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

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

speech falsely attributed to

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

, warning of the supposed dangers of admitting

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

to the nascent

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The speech was purportedly transcribed by

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (February 25, 1746 – August 16, 1825) was an American statesman, military officer and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as List of ambassadors of the United States to France, United S ...

during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, but was unknown before its appearance in 1934 in the pages of William Dudley Pelley's Silver Legion pro-

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

magazine ''Liberation''. No evidence exists for the document's authenticity, and some of Pelley's claims have been disproven.Afsai, Shai (March 8, 2021).
How Ben Franklin Was Turned Into an Antisemite
" ''JewThink''.

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 legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

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

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 The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

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

anachronism An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...

, since the modern

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

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

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

and have been disproven. In 1790, in a marked sign of

religious tolerance Religious tolerance or religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, ...

, Washington sent a letter to the

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish community in

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

, 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 Antisemitic tropes, also known as antisemitic canards or antisemitic libels, are " sensational reports, misrepresentations or fabrications" about Jews as an ethnicity or Judaism as a religion. Since the 2nd century, malicious allegations of ...

. It has appeared most recently as a popular

Internet hoax A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...

promulgated on

Usenet Usenet (), a portmanteau of User's Network, is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Elli ...

groups and antisemitic websites, where it is presented as authentic. On February 18, 1998, a member of the

Fatah Central Committee The Fatah Central Committee is the highest decision-making body of the Palestinian people, Palestinian organization and political party, Fatah. History The first Fatah Central Committee was formed in February 1963, consisting of ten members, in ...

revived this myth, while mistakenly referring to Franklin as a former

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

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 Cultural depictions of Benjamin Franklin Hoaxes in the United States Internet hoaxes Political forgery Pseudohistory 1934 documents Antisemitism in the United States Literary forgeries Prophecy Anti-immigration politics in the United States Fascism in the United States

Speech

Authenticity

Usage

See also

References

Further reading

External links