Benjamin Franklin’s Letter to William StrahanJuly 5, 1775Mr. StrahanYou are a Member of Parliament, and one of that Majority which has doomed my Country to Destruction. You have begun to burn our Towns and murder our People. — Look upon your hands! They are stained with the Blood of your Relations! — You and I… Read More
Tag: Ben Franklin
Canasatego and the CollegeAnother passage from the letter I wrote Peter Collinson on May 9, 1753. This contains a story I told more than once. I have added to it the official minutes of the same transaction, which I printed, which are rather different._____________________________The little value Indians set on what we prize so highly under… Read More
Those Swarming GermansAnother passage from the letter I wrote to Peter Collinson on May 9, 1753. Not a passage I am now, decades later, very proud of. At the time, I sincerely feared that the great number of Germans pouring into Pennsylvania might very well betray the country to the French, and lead to the… Read More
The following is a little piece I put together for my 1739 almanac. I took some passages from Francois Rabelais, added a good deal of my own observation or invention, and recalculated for America. I jested a bit here with the manner of speaking I heard in different places, and other things. I was not… Read More