Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Penn, 30 May 1754
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Penn, Thomas

Sir,
Philada. May 30. 1754
Mr. Peters has communicated to me a Paragraph of your Letter of Feby. 1. relating to a Plan desired by Sir Everard Fawkener, for the Extension of Correspondence, without any View to present Advantage. Immediately after the Treaty at Albany, Mr. Hunter and I are to proceed on a Journey thro’ all the Northern Colonies, to visit all the Post Offices, and see every thing with our own Eyes; after which we may be able to project some Plan of that kind, less imperfect than the best we can at present offer.
I beg Leave to return you my Thanks for your favourable Character of me to Sir Everard, and for the Assurances you are pleas’d to give me of your friendly Offices. If in any thing I could possibly be serviceable to you, it would give me great Pleasure, as I am, with the sincerest Respect and Esteem, Sir, Your Honour’s most obedient and most humble Servant
B Franklin
Honble. Thos Penn, Esqr
 Addressed: To  The honourable Thomas Penn Esqr  Proprietor of the Province of Pennsyl-  vania  London  per the Carolina Capt. Mesnard
Endorsed: Benjamin Franklin May 30th: 1754 P Collinson Green


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Alexander and Cadwallader Colden with Short Hints towards a Scheme for Uniting the Northern Colonies, 8 June 1754
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Alexander, James,Colden, Cadwallader

The Pennsylvania commissioners to the Albany Congress left Philadelphia on Monday morning, June 3, and arrived at New York on the afternoon of Wednesday, the 5th. Some of them, especially Richard Peters, were active during the next three days buying various goods for the Pennsylvania present to the Indians, apparently without Franklin’s assistance. On one of these days he and Peters met with their mutual friend James Alexander and the conversation turned “to the uniting the Colonies and the difficulties thereof,” as Alexander put it in a letter to Cadwallader Colden, June 9. Franklin thought he had a plan that might avoid some of those difficulties and promised “to set down some hints of a Scheme” for his friend. The result was the paper he sent, with a short covering note, to Alexander, June 8, the day before he left New York for Albany.
Franklin had believed in the need for some form of colonial union since at least 1751, when he had written James Parker describing a plan he thought might be effective. During the years that had elapsed the increasing menace of French encroachments could only strengthen his conviction, though he might develop or modify his ideas on the precise form a union should take and how it could best be put into operation. At some time between March 20, 1751, and June 8, 1754, he may have set down on paper the outline of a revised scheme, but there is no evidence that he did so. More probably his plan remained a matter of thought and possibly of conversation with friends until his talk with Alexander while on the journey to Albany, which resulted in the drafting of the paper printed below.
Precise comparison between the proposal of 1751 and that now sent to Alexander is impossible because the earlier version is couched in rather general terms and does not spell out the powers to be assigned to the new central agencies, though it does cover in broad language the same areas of Indian affairs and common defense. On most points which can be compared the two plans show no significant differences. The one striking exception is that Franklin believed in 1751 that the union should be a voluntary one, “entered into by the Colonies themselves,” while in 1754 he had become convinced that the plan, when perfected at Albany, should be “sent home, and an Act of Parliament obtain’d for establishing it.” Franklin was political realist enough to recognize, after his experiences with the Pennsylvania Assembly during that winter and spring on the matter of aiding Virginia against the French in the upper Ohio Valley, and after observing the narrow provincialism of the assemblies of some of the other colonies, that only the interposition of the mother country by act of Parliament could bring about such a union as he had in mind.

N York June 8. 1754
Mr. Alexander is requested to peruse these Hints, and make such remarks in correcting or Improving the Scheme, and send the Paper with such remarks to Dr. Colden for his sentiments who is desired to forward the whole to Albany to their Very humble Servant
B: Franklin

[Enclosure]
Short hints towards a scheme for uniting the Northern Colonies
A Governour General
To be appointed by the King.
To be a Military man
To have a Salary from the Crown
To have a negation on all acts of the Grand Council, and carry into execution what ever is agreed on by him and that Council.
Grand Council
One member to be chosen by the Assembly of each of the smaller Colonies and two or more by each of the larger, in proportion to the Sums they pay Yearly into the General Treasury.

Members Pay
——Shillings sterling per Diem deuring their sitting and mileage for Travelling Expences.
Place and Time of meeting
To meet —— times in every Year, at the Capital of each Colony in Course, unless particular circumstances and emergencies require more frequent meetings and Alteration in the Course, of places. The Governour General to Judge of those circumstances &c. and call by his Writts.
General Treasury
Its Fund, an Excise on Strong Liquors pretty equally drank in the Colonies or Duty on Liquor imported, or —— shillings on each Licence of Publick House or Excise on Superfluities as Tea &c. &c. all which would pay in some proportion to the present wealth of each Colony, and encrease as that wealth encreases, and prevent disputes about the Inequality of Quotas.
To be Collected in each Colony, and Lodged in their Treasury to be ready for the payment of Orders issuing from the Governour General and Grand Council jointly.
  Duty and power of the Governour General and Grand Council
To order all Indian Treaties.
   make all Indian purchases not within proprietary Grants
   make and support new settlements by building Forts, raising and paying Soldiers to Garison the Forts, defend the frontiers and annoy the Ennemy.
   equip Grand Vessels to scour the Coasts from Privateers in time of war, and protect the Trade
   and every thing that shall be found necessary for the defence and support of the Colonies in General, and encreasing and extending their settlements &c.
For the Expence they may draw on the fund in the Treasury of any Colony.
Manner of forming this Union
The scheme being first well considered corrected and improved by the Commissioners at Albany, to be sent home, and an Act of Parliament obtain’d for establishing it.


Title: James Alexander to Cadwallader Colden, 9 June 1754
From: Alexander, James
To: Colden, Cadwallader

Dear Sir
New York May [June] 9th 1754
I communicated yours of May 16th and 28th and my Answers to Mr. Pownal Mr. Peeters and Mr. Franklin.
Before I communicated them to Mr. Pownal, he had thought of forewith building one Vessel of force and sundry small Vessels to attend her, to prevent the boarding of the larger by Cannoes and Pereagoes upon Lake Ontario, and on the many good Consequences of that scheme, when I told him you had thought on nearly the same thing, which introduced the communicating them to him.

I had some conversation with Mr. Franklin and Mr. Peeter, as to the Uniting the Colonies, and the Difficulties thereof by effecting our liberties on the one hand, or being ineffectual on the other. Whereon Mr. Franklin promised to set down some hints of a scheme that he thought might do which accordingly he sent to me to be transmitted to you and it’s inclosed.
To me it seems extreamly well digested, and at first sight avoids many difficulties that had accur’d to me.
Some difficulties still remain. For Example there cannot be found men tolorably skilled in Warlike affairs to be chosen for the Grand Council. And there’s danger in communicating to them the Schemes to be put in execution for fear of a discovery to the Enemy. Whether this may not be in some measure remedied by a Council of State of a few persons to be chosen by the Grand Council at their stated meetings which Council of State to be allways attending the Governour General, and with him to degest before hand all matters to be laid before the next Grand Council, and only the General but not the particular plans of Operation.
   That the Governour General and that Council of State issue the Orders for the payment of Monies so far as the Grand Council have before hand agreed may be issued for any General plan to be executed. That the Governour General and Council of State at every meeting of the Grand Council Lay before them their Accounts and Transactions since the last meeting, at least so much of their Transactions as is safe to be made Publick. This Council of State to be something like that of the United provinces, and the Grand Council to resemble the States General. That the Capacity and Ability of the persons to be chosen of the Council of State and Grand Council be their only Qualifications whether members of the respective bodies that chuse them or not. That the Grand Council with the Governour Generall have power to encrease but not to decrease the Duties laid by Act of Parliament And have power to issue bills of Credit on Emergencies to be Sunk by the encreas’d funds bearing a small interest but not to be tenders. I am Dear Sir Your most Obedient and most humble Servant
Ja: Alexander


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Timothy, 14 June 1754
From: Timothy, Peter
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir
Charles-Town, So. Carolina, June 14. 1754
Your Favour of the 23th of April, by Capt. Robeson, has been received. Perhaps if you had been by when I read it, you would have pitied me; for my Concern was great, and very visible. I own you had some Reason to be so severe: But had you been in my Place, you might have acted as I did; Robeson came here under the Character of a professed Gamester; and Baddely’s Vessel is really bad; if there was so great a Risque in both; would it have been prudent in me to send by either? Then why did I not send by Haselton? He told me, he should sail on Monday; in the mean Time I endeavour’d to get a Bill, could get none; afterwards try’d for Dollars, of which there was hardly any to be seen, but got enough by Saturday Evening, the next Morning early he sail’d.

But my Case had like to look’d worse now than ever. Three Days ago Mr. Sinclair told me that Robeson, tho’ enter’d out for Philadelphia, was not going there. It was thought he intended for Hispaniola, or Santa-Cruz, &c. This Morning I was inform’d he goes for Philadelphia certainly; the Dollars I got to send by Haselton were gone; Messrs. Austin and Laurens, who promised me a Bill, upon examining their Accompts, had not above £10 to draw for; and no Other Merchant in Charles-Town had Money due in your City. I was again obliged to hunt for Dollars; but Dollars, (which are every Day scarcer) were not to be found. All this, without any Thing more would have plainly worn the Face of a Pretence. But, while I was complaining of my Difficulty, a Gentleman who had with great Pains collected some Dollars for London, told me he would spare me 50: These I have got, and with 15 more, I send you by Rudeman Robeson, as you desire, for which I will take a Receipt from him.
Mr. Sinclair is to receive the Money for the 20 Reams of Paper by Ross, saying, “you have ordered a Remittance in Bills to London, that therefore, and as the Paper was shipp’d to him, ’tis most proper to pay him.” And it is much easier to get our Currency for him, than Dollars.
I have but 8 Reams of your Paper left; and, if I could get Dollars, I have not Money now to purchase them; Therefore can’t send to you for more Paper yet: (Money comes in very slowly in Carolina, especially to me.) But, if you’ll send 20 Reams more to Mr. Sinclair by the first Opportunity, I’ll purchase it of him, as you proposed to me in your Letter before the last. And for the next Parcel will send Money to you. I believe the 65 Dollars I now send, will about Ballance my Account. Please send me the whole Debit and Credit as it stands when you receive this. Mr. Griffith had 5 Dollars of me, for which he was to send me two Barrels of Beer: As he did not send the Beer, please receive to the Five Dollars of him. I am in the greatest Hurry imaginable, or would write to him; but you’ll be kind eno’ to present my sincere Respects to him.
You may judge of my Hurry, when I tell you I am, (and have been these 4 Months) the sole Inhabitant of my Printing-Office, (excepting a Negro Boy whom I’m teaching to serve me at the Press.) I discharged my villainous Apprentice; gave him two Years Time, quitted all Claims on him for Monies received and gamed away, for Loss of Time, and Charges for taking up &c. &c. &c. A Lad very capable of the Business, and might have been of vast Service to me, but for 3 Years has always pulled the Contrary Way; owing to an unhappy Affection for Drink, Play, and scandalous Company.
My best Respects to your Fire-Side, and believe Me to remain Dear Sir Your most affectionate and obedient humble Servant
Petr. Timothy

Lyall did not come in. And Dun, came into the Road one Afternoon, and sail’d the next Morning.


Title: Proceedings of the Albany Congress, 19 June 1754–11 July 1754
From:
To:

James DeLancey had summoned the Albany Congress to meet on June 14, but its opening session did not take place until the 19th. The delay was caused chiefly by the failure of some of the Iroquois to come to Albany on time, but even the colonial representatives did not arrive until after the scheduled opening date. DeLancey himself landed from his voyage up the Hudson promptly enough, June 13, but none of the commissioners from other provinces are known to have arrived before the 15th, and some reached Albany only on the 17th. The next day DeLancey sent around Goldsbrow Banyar, the deputy secretary of the province, asking the commissioners to meet with him the following morning, Wednesday, June 19, to organize the Congress and proceed to business.
Some changes had taken place in the list of colonies participating in the Congress since the Board of Trade had directed that it be held. Virginia and New Jersey had declined to send commissioners, but DeLancey, acting on Shirley’s suggestion, had invited Rhode Island and Connecticut to be represented, and these self-governing colonies had accepted. Commissioners were therefore present from the four New England colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and from the two proprietary provinces of Pennsylvania and Maryland. DeLancey presided at nine of the thirty-two sittings and officially represented his province at the Congress, but four members of the New York Council also attended most of the sessions. To the displeasure of the delegates from other colonies, he did not formally commission these four, and in the records they are never referred to as “commissioners”; but they did participate in the deliberations and brought the total attendance to twenty-five.
The sessions took place in the Albany court house. For the first two days Banyar probably attended and took the minutes, but on June 21 Peter Wraxall was chosen secretary, and thereafter kept the official record. His rough notes have not been located, but on the next to last day of the Congress John Chambers of New York and Richard Peters of Pennsylvania were appointed to inspect Wraxall’s minutes; the next morning they reported themselves satisfied. Presumably each delegation received an official copy and the Congress ordered that all British governments on the continent might take copies of the whole or any part of the proceedings upon paying for them. It is not certain, therefore, how many official copies were made and certified by Wraxall. Five complete, or virtually complete, copies are known to survive, one incomplete document is probably the largest part of another; some other manuscript versions—uncertified copies or later transcripts of the whole or parts of the record—also exist. The entire text runs to over 20,000 words, not including the heading and attendance record of each of the thirty-two sittings. The text has been printed in full several times, and it seems unnecessary to reprint it here. Instead an abstract of the minutes for each session is given below, omitting entirely the substance of the speeches delivered to or by the Indians (which actually took place at separate gatherings) and indicating attendance or absence of particular members only when the fact seems pertinent. A few significant phrases or longer passages are marked as being direct quotations from the minutes. The texts of important documents are printed separately below under their own dates, with cross-references to them in the abstract.

Proceedings of the Congress at Albany. A.D.1754.
Texts of the Commissions:
Massachusetts: Samuel Welles, John Chandler, Thomas Hutchinson, Oliver Partridge, John Worthington.
  New Hampshire: Theodore Atkinson, Richard Wibird, Meshech Weare, Henry Sherburne, Jr.
  Connecticut: William Pitkin, Roger Wolcott, Jr., Elisha Williams.
  Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, Martin Howard, Jr.
  Pennsylvania: John Penn, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, Benjamin Franklin.
  Maryland: Benjamin Tasker, Abraham Barnes.

Wed. June 19, A.M. All above commissioners present except Hutchinson. Also present: Lieut. Gov. James DeLancey, and Joseph Murray, William Johnson, John Chambers, and William Smith, New York councilors. Commissions, part of Board of Trade letter, Sept. 18, 1754, and minutes of N.Y. Indian commissioners, June 15 and 18, read. DeLancey promises attendance of N.Y. secretary or agent for Indian affairs with records.
Same day, P.M. Whole of above letter of Board of Trade and above minutes of N.Y. Indian commissioners read and entered on minutes. Committee appointed to prepare draft of speech for DeLancey to make to Indians.
Thurs. June 20, A.M. Board adjourns without business.
Fri. June 21, A.M. Hutchinson attends for first time. Board agrees colonies should be named in minutes in north-to-south order. [Maine being part of Mass., that province takes precedence.] Peter Wraxall named secretary. Committee’s draft speech read; some objections made; no conclusion reached.
Sat. June 22, A.M. Draft speech agreed upon.
Mon. June 24, A.M. Thanks voted to Richard Peters for Sunday’s sermon; its printing desired. Oath to be administered to Wraxall.
Same day, P.M. Motion “that the Commissioners deliver their opinion whether a Union of all the Colonies is not at present absolutely necessary for their Security and defence” passed unanimously. DeLancey proposes building two forts in Indian country to protect Indians; Board determines to proceed on this question after considering some method for colonial union. Committee appointed “to prepare and receive Plans or Schemes for the Union of the Colonies and to digest them into one general Plan for the Inspection of this Board.” Members: Hutchinson, Atkinson, Pitkin, Hopkins, Franklin, and Tasker. DeLancey names Smith to represent N.Y.
Tues. June 25, A.M. Above committeemen all absent. Board adjourns without business.
Same day, P.M. All present. DeLancey’s proposed changes in draft speech read.
Wed. June 26, A.M. All Pa. commissioners and some others absent. Draft speech further considered.
Thurs. June 27, A.M. All commissioners present. Draft speech further considered.
Same day, P.M. Motion passed that members’ commissions be prefixed to record of Congress. Draft speech settled upon, read, and unanimously approved; text entered in minutes.
Fri. June 28, A.M. Members of committee on Union and some others absent. Board adjourns without business.

Same day, P.M. Committee on Union presents “short hints of a scheme for that purpose”; copies taken by commissioners of the respective provinces (see below, pp. 357–63).
Sat. June 29, A.M. Congress meets but adjourns to attend DeLancey while delivering speech to Indians.
Same day, P.M. Stockbridge (River) Indians reported in town; DeLancey asked to give orders for their support; Franklin a member of committee to inform him. Hints of Union scheme debated; no conclusion.
Mon. July 1, A.M. Franklin reports DeLancey’s opinion that Mass. should support River Indians while in town. But record shows that they usually attended treaties with Iroquois and that N.Y. governor addressed them. DeLancey agrees to make speech to them and order support, but expects commissioners of the several colonies to contribute to expense. DeLancey presents minutes of N.Y. Council, June 27 and 28, at which Lower and Upper Castles of Mohawks, respectively, were present, including speeches to and by Indians; texts entered in Congress minutes. Motion agreed to that “a representation of the present state of the Colonies” be prepared by same committee as that on Plan of Union. Plan of Union debated; no decision.
Tues. July 2, A.M. “After the debates held on the plan of an Union, it was moved; if the Board should proceed to form the plan of a Union of the Colonies, to be established by an Act of Parliament. Whereupon it was moved to put the previous question, which passed in the negative. The Question was then put, whether the Board should proceed to form a plan of a Union of the Colonies to be established by Act of Parliament which passed in the affirmative.”

Same day, P.M. Answer of Six Nations to DeLancey’s speech of June 29 read and text entered in minutes; debated; same committee as that for DeLancey’s speech is appointed to draft reply.
Wed. July 3, A.M. Draft speech read and sent to DeLancey for opinion. He with two N.Y. councilors and several commissioners, all previously absent at this session, take their seats. DeLancey’s proposed additions and the draft speech read, debated, and other additions proposed by various commissioners. Text of speech as agreed to inserted in minutes.

Thurs. July 4, A.M. Plan of Union further debated.
Same day, P.M. Plan of Union further debated. Board adjourns to attend DeLancey while Indians address him and them.
Fri. July 5, A.M. Indian rejoinder of yesterday (chiefly to DeLancey’s speech delivered on July 3) read and inserted in minutes. Board considers Plan of Union but does not finish.
Sat. July 6, A.M. No New Yorkers present. DeLancey sends speech planned to deliver to River Indians; agreed to with a small addition. DeLancey also sends word that provisions available for the Indians are exhausted and he can maintain them no longer; Board agrees to take over support of Indians at Albany. Committee presents a “representation of the present State of the Colonies”; ordered to lie on table for consideration of commissioners. DeLancey’s draft speech for Iroquois this afternoon is presented with request for suggested alterations; he plans to read them N.Y. act concerning sale of rum to Indians and recommends Upper Castle of Mohawks’ request for a church. DeLancey also sends approval of addition proposed to speech to River Indians; text of his message inserted in minutes. Hutchinson and Franklin to prepare answer to DeLancey on draft speech to Iroquois; Hutchinson reports proposed answer, which is unanimously agreed to and text entered in minutes.
In spite of the pledge of July 9, some of the same Indians and others granted to representatives of Connecticut’s Susquehannah Company on July 11, 1754, a large tract within the bounds of the Pennsylvania patent, from the 41st to the 42nd parallels and from ten miles east of the Susquehanna River westward for two degrees of longitude or 120 miles. Julian P. Boyd, ed., The Susquehannah Company Papers (Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1930–33), I, lxxxiv–lxxxv, 101–21. This grant was a major basis for a protracted dispute between Pennsylvania and settlers from Connecticut.

Same day, P.M. N.Y. councilors present with commissioners. Message from DeLancey read: he had sachems of Canajoharie Castle at council meeting yesterday and, after two meetings, principal cause of uneasiness (a controversy between “some Germans and one Teady Magin, relating to an Indian purchase”) had been settled to mutual satisfaction; he had promised to look into other complaints upon returning to New York and do justice; says Indians were now satisfied; text of message entered in minutes. Board adjourns to attend interview with Scaticook and River Indians.
Mon. July 8, A.M. DeLancey’s proposed speech to Iroquois and their complaints considered; Board informed that William Livingston and William Alexander, two of heirs of Philip Livingston, patentee of lands on which Canajoharie Castle stands, attend on request and declare willingness to give up rights to such parts as may be thought necessary. At DeLancey’s request one commissioner from each colony is appointed to be present with him when he asks these Indians if they are satisfied. DeLancey’s proposed speech to Iroquois submitted July 6 debated and alterations recommended on sale of rum to Indians and church for the Canajoharies. “Representation of the present State of the Colonies” again read but no final resolution agreed to. Answers of Scaticook and River Indians to DeLancey’s speech of July 6 read and texts entered in minutes.
Same day, P.M. Consideration resumed on Plan of Union but not completed. Proposed speech to Iroquois returned with Board’s proposed changes; ordered to lie on table for further consideration. Committee appointed to attend DeLancey’s conference with Canajoharie Indians reports that Indians express willingness “to try one year more” with DeLancey but if they are “neglected as they used to be,” they will send to the commissioners of other colonies for help; they agree to this because they do not wish to show differences with the English before the French Indians who are in Albany; DeLancey repeats promise to look into their affairs. Board adjourns to attend interview with Iroquois.
Tues. July 9, A.M. DeLancey, Johnson, and Chambers of N.Y., Partridge of Mass., and Hopkins of R.I. absent. Record of conference with Iroquois of “yesterday evening” and answer to Scaticook Indians read and texts entered in minutes. Board notes for minutes that last part of latter document relating to manner of patenting lands was DeLancey’s addition after Board had approved draft. “The plan of the Union was debated and agreed upon, and Mr. Franklin was desired to make a draft of it as now concluded upon.”
Same day, P.M. All present except Franklin “absent by his appointment in the morning.” The draft of the Representation on the Present State of the Colonies “read and considered paragraph by paragraph, some amendments made, and the whole was agreed to and ordered to be minuted.” Text follows (see below, p. 368).
Wed. July 10, A.M. “Mr. Franklin reported the draught in a new form of a plan of a Union, agreeable to the determination of yesterday which was read paragraph by paragraph and debated and the further consideration of it deferred to the afternoon.”
Same day, P.M. DeLancey, the four New York councilors, and all commissioners present. Consideration of Plan of Union resumed; text inserted in minutes (see below, p. 387). “After Debate on the foregoing Plan: Resolved. That the Commissioners from the several Governments be desired to lay the same before their respective constituents for their consideration, and that the Secretary to this Board transmit a copy thereof with their vote thereon to the Governor of each of the Colonies which have not sent their Commissioners to this Congress.” DeLancey proposes that, agreeable to resolution of June 24, commissioners now consider building forts in Indian country. Resolved that “considering the present wavering disposition of the Senecas it was expedient that a Fort should be built in their Country at a Place called Irondequat or Tierondequat”; committee appointed to consider what further forts might be necessary, each colony delegation to name one member. Chambers and Peters appointed a committee to revise minutes “settled and agreed upon by this Board.”
Thurs. July 11, A.M. All present except Pitkin. Welles for committee on forts reports that after careful consideration committee believes several other forts are equally necessary, but “as there is no probability of their being effected in the present disunited state of the Colonies, and the General union may make some of them unnecessary,” committee does not believe Board should consider matter further at this time. Board accepts this report. Certain proposals from William Johnson relative to Six Nations and for defeating French designs and certain considerations offered by Thomas Pownall “towards a general plan of the Measures of the English Provinces” read to Board. Franklin asked to give Board’s thanks to Johnson and Pownall and to request copies for commissioners for consideration of their respective governments. All British governments in North America given liberty to take copies of the proceedings of this Congress, on paying for same. Records are to be deposited in N.Y. provincial secretary’s office when Wraxall leaves the province. Chambers and Peters report examining these minutes and finding them correct. Congress then “rose without any further adjournment.” Attested a true copy by Peter Wraxall, Secretary.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Cadwallader Colden, 20 June 1754
From: Colden, Cadwallader
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
Coldenghame June 20th 1754
I inclose the papers which I received from Mr. Alexander to be conveyed to you by the first opportunity to Albany. You will find that I make remarks with that freedom which I believe you expect from me that in case you find any weight in any of them you may make your scheme more perfect by avoiding reasonable exceptions to it and have the pleasure of adding this to many other well received schemes which you have formed for the benefit of your country. I hope in your return from Albany you may have time to stop a day or two at my house As you seldom can miss a passage from hence to New York if it should be inconvenient for your sloop to wait so long. By this you will give a very great pleasure to
  To Benjn Franklin Esqr  at Albany

[Enclosure]
Remarks on short hints towards a Scheme for uniting the Northern Colonies
Governor General
It seems agreed on all hands that something is necessary to be don for uniting the Colonies in their mutual defence and it seems to be likewise agreed that it can only be don effectually by Act of Parliament for this reason I suppose that the necessary funds for carrying it into execution in pursuance of the ends proposed by it cannot be otherwise obtained. If it were thought that the assemblies of the several Colonies may agree to lay the same duties and apply them to general defence and security of all the Colonies no need of an act of Parliament. Q[uery:] which best for the Colonies by Parliament or by the several assemblies.
The Kings Ministers so long since as the year -23 or-24 had thoughts of sending over a Governor General of all the Colonies and the Earl of Stairs was proposed as a fit Person. It is probable the want of a suitable support of the Dignity of that office prevented that scheme’s being carried into execution and that the Ministry and People of England think that this charge ought to be born by the Colonies.
Grand Council
Q. Is the Grand Council with the Governor General to have a Legislative Authority? If only an executive power objections may be made to their being elective. It would be in a great measure a change of the constitution to which I suspect the Crown will not consent. We see the inconveniences attending the present constitution and remedies may be found without changeing it but we cannot foresee what may be the consequences of a change in it. If the Grand Council be elected for a short time steady measures cannot be pursued. If elected for a long time and not removeable by the Crown they may become dangerous. Are they to have a negative on the Acts of the Governor General? It is to be considered that England will keep their Colonies as far as they can dependent on them and this view is to be preserved in all schemes to which the Kings consent is necessary.
  Place and time of Meeting
It may be thought dangerous to have fixed meetings of the Grand Council of all the Colonies at certain times and places. It is a Privilege which the Parliament has not, nor the Privy Council and may be thought destructive of the Constitution.
  General Treasury
Some estimate ought to be made of the Produce which may be reasonably expected from the funds proposed to be raised by Duties on Liquors &c. to see whether it will be sufficient for the ends proposed. This I think may be don from the Custom houses in the most considerable places for Trade in the Colonies.
Duties on Liquors &c. to see whether it will be sufficient for the ends proposed. This I think may be don from the Custom houses in the most considerable places for Trade in the Colonies.
  Manner of forming the Union
No doubt any private person may in a proper manner make any proposals which he thinks for the public benefite but if they are to be made by the Commissioners of the Several Colonies who now meet at Albany it may be presumed that they speak the sense of their constituents. What Authority have they to do this? I know of none from either the Council or Assembly of New York. However these things may be properly talkt of in conversation among the Commissioners for farther information and in order to induce the several assemblies to give proper powers to Commissioners to meet afterwards for this purpose.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from William Daniell, 23 June 1754
From: Daniell, William
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
Kingston 23rd. June 1754
In my Last of the 12th Ultimo I made proposal for Dealing with you for paper which if Convenient should be glad you would be as Expeditious as possible in Sending me the 50 Rms. of Demy Paper I wrote for as also a Sheet of Each sort of writing or printing paper you make with the prices per Rm. wrote on Each sheet as I am taking some things in hand for the Press I shall take it a favor if you would Let me know at onst the Lowest prices to save the Time a second Letter will take to Come to your hand. I am, Sir Your Most Obedient servant
William Daniell
PS. Send me a Cask of 50 or 100 lb. of Pott ash and 50 lb. Brasileto pounded.
 Addressed: To  Benjamin Franklin Esqr.  Philadelphia


Title: Sarah Sober to Richard Peters and Benjamin Franklin: Trust Agreement, 25 June 1754
From: Sober, Sarah
To: Peters, Richard,Franklin, Benjamin

June 25, 1754
Abstract: An indenture by Sarah Sober of Philadelphia, widow (called in this abstract the settlor) and Richard Peters and Benjamin Franklin (called the trustees). Whereas the settlor has assigned to the trustees two bonds, one dated Aug. 17, 1753, from Stephen Shewell and Hannah Fordham for £100 lent by her to him at interest, the other, dated Oct. 1, 1751, from Dr. John Redman for £50 also lent by her to him at interest; it is mutually covenanted and agreed that the two bonds are made over in trust for the following purposes: that the trustees, the survivor of them, and his executors and administrators will keep the said £150 at interest and reinvest the interest until one or more of the following contingencies occurs:
First, the settlor’s son John Sober has a natural son by Elizabeth Justice, widow; if this child should at any time be neglected by its parents, or not educated or provided for to the trustees’ satisfaction, the trustees shall apply so much of the interest (not the principal) to the maintenance and education of the boy, or the putting him out to apprenticeship, as they think proper. Second, if John Sober “thro’ Misfortune or Misconduct lose or Squander his Estate and Fortune and be reduced to Poverty,” the trustees shall have power to apply the whole principal and interest (or as much of it as they think proper) towards his support. Lastly, upon the death of John Sober the trustees shall pay over the unexpended principal and interest as follows: two thirds to the first child of the settlor’s daughter Mary, now the wife of Dr. John Redman, or for want of such issue, to the said Mary herself, her executors or administrators, or to such person as she may direct by her deed or last will; one sixth of the residue to the Academy of Philadelphia; the remaining one sixth to such person or persons and to such uses as the settlor has now ordered and directed by a private memorandum under her hand.

The trustees, the survivor of them, or his executors or administrators, shall not be answerable for any loss arising through defect in the securities now or hereafter taken for the moneys, nor be accountable for any more of the moneys than actually come into their hands severally and individually, nor be chargeable for the receipts of any of the others of them. Signed and sealed by Sarah Sober, Richard Peters, and Benjamin Franklin in the presence of John Paschall and John Morgan. On Feb. 8, 1759, John Morgan, “Practitioner in Physic,” appeared before Isaac Jones, justice of the peace, and made oath to having witnessed the signing and sealing by the settlor and the trustees and to having himself signed as witness.


Title: Albany Congress Committee: Short Hints towards a Scheme for a General Union of the British Colonies on the Continent, 28 June 1754
From: Albany Congress Committee
To:

The first four days of the Albany Congress were devoted to organization and to consideration of matters relating to the forthcoming conference with the Six Nations. On Monday, June 24, however, a motion was passed unanimously “that the Commissioners deliver their opinion whether a Union of all the Colonies is not at present absolutely necessary for their security and defence.” So important, indeed, did the delegates consider this matter that they refused even to discuss DeLancey’s proposal for building two forts in the Indian country until “they had considered some Method of effecting the Union between the Colonies.” They voted to create a committee “to prepare and receive Plans or Schemes” for such a union “and to digest them into one general plan for the inspection of this Board.” Each delegation chose one of its members to serve on this committee and DeLancey named one of the New York councilors to represent that province.

The committee left no known records of its sessions, and the paucity of other contemporary evidence leaves great uncertainty as to just what happened at its meetings. Writing thirty-four years later, Franklin remembered that he had offered the Congress a copy of the “Short Hints” he had drafted in New York and sent to James Alexander, and unquestionably this was one paper that the committee had before it. He added that “It then appear’d that several of the Commissioners had form’d Plans of the same kind.” The present editors have found no conclusive evidence as to which commissioners Franklin referred to or as to whether the other plans considered had already been reduced to paper or were presented to the committee orally. If the undated plan surviving in Richard Peters’ hand was a pre-Albany paper, this may have been one of those submitted, but, if so, it had no influence on the committee’s report. On the last day of the Congress, papers written by William Johnson and Thomas Pownall were read to the Board, but both of these were programs for concerted action—military, naval, and civil—rather than plans of union, and there is no reason to believe that the committee used them in preparing its plan, if, indeed, it saw them at all. Doubtless the Massachusetts commissioners presented some sort of scheme, orally or in writing, for that colony had shown the greatest interest in colonial union before the Congress of any represented there. It has been argued that one or the other of two documents found among the Trumbull Papers in the Connecticut State Library is a copy of a plan prepared by Thomas Hutchinson before the Albany meeting and that it played an important part in the work of the committee, but the identification is conjectural at best. The present editors have not found any contemporary document containing a plan of union, other than Franklin’s “Short Hints,” which they can identify with even reasonable assurance as one which was laid before the committee.

The official record states that on Friday afternoon, June 28, “The Committee appointed the 24th instant to prepare and receive plans and schemes for the union of the Colonies, presented short hints of a scheme for that purpose of which copies were taken by the Commissioners of the respective provinces.” The text of this report was not entered in the record, and the wording of the minute strongly suggests that, in the absence of adequate clerical help, the commissioners present made their own copies for study and reference. No other business was transacted that afternoon.
The paper printed below is, in the judgment of the present editors, one of the copies of the committee’s “Short Hints” made that afternoon. It is in the hand of Meshech Weare, one of the New Hampshire commissioners. There is no good reason, other than the handwriting, to believe that Weare was the author of the document; he is not known to have been particularly interested in the problem of colonial union; if he had been, his fellow-commissioners from New Hampshire would probably have named him to the committee instead of Theodore Atkinson. Furthermore, it is beyond belief that he or any other individual could have independently composed a plan which follows so closely, in ideas, in arrangement, and in part even in phraseology, the “Short Hints” Franklin had composed before reaching Albany. On the other hand, Weare did attend the session of the Congress when the committee’s proposals were presented, of which, as the record states, “copies were taken by the Commissioners.” For convenience, the document in Weare’s hand will hereafter be referred to as “the committee’s ‘Short Hints.’”
Detailed textual comparison of Franklin’s “Short Hints” sent to Alexander on June 8 and the committee’s “Short Hints” makes clear that the committee’s paper is basically an elaboration and development of Franklin’s, cast in form for further discussion. A few important differences can be observed immediately: Franklin’s proposal is a very brief outline, parts not even developed into full sentences; the committee’s paper, while still an outline, is substantially longer, more of the points are written out in sentence form, and (in the opening paragraphs and the passage dealing with the revenue) the proposals are prefaced by comment. Franklin called his plan a “scheme for uniting the Northern Colonies,” without specifying exactly which governments he had in mind; the committee made clear that its plan contemplated “a General Union of the Brittish Colonies on the Continent,” thereby indicating no geographical limitation. Franklin’s proposed chief executive was to be called “Governor General”; the committee’s, “President General.” Franklin indicated that the members of the Grand Council were to be chosen by the respective assemblies, without distinguishing between the two houses of the legislatures, quite possibly because his own Pennsylvania Assembly and that of Delaware were unicameral and did not include the governor’s Council, as was the case everywhere else; the committee, which included men from the other colonies, stipulated that only the representatives were to choose the delegates. The committee proposal also deals with some matters, such as the regulation of Indian trade, the appointment of officers, and impressment, which Franklin had either deliberately omitted or overlooked in jotting down his ideas for Alexander. The order of treatment of the executive and Grand Council is reversed in the two papers, but otherwise the arrangement of topics is the same. Other noteworthy variations are indicated below in appropriate footnotes. In spite of these differences, it is clear that the committee’s “Short Hints” is based solidly on Franklin’s—amplified, developed, and sometimes modified, as a result of discussions within the committee, where men with varying ideas and different political backgrounds had expressed their views.
The committee’s “Short Hints,” in turn, became the basis for future discussion in the Congress as a whole. On eight occasions during the days that followed the members “considered” or “debated” its provisions, making changes in the process, and on July 9 they reached agreement and directed Franklin “to make a draught of it as now concluded upon.”

  [June 28, 1754]
Short hints towards a Scheme for a General Union of the Brittish Colonies on the Continent.
In Such a Scheme the Just Prerogative of the Crown must be preserved or it will not be Approved and Confirmed in England. The Just liberties of the People must be Secured or the Several Colonies will Disapprove of it and Oppose it. Yet Some Prerogative may be abated to Extend Dominion and Increase Subjects and Some Liberty to Obtain Safety.
The Power of all the Colonies should be Ready to Defend any one of them with the Greatest Possible Dispatch.
Therefore Particuler Considerations in the Several Assemblies of the Expediency of any General Measure must be avoided as attended with much delay many difficulties and Great Uncertainty.
Suppose then that One General Government be formd Including all the Brittish Dominions on the Continent Within and Under which Government the Several Colonies may Each Enjoy its own Constitution Laws Liberties and Priviledges as so many Seperate Corporations in one Common Wealth. To this End Suppose there be a Grand Councill to Consist of two members at least Chosen by the Representatives of each Colony in Assembly. The larger Colonies to Choose more in Some Proportion to the Sums they Yearly Contribute to the General Treasury. The Elections may be every three years and the members of each Colony to Continue till a new Choice.
Assemblies to be Called for that purpose in each Colony once in three years in the month of May.
A President General to be appointed by the Crown to Receive his Salary from Home. His assent to Render valid all Acts of the Grand Councill. His Duty to Carry them into Execution.
Meetings of the Grand Councill once in every year And at Such other times As the President General shall think proper to Call them having first been Applied to or obtained the Consent in writing of Seven of the Members for that purpose. At any annual Meeting the Councill to Determine where the next meeting is to be, to Sit by their own adjournments not Subject to Prorogations or Dissolutions by the President General without their own Consent. No Sessions to Continue longer than Six weeks without the Consent of the Councill.
Members Pay ten shillings Sterling per Diem.
During their Siting and Journey twenty miles to be Reckond a Days Journey.
Funds to Supply the General Treasury
It is a difficult Matter to fix Quotas to be paid by each Colony that would be Equal to the ability of Each, or if Really Equal to Perswade the Colonys to think so or if Equal now that would long Continue so Some Colonies Growing faster than Others. Therefore Let the Money arise from somewhat that may be nearly proportionable to Each Colony and Grow with it, Such as from Excise upon Liquors Retailed or Stamps on all Legal Writings Writs &c. or both to be Collected in Each Province and Paid to a Treasurer to be Appointed in each Colony by the Grand Councill to be Ready on Orders from the President General and Grand Councill.
Power of the President General and Grand Councill
To hold or order all Indian Treaties, Regulate all Indian Trade, make Peace and Declare war with the Indian Nations, Make all Indian Purchases of Lands not within the Bounds of Perticuler Colonies, Make new Settlements on Such Purchases by Granting Lands Reserving a Rent for the General Treasury Raise and Pay Soldiers and build forts to Defend the frontiers of Any of the Colonies, Equip Guardships to Scour and Protect the Coasts from Privateers and Pyrates, Appoint all Military officers that are to Act Under the General Command, the President General to Nominate and the Councill to approve. But all Collectors or farmers of the Duties Excise &c. for the General Treasury and other Civil officers necessary, are to be Chosen by the Grand Councill And Approved by the President General.
They shall not Impress men in any Colony without the Consent of its Legislature.
Acts or Laws made by them to Regulate Indian Trade or new Settlements of Lands to be Sent home to the King and Councill for approbation within months. They may Draw on the General Fund in any Colony for Defraying all General Expences. Their Accompt to be Yearly Settled and Reported to the Several Assemblies of Each Colony, Each Colony may Defend it Self on any Emergency. The Accompts of Expence to be laid before the Grand Councill and Paid as far as Reasonable.
Manner of forming this Union
When the Scheme is well Considerd Corrected and Improved a Temporary Act of Parliament to be Obtained for Establishing of it.
Perticuler Colonies not to Declare Warr.

Quere Whether the Duties Excise &c. are best Established by the Grand Councill or by the Act of Parliament that forms the Constitution.
Quorum of the Councill how many.


Title: Richard Peters: Rough Notes on a Debate at Albany, 1 July 1754
From: Peters, Richard
To:

The “Short Hints” which the committee presented to the Albany Congress contained the proposal—as Franklin’s earlier “Short Hints” had done—that an act of Parliament should be obtained to put the projected Plan of Union into effect. This appears to have been one of the most hotly debated aspects of the entire scheme. There survives as a four-page manuscript in the almost undecipherable hand of Richard Peters a set of rough notes on this debate, dated July 1, the day before the decisive vote on this question was taken. Who advanced the various arguments noted is, for the most part, not indicated, but the paper is useful as indicating some of the points offered by commissioners who, like Franklin, hoped to gain approval for a parliamentary enactment.

[July 1, 1754]
Arguments for an Union by Act of Parliament.
1st Argument
An Union by Acts of Assembly must be tedious and after all the Bills be rejected by the Governors or if passd and sent home perhaps will be repealed.
2d Argument. It will take us from The present Government of the Colonies which is by Instructions that are Acts of the Secretaries of State. Instance the Order for Officers Instructions.
They are afraid of an Act of Parliament.
Why.
Because the more the State of the Colonies is known the less Their power of hurting us will be.
3d Argument
People are afraid of disobliging their Constituents, not of doing what is right.
Therfore if this temper generally prevail mens Judgment is not free.
To shew that Novelty is not dangerous.
Novelty not dangerous
Because
The new Scheme is founded on the removal of Ignorance, rashness or bad Design in the Parliament.
Q. Would it not be worth while to know the Sentiments of Ministry and Parliament about an Union.
Q. Coud not some mention be made of boundaries between France and England.
Again. One woud or shoud put into any Scheme the method proposd of procuring an Act of Parliament that mens fears if right may have the concurrence of their Constituents Judgment if wrong, may be removd by Argument.

If the Naval Power of France encreases and we be straightend to the West.
The Independency of the Indians.
Unobserved methods of importing [illegible] in to Canada and the Mississippi.
Trade with Canada from Albany and the Sea Ports of Philadelphia. Boston. New York.
Mr. Woolcots Argument
The uncertainty of a Council after an Act of Parliament as great as before.
Militia of Pennsylvania without a Military force.
4th Argument
1st July Governor Present.


Title: Albany Congress: Representation of the Present State of the Colonies, 9 July 1754
From: Albany Congress
To:

Recent events had made clear to everyone attending the Albany Congress that a struggle with the French was impending for the mastery of the continent. The chief purpose of any plan of union which they might draw up was to strengthen the British colonies in that conflict, and in the minds of a majority, if not all, of the commissioners some form of concerted action was essential to successful defense. In order to make the matter fully clear to their assemblies at home and to the authorities in Great Britain, the commissioners decided that a general statement of the situation was needed as a supporting document for the plan of union which they were preparing. At the morning session of Monday, July 1, after one debate on the committee’s “Short Hints,” a motion was adopted that “a representation of the present state of the Colonies” be prepared and that the same committee which had presented the “Short Hints” should undertake the task.
In an autobiographical sketch written many years later Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts declared that he had written the draft of the committee’s Representation, and there appears to be no good reason to question his claim to principal authorship. Doubtless other members of the committee, including Franklin, made suggestions, but what or how important they may have been cannot now be determined. The committee presented its draft to the Congress on Saturday, July 6; it was read and ordered to lie on the table for the consideration of the commissioners. It was read again on Monday the 8th, and read once more, considered paragraph by paragraph, amended, and agreed to on the afternoon of July 9, at a session which Franklin missed because he was busy putting into final form the Plan of Union as worked out in previous debates.
The Representation as adopted by the Congress was in part a review of British claims in North America and of French encroachments, in part a sharp criticism of the misconduct of some unnamed colonies and individuals in their Indian relations (doubtless New York and its Indian commissioners were chief targets), and in part a series of recommendations for future action, concluding with the crowning point: the need for a union of all the colonies “That so their Councils, Treasure, and Strength may be employed in due Proportion against their Common Enemy.”

[July 9, 1754]
That His Majesties Title to the Northern Continent of America, appears to be founded on the Discovery thereof first made, and the Possession thereof first taken in 1497 under a Commission from Henry the 7th. of England to Sebastian Cabot,
That the French have Possessed themselves of Several parts of this Continent which by Treaties have been ceded and Confirmed to them.
That the Right of the English to the Whole Sea Coast from Georgia on the South to the River St. Laurence on the North, excepting the Island of Cape Breton and the Islands in the Bay of St. Laurence, remains plain and Indisputable,
That all the Lands or Countries Westward from the Atlantic Ocean, to the South Sea, between 48 and 34 Degrees North Latitude were expressly included in the Grant of King James the 1st. to divers of his Subjects, so long since as the year 1606, and afterwards Confirmed in 1620. and under this Grant, the Colony of Virginia claims extent as far West as the South Sea, and the Ancient Colonies of the Masachusets-bay and Conecticot were by their respective Charters, made to extend to the said South Sea, So that not only the Right to the Sea Coast but to all the Inland Countries, from Sea to Sea has at all times been Asserted by the Crown of England.
That the Province of Nova Scotia or Accadie hath known and Determinate Bounds by the Original Grant from King James the 1st. and that there is Abundant Evidence of the Sense which the French had of these Bounds while they were in Possession of it, and that these Bounds being then known, the said Province by the Treaty of Utrecht according to its Ancient Limits, was ceded, to Great Britain, and remained in Possession thereof until the Treaty of Aix La Chapelle, by which it was confirmed, but by said Treaty it is Stipulated, that the Bounds of the said Province, shall be determined by Commissaries, &c.
That, By the Treaty of Utrecht the Country of the Five Cantons of the Iroquois, is Expressly acknowledged, to be under the Dominion of the Crown of Great Britain,
That the Lake Champlain formerly called Lake Iroquois and the Country Southward of it, as far as the Dutch or English Settlements the Lakes Ontario, Erie, and all the Countries adjacent have by all Ancient Authors, French and English been allowed to belong to the Five Cantons or Nations and the Whole of these Countries long before the said Treaty of Utrecht, were by said Nations, put under the Protection of the Crown of Great Britain,
That by the Treaty of Utrecht, there is reserved to the French, a Liberty of Frequenting the Countries, of the Five Nations and other Indians in Friendship with Great Britain for the sake of Commerce, as there is also to the English a Liberty of Frequenting the Countries of those in Friendship with France for the same Purpose,
That after the Treaty of Utrecht the French built Several Fortresses, in the Country of the Five Nations, and a very Strong one at a Place Called Crown Point to the South of Lake Champlain.
That the French Court hath Evidently since the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle, made this Northern Continent more than ever the Object of its Attention,
  That the French have most unjustly taken Possession of Part of the Province of Nova Scotia, and in the River St. John’s and other parts of said Province, they have built Strong Fortresses, and from this River they will have during the Winter and Spring Season, a much easier Communication between France and Canada, than they have heretofore had, and will be furnished with a Harbour more Commodiously Situated, for the annoying the British Colonies by Privatiers and Men of War than Louisburgh itself.
That they have taken Possession of, and begun a Settlement at the head of the River Kinnebeck, within the Bounds of the Province of Main, the most convenient Situation, for affording Support and Safe retreat to the eastern Indians in any of their attempts upon the Governments of New-England.
That, it appears by Information of the Natives the French have been making Preparations for another Settlement at a Place called Cohass on Coneticut River, near the head thereof, where it is but about ten miles distant from a branch of Merrimack River, and from Whence there is a very near and easy Communication with the Abnekais Indians, who are Settled on the River St. François, about forty miles from the River St. Laurence, and it is certain that the Inhabitants of New Hampshire, in which Province this Cohass is Supposed to Lye, have been interrupted, and impeded by the French Indians, from making any Settlements there.
That Since the Treaty of Aix La Chapelle, the French have increased the Number of their Forts, in the Country of the Great Lakes, and on the Rivers which run into the Missisippi, and are Securing a Communication between the Two Colonies of Louisania, and Canada, and at the same time putting themselves into a Capacity of annoying the Southern British Colonys, and preventing any further Settlement of his Majesties Dominions.
That they have been gradually increasing their Troops in America, transporting them in their Ships of War, which return to France, with a Bare Complement of Men, leaving the rest in their Colonies, and by this means they are less Observed by the Powers of Europe than they would be if Transports as usual heretofore, were provided for this purpose,

That they have taken Prisoners divers of His Majesty’s subjects trading in the Country of the Iroquois, and other inland Parts, and plundered Such Prisoners of Several Thousand Pounds Sterling, and they are Continually exciting the Indians, to destroy or make Prisoners, the Inhabitants of the Frontiers of the British Colonies, which prisoners are Carried, to Canada, and a Price, equal to what Slaves are sold for in the Plantations is demanded for their Redemption and Release,
That they are Continually drawing off the Indians from the British Interest, and have lately persuaded one half of the Onondaga Tribe with many from the other Nations along with them, to remove to a Place called Osweegchie, on the River Cadaraqui, where they have built them a Church and Fort, and many of the Senecas, the most numerous Nation, appear to be wavering and rather inclined to the French, and it is a Melancholly Consideration, that not more than 150 Men of all the Several Nations, have attended this Treaty, altho they had Notice that all the Governments would be here by their Commissioners, and that a large present would be given,
That it is the Evident Design of the French to Surround the British Colonies, to fortifie themselves on the Back thereof to take and keep Possession, of the heads of all the Important Rivers, to draw, over the Indians to their Interest, and with the help of such Indians added to such Forces as are already arrived and may hereafter be sent from Europe To be in a Capacity of making a General Attack on the Several Governments, and if at the same time a Strong Naval Force be sent from France, there is the utmost danger that the Whole Continent will be Subjected to that Crown and that the Danger of such a Naval Force is not meerly Imaginary, may be argued from past Experience, for if it had not been for the most Extraordinary Interposition of Heaven, every Sea Port Town on the Continent in the year 1746, might have been ravaged and Destroyed, by the Squadron under the Command of the Duke D’Anville, notwithstanding the then declining State of the French, and the very flourishing State of the British Navy, and the farther advantage accrueing to the English from the Possession of Cape Briton. That the French Find by Experience they are able to make greater and more Sure advantages upon their Neighbours in Peace, than in war. What they unjustly possessed themselves of after the Peace of Utrecht, they now pretend to have a right to hold, by Virtue of the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle, until the true Boundary between the English and the French be Settled by Commissarys, but their Conquest made during the War, they have been Obliged to restore.
That the French Affairs relative to this Continent, are under one Direction, and Constantly regarded by the Crown, and Ministry, who are not insensible how great a Stride they would make, towards an Universal Monarchy if the British Colonies were added to their Dominions, and Consequently the Whole Trade of North America engrossed by them.
That the said Colonies being in a Divided Disunited State, there has never been any Joint Exertion of their Force, or Counsels to repel or defeat the measures of the French and particular Colonies are unable and unwilling to maintain the Cause of the Whole.
That there has been a very great Neglect of the Affairs of the Iroquois, or, as they are Commonly called the Indians of the Six Nations, and their Friendship and Alliance has been Improved to private Purposes, for the Sake of the Trade with them, and the purchase or acquisition of their Lands more than to the Public Service, That they are Supplyed with Rum by the Traders in vast and almost incredible Quantities, the Laws of the Colonies now in Force being insufficient to restrain the Supply, and the Indians of every Nation, are frequently drunk, and abused in their Trade, and their Affections thereby alienated from the English, They often wound and murder one another in their Liquor, and to avoid Revenge Flee to the French, and perhaps more have been lost by these means than by the French Artifices,
That purchases of Lands from the Indians by Private persons for small Triffling Considerations, have been the Cause of Great Uneasiness and Discontents, and if the Indians are not in Fact imposed on and injured, yet they are apt to think that they have been, and indeed they appear not fit to be intrusted at Large with the Sale of their own Lands, and the Laws of some of the Colonies which make such Sales void, unless the Allowance of the Government be first Obtained, seem to be well Founded.
That the Granting or Patenting Vast Tracts of Land to private Persons, or Companys without Conditions of Speedy Settlement, has tended to prevent the Strengthning the Frontiers of the Particular Colony where Such Tracts Lye, and been Prejudicial to the rest,
That it seems absolutely necessary that Speedy and Effectual measures be taken to Secure the Colonies from the Slavery they are threatened with.
That any Further Advances of the French should be prevented and the Encroachments already made removed, That the Indians in Alliance or Friendship with the English be Constantly regarded, under some wise Direction or Superintendency. That Endeavours be used for the Recovery of those Indians, who are lately gone over to the French, and for Securing those that remain. That some Discreet Person or Persons, be appointed to reside constantly with each Nation of Indians, such Persons to have no Concern in Trade, and duly to Communicate all advices to the Superintendents. That the Trade with the said Indians, be well regulated, and made Subservient to the Public Interest, more than to private gain. That there be Forts built for the Security of Each Nation and the better Carrying on the Trade with them, That Warlike Vessels be Provided Sufficient to maintain His Majesty’s Right to a Free Navigation on the Several Lakes. That All future purchase of Lands from the Indians be Void unless made by the Government where such Lands Lye, And from the Indians in a Body in their Public Councils. That the Patentees, or Possessors of large unsettled Territories, be injoyned to Cause them to be Settled in a reasonable Time on pain of Forfeiture. That the Complaints of the Indians, relative to any Grants or Possessions, of their Lands fraudulently Obtained be enquired into and all Injuries redressed. That the Bounds of those Colonys which extend to the South Sea, be Contracted, and limitted by the Alleghenny or Apalachian mountains, and that measures be taken for settling from time to time Colonies of His Majesty’s Protestant Subjects, Westward of said Mountains in Convenient Cantons to be Assigned for that purpose; and finally that there be a Union, of His Majesty’s Several Governments on the Continent, that so their Councils, Treasure, and Strength may be employed in due Proportion against their Common Enemy. All which is Submitted.


Title: The Albany Plan of Union, 1754
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

After the Committee on a Plan of Union had presented its “Short Hints” to the Albany Congress, June 28, that body discussed the proposals on eight occasions. At the last of these sittings, the morning of July 9, “The plan of the Union was debated and agreed upon, and Mr. Franklin was desired to make a draught of it as now concluded upon.” Franklin was absent from the afternoon meeting that day “by his appointment of this morning,” but at the morning session of the 10th he “reported the draught in a new form of a plan of a Union agreeable to the determination of yesterday.” The paper was read paragraph by paragraph and debated both morning and afternoon. Finally it was “Resolved. That the Commissioners from the several Governments be desired to lay the same before their respective constituents for their consideration, and that the Secretary to this Board transmit a copy thereof with their vote thereon to the Governor of each of the Colonies which have not sent their Commissioners to this Congress.”
Unfortunately, the minutes do not record the details of the vote on this resolution, and Atkinson’s “Memo Book” is no help, for, curiously enough, it omits all mention of this debate and vote. The other evidence is sharply contradictory. Writing to Colden from New York, July 21, on his way home, Franklin admitted that there had been “a great deal of Disputation about the Plan” during the Congress, “but at length we agreed on it pretty unanimously.” Thomas Pownall, who observed the proceedings, wrote in a letter to England, July 23, that “What appears in the Minutes was the Unanimous Opinion of all mett except N York and in some points Mr. Norris of Philadelphia and he only so far differ’d as the Principles of the Party he is at the head of lead him to appear.” A committee of the Connecticut Assembly appointed to study the Albany Plan reported in October that “The gentlemen, who went commissioners from the colony of Connecticut, objected to the proposed plan; and thought they were never answered or obviated, and therefore never came into, or gave any consent to the same.” Writing in the 1780s, Thomas Hutchinson declared flatly that the plan was “unanimously voted,” and Franklin stated twice in the same decade that it was “unanimously agreed to.” At about the same time or a little later, William Smith, the New York historian, whose father had been a member of the Committee on the Plan of Union at Albany, wrote that “Except Mr. Delancey, every member consented to this plan, and qualified as he was rather for short altercation than copious debate, he made no great opposition.” While these statements cannot be reconciled, probably Hutchinson’s and Franklin’s later memories were at fault, and there was opposition to the final vote at least from the Connecticut commissioners and from some of the New York representatives. A somewhat oblique passage in Franklin’s autobiography also suggests that Pownall may have been correct in indicating that Isaac Norris disliked the plan.
Detailed comparison of the text of the Albany Plan of Union as entered on the official record with the committee’s “Short Hints” presented June 28 shows clearly that the discussions which had taken place on the floor of the Congress produced many alterations and additions in details but few major changes in substance. The headings of both documents agreed in calling for “one General Government,” but the committee’s “Short Hints” proposed to include “all the British dominions on the continent,” while the final plan specifically named the individual colonies from New England south to the Carolinas omitting Delaware and ignoring Nova Scotia and Georgia. Again, the final plan was more specific in the matter of the representation to be allowed each colony in the Grand Council, at least at the start. The numbers ranged from two each for New Hampshire and Rhode Island to seven each for Massachusetts and Virginia, but the plan provided that after the first three years the quotas were to be based, as they were in the committee’s scheme, on the relative amounts of money raised in each colony for the common treasury. The final plan provided for the election of a speaker by the Grand Council and stipulated that upon the death of the president general the speaker was to succeed temporarily to his powers, while neither Franklin’s original scheme nor the committee’s proposals mentioned a speaker or indicated who was to take over the chief executive’s responsibilities in case of that official’s death. The final plan also arranged for the temporary filling of vacancies in minor offices when necessary, as the committee’s proposals had not done.
In contrast, the plan approved by the Congress was less specific than either Franklin or the committee had been on the sources of revenues for the new central government. They had suggested particular duties and excises which seemed most equitable, but the final plan simply authorized the levying of “such General Duties, Imposts, or Taxes” as appeared most equal and just and least inconvenient. The committee had proposed the appointment of a treasurer in each colony and the local retention of funds until paid out on orders of the president general and Grand Council; the final plan contained a similar provision but also called for a general treasurer and common treasury to which funds might be transferred by the “particular” treasurers if so required.
One striking change concerns the buying of land from the Indians. The committee’s scheme had authorized the president general and Grand Council to make such purchases only “of Lands not within the bounds of perticuler Colonies”; the Congress plan contains the same limitations but adds: “or that shall not be within their Bounds when some of them are reduced to more Convenient Dimensions.” As Franklin later indicated in his commentary on the plan, this addition was aimed at the colonies with sea-to-sea charters; they would include Virginia and the two Carolinas, none of which was represented at Albany, and Massachusetts and Connecticut, both of which were. It is not surprising that this provision should cause disquiet among the Connecticut commissioners, all of whom were members of the Susquehannah Company, at that very time attempting to buy Indian lands within Pennsylvania’s boundaries on the strength of their colony’s prior charter. The last significant addition to be mentioned here which grew out of the discussions of the Congress was one authorizing the president general and Grand Council to make laws for the settlements established on such land purchases “till the Crown shall think fit to form them into Particular Governments.” Here is a pale foreshadowing of the scheme adopted in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 for the creation of “territorial” governments as a transitional step in the evolution of new states. Other, less important changes incorporated in the final plan will be indicated in footnotes at the appropriate places in the text.
It is necessary to discuss here the questions of primary authorship of the Albany Plan and of the source or sources for its ideas and phraseology, because of a controversy on these points over the past several years. Professor Lawrence H. Gipson has contended that Thomas Hutchinson played a much larger part in the framing of the plan than he has usually been given credit for; that, like Franklin, he had drafted a plan before the Congress met; that this paper was considered by the commissioners; and that many of its provisions and even more of its phraseology appeared in the final text that Franklin presented to the Congress on the morning of July 10, in obedience to the instructions given him the day before. This view has been sharply challenged, especially by Professor Verner W. Crane.
With one important exception the later statements by Franklin and Hutchinson on the responsibility for the plan support the traditional view of Franklin’s primary authorship. Those statements closest in time to the meeting of the Congress come from Franklin. On July 14, three days after the adjournment he wrote to Colden, “The Commissioners agreed on a Plan of Union, viz. from N Hampshire to So. Carolina inclusive: the same with that of which I sent you the Hints, some few Particulars excepted.” Five and a half months later, writing to Peter Collinson, December 29, he referred to the influence of “the commissioners from the 2 popular Governments” (Connecticut and Rhode Island), and added: “For tho’ I projected the Plan and drew it, I was oblig’d to alter some Things contrary to my Judgment, or should never have been able to carry it through.” From this claim to primary authorship Franklin never deviated; writing in 1788 he remembered that at Albany “A Committee was then appointed one Member from each Colony, to consider the several Plans and report. Mine happen’d to be prefer’d, and with a few Amendments was accordingly reported.”
Hutchinson’s earliest known statement is in a letter dated Oct. 27, 1769, to Sir Francis Bernard, governor of Massachusetts, discussing the nonimportation movement and efforts for concerted action against parliamentary taxation. He referred to the earlier attempt at colonial union: “At the congress at Albany in 1754 I was in favour of an Union of the governments for certain Purposes and I drew the Plan which was then accepted [but] if I had imagined such absurd notions of government could ever have entred unto the heads of the Americans as are now Publickly avowed I should then have been against any sort of union as I was for it.” Thus fifteen years after the event Hutchinson emphatically claimed authorship of the Albany Plan, but some years later he ascribed it to Franklin equally emphatically three times. In the third volume of his History of Massachusetts Bay, written in England during the 1780s, he declared: “The plan for a general union was projected by Benjamin Franklin, Esq., one of the commissioners from the province of Pennsylvania, the heads whereof he brought with him.” And again, “Mr. Franklin defended his own plan” against Shirley’s counter-proposals later in 1754. In the autobiographical sketch he wrote during the same decade Hutchinson was even more specific: “The same famous Dr. Franklin was one of the Commissioners from Pensilvania. He, with Mr. Hutchinson, were the Committee who drew up the plan of Union, and the representation of the state of the Colonies. The former was the projection of Dr. F., and prepared in part before he had any consultation with Mr. H., probably brought with him from Philadelphia; the latter was the draught of Mr. H.”
Reconciliation of Hutchinson’s one statement of his own authorship with his three statements of Franklin’s authorship and Franklin’s own three, is virtually impossible. If Hutchinson was correct in 1769, he was wrong three times in the 1780s, and Franklin was wrong twice in 1754 and once in 1788. Gipson’s explanation of Hutchinson’s several repudiations of his own authorship is that “his one aim in these writings seems to have been—with the American union then a fact—to place the chief responsibility for promoting earlier unions on the shoulders of his one-time friend, Franklin, who was now his enemy and that of all American loyalists.” This argument is plausible but hardly convincing, and it does not explain why Franklin should have misstated his part three times, two of them while the events of the Congress were fresh in his memory. On balance, the six statements in support of Franklin’s primary authorship seem the more weighty.
Professor Gipson believes that the text of a plan of union prepared by Hutchinson before the Albany meeting is to be found in one of two draft plans located among the Trumbull Papers in the Connecticut State Library, and that Franklin used it extensively in preparing the “draught in a new form” he laid before the Congress on July 10, which became the text of the final Albany Plan. Both these drafts are in the handwriting of Jonathan Trumbull, not an Albany commissioner but a member of the Connecticut Council who apparently served as secretary of the committee appointed by the Assembly to report on the Albany Plan after it was brought back by the commissioners. Both manuscripts contain cancellations and interlinear additions in Trumbull’s hand. Internal evidence establishes that the shorter of the two plans is the earlier in composition, though they are bound in reverse order among the Trumbull Papers. Merely for convenience, they will be called here the Trumbull Short Plan and the Trumbull Long Plan, without any intention of ascribing authorship by these names.
No contemporary document has been found that mentions a written plan prepared by Hutchinson or any other person in Massachusetts before the Albany meeting. Franklin states in his autobiography that “several of the Commissioners had form’d Plans of the same kind” as his own, but he does not identify the authors nor say whether their plans had been written out—any more than his had been before he set it down in outline form for James Alexander in New York on his way to Albany. The official minutes record, June 24, that a committee was appointed “to prepare and receive Plans or Schemes” and “to digest them into one general plan,” but these minutes do not say what documents the committee was expected to receive. It is therefore an assumption only, though not an unreasonable one, that there were other written plans similar in general purport to Franklin’s “Short Hints.” An equally reasonable contrary assumption is that Hutchinson and others presented their ideas orally rather than in writing. No proof of either assumption has been found.

It is well known that Governor Shirley, Hutchinson, and other Massachusetts leaders were strong advocates of a colonial union before the Albany meeting, and the commission Shirley gave his delegates was the only one which mentioned the adoption of “articles of Union and Confederation” as one of the objects of the Congress. Certainly the Massachusetts commissioners arrived with some plan in mind, whatever its content and form. After careful study of all the available evidence, the present editors believe that neither the Trumbull Short Plan nor the Trumbull Long Plan, with or without the emendations appearing on the manuscripts, represents the text of a paper written before the Albany meeting and presented to the Congress or its committee for consideration.
A complete exposition of the reasons for this conclusion would require far more space than is appropriate for this headnote. It may be said in general, however, that the argument in favor of identifying one of the documents in Trumbull’s hand with a pre-Albany plan by Hutchinson rests for the most part on a series of assumptions which cannot be proved (or positively disproved) because the necessary external evidence does not exist. A major reason for rejecting the Gipson identification is found in a detailed textual analysis of the five central documents concerned. They are: 1. Franklin’s “Short Hints,” which we know was laid before the Congress committee (above, p. 337); 2. The committee’s “Short Hints,” presented to the Congress on June 28 (above, p. 361); 3. The Albany Plan of Union, agreed to in principle, July 9, reduced to a “new form” by Franklin and presented to the Congress on the morning of July 10 and referred to the various assemblies the same afternoon; 4. The Trumbull Short Plan; 5. The Trumbull Long Plan.

For this purpose an arrangement of the five documents in parallel columns is necessary, with those phrases or sentences relating to the same topics placed together, without regard to their order in the different documents. Such an arrangement reveals clearly the close relationship between Franklin’s “Short Hints” and the committee’s “Short Hints,” and between the final Albany Plan and the two Trumbull plans. An obvious reason for the considerable differences in wording between the two groups is that the first two papers are merely outlines of proposals for consideration, while those in the second group are fully worked out plans. The Albany Plan is known to be the “new form” that Franklin prepared for final action after the Congress had debated the committee’s “Short Hints” at length; their differences in wording are quite in keeping with the different purposes they were designed to serve.
Gipson has used the similarities within each of the two groups and the differences between the two as a major basis for his hypothesis. He believes that Franklin borrowed the phraseology of Hutchinson’s pre-Albany plan (exemplified in one of the Trumbull documents) for use in the “new form” into which he recast the committee’s “Short Hints” after the latter had been debated and amended in the Congress. In this way Gipson both explains the similarity in wording of the final Albany Plan and the Trumbull plans and supports his hypothesis that the Trumbull plans were written before the Congress met. Just why Franklin should have made such a borrowing is not clear. By 1754 he had been writing for the public—and writing fluently and well—for more than thirty years; moreover, as an active member of the Pennsylvania Assembly he had repeatedly taken part in the drafting of committee reports, messages to the governor, and bills, which embodied the results of discussions of a deliberative body. In short, he was an old hand at just the sort of writing the Congress asked him to undertake. With all this background, he certainly would have felt no need to resort to the phraseology of a document written by another man which had not served as the basis for the Congress debates. Such a suggestion must be rejected unless positive evidence in its favor can be produced.
Closer examination of the wording of the five documents, arranged in parallel columns by topics, suggests strongly that both Trumbull plans were written after the Albany Plan, not before it. They are almost certainly two stages of an attempt to revise it into something more acceptable to many New Englanders. It is true that in many passages there is nothing to indicate an order of composition. In others, however, the priority of the Albany Plan seems probable, and in a few almost conclusive. The latter is especially the case if the emendations in the Trumbull documents are taken into account.
For example, the Albany Plan declares “That the said General Government be administered by a President General.” The Trumbull Short Plan reads the same except that “one” replaces “a” before “President General.” Unamended, the Trumbull Long Plan repeats the words of the Trumbull Short Plan, but the changes in the manuscript are significant: “That [inserted above: in] the said General Government [Government is struck through and inserted above is: Union, The Ordering and Directing of the Affairs thereof] be administered by one President General.” These emendations were certainly made after the action of the Congress.
The probable chronological relationship of the five documents is best shown in the opening lines of the sections dealing with the powers of the president general (called “governor general” in Franklin’s “Short Hints”) and the Grand Council:
Franklin’s “Short Hints”:  To order all Indian Treaties
Committee’s “Short Hints”:  To hold or order all Indian Treaties, regulate all Indian Trade, make Peace and Declare War with the Indian Nations
Albany Plan: That the president General, with the Advice of the Grand Council, hold or Direct all Indian Treaties in which the General Interest or Welfare of the Colony’s may be Concerned; and make Peace or Declare War with Indian Nations.
Trumbull Short Plan: That the President General with the Advice and Consent of the Grand Council hold and Direct all Indian Treaties in which the General Interest or Welfare of These Colonies may be concerned; and make peace or declare Warr with Indian Nations
Trumbull Long Plan: That the President General with the Grand Council Summoned and Assembled for that Purpose, or a Quorum of Them as aforesaid shall hold and direct all Indian Treaties in which the General Interest or Welfare of these Colonies may be Concerned; and make Peace or Declare Warr with Indian Nations.
Each of the documents after the first adds words not found in that next above it. The nature of these additions suggest strongly that the documents were composed in the order here indicated. Comparison of passages closely following the one above quoted, supports the same conclusion, especially when it is recognized that the two Trumbull plans originated in New England, where neither Massachusetts nor Connecticut people were anxious to have their asserted bounds “reduced to more convenient dimensions,” as the Albany Plan proposed. Their altered phraseology appears to be a conscious effort to soften the implications of wording adopted by a more widely representative group:
Franklin “Short Hints”: make all Indian purchases not within proprietary Grants.
Committee’s “Short Hints”: Make all Indian Purchases of Lands not within the Bounds of Perticuler Colonies.
Albany Plan: That they Make all Purchases from the Indians for the Crown, of Lands now not within the Bounds of Particular Colonies or that shall not be within their Bounds when some of them are reduced to more Convenient Dimensions.
Trumbull Short Plan: That They make all purchases from Indians for the Crown of Lands not now within the Bounds of particular Colonies, or That shall not be within Their Bounds when the Dimention [written directly upon the first five letters of this last word is: Exten, making it read Extention] of Some of Them are rendered more Certain.
Trumbull Long Plan: That they make all purchases from Indians for the Crown of Lands not now within the Bounds of particular Colonies, or That shall not be within their bounds when the Extention of Some of them are rendered more Certain.
Such differences as these appear to the present editors as almost conclusive evidence that the two documents in Trumbull’s hand, whatever their authorship, were composed and revised after the Albany Plan was approved by the Congress. Both in content and in phraseology they appear to be later modifications, not sources, of the Albany Plan. And since they are in many details so contrary to what Franklin advocated, it is certain that he could have had nothing to do with their composition; hence their texts are not included in this edition of his papers. On the other hand, the sequence from Franklin’s “Short Hints” through the committee’s “Short Hints” to the final plan as written out by Franklin and approved by the Congress is clearly established by the complete textual analysis. The plan was based initially on Franklin’s “Short Hints”; it was modified and altered in some particulars by the views of other delegates (doubtless including Hutchinson) in order to gain the support of a majority; and it was cast in final form once again by Franklin.

[July 10, 1754]
Plan of a Proposed Union of the Several Colonies of Masachusets-bay, New Hampshire, Coneticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jerseys, Pensilvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, For their Mutual Defence and Security, and for Extending the British Settlements in North America.
That humble Application be made for an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, by Virtue of which, one General Government may be formed in America, including all the said Colonies, within and under which Government, each Colony may retain its present Constitution, except in the Particulars wherein a Change may be directed by the said Act, as hereafter follows.

President General
That the said General Government be administred by a President General, To be appointed and Supported by the Crown, and a Grand Council to be Chosen by the Representatives of the People of the Several Colonies, met in their respective Assemblies.

Grand Council.

Election ofMembers.
That within Months after the passing of such Act, The House of Representatives in the Several Assemblies, that Happen to be Sitting within that time or that shall be Specially for that purpose Convened, may and Shall Choose Members for the Grand Council in the following Proportions, that is to say.

Masachusets-Bay
7.

New Hampshire
  2.

Conecticut
  5.

Rhode-Island
  2.

New-York
  4.

New-Jerseys
  3.

Pensilvania
  6.

Maryland
  4.

Virginia
  7.

North-Carolina
  4.

South-Carolina
   4.

  48.

Place of first meeting.
  Who shall meet for the first time at the City of Philadelphia, in Pensilvania, being called by the President General as soon as conveniently may be, after his Appointment.

New Election.
  That there shall be a New Election of Members for the Grand Council every three years; And on the Death or Resignation of any Member his Place shall be Supplyed by a New Choice at the next Sitting of the Assembly of the Colony he represented.

Proportion of Members after first 3 years.
  That after the first three years, when the Proportion of Money arising out of each Colony to the General Treasury can be known, The Number of Members to be Chosen, for each Colony shall from time to time in all ensuing Elections be regulated by that proportion (yet so as that the Number to be Chosen by any one Province be not more than Seven nor less than Two).

Meetings of Grand Council.
  That the Grand Council shall meet once in every Year, and oftner if Occasion require, at such Time and place as they shall adjourn to at the last preceeding meeting, or as they shall be called to meet at by the President General, on any Emergency, he having first obtained in Writing the Consent of seven of the Members to such call, and sent due and timely Notice to the whole.

Call.

Speaker.
  That the Grand Council have Power to Chuse their Speaker, and shall neither be Dissolved, prorogued nor Continue Sitting longer than Six Weeks at one Time without their own Consent, or the Special Command of the Crown.

Continuance.

Member’s Allowance
  That the Members of the Grand Council shall be Allowed for their Service ten shillings Sterling per Diem, during their Sessions or Journey to and from the Place of Meeting; Twenty miles to be reckoned a days Journey.

Assent of President General. His Duty.
  That the Assent of the President General be requisite, to all Acts of the Grand Council, and that it be His Office, and Duty to cause them to be carried into Execution.

Power of President and Grand Council. Peace and War.
  That the President General with the Advice of the Grand Council, hold or Direct all Indian Treaties in which the General Interest or Welfare of the Colony’s may be Concerned; And make Peace or Declare War with the Indian Nations. That they make such Laws as they Judge Necessary for regulating all Indian Trade. That they make all Purchases from Indians for the Crown, of Lands not within the Bounds of Particular Colonies, or that shall not be within their Bounds when some of them are reduced to more Convenient Dimensions. That they make New Settlements on such Purchases, by Granting Lands in the Kings Name, reserving a Quit Rent to the Crown, for the use of the General Treasury. That they make Laws for regulating and Governing such new Settlements, till the Crown shall think fit to form them into Particular Governments.

Indian Purchases.

New Settlements

Laws to Govern them.

Raise Soldiers &c. Lakes.
  That they raise and pay Soldiers, and build Forts for the Defence of any of the Colonies, and equip Vessels of Force to Guard the Coasts and Protect the Trade on the Ocean, Lakes, or Great Rivers; But they shall not Impress Men in any Colonies, without the Consent of its Legislature. That for these purposes they have Power to make Laws And lay and Levy such General Duties, Imposts, or Taxes, as to them shall appear most equal and Just, Considering the Ability and other Circumstances of the Inhabitants in the Several Colonies, and such as may be Collected with the least Inconvenience to the People, rather discouraging Luxury, than Loading Industry with unnecessary Burthens. That they may a General Treasurer and a Particular Treasurer in each Government, when Necessary, And from Time to Time may Order the Sums in the Treasuries of each Government, into the General Treasury, or draw on them for Special payments as they find most Convenient; Yet no money to Issue, but by joint Orders of the President General and Grand Council Except where Sums have been Appropriated to particular Purposes, And the President General is previously impowered By an Act to draw for such Sums.

Not to Impress

Power to make Laws Duties &c.

Treasurer.

Money how to Issue.

Accounts.
  That the General Accounts shall be yearly Settled and Reported to the Several Assembly’s.

Quorum.
  That a Quorum of the Grand Council impower’d to Act with the President General, do consist of Twenty-five Members, among whom there shall be one, or more from a Majority of the Colonies. That the Laws made by them for the Purposes aforesaid, shall not be repugnant but as near as may be agreeable to the Laws of England, and Shall be transmitted to the King in Council for Approbation, as Soon as may be after their Passing and if not disapproved within Three years after Presentation to remain in Force.

Laws to be Transmitted.

Death of President General.
  That in case of the Death of the President General The Speaker of the Grand Council for the Time Being shall Succeed, and be Vested with the Same Powers, and Authority, to Continue until the King’s Pleasure be known.

Officers how Appointed.
  That all Military Commission Officers Whether for Land or Sea Service, to Act under this General Constitution, shall be Nominated by the President General But the Approbation of the Grand Council, is to be Obtained before they receive their Commissions, And all Civil Officers are to be Nominated, by the Grand Council, and to receive the President General’s Approbation, before they Officiate; But in Case of Vacancy by Death or removal of any Officer Civil or Military under this Constitution, The Governor of the Province, in which such Vacancy happens, may Appoint till the Pleasure of the President General and Grand Council can be known. That the Particular Military as well as Civil Establishments in each Colony remain in their present State, this General Constitution Notwithstanding. And that on Sudden Emergencies any Colony may Defend itself, and lay the Accounts of Expence thence Arisen, before the President General and Grand Council, who may allow and order payment of the same As far as they Judge such Accounts Just and reasonable.

Vacancies how Supplied.

Each Colony may defend itself on Emergency.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwallader Colden, 21 July 1754
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Colden, Cadwallader

Dear Sir,
New York July 21. 1754
I wrote a Line to you from your Landing, promising to send you a Copy of the Plan of Union, which I now enclose.
We had a great deal of Disputation about it, almost every Article being contested by one or another; but at length we agreed on it pretty unanimously; and Copies are ordered for the several Governments: How they will relish it, or how it will be look’d on in England, I know not. It is not altogether to my mind, but ’tis as I could get it; For the sake of obtaining generals, you know one is sometimes oblig’d to give up particulars. I am, with the greatest Esteem and Respect, Dear Sir, Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
P S. You will see by the enclos’d Pamphlet, that Measures are taking in England for anglifying our Germans. The Society have appointed our Governor, Mr. Allen, Mr. Peters, my self, and some others Commissioners for executing their Plan in Pensilvania.