Pennsylvania Politics and the Problems of Empire
Pennsylvania Politics and the Problems of Empire
Along with the previous and next chapters, this chapter discusses Franklin’s goals for Pennsylvania in negotiations with the Pennsylvania Proprietors, Crown, and Parliament. He was seeking for Pennsylvania an administrative policy that would establish—among all the colonies—an equable laboring and trading situation with Britain, in effect creating a commonwealth (and commonly held ideas about liberties and benefits) among all trading partners. Examining Franklin’s responses to Pennsylvania politics creates a backdrop to our understanding of his ideas about what ought to be the purposes and goals of empire, especially regarding manufacturing and commercial freedom, self-rule, and self-determination. Franklin’s work as a tradesman interested in social projects, his service to Philadelphia, and his concerns about the Assembly’s relationship to the Proprietors, especially as these related to the essential need to defend the Pennsylvania colony—these form the basis of this chapter.
Keywords: colonial Pennsylvania politics, colonial Pennsylvania economy, James Logan, Richard Peters, Pennsylvania Proprietary, Franklin’s Junto, Pennsylvania agriculture
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