He Did Not Conquer
Benjamin Franklin's Failure to Annex Canada
Dundurn Press · Print & ebook · September 30, 2025
Throughout his long and illustrious career, Benjamin Franklin nursed a not-so-secret desire to annex Canada and make it American.
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- Who it’s for
- Benjamin Franklin’s campaign to annex Canada, and how its failure shaped two neighbours’ relations.
- Themes
- Franklin’s campaign to annex Canada, US-Canada relations
- Genres
- Pre-Confederation Canada, Revolutionary America (1775-1800), Lives in History
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Throughout his long and illustrious career, Benjamin Franklin nursed a not-so-secret desire to annex Canada and make it American. When he was not busy conducting scientific experiments or representing American interests at home and abroad, Benjamin Franklin hatched one plan after another to join Canada to the American colonies and then later to the United States. These were not solely intellectual efforts.
Continue reading
He went to Montreal in 1776 to try to turn around the faltering occupation by American forces. As lead American negotiator at the 1782 peace negotiations with Britain in Paris, he held the fate of Canada in his hands. Ill health and other American priorities then forced him to abandon his decades-long campaign to possess Canada. Franklinâs elevation to the status of an American icon has pushed this signal failure into the far reaches of collective memory in both Canada and the United States. Yet it shaped the future of North America and relations between the two neighbours over the next two and a half centuries.
Franklin’s Canada Campaign
Benjamin Franklin’s campaign to annex Canada, and how its failure shaped two neighbours’ relations.
Come here for
- Franklin’s plans to join Canada to the American colonies, then the United States
- His 1776 Montreal visit and role in the 1782 Paris peace negotiations
Expect
- A decades-long effort, from repeated plans to direct diplomacy
- The Montreal occupation and peace negotiations with Britain in Paris
Where it sits
| Revolutionary America (1775-1800) | 70% |
|---|---|
| Pre-Confederation Canada | 53% |
| Lives in History | 51% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Lives in History
- Revolutionary America (1775-1800)
- Authors
- Madelaine Drohan
- Publisher
- Dundurn Press
- Published
- September 30, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Franklin’s campaign to annex Canada · US-Canada relations
- Reading lane
- Lives in History