Friday 7 December 2012

5 Wishes Document

5 Wishes Document

Philosophical Society” for the purpose of enabling scientific

men to communicate their discoveries to one another. He
himself had already begun his electrical researches, which,
with other scientific inquiries, he called on in the intervals
of money-making and politics to the end of his life. In 1748
he sold his business in order to get leisure for study, having
now acquired comparative wealth; and in a few years he had
made discoveries that gave him a reputation with the learned
throughout Europe. In politics he proved very able both as
an administrator and as a controversialist; but his record as
an office-holder is stained by the use he made of his position to advance his relatives. His most notable service in
home politics was his reform of the postal system; but his
fame as a statesman rests chiefly on his services in connection with the relations of the Colonies with Great Britain,
and later with France. In 1757 he was sent to England to
protest against the influence of the Penns in the government of the colony, and for five years he remained there,
striving to enlighten the people and the ministry of England as to Colonial conditions. On his return to America he
played an honorable part in the Paxton affair, through which
he lost his seat in the Assembly; but in 1764 he was again
despatched to England as agent for the colony, this time to
petition the King to resume the government from the hands
of the proprietors. In London he actively opposed the proposed Stamp Act, but lost the credit for this and much of
his popularity through his securing for a friend the office of
stamp agent in America. Even his effective work in helping
to obtain the repeal of the act left him still a suspect; but
he continued his efforts to present the case for the Colonies
as the troubles thickened toward the crisis of the Revolution. In 1767 he crossed to France, where he was received
with honor; but before his return home in 1775 he lost his
position as postmaster through his share in divulging to
Massachusetts the famous letter of Hutchinson and Oliver.
On his arrival in Philadelphia he was chosen a member of
the Continental Congress and in 1777 he was dispatched to
France as commissioner for the United States. Here he remained till 1785, the favorite of French society; and with
such success did he conduct the affairs of his country that
when he finally returned he received a place only second to
that of Washington as the champion of American indepe

5 Wishes Document

5 Wishes Document

5 Wishes Document

5 Wishes Document

5 Wishes Document

5 Wishes Document

5 Wishes Document

5 Wishes Document

5 Wishes Document

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