DATE OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY. 179 



when political feeling ran high, and the Proprietary 

 Party of the Province, regarding with disfavor the 

 existence of a learned Society in America [the Ameri- 

 can Society] , made up mainly of members of the oppos- 

 ing Popular Party, determined to counteract its in- 

 fluences by reviving the American Philosophical So- 

 ciety of 1743 and electing into it their friends of the 

 Proprietary Party. The minutes of the revived So- 

 ciety begin with January 19, 1768, and continue until 

 the union with the American Society in 1769. 



We have now reviewed the most important evidence 

 to be gleaned from the minutes of club and society, and 

 from correspondence of the day. It is in order to make 

 a general summary of the case and determine where 

 lies the real weight of all the testimony to be obtained. 

 Either the American Society was a continuation of 

 Franklin's Junto of 1727, or else there were two so- 

 cieties called the Junto, very similar in character and 

 aim, existing side by side. For the claims of the former 

 conclusion several considerations may be urged. First, 

 the general drift and implication of the minutes, which 

 were cited above, must certainly be regarded as making 

 for the assumption that this Junto was a continuation 

 of Franklin's club. The fact that Franklin himself was 

 elected a member in 1768, which seems at first to con- 

 travene this assumption, is a perfectly natural matter 

 in view of what has been heretofore stated. 



Secondly, heavy stress must be laid on the tradition 

 among the older members of our Society that its origin 



