Everyone knows the line. A republic, if you can keep it. Almost nobody knows who Benjamin Franklin was talking to. Constitutional scholar Bill Norton tells the story of Elizabeth Powell, wife of Philadelphia's Samuel Powell — the last mayor appointed by the crown and the first elected by the people.
Elizabeth was not known because of her husband. Her fourth great-grandfather signed the Magna Carta and was killed for it. During the Second Continental Congress and again through the Constitutional Convention, she opened her home to the founders. George Washington is documented eating dinner at the Powell House 17 times in four months, and that is only what was written down.
Norton also corrects the story itself. The famous exchange was recorded as an anxious woman stopping Franklin in the street. Powell later said she had never been anxious in her life, and that she would not have stopped him on the street because those conversations were already happening in her own home.
Then the part that matters most. When Washington confided he would not seek a second term, Powell wrote and told him he was dead wrong — the republic was fragile, and leaving would look like abandoning a sinking ship. Washington ran again. Asked why he changed his mind, he said: strong solicitations from Philadelphia.
Watch the full episode at jennybethshow.com. Get involved at teapartypatriots.org.
00:00 — Meet Elizabeth Powell
00:25 — The Patriot Mayor of Philadelphia
01:24 — Opening Her Home to the Founders
02:10 — A Republic, If You Can Keep It
03:40 — The Letter That Changed Washington's Mind
05:16 — Strong Solicitations From Philadelphia
05:59 — She Could Not Vote and Kept the Republic Anyway
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