Report of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations on the Petition of the Honourable Thomas Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, John Sargent, and Samuel Wharton, Esquires, and their Associates 1772

This 1772 report captures a moment when Britain’s Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations were asked to weigh a bold petition from a circle that included Thomas Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, John Sargent and Samuel Wharton. The group sought a grant of extensive lands along the Ohio River, envisioning a new settlement that could eventually form its own government. Their proposal reflects the restless ambition of colonists eager to expand westward while still tied to the Crown’s authority.

The commissioners respond with careful geographic and legal scrutiny. They map the requested tract, noting that much of it overlaps Virginia’s claimed territory and lies beyond the boundary set by recent treaties with the Six Nations and Cherokee peoples. Citing royal proclamations that restrict western settlement to areas within easy reach of British trade, the report argues that granting the lands would clash with both policy and promises made to Indigenous allies. The document offers a nuanced view of early American expansion, highlighting the tension between colonial aspirations and imperial restraint.