James Madison, yes, the Father of the Constitution was filled with zeal for the patriot cause. He became so supportive of the Revolution that he was suspicious of anyone who sounded like, or gave outward signs that they were against this cause in America.

Benjamin Franklin had lived in London for ten years, and as he returned home to Philadelphia, rumors were widespread that he had come “back rather as a spy than as a friend, and that he means to discover our weak side and make his peace with the Minister Lord North by discovering it to him.”

Madison believed this rumor, and wrote: “Little did I ever expect to hear that Jeremiah’s Doctrine that ‘the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked’ was extended in the celebrated Dr. Franklin. . . . It appears to me that the bare suspicion of his guilt amounts very nearly to a proof of its reality. If he were the man he formerly was . . . his conduct . . . on this critical occasion could have left no room for surmise or distrust . . . His behavior would have been explicit and his Zeal warm and conspicuous”

In actuality Franklin had already withstood all severe temptation which confronted him during his stay in England. After he returned to Pennsylvania he tried for a month to convince two influential American Loyalists to support the cause of the Patriots. These were his son, William, and his good long time friend Josseph Galloway. His efforts were in vain, much to his disappointment.

Benjamin Franklin soon proved himself to be at least as vigorous a foe to Great Britain as even James Madison. That was proved by his attendance at and his dynamic actions at the Continental Congress, where he was appointed to the Committee to adopt an anticipated Declaration of Independence.

That just goes to prove that we all should not be so quick to judge!