Ben Franklin’s Genius and the Missed Chance of 1776
If you were living during Benjamin Franklin’s lifetime, it would have appeared in all likelihood that the small french speaking colony of Canada was most certainly going to be a 14th member of the 13 colonies that united to declare independence from the British Empire.
The cause of liberty and independence found vast popular support across the majority of the french speaking citizens of Quebec, and Franklin himself organized for weeks in Montreal to ensure a delegation were chosen from among the representatives of the people to attend the Continental Congress in July 1776… but something happened and history unfolding in another manner.
In this Patriots Day lecture (June 24 in Quebec), I showcase the international scope of the American revolution which has its roots not in 1776... but in the 1630 founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
During the course of this presentation, we follow the under-appreciated aspects of the life and mind of the Father of Founding Fathers Dr. Benjamin Franklin from his youth as a protege of the great Cotton Mather throughout his life as a nationbuilder, scientist, and grand strategist. This journey will take us through the mind, morality, metaphysics of the father of founding fathers of America… and will also answer why Quebec failed to accept his challenge.
Supplementary reading
The Collected Writings of Benjamin Franklin
Why Canada Failed the ‘Ben Franklin Challenge’ in 1776
Matthew Ehret is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Patriot Review , and Senior Fellow at the American University in Moscow. He is author of the ‘Untold History of Canada’ book series and Clash of the Two Americas trilogy. In 2019 he co-founded the Montreal-based Rising Tide Foundation .
Ben Franklin is my greatest hero, as you'll see when my book arrives! So excited to hear this part of the history.
In my episode later today, Sex & Money, I'll be quoting from him and from the Jesuits on the "wicked liberty" of the Wendat nation of Canada, and how gender equality was the norm when wealth meant shared security and money was a plaything.