- Coming out of the Seven Years War,
Britain is on top of the world.
They acquired huge amount of territory, all the territory
up to the Mississippi river.
It was expensive to maintain.
And so you need to tax it.
Franklin certainly went along
with it and he said, well, empires cost money.
And much to his is chagrin,
he found himself going the wrong way,
out of touch with American public opinion.
- [Narrator] The recent war with
France had expanded England's empire
but left its treasury depleted.
In the spring of 1765 the King's ministers
and parliament came up
with a new way to raise more money
from the American colonies.
Now all legal documents,
newspapers, books, almanacs, even decks of playing cards
would need official stamps purchased from the government.
In Virginia, Patrick Henry denounced the Act
as taxation without representation.
Riots broke out in New York
New London, Connecticut; Annapolis, Maryland.
In Boston a group calling themselves
the "Sons of Liberty" hanged and burned
the stamp commissioner in effigy.
Then the mob destroyed the mansion
of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson
who had worked with Franklin back
in 1754 to propose the Albany Plan of Union.
The leaders of the protests had
appropriated the motto Franklin had used
at the time to encourage
the colonies to act together: join or die.
Franklin didn't like the Stamp Act either but from London
advised Pennsylvanians against overreacting.
(intense music) His political enemies back
home now spread false rumors
that he helped write the Stamp Act and had been bribed
by promises of a higher royal appointment.
When a mob threatened to attack the Franklin home
in Philadelphia, Deborah wouldn't budge.
- [Narration of Deborah] I said, when I was advised to
remove that, I was very sure you had
done nothing to hurt anybody.
and I had not given any offense to any person at all.
I sent to ask my brother to come and bring his gun.
If anyone came to disturb me,
I would show a proper resentment
- [Narrator] Shocked at the reports
of mob violence in the colonies.
Franklin wrote William that
unless some compromise could be found to ease
the tensions, events were laying the foundation
of a future total separation.
He flooded London newspapers with letters
arguing that the Stamp Act was unfair
that the recent riots did not represent the attitude
of a majority of the colonists.
He circulated a political cartoon,
illustrating that if the crisis escalated
the empire would be dismembered.
On February 13th, 1766, Franklin appeared before parliament
patiently answering questions posed by its members.
Could an army make the colonists comply, he was asked.
- [Narration of Franklin] Suppose a military force
is sent into America.
What are they then to do?
They cannot force a man to
take stamps who chooses to do without them.
They will not find a rebellion; they may indeed make one.
- Hi, this is Ken Burns.
I hope you enjoyed that excerpt from the film David Schmidt
and I made exploring the extraordinary life
of Benjamin Franklin.
Here are some more clips you might like
and you can watch the entire "Benjamin Franklin" series
on the PBS Video App or at pbs.org.