Albany Convention.

Franklin always did things in ways that set people to thinking. When he
went to Albany he took with him copies of a queer picture which he had
printed in his newspaper. This was a snake cut into thirteen pieces.
Under each piece was the first letter of the name of a colony, such as
"P" for Pennsylvania. Beneath the whole were the words "Unite or die."

That was like Franklin; he was always doing something odd. The cut-up
snake stood for the thirteen divided colonies. What Franklin meant was
that they could not exist alone. A snake is not of much account when it
is chopped up into bits, but it is a dangerous creature when it is
whole. He proposed that there should be a grand council of all the
colonies, a sort of Congress, meeting every year in Philadelphia, which
was the most central large city. Over them all was to be a
governor-general appointed by the king. This council could make laws,
lay taxes, and perform other important duties.

That is enough to say about Franklin's plan, for it was not accepted. It
was passed by the convention, it is true, but the king would not have it
and the colonies did not want it; so the snake still lay stretched out
along the Atlantic in thirteen pieces. Then came the great war with the
French of which I have told you. After that was over, things came to
pass which in the end forced the colonies to combine. Thus Franklin's
plan, or something like it, was in time carried out, but for many years
the country was in a terrible state. This is what I am now going to tell
you about.

You should know that the war with the French cost the king and the
colonies a great deal of money. The king of England at that time was
named George. He was an obstinate man, but not a very wise one, as you
will think when you have learned more about him. One thing he wanted to
do was to send soldiers to America to keep the French from getting back
what they had lost, and he asked the people to pay these soldiers. He
also asked them to send him money to pay the governors and judges whom
he had chosen to rule over them. But the people thought they could take
care of themselves, and did not want British soldiers. And they
preferred to pay the governors and judges themselves as they had always
done, and did not want King George to do it for them. So they would not
send him the money he asked for.

Some of you may think this was very mean in the Americans, after all the
British had done to he