Franklin, Benjamin, as Colonial Agent for Pennsylvania

Autograph letter signed ("B. Franklin"), 1 page (12 3/4 x 7 7/8 in.; 323 x 200 mm) on a bifolium of laid paper (watermarked ProPatria | lvg), London, 1 March 1766, to Joseph Fox, Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, integral leaf with autograph address panel with franking signature ("Free, B. Franklin") and New York and other postal cancellations; seal tear and some fold separations repaired, lightly soiled.

William Logan Fox (cited in Papers)

Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Labaree, 13:186–87

Autograph letter signed ("B. Franklin"), 1 page (12 3/4 x 7 7/8 in.; 323 x 200 mm) on a bifolium of laid paper (watermarked ProPatria | lvg), London, 1 March 1766, to Joseph Fox, Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, integral leaf with autograph address panel with franking signature ("Free, B. Franklin") and New York and other postal cancellations; seal tear and some fold separations repaired, lightly soiled.
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At a crucial time as a Colonial Agent, Franklin announces the repeal of the hated Stamp Act—and warns of the impending Declaratory Act.

The repeal of the Stamp Act was the pivotal point in Franklin's tenure as Pennsylvania's colonial representative in London—if not in his entire political career. Franklin had initially accepted the Stamp Act, and only the furious opposition that it engendered in America caused him to reverse his position. He used a masterful performance in a four-hour examination by Parliament, 13 February 1766, about the reasons for the colonies' resistance to the Act to draw a distinction between "external" taxes like trade duties and "internal" direct taxes on citizens. He also used his testimony to successfully portray himself as the leader of colonial opposition to the Stamp Act.

Later in February, Franklin had informed Fox, his sometimes political rival, that some elements in Parliament were attempting to amend the Repeal in favor of a compromise that would "explain and amend" the Stamp Act. The present letter announces a full American victory in the controversy:  "I wrote to you of the 22d past, via Maryland. Inclos'd I send a Copy of the late Votes on the Affair of the American Stamp-Act. The Repeal is now in a fair way of being compleated, on which I congratulate you and the Assembly."

In a postscript some three times the length of his letter proper, Franklin reveals Parliament was promulgating at the same time a more ominous piece of legislation. "An Act will pass at the same time with the Repeal of the Stamp Act, similar to that relating to Ireland pass'd in the Reign of George the first; it will be call'd an Act for the better securing the Dependency of His Majesty's Dominions in America, on the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain; This is merely to save Appearances, and to guard against the Effects of the Clamour made by the late Ministry as if the Rights of this Nation were sacrificed to America: And I think we may rest secure notwithstanding such Act, that no future Ministry will ever attempt to tax us, any more than they venture to tax Ireland. But then it is suppos'd, that we shall be, as we have been heretofore, always willing and ready to grant such voluntary Aids to the Crown as are suitable to our Abilities, when duly call'd upon for that purpose."

The Declaratory Act was not as innocuous as Franklin here tried to present it. Indeed, the resolve summarily obviated any civil rights that the Repeal of the Stamp Act might have intended to grant to the American colonists. Parliament claimed "Full Power and Authority to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient Force and Validity to bind the Colonies and People of America, Subjects of the Crown of Great Britain, in all Cases whatsoever."

The Declaratory Act developed into a significant source of friction between the colonies and Great Britain; Franklin was certainly wrong in his assurance to Fox, "notwithstanding such Act, that no future Ministry will ever attempt to tax us. As surely as the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, and the Intolerable Acts, the Declaratory Act directly contributed to the foment of the American Revolution. Thomas Paine, in fact, cited the Declaratory Act in the first number of The American Crisis, contending that "Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared, that she has a right (not only to Tax, but) 'to Bind us in All Cases Whatsoever,' and if being bound in that manner is not slavery, then there is no such a thing as slavery on earth."