The Political Thought of Benjamin Franklin

Too often dismissed as the least philosophic of the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin had a deep and lasting impact on the shape of American political thought. In this substantial collection of Franklin’s letters, essays, and lesser-known papers, Ralph Ketcham traces the development of Franklin’s practical–and distinctly American–political thought from his earliest Silence Dogood essays to his final writings on the Constitution and The Evils of the Slave Trade.

SKU
26285g

Benjamin Franklin
Edited, with Introduction and Commentary, by Ralph Ketcham

2003 - 528 pp. - Series: The American Heritage

Grouped product items
Format ISBN Price Qty
Cloth 978-0-87220-684-7
$49.00
Paper 978-0-87220-683-0
$12.50
Instructor Examination (Review) Copy 978-0-87220-683-0
$5.00

A reprint of the 1965 Bobbs-Merrill edition.

Too often dismissed as the least philosophic of the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin had a deep and lasting impact on the shape of American political thought. In this substantial collection of Franklin’s letters, essays, and lesser-known papers, Ralph Ketcham traces the development of Franklin’s practical–and distinctly American–political thought from his earliest Silence Dogood essays to his final writings on the Constitution and The Evils of the Slave Trade.

 

Contents:

Foreword. Introduction. Chronology. Selected Bibliography. Editor’s Note and Acknowledgments.

PART ONE: Business, Civic, and Political Leader, 1722-1757

Essays in The New England Courant, 1722-1723: Silence Dogood, Numbers Three and Nine, An Editorial, On Titles of Honor; The Busy-Body, Number Three (1729); The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency; Observations on Reading History (1731); An Apology for Printers; Junto Queries (1732); Natural Religion and Freedom of Thought (1735); Freedom of the Press (1740); The Character of Andrew Hamilton (1741); On Lawful Process (1742); The Evils of Taverns (1745); Speech of Miss Polly Baker (1747); Plain Truth; Proposals for a Volunteer and Republican Military Force; Advice to a Young Tradesman (1748); Education and the Public Good: pamphlet and letter to Samuel Johnson (1749); Hospitals, Charity, and the Public Good (1751); Criminals and Citizenship; Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind; Poverty and the Effects of German Immigration to Pennsylvania: letter to Peter Collinson (1753); The Social Value of a Religion of Good Works: letter to Joseph Huey; Evils of the Indian Trade; The Albany Plan of Union (1754); Reasons and Motives for the Albany Plan of Union; letter to William Shirley on the Place of the Colonies in the British Empire; Plan for Establishing English Colonies in the Ohio Valley; Humility and the Search for Truth: a letter to John Lining (1755); A Parable Against Persecution; The Rights of a Colonial Assembly; A Militia Act Protecting Conscientious Objectors; A Rebuke to Cowards and Idlers: letter to Augustus Spangenberg (1756); Franklin’s Political Principles; Popular Support and Resisting the Proprietors: letter to Peter Collinson.

PART TWO: Spokesman for America in England, 1757-1775

Conversation with a Noble Lord on Legislation for the Colonies (1757); The Social Value of Religion; The Vices of British Government and the Virtues of William Pitt: a letter to Joseph Galloway (1758); Friends and Foes of America in England: letter to Isaac Norris (1759); The Future of the British Empire in North America: letter to Lord Kames; The Interest of Great Britain Considered with Regard to Her Colonies and the Acquisition of Canada and Guadeloupe; The Barbarism and Injustice of ‘White Savages’ (1764); Royal Government Better than Proprietary Rule; The Foolishness of British Commercial Restrictions: letter to Peter Collinson; On Passage of the Stamp Act: letters to Charles Thomson and to John Hughes (1765); Repeal of the Stamp Act: letters in the London Gazeteer and the Public Advertiser (1765-1766); An Examination Before the House of Commons (1766); The American Interest in Parliament: letter to Joseph Galloway; On a Common Parliament for the British Empire: letter to Cadwallader Evans; The Uses of Paper Currency (1767); The Nature of the British Empire: letter to Lord Kames; America and British Politics: letter to Joseph Galloway; On Smuggling; Causes of the American Discontents Before 1768 (1768); The British Constitution; Corruption in Parliamentary Elections: Letters to Joseph Galloway; On the Labouring Poor; Riots in London over ‘Wilkes and Liberty’: letters to John Ross and to Joseph Galloway; Positions to be Examined, Concerning National Wealth (1769); A Strategy for Resisting British Oppression: letter to Samuel Cooper; Fables on the Mother Country and Her Colonies (1770); The Right to Vote; An Evil Parliament and a Good King: letter to Samuel Cooper; On Office-Holding: letter to Jane Mecom; The Seeds of a ‘Total Disunion’ Between Great Britain and America: letter to the Committee of Correspondence in Massachusetts (1771); A Realistic Appraisal of the British Empire: letter to Thomas Cushing; The Farmers of Great Britain and New England Compared: letter to Joshua Babcock; Toleration in Old England and New England; Advice to the Colonies: Union, Moderation, and Firmness: letter to Thomas Cushing (1773); Rules by Which a Great Empire May be Reduced to a Small One and An Edict by the King of Prussia; The Natural Right of Emigration; Defense of Franklin’s Career as Agent and the Loss of his Offices: The Hutchinson Letters, tract and letter to Thomas Cushing (1774); The Boston Tea Party: letter to the Committee of Correspondence in Massachusetts; A Final Plea to Preserve the British Empire: letter to Thomas Cushing; Some Good Whig Principles; On Corruption in England: letter to Joseph Galloway (1775); Great Britain and Europe at the Beginning of the American Revolution.

PART THREE: Revolutionist in America, 1775-1776

British Vices and American Virtues: letter to Joseph Priestly (1775); Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union; First Proposals for Peace with Great Britain (1776).

PART FOUR: Minister to France, 1776-1785

Comparison of Great Britain and the United States (1777); Franklin’s Candid View of His Mission in France: letter to Jan Ingenhousz; The American Revolution in Europe: letter to Samuel Cooper; The Alliance with France: letters to David Hartley, to Thomas Cushing, and to William Pulteney (1778); Diplomacy in Paris: letter to James Lovell; Parable Against English Proposals that America Break the French Alliance: letter to David Hartley (1779); Passport for Captain Cook; The Morals of Chess and Diplomacy; Washington’s Fame in Europe and America’s Future: letter to George Washington (1780); Franklin and John Adams on Franco-American Relations: letter to Samuel Huntington; On State Support for Religion: letter to Richard Price; Spain, The United States, and the Mississippi River: letters to John Jay; Franklin’s Diplomatic Service: Attack and Vindication, letters to Samuel Huntington and to William Carmichael (1781); On Betraying France to Secure Peace with Great Britain: letters to David Hartley (1782); British Barbarity during the American Revolution; Human Depravity in War: letter to Joseph Priestley; On Reconciliation between Great Britain and the Untied States; Progress, Prosperity, and Peace: letters to Sir Joseph Banks; Information to Those Who Would Remove to America; The Art of Diplomacy: letter to Comte de Vergennes; Proposals to Make War Less Likely and Less Destructive (1783); The Advantages of a Free Trade: letters to Comte de Vergennes and to Robert R. Livingston; Dispute with John Adams over Gratitude Toward France: letter to Robert R. Livingston; The Foundations of American Foreign Policy: letters to Thomas Mifflin, Samuel Mather and Charles Thomson; The Obligation to Pay Taxes: letter to Robert Morris; On Hereditary Societies and the Eagle as an American Symbol: letter to Sarah Franklin Bache (1784); On Dueling: letter to Thomas Percival; Selfish Interests, Commerce, Necessities, and Luxuries: letter to Benjamin Vaughan; Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America; Crime and Punishment: letter to Benjamin Vaughn (1785); The Legitimate Powers of Elected Assemblies: letter to George Whateley; American Loyalty to the Ancient English Liberties: letter to Francis Maseres.

PART FIVE: Sage at Home, 1785-1790

The Progress of Government and Prosperity in the United States: letters to Jonathan Shipley and to William Hunter (1786); The Internal State of America; Speeches at the Constitutional Convention (1787); The Constitutional Convention and the Foolishness of War: letter to Jane Mecom; On the Abuse of the Press: letter to the editors of The Pennsylvania Gazette (1788); A Comparison of the Conduct of the Ancient Jews and of the Anti-Federalists in the United States of America; On the New Constitution and Prospects for Government Under It: letters to friends in France; On Abuses of Freedom of the Press (1789); A Unicameral Legislature and Extension of the Sufferage; Education for Emancipated Slaves; On the French Revolution: letters to Jean-Baptiste LeRoy and to David Hartley; The Evils of the Slave Trade (1790).

Analytical Table of Contents. Index.

 

About the Author:

Ralph Ketcham is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and History, Maxwell School of Syracuse University.