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When he was not busy conducting scientific experiments or representing American interests at home and abroad, Benjamin Franklin hatched one plan after another to join Canada to the American colonies and then later to the United States. These were not solely intellectual efforts. He went to Montreal in 1776 to try to turn around the faltering occupation by American forces. As lead American negotiator at the 1782 peace negotiations with Britain in Paris, he held the fate of Canada in his hands. Ill health and other American priorities then forced him to abandon his decades-long campaign to possess Canada.
Franklin’s elevation to the status of an American icon has pushed this signal failure into the far reaches of collective memory in both Canada and the United States. Yet it shaped the future of North America and relations between the two neighbours over the next two and a half centuries.
Madelaine Drohan has written a very timely book. Canadians said "non merci" to Benjamin Franklin in 1776. And we continue saying it — loud and clear — to those who threaten our independence 250 years later!
A bold and timely reassessment of one of the most revered figures in American history ... Drohan’s writing is crisp and accessible, blending archival research with journalistic clarity. Her background as a foreign correspondent for The Globe and Mail and The Economist lends the book to a global perspective, situating Franklin’s ambitions within the broader currents of empire, revolution, and diplomacy. She also brings a distinctly Canadian voice to the narrative, one that resists the gravitational pull of American exceptionalism.
This is a good book that has arrived at an opportune time ... [Madelaine Drohan] has some choice words for historians, cultural producers, and mythmakers who have ignored our history at our collective peril.
A very good book that delves into this history and looks at the personality and the ambitions of Benjamin Franklin and why he was always looking towards Canada as a place for expansion for the United States ... a very timely read.
- A Note About Terminology and Map Sources
- Introduction
- Part One: Canada as the Enemy
- 1 The Threat from the North: Boston 1706–1723
- 2 Papist Conspiracies: London 1724–1726
- 3 A Dangerous Man: Philadelphia 1726–1748
- 4 Casting a Covetous Eye: Philadelphia 1749–1756
- Part Two: Canada Captured
- 5 Ravings of a Mad Prophet: London 1757–1773
- 6 A New Papist Army: London 1774–1775
- Part Three: Canada in Play
- 7 A Neighbourly Invasion: Philadelphia 1775
- 8 A Nest of Hornets: Montreal 1776
- 9 The Final Attempt: Paris 1776–1783
- Epilogue: Letting the Losers Write Canada’s History
- Acknowledgements
- Appendix: Wars and Treaties Mentioned in This Book
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography
- Map Credits
- Index