CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17th
1706. He was the tenth son of soap maker, Josiah Franklin. Benjamin's mother
was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah. In all, Josiah would father 17
children.
Josiah
intended for Benjamin to enter into the clergy. However, Josiah could only
afford to send his son to school for one year and clergymen needed years of
schooling. But, as young Benjamin loved to read he had him apprenticed to his
brother James, who was a printer. After helping James compose pamphlets and set
type which was grueling work, 12-year-old Benjamin would sell their products in
the streets.
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
A. Apprentice Printer
When
Benjamin was 15 his brother started The New England Courant the
first "newspaper" in Boston. Though there were two papers in the city
before James's Courant, they only reprinted news from abroad. James's
paper carried articles, opinion pieces written by James's friends,
advertisements, and news of ship schedules.
Benjamin wanted to write for the
paper too, but he knew that James would never let him. After all, Benjamin was
just a lowly apprentice. So Ben began writing letters at night and signing them
with the name of a fictional widow, Silence Dogood. Dogood was filled with
advice and very critical of the world around her, particularly concerning the
issue of how women were treated. Ben would sneak the letters under the print
shop door at night so no one knew who was writing the pieces. They were a smash
hit, and everyone wanted to know who the real “Silence Dogood.” was After 16
letters, Ben confessed that he had been writing the letters all along. While
James's friends thought Ben was quite precocious and funny, James scolded his
brother and was very jealous of the attention paid to him.
Before
long the Franklins found themselves at odds with Boston's powerful Puritan
preachers, the Mathers. Smallpox was a deadly disease in those times, and the
Mathers supported inoculation; the Franklins' believed inoculation only made
people sicker. And while most Bostonians agreed with the Franklins, they did
not like the way James made fun of the clergy, during the debate. Ultimately,
James was thrown in jail for his views, and Benjamin was left to run the paper
for several issues.
Upon
release from jail, James was not grateful to Ben for keeping the paper going.
Instead he kept harassing his younger brother and administering beatings from
time to time. Ben could not take it and decided to run away in 1723.
B. Escape to Philadelphia
Running
away was illegal. In early America, people all had to have a place in society
and runaways did not fit in anywhere. Regardless Ben took a boat to New York
where he hoped to find work as a printer. He didn't, and walked across New
Jersey, finally arriving in Philadelphia via a boat ride. After debarking, he
used the last of his money to buy some rolls. He was wet, disheveled, and messy
when his future wife, Deborah Read, saw him on that day, October, 6, 1723. She
thought him odd-looking, never dreaming that seven years later they would be
married.
Franklin
found work as an apprentice printer. He did so well that the governor of
Pennsylvania promised to set him up in business for himself if young Franklin
would just go to London to buy fonts and printing equipment. Franklin did go to
London, but the governor reneged on his promise and Benjamin was forced to
spend several months in England doing print work. Benjamin had been living with
the Read family before he left for London. Deborah Read, the very same girl who
had seen young Benjamin arrive in Philadelphia, started talking marriage, with
the young printer. But Ben did not think he was ready. While he was gone, she
married another man. Upon returning to Philadelphia, Franklin tried his hand at
helping to run a shop, but soon went back to being a printer's helper. Franklin
was a better printer than the man he was working for, so he borrowed some money
and set himself up in the printing business. Franklin seemed to work all the
time, and the citizens of Philadelphia began to notice the diligent young businessman.
Soon he began getting the contract to do government jobs and started thriving
in business.
In 1728,
Benjamin fathered a child named William. The mother of William is not known.
However, in 1730 Benjamin married his childhood sweetheart, Deborah Read.
Deborah's husband had run off, and now she was able to marry. In addition to
running a print shop, the Franklins also ran their own store at this time, with
Deborah selling everything from soap to fabric. Ben also ran a book store. They
were quite enterprising.
C. The Pennsylvania Gazette
In 1729, Benjamin Franklin bought a
newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin not only printed the
paper, but often contributed pieces to the paper under aliases. His newspaper
soon became the most successful in the colonies. This newspaper, among other
firsts, would print the first political cartoon, authored by Ben himself. During
the 1720s and 1730s, the side of Franklin devoted to public good started to
show itself. He organized the Junto, a young working-man's group dedicated to
self- and-civic improvement. He joined the Masons. He was a very busy man
socially.
D. Poor Richard's Almanack
But Franklin thrived on work. In
1733 he started publishing Poor Richard's Almanack. Almanacs
of the era were printed annually, and contained things like weather reports,
recipes, predictions and homilies. Franklin published his almanac under the
guise of a man named Richard Saunders, a poor man who needed money to take care
of his carping wife. What distinguished Franklin's almanac were his witty
aphorisms and lively writing. Many of the famous phrases associated with
Franklin, such as, "A penny saved is a penny earned" come from Poor
Richard.
E. Fire Prevention
Franklin continued his civic
contributions during the 1730s and 1740s. He helped launch projects to pave,
clean and light Philadelphia's streets. He started agitating for environmental
cleanup. Among the chief accomplishments of Franklin in this era was helping to
launch the Library Company in 1731. During this time books were scarce and
expensive. Franklin recognized that by pooling together resources, members
could afford to buy books from England. Thus was born the nation's first
subscription library. In 1743, he helped to launch the American Philosophical
Society, the first learned society in America. Recognizing that the city needed
better help in treating the sick, Franklin brought together a group who formed
the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1751. The Library Company, Philosophical Society,
and Pennsylvania Hospital are all in existence today.
Fires were
very dangerous threat to Philadelphians, so Franklin set about trying to remedy
the situation. In 1736, he organized Philadelphia's Union Fire Company, the
first in the city. His famous saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure," was actually fire-fighting advice. Those who suffered fire
damage to their homes often suffered irreversible economic loss. So, in 1752,
Franklin helped to found the Philadelphia Contribution for Insurance against
Loss by Fire. Those with insurance policies were not wiped out financially. The
Contributionship is still in business today.
F. Electricity
Franklin's
printing business was thriving in this 1730s and 1740s. He also started setting
up franchise printing partnerships in other cities. By 1749 he retired from
business and started concentrating on science, experiments, and inventions.
This was nothing new to Franklin. In 1743, he had already invented a
heat-efficient stove — called the Franklin stove — to help warm houses efficiently.
As the stove was invented to help improve society, he refused to take out a patent.
Among Franklin's other inventions are swim fins, the glass harmonica (a musical
instrument) and bifocals. In the early 1750's he turned to the study of
electricity. His observations, including his kite experiment which verified the
nature of electricity and lightning brought Franklin international fame.
G. The Political Scene
Politics
became more of an active interest for Franklin in the 1750s. In 1757, he went
to England to represent Pennsylvania in its fight with the descendants of the
Penn family over who should represent the Colony. He remained in England to
1775, as a Colonial representative not only of Pennsylvania, but of Georgia,
New Jersey and Massachusetts as well. Early in his time abroad, Franklin
considered himself a loyal Englishman. England had many of the amenities that
America lacked. The country also had fine thinkers, theater, witty conversation
— things in short supply in America. He kept asking Deborah to come visit him
in England. He had thoughts of staying there permanently, but she was afraid of
traveling by ship.
In 1765,
Franklin was caught by surprise by America's overwhelming opposition to the
Stamp Act. His testimony before Parliament helped persuade the members to
repeal the law. He started wondering if America should break free of England.
Franklin, though he had many friends in England, was growing sick of the
corruption he saw all around him in politics and royal circles. Franklin, who
had proposed a plan for united colonies in 1754, now would earnestly start
working toward that goal.
Franklin's
big break with England occurred in the "Hutchinson Affair." Thomas
Hutchinson was an English-appointed governor of Massachusetts. Although he
pretended to take the side of the people of Massachusetts in their complaints
against England, he was actually still working for the King. Franklin got a
hold of some letters in which Hutchinson called for "an abridgment of what
are called English Liberties" in America. He sent the letters to America
where much of the population was outraged. After leaking the letters Franklin
was called to Whitehall, the English Foreign Ministry, where he was condemned
in public.
H. A New Nation
Franklin came home. He started working actively for
Independence. He naturally thought his son William, now the Royal governor of
New Jersey, would agree with his views. William did not. William remained a
Loyal Englishman. This caused a rift between father and son which was never
healed. Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress and worked on a
committee of five that helped to draft the Declaration of Independence. Though
much of the writing is Thomas Jefferson's, much of the contribution is
Franklin's. In 1776 Franklin signed the Declaration, and afterward sailed to
France as an ambassador to the Court of Louis XVI.
The French
loved Franklin. He was the man who had tamed lightning, the humble American who
dressed like a backwoodsman but was a match for any wit in the world. He spoke
French, though stutteringly. He was a favorite of the ladies. Several years
earlier his wife Deborah had died, and Benjamin was now a notorious flirt. In
part via Franklin's popularity, the government of France signed a Treaty of
Alliance with the Americans in 1778. Franklin also helped secure loans and
persuade the French they were doing the right thing. Franklin was on hand to
sign the Treaty of Paris in 1783, after the Americans had won the Revolution. Now
a man in his late seventies, Franklin returned to America. He became President
of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania. He served as a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention and signed the Constitution. One of his last public
acts was writing an anti-slavery treatise in 1789.
Franklin
died on April 17, 1790 at the age of 84. 20,000 people attended the funeral of
the man who was called, "the harmonious human multitude." His
electric personality, however, still lights the world.
I.
Literary Works
·
Franklin,
Benjamin, "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin". Dover
Pubns; June 7, 1996. ISBN 0-486-29073-5
·
Franklin,
Benjamin, "Poor Richards Almanack". Peter Pauper Press;
November 1983.ISBN 0-88088-918-7
·
Franklin,
Benjamin, "The Poetry of Minor Connecticut Wits". Scholars
Facsimilies & Reprint; September 2000. ISBN 0-8201-1066-3
·
Franklin,
Benjamin, "On Marriage".
·
Franklin,
Benjamin, "Satires and Bagatelles".
J.
Analysis Message of Literary Works
After The Pennsylvania Gazette, Poor Richard was the most profitable enterprise
that Franklin undertook as a publisher. It sold about 10,000 copies a year.
Given the now indissoluble connection between “Poor Richard” and Benjamin
Franklin, it should be emphasized that most of the material in Poor Richard was not actually written by Franklin.
This was especially true of the aphorisms, their most famous feature. Franklin
could have had no idea that the brief sayings he used, taken from “many Ages
and Nations,” would become the primary basis for his international fame as an
author. He never pretended they were his own. He wrote in Poor Richard for 1746,
“I know as well as thee, that I am no poet born; and it is a
trade I never learnt, nor indeed could learn. . . .Why then should I give my
readers bad lines of my own, when good ones of other people’s are so plenty?
’Tis methinks a poor excuse for the bad entertainment of guests, that the food
we set before them, though coarse and ordinary, is of one’s own raising, off
one’s own plantation, etc. when there is plenty of what is ten times better, to
be had in the market.”
Intellectual
property, the ownership of ideas, was not what mattered. The point was not
where the ideas had come from but the uses to which they could be put.
In 1732 I first published my Almanack, under the name of Richard
Saunders; it was continu’d by me about 25 Years, commonly call’d Poor Richard’s
Almanack. I endeavor’d to make it both entertaining and useful, and it
accordingly came to be in such Demand that I reap’d considerable Profit from
it, vending annually near ten Thousand. . . . I consider’d it as a proper
Vehicle for conveying Instruction among the common People, who bought scarcely
any other Books. I therefore filled all the little Spaces that occur’d between
the Remarkable Days in the Calendar, with Proverbial Sentences, chiefly such as
inculcated Industry and Frugality, as the Means of procuring Wealth and thereby
securing Virtue, it being more difficult for a Man in Want to act always
honestly, as (to use here one of those Proverbs) it is hard for an empty Sack
to stand upright. (Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography)
CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION
Franklin
sought to cultivate his character by a plan of 13 virtues, which he developed
at age 20 (in 1726) and continued to practice in some form for the rest of his
life. His autobiography lists his 13 virtues as:
1. "Temperance. Eat
not to dullness; drink not to elevation."
2. "Silence. Speak not
but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation."
3. "Order. Let all
your things have their places; let each part of your business have its
time."
4. "Resolution.
Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve."
5. "Frugality. Make no
expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing."
6. "Industry. Lose no
time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary
actions."
7. "Sincerity. Use no
hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak
accordingly."
8. "Justice. Wrong
none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty."
9. "Moderation. Avoid
extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve."
10. "Cleanliness.
Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation."
11. "Tranquility. Be
not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable."
12. "Chastity. Rarely
use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the
injury of your own or another's peace or reputation."
REFFERENCE
·
Infamous
Practices: Risk-Taking in Franklin's Early Journalism.
·
The Journalist as
Man of Letters"; recorded relevant items from bibliography in Reappraising Benjamin Franklin
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