Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2008 Issue
Colonial Americana from the William Reese Co.
The second Jesuit Relation.
Item 173 espouses a different point of view: The Justice and Necessity of Taxing the American Colonies... The unnamed author of this 1766 polemic decries Britain's "ungrateful sons" in America. He pointed to the need for Americans to provide financial support in case another war arose, and then, in a most uncharitable description of the colonists, states, "This act will hinder thee from sucking out the blood of thy mother, and gorging thyself with the fruit of her labor." Nonetheless, the British backed down and repealed the Stamp Act later that year. $1,250.
Item 61 is a letter from Benjamin Franklin from London, dated May 7, 1773, to his friend Abbe Andre Morellet of France. Franklin displays his growing displeasure with the British, at one point noting, "They have not been famous for Civility to Strangers. In that, as in many other good things, the French are their Masters." At another point, Franklin alludes to growing troubles by saying, "We Americans are at present much awake and upon our Guard, and I think we shall long preserve our Liberties." When the colonists rebelled against the British three years later, Franklin would use his influence with the French to obtain their assistance. $75,000.
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