“Question—‘Why may it not?’
“Answer—‘Suppose a military force be sent into America, they will find nobody in arms; 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 will indeed make one.’”
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
By Boyle
This statue stands at Ninth and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, close to the spot where Franklin first drew electricity from the sky
STATUETTE OF FRANKLIN AND LOUIS XVI.
French porcelain. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Franklin’s position had great weight in bringing about the repeal of the Stamp Act; and thereafter he strove with all his might to prevent the breaking up of the empire. When the storm broke in 1775, Franklin needed to make no choice. An American through and through, he never thought of anything but casting his lot with that of his countrymen; and on March 21, 1775, he left England, and became an original Son of the American Revolution. The conditions have never been better set forth than in his own words: “And now the affair is nearly in the situation of Friar Bacon’s project of making a brazen wall round England for its eternal security. His servant, Friar Bungey, slept while the brazen head, which was to dictate how it may be done, said, ‘Time is and Time was.’ He only waked to hear it say, ‘Time is past.’”