ePub The Making of a Patriot: Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit (Critical Historical Encounters Series) by Sheila L. Skemp in History

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Tipping PointBy VA DuckProfessor Sheila Skemp has written previous books on Franklin and his son William. (Benjamin and William Franklin: Father and Son; Patriot and Loyalist William Franklin: Son of a Patriot; Servant of a King). With this book Professor Skemp examines a single event in which the political loyalty of Benjamin Franklin is changed as well as the personal affection for his son William destroyed. `The Cockpit' - a room in London's Whitehall Palace named for the cock-fighting that literally occurred there in earlier time - is the scene of Franklin's transformative event. Here Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn publicly humiliates Franklin for his (perceived) role in America's disloyalty to Great Britain; or more accurately from the American perspective; disdain of the British Parliament.It is difficult to convincingly pinpoint turning points of history; nonetheless Professor Skemp does a masterful job in this case. The read sees Franklin turn from moderate - still very much loyal to King and Mother Country; to revolutionary - fully committed to the independence of his native America. The leveraging factors of the event are shown to be both political and personal. Franklin has carelessly allowed confidential letters by the Massachusetts Governor to be publicized; a clumsy act by Franklin that seals his fate (in Wedderburn's eyes) as a firebrand of a smoldering revolution in 1774. But it is the manner of the engagement that drives Franklin from Loyalist to Patriot. His public humiliation in front of Privy Council and room full of courtiers is an unforgivable affront to Franklin's decorous 18th Century `honor' and pride.Sadly; the event also was the ruination of Benjamin Franklin's loving relationship with his son William. William Franklin at the time was Royal Governor of the New Jersey Colony and a man who remained loyal to the King and Country throughout and after the war. Franklin's inability to `turn' his son from Loyalist to Patriot; infuriated him enough that father and son became hopelessly estranged; Benjamin to end his life in America; respected Father of his country; William to retreat to England to live and die in relative obscurity.A very enjoyable read - written in a scholarly fashion; bristling with end-notes and citations; but easily read by "the rest of us". The book includes a number of portraits of the principals. By the end; Professor Skemp convinces that she has in fact identified one of history's critical tipping points. If you are interested in American Founding history or Franklin in particular you will enjoy this book.1 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Good but repetitiveBy KaylaGood book; but it was very repetitive. I believe that the information could have been relayed in shorter context. It had some insight on Benjamin Franklin that was very interesting and overall I thought that everything in there was very accurate.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Some brilliant insights but with a disjointed and contrived mannerBy dcreaderPart of Oxford’s Critical Encounters series; Sheila Skemp’s The Making of a Patriot: Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit attempts to place a largely forgotten incident in American (and British) history into context by judging its impact on the transformation of Benjamin Franklin from a devoted servant of the British Empire into one of the most ardent supporters of independence for its American colonies.The subtitle refers to Franklin’s appearance at Whitehall Palace on January 29; 1774 in a small; oddly shaped room once used by Henry VIII for cockfighting (hence known as “the cockpit”). Then the seat of the King’s Privy Council; Franklin was summoned to appear as the agent of the Massachusetts assembly; ostensibly to hear arguments as to how the Council would handle that colony’s petition to the King to remove its detested royal governor. Instead; he was subject to an abusive harangue from the British Solicitor General; mostly over an incident that had occurred years earlier involving some purloined correspondence from the governor that Franklin had transmitted to the governor’s enemies back in America. Utterly humiliated in front of men he believed to be friends and colleagues in the British imperial project; Franklin left that day a changed man.The book’s narrative is; however; very light in regards to the details of this particular episode. It related who was in the room to witness the proceedings; what people wore in some cases; and Franklin’s history with them. The basic events are relayed; but the book quickly diverts its story down the other corridors of Franklin’s journey towards independence.Much is made of Franklin’s efforts to re-charter Pennsylvania from proprietary to crown colony. His feud with the Penn family is the subject of an overly long narrative. Franklin’s attempts to fully explain colonial theories of the imperial constitution are also explored mostly critically; largely unfairly in my view given how the diverse thinkers in the colonies differed on crucial points and how quickly they were evolving an ocean away from where Franklin was during the time period of this book.Subsequent chapters are more useful; especially that entitled “Dueling Conspiracies;” which describes the American and British mindsets; and how each side came to misunderstand and miscalculate the other. The final chapter; “Civil War” nicely uses the estrangement of Franklin from his son as a result of their strong differences on colonial independence to illustrate how the war was really a civil war; even more so than the conflict that would engulf America not 100 years later. There is much to appreciate in Skemp’s work; but it largely reads in the end like five essays on Franklin’s pre-Revolutionary life than a coherent narrative of his ideological journey giving the impression of glimpses into his story rather than a comprehensive account of his ideological sojourn.Additionally; Skemp’s conclusion as to the historical import of the Cockpit incident seems contrived. She concludes (of course; given the series’ title) that it was “critical” to Franklin’s story; but not to American history. Without the Cockpit incident; she speculates; Franklin would have likely been a more moderate voice and therefore excluded from those events that made him a leading figure of the Revolution – the drafting of the Declaration and an opportunity to serve the American cause at the French Court that eventually resulted in a the crucial alliance that secured American independence. But given all of the other decisions made on both sides; independence and victory would have happened regardless of Franklin’s story in her view. Whether this was the case; or Franklin was as “indispensable” to America’s cause overseas as Washington was in America as Gordon Wood argues; is left largely unexplored.