AMERICA’S FIRST CIVIL WAR ~ Part 2

AMERICA’S FIRST CIVIL WAR

Part 2

In last month’s post we saw that America’s first civil war was The Revolutionary War; a war that divided families and neighbors to the Loyalist or the Patriot cause. We also reviewed the motivations which determined their decision.

Throughout the colonies, families and neighbors who once enjoyed amicable relations now found themselves at odds with each other. Families of every station of life were impacted by the severing of ties, but two very prominent families from two very different colonies experienced division in a very public arena.

The Franklin Family

Benjamin Franklin

William Franklin

Benjamin Franklin, born to the son of a candle maker in Boston, Massachusetts, at seventeen moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When he proposed to Deborah, the daughter of his landlady, the mother did not allow the union. While Franklin was in London, Deborah married a man who later avoided prosecution for non payment of debts by absconded to Barbados with her dowry. When Franklin returned from England, he and Deborah formed a common-law marriage until they could legally marry.

William Temple Franklin's
portrait by John Trumbull

Franklin was a man of many achievements; a successful newspaper editor, printer, writer, satirist, scientist, inventor, politician, statesman, and diplomat.  He had an illegitimate son, William, possibly by Deborah. Franklin financed William’s education at the Inns of Court in London. Later, William was admitted to the bar and automatically became a member of Britain’s upper class. William made influential friends while in England and returned to become the Royal Governor of New Jersey in 1762. William also fathered an illegitimate son, William Temple Franklin, who embraced the patriot cause and would later work as an aide to his grandfather. William Franklin remained a Loyalist, was imprisoned and later exiled to London.  He was unsuccessful in his attempt to reconcile with his father and at Benjamin Franklin’s death was disowned in favor of the grandson.

The Randolph Family

The Peyton Randolph House
Williamsburg, VA

Peyton Randolph

Peyton and John Randolph, cousins of Thomas Jefferson, were born (1721 & 1727) in Williamsburg, Virginia to Sir John and Lady Susannah Randolph a wealthy, aristocratic, powerful Virginia family. Their father, a prominent attorney and Speaker of the House of Burgesses, died when Peyton was sixteen, leaving their house and other property in trust for the older son. At different times, the brothers were both educated at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg and later studied the law at London’s Inns of Court. Upon his return, Peyton was appointed Virginia’s attorney general and later became Williamsburg’s representative in the House of Burgesses.

John Randolph

Peyton had challenged some of the rights of the Royal Governor he was appointed to defend, but it was not until 1764 with the conflict over the Stamp Act that his conflict with the British crown escalated. In 1766 he was elected Speaker of the House of Burgesses. Meanwhile, Peyton’s younger brother John succeeded him as the Virginia’s attorney general; however, by now the two brothers were politically polarized. Peyton joined the Patriot cause and John left for England in 1775 with most of his family. John’s son, Edmund joined the American army and he served as aide-de-camp to General George Washington.

The Wren Chapel is in the
Wren Building - Williamsburg, VA

The Wren Chapel 

In 1784 John died in England. As a patriot, Peyton had a warrant for his arrest and execution, but would die of a stroke in Philadelphia in 1775. After their deaths, both brothers were returned to Williamsburg where they are buried with their father in the Randolph crypt beneath the Wren Chapel at the College of William and Mary.

It may seem ironic that in the Franklin family Benjamin and his grandson embraced the Patriot cause while Benjamin’s son, William remained loyal to the crown. And, in the Randolph family, the younger brother, John remained a Loyalist, while his own son Edmund chose to join his uncle in pursuing independence from England.         

Like America’s Civil War of the nineteenth century, families and friends relationships would be tested and strained by their disparate loyalties.