The Interest of Great Britain Considered

From Wythepedia: The George Wythe Encyclopedia
Revision as of 13:46, 2 October 2013 by Lktesar (talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search

by Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a natural philosopher, writer, and revolutionary American politician.[1] He was extremely influential in American politics while in the colony and abroad. In 1757 Franklin went to Great Britain as a delegate from the Pennsylvania Assembly to negotiate terms of taxation. While in London, he found the British very ignorant about America, and he began a campaign to educate them.[2] His first work in this line, "A Defence of the Americans", was published in the London Chronicle and was considered “the grandest statement of Americanism in the colonial period.”[3] A second pamphlet, The Interest of Great Britain Considered, first published in 1760, “was partly responsible for convincing the British authorities to retain Canada rather than Guadeloupe at the conclusion of the Seven Years' War.”[4] Franklin's longest writing, historians also consider the pamphlet to be his "most influential.”[5]

Bibliographic Information

Author: Benjamin Franklin.

Title: The Interest of Great Britain Considered: with Regard to Her Colonies, and the Acquisitions of Canada and Guadaloupe, to Which are added, Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, Etc.

Publication Info: London: Printed for T. Becket, 1761.

Edition: Second edition; [2], 58 pages.

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Listed in the J. Royle Daybook, ordered by George Wythe, February, 1764 - Franklin’s Pamphlet.

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

View this book in William & Mary's online catalog.

References

  1. J. A. Leo Lemay, "Franklin, Benjamin (1706–1790)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004- ), accessed Oct 2, 2013. (Subscription required for access.)
  2. Ibid.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Ibid.
  5. J. A. Leo Lemay, "Franklin, Benjamin" in American National Biography Online (Feb. 2000- ), accessed Oct. 2, 2013. (Subscription required for access.)