The Franklin Prophecy, sometimes called the Franklin Forgery, is an

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

speech falsely attributed to Benjamin Franklin, warning of the supposed dangers of admitting Jews to the nascent United States. The speech was purportedly transcribed by

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (February 25, 1746 – August 16, 1825) was an American Founding Father, statesman of South Carolina, Revolutionary War veteran, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the United States Constit ...

during the

Constitutional Convention Constitutional convention may refer to: * Constitutional convention (political custom), an informal and uncodified procedural agreement *Constitutional convention (political meeting), a meeting of delegates to adopt a new constitution or revise an e ...

of 1787, but was unknown before its appearance in 1934 in the pages of William Dudley Pelley's Silver Legion pro- Nazi magazine ''Liberation''. No evidence exists for the document's authenticity, and some of Pelley's claims have actively been disproven.

Speech

The setting for the speech is a dinner table discussion purportedly recorded by Pinckney during the convention of the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

. Primarily, it is a polemic arguing against permitting Jewish immigration into the newly formed United States. The text is as follows:

Lack of authenticity

According to Pelley, Pinckney wrote that he had kept a journal of the Convention. This journal has never been found, and no evidence exists for Pelley's claim that it was printed privately. The Franklin Institute has rejected Pelley's claims that it owns a manuscript copy of the speech. The U.S. Congress report ''Anti-Semitism in Europe: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on European Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Relations'' (2004) states:

The Franklin "Prophecy" is a classic anti-Semitic canard that falsely claims that American statesman Benjamin Franklin made anti-Jewish statements during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. It has found widening acceptance in Muslim and Arab media, where it has been used to criticize Israel and Jews...

Franklin was a friend to the Jews of 18th-century America,"The Franklin "Prophecy": Modern Anti-Semitic Myth Making"
''Facts''. Anti-Defamation League. April–May 1954. Retrieved January 20, 2008. and contributed toward the building of Philadelphia's first permanent synagogue. The

Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

noted that the reference to the civilized world giving Palestine back to the Jews was an

anachronism An anachronism (from the Ancient Greek, Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronology, chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time per ...

, since the modern Zionist movement did not arise until nearly a century after Franklin's death. Similar antisemitic quotations have been attributed to

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

and have been disproven. In 1790, in a marked sign of religious tolerance, Washington sent a letter to the Jewish community in Rhode Island, writing "May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."

Usage

Despite having been repeatedly discredited since its first appearance, the "Prophecy" has proved a remarkably durable antisemitic canard. It has appeared most recently as a popular

Internet hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

promulgated on Usenet groups and antisemitic websites, where it is presented as authentic. On February 18, 1998, a member of the Fatah Central Committee revived this myth, while mistakenly referring to Franklin as a former President of the United States.

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

used this canard briefly in his October 2002 "Letter to the American People."

References

External links

"Benjamin Franklin vindicated : an exposure of the Franklin 'prophecy'"
American Jewish Congress, 1938, New York City. *Beard, Charles A
"Charles A. Beard exposes anti-Semitic forgery about Benjamin Franklin"
League for Labor Palestine, 1935, New York City. {{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin Prophecy 1930s hoaxes Antisemitic forgeries Benjamin Franklin Hoaxes in the United States Internet hoaxes Political forgery Pseudohistory 1934 documents Antisemitism in the United States Literary forgeries

Speech

Lack of authenticity

Usage

See also

References

Further reading

External links