In this talk, Dr. Brendan McConville will discuss Benjamin Franklin and our understanding of who he was.  We generally think of Franklin as having been American long before July 4th, 1776. But, this talk argues that Franklin’s own writings reveal him to be something quite different, a very willing British subject who tried desperately to remain in the British empire almost up to the moment of independence.

About Our Speaker

Dr. Brendan McConville received his Ph.D. from Brown University and is a professor of history at Boston University. He is head of The David Center for the American Revolution at the American Philosophical Society, as well as a trustee of the David Library of the American Revolution.

Professor McConville is the author of The Brethren: A Story of Faith and Conspiracy in Revolutionary America; The King’s Three Faces: The Rise and Fall of Royal America; and These Daring Disturbers of the Public Peace: The Struggle for Property and Power in Early New Jersey.