crown, Franklin saw an opportunity to run the Penns out of Pennsylvania.
Franklin never had forgotten Williamâs description of the Ohio Valley. With the French defeated, this area was English territory. He had discussed with friends in England the possibility of founding a colony there as William Penn had founded Pennsylvania. What better way to train his son than to inherit the responsibility this political experiment would leave him.
With haste, father and son set off on horseback for New Jersey, escorted by a royal cavalcade. Franklin would not miss this milestone. William mounted the steps of an old stone courthouse, where his commission was read aloud, and after a short speech, he claimed his post.
Franklin returned to Philadelphia, already longing to return to London. He tried to persuade Deborah to go with him. He was serious about spending the rest of his life there. In a letter to an English friend, he said, âWhy should that petty island, which compared to America is but like a stepping stone in a book, scarce enough of it above water to keep oneâs shoes dry; why, I say, should that little island, enjoy in almost every neighborhood, more sensible, virtuous and elegant minds, than we can collect in ranging a hundred leagues of our vast forests?â From Philadelphia, he assured Strahan, âIn two years at farthest I hope to settle all my affairs in such a manner, as that I may then conveniently remove to England, provided we can persuade the good woman to cross the seas.â
But the good woman, afraid of ships and water, refused to cross an ocean. Franklin began building a new house in Philadelphia, and Governor William Franklin soon was telling Strahan his father was planning to spend his remaining years in America.
By now, Franklin was fifty-nine, an old man in a century when most died in their forties and fifties. Yet Franklin did not act old. He had the burly, bulky vigor of middle age, despite a paunch that sometimes prompted him to call himself Dr. Fatsides.
When war with the Indians erupted on the Pennsylvania frontier, the need to tax the Pennsâ estates again became a problem in the colonyâs Assembly. Franklin, elected in absentia during his years in England, prepared the tax bill in accordance with his agreement with the Penns. Then he discovered the Penns had instructed their governor not to permit any taxation on their lands that exceeded the lowest taxes that individual owners paid on the cheapest land in the colony.
Infuriated but calm, Franklin marshaled his forces and rammed through a bill petitioning the king to remove the government of Pennsylvania from the Penns immediately. Despite the opposition of Penn supporters, the Assembly appointed Franklin to take the petition to London and secure approval from the king and his Privy Councilors. Franklin assured Deborah he would return within twelve months. Escorted by 300 men on horseback, he rode to Chester on the Delaware, where the ship, King of Prussia, waited. Cannon boomed as he went aboard, and the crowd sang a revised version of âGod Save the Kingâ:
O LORD our GOD arise,
Scatter our Enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their Politicks,
Frustrate such Hypocrites,
Franklin, on Thee we fix,
GOD Save us all
Thy Knowledge rich in Store,
On Pennsylvania pour,
Thou (sic) great Blessing
Long to defend our Laws,
Still give us greater Cause,
To sing with Heart and Voice,
GEORGE and FRANKLIN
GOD Save Great GEORGE our King;
Prosper agent FRANKLIN:
Grant him Success:
Hark how the Vallies ring;
GOD Save our Gracious King,
From whom all Blessings spring,
Our Wrongs redress.
Franklinâs political lieutenant, Joseph Galloway, and two friends, Thomas Wharton and Abel James, prominent Philadelphia merchants, boarded the ship with him and sailed down the Delaware to New Castle. This loyalty touched Franklin. On the night of November 8, alone in his cabin one worry nagged him: his daughter, Sarah, whom he called
Franklin never had forgotten Williamâs description of the Ohio Valley. With the French defeated, this area was English territory. He had discussed with friends in England the possibility of founding a colony there as William Penn had founded Pennsylvania. What better way to train his son than to inherit the responsibility this political experiment would leave him.
With haste, father and son set off on horseback for New Jersey, escorted by a royal cavalcade. Franklin would not miss this milestone. William mounted the steps of an old stone courthouse, where his commission was read aloud, and after a short speech, he claimed his post.
Franklin returned to Philadelphia, already longing to return to London. He tried to persuade Deborah to go with him. He was serious about spending the rest of his life there. In a letter to an English friend, he said, âWhy should that petty island, which compared to America is but like a stepping stone in a book, scarce enough of it above water to keep oneâs shoes dry; why, I say, should that little island, enjoy in almost every neighborhood, more sensible, virtuous and elegant minds, than we can collect in ranging a hundred leagues of our vast forests?â From Philadelphia, he assured Strahan, âIn two years at farthest I hope to settle all my affairs in such a manner, as that I may then conveniently remove to England, provided we can persuade the good woman to cross the seas.â
But the good woman, afraid of ships and water, refused to cross an ocean. Franklin began building a new house in Philadelphia, and Governor William Franklin soon was telling Strahan his father was planning to spend his remaining years in America.
By now, Franklin was fifty-nine, an old man in a century when most died in their forties and fifties. Yet Franklin did not act old. He had the burly, bulky vigor of middle age, despite a paunch that sometimes prompted him to call himself Dr. Fatsides.
When war with the Indians erupted on the Pennsylvania frontier, the need to tax the Pennsâ estates again became a problem in the colonyâs Assembly. Franklin, elected in absentia during his years in England, prepared the tax bill in accordance with his agreement with the Penns. Then he discovered the Penns had instructed their governor not to permit any taxation on their lands that exceeded the lowest taxes that individual owners paid on the cheapest land in the colony.
Infuriated but calm, Franklin marshaled his forces and rammed through a bill petitioning the king to remove the government of Pennsylvania from the Penns immediately. Despite the opposition of Penn supporters, the Assembly appointed Franklin to take the petition to London and secure approval from the king and his Privy Councilors. Franklin assured Deborah he would return within twelve months. Escorted by 300 men on horseback, he rode to Chester on the Delaware, where the ship, King of Prussia, waited. Cannon boomed as he went aboard, and the crowd sang a revised version of âGod Save the Kingâ:
O LORD our GOD arise,
Scatter our Enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their Politicks,
Frustrate such Hypocrites,
Franklin, on Thee we fix,
GOD Save us all
Thy Knowledge rich in Store,
On Pennsylvania pour,
Thou (sic) great Blessing
Long to defend our Laws,
Still give us greater Cause,
To sing with Heart and Voice,
GEORGE and FRANKLIN
GOD Save Great GEORGE our King;
Prosper agent FRANKLIN:
Grant him Success:
Hark how the Vallies ring;
GOD Save our Gracious King,
From whom all Blessings spring,
Our Wrongs redress.
Franklinâs political lieutenant, Joseph Galloway, and two friends, Thomas Wharton and Abel James, prominent Philadelphia merchants, boarded the ship with him and sailed down the Delaware to New Castle. This loyalty touched Franklin. On the night of November 8, alone in his cabin one worry nagged him: his daughter, Sarah, whom he called
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