Migration 17

Few of their children in the Country learn English; they import many Books from Germany; (…) they will soon so out number us, that all the advantages we have will not in My Opinion be able to preserve our language, and even our Government will become precarious.

Letter from Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson: The Support of the Poor, 9th May 1753.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was an American writer, scientist, inventor, and politician. He was one of the authors of the US Declaration of Independence.

In the middle of the 18th century, the first important political discourses on independence developed in the colonies of North America. Wars and conflicts raged in Europe, and these culminated in the Seven Years' War between 1756 and 1763. This made the colonies in America even more important for the finances of the indebted and war-mongering colonial regimes in Europe. The British increased taxes on tea and sugar in the British colonies. A few years later, in 1774, the separatist Boston Tea Party was founded and in 1775, the American War of Independence broke out. In this statement, Benjamin Franklin was complaining about the unwillingness of German migrants to integrate; he feared the establishment of a parallel German society.

*Eske Wollrad (2005): Weißsein im Widerspruch. Feministische Perspektiven auf Rassismus, Kultur und Religion. Königstein im Taunus.: Ulrike Helmer.

1753