence to us.”54 King's fate is lost to history, but he seems never to have re-entered William's service.
Franklin appears to have taken King’s running away fairly well. Certainly, he and/or William put in the effort of tracking King down, but upon finding out what had happened, they were content to allow King to remain free. Franklin was openly in favor of educating slaves at this time, so it is perhaps not surprising that he would not object to
King finding education. At the same time, King was a runaway. Slowly growing to challenge the practice of slavery, Franklin was nowhere near ready to free his slaves, but by the late 1750s, he was not particularly perturbed with one of them running away, or, at the least, supported his son's decision to allow King to remain, while technically still in bondage, essentially free. Either way, for the first time in relation to slavery, this episode marks Franklin as a man now somewhat ahead of his time.
54 Benjamin Franklin, “To Deborah Franklin,” June 27, 1760, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 9:173- 177.
43
While Franklin was in London, Jemima and at least one other enslaved person remained with Deborah. In the August 1759 letter she sent to her husband about the school for slaves, Deborah informs him that she plans to “send Othello to the School.” As
Franklin's 1757 will freed Peter and Jemima while making no mention of any other slaves, it is unlikely, but possible, that this was a child of the enslaved couple. More likely he was the individual purchased in 1757. Before his departure for London, Franklin gave Deborah a memorandum book to record her financial dealings in his absence and then used intermittently by Franklin himself through the 1770s.55 A June 1757 entry records that Deborah paid 41 pounds 10 shillings sterling for a “Negrow boy,” probably
Othello.56 Othello didn't survive long. In a now-lost letter, Deborah advised Franklin of the boy's death. In Franklin's response, he tells her that he is “sorry for the Death of your black Boy, as you seem to have had a regard for him.” Deborah must have remarked on her efforts to nurse the child back to health, for Franklin also writes, sympathetically, that
“you must have suffer’d a good deal in the Fatigue of Nursing him in such a
Distemper.”57 The name of this deceased person is never stated, and it is entirely possible that the Franklins owned two young people at this time. Considering the needs of the
Franklin household, it is more probable that this deceased child is Othello, the person acquired by Deborah in 1757 and who was sent to Sturgeon's school in 1759. Thus, the
55 Benjamin & Deborah Franklin, “Memorandum Book, 1757-1776,” in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 7:167-168. 56 Leonard Labaree, ed., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 8:425. 57 Benjamin Franklin, “To Deborah Franklin,” March 28, 1760, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 9:38.
44
Franklin’s owned, at minimum, three enslaved people during this time, not counting
King, who was technically enslaved by William.
Summary
Franklin’s surviving writings that touch on race and slavery, coupled with the evidence relating to his ownership of slaves, provides a murky picture of where he stood on slavery during his early and middle years, but there is enough evidence to reach some conclusions. Franklin never seriously challenged the practice in his early and middle years. The only objections to slavery that he raised were that it diluted the racial purity of
Pennsylvania. Franklin viewed blacks as being naturally inferior, and like almost all whites of the period, embraced an ideology of white supremacy. At the same time, he quickly endorsed black education in the late 1750s. Although exactly when he became one is unknown, Franklin was a slave owner throughout this period of his life. At the same time, he also provided for their liberation in his will. Franklin did not yet challenge slavery in any meaningful way, either intellectually or in his private life, but by the late
1750s the groundwork for Franklin’s later conversion to abolitionism had been laid.
45
Chapter 2: Education and Equality (1763-1771)
It is only in the 1760s that Franklin's correspondence starts to show the beginning stages of his conversion to abolitionism. In 1763, Franklin's correspondence with John
Waring reveals a conception of racial equality that Franklin had never before expressed in the surviving historical record. Franklin now professed that blacks were the natural equal of whites, held down by the lack of education and opportunity, but he did not attack the institution of slavery itself. Indeed, from the conclusion of the Waring correspondence until 1772, Franklin never repeated his views on racial equality, and portrayed slavery as an institution that was of little concern. If it was not morally right, neither was it as brutal as its critics claimed. His view of slavery during this period was one based on a faith in the self-interest of slave owners. As beating or abusing one's enslaved person was not in an owner’s direct interests, Franklin minimized the moral arguments against slavery, sure that the practice was not widespread in proportion to the population and that self-interest would, for the most part, stop abuse or worse crimes against morality. Thus, while this period marked the beginning of Franklin’s shift to abolitionism, it would be nearly a decade before Franklin directly criticized the system of slavery.
John Waring and the Transformation of 1763
The source is, once again, a letter to John Waring, of Dr. Bray’s Associates, about the education of blacks. The letter is a response to a piece from Waring that has not survived the rigors of time. Writing in June 1763 Franklin lends greater support both to
46 the black Philadelphia school itself and to the general concept of black education than he ever had before. Not surprisingly, after a five-year absence from North America, Franklin noted that his “Attention must be much engross’d on my Arrival by many Things that requir’d it; not to mention a Multiplicity of Visits. &c. that devour abundance of Time,” though he informs Waring that this has not stopped him from taking a greater role in promoting the black schools. Franklin “enquir’d. . . of Mr. Sturgeon concerning the
Negro School tho’ I could not visit it, and had the Satisfaction to hear it was full and went on in general well.” Franklin writes of his intent to visit the school himself, when time allowed, declaring that he “shall inspect the School very particularly, and afford every
Assistance in my Power to Mr. Sturgeon, in promoting the laudable Views of the
Associates.” While Franklin had previously proffered some recommendations and words of support for the school, he now expressed an interest in gaining first-hand knowledge of the establishment, and demonstrated an interest in the management of the school and its curriculum. Franklin then informs Waring of his journey to Williamsburg, Virginia and his conversation with the trustee of a similar school in that city. Franklin even declares his intent to visit Newport, “Rhodeisland” and promote “a School there if practicable.”58
The tone of the letter is different from the previous Waring letters, as in this case,
Franklin takes a proactive interest in the subject and volunteers himself to help the cause of African American education.
58 A small school had been established there in January, 1763. Benjamin Franklin, “To John Waring,” June 27, 1763, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 10:298-300.
47
While the June letter presents some indication of a slight shift in Franklins view of black education, Franklin’s follow-up letter of December 17, 1763 reveals a dramatic change in his views of race from those that he entertained in the 1750s. Franklin begins the letter by telling Waring of his return from a “tour thro' the northern Colonies” that has prevented him from responding to all of Waring’s letters. The letter’s purpose is “chiefly to acquaint” Waring with Franklin’s visit to the “Negro School here” and his tour with
Reverend Sturgeon, on which he “thoroughly examin'd” the student body. Franklin is shocked at the progress of the students, writing that “They appear’d all to have made considerable Progress in Reading for the Time they had respectively been in the School” and were able to answer “readily and well” the “Questions of the Catechism.” The black students, mostly enslaved, are described as respectful, obedient and attentive to their studies. At the end of the letter, Franklin writes Waring three sentences in which he expresses a newfound appreciation for the “natural capacities” of blacks:
I was on the whole much pleas’d, and from what I then saw, have conceiv’d a higher Opinion of the natural Capacities of the black Race, than I had ever before entertained. Their Apprehension seems as quick, their Memory as strong, and their Docility in every Respect equal to that of white Children. You will wonder perhaps that I should ever doubt it, and I will not undertake to justify all my Prejudices, nor to account for them.59
While Franklin’s path to abolitionism was a long one that gradually reshaped his conceptions of race, this letter marks a significant turning point in his evolution and shows his capacity to accept the natural equality of all men. By 1763, Franklin had long
59 Benjamin Franklin, “To John Waring,” December 17, 1763, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 10:395-396.
48 been intimately familiar with blacks. Peter had been in his service since at least 1750. He had been involved with the establishment of the school in Pennsylvania and had corresponded on the subject of black education with Waring since 1758, always maintaining a supportive viewpoint. During Franklin’s stay in London, Deborah had even sent Othello to the school. Nonetheless, his visit to the school and interaction with the black students left an impression that no previous experience had.
More shockingly, Franklin expressed radical views in the letter. While educating
African Americans was a perspective that was not entirely rare, Franklin went much further in the letter than advocating education. Slavery remains unchallenged, or for that matter, not even mentioned, but Franklin proclaims a newfound belief in the natural equality of the races. Blacks are, he concludes, intellectually inferior to whites only because of circumstance. When educated, black children are in “every Respect equal to. .
. white Children.” Not only does he proclaim the natural equality of blacks and whites,
Franklin is astounded that he did not realize it before. Waring will “wonder perhaps, that
I should ever doubt” what he now portrays as an obvious fact. Evidently ashamed of his prior conceptions of blacks, Franklin recognizes the error of his ways so deeply that he tells Waring he “will not undertake to justify all my Prejudices, nor to account for them,” for the visit to the Philadelphia school awakened Franklin to a realization of racial equality. These ideas were not just an about-face from his previously held conceptions, but a radical departure from the norms of the period. Advocates of black rights and education still usually held that African Americans were not as intelligent or capable as
49 white people. Even Waring himself, in his January 1757 letter, had briefly discussed his views of the natural inferiority of blacks. Franklin’s sudden realization of the idea of natural equality would fuel his path to fighting for abolition.
Not only do Franklin's views expressed in the letter to John Waring mark a significant change of mind and realization of the natural equality of the black and white races, Franklin was comfortable enough in expressing these views to have them made semi-public. Waring had previously arranged for Franklin’s statements and summaries of his letters to be read aloud to the Bray Associates, and this letter was no exception, as
Franklin surely would have known. The letter was read aloud at the March 1, 1764 meeting of the Associates.60 The correspondence with Waring marks a significant change in Franklin’s views, and while he was not yet ready to use his significant influence to attempt radical change, Franklin was willing to allow his newfound racial views to be expressed publicly to those with similar viewpoints.
Franklin’s Ideas on Race and Slavery, 1764-1771
Throughout the 1750s and 1760s, Franklin wrote on several occasions about
Native Americans, whom he typically portrayed in a fairly sympathetic way as the natural residents of North America, such as in the Observations essay of 1751. Fear of Indians and anger over Indian atrocities during the war exploded in Pennsylvania in 1764, culminating in a massacre of Conestoga Native Americans in Lancaster County.
Controversy over the incident launched a pamphlet war in Philadelphia. Franklin entered
60 Leonard Labaree, ed., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 10:396.
50 the fray in January, 1764 with a call for nonviolence, with the long-winded title, A
Narrative of the Late Massacres, in Lancaster County, of a Number of Indians, Friends of this Province, by Persons Unknown. While primarily revealing of Franklin’s thoughts on Native Americans and his preference for peace and order whenever possible, the essay also touches on blacks and Franklin’s ideas of white supremacy. As Christians, the white race enjoys “the superior Light” and “ought to exceed” “Heathens, Turks, Saracens,
Moors, Negroes, and Indians, in the Knowledge and Practice of what is right.”61 That is, whites should not murder or massacre members of other races, because Christians are better than these savages. To make his point that innocent Indians should not be blamed for the actions of those who aided the French, Franklin includes an allegory. In Franklin’s account, a sick sailor named Murray is left behind in Africa at the home of a black man named Cudjoe. An unrelated Dutch ship then comes and carries off some of the natives as slaves. Enraged, “their relations and friends come to take revenge by killing Murray.”
Cudjoe stops them by protesting that Murray had nothing to do with the slavers, and that it is not right to “kill a man, that ha[s] done no Harm, only for being white.” Franklin then writes that the story shows that “even the most brutal among them are capable of feeling the Force of Reason” and that “some among these dark People have a strong
Sense of Justice and Honor.”62
61 Benjamin Franklin, “A Narrative of the Late Massacres,” June 30, 1764, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 11:56. 62 Franklin, A Narrative of the Late Massacres, 11:61-62.
51
Franklin’s primary point is that not all members of a race should be held responsible for the actions of some, and thus, colonists should not attack Indians who had nothing to do with the war. If even the inferior races are capable of realizing this, then so should white Pennsylvanians. Franklin's depiction of blacks as savages and inferiors stands in stark contrast to the December, 1763 letter he wrote to Waring. While his point here is entirely different, and the portrayal of blacks as “savages” fitted into the common conception of Africans, strengthening his argument that inferior races were capable of identifying the guilty and the innocent, Franklin still demonstrates his very conflicting views on race at this time. While the Waring correspondence marked a significant turning point in Franklin's racial views, it evidently did not represent a complete eradication his older conceptions of white superiority and the preference for his own race that he expressed such shame over in December of 1763.
Just two months later, in a February 1764 letter to Richard Jackson, a British official and colonial agent, Franklin expresses the same sentiments as Observations and the Address to the Governor. In response to a letter from Jackson, Franklin writes about ways to raise money for the ongoing French and Indian War. Franklin endorses Jackson's ideas of importation taxes on luxuries, including slaves.63 When it comes to the slave tax,
Franklin seems less interested in raising money for the war effort than he does halting what he sees as a harmful practice. Echoing his views of the 1750s, Franklin writes that
“the Duty on Negroes I could wish large enough to obstruct their Importation, as they
63 The Sugar Act of 1764 was passed in April and instituted many of the taxes discussed in the letter, but no tax on the importation of slaves was ever passed.
52 everywhere prevent the Increase of Whites.”64 While he may have believed that blacks and whites were not un-equal by nature, this view did not stop Franklin from continuing to advocate a Pennsylvania colored only in white and red.
Just as in the 1750s, Franklin’s ideas on slavery were occasionally and briefly expressed in his public material during the 1760s. The 1765 edition of Poor Richard’s
Almanac mentions the system, seeming at first to criticize the institution before endorsing stereotypes of slaves. In the “Concerning Sweets” section in the almanac, in which
Franklin argues that God has divided resources fairly evenly among the world and that
Philadelphia can produce all its own foodstuffs, Franklin writes that the inhabitants of the
West Indies have been given “the Sugar Cane, from which, by the forced Labour of
Slaves, Sugar and Melasses are extracted, for our advantage.” Here, Franklin seems to be implicitly criticizing the trade, as he stresses the “forced Labour” aspect of slavery and correctly denotes that the slaves, who produce the goods, do not receive the economic benefits of the sugar trade. His point in the essay is that Pennsylvania and the other northern colonies are too reliant on imports, but are fully capable of producing sugar themselves. Perhaps driven by this point, Franklin quickly turns an anti-slavery position into one that endorses the inequality of blacks. He wishes the “People of the Northern
Colonies” could “see and know, the extreme Slovenliness of the West-India Slaves in making Melasses, and the Filth and Nastiness suffered to enter it, or wantonly thrown into it, their Stomachs would turn at the Thoughts of taking it in, either with their food or
64 Benjamin Franklin, “To Richard Jackson,” February 11, 1764, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 11:76.
53 drink.”65 Slavery may be somewhat objectionable, and the forced labor nature of the practice problematic, but for Franklin, the primary point is that these slaves, unfree and in the West Indies all but doomed to a short life, do not take great care in producing the best possible product.
In the winter of 1765 and 1766, Franklin engaged in a war of words with an author identified only as Vindex Patriae, whose essays criticizing the colonists’ opposition to the Stamp Act were reprinted by William Goddard in The Pennsylvania
Chronicle and Universal Advertiser. Vindex Patriae criticized the American consumption of Indian corn, which he alleged was of low quality and used only to feed slaves as it was
“disagreeable and indigestible.” Franklin took offense to this charge, and he dedicated an essay, “Further Defense of Indian Corn,” composed under the pseudonym “Homespun,” to the issue. Indian corn is fed to slaves, Franklin argues, because it keeps them “healthy, and hearty, and fit to go through all the labour we require of them.” Slaves are an important economic asset, and it is not in the interest of the slave owner to malnourish his property. Slaves “cost us money, and we buy them to make money by their labour. If they are sick, they are not only unprofitable, but expensive.” Thus, it is ridiculous for Vindex
Patriae to allege that Indian corn is fed to slaves precisely because of its supposed low quality. Although this segment is brief, it further illustrates Franklin’s on-going largely economic view of slavery. For Franklin, slavery was not yet a matter of moral conflict,
65 Benjamin Franklin, “Poor Richard Improved,” 1765, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Leonard Labaree (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1959-present), 12:9.
54 but one of simple economics. Slaves here are talked about as a farmer would discuss his cattle.
In the summer of 1766, Franklin departed from London for a brief tour of
Germany. During this interlude, Franklin had either one or a series of conversations with
Gottfried Achenwall, a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Gottingen.
Achenwall published his notes on the conversation in German. Franklin did not speak
German, and so their conversations in English were translated into German (and most likely altered for readability) and then translated back into English for publication.
Coupled with the translation issues, the words are Achenwall’s recreations based on his notes, and thus are not truly Franklin’s words and possibly not entirely his own ideas.
Nonetheless, the document further illuminates Franklin’s conception of slavery during the 1760s.
At the time, few Germans had any real familiarity with the colonies, and so
Franklin and Achenwall’s conversation is used to provide a brief overview of many aspects of life and politics in the colonies. Two paragraphs on slavery are included.
Achenwall’s Franklin informs his German audience that blacks are “found in Virginia,
Maryland and the two Carolinas in large numbers, but very few in Pennsylvania and further north.” The focus is on Franklin’s home state of Pennsylvania, where “on principle. . . [slaves were] prevented from coming as much as possible, partly because there was no such hard work” as was common on southern plantations. Wealthy
Pennsylvanians like Franklin certainly found uses for slave labor, a subject Achenwall’s
55
Franklin neglects to mention. The pamphlet’s argument that slaves were largely blocked from importation as much as possible echoes the views Franklin expressed in the 1750s, particularly in Observations on the Increase of Mankind, in which he argued that slaves decreased the racial purity of the state. The second paragraph argues that slaves are treated well and are not too different from free citizens. “Negro slaves enjoy . . . the protection of the laws as much as the free inhabitants.” A slave owner found guilty of murdering his enslaved person is “sentenced to death,” and an owner who “overworks or ill treats his slave” is subject to legal penalties. Nor is overworking a slave in the master’s best interests, and so even without legal protection would be a rare occurrence. “Negro slaves have all, in short, the general rights of humanity except freedom and property, neither of which they possess,” an analysis many slaves probably would have disagreed with.66 Achenwall’s Franklin makes no mention of his own slaves, or of his efforts to promote black education. Neither does he indicate any qualms with the institution.
Instead, if Achenwall can be trusted as reliably conveying Franklin’s words, the esteemed doctor minimizes the sufferings of slaves and comes close to justifying the practice.
Franklin possessed a scientific mind and believed that people would, for the most part, act rationally in their own interest. Until the 1770s, Franklin portrayed slaves as being treated fairly well, because it was not in an owner’s interest to abuse his property. This version of Franklin still did not see slavery in moral terms, but in entirely practical ones.
66 Gottfried Achenwall, “Some Observations on North America, and the Colonies of Great Britain There (From Oral Information by Dr. Franklin),” February-April, 1767, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 13:355.
56
Certainly, the piece is far removed from anti-slavery and reflects none of the attitudes that Franklin had written to Waring about just three years prior.
Franklin’s more private response to slavery – undocumented until this time – also appears in the 1760s, before the outbreak of the American Revolution. Beginning in
1769, Franklin wrote comments in the margins of several political pamphlets. His early views on the growing conflict between Great Britain and her American colonies are the most valuable pieces of information gleaned from his notes, but at several times Franklin touches on slavery. In response to The True Constitutional Means, an anonymous pamphlet that argued against the American cause, Franklin took extensive notes. In a section of the pamphlet that argued the colonists were wealthy and able to pay taxes, he used the prevalence of slavery in the South as evidence, but also adding, “Are not the poor Negro Slaves who are past their Labour, sick or lame, as great a Burthen to the
Colonists” as they were an economic gain? Franklin had several times in the past made a similar point, but his earlier statements on slavery’s burden to whites were more about dilution of racial homogeneity than they were about economics.
The next year, Franklin annotated a copy of Matthew Wheelock’s pro-British pamphlet Reflections Moral and Political on Great Britain and Her Colonies. In response to a section claiming that southern slaves remained in bondage only because “of the terror of the European strength,” Franklin wrote “the poor creatures know no more of the
Existence of such a Strength than of a Strength in the Moon.”67 This view of quasi-
67 Benjamin Franklin, “Marginalia,” 1769; 1770, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 16:289-290;
57 benevolent slavery, in which slaves are well cared for and treated with a gentle hand was, like the 1769 notations, not a new theory for Franklin. This interpretation of slavery was perhaps best spelled out in the Achenwall article. Like the above view, this position too would quickly erode in the coming years.
The best expression of Franklin’s views from the period is found in his 1770 essay “A Conversation on Slavery.” The anonymous, Platonic-style dialogue appeared in the Public Advertiser, but was not attributed to Franklin until 1934. The dialogue is primarily between an unnamed Englishman and an American, though a “Scotchman” intervenes twice near the end of the piece. A Conversation on Slavery was composed as tensions between America and Britain were brewing, a mere month before the Boston
Massacre. Not surprisingly, the Englishman advances the view that the calls for liberty from the colonies are hypocritical. White Americans, he claims, are “absolute Tyrants,” no people “upon Earth such Enemies to Liberty” as they are, for while calling for their own freedom, the Americans held blacks in bondage.
Franklin’s own views are expressed by the American, who makes several arguments that Franklin had previously relied on to defend the institution. The American begins by claiming the Englishman’s allegation is overstated at best, as slavery is limited in America. New England “has very few slaves” and they are employed “but as footmen or House-maids.” It is only “in Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas” that slaves are worked hard in any number, but even there most whites do not own slaves. Thus, the
17:390.
58 percentage of Americans that subscribe to the notion of their own freedom while denying it to others is quite small. Not “one family in a Hundred” “has a slave in it.” Even were this not true, the conditions of American slaves are little different than that of the working poor in England, who are also required to work for their “masters” and see little economic gain for themselves. Even worse, American slavery is, in truth, the fault of the
British, as “You bring the slaves to us, and tempt us to purchase them.” All the same, it is the Americans’ fault for “falling into the Temptation as the Receiver is as bad as the
Thief.” Franklin also cites anti-importation laws that had been enacted in several of the colonies to limit the slave trade. In response to the Englishman’s criticism that pro- slavery legislative acts are “the Act of the whole” because they were made by elected representatives, Franklin acknowledges that Virginia and other places have passed such laws. At the same time, New England and “other Colonies where their Numbers are so small as to give” no fears of insurrection, slaves are “under the protection of those laws.”
Repeating his point from his conversations with Achenwall, Franklin states that “a white man is as liable to suffer Death for killing a Slave, though his own, as for any other
Homicide.”
In perhaps the most interesting segment of the essay, the American then argues that the harsh laws in Virginia and other strong slave states are necessary because most slaves are “of a plotting Disposition, dark, sullen, malicious, revengeful, and cruel in the highest degree.” To prove this point, Franklin cites the frequency of insurrections on slaver ships. Apparently, Franklin at this time considered blacks to be naturally violent
59 for rebelling against bondage. The Englishman interjects to point out that treatment of white indentured servants in the colonies is almost as severe, to which the American acknowledges that this is true for some convicts who are sold into indentured servitude, and again proceeds to blame Britain for the practice. The Scotchman joins the dialogue for the first time to point out that the Americans do not have to buy the slaves and servants proffered for sale. The American replies that only “imprudent People” make such purchases, and that Britain is responsible for the temptation. The Scotchman and
Englishman should not pretend to detest slavery so much, as the conditions of coalminers in Scotland are little different than that of slaves.
At this point, the Scotchman exits from the dialogue as hastily he appeared. The
American and the Englishman proceed to engage in a debate about whether England has anything akin to slavery. Franklin argues that England does, and indeed, it even “goes beyond that exercised in America,” for the soldiers and sailors pressed into service are ordered to do something an enslaved person can never be forced to do, “to commit
MURDER!”68 With this accusation, the dialogue ends somewhat abruptly. This conclusion and the laying of blame on England is as much the result of Franklin’s growing dissatisfaction with the British government’s treatment of the colonies and the brewing conflict that would culminate in the American Revolution five years later as it is about slavery.
68 Benjamin Franklin, “A Conversation on Slavery,” January 26, 1770, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 17:37-44. This pamphlet is now attributed to Franklin.
60
What is to be made of “A Conversation on Slavery?” In it, Franklin seems to have completely forgotten the revelations inspired by his visit to the Bray Associates school in
1763. He echoes the racism and pro-slavery arguments he had been making throughout the 1760s. Although the piece is a dialogue, Franklin’s own thoughts on the matter are conveyed by the American, who wins the debate while aptly summarizing his views.
Speaking through the American, the piece is unapologetically pro-slavery, both diminishing the cruelty of the practice while laying blame for it entirely on England. The piece is not particularly significant for its ideas— after all Franklin had been expressing these notions for years— but for the fact that it is Franklin’s lengthiest and best argued piece of this period on slavery, most clearly outlining Franklin’s position on the slavery question at this point in his life.
The Bray Associates and the Schools for Black Education
Franklin’s involvement with the Bray Associates and their schools for educating blacks did not end with his letter to Reverend John Waring in December of 1763. When
Franklin was in London, his surviving papers reveal that he occasionally received invitations to Bray Associates meetings that discussed the education of blacks. For example, one November 29, 1766 invitation requested Franklin’s presence at a meeting to discuss “instructing the Negroes in the British Plantations.”69 While Franklin had by this point clearly indicated a favorable view of the group’s undertakings, the busy diplomat evidently rarely attended the meetings of the Associates during his time in London.
69 Associates of Dr. Bray, “From the Associates of Dr. Bray,” 1766, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 13:516.
61
By 1766, Franklin was taking more active involvement in the education of black children than ever before. In October of that year, Franklin wrote a letter to Abbot
Upcher on behalf of the Bray Associates regarding his “good Purpose to purchase a land[ed?] Estate in America of the Value of One Thousand Pounds and to apply the Rents and Profits thereof to the Support of Schools for the Instruction of Negro Children.”70
Again acting on the direct request of the Bray Associates, Franklin informs Upcher that he has “been desired by the Associates to consider the Matter, and give my Opinion where, and in what Manner the Purchase may best be made.” While Upcher was making the generously large donation to the cause, Franklin was working on how best to apply the funds. Not surprisingly, Franklin determined that the money should be used to open a school in Pennsylvania, as “Titles are generally clear” in the colony. Franklin goes on to sketch out the finer details of opening the school, empowering agents in the colony to oversee the funds and its operations and the establishment of a trust. Closing his letter,
Franklin expresses his willingness to provide further aide to the endeavor, writing that
“Any further Advice or Assistance that I can give in the Choice of Trustees or otherwise, shall not be wanting.”71 Franklin had provided assistance to the Bray Associates before, providing similar recommendations about the Philadelphia school. But Franklin had never before directly written to benefactors to offer his aide: a small step, perhaps, but demonstrative that Franklin was taking a greater role in black education.
70 Upcher was a vicar in Suffolk whose donation had been accepted in July. 71 Benjamin Franklin, “To Abbot Upcher,” October 4, 1776, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 13:442.
62
Franklin’s involvement with Upcher’s donation and its use did not end with his initial offer of support. In a December 16, 1767 letter to his personal friend Francis
Hopkinson he refers to the “£1000 promis’d them for the Support of Negro Schools in
America” and informs Hopkinson that “they have appointed you, Mr. E. Duffield and myself to make and hold the Purchase for the Use.”72 Franklin thus agreed not only to help decide where the funds would go but to serve as one of the commissioners making the final determinations and selecting the land that would be purchased. Still in London,
Franklin directed his co-commissioners to act without him to establish the trust and make land purchases “if any thing is done in the Affair before I come over.” While now consumed with the land purchase for a future second school in Pennsylvania, Franklin and the Bray Associates had not lost sight of the original school. Writing on request of the Reverend Waring, Franklin writes that:
Mr. Sturgeon had the Care of the Negro School; but the Associates having had no Line from him, nor any Account of the School these two years past they pray that you two would visit it, enquire into the State of it, and send them some Account of it, directed as above, by the first Opportunity.
In the following year Franklin continued his correspondence with Hopkinson. In
January, only a month after his previous letter and possibly before Hopkinson had even received the December letter, Franklin sent another letter that summarized the December correspondence before requesting that Hopkinson and Duffield purchase “a Square of
72 Hopkinson was a prominent lawyer and politician in Pennsylvania. Nine years after his involvement with the Bray Associates began, he would affix his name to the Declaration of Independence. Edward Duffield was a Philadelphia watchmaker and Franklin associate.
63
Ground . . . within the Plan of the Town, and likely in Time to built upon, if such a one can be had, at any rate tolerably reasonable.”73 Franklin’s letter betrays a sense of urgency. In March, Hopkinson replied with a letter to Franklin informing him that
Waring had been apprised of the situation in Philadelphia, promising to “make some
Enquiries respecting Ground Rents to be purchased here against your Arrival” and adding that the two commissioners would “hardly venture to proceed any further till we see you: as you are so soon to be expected.”74 Franklin had been planning his return to
Philadelphia, but would not actually see his native soil until 1775. As such, the other two commissioners were forced to deal with the matter themselves, sans Franklin.
Thus, by the late 1760s Franklin was continuing to work with the Bray Associates to educate blacks. Although not frequently, Franklin did attend Bray Associates meetings while he was in London during this period. Serving more formally as a commissioner, even while he was in London, he assisted in establishing and managing two separate schools on behalf of the Associates.
The Georgia Assembly
Franklin’s point of view regarding the legality of slavery had not changed by any means, however. On his frequent trips across the Atlantic, he often served as a diplomat, or “agent,” to represent the interests of not just Pennsylvania but other colonies. His fame and well-known connections with Britain made him an obvious candidate for many state
73 Benjamin Franklin, “To Francis Hopkinson,” December16, 1767; January 24, 1768, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 14:430; 15:30. 74 Franklin had been planning his return to Philadelphia, but would not actually see his native soil until 1775. Francis Hopkinson, “To Benjamin Franklin,” January 24, 1768, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 15:87-88.
64 legislatures. Of relevance to the slavery issue was his appointment in 1768 by the
Georgia Assembly to serve as its “Esquire Agent to Solicit the affairs of this Province in
Great Britain.” The appointment letter promised to pay his expenses, authorized “the sum of One Hundred pounds Sterling money of Great Britain over and above his reasonable
Charges” in compensations for his services, and delegated the Committee of
Correspondence to correspond with Franklin and provide his marching orders.75 Franklin stayed on as Georgia’s representative until the Revolution eliminated his job, and he eventually received a land grant as further compensation for his service. As he surely knew when he accepted the appointment, much of what the Georgia Assembly requested of their new agent was help in soliciting legislation and acts that would aid the slave trade.76
In May 1768, the Georgia Assembly requested Franklin’s assistance in overturning “his Majesties Royal disallowance and Repeal of Two Acts of Assembly which we think of great Moment to the Welfare of this province.” The first of these acts, passed on March 25, 1765, was “An Act for the better Ordering and Governing Negroes and other Slaves in this Province and to prevent the inveigling or carrying away Slaves from their Masters or Employers” that the Georgia Assembly argued was something that the colony “cannot Possibly Subsist without.” Georgia's “Staple Commodities” required
75 Georgia Assembly, “Ordinance of Georgia Appointing Benjamin Franklin Agent,” April 11, 1768, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 15:94-96. 76 His original letter of acceptance has not survived, but a 1770 letter responding to his re-appointment is extant. Franklin assures the assembly of “my intention in all things faithfully to endeavor the Service of the Province” and thanks the state for “the honour done me by these repeated Appointments.” Benjamin Franklin, “To the Georgia Assembly Committee of Correspondence,” August 10, 1770, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 17:203.
65 large numbers of workers to cultivate and harvest, and without adequate slavery laws to keep enough slaves at labor, whites would have to do the work. Writing with apparent sincerity, the legislature informed Franklin that “it has been found from Years Experience here that white people were [unequal?] to the Burthen in this Climate and therefore it was absolutely necessary to allow us the free use of Slaves.” The assembly reports that it is
“truly at a Loss to guess what was exceptionable in” the law, and asked Franklin to find out and settle the matter. Although the assembly reported that the “Salary allowed You tho as much as has been ever given to any agent of this Province and is indeed what we can at present afford, may not be equal to your Services,” Franklin found it adequate enough to serve Georgian interests in England.77
The correspondence between the Georgia Assembly and their agent reveals that
Franklin, even after asserting the natural equality of the white and black races, found it not too difficult to lobby for slavery in London. In May of 1770, the assembly asked
Franklin to “obtain his Majesty’s Royal Assent as soon as possible to the Act passed this
Sessions for ordering and governing Slaves,” to which Franklin added in the margin that he had “attended” to the issue.78 Two weeks later, the Committee of Correspondence sent a follow up letter that provided greater details on Franklin’s duties in advocating the slave trade. The assembly, dominated by slave owners, passed “an act for the better ordering and Governing Negroes and other Slaves &c to which the Governor has Assented,” but
77 Georgia Assembly Committee of Correspondence, “From Georgia Assembly Committee of Correspondence,” May 19, 1768, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 15:132-135. 78 Georgia Commons House Assembly, “Instructions To Its Agent,” May 10, 1770, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 17:137.
66 the bill included “a suspending Clause till his Majestys pleasure is known.”79 Thus,
Franklin is asked to get “an Instruction to him for that purpose.” The assembly writes that the previously discussed 1768 bill had been “disallowed by his Majesty” but “the
Reasons for such disallowance was not communicated to the Governor” and the political system of Georgia remains perplexed as to “how to frame another that might be unexceptionable and the same time answer our local Circumstances.”
The need for this new act arises from the legislature’s understanding “that the
Council to the Board of Trade reported that slaves should be made real Estate, and go with the Lands they were employed upon.” In a developing province like Georgia, the assembly argues, this regulation is burdensome and obstructive to growth, as “Property must necessarily be frequently aliened and new Settlements daily made” as expansion continued. The new slave law is “of the utmost Importance and without it we cannot well subsist,” as surviving without the labor of the labor of thousands of slaves is apparently not possible. As slavery advocates often did, including Franklin himself in Gottfried
Achenwall’s article, the Georgians claim that “the greatest Care has been taken to frame it on the most humane Principles that the Nature of such a law can admit.” Slaves forced to work as unfree and uncompensated labor they may be, but the situations of these slaves could be worse and so is acceptable. Franklin, who seven years before had written to
John Waring of his epiphany of the natural equality of black and white, seems to have
79 “Other Slaves” is evidently a reference to any Indians held in some form of slavery. The phrase “Negroes and other slaves” or something akin to it appears frequently in the Georgia Assembly’s correspondence with Franklin.
67 had no qualms with lobbying for the slave law. If he did, it certainly went unrecorded, as
Franklin’s reply merely notes that he received the documents, including the “Act for ordering and governing Slaves.”80
The act was passed in 1771. Franklin took the matter to Richard Jackson, the counsel of the Board of Trade, and a correspondent he had written to on slavery in 1764, to suggesting a heavy slave importation tax to keep blacks out of North America. He worked with the Connecticut agent, Thomas Life, on the matter, and it was Life who advised Franklin in November of 1770 that the “Georgia Acts” had been “referred to Mr.
Jackson.” Life billed Franklin sixteen pounds for his services in the matter.81 On March
6, 1771, the council approved the act and passed it to King George III for confirmation, ending Georgia's five-year struggle to get a slave bill passed.82 Noble Wimberly Jones, a representative from Savannah and the Speaker of the Assembly from 1768 to 1772, wrote to Franklin that his “Sollicitations in behalf of the Negro Law &c, am certain will be greatfully acknowledged by every well wisher to the province.”83 Franklin’s lack of surviving correspondence on the issue suggests he had little lobbying to attend to personally in order to get the slave act approved. As far as the incomplete surviving
80 Benjamin Franklin, “To the Georgia Assembly Committee of Correspondence,” August 10, 1770 in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 17:203. 81 Life, Thomas, “From Thomas Life,” November 30, 1770; January 24, 1771, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 17:293; 18:22-23. 82 Abbot, William, The Royal Governors of Georgia, 1754-1775 (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1959). Also see the editorial commentary on the Georgia correspondence in volume 12 of The Franklin Papers. 83 Jones, Noble Wimberly, “From Noble Wimberly Jones,” July 8, 1771, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 18:169.
68 record demonstrates, he did little more than bring the matter to Jackson for the Board to approve.
Franklin served as agent for several colonies at once, and tackled many matters of interest for each of these states.84 The slavery matter surely was not a particularly time- consuming effort for him at this time. At the same time, it was the largest pro-slavery public act he would ever make. Franklin’s earlier writings had made clear his views that appear racist to a modern audience, and simultaneously showed that his objections to the slave trade were hardly on moral grounds. Some of his writings and actions were arguably pro-slavery. Franklin had supported black education for years and written to the
Bray Associate’s Waring of his views on racial equality, but he had never taken action to actively support slavery outside of his own home. For the first and only time, Franklin lobbied for the slave trade, and seems to have had no qualms about doing so.
Summary
Contradictory though it was, Franklin’s relationship with slavery from 1763 through 1771 was one of vital importance on his path to abolition. Franklin’s contrary views and actions raise as many questions as they answer. While perhaps frustrating to the historian, Franklin’s inconsistency should not be surprising. Raised in a time and place wherein slave ownership by economic elites was the norm, it would have been strange for Franklin to have immediately wiped his prejudices away and joined the anti- slavery cause full-heartedly in 1763 after visiting one school. Of particular note is his
84 Indeed, the matter he spent more time on than any other for the Georgian Assembly was to protest the Townshend Acts.
69 correspondence with his abolitionist friend Anthony Benezet, whose letters before 1772 are not extant. It is entirely possible, even likely, that Franklin wrote letters that echoed the tone of his 1763 correspondence with John Waring. Even the greatest of people are not entirely consistent, and Franklin’s revelation of the natural equality of blacks did not follow its logical path and transform Franklin into an abolitionist overnight. It would not be until 1772, a full nine years after Franklin wrote to Waring of his experience with the children at the Bray Associates school that his ideas on race and slavery grew more consistent, though even then he remained a slave owner.
It is important to put the slavery question into the proper context of not only the times, but the rest of Franklin’s life. Though officially a retiree, Franklin was an incredibly busy man, working on his scientific experiments, his post as a diplomat, and pursuing a host of other time-consuming endeavors. Franklin dealt with slavery for all of his adult life, but never, until his final years, was it a defining feature of his existence.
Franklin’s surviving papers show that while slavery merited regular mention, he wrote few pieces that centered on the subject. Slavery was important, but it was not as important to Franklin as the other issues he dealt with during this period. His growing dissatisfaction with the British government and treatment of the American colonies was his primary political interest at this point, and would be until the late 1780s.
70
Chapter 3: A Public Abolitionist With Conflicting Priorities (1772-1786)
Although Franklin’s conversion to the cause of abolition is foreshadowed in some of his writings and letters of the early 1760s, it wasn't until the early 1770s that he came to adhere to a truly abolitionist outlook. Not only did Franklin now profess the wrongfulness of slavery, he did so publicly. The early 1770s were a period of great change for Franklin. He had left Pennsylvania for London in 1765 and did not return to the colonies until 1775. Franklin had, at first, not realized the severity of the colonies’ growing dispute with England. He opposed the 1765 Stamp Act from the start, but he did so without seriously fighting against it. Franklin was, at this time, a centrist more interested in maintaining political and social order. Throughout his life, he was a pragmatist, not an ideologue. His opposition was mostly limited to advocating that the crown ask the colonial legislatures to create new taxes to pay for the costs of the French and Indian War, as had been done in the past, instead of taxing colonists directly for the first time, and he promoted the circulation of paper bills of credit to be issued to borrowers at 6 percent interest to raise the funds. Prime Minister George Grenville dismissed Franklin’s ideas and after the Stamp Act passed, Franklin recommended that a friend, John Hughes, be appointed as the tax collection officer for Pennsylvania. Until
1774, Franklin was an accommodationist and hoped to find a peaceful solution to the growing tensions, until he returned to the colonies in 1775 and accepted the inevitable.
From this time on until his return to Pennsylvania, Franklin’s pragmatism was perceived negatively by both sides of the imperial conflict, each of which saw him as a supporter of
71 the opposite view. Many colonists, far removed from London and quickly embracing ideas that were radical for the time, saw Franklin as a servant of the crown. As early as
1765, a mob of colonists almost burned Franklin’s Philadelphia home to the ground.
Franklin published several pro-American essays in London and lobbied for the American cause, but even upon his return to the colonies, he was seen as a possible loyalist by many colonists for years to come. At the same time, despite Franklin’s initially tepid support for the colonists in comparison to the strongly ideological positions of radical
Patriots like Samuel Adams and John Hancock, he was still marked as a potential traitor and insurrectionist in the view of the British.
The debate over taxation, and later independence, brought forth greater philosophical issues into the public discourse about freedom, the natural rights of people, and whether or not communities had the right to sever ties with colonial masters and govern themselves. In this environment in which Enlightenment conceptions of freedom and the rights of the individual flourished, uneasiness with slavery increased in the colonies. While abolitionism was still not the prevailing sentiment, it did receive a greater measure of support during the late 1760s and 1770s than it did in the prior decades. This groundswell of support in the northern colonies whose economies did not rely as heavily on the institution produced quick results. Vermont became the first colony to make abolition a legislative reality, banning the practice and freeing all adult slaves in its 1777 state constitution. Franklin’s own Pennsylvania passed An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in 1780, which declared all slaves born after the act was passed to be free men
72 and women.85 In 1783, Massachusetts saw instant abolition achieved through the Quock
Walker Case. Connecticut and Rhode Island followed in 1784. It was only in the
Revolutionary era that the idea gained real social and political traction. Indeed, within twenty years of the signing of the United States Constitution, every northern state had passed immediate or gradual abolition laws.
The question remains why Franklin changed his position to a pro-abolitionist stance during this time, as did so many of his countrymen. Too few documents survive to conclusively determine the full details of what propelled the change, but enough are extant to suggest some likely reasons.
The Conversion of 1772
As in almost any study of the eighteenth century, the gaps in the historical record hinder the complete understanding of Franklin’s relationship with slavery. While many of these possible sources have disappeared without a trace and are unknown to historians, other evidence can be identified. The most critical of these is Franklin’s correspondence with Anthony Benezet, of which no record exists before 1772.
Benezet was a prominent educator and abolitionist in Philadelphia. Born a French
Huguenot, Benezet joined the Religious Society of Friends and immigrated to
Pennsylvania in 1731. Failing as a merchant, Benezet found employment as a schoolteacher while he became one of the first abolitionists in the Americas. He taught
85 The gradual abolition instituted by Pennsylvania would serve as a model for most other states that passed abolition in the early years of the republic, instead of the immediate abolition of Vermont and Massachusetts. In 1847, the few surviving slaves still living in Pennsylvania were freed. See Nash, Gary B. and Jean R. Soderlund, Freedom By Degrees: Emancipation in Pennsylvania and Its Aftermath (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991) for the abolition efforts and debates in Pennsylvania.
73
African Americans in segregated night classes before opening the first public school for girls in the colonies. In 1770, he opened the Negro School at Philadelphia, dedicated entirely to black education efforts.86 Throughout his active life as an abolitionist, Benezet authored pamphlets that promoted the abolitionist cause, as well as others promoting temperance and efforts to improve the conditions of Native Americans. On April 14,
1775, just five days before the incidents at Lexington and Concord that ignited the
American Revolution, Benezet helped to found the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes
Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first abolitionist society in the colonies, and one which
Franklin himself would later lead at the end of his life. The society was mostly, but not entirely, composed of Quakers and included black, as well as white, members in leadership roles.87 What little of the correspondence between Franklin and Benezet survives reveals them to have been friendly (Benezet even signed off the first surviving letter “with love,” and they were associates as early as the mid 1730s, when Benezet became a subscriber to Franklin's Philadelphia Hospital) and makes quite clear that there are many letters between the two men that did not survive.88 What exact impact Benezet
86 The school was unrelated to the efforts of Waring and the Bray Associates that Franklin was directly involved with, but its mission and methods were essentially the same as those of the schools that first made Franklin realize the iniquities of slavery. As a wealthy man, a friend, an individual experienced in black education efforts and the foremost citizen of Philadelphia, it is entirely possible, perhaps even likely, that Franklin would have been sought out by Benezet for his assistance and patronage. If Franklin took any role in this school or its support, no record of it is extant. For Benezet, his works during this period and his correspondence with Franklin and other individuals he thought could help, see Sassi, Jonathan, “With a Little Help from the Friends: The Quaker and Tactical Contexts of Anthony Benezet’s Abolitionist Publishing,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 135, No. 1 (January 2011): 33-71. Also Fruchtman, 23-56. 87 Thomas Paine, a deist, was an original member. 88 Fruchtman, 36.
74 and his radical views had on Franklin can only be speculated upon, but it was most likely considerable.
The first surviving letter between the two is from Benezet, dated April 27, 1772, in reply to a long-lost letter from Franklin. Benezet’s letter reads like a lecture to
Franklin, beginning with, after an exchange of pleasantries: “[N]ow as thy prospect is clear, with respect to the grievous iniquity practiced by our nation, towards the Negroes I venture to take up a little more of thy time.”89 Benezet goes on to detail his latest attempts to gain support for abolition, sending pamphlets to members of Parliament, and espousing his belief that with God's support, the forces of abolition will eventually triumph. He reports that “The People of the Northern Colonies begin to be sensible of the evil tendency, if not all, of the iniquity of this trade.”90 Benezet’s letter centers around his recent activities, followed by a more general phrasing of his arguments against slavery, the context and tone of which seem to indicate that he had previously expressed his thoughts on the subject to Franklin at length.
Franklin’s August response to Benezet’s anti-slavery letter expresses direct abolitionist sentiments, in line with his words to John Waring in 1763, but not expressed again in the surviving historical record since that time. Evidently, Franklin found
89 This portion of the correspondence seems to indicate that Franklin wrote Benezet a letter expressing anti-slavery sentiments. How early Franklin stated these views to Benezet and what exactly he said can only be guessed at. As Franklin's statements on race and slavery during the nine years prior to this letter were frequently contradictory and expressed sentiments on opposite ends of the spectrum, where exactly he stood cannot be firmly established. As an old friend and the strongest opponent of slavery in the colonies, it makes perfect sense for Franklin to have first come out against slavery in his letters to Benezet. 90 Anthony Benezet, “From Anthony Benezet,” April 27, 1772, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 19:113-116.
75
Benezet’s arguments to be both sympathetic and convincing. Franklin expresses his joy that “the Disposition against keeping Negroes grows more general in North America.” He continues with a reference to Benezet's Some Historical Account of Guinea: its Situation,
Produce, and the General Disposition of its Inhabitants, with an Inquiry into the Rise and
Progress of the Slave Trade, its Nature and Lamentable Effects: “Several Pieces have been lately printed here [in England] against the Practice, and I hope in time it will be taken into Consideration and suppress’d by the Legislature [Parliament].” In 1763,
Franklin had expressed his view of the natural equality of blacks and whites, but did not challenge slavery directly. For the first time in his private correspondence, Franklin attacked the system of slavery itself. His sentiments are not expressed as an idealistic “if only” but rather as a direct call for government intervention to outlaw the practice (not simply the trade) of slavery. Franklin informs Benezet that he “made a little Extract. . . of the Number of Slaves imported and perishing, with some close Remarks on the
Hypocrisy of this Country which encourages such a detestable Commerce by Laws, for promoting the Guinea Trade, while it piqu’d itself on its Virtue Love of Liberty, and the
Equity of its Courts in setting free a Single Negro.”91 Franklin then proceeded to include these observations in a published commentary on the landmark Somerset Decision.
Somerset v. Stewart
As Franklin clearly recognized, Somerset v. Stewart was a groundbreaking case in the cause of abolition. James Somerset, a enslaved person purchased by Charles Stewart
91 Benjamin Franklin, “To Anthony Benezet,” August 22, 1772, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 19:269.
76 in Massachusetts, was brought by his new owner to England in 1769. Somerset proceeded to try to escape from his master two years later. Somerset was caught and an enraged Stewart placed his property on a British ship bound for Jamaica, with the orders that Somerset be sold into a life of hard labor on arrival. The three white men who had stood as his godparents at Somerset’s Christian baptism applied for a writ of habeas corpus, and the matter of whether Somerset’s imprisonment was legal went before the courts. Somerset fought on with the backing of Granville Sharp and other prominent
British abolitionists, who, while personally objecting to slavery on moral grounds, used purely legal arguments to proclaim that slavery itself was actually illegal in England.
Slavery was nowhere mentioned in any law ever passed by Parliament and had no deeply rooted legal tradition in Britain. Lord Mansfield, the judge who heard the case, ruled that as slavery was not protected by the law, Somerset could not be sent out of the country against his will and ordered Somerset to be set free. Mansfield’s ruling was deliberately narrow, and while it effectively ended the slave trade within England itself, it left unaddressed the issue in the rest of the empire.92 British involvement in the Atlantic slave trade would not be ended until 1808, and the practice of slavery in the West Indies would not be outlawed until 1833, over sixty years after the Somerset decision.
Franklin’s commentary was published in the June 18-20, 1770 edition of The
London Chronicle, just a few days before Mansfield handed down his decision on the
92 For the full details of the Somerset Case, see Steven M. Wise, Though the Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial That Led to the End of Human Slavery (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, 2005).
77 matter. Franklin begins his piece by commending the “generous humane persons subscribed to the expense of obtaining liberty by law for Somerset the Negro.” Franklin perceived the case as being about far more than the life of just one man, as “it is to be wished that the same humanity may extend itself among numbers; if not to the procuring liberty for those that remain in our Colonies, at least to obtain a law for abolishing the
African commerce in Slaves, and declaring the children of present Slaves free after they become of age.” While he had been defending slavery just two years prior to this,
Franklin now proclaims his support for abolition in not just England but throughout the empire, seeing the end of the slave trade and gradual emancipation plans as possibilities, but not the ultimate goal. Rather, Franklin envisioned broad, drastic change to the social and economic orders of England and the New World alike.
Franklin had long seen slavery as largely a matter of economics, his ideas never divorced from the economic complications that would inevitably ensue from emancipation. “By a late computation made in America,” Franklin estimates there were
“now eight hundred and fifty thousand Negroes in the English Islands and Colonies; and that yearly importation is about one hundred thousand, of which number about one third perish” on the long and hazardous voyage from Africa in which slaves were treated as cargo, not people. Those who survived the journey were used to “[make] up the deficiencies continually occurring among the main body of those unhappy people, through the distempers occasioned by excessive labor, bad nourishment, uncomfortable accommodation, and broken spirits.” Franklin portrays the slaves throughout the piece as
78 entirely human, suffering just as free white men would. Rather than as an economic necessity or a threat to the racial purity of Pennsylvania, Franklin now describes slavery as an immoral abomination, the brutality of which offends all mankind, and the benefits of slavery that Franklin had previously perceived as an unfortunate but integral part of the
American economy are now derided. “Can sweetening our tea &c. with sugar, be a circumstance of such absolute necessity?” Franklin rhetorically asks. “Can the petty pleasure thence arising to the taste, compensate for so much misery produced among our fellow creatures, and such constant butchery of the human species by this pestilential detestable traffic in the bodies and souls of men?” Franklin closes with an attempt to place Somerset’s struggle in a larger context, deriding the hypocrisy of “Pharisaical
Britain!” for daring “to pride thyself in setting free a single Slave that happens to land on thy coasts” when “thy merchants in all thy ports are encouraged by the laws to continue a commerce whereby so many hundreds of thousands are dragged into a slavery that can scarce be said to end with their lives, since it is entailed on their posterity!”93 The greatest tragedy of slavery is, then, not simply its existence and the suffering of the enslaved, but the world it gives to the next generation, forced to endure the same hardships and unfree status of their fathers and mothers.
The Somerset Case was a significant departure, both for Franklin personally and from the norms of the era.94 While Benezet, Sharp, and others were pressing the
93 Benjamin Franklin, “The Sommersett Case and the Slave Trade,” June 18, 1772, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 19:187-188. 94 Today, it is considered proper to spell it as “Somerset,” but many observers of the period used either or
79 abolitionist cause which was attracting far more support than it had during Franklin’s formative and middle years, abolitionism was still a radical concept, ahead of its time in the colonies. The roots of Franklin’s transformation are found in his correspondence with
John Waring and support for black education, culminating in the December 17, 1763 letter that proclaimed the natural equality of blacks and whites. But for the next nine years, Franklin backtracked or did not equate this sentiment with abolition of slavery itself. Among his published writings composed for a broad readership, no abolitionist views had crept in. The year 1772, then, marked the turning point at which Franklin embraced the abolitionist cause for the rest of his life, albeit with varying levels of dedication.
Franklin’s Correspondence, 1773-1786
1773 found Franklin continuing to criticize the slave trade. In a February letter to
Benezet, he wrote “I have commenc'd an Aquaintance with Mr. Granville Sharpe, and we shall act in Concert in [the] Affair of Slavery.” Sharp was the London abolitionist who had spearheaded Somerset’s legal defense and was a friend of Benezet. Franklin also referenced some “Accounts” Benezet sent him “relating to Surinam” that are “indeed terrible.” The slave revolts in Dutch Surinam had prominently appeared in the London newspapers, but what exactly Benezet sent him is, unfortunately, lost. Without the proper
both spellings. Franklin himself, whose grammar and spelling was more consistent than most of the eighteenth-century, used “Sommersett” in the title and “Somerset” in the body.
80 context, what exactly Franklin found “terrible” and his views on the revolt are similarly unknown.95
Benezet’s April response to the letter has also not survived, but he wrote that same month to Dr. John Fothergill, a Franklin friend and co-manager of a Philadelphia hospital Franklin was involved with, that he was asking Franklin, who was
Pennsylvania's agent and representative in England, to lobby for an act banning the importation of slaves into the colonies. In his letter to Fothergill, he attached Benjamin
Rush’s pamphlet, Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements, upon Slave-
Keeping. Rush was a prominent Pennsylvania physician and later a Patriot who initiated a friendship with Franklin as a medical student in London in 1766, seeking his patronage.
Franklin was impressed with Rush’s abilities and study habits, and their correspondence branched out to cover a host of social and political subjects for the next quarter century.
While both men were emerging abolitionists, this is the only time they corresponded on the issue of slavery in the surviving records.
Evidently, Benezet sent Rush’s pamphlet in his letter to Franklin, though Franklin had already received it in May 1773 from Rush himself, who wrote Franklin that the piece was “written at the Request of Anth: Benezet to promote and accompany a Petition to our Assembly to put a more complete Stop to the Importation of Negro Slaves into the
Province.”96 Rush included an anti-slavery letter to the French abolitionist and publisher
95 Benjamin Franklin, “To Anthony Benezet,” February 10, 1773, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 20:41. 96 This was the petition that Benezet asked Franklin to lobby for. Whether he did or not is unknown,
81
Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, Franklin’s French translator who promptly published it. In his reply, Franklin briefly added a note of his “hope in time that the Friends to Liberty and
Humanity will get the better of a Practice that has so long disgrac’d our Nation and
Religion.” Franklin again wrote Rush in July 1774 that he had “transmitted to our Friend
Dubourg at Paris what you transmitted to me for him.”97 In Franklin’s July response to
Benezet, the esteemed doctor wrote of his receipt of “the pamphlets [which Benezet sent] for which I thank you.” Franklin is “glad to hear that such humane Sentiments prevail so much more generally than heretofore, that there is Reason to hope Our Colonies may in time get clear of a Practice that disgraces them, and without producing any equivalent
Benefit, is dangerous to their very existence.”98 The second part of the sentence demonstrates further Franklin’s increasing antipathy towards slavery than he had previously expressed to Benezet. Franklin remains firmly entrenched in his newfound view of the immorality of slavery, but now he claims that slavery is not only immoral and disgraceful but produces no real benefit and is even “dangerous to [the colonies’] very existence.” Franklin had long defended slavery on economic grounds and abhorred it only for clouding the racial purity of the New World. Through the influence of Benezet, he now completely denied the economic advantages of the slavery system, which had once formed the linchpin of his defense of the practice.
though it seems probable that he did as Benezet requested. The bill did not pass, but an act doubling the duty on imported slaves did pass. It was disallowed after a year. Benjamin Rush, “From Benjamin Rush,” 1771, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 20:193. 97 Benjamin Franklin, “To Benjamin Rush,” July 14, 1773; July 22, 1774, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 20:314; 21:250. 98 Benjamin Franklin, “To Anthony Benezet,” July 14, 1773, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 20:296.
82
Nothing more is heard of the relationship between the two men until 1781. A letter from Benezet survives, dealing with personal matters and asking Franklin to forward a package. Two letters from Benezet in May 1783 also remain. The first dates to the fifth of the month, and the second, sent on May 8, is a restatement of the first, as
Benezet evidently thought his first letter might never reach its intended recipient, a common occurrence at the time. Benezet covers personal matters, his religious beliefs and social views before turning to the subject of slavery at the end of the letter. “The object of Slavery is still an object worthy the deepest consideration, of a philosophic mind,” he tells Franklin, before summarizing his opposition to the practice, and argues that the South could indeed have a functioning economy without the system. In the second letter, he requests that Franklin “give an item to the king of France (and such of his ministers who are blessed with feeling hearts) who I believe is a well disposed prince, what an honour it would be to him and his country if he would take the lead in putting an end to that unreasonable, inhuman and dreadful traffick.”99 The “item” appears to refer to
Benezet’s previous letters and writings on the subject of slavery. Franklin may have agreed with his dedicated friend, but he certainly never presented any abolitionist writings or sentiments to the King of France, probably because by this date – when he was negotiating the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War – Franklin was mostly interested in preserving and continuing the Franco-American alliance. Troubling the king
99 Anthony Benezet, “From Anthony Benezet,” May 5, 1783; May 8, 1783, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 39:560-561; 39:575-576.
83 and his ministers to advocate a radical social cause was hardly a priority. With this letter, the surviving correspondence between the two men concludes. Benezet died in 1784.
Whether Benezet connected Franklin and Sharp or not remains a matter of conjecture. Franklin was still in London at this point, as was Sharp, and little record of their relationship exists from this era. It is possible that they met occasionally, but only three letters between the men from this period survive, two of which are letters of introduction from Sharp, sending promising young men Franklin’s way. The earliest of the three extant letters, dating to January of 1775, reads in its entirety: “Dr. Franklin presents his respectful Compliments to Mr. Sharp, with many Thanks for the Copy of his excellent Work, of which he desires 50 may be sent him; with a Bill of what he is indebted.”100 The “work” referred to was probably a revised version of Sharp’s pamphlet,
A Declaration of the People's Natural Right to a Share in the Legislature; Which is the
Fundamental Principle of the British Constitution of State. In July 1774, Franklin had sent copies of the pamphlet to Thomas Cushing, a prominent Massachusetts politician and Franklin friend, because he thought “it may be of Use in America to see what
Sentiments are entertained” in Britain on republican government. Franklin may have even financed the printing of the pamphlet, as he wrote to Cushing that “I have been at some
Expense in promoting the Publication,” at a time when Franklin was finally joining many of his countrymen in support of the revolution.101 The day after he authored the letter to
100 Benjamin Franklin, “To Granville Sharp,” January 21, 1775, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 21:453. 101 Benjamin Franklin, “To Thomas Cushing,” July 27, 1774, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 21:262.
84
Cushing, he wrote his sister and lifelong frequent correspondent, Jane Mecom, adding a postscript noting “the enclos’d Pamphlets were encourag’d by me, being written by
Friends of mine, and printed at my expense.”102 The pamphlets are not named, but the timing and context indicate they probably included Sharp's treatise. In February 1775,
Franklin sent the pamphlet to Thomas Viny, a carriage maker and friend of Mary
Stevenson, Franklin's London landlord and close friend, noting that the pamphlet “may occasionally be of use to the Friends of Freedom here.”103 By 1774, before any correspondence between the two men has survived, Franklin was possibly financing the publication of at least some of Sharp’s writings and was definitely distributing fairly large numbers of copies among his correspondents for them to pass along to potentially sympathetic readers. That Sharp was a friend of the American cause likely played a role in cementing the relationship.
Unfortunately, just as with Benezet, most of the correspondence between Franklin and his American contacts is no longer extant, and any useful letters further expounding on Franklin’s developing anti-slavery ideology are lost to history. The correspondence with Sharp has partially survived, beginning in 1785 and running until Franklin’s death, as discussed below.
102 Mecom (1727-1794) was Franklin’s favorite sibling and kept him abreast of issues and opinion in the colonies during his time in England and France. Franklin often wrote to her, particularly in the 1770s, of the many rumors and accusations that circled around him, and of his frustrations with the usually ridiculous charges. The correspondence between the two is one of the more illuminating of Franklin's private side and his personal thoughts and troubles in his vast correspondence. For more on Jane, see: Jill Lepore, Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013). Benjamin Franklin, “To Jane Mecom,” July 28, 1774, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 21:265. 103 Benjamin Franklin, “To Thomas Viny,” February 12, 1775, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 21:487.
85
Franklin corresponded more widely on the subject at the time. In April 1773, he wrote to Richard Woodward, a prominent Anglican clergyman in Dublin who was an active supporter of many radical causes, including abolition and government-led efforts to aid the poor. Franklin begins the letter by introducing the “printed Piece, and a
Manuscript, both on a Subject you and I frequently conversed upon, with similar sentiments, when I had the Pleasure of seeing you in Dublin.” In 1771, Franklin had embarked on a tour of Ireland, and met with Woodward. The very next sentence sets the context: “I have since had the satisfaction to learn that a Disposition to abolish Slavery prevails in North America,” again presumably using information from Benezet, and “that many of the Pennsylvanians have set their Slaves at liberty,” which was probably an overly optimistic claim. Even the Virginia Assembly “have petitioned [the] King for
Permission to make a Law for the Preventing the Importation of more Slaves into that
Colony.” Ever the realist, Franklin concedes that the bill will probably fail, as “the interest of a few Merchants here has more Weight with Government than that of
Thousands at a Distance.” This letter is significant, for it provides the only direct evidence that Franklin held anti-slavery views before 1772. His letter to Benezet in 1772 is simply the first one between the two men that has survived. Franklin’s reference to speaking on slavery to Woodward, an abolitionist, and having shared his sentiments in
1771 helps to narrow down the time of his conversion to anti-slavery.
In 1774, Franklin responded to a 1773 inquiry from Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicholas
Caritat, the Marquis de Condorcet, a mathematician and writer who was a member of the
86
French Académie des Sciences, regarding several social and scientific subjects.104 As to the Marquis’s interest in how freed black people lived in America, Franklin wrote that
“the Negroes who are free live among the White People, but are generally improvident and poor. I think they are not deficient in natural Understanding, but they have not the
Advantage of Education. They make good Musicians.”105 Franklin’s response to the
Marquis echoes his thoughts on the natural capacities of blacks that he expressed to
Waring in 1763. In a period where even most abolitionists believed in the natural inferiority of non-white races, Franklin again readily expresses his radical view that the lower intellect of blacks was the result of their servitude and lack of education. The system of slavery was debilitating to the intellectual development and advancement of blacks, not nature. The implication is that if afforded the same opportunities and education as whites, African-Americans are in no way inferior. The gap in intelligence between white and black was a result entirely of nurture, not nature.
Throughout this decade, Franklin relied on Benezet for more than inspiration.
That he routinely included Benezet’s belief that abolition was becoming a more prevalent sentiment, and even on occasion wrote that it was the “prevalent” viewpoint in the colonies, such as in his letter to Woodward, shows that much of his information on slavery in the colonies came from Benezet. Franklin repeated this claim in much of his correspondence during the period in which he came to fully embrace abolition, applying
104 Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicholas Caritat, “From the Marquis de Condorcet,” December 2, 1773 in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 20:489-491. 105 Benjamin Franklin, “To the Marquis de Condorcet,” March 20, 1774, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 21:151.
87 significance to it. While unquestionably knowledgeable on slavery in the Americas,
Benezet was a highly biased source, an idealist and ideologue pushing what was at the time a radical agenda. Franklin may well have overestimated just how popular abolition was in the colonies during this time, though abolitionism was certainly on the rise.
Regardless, the association with Benezet clearly helped propel forward his own abolitionist sentiments. Franklin had been in Europe since 1764, and was out of touch with his homeland. Just as Franklin underestimated the revolutionary currents flowing through the colonies until his return in 1775, so too did he likely overestimate the growing anti-slavery sentiments. But the growing popularity of abolition among his circle finally pushed Franklin into an abolitionist stance, a position he had been growing closer to since the late 1750s.
Franklin’s Writings during the War Years, 1776-1786
For several years, Franklin had been consumed with the growing discord between
Great Britain and its American colonies. Franklin remained in London until he landed in
Philadelphia in May 1775, just weeks after the outbreak of war. He served as a member of the Continental Congress and was on the five-man committee that drafted the
Declaration of Independence before he was dispatched to France as the American plenipotentiary in December 1776, after only a year and a half on American soil. By the time of his departure, Franklin was seventy years old, a birthday few individuals of the eighteenth-century lived long enough to see. Advanced in age, wracked with gout and focused on efforts to gain French support, recognition, and later, entry into the war,
88
Franklin had little time for his scientific interests or to fight against slavery. So little concern did he have for the matter, in light of world politics, that when the King of
France abolished the last vestiges of slavery in his kingdom, Franklin’s only recorded remark on the subject was “who would have thought a few Years since, that we should live to see a King of France giving Freedom to Slaves, while a King of England is endeavoring to make Slaves of Freemen!”106 He was more concerned with drawing a parallel to the colonial fight for freedom than in the event itself or its significance to the abolitionist cause. Consequently, few of Franklin’s writings during this period contain any meaningful commentaries on the slave trade or slavery.
When either slavery or Africans are mentioned in Franklin’s writings during the
American Revolution, it was often to illustrate British atrocities, either real or imagined.
In a 1779 plea from Franklin and his fellow commissioners to the French Foreign
Minister, Charles Gravier Comte de Vergennes, the Americans claimed that the British incited “Negroes and Indians to commit inhuman acts upon our inhabitants.”107 In 1780, the Congress asked Franklin to design a school book with thirty-five prints illustrating
British war atrocities of all kinds. With the aid of the Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat who, with Franklin’s support and letter of recommendation, became
Washington’s aide-de-camp and served with distinction as a Major General with the
106 Benjamin Franklin, “To James Lovell,” October 17, 1779, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 30:548- 549. 107 Benjamin Franklin, “The American Commissioners to Vergennes,” January 9, 1779, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 28:359.
89
Continental Army, Franklin drew up a list of twenty-six points.108 Some of the claims were true, many others palpably ridiculous. The tenth attacked the British use of slaves in the effort to suppress rebellion in the colonies. Listed as a British cruelty was
“Dunmore’s hiring the Negroes to murder their Masters Families,” alongside a list of proposed illustrations depicting “A Large House / Blacks arm’d with Guns and Hangers /
Master & his Sons on the Ground dead, / Wife and Daughters lifted up in the Arms of the
Negroes as they are carrying off.”109 Virginia Royal Governor Lord Dunmore’s 1775 decree that slaves who took up arms for the British would garner their freedom, not just for racial and social reasons but tactical ones, was a point of bitterness for many
Americans of the period. The caricature of blacks killing white men and abducting women and children certainly played to the fear slave owners had of slave uprisings.
While Franklin’s choice of illustrations seems to counter his ideas of natural-born equality and anti-slavery sentiments that had developed in the previous fifteen years, the piece is a draft for war-time propaganda targeting the British. The entire point was to portray atrocities and cruelty, true or otherwise, rather than to reflect nuanced social views of its authors. At the same time, it does reflect how deeply ingrained this conception of blacks was in colonial America, and the very real fear of slave uprisings in the South.
108 Lafayette was himself an abolitionist and a member of The Society of the Friends of the Blacks (Societé des Amis des Noirs) and wrote to Washington advocating the freeing of all American slaves in 1783 and even purchased land in French Guiana with the intent to free and settle former slaves as independent farmers. He supported the worldwide abolition of slavery until his death in 1834. 109 Benjamin Franklin and the Marquis de Lafayette, “Franklin and Lafayette's List of Prints to Illustrate British Cruelties,” May, 1779, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 29:591.
90
The subject of slavery appears in other contexts as well, but is never the main focus. Throughout the conflict, Franklin occasionally likens the impressment of prisoners into naval service to slavery and accuses Britain of trying to make slaves of all
Americans. Slavery is used as a tool of rhetoric to further political objectives, but no meaningful comments or analyses arise from these uses. Similarly, Franklin briefly attacked slavery in an unpublished 1782 essay that was distributed among some of his circle of friends. The untitled essay argues against privateering and posits that all
European countries should give up claims in the Sugar Islands and establish them as an international zone governing itself for the benefit of consumers all over the white world.
Franklin laments the many slaves that are “being crowded in Ships” and “perish in the
Transportation” to the sugar fields. Franklin also adopts the increasing emphasis abolitionists regarding the human catastrophe caused by “the Wars made in Africa for
Prisoners to raise Sugar in America.” The “numbers that die under the Severities of
Slavery” compel him to agree with the view of philosopher Claude-Adrien Helvétius that he can “scarce look on a Morsel of Sugar without conceiving it spotted with Human
Blood.”110 Although only one point among many he makes against the sugar trade, these were the only views on slavery that Franklin committed to paper during the war years, at least among his surviving papers.
110 A French philosopher whose widow, Madame Helvétius, was a close companion of Franklin's during his time in France. Benjamin Franklin, “Franklin's Thoughts on Privateering and the Sugar Islands: Two Essays,” July 10, 1782, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 37:619-620.
91
In the final peace treaty between Great Britain and the United States that ended the American Revolution, slavery is mentioned only in Article 7. Henry Laurens, one of
Franklin's co-commissioners, demanded a clause stating that Britain must withdraw her forces from the colonies “without causing any Destruction or carrying away any Negroes, or other property.”111 Franklin offered no objection, clearly seeing the welfare of southern slaves as being far less important than getting a tolerable peace treaty signed. Franklin had little to do with slavery in his official duties as Minister Plenipotentiary, and this is the closest he came to dealing with the issue in any meaningful way. Always a pragmatist, Franklin chose not to make an issue of slavery and argue with the southerner
Laurens, who demanded the clause protecting a vital property of wealthy southerners. In the interest of shaping a peace treaty tolerable to all sides, Franklin chose not to press the issue. It was a position that Franklin would take again five years later at the
Constitutional Convention. Franklin was not yet ready to put morality over results.
Montague and Mark Anthony
Nor was he ready to do so in his years in France. Franklin had two significant encounters with slavery during his stay in Europe, aiding in the recovery of an escaped enslaved person to return him to bondage, and in stark contrast, working to free a formerly enslaved person who had been picked up by the Paris police. While seemingly at odds, the two incidents show how Franklin primarily cared about the Revolution and
111 Benjamin Franklin and others, “Preliminary Articles of Peace,” February, 1783, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 38:386.
92 its cause, working in both cases to assist white men who were important to the American war effort.
In the early 1780s, nearly a decade since his 1772 writings expressing his new anti-slavery sentiments, Franklin aided in the recovery of a runaway slave. One of
Franklin’s many duties as Minister Plenipotentiary in France was to oversee American naval forces and privateers, most famously John Paul Jones. In 1780, Captain William
Robeson of the South Carolina Navy was in France, preparing to return to the United
States, a subject on which he wrote to Franklin in January of that year. On June 1st, just as Robeson was about to depart for his native country, he wrote to William Temple
Franklin, the twenty-year old grandson and secretary of Benjamin. Robeson “exspected to have parted this morning – but a very unexspected Circumstance has prevented it.” His
“little Negro Boy. . . last Night thought proper to step a one side” and may flee to “Passy, its having been the place of his former Master Residence.” Desperate to reclaim the services of “Montacue,” Robeson requested “a Singular favour indeed, that you woud be pleased to direct some person to secure him who shall be properly Rewarded for this trouble.”112 Just two days later, Robeson wrote to Temple that his search for Montague
“has been the principle Reason” he has not been able to speak to Temple personally or depart yet. Robeson has “heard within this hour he was gone toward Passey, I have sent the Bearer to make Search after him-I have also applied to the Police who has had a party out Since yesterday morning.” Regardless of whether the letter-bearer re-secures
112 William Robeson, “To William Temple Franklin (Unpublished),” June 1, 1780, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
93
Robeson’s property, the captain informs Temple he shall depart and begin the long voyage to South Carolina. If Temple and his father are able to find Montague after his departure, Robeson requests the Franklins “pray Oblige me by having him Secur’d or deliverd to Mr. Adams at Paris who has my direction what to do with him.”113 Evidently,
Temple dutifully shared the correspondence with his grandfather.
On July 22, Franklin wrote to Jean-Charles-Pierre Lenoir, the Paris chief of police, briefly informing him of events, and identifying Montague's present location.114
Lenoir jailed Montague at the petit Chatlet. Montague wrote to Franklin himself three days afterwards, from his cell. Montague, signing his name as “Jean, neigre de Mr.
Robson,” expressed his respect for the elder Franklin, pleading for his release from prison and promising to remain in the service of Robeson, a necessary requirement for
Montague's release from prison.115 Whatever Franklin may have done to affect
Montague's release has been lost to history. It is known that Montague was released and returned to his master’s service, with or without Franklin’s assistance.
Montague appears in the records again in August, 1781. Along with Robeson, he was made a prisoner by the British when the ship Marquis de Lafayette was captured in
June of that year. Robeson wrote to Franklin briefly of his ordeal, efforts to secure his
113 John Adams' apparent willingness to help is as surprising as Franklin's, if not more so. While Adams and Franklin were implacable political enemies and Adams resented Franklin's fame, Adams was strongly against the practice of slavery for his entire life.William Robeson, “To William Temple Franklin (Unpublished),” June 3, 1780, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 114 Benjamin Franklin, “To Jean-Charles-Pierre Lenoir,” July 22, 1780, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 33:96-97. 115 Jean Montague. “From Jean [Montague],” July 25, 1770, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 33:121- 122.
94 release and imminent departure for France.116 Sometime between August and September,
Robeson was again separated from his slave, a result of Montague running away for a second time, evidently deciding that a life of bondage in South Carolina was no more appealing than it had been the year before. In September, Temple wrote to Robeson that
Robeson’s associate “Mr. Raymond,” whose first name and identity remain otherwise unknown, “is just arrived, & has brought with him your black servant.” Curiously,
Temple notes that “They Boy seems desirous of returning to you, provided you send him some Money together with his Freedom. He says the later was his due immediately on his
Arrival in England.” It seems that Montague did not object to working for Robeson, but only to his status as an unfree and enslaved servant. Just as he did the year before,
Montague exhibited knowledge of the legal system and it can be surmised that he probably had received more education than most slaves of the period. His claim that he was freed “immediately on his Arrival in England” is a reference to the Somerset decision, which Montague used to argue that any person in bondage who touched British soil became permanently and irrevocably free. His demands and conditions delivered to
Robeson via Temple, Montague “has lodged himself somewhere in Passy, & purposes waiting 15 Days for your Answr. I offer’d him Bed & Board here without Expence, but would not accept of it.” Temple invites Robeson to write him of “your Intentions to this
Black Gentleman, who seems to have a very great Opinion of his Importance, & not very
116 William Robeson, “From William Robeson,” August 9, 1781, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 35:347-348.
95 willing to let himself be governed by me.”117 Montague’s decision to open negotiations with his master, acting as an equal, free man, was certainly not a common course of action for runaway slaves, and evidently frustrating to the Franklins.
Before Robeson was able to respond to Temple’s epistle, Temple dispatched a further update on Montague five days after his first letter. Montague, identified by
Temple as “Montgomery” has “at last taken my advice & is come to live here” at Passy with the Franklins. Montague “is very desirous of hearing from you: & I think you had best not delay sending for him, or he may be inticed away from you.” Montague’s services, whether as a barber or something else, for “he has already had several advantageous Offers made him; which tho’ he did not accept, yet he seem’d inclined; & at one time wanted my Consent, giving me for Reason, that he was tired of being idle.”
Temple relates that he “dissuaded him from taking such a Step,” but fears that only a
“dispatch on your Part may prevent his leaving you.” In the meantime, Temple has provided twelve livres for Montague to purchase some shoes and stockings, a measure for which Temple professes “no doubt” that Robeson will approve of, and by implication, reimburse the Franklins.118
Robeson replied on September 11, three days after Temple’s update, opening his correspondence with his thanks for the “kind favour” Temple extended him by dealing with Montague. Robeson seems primarily concerned with defending his conduct, writing
117 William Temple Franklin, “William Temple Franklin to William Robeson,” September 3, 1781, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 35:435. 118 William Temple Franklin, “William Temple Franklin to William Robeson,” September 8, 1781, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 35:456.
96 of his “Surprize at his Extraordinary Request from a Master Who has been to a fault both
Bountiful and kind.” Feeling that he has impinged on the busy Franklins too much,
Robeson informs Temple that he has delegated the matter to George Mason, the Virginia slaveholder and future delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Nonetheless, Robeson requests a final favor, asking that Temple and his grandfather “Use Your Influence with him that I mean as I have always told him to set him up in America in his Profession as a
Barber and when he Accumulates the sum I have advanced for him I would not Wish to
Retain him longer as a Slave.” Whether Montague did not believe he would be freed or simply saw staying in France as a better opportunity cannot be known. “Ussing What
Influence you have with this African Will be Adding to the Civilities Already Confirdd,” and will earn Robeson’s earnest thanks.119
This letter was sent before the arrival of Temple’s update, causing Robeson to dispatch a second letter that largely reiterated the first. After summarizing the contents of the September 11 correspondence, Robeson again takes the opportunity to justify his treatment of Montague, arguing that Montague should be grateful for Robeson’s conduct towards him. Had Montague “but the Gratitude of a Savage, he could not do less” than return to Robeson's service, “and the more Particularly after having pass’d from England to Passy at my Expence as per Account Rendred of Mr. Raymond.”120 As Robeson
119 William Robeson, “William Robeson to William Temple Franklin,” September 11, 1781, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 35:464-465. 120 William Robeson, “William Robeson to William Temple Franklin,” September 15, 1781, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 35:488-489.
97 provided his enslaved man with transportation out of England, Montague should be content with his lot in life and follow Robeson’s orders.
Mason may have been unable or unwilling to convince Montague to return to
Robeson’s service. On November 1, 1781 Temple wrote to Robeson about money
Robeson owed, and added “I lately saw an Acquaintance of yours who told me
Montaigne was in Paris, but I know not with whom. Can I be again of any service to you in forcing this Dog to return to his Duty; if so you will please to command.”121 The hostility directed towards Montague built up in the correspondence and was probably driven more by Temple’s desire not to have to deal with Robeson and his recalcitrant enslaved person than it was anything else. A week later, Robeson replied to settle his debt to Franklin and told Temple that “You have been Misinformd with Respect to Montague,
Nevertheless I am greatly Indebted to you for the Polite offer you hang out to me, shoud this been the Case in offering to Recover him again at Paris.”122 Where Montague was is unknown, but Robeson seems to have once again secured his slave, through the efforts of
Mason or some other means.
Robeson’s thanks of support should Montague run away again proved prescient.
In May 1782, Gurdon Mumford, the secretary of Jonathan Williams Jr., Franklin’s grandnephew then in Nantes, wrote to Temple of Robeson that “His Negro Boy Montagu ran away from him last night & he desires me to ask you, that if by chance you should see
121 William Temple Franklin, “William Temple Franklin to William Robeson (Unpublished),” November 1, 1781, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 122 William Robeson, “To William Temple Franklin (Unpublished),” November 8, 1781, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
98 or hear of him, he will take it as a particular Favor by your securing him untill you hear from him or Mr Williams.”123 A couple weeks afterwards in early June, Williams himself wrote to “my dear Billy” and included a postscript reiterating the point of Mumford’s letter, informing him that “Robesons man Montague has given him the Slip and is in
Paris” and including his opinion of the quite reluctant slave: “The Fellow is a Rascal and a Theif, if you can secure him pray do it without Loss of Time and I will be answerable.”124 Evidently, Robeson had at some point tasked Williams with dealing with
Montague’s frequent escapes. This third escape is the final one that appears in the surviving records. If there was a fourth attempt, Franklin certainly had no hand in dealing with the matter.
What happened to Montague remains a mystery. He does seem to have returned to
Robeson and a life of servitude, as in January 1783, Jonathan Williams, Jr. accused him of inciting a mutiny on a ship. One of Williams’s commercial and unarmed brigs had had its crew mutiny and steer the ship into a British port after the signing of the preliminary peace treaty. The British government had long encouraged mutinies on American ships, and allowed them to enter British ports and keep the full value of the cargo on board, a policy that had infuriated Franklin throughout his tenure in France. In a letter to Lord
Shelburne requesting his ship and cargo back which Williams sent to Franklin, he blamed a “negro lad,” Montague, for instigating the insurrection. Robeson owed Williams
123 Gurdon S. Mumford, “Gurdon S. Mumford to William Temple Franklin (Unpublished),” May 18, 1782, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 124 Jonathan Williams, Jr., “Jonathan Williams, Jr. to William Temple Franklin (Unpublished),” June 4, 1782, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
99 money, and Williams seems to have mistrusted the captain, who had lied to him in the past about financial affairs and attempted to smuggle his mistress on board one of
Williams’ ships. In truth, it had been four British sailors, former prisoners of war released from jail to crew the underserved ship, who had orchestrated the mutiny.125 Franklin wrote to Shelburne as Williams requested, but this is the last that is heard of Montague.
Whether he ran away again, secured his freedom in some other way, remained in
England, sailed to America or to his native France, or ever went into business as a free barber is unknown.
At the same time that Franklin was aiding Robeson in regaining his property, he also assisted Jonathan Williams, Jr. in securing the freedom of a black man that Williams employed as a servant and had once been his slave. In February, 1781 Williams wrote
Franklin that “the Procureur du Roi of this Place seeing my Servant Mark Anthony passing the street took it into his Head to order him to Prison because he is black.”126
Anthony has “been two Years with me and is well known by everybody in the Town, yet is to day taken up on an Edict of 1777, which forbids any Negroes from the french
Islands to be brought into the Kingdom & those that are brought in are order to be kept in
Custody ‘till sent out.” Williams is clearly angered by this chain of events and argues that
“Mark is a free subject of the United States and has as much right to protection as I have, he was born and baptized in my Fathers Family, & having lived with my Father 'till the
125 Jonathan Williams, Jr., “From Jonathan Williams, Jr.,” 1782, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 38:570-571. 126 The “Procureur de Roi” was the public prosecutor.
100
Age of twenty five he gave him a certificate to insure his Liberty in future.” Williams translated the document into French, but was apparently unable to secure Anthony’s release on his own, as “I request you to reclaim him from the proper Minister.” If unable to secure Anthony’s immediate release, or “if it is contrary to the Kings order to permit a free american who is black to inhabit this Country I will give security to send mark out of the Kingdom in 6 months or as soon as I can.” He fears the prosecutor who “threatens to send him to the West Indies and there have sold as a slave” intends to keep his word.
Williams pleads that Franklin will “interest Yourself for this poor Fellow, for as we were in Infancy in the same Family I have more attachment to him than to any other Servant & should be verey Sorry if he should lose his liberty,” evidently more concerned with the plight of Anthony than the loss of a servant’s services.127
On February 19, Franklin wrote to Williams that he had “mentioned the Other day the Affair of your Man to M de Renneval at M de Vergennes’s who informed me that I should apply to M. de Castries.” Franklin was unable to meet with Castries, but tells
Williams he is dispatching Temple to meet with the minister “expressly to obtain his
Order for the Release of the poor Fellow, which M. de Renneval assur’d me would meet with no difficulty.”128 The very next day, Temple wrote to Williams about the Franklins’ attempts to aid Anthony’s situation. Temple was “at Versailles Yesterday relative to the affair of your poor Black” and talked to Lenoir, the Paris chief of Police, who “opened
127 Jonathan Williams, Jr., “From Jonathan Williams, Jr.: Three Letters,” February 9, 1781, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 34:363-363. 128 Benjamin Franklin, “To Jonathan Williams, Jr.,” February 19, 1781, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 34:382.
101 the pacquet containing your letter, one from my Grandfather and the Certificates, & gave them him to read.” Lenoir “informed me that it was absolutely impossible for any Black whatever to stay in this Country, that arrived in it after the Edict of the King on that subject.” Temple “then solicited that he might be delivered up to you, on your giving
Security that you would send him shortly out of the Country.” Lenoir found this arrangement acceptable, and promised Temple that the proposition would be “complyed with and that the orders should be expedited that very Evening” authorizing Anthony to be released on the understanding that he would soon depart. On February 22, Temple returned “that poor Fellows Certificates” that declared his freedman status and a brief note of sympathy: “I most sincerely lament your being obliged to seperate from your old play fellow & faithful Servant.”129
A week later, a letter from Williams provides the conclusion of the story. He writes Franklin that he is “obliged to you for the trouble that you have taken about my
Man. I have got him again but am obliged to give Bond to send him away in 6 months.”
Although Anthony is now free, Williams is still rankled by the matter and upset with the
French laws governing blacks. “The conduct” of Lenoir “in this Business, has been a compound of weakness, ill humour & exultation low enough to disgrace the most contemptible Pettifogger.”130
129 William Temple Franklin, “William Temple Franklin to Jonathan Williams, Jr.,” February 20, 1781; February 22, 1781, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 34:384; 34:398. 130 Jonathan Williams, Jr., “From Jonathan Williams, Jr.,” February 28, 1781, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 34:407-408.
102
That Franklin would work to reclaim a enslaved person while simultaneously working for the release of a black freed man provides a startling contrast, but one mostly ignored by historians. Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner mentions Montague in her otherwise excellent “At the End, an Abolitionist?” essay to remark on the incident as Franklin’s only act of anti-slavery from 1773-1786, evidently based on an incomplete reading of the correspondence. During his time in France, “only one significant event – when he gave sanctuary to Montague, an abused fugitive enslaved person in France in 1781 – offers any indication that he was attentive to the issue of slavery.”131 Technically, Montague was indeed given sanctuary in the Franklin house, but it was not an act of anti-slavery, as the express purpose of bringing Montague there was to restore him to a life of bondage. Only
David Waldstreicher gives a full accounting of the affair, but he does not speculate on
Franklin’s reasons or its implications for his professed abolitionist views on slavery, but only that “even at the war’s successful close, Benjamin Franklin and his America ran further away from the mirror image that Jean Montague and his fellow fugitives presented them,” again focusing on the contradictions between slavery and the ideals of the American Revolution, not what it says about Franklin.132 Mark Anthony is given even more short-shrift in the scholarship. His name does not appear in Waldstreicher's three hundred pages, and he is entirely absent from most other scholarly accounts of Franklin’s long relationship with slavery.
131 Lapsansky-Werner, 273-298. 132 Waldstreicher, 224.
103
That these two men and Franklin’s involvement with them are mostly absent from the existing scholarship does not mean that they hold no significance or tell us little.
Certainly, they tell us little about Franklin’s intellectual relationships with slavery and race. More importantly, they show us what he actually did about the issue. Just as he owned slaves for at least nine years after he publicly came out against slavery in 1772,
Franklin’s life did not always align with his ideas. Most likely, Franklin was primarily interested in fulfilling the requests for aid of a close relative and an American officer who reported to him. Aiding Mark Anthony had more to do with Anthony being Williams’ servant and friend than it did with aiding a man punished for his race. Even this, however, tells us how deep Franklin’s anti-slavery sentiments were at this time. Ever the pragmatist, Franklin did not let his ideals interfere with management of the war effort. If he recognized that working to return and keep Montague in bondage was a contradiction of his views expressed to Benezet and in “The Sommerset Case and the Slave Trade,” then it was one he evidently lost little sleep over. Opposed to slavery Franklin may have been, but not strongly enough in the midst of the war effort to decline to aid Robeson in reclaiming his enslaved person on three separate occasions.
Franklin had one more known involvement with slavery during before the end of the Revolution. Edward Brigden, a London merchant and Franklin correspondent since at least 1777, had his estate “with My Negroes & land adjoining” in North Carolina seized by the new colonial government under a 1779 statute that allowed the government to seize land and property owned by Englishmen. Brigden appealed to Franklin, feeling it
104 necessary to “take the liberty to trouble you. . . requesting your kind interference” in the matter.133 Six weeks after this June 1782 letter, Franklin wrote to the governor of the state, Alexander Martin, appealing for the state to give Brigden back his “Lands on the
Sound in Cape Fear River, with his Negroes and Debts,” as Brigden has been “a particular friend of mine and a zealous one of the American Cause.”134 It seems that
Franklin forwarded a copy of this letter to Brigden a couple weeks later. In October,
Brigden wrote to Franklin thanking him for “the kind interest you have taken in my affairs in No. Carolina,” though “I fancy nothing will now be done until a Peace is made, which is not far off.”135 Franklin’s letter was unsuccessful, but the attempt reinforces the conclusions drawn from his involvement with Montague and Mark Anthony. Franklin was assisting a friend, one who had provided support to the American cause. As so many have done throughout history, in a time of war, Franklin again chose a path that diverged from his previously expressed ideals.
George and Franklin’s Ownership and use of Slaves, 1763-1781
But the final question for this period is: did Franklin continue to own slaves himself, even as he took a more decidedly more abolitionist perspective? And the answer, although unclear on the details, is an unambiguous yes.
It is in the 1760s that Peter and Jemima disappear from the historical record.
Franklin rarely mentioned his slaves in his writings, typically only doing so in letters to
133 Edward Brigden, “From Edward Brigden,” June 25, 1782, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 37:544. 134 Benjamin Franklin, “to Alexander Martin,” August 5, 1782 in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 37:703. 135 Edward Brigden, “From Edward Brigden,” October 23, 1782, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 38:243.
105 and from Deborah while Franklin was away from Pennsylvania. Franklin spent 1763 and
1764 in Philadelphia. If Peter and Jemima had been freed or died during this time, it is likely that no record would have survived to the present day, and it is entirely possible that they were either freed or passed away at a later date, or it is entirely possible that
Franklin freed the couple. The correspondence from the London trip reveals him to have been quite fond of Peter. The pair had been in his ownership since at least 1750 and, as
Franklin slowly came to recognize the evils of slavery during this period, it is plausible the pair were freed.
But Franklin remained a slave owner. Jemima was rarely mentioned in the correspondence between Deborah and Franklin, and she may well have continued in their service for years without any surviving evidence. Peter does not again appear in the historical record after the London trip, and so it is even possible that for whatever reason,
Peter was left behind in London, or he may have died. In either case, Peter was probably not in the Franklins’ employ. But a new slave, named George, either joined Peter in the
Franklin household, or took his place, in 1763.
As with Othello, it is Franklin’s memorandum book that shows how he acquired the last of his enslaved persons about which anything is known. An entry in the memorandum book records that Franklin received George as partial payment for money owed to the post office by James Parker, a Franklin friend who had worked for him at the
Pennsylvania Gazette, on April 6, 1763. Franklin valued George at one hundred pounds,
106 and paid a ten-pound duty upon his importation into the state of Pennsylvania.136 George was the last person Franklin is known to have owned.
George evidently became the primary, perhaps only, household servant of the family in Philadelphia. As with Peter, the surviving evidence for George comes from the correspondence between Deborah and Franklin. Thus, George does not appear again in the historical record until 1765, when Franklin once again left Philadelphia for London.
In February of that year, Deborah recorded that during the cold of winter, “Gorge” had to
“Cute and Clear a way” to the front door and fetched water from the pump. In Franklin’s absence, Deborah purchased a property bordering their house for the sum of nine hundred pounds, a transaction made without Franklin's knowledge but for which he later expressed his approval.137 The property was in need of renovation, and George was tasked to assist Deborah with the work. George assisted her for “several days… att the
New house a geting the roomes readey for the painter.” In August, Deborah again wrote to Franklin about her efforts at renovating the property, reporting that George’s work was evidently satisfactory, relating that he was “a leveling of it and it look much better then when I firste Come into it.” George also ran errands, took care of family business, and evidently made social calls for Deborah. In 1766 she sent him to check on a property owned by Franklin and rented out to an elderly couple, for the purpose of seeing “hough your good old man and woman. . . did.” In a letter from October, 1767, Deborah tells
136 Leonard Labaree, ed., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 2:341; 12:45. 137 Anthony & Deborah Syddon, “From Anthony and Deborah Syddon: Deed,” September 26, 1765, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 12: 283-286; Benjamin Franklin, “To Deborah Franklin,” April 6, 1766, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 13:233.
107
Franklin how a visitor left a “kee” for a “trunke” with George, indicating that he was responsible for taking care of visitors in Deborah’s absence. When visited by the same
“Mr. Parker” from which Franklin acquired George, Deborah reports in 1770 that Parker was too sick to travel to Maryland alone, so she sent George to accompany him.138
George was apparently trusted to stray far from home, while taking care of a sickly man who could do little to stop him from running away.139 Thus, for the most part, George seems to have fulfilled the role of a typical household servant, assisting Deborah with the day to day tasks and management of the Franklin household, much as Peter had done when in Philadelphia.
The health of their enslaved people seems to have been of concern, or at least some note, to both Franklin a Deborah. Just as Peter’s health on the 1756 Virginia trip was a topic of discussion, Deborah occasionally wrote Franklin about George’s health. In
October 1765 she wrote in a long letter updating Franklin on family and friends that
“Gorge has bin verey ill all so but got better [again].” In July of the next year, she again reported on George’s well being, relaying that she has been caring for him as “He has bin verey ill a bove two weeks and handeled verey severly in deaid.”140 Evidently, Deborah thought Franklin would want to know about George’s well-being. Unlike Peter, George does not seem to have ever traveled with Franklin, and so almost nothing has survived of
138 Deborah Franklin, “From Deborah Franklin,” February 17, 1765; August, 1765; January 12, 1765; October 13, 1767; June 13, 1770, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 12:45; 12:225; 13:34, 14:282; 17:175. 139 Deborah's concern for Parkers health was well placed. He died only a few weeks after she sent George to accompany him on his journey.William B. Willcox, ed., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 17:175. 140 Deborah Franklin, “From Deborah Franklin,” October 8, 1766; July 14, 1766, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 12:302; 13:338.
108 the relationship between the two men. Franklin does briefly mention him in passing in an
April 1766 letter, relaying a joke about Deborah and George counting all of his old breeches.141 Only Deborah’s letters provide hints.
Occasional references to George run throughout the 1760s. In February 1766
Deborah wrote that George helped with the planting of an orchard. She also reports that she and George disagreed about the construction of a small bridge. While a slave, George was evidently allowed the freedom to speak his mind to a degree and disagree with
Deborah. Indeed, her letters make George seem to be more of a co-worker and friend than a servant. In this February letter, she also writes that “We difer in that all so indead his marraig [is of no] servis to him nor aney one eles but one thing I beleve thair is like to
[be no] more Gorges which is sume Comforte to me.”142 The passage demonstrates that even while arguing with George over two separate matters, Deborah does seem to have held him in high regard. Perhaps more intriguing is the mention of George’s wife, about whom almost nothing can be determined. Whether his wife was also an enslaved person of the Franklins, of someone else, or possibly even a free black person living in
Philadelphia is unknown. It is entirely possible that she was another enslaved person of the Franklins, even perhaps Jemima, had Peter died, but the fact that Deborah does not mention her by name seems to indicate otherwise. Deborah writes on June 30, 1772 that
“Gorge is a widdower and a dredfull Creyer but is a looking [better a?]gen but shante
141 Benjamin Franklin, “To Deborah Franklin,” April 6, 1766, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 13:233. 142 Deborah Franklin, “From Deborah Franklin,” February 5, 1766, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 13:118.
109 marry verey soon.”143 Whoever she was, George was evidently quite devoted to her and her memory. That Deborah again only mentions her as George’s wife seems to indicate that she was probably not an enslaved person of the Franklins, or, Deborah simply did not like her and did not choose to write about her. At this point George, the last of Franklin’s known slaves, disappears from the record. Franklin never again, in his surviving correspondence at least, wrote of or even mentioned the man in passing. This hardly seems surprising, as while George was the Franklins slave, he spent most of his time in
Philadelphia with Deborah while Franklin was in London. Upon Deborah’s death in
1774, George passed to the ownership of Franklin’s daughter, Sarah, who was often called “Sally,” and her husband, Richard Bache. In December of 1780, Sally wrote to
Temple that “The Family now all but old George seem tolerably well. He has had the
Gout in his stomach,” the same disease that plagued Franklin in his later years.144 George died the next year, with no comment from Franklin.145 That Franklin did not simply free
George is telling. Although he was writing of his abolitionist sentiments at this time, these views were clearly not deep enough to preclude him from giving away or selling a fellow human being he owned instead of making him a freedman.
Finally, it is possible that Franklin, for a time, had a black servant in France. In a
February 1780 letter from George Scott, a British merchant and Franklin associate who
143 Deborah Franklin, “From Deborah Franklin,” June 30, 1772, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 19:192. 144 Sarah Bache, “Sarah Bache to William Temple Franklin (Unpublished),” December 26, 1780, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 145 Claude Anne-Lopez & Eugenia W. Herbert, The Private Franklin: The Man and his Family (New York: W.W. Norton, 1975), 293; Waldstreicher, 225.
110 occasionally called on him at Franklin’s residence in Passy, Scott added a postscript which read: “The Negro I sent with my last message has said he has offered his service to you. If this is the case I think it is my Duty to inform you he is not a Freeman & in other respects I believe, he would not suit.”146 Franklin did employ French servants, cooks, gardeners, and washerwomen, including his personal servant, Francois, but no record of an enslaved person or African in his service is extant.147 The correspondence between
Scott and Franklin continued, but no further reference to this person appears. The circumstances of the situation, whether Franklin ever used the man as a servant or slave, why the man would want to leave Scott for Franklin, and whether Franklin had any desire for his proffered service at all, must remain a mystery. If the man was employed as a servant by Franklin, he certainly did not serve the Minister Plenipotentiary for long. The letter must serve as little more than a curiosity, and a reminder of the gaps in the historical record.
Summary
While Franklin became, privately and publicly, an abolitionist in 1772, and perhaps a year or two before, the same pragmatism that drove him to finally embrace the idea also prevented him from doing much to further it. Franklin was too busy, especially for an elderly man who was now well past his life expectancy, during the Revolutionary
Era working to supply the American cause militarily and politically to expend much effort on social causes. Franklin almost surely recognized that abolition would simply
146 George Scott, “From George Scott,” February 1, 1780, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 31:434. 147 Benjamin Franklin, “Editorial Note on Franklin's Accounts,” in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 31:4.
111 have to wait for its time to come, and in the middle of the fracture between England and her colonies, and later the American Revolution, was not that time. While the support of the southern colonies was necessary to first win the war and then build the new nation, the stain of slavery blemished the ideals of freedom that ignited and were upheld as the theoretical justification for the Revolution. Franklin’s position as an abolitionist but one who put the Revolution and the practicalities of nation building first continued in force at the Constitutional Convention. It was only after the Convention, when the nation was at least ostensibly a united political state that Franklin would work to make abolition a reality.
112
Chapter 4: A Man Ahead of His Time (1787-1790)
The President of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society
After concluding a peace treaty with Great Britain in 1784, Franklin sailed across the Pacific to his home in Pennsylvania and national acclaim in 1785, relinquishing his duties in Europe to Thomas Jefferson. When asked if he was replacing Franklin,
Jefferson commented that he was merely Franklin’s successor, and that no man could replace the elder statesman. Upon his return from France, Franklin, now 79 years old, was not idle for long. In October 1785 he was elected unanimously to serve as the
President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, in effect the state’s governor, and held the office for the constitutional limit of three years. Benezet’s organization, the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage was reorganized in 1784 while Franklin was in France and renamed the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully
Held in Bondage, often shortened to the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. After his return to the United States, Franklin consented to be the organization’s largely honorary
President in 1787.148 Franklin provided something far more important than day-to-day work to the organization: his reputation and influence. One of the most famous and acclaimed men in the western world, Franklin’s influence and essays publicly and loudly condemning slavery certainly helped to publicize the issue and spread the influence of abolitionists. But before he embarked on his public crusade against a practice he had once
148 Brands, 703-704.
113 practically supported, Franklin had one more role to play in the founding of the new republic.
The United States Constitutional Convention
If there was ever a moment to once and for all resolve the issue of slavery, to show the ideals of the Revolution and that all men are indeed created equal, it was at the
Constitutional Convention. Here in one room gathered representatives of all the states, and though their mandate was to simply amend the existing Articles of Confederation, the delegates quickly embarked on a far more ambitious path to design a new structure for the federal government. By 1787, Franklin was fully enmeshed in the abolitionist cause and was only second to General Washington in the respect he earned from the majority of the delegates. By this time, Franklin’s age and health was taking a profound toll on him.
His position was largely honorary and he rarely engaged in active debate. He had to be carried in a sedan chair to the Pennsylvania State House each day, and frequently fell asleep during the proceedings. Nevertheless, Franklin did speak up several times and offered several appeals to harmony, working to keep the delegates united and soothe over divisive issues. Franklin was always a pragmatist, and this mindset was on full display at the Pennsylvania State House. He toyed with the idea of proposing a statement of principle that would push the fledgling nation towards emancipation, but his better judgment and the advice of several friends, including a member of the Pennsylvania
Abolition Society, convinced him otherwise.149 He never pushed for abolition or brought
149 Richard Beeman, Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution (New York: Random
114 the issue of slavery up at the convention itself, realizing that any clause ending slavery or even limiting the practice, would almost certainly cause the southern states to split from their northern counterparts and refuse to join a union in which their economic and social system would be overthrown.
Slavery, 1787-1788
Outside of the pressures of governmental creation, however, Franklin’s writings on slavery during this period close the curtain on his conversion to the cause of abolition.
For over a quarter century now he had been opposed in some way to the practice and encouraged the education of African Americans but he finally publicly and fully endorsed the cause. Gone where the contradictions of earlier years, the willingness to compromise and put the issue on the backburner during the revolution. Gone were his own enslaved laborers. There is no hesitation in Franklin’s writings and actions, no sign of contradictory thoughts or agendas. He was a full believer in natural rights and the rights of all to live their lives free. While these works are not particularly illustrative of what caused him to embrace abolition and his changing views over his lifetime, they are some of his best writing on the matter of slavery and must be examined briefly to understand just how much Franklin’s mind had changed by the end of his own life.
In his office as President of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, Franklin lobbied for the end of the slave trade and signed correspondence between the society and other abolitionist groups and influential leaders. Most likely, Franklin did not author most of
House, 2009), 201.
115 these documents himself – signing them ex-officio for the society – but he used his influence to further a cause he now devoted his last few years to. Many of his published pieces harken back to the individuals and groups whom Franklin had written to decades earlier, when he was just beginning to consider the issue of slavery. In April 1786, for example, the Associates of Dr. Bray sent him a letter thanking him for securing a favorable lease for more land.150 In October 1787, Franklin wrote to John Waring, the
Bray Associates secretary he had corresponded with more than twenty-five years earlier, about the Pennsylvania Abolition Society's land dealings, and provided an update on the success of the school and efforts to keep it running, writing that “[t]he School is full, and many applying for Admission. It is conducted, we believe, to general Satisfaction.”151
In April 1787, he signed the society’s revised Constitution in his role as President.
The document did more to stipulate how the society would be run, how meetings would be handled, what days they would meet, membership fees and other such internal manners than it did to end slavery or put forth a fully coherent message for why this must be accomplished. Nonetheless, the first paragraph is a heartfelt piece of idealism:
It having pleased the Creator of the world, to make of one flesh, all the children of men—it becomes them to consult and promote each other’s happiness, as members of the same family, however diversified they may be, by colour, situation, religion or different states of society. It is more especially the duty of those persons, who profess to maintain for themselves the rights of human nature, and who acknowledge the obligations of christianity, to use such means as are in their power, to
150 The Associates of Dr. Bray, “From the Associates of Dr. Bray (Unpublished),” April 4, 1786, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 151 Benjamin Franklin, “To John Waring (Unpublished),” October 22, 1787, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
116
extend the blessings of freedom to every part of the human race; and in a more particular manner, to such of their fellow-creatures, as are entitled to freedom, by the laws and constitutions of any of the united states, and who, not withstanding, are detained in bondage by fraud or violence.152
Although the words were perhaps composed by a secretary of the Pennsylvania Abolition
Society and not Franklin himself, they reflect his beliefs at the end of his life, focusing as all of his attacks on slavery now did, on its immorality and abhorrent violation of New
Testament and Enlightenment ideas. Franklin was evidently proud of the document, for he sent it to Granville Sharp and thanked him for his efforts in supporting the cause of abolition.153 In 1788, Franklin, in his role as the society’s President, sent a manifesto encouraging the Marquis de Lafayette to help support the cause of abolition in France, along with a copy of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society’s Constitution.154 That same year, he forwarded the society’s Constitution to New Hampshire Governor John
Langdon, who agreed with the Pennsylvania Abolition Society’s sentiments, and asked him to bar slave ships from docking in New Hampshire ports.155
The surviving records show Franklin handling his basic duties as president of the society. Although it is unlikely that he attended many of the meetings, he did need to sign and authorize many of the society’s documents and confirm new members. For example, on June 9, 1787, Tench Coxe, a friend and active member of the society, sent Franklin
152 The Pennsylvania Abolition Society, “From The Pennsylvania Abolition Society: Constitution (Unpublished),” April 23, 1787, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 153 Benjamin Franklin, “To Granville Sharp (Unpublished),” June 9, 1787, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 154 The Pennsylvania Abolition Society, “The Pennsylvania Abolition Society to Lafayette and — Dupont (Unpublished),” July 7, 1788, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 155 Benjamin Franklin, “To John Langdon,” October 25, 1788, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
117 several proposed honorary memberships for him to authorize.156 Franklin’s papers included letters to and from other like-minded societies, most prominently the London
Society for Promoting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, filled with statements of solidarity, promoting the creation of abolition societies in other nations, and coordinating arguments against the supporters of human bondage.157 The correspondence largely included updates on what was happening across the Atlantic and the growing popularity of abolitionist sentiments in Europe.158 Franklin and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society wrote to other international organizations as well, including the French abolitionist group
Societé des Amis des Noirs.159
In November 1789, the Pennsylvania Abolition Society and Franklin submitted a petition to the Pennsylvania Assembly, praising the legislature’s “Declaration set forth in the Act for the gradual Abolition of Slavery” and encouraging the state to provide
“continued Attention to the Situation of those who have been emancipated, in Order to form their Minds to Habits of Virtue and Industry, and to fit them and their Offspring for becoming useful Members of Society.” Although vague on specifics and what exactly the state should be doing, the petition declares that the society has a plan to improve the
156 Tench Coxe, “From Tench Coxe,” June 9, 1787, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 157 The London Society for Promoting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, “The London Society for Promoting the Abolition of the Slave Trade to the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (Unpublished),” February 28, 1788, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 158 The London Society for Promoting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, “The Society for Abolition of Slave Trade to the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (unpublished),” July 30, 1788, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 159 The Pennsylvania Abolition Society, “The Pennsylvania Abolition Society to Societé des Amis des Noirs,” December 3, 1788, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. In this letter, the Pennsylvania Abolition Society again sent a copy of its brief constitution. Evidently, the membership was quite proud of their manifesto.
118 skills and lives of freed blacks, and sought approval to incorporate so that they could better manage funds for this purpose.160
A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks
As President of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, Franklin also demonstrated his newfound public commitment to the cause by lending his name to “A Plan for
Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks,” issued on October 26, 1789. Less concerned with putting forth a coherent argument for abolition, the essay tackles the perhaps more difficult issue of how to enable freed blacks to function in white society and provide for their families after emancipation. With little introduction, Franklin and the society quickly call for the creation of four committees, the first of which shall “shall superintend the morals, general conduct, and ordinary situation of the free negroes” while offering “protection from wrongs, and other friendly offices.” Franklin also endorses “A
Committee of Guardians” in order to provide apprenticeships and train young, free black men with a proper trade. The Committee of Education shall, in Franklin’s model,
“influence them to attend regularly the schools” and “procure and preserve a regular record of the marriages, births, and manumissions of all free blacks,” making sure that freed blacks have a clear status and cannot be returned to their previous state of bondage.
Finally, the “Committee of Employ” shall “endeavour to procure constant employment for those free negroes who are able to work,” providing former slaves and free blacks with sources of income.
160 The Pennsylvania Abolition Society, “The Pennsylvania Abolition Society to the Pennsylvania Assembly,” November 24, 1789, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
119
Knowing that white Pennsylvanians would object to paying for these committees and services with a tax, the statement declares, optimistically, that “donations or subscriptions” from society members and sympathizers will be able to cover the costs.161
Although never implemented, Franklin’s public authorship of this document reveals how
Franklin's relationship with slavery changed in the years after the Constitutional
Convention. By 1789, Franklin’s ideas of universal rights and freedom, which grew throughout the revolutionary period and, in part, drove both his abolitionism and support for the American cause, had convinced Franklin of the righteous nature of abolitionism.
His activities with the Pennsylvania Abolition Society reveal him to be working out the practical means of effective abolition, having moved on from the moral debates in his own mind.
An Address To The Public
Less than a month later, on November 9, 1789, the society published an “Address to the Public,” composed by Franklin. Here Franklin argues that slaves cannot just be freed and released from bondage, as their years of servitude have left them unprepared for productive life as freed men and women. This concern would prove vexing for abolitionists and idealists for decades to come, even after the Civil War. For Franklin, freeing a enslaved person unprepared for any other life “may often prove a misfortune to
[the freed slave], and prejudicial to society.” The goal of abolitionists must be “to advise,
161 Franklin, Benjamin, “Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks,” in Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings ed. by J.A. Leo Lemay, (New York: The Library of America, 1997), 416- 417.
120 to qualify those, who have been restored to freedom, for the exercise and enjoyment of civil liberty, to promote in them habits of industry, to furnish them with employments” and to provide education to the children of slaves and freed blacks. Mostly consumed by seeking practical solutions for the problems presented by abolition, Franklin nonetheless makes sure to describe slavery as “an atrocious debasement of human nature,” a moral view that took decades for him to settle upon.162 The address reveals Franklin as a fully engaged abolitionist by 1789. Franklin’s moral outrage over slavery is evident.
Most of all, the address shows how Franklin progressed in the last years of his life to tackling the finer points of practical abolition. The primary issue now was not whether slaves should be freed, but, ever the pragmatist, how to do it and best prepare former slaves for life as free men in a white world. Franklin’s proposed solutions were rather extreme for his time. In an era when even most abolitionists were racists who supported the separation of the races, Franklin and his society proposed the full integration of all blacks into white society, as Franklin no longer seems to have desired the strictly white
Pennsylvania he had envisioned in the 1750s, but rather one in which all capable individuals were welcome.
Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim (1790)
Finally, shortly before his death, Franklin was prompted by another spurned effort by the Pennsylvania Abolition Society to write one of his greatest essays. On February 3,
162 Franklin, Benjamin, “An Address to the Public From the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage,” in Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings ed. by J.A. Leo Lemay, (New York: The Library of America, 1997), 414-415.
121
1790, the Abolition Society petitioned the newly-formed United States Congress to abolish slavery throughout the thirteen colonies. Under Franklin’s signature, but in a document probably written by another member of the society, the group attempted to take the slavery debate to the national level for the first time in the history of the United
States. The Congress declined to hear the petition, with even abolitionists offering little support, more concerned at this time with keeping the northern and southern colonies united. The Society’s petition, not surprisingly, failed.
As Franklin grew sicker, knowing that he was did not have long left to live, he did everything he could to see the final project of his life come to fruition. His open letter, To the Editor of Federal Gazette, but more commonly known by the name Sidi Mehemet
Ibrahim on the Slave Trade, composed under the pen name Historicus, was published in the March 23, 1790 edition of the Federal Gazette. In his final essay written for public consumption, Franklin’s wit and sarcasm are on full display. The article parodies the arguments and many of the exact words of James Jackson, the Georgia representative who led the fight against the abolition petition in the Congress. Franklin declares that he has noticed many similarities between Jackson’s speech on the house floor to that of the fictional Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim, a Muslim leader who rejected a petition from the “Erika”
(who represent the Quakers and abolitionists) advocating the abolishment of the enslavement of Christians. Using a reversal of situations that would have seemed ludicrous to his white American audience, though drawing on the reality of the enslavement of Europeans and Christians by the Barbary pirates from the sixteenth
122 through nineteenth centuries, Franklin repeats the arguments used in the colonies to justify the practice. Franklin, in the guise of Ibrahim, writes:
If we cease our cruises against the Christians, how shall we be furnished with the Commodities their Countries produce, and which are so necessary for us? If we forbear to make Slaves of their People, who in this hot Climate are to cultivate our Lands? Who are to perform the common Labours of our City, and in our Families? Must we not then be our own Slaves?
The similarity of this argument, certainly repulsive to plantation-owning Christians, but one typically used in the western world to justify the enslavement of African Americans, could not be missed by any reader.
After repeating the pro-slavery arguments that were prevalent at the time, Franklin concludes the satire with Ibrahim refusing to cater to a handful of Erika and declaring that slavery is in the interests of the state and its citizens: “the Divan came to this
Resolution; The Doctrine, that Plundering and Enslaving the Christians is unjust, is at best problematical; but that it is the Interest of this State to continue the Practice, is clear; therefore let the Petition be rejected.” Franklin was always at his literary finest writing satire. If his point had not yet been made abundantly clear, Franklin made sure to more explicitly tie his tale of Ibrahim into that of western slavery. Franklin asks if we may
“venture to predict, from this Account, that the Petitions to the Parliament of England for abolishing the Slave-Trade, to say nothing of other Legislatures, and the Debates then,
123 will have a similar Conclusion?” Franklin’s own view on that question was so blindingly obvious that nothing more need be said.163
The piece demonstrates how far Franklin had come by the end of his life, turning from the casual opposition of a few years before to his using the last weeks of his life to publicly plea for the end of the slavery system. One of Franklin’s best satires, the article shows the dedication of Franklin’s final years to eradicating slavery. Franklin died in
April, about a month after “Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim on the Slave Trade” appeared, which was his last public statement on any subject.
The Will
By the time he drafted his final will and codicil, Franklin was no longer a slave owner. Nowhere in the document is any person held in bondage by the Franklin’s mentioned. As the leader of the first and most prominent abolitionist society in the colonies, it certainly would have been strange for Franklin to still have held slaves in bondage at this point in his life. Indeed, the Pennsylvania Abolition Society prohibited any members from owning slaves. While many slave owners professed to be against slavery (Thomas Jefferson, most prominently in the American consciousness), none of these men were directly involved in the emerging fight to end slavery like Franklin was.
It is theoretically possible that he still owned slaves and did not include them in his will, but this stretches the bounds of credulity, and with no evidence to support it, must be summarily dismissed. Furthermore, the document does reference a slave, but it is not
163 Franklin, Benjamin, “Benjamin Franklin to the Federal Gazette (Unpublished),” March 23, 1790, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
124
Franklin’s. Richard Bache, Franklin’s son-in-law who had married his only daughter,
Sally, in 1767, was left significant financial assets, bonds and “all my musical instruments.” However, Franklin’s bequests were issued with a condition, “requesting that, in consideration thereof, he would immediately after my decease manumit and set free his negro man Bob.”164 So far had Franklin come in his life-long progression on the slavery issue that even in death he worked to free an enslaved man.
Summary
In contrast to prior chapters, the final three years of Franklin’s writings reveal not a progression towards anti-slavery but the culmination of an idea that developed over a lifetime. All things must come to an end, and it was the end of Franklin’s life that marked his full transition to being not just against the slave trade, but a staunch, public abolitionist. It was only when the time was right and abolitionism was coming to the national stage that Franklin attempted to make his ideals reality. Never in the records does one see a hint of reluctance, a trace of any doubt. Throughout Franklin is adamant in his moral and practical opposition to the practice, both in private and in public. First in accepting the position of President of an anti-slavery society and then his subsequent writings, most famously and articulately the Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim essay, Franklin publicly demonstrated his unconditional support for abolition. Even as he was clearly reaching the end of his accomplished life, Franklin dedicated his final public writing to the subject with one of his greatest satires. In his personal life, no contradiction is to be
164 Benjamin Franklin, “From Benjamin Franklin: Will and Codicil” July 17, 1788, in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
125 found now. Franklin was no longer a slave owner, and even stipulated that one of his heirs must free his enslaved person to inherit his share of the estate. He could not set free the enslaved Africans across the colonies, but as he died he could free Bob.
126
Conclusion
In his younger years, Franklin was largely indifferent to slavery. He owned slaves and showed few signs of opposing the practice. Franklin’s views gradually shifted as he aged and came to oppose slavery privately. During the final years of his life, realizing that slavery stood as a towering contradiction to the ideals of the Revolution, Christian morals, and the Enlightenment, Franklin dedicated himself to the abolition of slavery. By the end of his life, the Franklin who had envisioned a Pennsylvania without blacks and non-Anglo Saxon whites was replaced by a staunch advocate for abolition. Franklin's transition from an indifferent racial supremacist to an abolitionist who not only fought against slavery but preached racial integration was a slow one. Nonetheless, Franklin experienced an ideological growth throughout his life that most men of his time never did. While Franklin’s views on slavery evolved over time, his intellectual abhorrence for the practice did not interfere with his ownership of slaves for many years. For at least thirty years, Franklin was a slave owner. His status as a slave owner was contradictory to his abolitionist views, but it was a contradiction that was typical for many wealthy men of his time. Franklin’s knowledge of slavery’s evils was not enough for him to overcome the reality of slave ownership until near the end of his life, but Franklin fought harder to eradicate slavery than any of the other Founding Fathers. Beginning in the 1760s,
Franklin was driven by an increasing belief in the concept of universal human rights, as he slowly began to apply this idea to all people, even slaves. Driven by his belief in the universality of human rights as one of the fundamental principles of the American
127
Revolution, Franklin became an abolitionist. Like so many others among the northern
Founders, he did not immediately break away from the reality of his time and free his own slaves. But by the time of his death, he had taken that final step.
Surely, a large part of the reason that Franklin came to fight slavery only in the late 1780s was simply because he could. While he was in Philadelphia and then France dealing with first the fledgling Congress and then the French Court, serving a time- consuming and major role in the Revolutionary War, the elderly Franklin did not have much time to spend on a moral crusade, and was required to make many political compromises. Immediately upon his return from France in May 1785, Franklin was elected governor (the position was then called the “President” of the Supreme Executive
Council) of Pennsylvania in October. Franklin does not seem to have conducted much state business, and though he served until 1788, how much of an active role he took and when he effectively stopped governing the colony are in doubt. Veto power was not possessed by the president, and his duties consisted mainly of signing documents he was presented by others. Finally back home in the colonies and with the war won, the time was ripe for Franklin, even at age eighty, to take on something new.
By this point in time, Franklin’s qualms with slavery had been growing for decades. Franklin had a life-long knack for being in the right place at the right time. He was born in the right time and place, coming to an early retirement at the perfect time for his inquisitive mind and creative inventions to carry him to fame and renown. A latecomer to the Patriot cause, Franklin threw his full support behind it at the perfect
128 moment to secure his reputation at home and give himself a leading role in the cause. He arrived in Paris at the exact moment that the French were most predisposed to lend material aid to the American cause, returning home to America just when pro-American sentiment in Europe began to wane, and political support crumbled, arriving just in time to be a leading public face of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
His complex relationship with slavery was no different. Franklin was, at the least, entertaining abolitionist notions as early as the 1750s, but it wasn’t until thirty years later, when abolitionism was less of a radical idea and many northern congressman and other
Founding Fathers were in support of it, that Franklin took any active role in the cause, throwing his massive reputation and influence behind the cause. Only at the moment that the possibility of abolition or making serious progress towards that goal became viable did Franklin throw his weight behind the cause. This certainly was not coincidence.
Once he did though, Franklin advocated views that were extreme for his time even among abolitionists, arguing for not just the end of the slave trade and slavery itself, but for the equality of the races. Though a product of his times and a man who waited until anti-slavery efforts had realistic chances of success, Franklin’s ideas by the end of his life were far ahead of his times.
To say that changing social and political climates influenced Franklin’s mind does not mean his views were superficial. Franklin was always more of a practical man than he was a theorist. His intellectual feats and accomplishments were centered on creating useful inventions, his brilliant pen and sharp wit were always turned to offering practical
129 advice, not writing abstract philosophical essays. In the hundreds of pages of his surviving writings read for this thesis, almost none are dedicated to abstract ideas or theory for the sake of theory itself. It was very much in Franklin’s character to wait until abolition seemed a practical and realistic goal for him to seriously tackle the issue. It was also part of his character to throw all his abundant energy into tackling the issue as soon as he did so.
Franklin’s public adoption of the anti-slavery cause ultimately came down to timing. His own notions of the concept were slowly challenged and reshaped, as he came to oppose a practice he had once, if not intellectually supported, not opposed. Even as he slowly came to doubt the inferiority of blacks and the practice of slavery, he maintained his own status as a slave owner. It was only after his return from France, after the ideas raised by the American Revolution and his own personal experiences, including correspondence with any number of religious and activist figures, especially those working directly with black people and especially with the education of black children— representatives of one part of the future of America— had changed his opinion on the matter. He could not very well lead a serious effort to end slavery when the colonies were embroiled in an imperial conflict, even if it was that conflict that pushed anti-slavery views into the American mainstream. Once the conflict had ended, it was the right time, politically and personally. No longer a slave owner, Franklin was now free to dedicate himself to the cause and get on the right side of history, without the obvious hypocrisy of
Jefferson. His ideas were always sincere, but Franklin was above all else a pragmatic
130 man, though one who envisioned a better world and was willing to take risks. Franklin’s ideas progressed, but he only acted upon them when the historical moment was right, and it became feasible to truly have an impact in erasing the stain of slavery from the nation.
Today, Franklin enjoys a reputation as a man ahead of his time, and in many ways, particularly in regards to his scientific investigations, he was. Socially and politically, Franklin was very much a man of his times until his final years when he came to argue for views on race that aren’t out of place today, over two centuries later.
Although a famed “common man’s” philosopher and scientist, he was decidedly a pragmatist, whose efforts and work evolved with the prevailing winds. Just as he did not embrace the revolutionary cause until it was clear which way the winds were blowing,
Franklin only became an abolitionist when it was no longer an extremist political stance.
This is not to say that Franklin’s views were opportunist or in any way insincere. Franklin was an eminently practical man, a basic philosophy that he adhered to throughout his life.
Though a moralist and no stranger to idealist notions, he always threw his hard work and industry into practical projects that could make real differences.
While the political environment of the late 1780s made abolitionist sentiments more practical, it was Franklin's own changing views on individual rights that the
American Revolutionary period ignited that propelled him to seriously challenge a practice he had already been uncomfortable with. Franklin’s own ideals changed before he seriously tackled the matter of abolition, but the practical side of his character mandated that he would only devote himself to the cause when there was realistic chance
131 of propelling the vision he had found to be right years before. It was the final years of his life that saw the unity of the ideal and the real, as Franklin strove to right a great wrong.
132
Bibliography
Primary Sources All references to The Papers of Benjamin Franklin are to the print edition (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1959-present).
All references to The Papers of Benjamin Franklin are to the digital edition (Packard Humanities Institute: http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp). The digital edition is only used for those volumes that have not been printed as of 2017.
Achenwall, Gottfried. “Some Observations on North America, and the Colonies of Great Britain There (From Oral Information by Dr. Franklin),” February-April, 1767. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 13:346-377
Associates of Dr. Bray. “From the Associates of Dr. Bray,” 1766. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 13:516.
______. "From The Associates of Dr. Bray (Unpublished)," April 4, 1786. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
Bache, Sarah. “Sarah Bache to William Temple Franklin (Unpublished),” December 26, 1780. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
Benezet, Anthony. “From Anthony Benezet,” April 27, 1772. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 19:112-116.
______. “From Anthony Benezet,” May 5, 1783. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Ellen Cohn, 39:557-561.
______. “From Anthony Benezet,” May 8, 1783. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Ellen Cohn, 39:572-576.
Brigden, Edward. “From Edward Brigden,” June 25, 1782. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Ellen Cohn, 37:544.
______. “From Edward Brigden,” October 23, 1782. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Ellen Cohn, 38:243-244.
Caritat, Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicholas. “From the Marquis de Condorcet,” December 2, 1773. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 20:489- 491.
133
Colden, Cadwallader. “From Cadwallader Colden,” February 13, 1754. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 5:196-198.
Coxe, Tench. "From Tench Coxe (Unpublished)," June 9, 1787. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin, Benjamin. “An Address to the Public From the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage.” In Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings, edited by J.A. Leo Lemay, 414-415. New York: The Library of America, 1997.
______. “The American Commissioners to Vergennes,” January 9, 1779. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 28:358-360.
______. “Benjamin Franklin to the Federal Gazette (Unpublished),” March 23, 1790. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
______. “A Conversation On Slavery,” January 26, 1770. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 17:37-44.
______. “Editorial Note on Franklin's Accounts.” In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 31:3-5.
______. “Franklin's Thoughts on Privateering and the Sugar Islands: Two Essays,” July 10, 1782. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Ellen Cohn, 37:617- 620.
______. “From Benjamin Franklin: Will and Codicil (Unpublished),” July 17, 1788. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
______. “Extracts from the Gazette, 1730.” In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 1:184-189.
______. “Extracts from the Gazette, 1731.” In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 1:218.
______. “Extracts from the Gazette, 1732.” In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 1:271-280.
______. “Extracts from the Gazette, 1733.” In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 1:345-349.
134
______. “Extracts from the Gazette, 1734.” In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 1:376-383.
______. “Extracts from the Gazette, 1740.” In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree,, 2:291.
______. “Extracts from the Gazette, 1743.” In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 2:389-390.
______. “'Homespun': Further Defense of Indian Corn,” January 15, 1766. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 13:44-49.
______. “Last Will and Testament,” April 28, 1757. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 7:199-205.
______. “Marginalia,” 1769. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 16:276-326.
______. “Marginalia,” 1770. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 17:317-400.
______. “A Narrative of the Late Massacres,” June 30, 1764. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 11:42-69.
______. “Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c,” 1751. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 4:225-234.
______. “On Conversation,” October 15, 1730 In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 1:178-181.
______. “Pennsylvania Assembly: Address to the Governor,” February 11, 1756. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 6:397-400.
______. “Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks.” In Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings edited by J.A. Leo Lemay, 416-417. New York: The Library of America, 1997.
______. “Poor Richard Improved,” 1765, In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 12:3-12.
135
______. “The Somerset Case and the Slave Trade,” June 18, 1772. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 19:187-188.
______. “To Alexander Martin,” August 5, 1782. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Ellen Cohn, 37:703.
______. “To Abbot Upcher,” October 4, 1766. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 13:442.
______. “To Anthony Benezet,” August 22, 1772. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 19:269.
______. “To Anthony Benezet,” February 10, 1773. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 20:40-41.
______. “To Anthony Benezet,” July 14, 1773. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 20:296.
______. “To Abiah Franklin,” April 12, 1750. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 3:474-475.
______. “To Benjamin Rush,” July 14, 1773. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 20:314-316.
______. “To Benjamin Rush,” July 22, 1774. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 21:247-250.
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” March 21, 1756. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 6:425-426.
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” March 24, 1756. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 6:426-427.
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” March 25, 1756. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 6:427-428.
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” November 22, 1757. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 7:272-279.
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” January, 1758. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 7:367-370.
136
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” February 19, 1758. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 7:379-384.
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” September 6, 1758. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 8:133-146.
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” August 29, 1759. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 8:430-432.
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” March 28, 1760. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 9:37-39.
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” June 27, 1760. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 9:173-177.
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” May 11, 1765. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 12:126-128.
______. “To Deborah Franklin,” April 6, 1766. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 13:233-235.
______. “To Francis Hopkinson,” December 16, 1767. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 14:339-340.
______. “To Francis Hopkinson,” January 24, 1768. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 15:30.
______. “To Francis Hopkinson,” January 24, 1768. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 15:87-88.
______. “To The Georgia Assembly Committee of Correspondence,” August 10, 1770. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 17:203.
______. “To Granville Sharp,” January 21, 1775. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 21:453.
______. “To Granville Sharp (Unpublished),” June 9, 1787. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
______. "To John Langdon (Unpublished)" October 25, 1788. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
137
______. “To James Lovell,” October 17, 1779. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 30:547-550.
______. “To Jane Mecom,” July 28, 1774. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 21:264-265.
______. “To Jean-Charles-Pierre Lenoir,” July 22, 1780. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 33:96-97.
______. “To John Waring,” January 3, 1758. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 7:356.
______. “To John Waring,” June 27, 1763. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 10:298-300.
______. “To John Waring,” December 17, 1763. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 10:395-396.
______. "To John Waring (Unpublished)," October 22, 1787. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
______. “To Jonathan Williams, Jr.,” February 19, 1781. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 34:382.
______. “To the Marquis de Condorcet,” March 20, 1774. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 21:151-152.
______. “To Mary Stevenson,” July 7, 1761. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 9:327.
______. “To Mary Stevenson,” August 10, 1761. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 9:338-339.
______. “To Peter Collinson,” May 9, 1753. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 4:477-486.
______. “To Richard Jackson,” February 11, 1764. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 11:76-78.
______. “To Richard Woodward,” April 10, 1773. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 20:155-156.
138
______. “To Thomas Cushing,” July 27, 1774. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox 21:262.
______. “To Thomas Viny,” February 12, 1775. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 21:487-489.
Franklin, Benjamin and Deborah Franklin. “Memorandum Book, 1757-1776.” In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 7:167-168.
Franklin, Benjamin & Lafayette, The Marquis de. “Franklin and Lafayette's List of Prints to Illustrate British Cruelties,” May, 1779. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 29:590-593.
Franklin, Deborah. “From Deborah Franklin,” August 9, 1759. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 8:425.
______. “From Deborah Franklin,” February 17, 1765. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 12:45-46.
______. “From Deborah Franklin,” August, 1765. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 12:224-226.
______. “From Deborah Franklin,” October 8, 1765. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 12:299-304.
______. “From Deborah Franklin,” January 12, 1766. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 13:29-35.
______. “From Deborah Franklin,” February 5, 1766. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 13:116-118.
______. “From Deborah Franklin,” July 14, 1766. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 13:336-340.
______. “From Deborah Franklin,” October 13, 1767. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 14:278-283.
______. “From Deborah Franklin,” June 13, 1770. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 17:175-176.
______. “From Deborah Franklin,” June 30, 1772. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 19:192.
139
Franklin, William Temple. “William Temple Franklin to Jonathan Williams, Jr.,” February 20, 1781. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 34:384-385.
______. “William Temple Franklin to Jonathan Williams, Jr.,” February 22, 1781. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 34:397-398.
______. “William Temple Franklin to William Robeson,” September 3, 1781. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 35:435.
______. "William Temple Franklin to William Robeson (Unpublished)," November 1, 1780. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
______. “William Temple Franklin to William Robeson,” September 8, 1781. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 35:456.
Franklin, Benjamin, John Adams, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and Richard Oswald. “Preliminary Articles of Peace,” February, 1783. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Ellen Cohn, 38:382-389.
Georgia Assembly. “Ordinance of Georgia Appointing Benjamin Franklin Agent,” April 11,1768. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 15:94-97.
Georgia Assembly Committee of Correspondence. “From Georgia Assembly Committee of Correspondence,” May 19, 1768. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 15:132-137.
Georgia Commons House of Assembly. “Instructions To Its Agent,” May 10, 1770. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 17:137-139.
Jones, Noble Wimberly. “From Noble Wimberly Jones,” July 8, 1771. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 18:167-170.
Lay, Benjamin. All Slave-Keepers that Keep the Innocent in Bondage, Apostates. Evans Early American Imprint Collection. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text- idx?c=evans;idno=N03401.0001.001 (Accessed July 5, 2017).
Life, Thomas. "From Thomas Life,” November 30, 1770. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 17:293-294.
140
______. "From Thomas Life: Bill For Services,” January 24, 1771. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by William B. Willcox, 18:22-23.
The London Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. "The Pennsylvania Abolition Society to the Pennsylvania Assembly (Unpublished)," November 24, 1789. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
Mellon, Matthew. Early American Views on Negro Slavery: From the Letters and Papers of the Founders of the Republic. New York: Bergman Publishers, 1969.
Meredith, Hugh. “From Hugh Meredith: Dissolution of Partnership,” July 14, 1730. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 1:175.
Montague, Jean. "From Jean [Montague.]," July 25, 1770. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 33:121-122.
Mumford, Gurdon S. “Gurdon S. Mumford to William Temple Franklin (Unpublished),” May 18, 1782. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
Pennsylvania Abolition Society. "From The Pennsylvania Abolition Society (Unpublished),” April 23, 1787. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
______. "The Pennsylvania Abolition Society to Lafayette and – Dupont (Unpublished)," July 7, 1788. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
Robeson, William. "From William Robeson," August 9, 1781. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 35:347-348.
______. "From William Robeson," September 11, 1781. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 35:464-465.
______. "From William Robeson," September 15, 1781. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 35:488-489. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1959-present.
______. "To William Temple Franklin (Unpublished)," June 1, 1780. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
______. "To William Temple Franklin (Unpublished)," November 8, 1781. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
Rush, Benjamin. "From Benjamin Rush," 1771. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin,
141
edited by William B. Willcox, 18:22-23.
Sandiford, Ralph. A Brief Examination of the Practice of the Times. Evans Early American Imprint Collection. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text- idx?c=evans;idno=N02709.0001.001 (accessed July 5, 2017).
Scott, George. “From George Scott,” February 1, 1780. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 31:433-434.
Sturgeon, William. “From William Sturgeon,” August 22, 1757. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 7:252-253.
Syddon, Anthony & Deborah Syddon. “From Anthony and Deborah Syddon: Deed,” September 26, 1765. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 12:283-286.
Waring, John. “From John Waring,” January 24, 1757. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 7:98-101.
______. “From John Waring,” January 4, 1760. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 9:12-13.
______. “Minutes of the Associates of the Late Dr. Bray,” January 17, 1760. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Leonard Labaree, 9:20-21.
Williams Jr., Jonathan. “From Jonathan Williams, Jr.: Three Letters,” February 9, 1781. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 34:362-364.
______. “From Jonathan Williams, Jr.,” February 28, 1781. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, 34:407-408.
______. “From Jonathan Williams, Jr.,” 1782. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Ellen Cohn, 38:570-571.
______. “From Jonathan Williams, Jr. to William Temple Franklin (Unpublished)” June 4, 1782. In The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
Secondary Sources Abbot, William. The Royal Governors of Georgia, 1754-1775. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina, 1959.
142
Beeman, Richard. Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution. New York: Random House, 2009.
Brands, H.W. The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. New York: Anchor Books, 2000.
Bridenbaugh, Carl & Jessica. Rebels and Gentlemen: Philadelphia in the Age of Franklin. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965.
Fruchtman Jr., Jack. Atlantic Cousins: Benjamin Franklin and his Visionary Friends. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005.
Fry, Jennifer Reed. “Extraordinary Freedom and Great Humility’: A Reinterpretation of Deborah Franklin.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History & Biography 47 (2003): 167-196.
______. “Benjamin Franklin as Publisher and Bookseller.” In Reappraising Benjamin Franklin: A Bicentennial Perspective, edited by J.A. Leo Lemay, 98- 118. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1993.
Green, James N. and Peter Stallybrass. Benjamin Franklin: Writer and Printer. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2006.
Houston, Alan. Benjamin Franklin and the Politics of Improvement. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2008.
Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003.
Juhnke, William E. “Benjamin Franklin's View of the Negro and Slavery.” Pennsylvania History 41, no. 4 (October, 1974): 374-388.
Lapsansky-Werner, Emma J. “At the End, an Abolitionist?” In Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World, edited by Page Talbott, 273-298. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2005.
Lemay, J.A. Leo. The Life of Benjamin Franklin. 3 volumes. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.
Lepore, Jill. Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
143
Lopez, Claude-Anne & Herbert, Eugenia W. The Private Franklin: The Man and His Family. New York: W.W. Norton, 1975.
Nash, Gary B. and Jean R. Soderlund. Freedom by Degrees: Emancipation in Pennsylvania and It’s Aftermath. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Newman, Richard S. The Transformation of American Abolitionism. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Sassi, Jonathan. “With a Little Help from the Friends: The Quaker and Tactical Contexts of Anthony Benezet’s Abolitionist Publishing.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 135, No. 1 (January, 2011): 33-71.
Smith, Billy G. and Richard Wojtowicz. “The Precarious Freedom of Blacks in the Mid- Atlantic Region: Excerpts from the Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1776.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 113 (1989): 237-264.
Soderlund, Jean R. Quakers and Slavery: A Divided Spirit. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1985.
Van Horne, John C. “Collective Benevolence and the Common Good in Franklin’s Philanthropy.” In Reappraising Benjamin Franklin: A Bicentennial Perspective, edited by J.A. Leo Lemay, 425-440. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1993.
Waldstreicher, David. Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery and the American Revolution. New York: Hill & Wang, 2004.
Wise, Steven M. Though the Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Case That Led to the End of Human Slavery. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, 2005.
Wood, Gordon S. The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin. New York: The Penguin Press, 2004.