Benjamin Franklin Part 17

1747. _Plain Truth: or, Serious Considerations on the Present State of the City of Philadelphia, and Province of Pennsylvania._

1748. Withdraws from active service in his printing and bookselling house (Franklin and Hall). _Advice to a Young Tradesman._ Chosen member of the Council of Philadelphia.

1749. Appointed provincial grand master of colonial Masons (through 1750). _Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania._ Founds academy which later develops into University of Pennsylvania. Reprints Bolingbroke's _On the Spirit of Patriotism_.

1750. Appointed as one of the commissioners to make treaty with the Indians at Carlisle.

1751. _Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in America, By Mr. Benjamin Franklin, and Communicated in several Letters to Mr. P. Collinson, of London, F. R. S._ (London.) _Idea of the English School, Sketch'd out for the Consideration of the Trustees of the Philadelphia Academy._ Member of a.s.sembly from Philadelphia (inc.u.mbent until 1764). _Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, Etc._ Aids Dr. Bond to establish Pennsylvania hospital.

1752. Collinson edition of Franklin's works translated into French.

Alleged kite experiment proves ident.i.ty of lightning and electricity. Invents lightning rod; in September raises one over his own house. Mother dies. Aids in establishing the first fire insurance company in the colonies.

1753. Appointed (jointly with William Hunter) deputy postmaster general of North America Post, a position he held until 1774.

Makes ten-weeks' survey of roads and post offices in northern colonies. Abbe Nollet attacks Franklin in _Lettres sur l'electricite_ (Paris). Beccaria defends Franklin's electrical theories against Abbe Nollet. Receives M. A. from Harvard and from Yale. Receives Sir G.o.dfrey Copley medal from the Royal Society.

1754. Proposes Albany Plan of Union. Second edition of _Experiments and Observations on Electricity_.

1755. _An Act for the Better Ordering and Regulating such as are Willing and Desirous to be United for Military Purposes within the Province of Pennsylvania._ _A Dialogue Between X, Y, & Z, concerning the Present State of Affairs in Pennsylvania._ Aids General Braddock in getting supplies and transportation.

1756. Supervises construction efforts in province of Pennsylvania (a task begun in 1755). Chosen Fellow of the Royal Society of London. Chosen a member of the London Society of Arts. _Plan for Settling the Western Colonies in North America, with Reasons for the Plan._ M. D'Alibard's edition of Franklin's electrical experiments (French translation). Receives M. A.

from William and Mary College.

1757. Appointed colonial agent for Province of Pennsylvania (arrives in London July 26). _The Way to Wealth_ (for 1758). (In 1889 Ford noted: "Seventy editions of it have been printed in English, fifty-six in French, eleven in German, and nine in Italian. It has been translated into Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Welsh, Polish, Gaelic, Russian, Bohemian, Dutch, Catalan, Chinese, Modern Greek and Phonetic writing. It has been printed at least four hundred times, and is today as popular as ever.")

1759. Receives Doctor of Laws degree from University of St. Andrews.

September 5, made burgess and guild-brother of Edinburgh. _An Historical Review of the Const.i.tution and Government of Pennsylvania._ (See Ford, pp. 110-111, where he suggests that this "must still be treated as from Franklin's pen.") _Parable against Persecution._ Meets Adam Smith, Hume, Lord Kames, etc., in home of Dr. Robertson at Edinburgh. Makes many electrical experiments. Chosen honorary member of Philosophical Society of Edinburgh.

1760. Provincial grand master of Pennsylvania Masons. _The Interest of Great Britain Considered with Regard to Her Colonies._ Elected to society of Dr. Bray's a.s.sociates. (Corresponding member until 1790.) Successful close of his issue with the proprietaries.

1761. Tour of Holland and Belgium.

1762. Receives degree of Doctor of Civil Law from Oxford. Leaves England in August, arrives in America in October.

1763. Travels through colonies to inspect and regulate post offices.

1764. Appointed agent for Province of Pennsylvania to pet.i.tion king for change from proprietary to royal government. Leaves for London in November. _Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of Our Public Affairs._ _A Narrative of the Late Ma.s.sacres in Lancaster County._ _Preface to the Speech of Joseph Galloway, Esq._

1765. Presents Grenville with resolution of Pennsylvania a.s.sembly against Stamp Act.

1766. Examined in House of Commons relative to repeal of the Stamp Act. _Physical and Meteorological Observations._ With Sir John Pringle visits Germany and Holland (June-August). Chosen foreign member of the Royal Society of Sciences, Gottingen.

1767. With Sir John Pringle visits France (August 28-October 8).

Meets French Physiocrats. _Remarks and Facts Concerning American Paper Money._

1768. Preface to _Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania_ (J.

d.i.c.kinson). _A Scheme for a New Alphabet and Reformed Mode of Spelling._ _Causes of the American Discontents before 1768._ _Art of Swimming._ Appointed London agent for colony of Georgia.

1769. Visits France (July-August). Appointed New Jersey agent in London. Elected first president of the American Philosophical Society.

1770. Appointed London agent for Ma.s.sachusetts a.s.sembly.

1771. Begins _Autobiography_ (from 1706 to 1731) while visiting the Bishop of St. Asaph at Twyford. Three-months' tour of Ireland and Scotland. Entertained by Hume and Lord Kames. Chosen corresponding member of Learned Society of Sciences, Rotterdam.

1772. Chosen foreign member of Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris.

1773. _Abridgement of the Book of Common Prayer_ (with Sir Francis Dashwood). _Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One._ M. Barbeu Dubourg's edition of _uvres de M.

Franklin_. Sends Hutchinson-Oliver letters to Ma.s.sachusetts.

1774. Examined by Wedderburn before the Privy Council (January 29) in regard to the Hutchinson-Oliver correspondence. Contributes notes to George Whately's second edition of _Principles of Trade_. Dismissed as deputy postmaster general of North America. Deborah Franklin dies December 19.

1775. First postmaster general under Confederation. Returns to America in May. Member of Philadelphia Committee of Safety.

Chosen a delegate to second Continental Congress. _An Account of Negotiations in London for Effecting a Reconciliation between Great Britain and the American Colonies._ Appointed member of Committee of Secret Correspondence.

1776. A commissioner to Canada. Presides over Const.i.tutional Convention of Pennsylvania. Appointed one of committee to frame Declaration of Independence. In September appointed one of three commissioners from Congress to the French court.

Leaves Philadelphia October 27; reaches Paris December 21.

1777. Elected member of Loge des Neuf Surs. Chosen a.s.sociate member of Royal Medical Society of Paris.

1778. a.s.sists at initiation of Voltaire in Loge des Neuf Surs.

Officiates at Masonic funeral service of Voltaire. Signs commercial treaty and alliance for mutual defense with France.

_The Ephemera._ Altercation with Arthur Lee.

1779. Minister plenipotentiary to French court. _The Whistle._ _Morals of Chess._ B. Vaughan edits Franklin's _Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces_.

1780. _Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout._

1781. Chosen Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences: elected foreign member of Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts of Padua, for work in natural philosophy and politics.

Appointed one of the peace commissioners to negotiate treaty of peace between England and United States.

1782. Elected Venerable of Loge des Neuf Surs.

1783. Signs treaty with Sweden. Prints _Const.i.tutions of the United States_. Elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Interest in balloons. Signs the Treaty of Paris with John Jay and John Adams.

1784. With Le Roy, Bailly, Guillotin, Lavoisier, and others, investigates Mesmer's animal magnetism (results in numerous pamphlet reports). _Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America. Advice to Such as Would Remove to America._ Chosen member of Royal Academy of History, Madrid. At Pa.s.sy resumes work on _Autobiography_, beyond 1731.

1785. _Maritime Observations._ _On the Causes and Cure of Smoky Chimneys._ Signs treaty of amity and commerce with Prussia.

Resigns as minister to French Court, and returns to Philadelphia. President of Council of Pennsylvania (inc.u.mbent for three years). a.s.sociate member of Academy of Sciences, Literature, and Arts of Lyons. Councillor for Philadelphia until 1788. Member of Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, and Royal Society of Physics, National History and Arts of Orleans, and honorary member of Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.

1786. Chosen corresponding member of Society of Agriculture of Milan.

1787. President of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery (inc.u.mbent until death). Pennsylvania delegate to Const.i.tutional Convention. Chosen honorary member of Medical Society of London. Aids in establishing the Society for Political Enquiry; elected its first president.

1788. At Philadelphia works on _Autobiography_, from 1731-1757.

1789. _Observations Relative to the Intentions of the Original Founders of the Academy in Philadelphia_ and several papers in behalf of abolition of slavery. At Philadelphia resumes _Autobiography_, from 1757 to 1759. Chosen member of Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.

1790. Paper on the slave trade, _To the Editor of the Federal Gazette_, March 23. Dies, April 17, in Philadelphia.