"That humble application be made for an act of Parliament of Great Britain, by virtue of which one general government may be formed in America, including all the said colonies, within and under which government each colony may retain its present constitution... A President-General, to be appointed and supported by the Crown; and a Grand Council, to be chosen by the representatives of the people." — Benjamin Franklin, Albany Plan of Union, 1754
Although rejected at the time, the Albany Plan is most often cited by historians as a precursor to which later development?
- A
The chartering of the Hudson's Bay Company
- B
The Navigation Acts' enforcement through vice-admiralty courts
- Ccheck_circle
Intercolonial cooperation under bodies like the Continental Congress
- D
The signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas dividing the New World
Explanation
Historians treat the Albany Plan as a conceptual precursor to coordinated colonial bodies such as the Stamp Act Congress and Continental Congress. The Navigation Acts (1660s+), Hudson's Bay Company (1670), and Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) all predate or are unrelated to Franklin's federal framework.