A nation must think before it acts.
In this essay the author, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, explores the nature of the crisis that led to the split between Britain and the colonies during the years 1763 and 1776, with emphasis on Benjamin Franklin’s role as the colonies’ principal agent in London during those years. Franklin was an avid British patriot who tried to reconcile Parliament and the colonies until the very last year. What happened and why?