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Digital Paxton: Digital Collection, Critical Edition, and Teaching Platform Main Menu Introduction Will Fenton Using Digital Paxton Historical Overview Will Fenton Digital Collection Keywords GHOST RIVER Education Transcriptions Public Outreach Contact Credits The Historical Society of Pennsylvania and The Library Company of Philadelphia

Historiographic Battles

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Writers published numerous histories of the Pennsylvania colony during the late-1750s, each purporting to shed new understanding on the present conflict. Central of those narratives was whom to blame. Authors variously pointed fingers at the fecklessness of Pennsylvania Proprietors and the pacifism of Quaker Assembly members.

William Smith, A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania (London, 1755).

Episcopalian priest William Smith attributed the colony’s troubles to Quaker opposition to a militia. His attacks on the Society of Friends eventually alienated him from Benjamin Franklin, whose ally—and recent Quaker convert—Joseph Galloway penned a lengthy retort, A True and Impartial State of the Province of Pennsylvania (1759).

Richard Jackson, An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania (London, 1759).

This anonymously-published book attacked the Penn family (who were no longer Quakers) and the proprietary nature of the colonial government while defending the actions of Quakers in the assembly during the Seven Years’ War. While originally credited to Benjamin Franklin, it was actually authored by Richard Jackson.

Anonymous (likely Thomas Penn), Criticism of Franklin’s Historical Review (London, 1759 or 1760).

This anonymous, unpublished manuscript critiques Historical Review. The manuscript was written in 1759 or 1760, almost certainly by Thomas Penn.

Anonymous (likely James Claypoole), Franklin and the Quakers (Philadelphia, 1764).

Franklin’s associations with the Quakers complicated his political career. Franklin appears in the foreground of this etching, holding a sack labeled “Pennsylvania money.” Israel Pemberton appears inferentially: To the left, prominent Quaker merchant Abel James distributes tomahawks from a barrel labeled “I.P.”

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Origins of Discontent: The Friendly Association and the Seven Years’ War Will Fenton
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Criticism of Benjamin Franklin's Historical Review [Thomas Penn?] Will Fenton
Contents of this tag:
1. Historiographic Battles
2. Newsprint
A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania Will Fenton A brief state of the province of Pennsylvania, : in which the conduct of their assemblies for several years past is impartially examined, and the true cause of the continual encroachments of the French displayed, more especially the secret design of their late unwarrantable invasion and settlement upon the river Ohio. To which is annexed, an easy plan for restoring quiet in the public measures of that province, and defeating the ambitious views of the French in time to come. In a letter from a gentleman who has resided many years in Pennsylvania to his friends in London.
Contents of this tag:
1. Historiographic Battles
2. Franklin's Royal Problem
Franklin and the Quakers Will Fenton
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Criticism of Benjamin Franklin's Historical Review [Thomas Penn?] - 1
Franklin and the Quakers
A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania - Title Page A brief state of the province of Pennsylvania, : in which the conduct of their assemblies for several years past is impartially examined, and the true cause of the continual encroachments of the French displayed, more especially the secret design of their late unwarrantable invasion and settlement upon the river Ohio. To which is annexed, an easy plan for restoring quiet in the public measures of that province, and defeating the ambitious views of the French in time to come. In a letter from a gentleman who has resided many years in Pennsylvania to his friends in London.