The making of a patriot: Benjamin Franklin at the cockpit

201 Pages·2013·4.14 MB·English

by  Sheila L. Skemp

Th e Making of a Patriot
Critical Historical Encounters
Series Editors
James Kirby Martin
David M. Oshinsky
Randy W. Roberts
Frank Lambert Th e Battle of Ole Miss: Civil Rights v. States’ Rights
Sheila L. Skemp Th e Making of a Patriot: Benjamin Franklin at the
Cockpit
Th e Making of a Patriot
Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit
SHEILA L. SKEMP

1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Skemp, Sheila L.
Th e making of a patriot : Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit / Sheila L. Skemp.—1st ed.
p. cm.—(Critical Historical Encounters)
ISBN 978-0-19-538657-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-19-538656-1
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Franklin, Benjamin, 1706–1790. 2. Statesmen—United States—Biography.
3. United States—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—Causes. 4. Rosslyn, Alexander Wedderburn,
Earl of, 1733–1805. 5. Royal Cockpit (Whitehall, London, England) I. Title.
E302.6.F8S63 2012
973.3092—dc23 [B] 2011038772
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
o n acid-free paper
To Murphy
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CONTENTS

Editor’s Foreword i x
Preface x i
CHAPTER 1 Th e Cockpit 1
CHAPTER 2 Present at the Cockpit 2 9
CHAPTER 3 Errata 59
CHAPTER 4 Dueling Conspiracies 9 7
CHAPTER 5 Civil War 125
EPILOGUE Th e Meaning of the Cockpit 1 51
Notes 157
For Further Reading 1 71
Index 1 77
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EDITORS’ FOREWORD
T
he volumes in this Oxford University Press book series focus
on major critical encounters in the American experience. Th e
word “critical” refers to formative, vital, transforming events
and actions that have had a major impact in shaping the ever-changing
contours of life in the United States. “Encounter” indicates a confron-
tation or clash, oftentimes but not always contentious in character, but
always full of profound historical meaning and consequence.
In this framework, the United States, it can be said, has evolved
on contested ground. Confl ict and debate, the clash of peoples and
ideas, have marked and shaped American history. Th e fi rst Europeans
transported with them cultural assumptions that collided with Native
American values and ideas. Africans forced into bondage and carried
to America added another set of cultural beliefs that often were at
odds with those of Native Americans and Europeans. Over the centu-
ries America’s diverse peoples diff ered on many issues, often resulting
in formative confl ict that in turn gave form and meaning to the Ameri-
can experience.
Th e Critical Historical Encounters series emphasizes formative
episodes in America’s contested history. Each volume contains two
fundamental ingredients: a carefully written narrative of the encoun-
ter and the consequences, both immediate and long-term, of that
moment of confl ict in America’s contested history.
ix