Source #1
Source: Benjamin Franklin, 1754
Source #2
Albany Plan of Union
(1754)
In the early 1750s, rivalry between England and France over who would control the
North American continent led inexorably to what is known as the French and Indian
Wars. This conflict lasted from 1756 to 1763, and left England the dominant power in
the area that now comprises the eastern United States and Canada.
Aware of the strains that war would put on the colonies, English officials suggested a
"union between ye Royal, Proprietary & Charter Governments."1 At least some
colonial leaders were thinking along the same lines. In June 1754 delegates from
most of the northern colonies and representatives from the Six Iroquois Nations met
in Albany, New York. There they adopted a "plan of union" drafted by Benjamin
Franklin of Pennsylvania. Under this plan each colonial legislature would elect
delegates to an American continental assembly presided over by a royal governor.
The plan is noteworthy in several respects. First of all, Franklin anticipated many of
the problems that would beset the government created after independence, such as
finance, dealing with the Indian tribes, control of commerce, and defense. In fact, it
contains the seeds of true union, and many of these ideas would be revived and
adopted in Philadelphia more than thirty years later.
After the plan was unveiled, the Crown did not push it since British officials realized
that, if adopted, the plan could create a very powerful entity that His Majesty's
Government might not be able to control. The royal counselors need not have
worried; the colonists were not ready for union, nor were the colonial assemblies
ready to give up their recent and hard-won control over local affairs to a central
government. That would not happen until well after the American settlements had
declared their independence.
Source: Robert C. Newbold, The Albany Congress and the Plan of Union of 1754
(1955).