'"In 1754 he was selected as a member of the Pennsylvania delegation, led by Benjamin Franklin, that attended the Albany Congress, a gathering of numerous colonial representatives to plan an approach to their defenses before the pending French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France.Together with Benjamin Chew and Richard Peters), also of Philadelphia, he was on the committee that reviewed plans and chose Franklin's Albany Plan to propose to the full conference.