During the years of the French Indian Wars, Benjamin Franklin saw the Colonies as needing to be united under one government, particularly for the purposes of defense. His Albany Plan of 1754 was directly influenced by the makeup of the Iroquois Confederacy. It was a commonly held view by American Patriots at the time that the functioning of the Confederacy most closely resembled that of ancient Rome, and offered a unique living insight into the Colonists' own deep past. The Albany Plan was Franklin's first plan for uniting the colonies under one peaceful government. The Plan was not ratified, but several ideas therein moved forward into the Articles of Confederation and laid the platform for Franklin's position in drafting the Constitution. The Albany Plan is the blueprint for modern American government: the proposal included a President (appointed by the British monarchy) who would lead with the support of a Grand...
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