The Making of a Patriot: Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit by Sheila L. Skemp
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The Making of a Patriot: Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit by Sheila L. Skemp
On January 25, 1774, Benjamin Franklin was called to appear before the Privy Council -- a select group of the King's advisor -- in an octagonal-shaped room in Whitehall Palace known as the Cockpit. Spurred by jeers and applause from the audience, Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn unleashed a withering tirade, accusing Franklin of harboring "secret designs" to win colonial independence. Franklin entered the Cockpit as a dutiful servant of the British crown. He left as a budding American revolutionary.
In The Making of a Patriot, renowned Franklin historian Sheila Skemp explains how Franklin's humiliating censure before the Council turned one of England's most loyal subjects into one of England's most avowed enemies. Skemp presents a piercing, accessible narrative that goes beyond the traditional Franklin biography -- and behind the common myths -- to demonstrate how Franklin's ultimate decision to support the colonists was by no means a foregone conclusion. In fact, up until the Cockpit ordeal, he was steadfastly committed to achieving "an accommodation of our differences." The book examines how Franklin had ostensibly been summoned to the Cockpit to answer questions regarding a petition from the General Court of Massachusetts to remove two officials from their posts -- an audacious demand, since each served at the behest of the King. Further stoking tension was the incendiary news of the Boston Tea Party. Unwittingly, Benjamin Franklin became a convenient target for British hostility, personifying to them the agitators who sought to erode England's authority.
The Making of a Patriot uses the Cockpit incident to reveal the conspiratorial framework within which actors on both sides of the Atlantic moved toward revolution, and discusses how its ramifications affected Franklin's own family, pitting father against son. Most of all, it captures how one seemingly isolated event had dramatic, history-making implications.
Oxford University Press, Hardcover, 2013
This is a BRAND NEW book.
On January 25, 1774, Benjamin Franklin was called to appear before the Privy Council -- a select group of the King's advisor -- in an octagonal-shaped room in Whitehall Palace known as the Cockpit. Spurred by jeers and applause from the audience, Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn unleashed a withering tirade, accusing Franklin of harboring "secret designs" to win colonial independence. Franklin entered the Cockpit as a dutiful servant of the British crown. He left as a budding American revolutionary.
In The Making of a Patriot, renowned Franklin historian Sheila Skemp explains how Franklin's humiliating censure before the Council turned one of England's most loyal subjects into one of England's most avowed enemies. Skemp presents a piercing, accessible narrative that goes beyond the traditional Franklin biography -- and behind the common myths -- to demonstrate how Franklin's ultimate decision to support the colonists was by no means a foregone conclusion. In fact, up until the Cockpit ordeal, he was steadfastly committed to achieving "an accommodation of our differences." The book examines how Franklin had ostensibly been summoned to the Cockpit to answer questions regarding a petition from the General Court of Massachusetts to remove two officials from their posts -- an audacious demand, since each served at the behest of the King. Further stoking tension was the incendiary news of the Boston Tea Party. Unwittingly, Benjamin Franklin became a convenient target for British hostility, personifying to them the agitators who sought to erode England's authority.
The Making of a Patriot uses the Cockpit incident to reveal the conspiratorial framework within which actors on both sides of the Atlantic moved toward revolution, and discusses how its ramifications affected Franklin's own family, pitting father against son. Most of all, it captures how one seemingly isolated event had dramatic, history-making implications.
Oxford University Press, Hardcover, 2013
This is a BRAND NEW book.
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