Monty Rainey

"I have lived, Sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this Truth, that God governs in the Affairs of Men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without His notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without His Aid?

Benjamin Franklin, motion for Prayers in the Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787.

Other men may have reached a higher level of popularity in America’s history than Benjamin Franklin, but none have had such tremendous influence on the American way of life. Throughout the annals of history, few names live on to such a status of greatness as the name of the American Sage, Benjamin Franklin. Not only did Franklin achieve that level, but he did so by rising from commonality. That a child, born into poverty and uneducated, could rise to such nobility, set a precedent for what would become, the American dream. Benjamin Franklin set a standard of excellence for this great young nation. A standard desired by all, achieved by few, and passed on, from one generation of Americans to the next.

The Franklin’s of Boston

In the early 1680’s to escape persecution against the puritans by Charles II, Josiah Franklin brought his wife and 3 children to the colonies and settled in the town of Boston. A few years later, Josiah Franklin’s first wife died during the birth of her seventh child. The elder Franklin then married Abiah Folger of Nantucket, the daughter of an indentured servant, who bore Franklin another 10 children. The youngest of the male children being Benjamin, named after his uncle who had remained in England. Throughout his life, Benjamin Franklin would proudly profess to be the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations.

Josiah Franklin was a dyer by trade, but could not find work sufficient to support his family in the new country, so he took up the crafts of soap and candle making. He was to continue in these crafts the remainder of his life.

Benjamin’s education was spurred on by his namesake. His uncle Benjamin had married and had 10 children. His wife and nine of the children had died, the 10^th child, Samuel, had left him for New England. The lonely old man took a special interest in his nephew and began collecting political pamphlets, hand written sermons, poetry and such, and sending them to his young nephew. Benjamin Franklin would later write in his autobiography that he could not remember a time when he could not read.

At the age of 8, Benjamin was put into grammar school, and in one year, elevated himself to third year schoolwork. The following year, he attended George Brownell’s School for Writing and Arithmetic. At the age of 10, due to dire financial circumstances, young Franklin was removed from school to help his father in his business. The first recordings of Franklin as an inventor occurred during this time. His first known invention is that of swimming fins, attached to the hands and feet. Benjamin remained here working for his father for two years, until it was decided, because of his love for books, he would work as an apprentice in his brother’s print shop.

James Franklin was nine years, his younger brother’s senior. In 1719, he was engaged to print the Boston Gazette, and two years later, he would begin a newspaper of his own, the New England Courant. Benjamin’s education had really begun. Working as a printer’s apprentice, he had access to more and better books. Book sellers’ apprentices would lend him their master’s books to read overnight. Among the works to inspire the young Franklin was Cotton Mather’s Essays to do Good, which, years later, would be the inspiration for Franklin’s Junto.

Benjamin excelled as a printer and soon mastered the craft. However, due to incompatibility between the two brothers, at age 17, Benjamin sought to end his indenture to his elder brother. James had spoken to the masters of all the other Boston print shops, and none of them would give Benjamin employment. In short time, the working relationship between the brothers became unbearable and Benjamin finally ran away from Boston and made his way to New York, then on to Philadelphia.

The Junto

In the fall of 1727, at the age of 21, Ben Franklin was employed as a printer at Samuel Keimer’s Print Shop in Philadelphia. It was a strained relationship, to say the least, but also mutually beneficial. Keimer needed Franklin’s expertise to right his disarrayed printing business, and Franklin used his position to form valuable alliances. This was a very constructive time for the young Franklin. It was during this time that he also began propagating his future as a leader and organizer.

Franklin implemented an idea he had learned in part from Cotton Mather in Boston. He formed the Junto, fashioned after Mather’s neighborhood benefit societies at the Boston churches. He brought together twelve members, including three coworkers from Keimer’s shop. The group met each Friday night and continued to do so for the next 30 years. The Junto was a private forum for discussion and "a surreptitious instrument for leading public opinion." One of the functions of the group was to brainstorm publicly beneficial ideas. When they found one, the members would drum up wider support throughout the public ranks.

Franklin described the Junto in his autobiography; I should have mentioned before that in the autumn of the preceding year [1727] I had formed most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which we called the JUNTO; we met on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew up required that every member, in his turn, should produce one or more queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy [physics], to be discussed by the company; and once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing, on any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be under the direction of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute or desire of victory; and to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband, and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.

The benefits to American society, which can be attributed to Franklin’s Junto, are remarkable. The Junto is responsible for bringing us our first library, fire department, hospital, insurance company, paved streets, streetlights, and other firsts. The Junto was also responsible for the creation of the University of Pennsylvania, and later evolved into the creation of the American Philosophical Society, which is still in existence today with over 700 scientists and scholars as members.

Poor Richard’s Almanac

In 1732, Franklin purchased and began writing and publishing, the Pennsylvania Gazette, and had married Deborah Read, to whom he remained married from 1730 until her death in 1774. Franklin’s work at the Gazette evolved into the establishment of the Saturday Evening Post, which is still in publication today. His writing had become so popular, that at the age of 26, Franklin began yet another publication, Poor Richard’s Almanac.

Franklin had acquired an affinity for writing under pseudonyms, such as Silence Dogood, the Busy-Body, Obadiah Plainman, Robin Good-fellow, and of course, Poor Richard. The almanac would prove to be the business that would be bring Franklin wealth, with a circulation of over 10,000 copies a year for its duration of 25 years in print. This success would allow Franklin to invest a great deal of his time on other ideas.

Poor Richard’s Almanac was filled with Franklin’s insight and wit. He published the almanac under the pen name of Richard Saunders, a destitute astrologer. From it came such timeless wisdom as "Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards" (1738), "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise" (1735), "God helps them that help themselves" (1736), "The sleeping fox catches no poultry" (1743), "When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water" (1746), "Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead" (1735), "A plowman on his legs is higher than a Gentleman on his knees," (1740), and countless others.

Many of his best proverbs on business and public life were collected in the preface to the 1757 final edition called "The Way to Wealth," which ends with this advice: Do not depend too much upon your own industry, and frugality and prudence, though excellent things, for they may be blasted without the blessing of Heaven; and therefore ask that blessing humbly, and be not uncharitable to those that at present seem to want it, but comfort and help them."

The Public Servant

At this point in his life, Franklin would have been contented to devote his life to science, and did so, to a large degree. The coming years saw his invention of such things as the Franklin stove and electricity. But Franklin’s reputation for selfless public service resulted in his fellow citizens repeatedly calling upon him to serve in one public capacity or another. As a man who views public service as ones obligation and duty moreso than an inconvenience, he always accepted.

The political course of Franklin’s life began in 1736, when he was appointed clerk to the general assembly of Pennsylvania. He would hold this office for several years before being elected a representative. In 1737, he was made postmaster of Philadelphia and later, United States Postmaster. While in this capacity, Franklin demonstrated his keen sense of economics by setting an example of how lowering taxes, increases revenue. With characteristic efficiency, Franklin established shorter routes and more frequent deliveries. By introducing night and day riders, he made it possible to exchange mail from Philadelphia to Boston in 6 days instead of the usual 3 weeks. Finally, Franklin convinced the Parliament to reduce the rates by nearly a third. By lowering the cost of postage and improving the efficiency, mail volume increased tremendously. Upon U.S. independence, Franklin would establish the U.S. postal service.

1754 was the year Franklin was launched into political prominence. In that year, the prospect of war with the French led several of the royal governors to call for a congress of all the colonies to be held at Albany. A plan of the congress was to organize a confederation that all of the colonies would adopt. Three weeks prior to the congress, Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette ran an express from Major Washington in the Ohio Region: "bad news, with the French and Indians closing in and the inhabitants horrified" followed by the now infamous cartoon of a severed snake, each segment representative of a state, with the motto, "Join or Die!" Franklin introduced his Albany Plan of Union, which was to be the first call for the founding of a federal union of the 13 colonies. Only 7 of the 13 colonies were represented at the congress (Pennsylvania being represented by Franklin). While the Albany congress did adopt Franklin’s Albany Plan, the colonial assemblies rejected it because it encroached on their powers, thereby foreshadowing anti-federalist arguments of the ratification debate for the Constitution, which would take place thirty-three years later.

Volumes have been written on Franklin’s contributions of public service and it can hardly be done justice here, so suffice it to say, his contributions were numerous. Among his other more notable positions were member of the Second Continental Congress, Agent of the United States to France, and Delegate of the Constitutional Convention.

The Diplomat

Beginning in 1757, all but one of the next 18 years of Ben Franklin’s life would be spent in England. He was originally sent as an Agent for Pennsylvania, and later served as Agent for Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Up to a point, Franklin had been somewhat of a British loyalist, but the Stamp Act of 1765 converted him into a man bent on the cause of American independence and freedom.

Franklin had fought gallantly within the British press to repeal the Stamp Act, writing under at least 42 known pseudonyms, but to no avail. He could foresee the forthcoming battle for independence in the American colonies. It was not until Benjamin Franklin took the stand before the British House of Commons and fielded 174 questions in his testimony that he was able to persuade the repeal of the Stamp Act. War, for now, had been abated. This action on Franklin’s part, bought the colonies precious time in which to organize.

The Boston Massacre of 1770 further swayed Franklin towards colonial independence. From London, he wrote to Reverend Samuel Cooper, telling him that the British policy of maintaining a "standing army among us in time of peace, without the consent of our assemblies" was a grievance almost as serious as Parliaments claim that it had the right to tax Americans. When Rev. Cooper produced the letter before the Massachusetts assembly, Franklin was elected by the majority to replace the deceased London Agent.

Franklin was still residing in England at the time of the Boston Tea Party protest on the British tea tax, on Dec. 16, 1773. As a result, he faced the full brunt of British criticism and narrowly escaped imprisonment by returning to the colonies. He received a hero’s welcome and was immediately nominated to be a distinguished member of the Second Continental congress. A year later, he would serve on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence.

Less than a year and a half after his return from Europe, Franklin would again serve as a foreign diplomat at the onset of the Revolution, arriving in Paris on December 21, 1776. Franklin successfully convinced the French to support the American cause for freedom with a donation of some 2 million livres, or about $500,000. Also while in this capacity, Franklin led negotiations that would result in the treaties of commerce and alliance with France. While serving as commissioner to France from 1779-1785, Franklin, along with John Jay and John Adams, would successfully negotiate the Treaty of Paris (1783) that brought an end to the War for Independence.

Franklin’s last diplomatic achievement was the negotiation of a treaty with Prussia. This treaty, as George Washington observed at the time, marked a new era in international morality.

Sage of the Constitutional Convention

Upon his return from France in September of 1785, Franklin was immediately elected Governor of Pennsylvania, and was reelected in 1786 and 1787. Also in 1787, he was a delegate to the convention which framed our present day Constitution. By this time, at eighty-one years of age, Franklin’s health was failing. Perhaps it is because of his health, Franklin took a relatively small part in the debates, but his observations and suggestions were timely and omnipotent.

On September 17, Franklin struggled to his feet with speech in hand. He announced that his infirmity – a bladder stone – made it difficult to stand with the immense pain. Fellow Pennsylvanian, James Wilson, delivered the speech on behalf of Franklin, appealing for the approval of what Franklin thought to be a very good, if imperfect, Constitution. The new Constitution was ratified into law by the states on June 21, 1788. This concluded Franklin and his federalists’ allies thirty-three year battle with the anti-federalists who had opposed his Albany Plan.

Franklin’s final public act was in 1790, when as President of the Anti-Slavery Society he sent a request to Congress petitioning the abolition of the slave trade and the emancipation of the slaves. Franklin would expire only a few weeks later.

Conclusion

Benjamin Franklin was the only American to sign all four of the principal founding documents; The Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance, Amity and Commerce with France (1778) (though separate, these treaties are considered as one founding document), the Treaty of Paris, establishing an end of the Revolutionary War (1782), and the United States Constitution (1787).

About a month before his death, while in great pain and confined to his bed, Franklin wrote what is likely his last bit of correspondence, to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale. "…Here is my creed. I believe in one God. Creator of the universe. That He governs it by His providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render Him is doing good to His other children. That the soul of man is immortal and shall be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental principles of all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them…"

Upon Franklin’s death on the 17^th of April, 1790, Congress directed a general mourning for him throughout the United States for one month. Dr. Franklin lies buried in the northwest corner of the Christ Church Burial yard in Philadelphia, alongside the bodies of his wife and daughter. In his will, he directed that no ornamental monument be placed on his tomb.

In relations with his fellow man, Benjamin Franklin was exceptionally agreeable. Admired by young and old, learned and illiterate. His speech was filled with the same humorous and interesting anecdotes that made his writing so appealing. A man of good humor and immutable conviction.

Few men have exhibited a more worthy conduct than did Dr. Franklin. Distinguished for his sobriety and temperance, coupled with his extraordinary perseverance and resolution. He was a constant friend, always candid, with abundant fidelity to his moral and civic obligations. He is in many respects, the greatest of all Americans, and one of the greatest men whose names are recorded in history. Men of greatness, quite often achieve greatness because of their time and place. They simply rise up to fill a need. Such was not the case with Benjamin Franklin. Here was a man who would have undoubtedly left his mark on humanity, regardless of the time or place in which he lived.

The following extract from his memoirs, written by himself, deserves to be recorded; "And here let me with all humility acknowledge, that to Divine Providence I am indebted for the felicity I have hitherto enjoyed. It is that power alone which has furnished me with the means I have employed, and that has crowned them with success my faith in this respect leads me to hope, though I cannot count upon it, that the divine goodness will still be exercised towards me, either by prolonging the duration of my happiness to the close of life, or by giving me fortitude to support any melancholy reverse which may happen to me as well as many others. My future fortune is unknown but to Him, in whose hand is our destiny, and who can make our very afflictions subservient to our benefit."

The epitaph of Benjamin Franklin, written by himself, many years prior to his death:

The body of
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Printer,
Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents torn out,
And stript of its lettering and gilding,
Lies here food for worms;
Yet the work itself shall not be lost,
For it will (as he believed) appear once more
In a new and more beautiful edition
Corrected and amended
By the Author.

Bibliography

A Biography of Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790; http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/bfranklin/franklin.htm

Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790; http://colonialhall.com/franklin/franklin.asp

Benjamin Franklin; http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org

Benjamin Franklin On the Federal Constitution; http://www.lexrex.com

Jared Sparks, Sparks Life of Benjamin Franklin, http://www.ushistory.org

Kathryn VanSpanckeren, An Outline of American Literature http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/LIT/franklin.htm

Kristine Dwyer, Benjamin Franklin’s Reforms in Philadelphia, http://www.paheritage.org

Benjamin Franklin, http://famousamericans.net/benjaminfranklin/

American Philosophical Society; http://www.ushistory.org/Franklin/philadelphia/aps.htm

William Jackson, History of the American Nation, Vol. 8, p.2297

Paul M. Zall, Franklin On Franklin, University Press of Kentucky, 2000.

Catherine Drinker Bowen, The Most Dangerous Man in America, Atlantic Press, 1974

Arthur M. Schlesinger, The Birth of a Nation, Alfred A. Knopf, 1968

Thomas Fleming, Liberty! The American Revolution, Viking Press, 1997

Carl Van Doren, Benjamin Franklin: A Biography, Bramhall House, 1938

Matthew Spalding, The Founder’s Almanac, The Heritage Foundation, 2002

James Srodes, Franklin: The Essential Founding Father, Regnery Publishing, 2002

Books I highly recommend. 

Carl Van Doren, Benjamin Franklin: A Biography, Bramhall House, 1938 (Amazingly, this pulitzer prize winner is still in print.)  

Franklin: The Essential Founding Father - reviewed by Monty Rainey

Paul M. Zall, Franklin On Franklin, University Press of Kentucky, 2000.  

Matthew Spalding, The Founder’s Almanac, The Heritage Foundation, 2002 

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