Benjamin Franklin’s “A Conversation on Slavery” was published in 1770 as a response to the English accusations of hypocrisy and injustice in colonial claims to liberty. Ironically, the prosperity of the English colonies in North America was a direct result of the slave trade. Franklin’s argument presented in “A Conversation on Slavery” is structured by a conversation between an American, an Englishman, and a Scotsman. The Englishman begins the conversation with, “You Americans make a great clamour upon every little imaginary infringement of what you take to be your Liberties; and yet there are no People upon Earth such as enemies to liberty, such absolute Tyrants, where you have the opportunity, as you yourselves are.” The American response to these accusations is one of denial and blame distribution, arguing that at least some of the blame should be put upon the English as well. He points out that only a few slaves exist in the largest English colonies of New England and belong only to a few wealthy men. He argues that slavery should not be labeled as a public crime in the colonies but instead only a few people are responsible for the accusations. Franklin takes it one step farther to explain that slaves are treated well during times of sickness, tounge-in-cheekly relating it to the care the English provide the poor. He compares the English bottom class to slaves again by suggesting that the poor in English aren’t free either because of English law, “They are obliged by English law "to work for their Masters so many Hours at such a Rate, and [these laws] leave them no Liberty to demand or bargain for more, but imprison them in a Workhouse if they refuse to work on such Terms.” Franklin is effectively able to turn the tables on the English by making a reference to their own citizens who they treat horribly. Franklin makes the concession that some colonists buy slaves, but England is responsible for facilitating the trade. He writes,
“You bring the Slaves to us, and tempt us to purchase them. I do not justify our falling into the Temptation. To be sure, if you have stolen Men to sell to us, and we buy them, you may urge against us the old and true saying, that the Receiver is as bad as the thief. This Maxim was probably made for those who needed the Information, as being perhaps that receiving was in it's Nature as bad as stealing: But the Reverse of the Position was never thought necessary to be formed into a Maxim, nobody ever doubted that the Thief is as bad as the Receiver." I took Franklin’s argument and attempt at passing off the blame as a reflection of his ultimate goal to defend the political and financial interests of the colonists. He does not really care about the truth of the matter, but instead is focusing on evading the harder questions on slavery by turning the accusations against his accusers. The conversation portrays Ben as a proud colonist of New England, who will not budge on the fact that the relatively small number of slaves in his province and their general treatment is much more noble than that of the southern colonies. He may know slavery is morally wrong, but he also realizes that the success of the South’s plantations is a direct result of the institution of slavery. The debate over slavery would not be silenced with this conversation, but instead would grow with the success of the American Revolution and continue on to be a major issue during the Civil War.
