Albany Congress

Albany Congress, conference in U.S. colonial history (June 19–July 11, 1754) at Albany, New York, that advocated a union of the British colonies in North America for their security and defense against the French, foreshadowing their later unification. Seven colonies—Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island—sent delegates to the conference, which was convened by the British Board of Trade to work out plans for joint defense measures and to help cement the loyalty of the Iroquois Confederacy, which was wavering between the French and the British in the early phases of the French and Indian War.

After receiving presents, provisions, and promises of redress of grievances, 150 representatives of the Six Nations of the Confederacy withdrew without committing themselves to the British cause. In addition, delegates to the Congress advocated practical measures resulting in closer regulation of Indian affairs and westward migration of pioneers. Moreover, Benjamin Franklin, serving as a Pennsylvania delegate, presented the so-called Albany Plan of Union, which provided for a loose confederation presided over by a president general and having a limited authority to levy taxes to be paid to a central treasury. Although the plan was approved by the delegates, neither the Crown (jealous of its authority) nor any of the colonial assemblies (unwilling to sacrifice sovereignty) approved it, and the war was conducted under the old system. “The different and contrary reasons of dislike to my plan made me suspect that it was really the true medium,” Franklin later wrote, “and I am still of opinion it would have been happy for both sides the water if it had been adopted.” Indeed, despite the fact that the issue here was not independence, the Albany Plan proved to be a farsighted document that contained the seeds of the solution to colonial problems later adopted in the Articles of Confederation and in the Constitution.