The Albany Congress occurred in 1754. It was created at the request of the English Board of Trade to help deal with the eroding relationship between the colonial governments and the Mohawk tribe along with the entire Iroquois Confederacy. The Congress consisted of gathering seven of the thirteen colonies together, marking the first time that the colonies joined together in such a format. The attending colonies included Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York.


 

Relations with the Mohawk tribe had been hurt when changes occurred with the fur trade combined with increasing colonial expansion. The Native Americans had made a number of demands of the colonial governments. They hoped that the Congress would provide them with the ability to renegotiate their relationship with Britain, hopefully gaining gifts and concessions. Two of their demands were a ban on liquor sales to the tribes along with the removal of Indian Commissioners. 

The colonial governors saw this meeting as an opportunity.One of the items on Viginia's and Massachusett's was establishing a common defense fund since war with the French seemed likely. Pennsylvania and Connecticut wanted to purchase land held by Native Americans. 

Benjamin Franklin attended the Congress as a delegate from Pennsylvania. His goal was a plan for the colonies to unite and form an 'American' government. Interestingly, the plan had rooyal support. It had the advantage of helping the royal government consolidate control and streamline authority.

The actual Congress occurred between June 19 and July 11, 1754 in Albany, New York on the frontier. The public time was taken up with trying to restore with the series of alliances and treaties between the Iroquois Confederacy and the British colonies called the Covenant Chain. However, the colonies met extensively in private to debate Franklin's idea of joining together in a union. 

Franklin's original thoughts soon morphed into the idea of a 'Grand Council' which would have consisted of between two and seven representatives for each colony. The council would be funded by a tax on liquor and the number of representatives would be determined by each colony's contributions. The British Crown would keep overall quthority by appointing the President-General or Viceroy. The idea was for the council to have the power to declare war or make peace with the Native American. In addition, the council would be able to have say over how individuals were impressed by the British Crown. The committee discussed ideas such as greater control over the western frontier and a Stamp Tax to help fund further structure. 

In the end, the proposal for this Grand Council was sent to the entire group of delegates on June 28. They debated it until July 10th adding a requirement that Parliament would have to legalize the agreement and that every three years the number of delegates from each colony would be reapportioned. 

Ironically, even though the proposal passed unanimously at the Congress, it was not accepted within the assemblies of the colonies themselves. Benjamin Franklin printed a number of "United or Die" cartoons to try to garner interest in the proposal to no avail. In the colonies, other distractions were arising including the first strictures that would eventually lead to the Revolutionary War. In addition, the proposal was rejected in Great Britain. In terms of the results for the Mohawk Indians, the royal government agreed to name two royal Agents instead of the dreaded Indian Commissioners. 

Benjamin Franklin and John Adams would refer to the Albany Congress once the Revolutionary War was leading to a conclusion as one of the signs that America was ready for independence from Great Britain.