During Shays’ Rebellion, when Benjamin Franklin received a letter from Governor James Bowdoin of Massachusetts about rewards for apprehending “the several promoters of rebellion in your state,” he immediately had the Massachusetts proclamation published in the newspaper. Franklin, who was the president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, was pleased to inform Bowdoin that the Pennsylvania Legislature had decided to add to the rewards being offered by Massachusetts for the capture of Daniel Shays, Luke Day, Adam Wheeler, and Eli Parsons. Franklin concluded by praising the Massachusetts Constitution as one of the best in the union and expressed happiness that the “great majority of your people, will always secure it from the mad attempts to overthrow it.”
Franklin, Benjamin. Letter to Governor Bowdoin published in the Hampshire Gazette. Hampshire Gazette, March 28, 1787. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l04-094/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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