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This book, published in the US in 1812, is actually the second publication of a book originally published in London, 53 years earlier, in 1759, by R. Griffiths Printers entitled "An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania" (First Edition Octavo (4-3/4" x 8") bound in contemporary calf with gilt rules; viii, [xviii], 444 pages). It was written when Benjamin Franklin went to England to present Parliament with the grievance of the Pennsylvania Assembly against the (William) Penns (proprietors of Pennsylvania), and the proprietary nature of the colonial government (notably their claim to be exempt from taxation); and it defended the actions of the Assembly and Quaker Party during the Seven Years’ War. |
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This book, published in the US in 1812, is actually the second publication of a book originally published in London, 53 years earlier, in 1759, by R. Griffiths Printers entitled "An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania" (First Edition Octavo (4-3/4" x 8") bound in contemporary calf with gilt rules; viii, [xviii], 444 pages). It was written when Benjamin Franklin went to England to present Parliament with the grievance of the Pennsylvania Assembly against the (William) Penns (proprietors of Pennsylvania), and the proprietary nature of the colonial government (notably their claim to be exempt from taxation); and it defended the actions of the Assembly and Quaker Party during the Seven Years’ War. |
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As the title page of this 1812 second publication clearly indicates, its publisher, Philadelphia's Olmstead and Power, believed that Franklin was the author... a notion which was, by then, the conventional wisdom. However, sufficient has the evidence become in the ensuing 200 years that Jackson, and not Franklin, was likely the author (in part because of Van Doren's work, published in 1947) that his name, "Jackson, Richard" is now written in more modern ballpoint pen at the very top of the aforementioned title page of Jefferson's original first edition; and, also, the respected and authoritative Washington and Lee University Library Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) database clearly shows Jackson, and not Franklin, as the author. This Open Library page, then, is likely correct to show Jackson as the author; however, likely, also, was Franklin's contribution so considerable (as so convincingly argued by Hillard Gray; and as so deeply believed by Thomas Jefferson, and many others) that it would not be entirely inaccurate to show him as at least the co-author. Franklin was, in any case, the publisher, as he acknowledged in his posthumously-published (first in French in 1791, and then in English, in 1793; and then several times more in subsequent years) autobiography, co-authored by his grandson, William Temple Franklin. |
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As the title page of this 1812 second publication clearly indicates, its publisher, Philadelphia's Olmstead and Power, believed that Franklin was the book's author... a notion which was, by then, the conventional wisdom. However, sufficient has the evidence become in the ensuing 200 years that Jackson, and not Franklin, was likely the author (in part because of Van Doren's work, published in 1947) that his name, "Jackson, Richard" is now written in more modern ballpoint pen at the very top of the aforementioned title page of Jefferson's original first edition; and, also, the respected and authoritative Washington and Lee University Library Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) database clearly shows Jackson, and not Franklin, as the author. This Open Library page, then, is likely correct to show Jackson as the author; however, likely, also, was Franklin's contribution so considerable (as so convincingly argued by Hillard Gray; and as so deeply believed by Thomas Jefferson, and many others) that it would not be entirely inaccurate to show him as at least the co-author. Franklin was, in any case, the publisher, as he acknowledged in his posthumously-published (first in French in 1791, and then in English, in 1793; and then several times more in subsequent years) autobiography, co-authored by his grandson, William Temple Franklin. |
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