What’s the story?
Beginning with the Stamp Act in 1765, colonial governors found themselves confronted by groups of self-styled “patriots,” who threatened the legitimacy of their rule. The larger colonies – Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York – saw resistance that was occasionally violent. And now, in January 1776, on the eve of the Declaration of Independence, New Jersey patriots have taken affairs into their own hands. They have seized Governor William Franklin and asked the Continental Congress how to proceed. The document seen here, an “extract from the minutes” of the Congress, provided that guidance. Put him on trial and if found guilty, report back to us, and we will determine the place of his imprisonment. It will not be in New Jersey.The transmission note at the bottom of the document from John Hancock, the President of the Congress, sends the guidance to the Reverand John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian minister and President of the College of New Jersey. Opposition to William Franklin came from the top of New Jersey society. But wait! The colonies are still part of the British empire. These actions are clearly illegal and traitorous. They have deposed a royal governor and are holding him captive. Franklin was a known supporter of colonists sympathetic with Britain and an opponent of the patriots. Moreover, he was Benjamin Franklin’s son. Didn’t he deserve special treatment?
If the American Revolution was America’s first civil war, nowhere are its tragic consequences more vividly portrayed than in the fates of Benjamin Franklin and his son, William. Franklin doted on William, his only child. He tried to ensure that William would enjoy the benefits of his father’s success and renown: a proper education, law practice in London, and seamless contacts with British elites. Benjamin spent long years in London (1757-1775) representing colonial interests before Parliament. However, he also represented William’s interests, and persuaded Lord Bute to give his son a position. Where the elder Franklin hustled and scrambled his way to fame, William could ride on his father’s coattails all the way to becoming governor of New Jersey. Father and son had both made it in the world of British society. They were both loyal subjects of George III. Until things came apart. And once they came apart, they came apart forever. As Parliament dug in, resisting Franklin’s attempts to conciliate, Franklin left London, and, in effect, the British Empire. He also left William.
As suggested in the resolution from Congress, William was exiled from New Jersey and imprisoned in Connecticut. He would later live as a free British citizen in occupied New York, where he remained involved in the conflict and mobilized resistance to the patriots. Father and son, though, remained unreconciled by the time the British evacuated New York in 1783, and William left for London. Both men were alike, stubbornly tenacious in their commitments. Yet, William was an Englishman, Benjamin Franklin an American.
This interpretation was written by Michael T. Ryan, part of the teaching faculty of the Rosenbach Museum & Library’s spring 2026 course “The Curator’s Toolkit.”
More details
theme: Power of Placesubjects: American loyalists, Captivity
contributing repository: Rosenbach Museum & Library
submitted by: Michael T. Ryan
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