The Examination of Benjamin Franklin
I. His Examination Before the House of Commons
Benjamin Franklin (1706–90)
(1766)
Born in Boston in 1706, died in 1790; settled in Philadelphia in 1729; Postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737; discovered the identity of lightning with electricity in 1753; proposed a “Plan of Union” at Albany in 1754; Colonial Agent for Pennsylvania in England, 1757–62 and 1764–75; Member of the Second Continental Congress in 1775; Member of the Committee which drew up the Declaration of Independence in 1776; Ambassador to France in 1776; helped to negotiate the treaty of peace with France in 1778; helped to negotiate the treaty of peace with England in 1783; President of Pennsylvania 1785–88; Member of the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
Note 1. First published in London in 1766 as “The Examination of Doctor Franklin.” Owing to the secrecy of the session of Parliament no clue was given in the pamphlet as to the place where the examination had been held, nor as to where or by whom the pamphlet was printed. J. Almon, who caused it to be printed, feared prosecution, but none having been begun, he next year printed the examination as having taken place “before honorable assembly relative to the repeal of the American Stamp Act in 1776.” A still later edition described the examination as having taken place “before an august assembly.” The pamphlet was reprinted in 1766 in several American cities, including Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and New London. In Pennsylvania it was said that the demand for it “from all parts of the province was beyond conception.”
It has been often stated that many of the questions propounded to Franklin had already been skilfully arranged for between Franklin and the enemies of the Stamp Act. But John T. Morse, one of Franklin’s biographers, says: “It does not appear that such prearrangements went further than that certain friendly interrogators had discussed the topics with him, so as to be familiar with his views. Every lawyer does this with his witnesses. Nor can it be supposed that the admirable replies which he made to the enemies of America were otherwise than strictly impromptu.” Burke likened the proceedings to “an examination of a master, by a parcel of schoolboys.” Franklin afterward said that the friends of the repeal “were ready to hug me for the assistance that I afforded them.” Among those that asked questions were Grenville, Townshend, North, Thurlow, and Burke. The examination closed on February 15, 1766. Abridged. [back]