Benjamin Franklin was a Political Hero in Sheila Kemp's The Cockpit

Sheila Kemp did an outstanding job in her short history of one of America’s most treasured -- arguably the most looked up to -- political heroes. Whether the Cockpit had as astounding an effect on Franklin’s political career, and the defining moment that pushed him on the path as an advocate for independence is up for argument. Did Kemp adequately protect her position: that Benjamin Franklin became a revolutionary after his incident at the Cockpit? The questions seem to be answerable morally, as well as historically. In truth, Kemp defended her position with as much armor as she could smith whilst writing her definingly short biography, but sometimes lost her argument in midst of a flood of historical information. Thus, in this review the writer seeks to find the ‘do’s and don'ts’ that Sheila Kemp wrote on the path of drawing her conclusion, and thus he seeks his own conclusion as to whether the cockpit truly represented Franklin’s most defining political moment of change.

Why did Kemp write her narrative on this incident? As aforesaid, her arguments revolve around Franklin’s political positions before and after his day at the Cockpit. She ends up attacking Franklin in a number of circumstances, as well as praising him in others, thereby seeking a history that is wholly objective. In her introduction, Kemp argued that Franklin was entirely ignorant to the situation that proceeded on January 29, 1774; he knew that tensions had risen to its height, but still believed in reconciliation. In fact, Franklin had postponed his own defense for the petition of Massachusetts’ opposition against the Tea act that was scheduled to be proposed by Franklin almost a month earlier. This decision led to Franklin's “poor day at the office,” when he ...

... middle of paper ...

...take, at least in my view. As Kemp states,”If anything, Franklin’s fundamental error was the direct result of his emotional attachment to the Empire and of his naive assumption that men more sympathetic to the colonies might yet rise to positions of power in England.” (Kemp, 94)

In her next two chapters Kemp largely focused on the internal insecurities of the British Government, and the ramifications of the Cockpit incident. Though, these were important chapters, her earlier chapters seemed to breath the life into Franklin’s persona, and opened the door for the man he would become. After reading her narrative, I have no doubt in my mind that the ramifications of the Cockpit were as follows: the British Empire lost one of the greatest minds in the Enlightenment, and that Franklin left the Cockpit, as Kemp ironically portrayed at both ends of her book, an American.