The French and Indian War started in 1754. The British were
unsuccessful in the beginning because of their lack of unity. Benjamin
Franklin saw this as a major problem and urged unity. In the
Pennsylvania Gazette, he drew his famous cartoon of a broken snake
with the caption "Join or Die." A meeting was held in Albany in the
spring of 1754 to address this issue. Colonial leaders, officials and
representatives from seven of the British colonies attended the
conference.
Benjamin Franklin and Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson
together drafted a proposal of colonial unity to combat the war
against the French. It was called the Albany Plan of Union. The plan
would create new layers of government including a president-general
that was appointed by the crown. The president-general will manage
relations with the natives, and will be in charge of the frontier
lands until they became colonies. The colonial assemblies will appoint
members to a proposed grand council whose representation will be
determined by the amount of financial taxes paid to the organization.
This (attributed to ) originally appeared during t...
Delegates converse outside the Stadt Huys during t...
English: This political cartoon (attributed to Ben...The plan was approved by the members of the Albany conference but the
colonial assemblies refused to accept it as did the London regime. To
the colonists, it did not seem to give enough independence. On the
other hand, to the British officials, it seems to give too much.
According to Franklin's wrote that the colonies agreed on the need for
unity but could not agree on the details for unity.
Benjamin Franklin
English: Schematic map of the French and Indian Wa...