Benjamin and William Franklin and the American Revolution

The events leading up to the American Revolution can be traced back and related to some incidents that many may have saw as petty or insignificant at the time when compared in magnitude to something as immense as a revolution. Nonetheless, these mere misunderstandings and minor conflicts between the mother country, England and its American colonies, were the seedlings that were planted in the soils of the American Revolution that would come to light in the future for both, for better or for worse. I, William Franklin, as well as my father Benjamin Franklin saw the roots of the revolution spread throughout the colonies before the final development. However, we came to realize that we no longer shared the same views and interest, and we eventually did take on opposite sides of the revolution. Nevertheless, we both saw the same moments where the lines were drawn on both sides. The revolution did not happen overnight but rather was caused by years of missed compromises, missed reconciliations, mistreatment, and misrepresentation as well. All of these were the cogs and gears in the machine that was the driving force of the gradual buildup of tension between mother country and the colonies, which would ultimately cause England and the American colonies to go to war. For my recount I would have to start as far back as to when I was appointed to be the governor of New Jersey in 1762. With this appointment from the Crown as governor, myself and my father alike both believed it was the Crown that was best patron of colonial liberty as well as the protector of those liberties, and rights of Englishmen. However, my appointment was ill timed for me, for the reason that The Board of Trade had just executed more authority in North America with the Navigation Acts, which meant that American traders could no longer evade the trade laws they had been recently accustomed to bypassing. Additionally England also wished to raise funds for the British military which meant that taxes were shooting through the roof during war years and left the colonies in postwar depression. This incident did not lead to much turmoil and was soon looked at as an afterthought to both England and the American colonies. However similar occurrences were seen shortly after with the Sugar Act, which was to raise taxes in the colonies, and bring new trade restrictions. Most colonial leaders did not support this at all because their economies were already in a bad state and this only made things worse for them. They believed that it was in violation of traditional English rights of subjects to tax themselves.
Taxation would be a problem seen all too often in the colonies such as in the Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, which again made colonist feel that their liberty was ignored. Additionally, hostility had begun to boil in America so much that some stamp distributors were resigning their positions. I myself found that the fault should have lain with Parliament and the ministry for imposing something they should have known would not be welcomed in the colonies because it was counterproductive. Though some of the acts that were implemented were repealed it left some worry in the minds of not only the people of the colonies but the leaders as well. The American colonist did not wish to be taxed by a body in which they held no representation in. They were beginning to feel susceptible in being constantly overlooked in the enforcement as well and more importantly in the creation of acts. Additionally another sign of a gloomy future to the colonist was that there was a standing army in a time of peace in the colonies. This could be seen as a way of creating a subtle tyranny and one effect of this was on March 5, 1770 in the Boston Massacre. This was one of the causes which lead the American Assemblies to work to limit the authority of Parliament and the King as well. However, shortly after in a protest to taxation also arose in the Boston Tea Party, which showed that division between England and the colonies was starting to show itself. At the time my father was in London working to workout issues dividing England and the colonies but with the sinking of the tea, sank the solution as well. Although the different Acts, Taxes, and troops were pieces of what was to come, there were matters that were more direct and caused more direct actions. I was able to see the extent to which my fellow colonial leaders were taking an assault on authority which I felt would cause anarchy if not taken care of. My assembly and others like it were losing their power to the ministry and Parliament back in England. More so, I was beginning to find that I was unable to serve and please both King and Colony. I had to enforce policies I had no hand in making but it was impossible to gain compliance with the assemblies. Assemblies were starting to demand more power and were becoming more wary of a fear that the ministry and Parliament had secret motives of taking away the rights and liberties of the colonies. I did not believe that was the motives of England but I still felt that the colonies and the mother country could come to negotiate the issues at hand. However, my beliefs were being overshadowed by the rise of the assemblies and committees erupting throughout which made compromise and reconciliation more difficult as seen with the Boston Port Act, because of the lack of willingness to compromise shown by the assembly in the colonies.
I believe one of the biggest hits that led up to the American Revolution was, the Coercive Acts, which simply was a restructuring of Massachusetts government and created martial law in the colony. After this I was beginning to see anarchy in America. Courts were ceasing to functions, self-made network of committees took the place of outlawed town meetings, and even my fellow law maker friends did not show me the same treatment as before. Authority in American was no longer deriving from the King but the people were creating it. I felt the Continental Congress did not speak for the majority and was diminishing our chances for reconciliation with their actions. Some may say that I became a Loyalist during 1774 with my support of the ministry and my support for England against America. I swore an oath that I would never violate. However my hopes for reconciliation were struck down in April of 1775 in the battles of Lexington and Concord where British soldiers and American Militiamen were killed. This was seen to many colonists that General Gage’s army was an occupying one. One of the Final chances we had to reconcile with England was with Lord North's proposal, I wished that the legislators would have seen it as I did, a final way to right the wrongs that occurred. Unfortunately, they refused the proposal. I felt that I did my duty for King and Colony. “No Office or Honour in the Power of the Crown to bestow will ever influence me to forget or neglect the Duty I owe my Country.”(Skemp, 124) If bloodshed was to be seen in the future then they had only themselves to blame for it. The current lawless society that had been growing in the colonies was now leading further into the abyss of anarchy I had feared. I could not stand to see the “Congresses, Conventions, and Committees,”(Skemp, 123)had replaced all our legitimate authority we once had. I knew what was to come in the future for myself, my country and my colony, but I would not abandon my beliefs, ideas, and position.