Temple's Diary
A Tale of Benjamin Franklin's Family
In the Days Leading up to The American Revolution
February 15, 1776
Incredible but true: more than 100,000 copies of Common Sense have already been sold! One has never seen anything like that!
Still more incredible but equally true: my father's reaction. He professed to be happy about that incendiary publication. He thinks it will help the King's cause because it will backfire. "Now," he says, "the people of sense and property will understand the true intentions of this rabble rouser and see the real danger." All this, as usual, through Drummer. Oh yes, my father also believes that now, finally, the tide is turning and the right moment has come for England to send peace commissioners to America. My poor, deluded father.
