William Penn’s Legacy: Politics and Social Structure in Provincial Pennsylvania 1726-1755

"Yes. For me, Tully is a fascinating read, because his book puts the Pennsylvania Colony and its political struggles in perspective, and allows readers to situate Franklin in that setting. I leaned on it heavily for a couple of chapters when it came to trying to explain Pennsylvania politics, say from the 1740s, down to the founding of the United States, especially where Franklin was involved. But it’s of interest before that. You have these different kinds of colonies in America with either royal charters, or proprietary colonies where a family like the Penns would have a charter from the king, but they could run their colony in some ways independently of the government’s apparatus. And that created all sorts of struggles in Pennsylvania, when the governor of Pennsylvania Colony is insisting on certain views, and the legislature wants other things from the proprietors. And a conflict between the executive branch and the legislative branch of the government follows. That, in some ways sets into motion tensions similar to those between say, the monarchy and parliament, or even the British government and the legislature. “Franklin may have been a dissembler, or insincere in some ways. And that characterizes his diplomacy also in London and Paris at times” Those political dynamics are very useful to understand. But Tully also explores the different kinds of Protestants in particular—although there were also Jews and Roman Catholics in the colony. Penn set it up so there was great religious freedom, unlike other colonies that were either Anglican or Puritan. And, what wound up happening is that oftentimes the political polarization in Pennsylvania mapped onto different strains of Protestantism, with the Quaker Party being one group but with Presbyterians, reformed Lutherans, and more traditional Protestant groups, going with the Proprietary Party. Franklin was in the mix of that trying to situate himself with those groups. In the French and Indian War (or Seven Years War), which takes place between 1756 and 1763, which is a major turning point in relations between France and Britain, Britain gained control of a big swathe of North America after victory. The Quakers were ambivalent about that war, because they are pacifists and they were in this difficult situation of asking how they should defend a colony while holding on to Quaker beliefs at the same time? Franklin is really good at negotiating the Quaker interests with other groups and he may have been a dissembler, or insincere in some ways. And that characterizes his diplomacy also in London and Paris at times. But he was pretty good at reading people and getting things done. So that’s the reason why I think that book is so useful. He’s out of the news, in large measure. There’s not a lot written about Franklin these days. But during the anti-slavery protests surrounding various monuments last summer, at the University of Pennsylvania, where the main administrative building is called Franklin Hall, they didn’t demand that his statue be taken down. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter There’s also a statue on campus of George Whitefield, the evangelist, Anglican priest, famous for the first Great Awakening, who went back on his views of slavery to introduce slavery into Georgia. He used slaves to help with his orphanage in Georgia. The University of Pennsylvania decided during the controversy to take the Whitefield statue down. But they also decided to keep Franklin up, even though Franklin had slaves at one point in his life, and even traveled to London with those slaves. But he was later a president of the American Anti-Slavery Society, toward the end of his life. I think if you want to think about the American character, the American can-do spirit. Franklin embodies that America. When students in my courses encounter Franklin, they encounter somebody who explains a lot about the way America works. And there’s a way in which Franklin’s writing about Philadelphian and American politics or about family life captures something about the way American society works. And so in that way, he’s evergreen."