Benjamin Franklin

(1706-1790)

Life

Family

Father: English emigrant Josiah Franklin, a tallow chandler and soap boiler from Puritan background
Mother: Abiah Folger Franklin from Puritan background
Wife: Deborah Read Franklin
Son: William Franklin, who incurred his father's anger and lasting resentment by taking the side of the British in the Revolutionary War

Homes

Boston
Philadelphia
London
Paris

Career

printer, statesman, scientist, author

Religion

dabbled in deism; otherwise, not tied to a denomination

Chronology

1706: born in Boston
1716-1717: works in father's chandler shop
1718-1720: apprenticed to brother James, a printer
1721: James begins publishing the New England Courant. He and Benjamin are at a disadvantage, however, because they have to publish their broadsheet without support from the government. Also, unlike the postmasters who publish many colonial newspapers, they do not have easy access to dispatches from Europe and to the mails for distribution. The paper becomes known for its satire of the establishment, and Cotton Mather labels it as "scandalous" (Wright 20-21).
1722: anonymously contributes "Silence Dogood" essays to the Courant
1722-1723: The local government of Boston arrests James Franklin and later bans his paper for its barbs, and Benjamin becomes the official publisher and editor.
1723: Angry at James for making him remain an indentured apprentice and afraid he will be jailed too, Benjamin travels to New York and then to Philadelphia, where he is apprenticed to the printer Samuel Keimer.
1724: sails for England; works at Samuel Palmer's printing office in London
1725: "A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain"; works for printer John Watts
1726: returns to America; works for merchant Thomas Denham
1727: forms the Junto, a group of tradesmen in Philadelphia--including silversmiths, glaziers, cobblers, clerks, ironmasters, and joiners. The Junto was dedicated to the improvement of its members through the exchange of information. Esmund Wright, author of Franklin of Philadelphia, describes it in this way: "It was part mutual aid society, part social fraternity, part academy. Its organization was modeled on Mather's neighborhood Benefit Societies, but it was touched also by Masonic principles: it was intended to be secret and exclusive. The questions the members set themselves included 'queries on any point of Morals, Politics or Natural Philosophy,' but the real motivation was self-improvement, the 'wish to do good' that would also bring them advantages, or even profit" (37-38). Franklin describes the Junto's work in his autobiography, as well as a few essays.
1728: works as a self-employed in Philadelphia
1729: "Busy-Body" essays; buys Pennsylvania Gazette
1730: becomes official printer of Pennsylvania; enters a common-law union with Deborah Read; proposes subscription library
1731: Members of his Junto put together their personal libraries to form a circulating library.
1731: begins sponsoring printers
1732-1757: Poor Richard's Almanack
1733: seeks moral perfection
1735: proposes fire department, night watch
1736: clerk of Pennsylvania Assembly
1737: postmaster of Pennsylvania
1741: invents Franklin stove; publishes General Magazine and Historical Chronicle
1743: founds American Philosophical Society
1746: conducts electrical experiments
1748: retires from printing; lives on printing partnerships, postmastership, and real estate investments; elected to Common Council of Philadelphia
1749: "Proposals Relating to Education of Youth in Pennsilvania," which leads to founding of University of Pennsylvania
1751: "Experiments and Observations with Electricity"
1751-1764: serves in Pennsylvania Assembly
1752: kite experiment
1753: becomes joint deputy postmaster of North America
1754: proposes American union against French; claims right to American self-government
1755: "A Parable Against Persecution," "A Parable on Brotherly Love"
1757: "The Way to Wealth"
1764: speaker of Pennsylvania Assembly; petitions to King for new government; agent for colonies in England
1771: writes first part of Autobiography
1772-1774: Some British people accuse Franklin of treason after he sends colonial leaders some letters in which Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson calls for restrictions on colonists' liberties (Wright 224-228).
1773: "Edict by the King of Prussia"
1775: returns to America; delegate to Second Continental Congress; drafts Articles of Confederation. After years of trying to achieve compromise and reconciliation of the British and the colonists, Franklin becomes impatient with the British and begins to favor separation (Wright 249-250).
1776-1785: As a diplomat in France, Franklin works to secure economic and military assistance from the French. "The language barrier," Esmund Wright explains in Franklin of Philadelphia, "made it difficult for him to fulfill these requests; in the early days he had to send to Britain for one of each article he asked for, to use it as a display model" (280). Of Franklin's celebrity status in France, John Adams later wrote: "His reputation was more universal than that of Leibnitz or Newton, Frederick or Voltaire, and his character more esteemed than any or all of them . . . His name was familiar to government and people . . . to such a degree that there was scarcely a peasant or a citizen, a valet de chambre, coachman or footman, a lady's chambermaid or a scullion in a kitchen who was not familiar with it, and who did not consider him a friend to human kind. When they spoke of him, they seemed to think he was to restore the Golden Age" (Wright 270).
1778: achieves alliance with France
1784: writes second part of Autobiography
1785: returns to America
1787: advocates abolition; delegate to Constitutional Convention; proposes proportional representation in House and equal representation in the Senate
1788: writes third part of Autobiography
1789: writes first remonstrance against slavery addressed to Congress
1790: writes fourth part of Autobiography
1790: dies at home in Philadelphia. In his will, he leaves practically nothing to his son, William, who took the British side in the Revolutionary War. "The part he acted against me in the late war, which is of public notoriety," Franklin wrote, "will account for my leaving him no more of an estate he endeavoured to deprive me of" (Wright 249).

Issues and themes

Benjamin Franklin, in the words of biographer Carl Van Doren, was a "harmonious human multitude." As Van Doren's assessment suggests, Franklin's life and work are at once difficult and simple to summarize.

On the one hand, his multitude of contributions in the worlds of printing, science, literature, and politics defy brief summary. In each of these fields, he was a leader. Although he began his printing career as merely an apprentice to his brother James, for example, Franklin used his intelligence and industry to become one of the most successful printers in the colonies. Among other successes, he sold 10,000 copies of his Poor Richard's Almanack a year, a best-seller second only to the Bible at this time (Wright 55). After his early success in this field, he had the leisure to pursue other interests, particularly those in science. Regarded by many in England and France as one of the great scientists of the age, Franklin made several important contributions to this branch of knowledge. Among the many Esmund Wright cites in Franklin of Philadelphia are the recognition of lightning as electricity, observations on the Gulf Stream, and the invention of bifocals, the lightning rode, the Franklin stove, and a musical instrument called the armonica (356-357). In the area of literature, Franklin wrote one of the most important autobiographies in American history, as well as several humorous essays. As the author of the maxims in Poor Richard's Almanack, he is one of the most frequently quoted Americans in history. Finally, Franklin earned his reputation as one of the Founding Fathers by making numerous contributions to the formation of the United States of America. He was one of the first persons to suggest a colonial union; in 1754, he called for the formation of a federal council to organize defense of the colonies and to create policies regarding the Native Americans. In 1776, he served on the five-person committee to draft the Declaration of Independence and made a number of revisions in Thomas Jefferson's document. Between 1750 and his death in 1790, he wrote several political essays, including Causes of American Discontents before 1768, as well as speech calling for adoption of the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in 1789. Perhaps his greatest contribution, Esmund Wright suggests in Franklin of Philadelphia, is his work to solicit assistance from France during the American Revolution: "Franklin obtained at least 45 million francs of loans and gifts; some estimates go higher: Jonathan Dull puts the figure at 80 million dollars in today's terms. Without this, America might not have been able to maintain her independence after 1778. All the financial aid from 1776 to 1781 came by and through France; 90 percent of the power used by Americans in the first two and a half years of war came from France. And most of the credit for this French assistance must go to Franklin" (336).

Despite their number and diversity, Franklin's accomplishments were, in Van Doren's words, "harmonious" and therefore simple to summarize. At heart of Franklin's work was an unshakable pragmatism, a concern with the means by which humans can improve themselves and their environments. In this respect, he was a major American voice of the Enlightenment. In his invention of the Franklin stove, the maxims of Poor Richard, his establishment of the Junto and a circulating library, and his "bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection," we can see a commitment to human progress through human initiative. For instance, Franklin had infinite hope for the potential of science to improve human life. In a letter he wrote to Joseph Priestly in February 1780, he says: "The rapid progress true science now makes occasions my regretting sometimes that I was born so soon. It is impossible to imagine the Height to which may be carried, in a thousand years, the Power of Man over Matter. We may perhaps learn to deprove large Masses of their Gravity, and give them absolute Levity, for the sake of very easy transport. Agriculture may diminish its Labour and double its Produce; all Diseases may, by sure means, be prevented or cured, not even excepting that of Old Age, and our Lives lengthened at pleasure even beyond the antediluvian Standard. O that moral Science were in as fair a way of Improvement, that Men would cease to be Wolves to one another, and that human Beings would at length learn what they now improperly call Humanity" (Wright 323). Franklin even recognized the value of knowledge with no immediately obvious practical applications. Asked of what use the hot-air balloon could be, Franklin responded: "What good is a new-born baby?" (Wright 324). In printing and politics, Franklin was more practical than passionate. Unlike his brother James, he generally used his printing press in the early days to entertain rather than to challenge the system, as Wright has noted. "There were no causes here and no crusades," Wright explains,"only an easy style and a profitable balance sheet" (51). As a politician, he tried at first to smooth relations with Britain rather than effect a separation. Only after years of trying to achieve compromise and reconciliation of the British and the colonists did he become impatient with the British and began to favor separation (Wright 249-250).

Indeed, so practical was Franklin that some observers, particularly other writers, have accused him of being shallow. The most vocal of these detractors, D.H. Lawrence, complained that Franklin oversimplified human psychology. "Why, the soul of man is a vast forest," Lawrence famously declares in Classic American Literature, "and all Benjamin intended was a neat back garden" (52). A half-century earlier, Herman Melville included Franklin among those "keen observers of the main chance; prudent courtiers; practical magicians in linsey-woolsey" (Wright 2). What seems to vex these and other writers is Franklin's fascination with the practical and neglect of the spiritual, as well as his belief in humans' control over their lives and environment. Reacting to such confidence, Lawrence argues: "We are only the actors, we are never wholly the authors of our own deeds or works" (59).

It may be, however, that Franklin's celebration of free will was a matter of focus, rather than ignorance. In their worthy pursuits of life's mysteries, many writers--Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Theodore Dreiser, and Eugene O'Neill, to name a few--have run the risk of losing sight of humans' capacity to control at least a portion of their lives. It was this portion--which he believed to be large--that interested Franklin. Wright characterizes Franklin as practical problem-solver rather than a theorist: "He had little time for metaphysics or the life of the imagination. His interest was not that of the radical (or of the true philosopher) in doctrine, or even in constitutions, but that of the businessman, the man of affairs, and the politician, in getting things done and in getting problems--specific and immediate problems--solved. For him, problems were for solving by reason and compromise, not raw material for crusades" (351). Instead of merely being ignorant of Lawrence's "vast forest," Franklin perhaps chose to focus his energies elsewhere. Wright puts it this way: "He worked in the light" (4).

Work

"The Way to Wealth"

Franklin wrote the material in his annual publication Poor Richard's Almanac, including "The Way to Wealth," under the pseudonym Richard Saunders. Why do you think Franklin chose to use a pen name instead of his own?
With the possible exception of Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin is the most frequently quoted American in the history of the country. Many people know maxims such as "God helps them that help themselves" and "Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," even if they do not know who made these phrases famous. What characteristics of Franklin's expressions, most of which he adapted from others he had heard or read, make them so memorable? Which of these maxims is your favorite? Why?
What do Poor Richard's maxims suggest about Franklin's personality? What did he value?

The Autobiography

What reasons does Franklin give for writing his autobiography? What do these reasons reveal about his outlook on life?
Franklin says that Daniel Defoe's Essay on Projects and Cotton Mather's Bonifacius: An Essay upon the Good influenced him. What events in his autobiography provide evidence of his influence?
Franklin is regarded as the major voice of the Enlightenment in America. Look up the Enlightenment in a literary resource. What aspects of this period can you see in Franklin's autobiography?
Why does Franklin try to improve his writing and speaking style? In what way does this decision foreshadow other events in his life and the development of his philosophy?
Franklin describes polishing his writing style by trying to imitate the style of great writers. Use this technique to study Franklin's own style. Read a particularly humorous or polished paragraph from the Autobiography or one of Franklin's essays and translate it into the most mundane style you can imagine. Leave this summary and come back to it an hour or more later. Now try to rewrite the paragraph in Franklin's style. Don't try to remember the original passage; instead, call on your understanding of his stylistic devices. Finally, in a brief third paragraph, comment on the devices you used in imitating Franklin.
One of the most famous and significant scenes from the Autobiography is that of the young Franklin, alone in Philadelphia, walking up the street eating a puffy roll. How do you explain the appeal and importance of this scene?
"So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature," Franklin writes, "since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do" (248). Reason is an important principle to Franklin, who refers directly or indirectly to it throughout his work. What does it mean to him? Why does he value it? What aspects of his culture would have reinforced this belief in reason?
Why does Franklin decide to pay the "Bienvenu" for drink (255) even though he feels that he should not have to pay it? What does this decision reveal about his philosophy?
When studying a work of nonfiction, we can learn a lot by concentrating on selection. That is, in choosing among the innumerable events and details of life, what has the author chosen to include and why? What choices has Franklin made, and what do these choices say about his personality and his purpose in writing?
Analyze Franklin's conclusion regarding Deism: ". . . I began to suspect that this Doctrine tho' it might be true, was not very useful" (262).
What was the Junto? Why do you suppose Franklin established it?
"In order to secure my Credit and Character as a Tradesman," Franklin writes, "I took care not only to be in Reality Industrious and frugal, but to avoid all Appearances of the contrary" (268). Analyze the significance of this passage. What does it reveal about Franklin's philosophy?
What, in Franklin's opinion, is the value of a library? Do you see any democratic sentiments in this attitude?
Look carefully at Abel James's and Benjamin Vaughan's letters, which Franklin includes in his book. With these letters in mind, compare the first part of the Autobiography with the second part.
Analyze Franklin's attitude toward religion. Consider his reaction to the sermons he hears at the Presbyterian church (277-278).
"It was about this time," Franklin writes, "that I conceiv'd the bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection" (278). What does Franklin's project, his method, and his manner of describing them say about his personality? Would you ever consider such a project? Why or why not?
What do you think of Franklin the man? Do you agree with D.H. Lawrence, Herman Melville, and other writers, who have complained that Franklin was shallow and overly practical? Or do you appreciate his optimism and his enthusiasm for humans' control over their lives? Defend your assessment.
Biographer Esmund Wright has commented on Franklin's apparent detachment, his seeming ability to stand back from events and comment objectively, even ironically, on them. What signs do you detect of this detachment in his autobiography?
Wright argues, however, that Franklin was not aloof as he may seem. "Franklin became the parts he played," he writes, "even if some of them were inconsistent and contradictory" (10). Do you see any support for this argument in the autobiography? How would you describe Franklin, detached or actively involved?

Bibliography

"Benjamin Franklin." Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter Fourth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995. 211-213
"Chronology." Benjamin Franklin: Writings. New York: Library of America, 1987. 1471-1495.
Dawson, Hugh J. "Fathers and Sons: Myth and Metaphor in Franklin's 'Autobiography.'" Reprinted in Critical Essays on Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography. Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter Fourth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995. 226-286.
---. Benjamin Franklin: Writings. New York: Library of America, 1987.
---. The Complete Poor Richard's Almanacks. Vol. 1 1733-1747. Barre, Mass.: Imprint Society, 1970.
---. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Ed. Leonard W. Lebaree, William B. Willcox, et al. 25 vols. to date. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959-
Lawrence, D.H. "Benjamin Franklin." Classic American Literature. New York: Viking Press, 1961. Reprinted in Critical Essays on Benjamin Franklin.
Welland, Dennis. "Introduction." Autobiography and Other Writings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Wright, Esmond. "Introduction." Benjamin Franklin: His Life As He Wrote It. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990.
---. Franklin of Philadelphia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986.

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