Albany Congress

Albany Congress. Representatives of seven American colonies meeting in Albany, New York, in the summer of 1754 drew up a plan to unite the American colonies under a federal government. The Albany Congress had initially been convened by the English Board of Trade, which was concerned about the weakness of intercolonial defense at the beginning of the Seven Years' War, as well as about growing friction between the colonists and the Iroquois.

The plan, derived largely from the ideas of Benjamin Franklin and Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts, provided for a chief military executive and a commissioner for Indian affairs, both to be paid by the Crown. A grand council of delegates would be drawn from the thirteen mainland colonies, the size of each colony's delegation being proportional to its share of taxes. The delegates, to be elected every three years and to meet every year, were charged with negotiating Indian treaties that would bind all the colonies, and with providing for intercolonial defense to be paid for by indirect taxes. The proposed Grand Council would have had more powers than the provincial assemblies vis‐à‐vis the imperial executives, but fewer powers than Parliament enjoyed in relation to the king.

Nothing immediately came of the Albany Plan. It was not supported by the colonial assemblies, which distrusted one another. And it was never presented for authorization in Parliament because the English ministry hesitated to introduce a plan for an intercolonial assembly that might facilitate American resistance to imperial authority. An early blueprint for colonial union, the Albany Plan showed that, in the mid‐1750s, intercolonial cooperation was not yet a viable option.
See also Colonial Era; Indian History and Culture: From 1500 to 1800; Revolution and Constitution, Era of.

Bibliography

Robert C. Newbold , The Albany Congress and Plan of Union of 1754, 1955.

Alison G. Olson