The Making of a Patriot Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit

On January 29, 1774, Empire man Benjamin Franklin entered the west side of Whitehall Palace and walked into a room named the "Cockpit." The violent verbal thrashing that followed would be a turning point for Franklin; though a loyal British subject entered Cockpit, a budding American Revolutionary left. Sheila Skemp, renowned Franklin historian, weaves a narrative that is decidedly not a traditional Franklin biography; she captures the man behind the stories, demystifying his actions and his reputation while focusing the novel around this important afternoon in 1774.The Making of a Patriotargues that it was Benjamin Franklin's public humiliation at the hands of the King's men in January of 1774 that led him to believe that the differences between England and its colonies were too deep to be reconciled. It is the story of the Cockpit: the events leading up Franklin's arrival, the scene that unfolded within and the consequences of the day not only for Franklin, but the colonists and the Englishmen. Part of Oxford University'sCritical Historical Encountersseries,The Making of a Patriotis at once a micro history of the Cockpit and a macro history of the American Revolution. Skemp uses the story of Franklin's humiliation as a lens through which students and professors can discuss the causes and meaning of the American Revolution, not just to Franklin, but to Englishmen on both sides of the Atlantic. Through the trials of Benjamin Franklin, Sheila Skemp reminds us that the American Revolution was fraught with mistakes and misunderstandings and that, above all, it was not inevitable.

Sheila L. Skemp is the Clare Leslie Marquette Professor of American History at the University of Mississippi. Her previous books include William Franklin, Benjamin and William Franklin, and Judith Sargent Murray.