Political Quotes

Benjamin Franklin: “Our legal method of compulsion is by imprisonment: the Indians cannot and will not imprison one another; and if we…”

On the record
Our legal method of compulsion is by imprisonment: the Indians cannot and will not imprison one another; and if we attempt to imprison them, I apprehend it would be generally disliked by the nations, and occasion breaches.
Said by
Benjamin Franklin
Missouri

Editor's note · Context

Franklin discusses the impracticality of enforcing imprisonment for debt among Native Americans, emphasizing cultural misunderstandings.

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