Presently that
petition was made obsolete by the Stamp Act, and Franklin became
the representative of the American colonies against King and
Parliament.
Franklin did his best to avert the Revolution. He made many
friends in England, wrote pamphlets and articles, told comical
stories and fables where they might do some good, and constantly
strove to enlighten the ruling class of England upon conditions
and sentiment in the colonies. His examination before the House
of Commons in February, 1766, marks perhaps the zenith of his
intellectual powers. His wide knowledge, his wonderful poise, his
ready wit, his marvelous gift for clear and epigrammatic
statement, were never exhibited to better advantage and no doubt
hastened the repeal of the Stamp Act. Franklin remained in
England nine years longer, but his efforts to reconcile the
conflicting claims of Parliament and the colonies were of no
avail, and early in 1775 he sailed for home.
Franklin's stay in America lasted only eighteen months, yet
during that time he sat in the Continental Congress and as a
member of the most important committees; submitted a plan for a
union of the colonies; served as Postmaster General and as
chairman of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety; visited
Washington at Cambridge; went to Montreal to do what he could for
the cause of independence in Canada; presided over the convention
which framed a constitution for Pennsylvania; was a member of the
committee appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence and
of the committee sent on the futile mission to New York to
discuss terms of peace with Lord Howe.
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