Chapter Nine and Chapter Ten Summary and Analysis

Chapter Nine recounts Franklin's life in Philadelphia from 1763-1764. After the death of co-Postmaster William Hunter, Franklin hopes to be assigned the sole responsibility of the Postmastership, but John Foxcroft is announced as his partner. They extend the postal system to include Canada, and Franklin takes his daughter Sally on the surveying trip. They visit William and Elizabeth in New Jersey. William receives a royal appointment: the beginning of strife between father and son. Though he has only just returned to Philadelphia, first from England and then from the seven month postal tour of the colonies, Franklin is restless. He becomes embroiled in a pamphlet war over the Paxton Boys, a mob of frontiersmen who murder six unarmed Indians and march on Philadelphia. Franklin defends the Indians, but he is prejudiced against German...